‘It gave me back my voice’

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?’ Continue reading

The case of Madeleine Smith

‘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. Continue reading
The danger in peaceful protest: Women in Black - Princes Street, Edinburgh, UK.

The power of silence

Women in Black and the danger in peaceful protest

Since 2003, the Edinburgh chapter of international peace initiative Women in Black (WIB) have stood silent vigil from 1-2pm every Saturday without exception on Princes Street outside Register House. Here, the group explores the idea of danger in peaceful protest. Continue reading
Fighting for digital justice

Fighting for digital justice

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. Continue reading
Marital status and identity - time to decouple them??

Challenging marital status

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. Continue reading
Anne Askew

Anne Askew: dangerous convictions

Poet Claire Askew has composed three powerful new works to her probable 16th century ancestor.

A scholar and a poet too, Anne was the first English woman to demand a divorce, and the only woman on record to be tortured in the Tower of London. Could the men of the rack force Anne to give up her dangerous secrets? Continue reading
Woman wearing niqab.

Dangerous to whom?

The Canadian Government may have thought niqab-wearing women dangerous. Audrey Macklin and Zunera Ishaq disagreed.

The first Dangerous Women Project post considers what it means to be a dangerous woman from several angles. It features two voices in the landmark 2015 court case between a young Muslim woman–Zunera Ishaq–and the Canadian Government. Continue reading