Category Women’s Rights

The traditional image of a lady conjures the image of an elegant woman sipping tea, probably indulging in light needlework, or a good, moral novel. A lady of course could not read anything that was remotely scandalous and her education was based on preparing her for marriage and running a household. This image has not changed much over the nineteenth and early twentieth century, until the after the Second World War. With a world that was forced to accept women in factories and physical jobs, the breed of the lady was a fast dying one. Traditionally a young woman of refined means and background was presented before the queen, and this tradition was last performed in the early 1950s.Read On...

Angelina hit headlines a few days ago but for a rather different reason than what we usually hear about celebrities.  The mum of six and long-term partner of Brad Pitt decided to tell the world that she had a double mastectomy, after tests showed that she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, therefore giving her an 87 percent chance of getting breast and 50 percent chance of ovarian cancer.

Naturally, any story about Angelina is bound to spark debate, appear on front pages of papers and continue to be a talking point for weeks on end, and this is particularly true for a topic as sensitive as this.

Surprisingly the megastar had the operation three months ago but somehow managed to hide it from the press, obviously preferring to have some privacy through the difficult time...

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Perle Noire, sometimes nicknamed the "Black Pearl" is a burlesque dancer from Dallas, Texas. She's performed all over the world to America to Japan. Referred to as "the reincarnation of Josephine Baker", she took some time out from her busy schedule to have a chat with us.

To someone who doesn’t know what burlesque is, how would you describe it?
Burlesque is one of the oldest forms of theatre. Imagine a opulent, fantasy land featuring dancers, magicians, comedians, fire eaters, puppeteers, and strip tease artist. That’s burlesque! It’s a spectacle.Read On...

Everyone has some sort of insecurity about their face or body, from thinking they have unsightly scars or bad skin; we all suffer from bouts of poor self-esteem. Walk into a shop and look at the selection of magazines, on the cover will be a celebrity looking stunning–thanks to good lighting and some tricks in Photoshop–and on the same front cover will be an article relating to how terrible a celebrity looked when caught going to the corner shop without a scrap of make-up on.

Magazines like that have always struck me as being a big hypocritical, on one page they’re saying how well a skinny celebrity looks better since she put on a few pounds, then on the next page will be criticising one celebrity for not shifting the baby weight fast enough...

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When some people hear the word ‘feminist’ or ‘feminism’ they often associate it with stereotypical and negative connotations. Sure, there’s no certain way to escape that, but what if they knew how far women have come? What if instead of viewing feminists as a bunch of crazy women who despise men and all things to do with them, there’s more focus on the journey that has been a progression of women’s rights and the future? The following is by no means everything that’s happened, but certainly some key bits that have shaped how women live today.Read On...

Life has supposed to have moved on a lot since a man’s wandering hand was just considered part of the job in the workplace. Some people would swear that feminism has achieved everything it needs and should be consigned to the history books since sexual harassment has all but "disappeared" from work. This might be the case for work environment since it is tolerated far less, but it is the everyday harassment that continues to happen on a wide scale.Read On...

Let’s not beat around the bush or put countless euphemisms at play; when it comes to talking about pornography we often get lost in all the terminology and lose focus of the fact that actually there are countless women exploited in its manufacture. But then could every case be defined as exploitation? What is the difference between a sex scene in a mainstream movie and a pornographic video clip on the internet? Take a look at both sides of the coin, draw up a conclusion, but remember–both sides exist in the first place, and both aspects play their roles.Read On...

Spartacus is Steven S. DeKnight’s retelling of the legend. He has, of course, taken some creative license with it, as is to be expected. A good example of this is the popular couple of Agron and Nasir, as well as the majority of female characters. Just because they weren’t based on real people like Spartacus, Batiatus or Crixus, however, that doesn’t make them any less believable.Read On...

I once told a friend I’d gone to an all-girls school, and his response was that he couldn’t tell because I was “neither a massive slag nor a raving lesbian”. Apparently, 98% of students attending a single-sex school fall into these two categories. This is obvious if you listen people who went to mixed schools talk; single-sex schools are hotbeds of teenage experimentation, though they focus more on the schoolgirl lesbianism than buggery at Eton. The teenagers who experiment are always straight and confused, and absolutely no gay people exist apart from the Art teacher who is a figure of mockery. People who went to single-sex schools can’t talk to the opposite sex, and act like Hugh Grant or Miranda Hart in the presence of a hot guy/girl...

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In recent weeks Maura McGowan QC, chairwoman of the Bar Council, has stated her opinion that rape suspects should be granted anonymity until conviction. This controversial view has, of course, sparked debate and discussion about how the accused should be dealt with in the situation.Read On...