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Having spent the beginning of lockdown blasting my way through novel after novel to occupy my sudden abundance of free time, I’d recently found my attention span gradually waning as the endless hours of isolation wore on. With lockdown boredom making me increasingly fidgety, the focus required to sit down and immerse myself in the depths of a book became harder to grasp. Continue reading Reading Corner: Magazines
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Florence Given’s book Women Don’t Owe You Pretty (2020) has been The Sunday Times bestseller for ten weeks in a row now, and it’s no surprise why. Continue reading Defiant, Self-Aware, Accessible Feminism: Why you should read Florence Given’s ‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’
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Since I was about sixteen, I’ve been passionate about de-stigmatizing periods. I used the Clue app religiously and showed it to all my friends at school, including the boys. I talked about periods loudly and graphically. I didn’t care if that made boys feel uncomfortable. I had confidence about my periods. They made me feel powerful and were an important part of my identity as a young woman. Because of my contraception, I don’t have periods anymore. My female friends are usually jealous of me when I tell them this, but I actually miss them; they’re a sign that everything’s ticking over and working properly. They’re completely healthy and natural, so why is there such a big stigma surrounding them? Continue reading Bodyform’s ‘Womb Stories’ Campaign and De-Stigmatising Menstruation
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It is well known that history is written by the victors. The individuals in power are sculptors, who mould events and entire periods to reflect beneficially upon themselves. Despite facts being concrete, sometimes textbooks and the literary canon shatter these, acting like rose tinted glasses, constructed to distort the reality of the past. The triumph of those in power is carved into time, while the stories of minorities are left to decay and swept under the carpet when their accounts are deemed unacceptable for future generations. This is so often the case for the LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading Uncovering the Rainbow, Re-examining History from a Queer Perspective
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Finding ways to deal with lockdown boredom can sometimes feel like a pointless endeavour. However, many have taken to online shopping as a remedy to quell such mundanity. As the ‘physical’ fashion industry has taken a slight pause with the cancellation of summer fashion shows and September fashion weeks looking increasingly unlikely, the virtual fast fashion world has kept charging on at its usual unsustainable speed. PFS discovered in a recent survey of 2,000 Brits that “three in five (60%) consumers have purchased more goods since the lockdown began, than they did before, with 53% having shopped more online”. Moreover, the report outlined that “more than three quarters (77%) of these […] expect they will continue to purchase online more once the lockdown is over – indicating a potentially irreversible change in consumer purchasing behaviour”. But what does an “irreversible change” in UK consumer behaviour mean for the employees at the bottom of the supply chain and the environment? Continue reading Problematic Lockdown Shopping Habits
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In the wake of the recent global Black Lives Matter protests, discussions surrounding racism within the workplace have been bought to light, with individuals and former employees finally finding the courage to speak out about their experiences of discrimination. As a result, many industries and companies have come under fire for their problematic attitudes towards their non-white employees and their consequential lack of action, with the fashion industry being one of the most revealing. It will come as no surprise to anyone that the fashion industry lacks diversity, with runways and fashion campaigns featuring predominantly white, thin models, and constant instances of cultural appropriation seen on the runway and in collections. However, recent years have shown a development in the diversity seen on the runway, with South Sudanese model Adut Akech winning model of the year at the 2019 Fashion Awards. Whilst this improvement cannot be said for every fashion house (just look at the Dior AW20 campaign), the inclusivity seen amongst models is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. One well-known luxury fashion brand that has been hailed for the diversity of their models is Jacquemus. This French fashion house, founded by designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, is most well-known for its stunning runway show backdrops, the Le Chiquito mini bags and also inclusivity of models of all sizes, races and genders, with Vogue even congratulating the brand for their “gorgeously diverse casting”. Whilst Jacquemus has been praised for this diversity, recent revelations prove that this inclusivity goes no deeper than surface level. Continue reading Performativity and All-White Workplaces: The Racism that Happens Behind-the-scenes of the Fashion Industry
The first time I watched porn I was fourteen. I remember being squished in with friends, staring at a small laptop and feeling pretty unconvinced by what I saw. It was violent and certainly didn’t look enjoyable for the woman. It wasn’t until I came across Dipsea that I felt I had found erotica that catered to what I wanted. Founded in 2018 by Gina Gutierrez and Faye Keegan, the app is designed by women, for women and offers advice, self-pleasure sessions and audio stories. Continue reading Dipsea: Closing the Orgasm Gap
Since lockdown restrictions have been lifted, I’ve been making the most of socialising with my friends, whether it be a walk through the countryside, a takeaway or meal out, or, of course, a drink at one of my local pubs. Although I’ve heard bad things about some pubs in my area and across the country as a whole, I’ve only had fairly positive experiences in regards to social distancing. I’m happy to be able to get out to pubs again, as long as I feel reassured that they are definitely safe and socially distant. Continue reading Beer Gardens: A Place to Fear?
The holiday culture first took over the UK in the eighteenth century, when the wealthy began to discover spa breaks in places like Bath. By the nineteenth century, holiday resorts across the UK such as Blackpool and Southport first opened. Although foreign holidays were popular in the twentieth century, they appeared only available to the rich. For any fellow fans of A Room With A … Continue reading Holiday at Home?
Growing up I never understood how being sent to your bedroom was a punishment; the potential of spending an hour in my own space acted not as a deterrent, but if anything prompted me to be cheeky so I could escape helping unload the dishwasher. However, after spending four months in lockdown, cooped up in my childhood bedroom, I’ve begun to understand the intended unpleasantness behind this overused penalty. Continue reading Changing Spaces: Learning to Love the Box Room
