Giving Up Social Media

LILY MCKENNA My name is Lily McKenna and I am 17 years old. I attend an independent school in North London. I gave up social media several months ago when I realised the negative sides of being on social media outweighed the positives. I did the infamous ‘social media cleanse’, but rather than returning a week […]

Why the Rape Culture in Nigeria needs to be Addressed

AYOBAMI RUTH OLUFEMI-WHITE There is little doubt that Nigeria is an impressive force of cultural, economical and political development in Africa. The nation, the continent’s largest emerging market, is often referred to as the Giant of Africa. However, it maintains a patriarchal social system, where Nigerian women and young girls are victims of high incidence […]

No Matter What Size You Are

VENAYA BINWANI Body image. They are such simple words with one universal definition, yet you wouldn’t come across two people with the same story to tell. Our own perception of how we look and how this makes us feel is usually not a topic that is spoken about, whether it’s because we haven’t got anyone […]

A Generational Epidemic

ELLA CONLON-MURPHY When you feel insecure about every corner and crevice of your body, who do you turn to? Does anyone hold a satisfactory answer to the problem when in reality, even the most seemingly body ‘confident’ person has probably struggled with body image issues at some point. Our body is home to who we […]

My Experience With The Rap Project

PAREENA GUPTA Growing up in the 21st Century, in a stereotypically Indian society, has taught me one thing: having the talk with your family members can be hard. Whether the talk you are having is about rape, sexual assault, social media, drugs, porn and/or the problem body image, one thing is for sure, it’s time we […]

Spite Your Face

PHOEBE MCINDOE Rachel Maclean’s animated installation Spite Your Face shows at the Zabludowicz Collection in Kentish Town. The 37 minute film takes us on a visceral, uncomfortable journey inside Pic’s world (Pic is a blue-skinned, post-Brexit response to Gepettos’ Pinocchio). We are plunged into a familiar yet bleakly dystopian world filled with grotesque, disturbing characters. In […]

Body Hair

HOLLY JOHNSON Every woman carries with her the memory of when her girlhood began to diminish and her body began to change. This change is marked by that soreness and sudden sensitivity of your chest, the start of your periods and the hair that manages to spring from parts of your body you were yet […]

An Ode to Dating Apps (Part 1)

THE TINDER PRINCESS Part I I was curious about Dating Apps and had heard from friends they were fun, eventually I decided it was time to give them (and by them, I mean, Tinder) a whirl. Usually when it comes to dating I’m someone who banks on my ‘good sense of humour’ to get me […]

Valley Of The Sex Dolls

ISOBEL CLARKE Will the introduction of sex dolls into mainstream culture help or hinder the process of creating and maintaining healthy relationships? To most, the concept of paying £3000 for a sex doll is completely foreign – reserved entirely for unattractive, lonely older men with atrocious social skills and bad haircuts, but a new wave […]

The Birds And The Bees

PHOEBE MCINDOE ISAAC LORENZO MARLEY Isaac Lorenzo Marley has agreed to speak to me about his experience growing up in Spain and learning about sex from his father. Born in Marbella, Málaga, Marley lived in Majorca for seven years, he now studies in Manchester. What do you remember about the sex education you were […]