‘Being a Slut Really Means You Are Untouchable’: On Shame, Power and the Reclamation of Words
‘Where Young Women are Gathering is Where the Fight is Being Taken’: How Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour is Championing Reproductive Rights
‘Abortion funding? It’s a good idea, right?’ This is the tagline printed on stickers with a QR code to abortion resources, handed out at the Enterprise Centre on 12th March 2024 at Rodrigo’s tour stop in St Louis, Missouri – along with condoms, lube, stickers and the morning-after pill…
‘Being a Slut Really Means You Are Untouchable’: On Shame, Power and the Reclamation of Words
I thought about the connotations I associated with the word ‘slut’ – sexually promiscuous or scantily clad, and only ever directed towards women. All I had been doing was standing on the street laughing at my friend, wearing an outfit that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a children’s television presenter. Perhaps ‘slut’ had been picked out of the ether. But why?
‘Rebellion is at the Core of All Friendships’: How Platonic Relationships Detach Us From Capitalism and Patriarchy
Friends encourage us to live our lives beyond our use of the capitalist system. Whether that’s clocking off work early to arrive on time for their birthday dinner or staying out a bit later than we planned and being a little tired at work the next day. Your friends are always up for having fun outside of your existence as a labourer…
Trans Joy is Not Enough: Why it is Time to be Angry About Injustice
Trans genocide is happening. I thought by having unashamedly trans joy would show these perpetrators that they cannot tear us down, but this is not the language they speak. They do not speak of joy, or love, or respect. They speak of hate…
Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version): Why *That* Lyric Change is Not the Empowering Feminist Statement You Think It Is
Many argued that because Swift has publicly aligned her brand with feminism in recent years, she should present a more progressive view to the one she originally wrote. Others argued the lyric should be kept as written, with the song representing a time capsule into the life of a heartbroken, angsty teenage girl…
‘The End of the World?’ Youth in the Age of Climate Change and Anxiety
To worry is in my DNA. Whilst friends of mine describe their anxiety as stress or sadness, mine always manifests itself in worry. Climate change, its consequences, and that image of the world exploding have always been in the back of my mind. It's been twenty years since I came to realise there will be an end to our world, and the future I was told would be billions or trillions of years away is somehow becoming a reality right now…
What I Learned Going Viral on Right-Wing Twitter as a Trans Person, Educator and Activist
I sat and watched as the video went from 20K views to almost 200K views (this number is still rising). Before the views had racked up too much, I read the comments. I won’t indulge you in the misgendering and hateful specifics, but I did notice a few trends. The first was that the commenters believed I lack critical thinking and am spouting leftist rhetoric. The second was that they did not know what the UK government was doing against trans rights…
Rishi Sunak’s War on Trans Children and Seeing the Return of Thatcher’s Britain to Schools as a Teacher
One day after my first ever article was published on Heroica – in which I claimed that this Pride we should celebrate our progress since the elimination of Section 28 – Rishi Sunak has decided to wage war on trans youth. The leaked guidance, whether it ends up being codified or not, is harrowing…
‘We Have a Lot to Celebrate. We Have a Lot to Fight’: My Experience of Being LGBTQ+ and a Teacher
As an English teacher, I often consider myself a storyteller that is limited to retelling the stories of dead white men. I wrote to Heroica to tell my story; hopefully I'll be able to do that with their help. I am going to focus on the everyday life of gender-queer or questioning people in schools. To do so, I want to focus on a recent exchange…
‘Even In Death, We Aren’t Safe From Them’: Who Protects Women When Our Emergency Services Are Systemically Corrupt?
‘Even in death, we aren’t safe from them.’ This is a comment left on an account on TikTok titled Feminism4everyone. It didn’t take long for the ‘them’ to register as men, and although I am aware of the violence against women men can perpetuate, nothing could’ve prepared me for the story the comment was referring to. Be warned, the next paragraph is very distressing…
It’s Time to Regain Power Over Digital Representation: A Look at AI ‘Art’ Generators and Predatory Image-Making
Midjourney is a popular AI image generator. While exploring their public prompt threads, it doesn’t take long before sexualised, whitewashed and infantilised images emerge in endless streams. Created by users with names like Tom, Josh, Robert (…you get the idea), this is a breeding ground for men’s fetishes…
‘How Women Brought Peace to Northern Ireland’: Remembering the Legacy of Women on the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement
While history may be guilty of overlooking female champions of justice and reconciliation, with a rich legacy of determination, empowerment and resiliency to look back upon, the future cannot fail to ignore them…
‘Not One More’: Reflecting on Poland’s 2020 Abortion Ban Three Years On
Poland always struggled for its independence. The country fell under the regime of the Soviet Union at the end of WW2. Surprisingly, during this era, the government offered safe and legal access to abortion. The first talks of taking this fundamental right away surfaced in the first years of democratic Poland…
‘To Save Women, the World Needs Women to Lead the Way’: How Climate Injustice and Gender Intersect
Disparities trigger a trickle-down effect as information, mobility, decision-making and access to resources and training are not as accessible or completely inaccessible. In the aftermath of climate disasters, women and girls are less able to access relief and assistance, further threatening their livelihoods, well-being and recovery, and creating a vicious cycle of vulnerability to future disasters…
‘The Oppression Dalit Women Face is an Intersectional Issue’: The Modern and Historic Oppression of India’s Women in the Caste System
In South Asian culture, the caste system is used to justify unfair treatment against groups due to a combination of race, gender and class. Although the system itself is thousands of years old, it remains a relevant issue: violence and prejudices are still committed on the basis of caste. Casteism is a form of prejudice that isn’t widely seen as such, and its negative impacts are often dismissed due to it being a cultural structure…
‘Toilet Cubicles are a Strange Hybrid’: Graffiti as a Medium of Political Action
Toilet cubicles are a strange hybrid. They aren’t the main event, yet most people in a venue will visit them at some point. In other words, it’s guaranteed that a lot of people are going to see what you write in the cubicle. What makes this more interesting is that no one can prove it was you who wrote anything – it’s anonymous. This adds a level of honesty that isn’t always present in public debates and discussions…
‘Rat Infestations, Mould and Poor Plumbing? Sounds Like a You Problem’: How Landlords Exploit the Inexperienced Position of Student Renters
The reality is that many students would not fight the faceless authority of the landlord; we are too preoccupied with everything else, or we’re afraid of the power they wield over us, from withholding our deposits post-tenancy to eviction. It is also important to highlight that these issues disproportionately affect working-class students, who are even more vulnerable if their deposit is lost…
Queer Kids and Culture Wars: The Tories and the Return of Section 28
Local authorities were banned from ‘promoting homosexuality’, and schools could not teach ‘the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. I went to school between 1982 and 1996. In other words, Section 28 cast its shadow over most of my formative years. There were no known prosecutions resulting from Section 28, but this did not limit the damage it caused…
‘Naming is Not a Neutral Act’: Why it’s Time to Reclaim the Word Cunt
The history we see traced in the OED is one of repression and control, as people with vaginas are taught to be ashamed of their bodies and, by extension, their sexuality. As such, it is essential that we reclaim control over the labelling and the knowledge of our own bodies…
Ratifying The Istanbul Convention into Law: What This Means for the Prevention of Violence Against Women in the UK
In July of this year, then Home Secretary Priti Patel ratified the Istanbul Convention. After ten years of delay by our government, with effect from the 1st of November 2022 the UK agreed to update its legal and global position on the prevention and protection of women in the UK from all forms of violence and, crucially, domestic violence…