These aren’t thoughts I consciously have though. They're ingrained, a part of every outing.
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All the xenophobic acts we are unfortunately witnessing nowadays are just the tip of an iceberg that carries centuries of oppression, exclusion, and racism.
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As a trans man, one of the most common questions is “are trans men trash as well?” The short answer is yes. We are men, we uphold the patriarchy, we benefit from male privilege.
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When you think of Earth what is the first thing that comes to mind? Do you think of the ocean? Do you think of Trees and grass? Do you think of mammals, fish, or birds? How many of you think of dust? Well, that is what we are all made of; dust.
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June 21st is a deadline I both dread and await impatiently. You would wonder why the dread? It’s so exciting to be back to ‘normal’, but what is ‘normal’ at this point?
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I wish I’d known how the actions of my aunts and uncles affected my mum and dad. It must have been painful for them. If they had bowed to pressure and stayed away from our wedding, which I know anecdotally lots of parents have done (including two of my friends’), it would have broken me.
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Being poor is the challenge in and of itself, it does NOT require further punishment in the form of shame.
Your ability to coexist with those with money is a skill. Your ability to hide the lack of financial stability is a skill - but one you shouldn’t have had to develop.
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The defund the police movement does not suggest that the government fire every police officer and close every prison immediately. Rather, it quite rightly argues that our current method of manging social issues via policing are a waste of tax-payer’s money.
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No one is born an ally. Allyship is a choice, an action, not an identity. An ally is only an ally in the moment of that action. They cannot be relied on inherently, and the word means nothing when it takes on a role as internalized identifier. Self-proclaimed allies often worry so much about the perception of being an ally that it prevents them from actually being one.
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The pain of being the only Black friend is having to accept that I have spent more of my life code-switching than I have existing as my authentic self. It means that I have wasted so much time swallowing my disgust when former friends caught a glimpse of other aspects of my identity and told me that I was behaving ‘out of character’.
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This is the second part of the Word to My Mother series. To read the first part, click here.
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“Why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”, tweeted Rihanna on the 2nd of February 2021, more than six months after the movement began. Unlike other protests from 2020, the farmers protest has been given minimal media exposure, leaving many completely unaware of India’s largest protest to date. Though protests began locally, unrest led to farmers hailing from various parts of the country, with most originating from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, to unite in Delhi and resist three agricultural laws that passed through government last August.
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In short, parents feel like they’re at breaking point and need a break. When they see a device that hooks a child’s attention, some parents resort to handing these tools to their children. However, children as young as two are skilled in swiping apps and internet pages and become skilled players at ‘Subway Surf’ (my nephew is obsessed with it). Children manage to grasp the fundamental skills of a smartphone before learning to recite the alphabet. Perhaps, that aspect rings with a tone of worry.
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Colin has been a favourite at children’s birthday parties since 1990, and ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ has been trademarked since 2009. Even if you’re firmly Team Aldi, you can see why Marks and Spencer might be more than a little protective of their caterpillar confection.
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I sat down for a virtual chat with Actress, turned CEO, turned Author Julia Goodman to find out: what does success look like at 70? I intended to discover what creates a woman as fierce as Julia, and how younger women like me can pursue success with the same focus.
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This is the third instalment of the Shadow Legends narrative. To read the second, click here
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Influencers have existed for years, so this is nothing new, right? Wrong. Influencers have always perpetuated a hyper-wealthy, vapid, robotic image of life, love, bodies, and regimes - but now they’re actually showing us their regimes. Before, the pictures were easier to ignore because we understood that they were almost all fake. Now they’re saying, ‘Look, you can be me, too. Just eat this. Eat this, and eat it every day of your life.’ This is sinister, and it is not to be underestimated.
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The UK has a serious social mobility issue which has become more apparent in recent years, demonstrated perfectly by the current chumocracy we see in the dishing out of government contracts to the owner of our elected official’s favourite pubs. Social mobility refers to the ability of an individual to move upward in social status, based on common social variables, such as wealth, occupation, or education level
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The taboo of death in our society seems alive-and-well (excuse the pun). Most people avoid even uttering the word, instead substituting in fluffy euphemisms like ‘passing-on’ or ‘no longer with us’ to paint over the grim reality with white clouds and pearly gates.
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If the events of the last year have taught us anything, it is that individual actions will not be enough to change the world. Covid-19 quarantine may have inadvertently slashed our individual carbon footprints, but the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere still peaked at a record-breaking level in May last. Why? 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1998. Most of these are coal and oil companies, including ExxonMobil and Shell.
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