Writer • Speaker • Trainer • Facilitator
The tiniest of eyelashes frame delicate blue eyesNestled perfectly in his chubby faceHe stirs a little, murmurs and sighsBut remains at peace, which is a reliefTo his mother, so tired, laid on her bed,She reaches over, her fingers brush his golden hairSoft like down.She marvels at the softness of his skinSo smooth, untouched, unlived inHe …
Thursday 14th December 2023 A comment made on a post on my facebook page recently suggested that religion is bad news for women.And it may shock some of you to know that I largely agree.Religion is so often used to put down, subjugate and control women. That’s what religion has always done, control people.“Why are …
Sunday 10th December, 2023 Violence Against Women affects all of us, a YouGov poll* found that 80% of all women in the UK had experienced sexual harassment, but for women aged 18-24 that figure rises to 97%- nearly all of us! That’s before we even contemplate all the other forms of violence against women. So, …
Saturday 9th December, 2023Naomi is my friend, she’s 46 now. I remember being in our first year at sixth form college, free of school uniform we could now wear what we wanted to college, express ourselves however we liked, my other friend and I dyed our hair purple and wore hippy clothes, Naomi was always …
Friday 8th December, 2023Many people cannot understand why women don’t just leave when men become abusive. This is a complicated question to answer, there are so many reasons why it is difficult to leave an abuser. Often by the time we get to this point we have been so severely psychologically abused that many of …
Thursday 7th December, 2023 “I married John in 1997, I would have been in my forties then. The first couple of years were pretty good, but I either didn’t notice or ignored the warning signs such as wanting me to move away from my family or trying to separate me from my friends by turning …
Wednesday 6th December, 2023 “I had no voice and no choiceI was 21 when I married my ex husband, we were married for 18 years.Even before we lived together he controlled everything and sulked when he didn’t get his way.His parents ridiculed me and he laughed in my face.He lied about me at church and …
Tuesday 5th December, 2023“I was in my twenties, we’d not been together long. It wasn’t one of those mad, exciting romances, where I’d fallen head over heels, but he seemed nice and he was persistent. Before long he was staying at my flat every night and I didn’t have the heart to tell him it …
Monday 4th December, 2023 My friend Meg tells me that it’s always men who grab her wheelchair without asking if she needs any help: “I was wheeling up a busy street in Manchester, back to my car after a nice lunch with some friends, not struggling, just pushing myself as I usually do. Suddenly I …
Sunday 3rd December, 2023 The last three days I’ve posted stories from women who have been harassed by men on the street, they’ve explained how frightened they were, and, as I wrote yesterday, they were frightened because they know some women don’t make it home unharmed. Some women are more vulnerable, and some aren’t even …