TWSS Team
Anjum Nahar - Online Editor
Maria Paradinas - Arts Editor
“thank u, next”
Alien elven mermaid nymph temporarily inhabiting this earthly plane
Delara Youssefian - Senior Editor
Becky Armstrong- Senior Editor
My life is sponsored by pukka Shout out to all bumble boys calling tea, procrastination, and the me Becky with the good hair; it’s elimination of prejudice #ad actually pretty greasy right now
Maegan Farrow - Arts Editor Send help
E d i t o r ’s L e t t e r
Y
O. The last three months have been pretty historic for TWSS – three new members on the editing team; we’ve consumed more White Bear halloumi burgers than we’ve had submissions (and we’ve had a LOT of submissions);
and your favourite girl gang is now a fully-fledged affiliated society with the SU, woo! After a lot of deliberation, the theme of Crossing the Border came to us (of course, with halloumi burgers in our hands). We believe this theme is immensely relevant, and creating this issue has given our contributors a vehicle to express the diversity of their personal experiences, which has provided our magazine with a more global perspective. Given the fluidity of this theme, we had a wide range of responses ranging from personal borders regarding identity, to the macroscopic issues of migration and physical geographical borderlands. We hope this issue both gives you a sprinkle of hope for 2019 with Auntie Anjie’s horoscopes, and that Meltem’s profound account of her experience as a detainee will give you all a sense of empowerment to help tackle the gendered issues of mass migration, on a global and community level. Big love, Delara and Becky x
DECEMBER 2018
CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS
Displacement from Karachi - Neha Masqood
5
Southall Black Sisters - Cliodhna Cunningham
6-7
Why the Refugee Crisis is a Feminist Issue - Becky Armstrong
8-9
My Religion Makes Me, it Doesn’t Limit Me - Delara Youssefian
10-11
Fluid Borders - Domi Rybova
12-13
When will I Become a Woman - Maia Miller-Lewis
14-15
Graffiti in Peru - Maria Paradinas
16-17
Being LGBTQ+ in a Heterosexual Relationship - Stephanie Lever 18-19 An Interview with Meltem Avcil - Anjum Nahar
20-21
Why Fast Fashion is a Feminist Issue - Lara Bodger
22-23
Almost Nearly Perfect - Iona Holmes
24-25
Grub - Hope McDonald
26-27
Photo Diary: Sylhet, Bangladesh - Anjum Nahar
28-29
Horoscopes
30-31
Displacement from Karachi Raw black lines cut out Karachi from my heart I’m not a refugee didn’t flee wasn’t forced so then why is this feeling all encompassing
if it’s cold in winter darling you’re simply not in Karachi home is where the heat is Pista, akhroat, chilgoza, lie in the glass bowl Mama has lovingly laid out I feel the stickiness of my skin as the South Asian teacher cries out about sub-continental history But, Miss! Nehru and Jinnah are strangers to me. I don’t know the women who jumped in the wells with their new-borns in tow at the Jalianwala Bagh massacre I didn’t see the blood-stained bodies Nana and Nani witnessed when they headed to a new land: Pakistan I am not this history I am not this mass migration I am not the 2 million dead
not in the mix not in the movement but a reader of this history But darling don’t get your wires crossed. This blood, this body you see now has crossed borders has escaped colonial legacy The melanin in my skin carries more stories of escape and promise than you know off
ILLUSTRATION BY MAEGAN FARROW
displacement could also be from the shahi halwai
So then why, mama, am I displaced from sub-continental history? reading the words from up close but living them from ever So far.
BY NEHA MAQSOOD
5
Southall Black Sisters The immediate ‘crackdown’ on physical borderlands is a populist narrative that is sweeping global politics. Unfortunately, this scaremongering is not a new phenomenon. In light of this, I would like to draw attention to the treacherous process of assimilation that migrants face after crossing the national borderland. As a society we rarely discuss this experience or the insidious and psychological borderlands that migrants must traverse where multiple cultures meet and overlap. From a lack of social support to blatant colourism, the multiple layers of selfhood that migrants are forced to assume simply to live, is in itself a confusing task. My specific focus for this piece is to draw attention to a women’s collective that helped to relieve migrants from the denigration of cultural borderlands in 70’s Britain: Southall Black Sisters. The ‘swamped by immigrants’ narrative certainly benefited Thatcher’s government, but it had insidious effects for immigrants - the consequences of which are still notable today.
BY CLIODHNA CUNNINGHAM
Asians, Caribbeans and other minority groups were homogenised as a collective immigrant ‘other’. Yet, an awareness of Thatcher’s rhetoric caused groups like the Southall Black Sisters to organise themselves in response. Southall Black Sisters reclaimed this ‘otherness’ and powerfully forged a collective identity under the term ‘Black’, crafting a politics that stood for collective cross-racial action, not skin colour. The Southall Black Sisters are remarkable because they created a space of unity for all women of colour who were suffering in an increasingly polarised Britain. They were at the forefront, pushing for women’s human rights and domestic abuse support. SBS also offered support in various languages, a beacon of hope for migrant women that might face hostility in traditional health centres for their inability to speak English. When it comes to race relations it is paramount to acknowledge the invisible borderlands that migrants grapple with every day. The Southall Black Sisters’ hyper-awareness of these unstable borderlands in such a confusing time allowed them to pioneer BME women’s human rights in street protests, outside detention centres and in the courts. The fact that SBS are still running today is testament to the amazing work they have done and continue to do.
