It means you can be funny and cheeky and not afraid to be sexy. It’s okay. If I was going to be sexy I’d be sexy all the time. I guess it’s a British thing.” Gemma: “I haven’t been doing so much of this [acting], or writing, lately. You get into a bit of a routine. You make a play and everyone loves it and you think, well, there’s nothing else to see here, and I don’t want to do this too often. It’s like when you do theatre a lot and you get that sixth sense that you’re getting lazy. But writing is something I enjoy. As long as people keep writing for me.” What was it like getting back into acting with this second series? “It was lovely to have the actors from the first series be in it. They were absolutely lovely. The second series was more character-based, but you see it more in the work environment and at home and it’s much more funny than the first series.” Gemma: “It was lovely to get to know all the characters in more depth, because you have these stories where you play a version of the character once and you might say this in a rehearsal and they say it back, but you never get to know them in the detail that you can in series 2, which is really nice. You get to learn things and they learn things too. That’s really nice.” Are you doing a lot of work with the theatre? Is that as satisfying for you as it is for them? Gemma: “I was in a play about six months ago called ‘The Arcadia’. It was at the Lyric Hammersmith, which is a really lovely theatre. I play a young American woman who comes over to London and she has to deal with a lot of the culture shock she might have been expecting. She’s not that different from a lot of young girls from America who are going over, and have the same worries about the culture they’re coming into. And a lot of people ask me about the characters and what the characters might say to each other, and how much did I change the things they said? But that’s just because they’ve been told by people who love their theatre that they need to be critical of other people’s work. So, with my own, you don’t want to be too critical. You just love it and be proud of what you do, because the people who make the decisions and create the work are all there and they’re great. And to be with a work so early is really special.” “I was in a play about six months ago called ‘The Arcadia’.” What I really appreciated in the last episode of series 2 was the subtlety that these women – of their generation – have with dealing with sexism and the backlash from it. Gemma: “The last episode of series 2 really, really speaks to the fact that these women are really grown-up about sexism in a way that women aren’t. They don’t get their knickers in a twist and start shouting at a man. They just do a good job of talking him down and giving him a proper, adult hearing. We see these women really in control and getting the better of the men they’re having these arguments with. They don’t make it too dramatic, which is why it works. You don’t have to get your knickers in a twist and go for the jugular. But they’re right to do that. These things are terrible.” I do want to ask about feminism. I don’t know how relevant this is now, because every time you turn on the news it seems like a scandal is happening every week, but it feels like there’s a backlash at the moment. How do you feel about the term ‘feminism’? “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with calling yourself a feminist. But there are some people who want to call themselves feminists who aren’t actually. I wouldn’t say it’s a dirty word, it’s just if they don’t understand the principles and don’t understand that it’s about equality then they don’t get it. “I mean, of course men have their roles and men have opportunities and men have jobs and women don’t. So if you want to fight for women to get those things, then do it by campaigning for change in men. Don’t just exclude men. Don’t just not talk about them, because what happens is that you get fewer women. And then you don’t have the balance in power that you would have if we just had equality.” People do say, ‘Oh, you don’t need feminism because you’ve got men. You’ve got a nice man.’ But it’s actually because men aren’t understanding and they don’t appreciate what women do for them.” “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with calling yourself a feminist. But there are some people who want to call themselves feminists who aren’t actually.” Who you want to fuck (or don’t) has less to do with whether or not you have feminism than what the balance of power looks like and what your options are. “They are choices. But you are a person, and your gender makes it easier for you or harder. There’s nothing wrong with saying women shouldn’t get raped because they wear certain things or they haven’t done this thing. We should feel safe and confident and secure in our own skin. That is feminism. I’m not making it harder for me as a woman to do anything, I’m just saying that equality is what is best for everyone, and we all need to work together.” Do you think if more men were feminists it would help? “Yeah. If men were feminists, it would be an easier place for everyone.” Do you feel like this is less of an issue now than it was in your 20s? Gemma: “I don’t think men are as sexist as women think they are. The last of my boyfriends to ask was ‘What do you want for your birthday?’ I was like, ‘My birthday? My birthday’s not even until November!’ But then I realised he was asking if he could buy me things and go shopping with me. He didn’t say you have to buy me presents, he didn’t have to offer to pay for things. And he offered to meet up and do what he always did. We never had a fight about that. I don’t know, maybe I’m different but I never thought the guy I was dating was sexist. I always thought it was weird that women don’t think that men are sexist, because we’re talking about it right now, aren’t we? “They were like, “I don’t want to see you on your own on your birthday. What do you want me to do about it? Do you want me to take you out for lunch?” “If men were feminists, it would be an easier place for everyone.” “I don’t think men are as sexist as women think they are. The last of my boyfriends to ask was ‘What do you want for your birthday?’ I was like, ‘My birthday? My birthday’s not even until November!’ But then I realised he was asking if he could buy me things and go shopping with me.” Are there men who are sexist? Of course there are. But I think most men are more sexist than women are aware of. Like the woman who said she doesn’t date men who don’t have a job, and her dad told her that. Aren’t you tired of hearing that? You think everyone is the same, and then it turns out that there are a few things that make it harder for men to find a girlfriend. The truth is that a lot of men don’t want to talk about these issues, because they don’t want to admit they don’t have all the answers.” I think that in the past you may have been reluctant to admit that too. “No, I’m very aware of that. I think I’m really aware of that in this show, because some of them are on top of their game and you’re like, ‘OK, that’s impressive and I admire you, but I also am trying to move the needle so I’m not here as a victim.’ “It’s a very different kind of show from the first series. It’s less about my personal story, it’s about how it feels for men and how it feels for women and how we feel threatened. But also, the boys are more in control now.” I think you’ve been able to speak more openly about some of these issues because you can, you’re not beholden to anything. “I don’t want to be a victim any more. I want to help people get better. It’s good to just be a normal person with all this great talent and opportunities, because you’re always told you can’t do things. So I think we’re kind of learning who we are as people, because we’re all figuring out if we’re victims or if we’re survivors.”