Becoming The Invisible Woman - What I Am Learning About Ageing As I Get Older
A weird thing started happening to me a few years ago, I started to become invisible. It wasn’t everywhere or all of the time - in the private sphere of my life I was still very much solid, visible and three dimensional, but I started to notice it happening occasionally on the public stage, like some sort of glitch. Groups of teens and twenty-somethings would start looking through me as I walked along the street towards them. Or I’d stand waving a tenner at the front of a busy bar for what felt like hours whilst the staff served everyone to either side of me.
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Wedding Traditions: I Do or Do I? (Part 2)
Honeymoon’s first began in 19th century Britain. Newlyweds would travel to visit various relatives who had been unable to attend the wedding, which sounds dreadful and certainly not as relaxing as lying on the beach in the Maldives.
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Wedding Traditions: I Do or Do I?
The veil originates from brides wearing them in ancient Rome to protect them from evil spirits. And the garter? Traditionally tossed as “proof” that the couple have consummated their marriage...and worse, the groom has to stick his head up the bride’s dress to remove it with his teeth in front of everyone. I mean, I consider myself pretty sexually liberated, but I am not sure that I want my family and, specifically, my husband’s family to see that.
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Is Ramadan and Its Requirements Respected In The Workplace?
To all these companies, who claim to be diverse and inclusive, is it just a publicity stunt so that they can maintain their image in front of shareholders and stand out from their competitors? Diversity and inclusion are merely words that carry no weight unless they are put into practice.
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Miscommunications: The Dissonance in Mainstream Climate Coverage
Leaving aside the vested interests of those who stand to materially benefit from the status quo, let’s assume most people do not want to bring about climate destruction. Fairly uncontroversial. Why is it, then, that we struggle to collectively reckon with its significance?
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The Impact of Becoming A Parent
Are people having children without realising what it will mean for their life? Did you feel unprepared for the impact parenting had on your life?
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We Can Do More: Evaluating the UK’s Response to Those Fleeing Ukraine
The UK Government’s response to Ukrainians fleeing their country is a conscientious commitment to an ideology piously hostile towards refugees and asylum-seekers. Initially resistant to opening any adequate routes to asylum, the government has resolutely maintained their stance on requiring visas for those escaping Putin’s aggression. Every other country in Europe has waived them.
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Plastic Surgery: A Symptom of The Patriarchy - Or Should We Let Women Do What They Want With Their Body?!
Is plastic surgery a symptom of a patriarchal society or should we let women do whatever they want with their bodies?
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Springtime and Spirituality: Easter Rituals
Being Wiccan isn’t about the fancy altars or acquiring vast amounts of knowledge. I know that it requires me to just exist in the world, and harm none. All I have to do is be present, and find joy in the world – and if that’s in the middle of a supermarket, then so be it.
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Student Loans and GCSEs: Death to Art Schools
At the end of February 2022, government ministers announced a controversial set of plans to make over the requirements for student loans in the UK, to address the so-called ‘crisis’ of student loan debt in the country.
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Is Travelling a Sign of Privilege?
We live in the age of the Instagram traveller. They have a perfectly curated feed, have most definitely travelled to Cambodia, Thailand and Bali, and often [if they’ve done said travelling in their gap year] come to university laden with experiences from their ‘crazy’ overseas adventures.
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The Transgender Exclusion from the Conversion Therapy Ban Will Have Fatal Consequences
On the evening of Transgender Day of Vibisility, the UK government decided to introduce a conversion therapy ban in England and Wales, but only focused on sexuality rather than gender identity. This means that on Transgender Day of Visibility, our PM took the logical, but equally horrific, next logical steps in what has been a systemic and quick erasure of transgender rights in the country.
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Bosnia is On The Brink of War Whilst the West Watches On (Again)
Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing one of its worst political crises since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995. The high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, has warned that the country is in imminent danger of breaking part, with a “very real” prospect of a return to conflict.
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The WFH Revolution Led Thousands of People to Meaningful Careers – Why Is That?
When it comes to our careers, it’s very easy to find ourselves striving towards someone else’s definition of success, but this will never make us happy. Some people’s idea of success might be a smart car, a senior title and an expensive suit and house. But is that yours?
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30 Seconds To 0 – 20 Years of Blood Glucose Monitors
At 15 months old I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It gave my parents quite a fright to put it mildly. I almost died. So now I need to manually regulate my blood glucose levels. You can’t calculate the right dose of medicine if you don’t know where you’re starting from. That is where blood glucose monitors come in and they have come on such a long way in the 20 years I have been using them!
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Health Is Time - Being Chronically Ill Is A Full Time Job, Don't Make It Worse By Being Careless
Think about how much literal time is being spent unwell, to the point where you’re struggling with basic things such as work, the washing up, cooking, getting dressed and showered. Try to picture back to a time you were particularly unwell. Was it the flu, Covid, a broken bone? Consider how much longer all these basic actions took, or how much time passed before you could even do them? Unfortunately for chronically ill people, this is an everyday reality.
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Overcoming Addiction: My Story
My name’s Harriet and I'm an alcoholic. We’ve all heard this before, but I first said this in my early twenties when I tried a 12 step programme for the first time. A few years prior to this I asked my best friend if she thought I was an alcoholic, and after being told in no uncertain terms that I don't drink in the morning so I can't be, I pushed it to the back of my mind.
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Playground Politics: How Did School Affect Who I Am Today?
School…awful place for most of us. Are you one of those rare people I hardly ever meet who enjoyed it? It wasn’t all bad; school plays, drama and art were my hiding places. But mostly it was like being on Salisbury Plain with landmines, target practice and a lot of being shouted at.
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Transgender Day of Visibility: The Lies They Told Me And The Lies I Told Back
All of them had: my parents, my teachers, my friends, my pastor. They had lied to me at school, at church, at home. They had kept that information from me, and used that ignorance against me. They had forced me to pretend for years to be someone I was not. They had made me feel pathetic, trapped, suicidal.
But telling me I was a woman wasn’t the last lie they would tell me, and far from the last one I would believe.
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The Line Between Two Identities: The Struggle of Being Both LGBTQ+ and Disabled
Disabled LGBTQ+ folk should not be, and should never have had to consider, giving up something that should ordinarily be a wholesome and enlightening experience. Disabled LGBTQ+ people should not have to forgo the feeling of being special, included, and seen due to inaccessibility. Many people have no experience of their health, wellbeing, and safety being disregarded and therefore put at risk due to a lack of accessibility. Yet disabled people are often made to compromise our health in the name of inclusion or opt out of attending. Why?
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