7
Why the Global Refugee Crisis TW: This article touches on themes of sexual violence, as well as miscarriage, in the context of forced migration. It also uses the term ‘refugee’ to signify all those who identify as being forcibly displaced, rather than the status which is granted or denied by respective governing bodies.
Furthermore, as we have seen more recently with Venezuelan refugees fleeing to Colombia, many women who seek sanctuary in less developed countries are often left with no other option than to solicit sex when they cannot find stable work, a considerable number of them being underage and having no legal Feminism doesn’t exist in a vacuum; where protection when they engage in sex work. problems exist, their effects are usually intensified for women. And with women who If we consider specifically the identify as refugees being some of the most refugee crisis that is contained multi-oppressed people on the planet, it is within Europe, you might expect that once important to understand why the refugee refugee women reach the supposed safety of crisis is one of the most crucial feminist the camps, the risk of sexual violence might be issues of the 21st century. Women who face diminished. However, European governments forced migration experience intersectional have demonstrated their complacency by failing discrimination: as women, migrants, and to ensure that these camps are safe for women. the vast majority as women of colour. Not to Sleeping areas and toilet facilities are rarely mention those who are marginalised on the segregated between men and women which hugely basis of their religion, those who are disabled increases incidents of assault. Furthermore, the (something all too common for refugees fleeing moral apathy of European governments to accept war zones), as well as those who are LGBTQI+ more of the thousands of unaccompanied minors and seek asylum as a result of the persecution from refugee camps across Europe has meant they encounter in less progressive societies. that sexual violence is inflicted at a much younger age, with many young refugees experiencing Besides the xenophobia, homophobia, severe sexual trauma with little or no support. transphobia, religious discrimination and ableism faced by most refugee women, there Aside from sexual violence, one of the other are other specific problems which are closely major issues facing refugee women is the lack intertwined with the reality of forced migration of health services available to them. As soon that the majority of refugee women will as people become displaced, they lose stable access to healthcare which is particularly dangerous for women who are pregnant. Perhaps the most prevalent of these is sexual violence and trafficking. Statistics show that women are far more vulnerable to trafficking than men and the risk of this only increases once women are disposed and made homeless, as traffickers target the most vulnerable individuals. As a consequence of this, many women are compelled to engage in ‘survival sex’ to secure male protectors against these trafficking rings, who will then ensure their relative safety along the notoriously unsafe migration routes. Young girls are also frequently married off at increasingly young ages as this is seen as their only chance of survival.
is a Feminist Issue
COLLAGE BY MARIA PARADINAS
It is an all too common occurrence for women travelling migration routes, as well as those temporarily settled in squalid camps, to miscarry or deliver stillborn children due to the emotional and physical strain of the journey.
As if this wasn’t hard enough to swallow, their children in all likelihood will not receive proper burial, only adding to the dehumanisation which characterises the flight from conflict, persecution and environmental crisis. So despite all this, the ‘lucky’ few whose asylum claims are considered must go through a rigorous process of interviews (thanks Theresa May) which are rarely gender sensitive. Women who have experienced inordinate levels of trauma are often interviewed by men and/or in the presence of male interpreters. These women are then expected to disclose traumatic accounts of their reasons for seeking asylum, as well as descriptions of the sexual violence they experienced both within their home countries and on their journeys to sanctuary.
Many women are also forcibly interviewed in the presence of their children making it impossible for many to communicate the extent of their experiences. These conscious attempts to create a ‘hostile environment’ have meant that many women seeking asylum have understandably been unable to disclose the full spectrum of reasons which should grant them refugee status, resulting in some of the most vulnerable individuals having their asylum claims rejected. Ultimately, with refugee women facing discrimination from so many directions, it’s not surprising that their voices are rarely heard or influence the decisions of policy-makers. The refugee crisis succinctly demonstrates how all issues are linked, and as feminists, the refugee crisis is also our problem and we must platform the women that it silences. The planet is currently seeing the greatest mass movement of people of all time, with 68.5 million people forcibly displaced worldwide. It is imperative that we act and pressure decision-makers, since a solution that centres feminism is one that could alleviate the suffering of millions of people.
