Did you know that 1 in 100 of those who are assigned female at birth will go through recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL)? In the United Kingdom, a recurrent pregnancy loss is when someone who is AFAB goes through 3 or more pregnancy losses (with or without a successful pregnancy between the losses).
When you start trying for a baby, you don’t ever think that you’ll become part of that 1 in 4 statistic, and you definitely don’t expect that you’ll become part of that 1 in 100 statistic.
Read MoreWe all know how this goes: you sit down in December to reflect on the past year, maybe you revisit resolutions that you’ve already forgotten; and suddenly, you feel the urge to create a new self. A version of you that is much better than your present self, more disciplined or polished, capable: someone who checks all of the boxes from the long list of ideas about this better version of you.
Read MoreA slightly more macabre wassailing tradition takes place in Wales, the Mari Lwyd. Mari, who’s head is made from the skull of a horse, with baubles for eyes and flowing ribbons for mane, is operated by a long pole hidden under the white sheet that acts as her body. Snapping her jaw at passers-by, she leads a procession around the town going from house to house. The terrifying nature of the Mari Lwyd is only exaggerated by the fact that she is sometimes so tall that she can knock upon the second-floor windows (Firestone, 1978).
Read MoreGroup chats, while at times helpful, rarely spark pleasure. Instead, they’ve become another layer of digital noise in an already overwhelmed world brimming with emails, notifications, and the existential dread of blue ticks left unanswered.
Read More51% of industry workers are burnt out from the holidays, so is it a holly-jolly Christmas after all? Overworked, understaffed, and high expectations. What’s going to give?
Read MoreEvery year as December approaches, I’m struck by the magic of the season - the streets lighting up, festive music filling the air, and the sense of anticipation building around the holidays. But alongside the charm, I can’t shake a sense of discomfort with what Christmas has become for so many of us: a whirlwind of consumerism, waste, and, often, unmet expectations. I find myself wondering how we got here - how a holiday meant to bring joy and connection has morphed into something that can feel so forced, stressful, and detached from its original purpose.
Read MoreSure, I knew he had kids. We met on Tinder and it was on his profile that he had two daughters aged eight and eleven. We talked about them on our first date; how they both played football and how he’d tried his best to be the best dad he could to them after the breakdown of his marriage. I’d dated men with kids before, but never got to the stage of meeting said kids. I’d never been against it, but honestly, when you first start dating, they’re kind of a concept rather than a reality.
Read MoreI’ve been seeking connections with people my entire life and throwing myself into different iterations of community.
My need for connection hasn’t decreased as I’ve grown into an adult, nor has my love of dance, which is why I began taking Lindy Hop classes seven years ago. Lindy Hop is a Black American swing dance that originated in Harlem in the 1920s before gaining huge popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s a partnered dance with lead and follow roles, designed to encourage improvisation on a social dance floor.
Read MoreWhen did our internal monologue suddenly adopt a no-nonsense, authoritarian approach rivalling the Wormwoods? Why do we become self-flagellating adults who berate themselves for every little misstep?
Read MoreWhen I got in the room I was told to sit down and then a couple of nurses came and got me. They pulled back the curtain that wrapped around the bed she lay in. I saw the redness of my partner’s face, the wet around her eyes. I asked ‘What’s happened. Did it hurt?’
And she said ‘no, but they think I have cancer.’
Read MoreWhen I became disabled, one of the things that I struggled the most with was just how much my life changed, practically overnight.
It wasn't just that I was adapting to no longer being a healthy, able-bodied person, but I was also suddenly transitioning from being able to do so much, so easily, to having a mountain of access needs that had to be fulfilled in order for me to do anything.
Read MoreYou’ve been with your partner for a long time, but your sex life has been dwindling. Weeks turn into months of no sex and you’re starting to wonder what you’ve done wrong. I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone.
Read MoreCountry is back in. From fashion trends (flannel, denim, cowboy boots, fringes, and leather) to music and art, country is truly having a revival. But what some people may not know is the history of cowboys and that Queer Western is also enjoying the limelight.
Read MoreWhen you don’t have children of your own, the entire premise of this article being written by someone who knows nothing of the experiences being written about could potentially be a touch scathing, maybe even absurd. Of course they are! I write this to the little girl inside of me, who had so many questions for her mother growing up.
Read MoreAs a nervous and superstitious child, I was convinced that the English countryside was stalked by escaped wild cats and phantasmic black dogs. Whether this notion could be tied to some deep-rooted connection with my ancestors that channelled my psychic awareness or the fact that I was exposed to the 2002 film ‘Dog Soldiers’ too early as a child one Christmas Eve, I couldn’t tell you.
Read MoreThe fan in a woman’s body has been seen as “crazy” ever since the times of Elvis Presley or The Beatles – and yet we still forget that exactly these people are one hell of a force.
Read MoreBut from colonial influence and globalisation, Type 2 Diabetes is now a huge issue and is the overall biggest killer of Mexicans. You are more likely to be killed by diabetes in Mexico than Narcos. People in Chiapas alone, drink an average of 2.5 litres of coca cola in a day.”
Read MoreAccording to this article from the BBC , “Data from Statista shows that the baby and child skincare market is expected to experience an annual growth rate of about 7.71% until in 2028, it reaches $380m (£299m) in market volume worldwide…This isn’t just about young kids trying their mums’ creams, but an industry expanding to reach a broader age spread of consumers.”
Read MoreA large part of getting ready for school involved taming my unruly curls in order to ‘look presentable’. My grandma would oil my hair with coconut hair oil, her fingers expertly weaving their way through the knots in my hair to reach the scalp. After this, came the painful process of running a comb through my hair to get rid of the knots. I remember squealing in pain as the comb worked hard to straighten my stubborn curls.
Read MoreThe game slowly defrosted my hibernation and resuscitated my ‘spark’. It provided me a safe space to practise my speech, to train my ability to concentrate, remember details, and untangle the messy earphone cables of thought that made up my mind; to not think about what I couldn’t do but to test the limits of my imagination, which, as it turns out, now feels pretty limitless.
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