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Subtle subversions of Victorian gender conventions
Laura Witz illustrates how one of Scotland’s most prolific writers, Margaret Oliphant, challenged 19th century society’s expectations of women via an unexpected route–the romance novel.
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A modern day witch-hunt
Western society’s belief in witches may have come and gone, but what would a witch-hunt look like today? In this comic, Maria Stoian has created a chilling and compelling interpretation of a 21st century witch trial.
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One woman’s struggle to become legally divorced in India
Papia Sengupta spent five years seeking a divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act of India. Here, she shares the legal and social challenges she faced along her journey.
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Reflecting on the life and work of the ‘other’ Wordsworth
Award-winning poet Marianne Boruch gives us a poem and reflection on Dorothy Wordsworth, William’s lesser known but no less talented sister.
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A Women’s Aid group contributes a poem of strength and support
The women who contributed today’s post have been victims of domestic abuse and have been supported by Women’s Aid East and Midlothian (Scotland, UK). The poem is their collective work, around the Dangerous Women Project’s question: ‘what does it mean to be a dangerous woman?’
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‘Lucretia Borgia or only a boarding school miss’?
Madeleine Smith’s trial for the murder of her lover, Emile L’Angelier, in 1857, combined those twin Victorian obsessions, sex and death, in a way that not only led to questions about womanhood in general, but about the whole fabric of society.
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The angry ones: how women speaking out about abuse and assault are changing the conversation
Writer and digital producer Whitney Milam considers the strength it takes for women to speak out online, and the inherent danger in doing so, particularly in close-knit digital communities like the YouTube world.
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Is it a dangerous idea? Undermining tradition? Threatening romantic love?
Joni Meenagh researches young people’s negotiation of their romantic and sexual relationships in the context of new media environments. Here, she challenges the notion of marital status as society’s most privileged category of interpersonal relationships.
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