WHY ALL UK WORKPLACES SHOULD OFFER PET BEREAVEMENT DAYS

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August 2019, Stylist

A woman was fired for missing work when her beloved dog died. Now, a petition calling on UK workplaces to offer pet bereavement leave is going viral. It’s a change we desperately need, says writer Amy Lavelle.

Being fired from your job is painful enough at the best of times, but imagine being fired while you are grieving.

This is the situation that 18-year-old Emma McNulty found herself in, after allegedly losing her job when she missed a shift due to the death of a beloved family member. The teenager said she was fired from her part-time job in a sandwich shop after she was unable to …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE

CAN YOU REALLY BE A FEMINIST AND NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CAREER?

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Glamour, September 2018

It’s embarrassing to admit, but my work is part of who I am. There, I said it. I’ve always known what I wanted to do and have refused to listen to anyone that tried to tell me otherwise or guide me elsewhere (my dad and dentistry, FYI). I’ve always been ambitious, but I’m wondering whether it’s enough.

My newfound insecurity comes at a time when we’re ultra focused on our careers. We lean in, become ‘girl bosses’ (a phrase I’d …read more

FEATURE-CULTURE

THE AWKWARD RISE OF THE FRIENDSHIP PAY GAP – AND HOW TO COPE WHEN YOUR PALS EARN MORE THAN YOU

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May 2018, Glamour Magazine

I have a confession to make that will come at the detriment of my feminist credentials: I can blissfully ignore the pay gap, happily pretending that it doesn’t affect me. As a freelancer, if I’m not getting paid, it’s probably my own fault, not the Patriarchy’s. And though it has been pointed out that this is both problematic and untrue, the wage difference that really bothers me isn’t the one in my professional life. It’s the one that exists in some of …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE

‘I’VE SPENT MY LIFE IN WOMEN-ONLY SPACES AND THIS IS WHY I DISAGREE WITH THEM’

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November 2017, Red Online

I’m fairly sure that what I’m about to say could forever lose me my feminist credentials, but here goes. There are 8,000 women on a waiting list for a women’s-only co-working space in SoHo and I have no idea what any of those 8,000 women are thinking. Why are they so desperate to get into the exact kind of space that I’ve spent half my life desperately clawing my way out of: the kind that’s single sex?

I’ve inadvertently and entirely against my will spent much of …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE

SOD THE GROOM. WEDDINGS ARE ABOUT THE WOMEN AT THE HEART OF THEM

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August 2017, The Pool
Behind every bride, there is a group of exhausted women in coordinating dresses, forcing smiles while they wonder where the last 10 months went. Just ask any woman who has been asked to be a part of someone else’s special day: weddings aren’t kind to our female friendships. There’s no solidarity to be found in delving into your overdraft so you can attend a hen; being asked to dye your hair because your natural shade doesn’t match the …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE

I’M CATHOLIC AND A FEMINIST – TALK ABOUT GUILT

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December 2016, Telegraph

I’m standing in the kitchen, awkwardly toeing the floor, having the sex talk with my dad (aged almost 30, and 12 years after I actually lost my virginity).

Except we’re not calling it sex, we’re calling it ‘living with someone.’ And we’re not actually talking about sex at all, but religion. More to the point, we’re talking about how I need to go to confession because next year, I’m getting married in a Catholic church and to do so, you’re supposed to go in with a freshly-cleansed soul.

I’m not against this, by any means; I’ve just avoided doing so for the last 12 years for fear of being denounced a vicious trollop and marched out.

Don’t underestimate how far my dad and I have gone to avoid this conversation. Before now, if I’d thought about having children, I’d seriously considered claiming immaculate conception. This might be one of the most painful chats we’ve had in my entire adult life, yet even through the fierce teeth-clenching, I’m still aware of how ridiculous the entire thing is.

After all, I don’t believe sex is a sin and would fiercely defend anyone who was being judged for having it. I might be Catholic, but I still feminist. If, in 2016, that’s even possible.

Things were supposed to be better than this. We have a ‘cool’ Pope now, one who uses social media. But for every time Francis has condemned homophobia, criticised the gender pay gap and graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (seriously, God, never take him away from us), there has been another priest comparing paedophiles to adulterous women or using an aborted foetus to make an appeal for Donald Trump.

It goes against everything I believe in. Trust me, it’s not easy claiming you’re all for women’s rights, while genuflecting to a Church that seems dead set against them. It’s frustrating and disheartening every time you hear of yet another knuckle-dragger who’s been given a platform and realise …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE

GOT GENITAL HERPES? ONLINE DATING FINDS A NEW NICHE

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February 14 2014, Telegraph

V.D. Have any two letters ever before had the power to strike such terror into the hearts of singletons everywhere? For these letters convey stand for two of greatest plagues on sexiness: Valentine’s Day and venereal disease.

Hey, it’s a cruel world out there and anyone bandying about phrases about how it’s ‘empowering being single’ or ‘it’ll clear up in three to five days’ whilst looking vaguely pitying, might as well be mentally …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE

BEARDLESS BRAD STILL EMBARRASSES

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October 17 2012, Spindle Magazine

In a surprising turn of events, Brad Pitt managed to simultaneously mortally embarrass himself and turn off men, women and (educated guess, here) Clooney alike in one fell swoop. The surprising part is that he did so without one of those mangy, is-it-a-dead-cat-is-it-actually-his-facial-hair beards he so loves to sport that, at best, looks like something lost hikers would wander into Never To Be Seen Again, save for, perhaps, some ‘found footage’ of …read more

CULTURE, FEATURE-CULTURE