Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
A recent Twitter challenge to “describe yourself like a male author would” has gone viral, with women satirising the sexual objectification and tired clichés found in much of contemporary fiction. The challenge was instigated by Whitney Reynolds (media personality and television talk show host) in response to a tweet from Gwen C. Katz, who had […]
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Sometimes, I feel like feminism has not fully completed its role – or even worse, that it has barely touched some areas. Despite the fact that sexuality has become less of a taboo than it used to be, I think that there has been much less progress when it comes to women. Young women still […]
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The Faculty of Philosophy’s recently announced measures to ‘feminise the curriculum’ have angered some quarters. Critics appear particularly taken aback by the call for a 40% target for female representation on our reading lists. The move has been dismissed as ‘virtue signalling’ (see the initial OxStu article here), a claim which suggests the department’s support […]
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October 2017 was a month that certainly took the world by storm. It was a month in which a popular social media tag revealed the full magnitude of a scandal that shook society to its core. In the aftermath of the New York Times’ illuminating investigation into widespread accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, few […]
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Oxford University’s Local Delegacy exams, first set for school-leavers in 1857, had more riding on them than simply grades: the top candidate would also be offered an exhibition scholarship to the university itself, either at Balliol or Worcester College. On calculating the results for the papers of 1873, there was no doubt as to who […]
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I think it’s fair to say that we are no longer shocked. But we are definitely repulsed, outraged and, most of all, exhausted. How many stories of outright misogyny must we hear before something changes? This year’s annual President’s Club gala charity dinner was no different to the other thirty-three, except for the attendance of […]
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Whilst absentmindedly flicking through a magazine, reading a newspaper, or simply walking around the shops, I wonder if you have ever stopped, paused and looked, actually looked, at the adverts. And more particularly, the way in which women are imagined and promoted in these advertisements. Because if you have you might have noticed certain reoccurring […]
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Christian Dior’s s/s ’18 show in Paris opened with a model wearing a long sleeve Breton shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’. The quote comes directly from Linda Nochlin’s 1971 essay about the limitations and difficulties that women who are artists face within society. (I would just like […]
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On walking into the auditorium at the Old Fire Station, the aesthetic which greeted us was uber millennial feminism: fur coats, crop tops, fluffy cushions, flares, and lots and lots of pink. In this intimate space, our reflections gazing back at us on the mirrored wall, we were to watch HOTTER, Ell Potter and Mary […]
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The use of makeup throughout history has had its ups and downs. It often symbolised prostitution or social class, and even underwent serious legal regulation in England from the 1500s. The makeup we see on the streets today has come a long way from the earliest use by our ancestors. Egypt Our story begins with […]
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There is an incredible amount of crazy energy brewing in a lesser-known corner of the local LA garage rock music scene – and it’s being led by girls. Being an LA-native myself, I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to witness first hand the impressive female empowerment fests exploding out of those sweaty pockets of clubs and […]
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On Saturday, 100,000 people took to Grosvenor Square, London—the location of the American embassy—to protest the inauguration of Donald J. Trump (or, “Le Twat Orange” according to some protesters’ signs). It was one of hundreds of marches around the world to demonstrate solidarity between various marginalized and minority groups who have been targeted by the […]
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Occasionally you can hear a book having resonant echoes in the real world, something which is actually tangible. If you’re hoping for a utopia, or on a more realistic vein, The Philosopher’s Stone, I’d look to a different article: the first book you should read to prepare for 2017 is The Handmaid’s Tale. Set in the not-too-distant future, the narrative follows the […]
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‘The Trojan Woman’ is an engaging and moving piece, in this production of Caroline Bird’s ‘after Euripides’ the original play is brought to life for the modern age. Set in the aftermath of the Greeks’ triumph over the Trojans, the play concentrates on the now widowed Trojan women and their suffering at the hands of […]
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In 2015, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy became the first Pakistani filmmaker to win two Academy Awards with her documentary A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, which exposes the practice of honour killings in Pakistan. Her first was awarded in 2012 for Saving Face, a documentary which followed the victims of acid attacks. Born and […]
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Of course there are much bigger problems in the world for feminism than reading lists. No one’s disputing that. But a lot of people cannot see that there is really any problem with reading lists. They argue that it’s important to study the best writers, and if those writers tend to be white and male, […]
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“He strains too hard to convince the world he is hand-and-hand and eye-to-eye with the very young” was New York Times writer Gloria Emerson’s biting critique of Yves Saint Laurent’s “Pop Art” collection of 1966. The pop art Warhol dresses, called “lumpy” at the time, are now fully recognised as an iconic fusion of art […]
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A reflection on what a great year 2015 was for Nicki Minaj As the only female artist on Forbes’ list of The World’s Highest Paid Hip-Hop Acts 2015, and the most charted female rapper in the history of the Billboard 100, it cannot be denied that Nicki Minaj is a fighter. This time last year […]
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In a bid to put my English degree to good use and rekindle my love affair with East Asia, in the summer of 2015, I embarked upon a 7 week teaching programme in Japan. From the mountainous bowls of octopus and copious amounts of sushi thrown my way, to the rampant gambling slot machines and […]
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