Bodily Intrusion: Anger towards the Inner Male Gaze

In an antiquitous world, where social distancing wasn’t yet the de facto theme of interaction, I used to get dressed up to go dancing with my friends. Being a young, privileged, educated woman, with a budding feminism and progressive view of the world, I acted in accordance with my own agenda. With that in mind, there was a hostile undertone. When looking in the mirror, measuring my drinks, dancing in the middle of the dancefloor, I would slowly orientate myself towards someone else’s objective.

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Soft in All the Wrong Places

When the skinny boy who fell in love with the dream he made of you in his mind – and you decided that was close enough – first said ‘tummy’ so sweetly as he touched your softness and rested his head against it, you felt a little more seen and a little less clouded in his foggy fantasy of you.

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The Scarlet V

“Oh, you’re a virgin?” The question people always ask me when they found out I haven’t done the dirty. I didn’t lose my virginity at prom the way all the coming-of-age films said I would. While my friends in high school were getting it on at house parties, I was giving myself over to other things – yearbook, the school newspaper, honor society. There was nothing quite as hot as planning a fundraiser in my opinion.

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I went on a e-date and it wasn’t awful

To date as a straight woman is hell. To date as a straight woman during a pandemic is hell with a face mask on. Long before blossoming into an ascetic hermit, I was somewhat of a regular on the revolving doors of Tinder. Quarantine boredom kept me on the app and fear of the maskless masses kept me inside. So, I was left with little option but to date over Skype or Facetime – all I needed was a willing participant.

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A First-Hand Guide to Dating in Lockdown

Am I the only person that is bothering with dating while in lockdown? From the radio silence on social media and the responses I’ve been getting from my friends (‘What is the point?’ or ‘That’s weird’) it would seem most people aren’t too keen on the idea. Why bother when we can’t meet up with anyone? Why don’t we just wait until the end of lockdown?


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Sustainability and Sex

I never really considered the environmental impact of my bedroom escapades. Even after being vegan for a year, I had no clue that condoms weren’t vegan, and I never really considered the environmental impact of the glittery silicone dildos I was ordering in abundance from LoveHoney…

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Nasty Survivors: towards a politics of survivorship

On the 25th of November, the world observed the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This was both a day that called for reflection and the commemoration of the victims and survivors of such violence, but also served as a call to action. The ocean of posts regarding this day that popped up on my social media, as well as the myriad of news articles touching on this topic made me think about survival and politics. Or, more specifically, I asked myself how survivors such as myself can be understood from a political standpoint…

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