‘Wonderful Women’, poem by Joanna Hagan-Young
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“Time’s Up”
For the London edition of the worldwide Time’s Up rally, protestors showed their commitment to the fight for equality and declared “Time’s Up” on sexual harassment.
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Women’s Voices in the Public Sphere
A couple of weeks ago Theresa May’s conservative party speech delighted Corbynistas and Blairites alike, as both mainstream and social media revelled gleefully in the disaster of it all. There were the falling letters, the prank P45, the unapplauding Boris Johnson, etc. etc. But the focal point of the disaster was May’s inability to speak,…
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Weinstein, #MeToo, and the men caught in the middle
When does it become obvious you are part of the problem? With the extensive and ongoing revelations surrounding Weinstein, and other men in positions of power, we’ve had countless commentary pieces and even a viral social media campaign, #MeToo. But what’s become most obvious to me is not these horrendous acts of sexual abuse, it’s…
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City of Joy
(Trigger warning – references to rape and sexual violence throughout.) Madeleine Gavin’s City of Joy provides a sensitive insight into the plight of Congolese women today, without reducing their stories to the usual, easy-to-sell emotional porn. Having achieved what countless others before her have (unsuccessfully) tried to do, I have no doubt that City of Joy is…
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Women in American College Radio
In the student centre of an idyllic Western Massachusetts college – up the ground floor staircase, past the inciting smell of half-baked cookies and ethically sourced coffee – you will find a dingy two room studio tucked away from the now distant hum of students. A quick swipe of a student ID and you are…
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The Hairy Chronicles
I remember the first time someone pointed out the hair on my face – I was 6 years old, living in Pakistan and playing a game of tag with some of my friends. The boy who tagged me called me muchard, an Urdu word which essentially means ‘someone with a moustache’ and ran away laughing. I…
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Reconciling Islam and Feminism
Trigger warning: heavy mentions of rape, as well as mentions of abuse and murder. My first experience with feminism was when I was fifteen, and one of my teachers gave a brief outline of what it meant and what it stood for. I didn’t really care for it much back then – the fact that…
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Anti-Trump Pro-Love: Women’s March in London
From Grosvenor to Trafalgar Square, a march against Trump, with an estimated 100,000 people in attendance, occurred in London yesterday. For a march against something, the atmosphere of love and hope in the crowd was particularly striking. Yes, they were against Trump – but it was not a march of despair. The weather mirrored the…
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Perceptions of Feminism
The definition of feminism in the always handy oxford dictionary is ‘the advocation of women’s rights on the grounds of the equality of the sexes’. It is because of my belief in this definition that I very happily call myself a feminist, take part in feminist movements and advocate the cause as best I can.
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