The ongoingcMegan Markle controversy reached new heights this week after her tell-all interview with American TV show host, Oprah Winfrey. After facing years of mounting hostility, Meghan is now considered an element hostile to the Royal family and has found herself the subject of a very British denunciation. In speaking publicly, Meghan is guilty of... Continue Reading →
Women, Wages and Labour during the Industrial Revolution
A significant contributing factor to the current trend of conceptualising ‘gender’ as a standalone form of oppression is a lack of familiarity with its application throughout history as the intense ideological enforcement of material female oppression. Here, it is useful to explore periods of history where the significance of sex (as opposed to gender) is... Continue Reading →
Difficult Women: The Silencing of Alexandra Kollontai
Communists often hail the work of Alexandra Kollontai, holding her up as a decorated Marxist feminist and member of the Soviet Central Committee. In reality, Kollontai’s favour with the majority male leadership of the Soviet Union was highly dependent upon her compliance, and she spent much of her political career combatting the Communist Party’s disregard... Continue Reading →
Lesbian Politics and the Limits of Liberalism
Women’s economic dependence on men historically ensured that women married. Marriage was, and is still today, seen as aspiration for women and a way to access material wealth and secure basic sustenance. Though in the last half century due to the women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s, women’s ability to sustain themselves economically has... Continue Reading →
Children Cannot Consent: Puberty Blockers, Gender Eugenics and Keira Bell
Today, the verdict of a judicial review ruled that is ‘highly unlikely’ that 13 year old children can give informed consent to puberty blockers and that it is ‘doubtful’ that 14 and 15 year old children can ‘understand and weigh the long term risks and consequences’ of such medication. The ruling also recognised that, even... Continue Reading →
Linda Bellos on Oppression
If 'oppression' describes a system of power, it necessarily means that some groups of people will hold power over other groups of people. Oppressors — usually men, and usually men with wealth — hold power over other categories of people. Oppression exists everywhere and functions as a global system, enforced universally under the capitalism. This... Continue Reading →
Netflix, Cuties, and the Disturbing Rise of Paedophile Culture
Netflix's new film, Cuties, has attracted a significant amount of criticism over recent days and weeks due to its overt sexualisation of young girls — both in its promotional material and in the film itself. The original thumbnail used by Netflix to promote the film (the featured image of this article) has since been replaced... Continue Reading →
WAP: Women As Property
The internet is awash with reaction to Cardi B’s new music video for her song Wet-Ass Pussy (WAP), known mainly by its radio ‘clean edit’ version Wet And Gushy. The reaction has largely been one of derision and dismissal though, predictably, the sex-positive left have gallantly made the case for women’s continued sexual exploitation under... Continue Reading →
Austerity, Women and North East Communities
The North East already has already some of the worse of the cuts and a huge lack of investment. Working class communities such as Sunderland, Hartlepool, Northumberland, and Co. Durham have suffered hugely over the decades with loss of industry and lack of real investment – Under Thatcher, New Labour and now the Tory government.... Continue Reading →
Prostitution or Sex Work? Language Matters
The term ‘sex work’ has come to replace the word ‘prostitution’ in contemporary discussions on the subject. This is not accidental. The phrase ‘sex work’ has been adopted by liberal feminists and powerful lobbyists in a deliberate attempt to steer the narrative on prostitution. Smoke and Mirrors Superficially, the term ‘sex work’ is intended to... Continue Reading →