Why is ‘The Virgin Bride’ still on a pedestal?
‘Just because you lost your virginity doesn’t mean you can go around throwing your cat at everybody!’ Emma Stone’s Olive Penderghast, the self-proclaimed ‘slutty’ version of Hester Prynne, spends the…
The Tories are trying, but they need to do better
Worryingly, this is the second time this year that I’ve agreed with a Tory policy. Although it may be throwing my political identity into chaos, the recent government-sponsored report into…
Closing the pay gap is in the limelight but what we need is reflection
Ladies, we’ve been liberated from our rubber gloves. Put down your feather dusters because we’ve got Equal Pay Day, MeToo and TimesUp all under our belt in the short space…
The gender pay gap should be the stuff of history lessons
As a working woman in the 1960’s, my grandmother was paid significantly less than her male counterparts. But it wasn’t a problem for her as she would be expected to…
A love letter to the girl who chokeheld me
I don’t know if anyone who reads my column has noticed, but I’m a pretty big fan of feminism. After a couple of glasses of wine, I will talk about…
Philsoc and a discriminatory discussion: The Inside Story
Wow. On Saturday, I wrote an article, published on The Broad, highlighting the discriminatory nature of the University of Edinburgh Philosophy Society’s event, ‘Philosophy discussion on Feminism (for Women and non-binary folk)’….
Discrimination on campus: Men barred from Philosophy Society event
UPDATE: The University of Edinburgh’s Philosophy Society have now distanced themselves from the event. It is still going ahead, however, it will no longer be hosted by the Philosophy Society…
Drag culture or cultural appropriation?
Drag culture has long been a site for pushing boundaries and shocking society. From Divine eating dog shit to, well, pretty much every moment of RuPaul’s career, drag queens have…
Sex and the City for president
As Carrie Bradshaw once said, ‘The universe may not always play fair, but at least it’s got a hell of a sense of humour.’ On this week’s episode of ‘Keeping…
Let’s slim down media criticism of the female body
Do I hear a groan? The sun is sort-of out and bikini season is suddenly a reality. Unfortunately, we girls can no longer swaddle our insecurities in knitwear while dunking…
If marriage is a construct, I don’t want to be a construction worker
Marriage is steadily on the decline. While many articles have lamented the breakdown of this ancient establishment, there are a lot of practical factors behind the fall in marriages in…
It’s International Women’s Day and pink beer ‘for girls’ feels inauthentic
It is no secret that we live in a society where marketing is often as important, if not more so, than the product on offer. Campaigns and strategies are tailor-made…
In a world without equal opportunity, no one wins
The Oscars, as always, bring a semi-climactic end to awards season. I’m personally a sucker for red carpet pics, for no reason other than I live vicariously through those lucky…
Don’t forget about men like Roy Moore
The whirlwind of the patriarchy moves at such a dizzying pace these days that its hard to find time to be upset about something before some new famous man you…
Does the MeToo movement mark the death of flirting? Absolutely not
Catherine Deneuve seems to seriously believe (or believed, given her hasty apology) that sensuality is under siege. Her argument against the MeToo movement seems to focus on the joys of…
Saying ‘three cheers for a century of female suffrage’ is not enough
True irony: the fact that the female suffrage centenary is currently sharing column space with the revelation that Tesco, one of UK’s largest supermarkets and employers, could be sued up…
For women, real justice can be elusive
I don’t know a single woman who hasn’t been sexually harassed or assaulted. For every woman who is harassed, there has to be at least one man doing it. If…
The politics of forgiveness
It seems now that not only are we living in a post-truth, post-science, post-genre age (thank you Beyoncé for that last one), we are also living in a post-Weinstein age….