‘Sarah’s Tree’ is the exact kind of activism we need right now
Illustrations by Megan Le Brocq It is difficult to know how to write about the recent kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, or the deeply unwelcome, horribly omnipresent shadow that it…
Meat and masculinity: the urgent need to combat the eco-gender divide
Illustrations by Megan Le Brocq I know I’m not alone in my frustration at the repetitive and, not to mention, tedious insistence that a meal without meat falls somewhat short of…
From The Beatles to Tik Tok – let’s leave teen girls alone
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Oh to be a teenage girl again – the hormones, the anxiety and to have most of what you love gently mocked by wider society. To feel…
Chrissy Teigen’s miscarriage posts were bold and brave… end of story
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Whether you know much about her or not, Chrissy Teigen: the model and television personality, who’s also married to John Legend – is a hit on social…
Porn: the good, the bad and the ugly
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Pornography is no longer the dark underworld of the internet, but now a heavy force in the entertainment mainstream. It is the fast-moving undercurrent of internet traffic,…
Female genital mutilation: not just a foreign practice
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Having been told that it was just ‘something that girls do’, Nazia Mirza, aged 8, was taken by her mother to have her genitals cut. Being held…
Why are female leaders excelling at fighting COVID-19?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of media attention paid to the link between the gender of leaders and the effectiveness of their…
We need to talk about female masturbation
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Four years ago, a friend started a conversation about masturbation. I was too ashamed to admit that I had taken pleasuring myself into my own hands until…
The management of COVID-19 is a matter of leadership not gender
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Amongst the chaos of press coverage of COVID-19 – misinformation, a lack of honest facts and fear-mongering – one line of argument stands out. A distinct preoccupation…
Covid-19 brings another pandemic: domestic abuse
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Following restrictions on movement in order to try and reduce the impact of Covid-19, people across the world are currently stuck at home. Being confined at home…
The rise of male eating disorders
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Why we need emancipation from rigid codes of beauty and gender. The always-hungry beast: the rise of male eating disorders and why we need emancipation from rigid…
Single Use Men; Re-use or throw away?
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Does traditional masculinity block ethically responsible behaviour?
Barry: A Work in Progress and in tenderness
Going to the theatre always reminds me of being on a long train journey. There’s a sense of collectiveness about it, coupled with the mystery of being nothing more than…
Turkish women are not asking to be abused
Last week, an Economist article held the tagline “Some 54% of Turkish women think it is acceptable for a man to use violence if he suspects his wife is cheating…
Let women express themselves however they want
Since my first year of primary school, I have been bossy, aggressive, ruthless. I have been a cold hard bitch. No—it’s not because I have an attitude, nor is it…
Rapists should not be able to apply for parental rights
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the neglect of Rotherham council (and the police), towards the women who survived historic abuse there. This week, Sammy Woodhouse, one of many…
Stop fannying around about pubic hair
In a time of immense social and political upheaval, it always amazes me that people have time to be worried about things like pubic hair. Truth is disintegrating and democracy…
There is no male hormone that grants scientific genius
Sexism in science is no secret. The field has been dominated by men since its creation, and continues in this way today. This is something I have been made aware…
In love, don’t put your cargo on someone else’s boat
As the temperature plummets and men start putting on their nice, weirdly sexy thick jumpers, I personally start thinking about romance. People always say that spring is the season for…
Frat culture can be damaging and limiting
American college culture is something that can be an elusive beast. Endless quizzes, wild frat parties, and annoying roommates were what I thought I’d have to look forward to, but…
We can’t ignore the dangers of early sex determination
Throughout history, people have attempted to control the sex of their children. Whilst sex selection for medical purposes, like preventing genetic diseases is largely accepted, the non-medical use of sex…
Pho the love of food
Emily Waldon Harris cooked me lunch the other day. It wasn’t me personally. Though, for proximity we could have been in Waldon Harris’s front-room. I could see her in the…
Rape and sexual assault sentences are too short
Why is someone dubbed a ‘sexually violent predator’ only being sentenced to 3-10 years in prison? (Bill Cosby). Why did someone showing ‘no remorse for his crimes at all’ get…
MeToo should take male victims seriously
The reactions to Asia Argento’s alleged sexual assault of her young co-star, Jeremy Bennett have slid into two main factions. Either, people have claimed that it completely discredits the MeToo…
Feminists (like Serena Williams) don’t have to be polite
It’s amazing how in a world being battered from all sides by the winds of injustice, the momentary emotional reaction of a famous woman can cause so much controversy. Serena…
Drake shouldn’t be texting Millie Bobby Brown
I doubt that I am alone in my thinking that a 14-year-old and a 31-year-old having a text relationship is a bit odd, even more so when a) the texts…
Kavanaugh, and men like him, must be stopped
Men go on a date hoping to get laid, women go on a date hoping to not get killed. To some, that sentiment may seem excessive or exaggerated. And maybe…
Wombs are important, whether occupied or not
A few months ago, I underwent laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis, along with three other women. One of these women, who was in her 40s, expressed that she definitely did not…
Ask Ariana Grande for permission, not forgiveness
In a rapidly changing social environment, what is and isn’t acceptable can feel hard to keep up with. But, just because certain behaviours have only just become widely recognised as…
Theatre shouldn’t be dominated by men
Theatre is dominated by men. It always has been. Women weren’t even allowed to act until the 18th century, and then they were all branded as prostitutes. Stories of white…
Romance is dead, long live romance
Another day, another man being disappointing. All you have to do is be nice to us and not chase us down the street, which is apparently too much to ask…
Terry Crews’ fight against toxic masculinity is invaluable
Something that I find particularly difficult to process is the sad fact that one of the only realms in which we have a kind of ‘herstory’, is sexual violence. The…
Drake is a ‘nice guy’ and I’m upset
Up until recently, Aubrey Drake Graham (or for those of you who aren’t real fans, Drake) has been my dream man. I’ve loved him ever since an ex rapped every…
What type of girl am I?
