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Image description: a photo of the entrance to Examination Schools, with the doors closed. Last Friday saw A Woman’s Place UK (WPUK) holding an event within Oxford. Their presence was not just in the city, but in the university. Specifically, in Examination Schools. I have all my lectures in Exam Schools. Last year, I took […]
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Oxford City Council cancelled a talk by self-proclaimed ‘rebel priest’ Jules Gomes, which was due to take place in the Town Hall on 13th June, on the grounds that it breached their diversity policy. The Council stepped in after outrage was sparked at the subject of the free talk, entitled ‘Feminism was women’s greatest enemy – […]
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Image Description: Bird lady painting. The beauty of gender is that it is a mirror. Its tragedy is that we are so seldom able to pass through it. When we do, we are cut adrift, existing beyond the perfect paper fold of a handprint butterfly in a wonderland where nothing seems quite real. Where there […]
Continue ReadingA ‘dirty protest’ staged in the bathrooms of Somerville College bar – which had recently been made gender-neutral – has attracted international attention. The story, first reported by Cherwell on Sunday, has been picked up by outlets as diverse as The Times, Business Standard, and Odisha TV, a regional Indian television network. The words “We […]
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Baroness Deech, former Principal of St Anne’s College, has faced public backlash after describing those who eat meat substitutes as “transgender vegetarians”. She made the comments on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday morning when asked by her interviewer whether she would like to try vegetarian burgers made to taste like beef. “If you do eat […]
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My college, Somerville, was recently in the national press for our initial failure, and then (to use a favourite phrase!) U-turn on the matter of gender neutral toilets. So when I saw Gavin Grimm was speaking at the Union, I knew I had to go. Grimm made headlines in the US and beyond when he […]
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A recent inquest has revealed that a transgender Oxford academic at Corpus Christi died by suicide in January 2017. Erin Shepherd had just started work as a paid academic in Corpus Christi College chemistry department, having recently come out to friends and family as transgender. “The university’s statement praised Erin as an “outstanding chemist” whose death […]
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Andreja Pejić’s story is amongst the most unique in the fashion industry. Scouted as a 17-year-old in Melbourne, within four years she had carved out a hugely successful career as an androgynous model, walking in both men’s and women’s catwalks for Marc Jacobs and Jean-Paul Gautier at their Paris shows in January 2011. However, two […]
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It has been a whirlwind of a year for Caitlyn Jenner since her 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer in which she came out to the world as a trans woman. I undoubtedly value Jenner’s role in the past 12 months in creating the exposure that the trans community so desperately deserves. She has recently become […]
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Let’s return to Tsarist Russia during the 1860s. The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 gave rise to a period of intermittent civil unrest. During this time, radical progressive thinkers, dissatisfied with the Tsar’s reforms, faced state censure and intimidation. However, the liberal opposition came full circle to resemble the regime as editors of literary […]
Continue ReadingWhen Arcade Fire released a song called ‘We Exist’, it seemed apparent which liberation group the band were trying to support. This was even before Win Butler explained the story behind the song (that of a conversation between a gay son and his father), inspired by the homophobic undertones the band had heard about in […]
Continue ReadingIn a recent interview, Laura Jane Grace, lead singer and guitarist of Against Me!, stated that her greatest moments of gender dysphoria before coming out as a trans woman were when she was on stage and in her interactions with media. When an artist is on stage, they perform more than just the music. This […]
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