At the ripe age of 20, I’ve wasted a lot of time wondering what “type” of girl I am. After endless quizzes about which Sex and The City woman I…
Football shouldn’t be an all boys’ club
Living in the UK right now feels a little like living in a parallel universal. It’s sunny all the time and England won a penalty shoot out for the first…
Ocean’s 8 and the danger of the all female remake
After watching Ocean’s 8, a film featuring a relatively diverse group of female leads, a film in which almost every scene passes the Bechdel Test, I felt excited. Excited about…
Gayed’s gynaecological attacks cannot go unpunished
Australian news has been plagued in recent weeks by an investigation surrounding the male gynaecologist Dr Emil Shawky Gayed who appears to have butchered many of his female patients’ reproductive…
Wear sunscreen and leave women alone
As I write this, I can feel the sting of my sunburn and let me tell you, I feel alive. We all go a bit mad in the sunshine in…
Why I have a problem with ‘daddy issues’
As someone who has seen hide nor hair of their father in seven years, I take real issue with the concept of ‘daddy issues’. I joke about it, as we…
Are equality and positive discrimination mutually exclusive?
This week, Penguin (the publisher, not everyone’s favourite vertically challenged bird) issued a new directive that stated that the publisher wanted their repertoire to more accurately represent society in terms…
The eye opening limbo of ethnic ambiguity
Being pale and mixed-race, you see interesting manifestations of racism. This was foregrounded to me this week when a comment was left on my article about the Warwick rape threats,…
Women are to be heard, not just seen
Illustration by Francesca Taiganides On 26 May, Ireland overwhelmingly voted to repeal the 8th amendment, allowing women to have abortions up to 12 weeks into pregnancy and up to 24 weeks…
I can’t stop myself from criminalising Woody Allen
Woody Allen. A man who has been talked about endlessly in the wake of the MeToo campaign, in light of his marriage to his step-daughter, and the ‘false’ accusations of…
Mentioning Down Syndrome is a dirty pro-life tactic
As the Irish referendum looms, more and more dirty tactics have emerged from the pro-life camp. With the aim of persuading the country to vote against repealing the 8th amendment,…
Authorship down: Lars von Trier and the abuse of ‘art’
Auteur-provocateur, filmmaker-troublemaker, artist-misogynist… if you’ve heard of Lars von Trier, you’ve probably got an opinion on the Danish director. Up to now, discourse on von Trier has existed in a…
Friendship is vital for your mental health, regardless of gender
Intimate female relationships are absolutely central to the lives of countless women, and yet there has never been a point where we have felt the need to assert our own…
Another one? DJ Khaled won’t go down on women
The internet went into melt down last week when footage of a 2015 interview with DJ Khaled resurfaced. I try to pay DJ Khaled as little attention as possible, as…
Loving pop culture is nothing to be ashamed of
I cannot say that my love of pop culture exists free of embarrassment. I often feel ashamed about my daily visits to TMZand Perez Hilton.I often feel ashamed about my…
The Butch, The Bitch and The Mummy: the women in Westminster
Let’s go back to the tripartite I suggested in the first article; the Butch, the Bitch, and the Mummy. If you’re a woman working in politics, expect to see your…
It’s time to talk ‘vaginas’. Period.
For women, so many sexual encounters are ruined by that not-so-little voice from down below, asking, begging, pleading: will it work? will it hurt? And if it doesn’t work, and…
If you’re saying ‘not all men’, it’s probably you
I wanted to start this article by talking about how much I actually really like men. I felt like I needed to preface my argument with saying that I have…
We are all stranded in a no-man’s land of expectation
I think I’ve probably spent a solid quarter of my time as me, as a sentient young adult, worrying about men. Worrying if I’ve texted them back too quickly, not…
Vaginal mesh: another way the patriarchy damages women
On 19 April, MPs in the House of Commons spent two hours debating whether or not to ban vaginal mesh surgery. Vaginal mesh surgeries, for those of you not avidly…
Don’t use the Bible to embrace the ignorance of the past
Christianity has probably been one of the most successful influences on Western society, from the permanence of the Ten Commandments to a couple of choice blasphemous phrases. However, it cannot…
The commercialisation of feminism
The presence of feminism is inescapable. It’s an alliance demanded of major figures, whether actresses or celebrity cooks; it’s a word featured almost daily in magazines and newspapers; it’s an…