BY BECKY ARMSTRONG 9
My Religion Makes Me, it Doesn't Limit Me
Growing up in a religious family: I wouldn’t exactly call my experience ‘easy’. I remember constant complaints to friends at school - ‘as if growing up in this day and age isn’t difficult enough, I’ve got to deal with religious rules as well as crazy peer pressure to ditch those rules and be a ‘normal teenager’’. I remember resenting my religion, and often thinking of it as the root of many of my problems. I remember feeling like I was never going to have the same bonds as my other friends had with each other – bonds over their favourite alcoholic drink, making plans to smoke weed at each other’s houses, their conversations about sex and boyfriends, and their ideal first times. If I had a penny for every time I wondered and dreamed about a life without the ‘impediment’ of religion, let’s just say I wouldn’t currently be drowning in my overdraft. I grew up in a family who, for generations, has been part of the Bahá’i Faith. I wouldn’t be surprised if you just frowned at the page in confusion, or went to Google ‘Bahá’i Faith’, because that’s often the reaction I get. Despite there being around six million Bahá’is across the world, most people I come across haven’t heard of it. This was probably another reason why as a kid I was never too keen on my religion, because like most other kids, anything that made me feel slightly different to the people around me was something I wanted to quickly eradicate. From probably around the age of five or six, I started going to Sunday School with some other Bahá’i friends where we learnt the basic principles and history of the Faith, endlessly listing and singing about virtues such as love, kindness, truthfulness, patience and so on. From that age onwards, I was regularly told about the importance of being steadfast to the Faith and abiding by its laws, all the while being tentatively reassured by my Sunday school teachers and my family that I still had the right to choose whether or not I wanted to be a Bahá’i.
I have to take a lot of the responsibility for never feeling connected to my religion as I was growing up. I spent a lot of my time focusing on the ‘hindrances’ it had on my life – such as not being allowed to drink alcohol, do drugs, or have sex before marriage – instead of having an open mind to the Faith’s teachings. Instead of reading some of the religious writings or talking to friends or family about it, I spent a lot of my early teenage years Googling things like ‘what will happen to me if I defy my religious laws’ or ‘stories from people who have left their religion’, to try and calm the thoughts screaming inside my head to just push this religion to the side and effectively ignore its existence while I freely lived my life. But I felt so guilty about all these feelings. Leaving the Faith would mean disappointing my family – who I love and respect more than anything or anyone – and the thought of doing that kept me awake in tears for countless nights during my teens. I remember once crying to my mum, pleading for help and asking her why I didn’t feel connected to our religion in the way I should have been. My relationship with religion has undeniably been rocky and testing. When I was 18, I went to a 10 day Bahá’i course in summer just before starting university, and at the risk of sounding extremely cliché; those 10 days changed my life (definitely cliché). In a class of about 30 friends, we drew on topics that are often prevalent at university, such as participating in social discourses, and how we could use our degrees to contribute to the betterment of society. The best way to describe the way I felt after the course is as if I’d been looking out onto an amazing landscape my entire life, but there had always been a dark veil over my eyes stopping me from seeing the full view – and this course completely lifted that veil.
The course opened my eyes to the principles of the Faith that I’d completely missed because of my lack of desire to read the Bahá’i writings – principles of the oneness of humanity, worldwide unity, the elimination of prejudice, the equality of men and women, the harmony of science and religion. There was one point during the course where we were talking about how human nature is partly spiritual and partly materialistic, and the need to balance both in society, and how often when people are struggling to ‘find themselves’ or feel as if there’s something missing in their lives, spirituality is usually the thing that’s missing. I think I went silent for a good half an hour after that (a huge amount of time for me), because I was coming to the huge realisation that the Bahá’i Faith, despite being present in my life since birth, was exactly what I had been looking for for so many years. I had been looking for an outlet to exercise and express my immense passion for unity, gender equality, the eradication of prejudice, and it had been right in front of my eyes.
BY DELARA YOUSSEFIAN
11
ILLUSTRATION BY DELARA YOUSSEFIAN
All the laws I’d been so concerned about made so much sense to me after talking about them with friends, and I finally understood why we don’t drink alcohol or have premarital sex after reading the real reasons behind them, other than merely seeing them as rules set by my parents without any clear explanation. The reasons were so clear to me that I started to question why I’d struggled with them so much for the past few years.
There’s a reason why the Faith avidly promotes independent investigation of the writings, and I fully understand why now. Blindly accepting the religion presented to me by my parents clearly wasn’t the best way to go. Reading around it and finding a love and acceptance for my religion, for myself, was a real moment and milestone, and the Faith is now something I hold extremely close to me. Now whenever someone asks me about my religion, instead of being slightly embarrassed and shy, I proudly and openly tell them every beautiful aspect of the Bahá’i Faith, even the rules that are pretty much the antithesis of university culture. The religion I’ve had an admittedly turbulent relationship with, I now consider to be the biggest and most cherished part of my identity.
FLUID BORDERS 12
BY DOMI RYBOVA
This sculpture is a 2.5m tall paper column, which stands in the middle of a room obstructing the space. A shaky projection runs over it with moving land-masses and words surrounding border activity and the careful vocabulary of relaying history. Political borders are volatile. As much in their physical qualities as symbolically; they are susceptible to shifts and changes. In some areas, the line drawn is contended and contested, meaning that borderlands are spaces that are grounded in subjectivity. These lines take form in a myriad of ways: shaped by nature, or set by political discourse; existing as hostile barriers, or places of exchange. These are lands of limitations which are rooted in a state of flux but simultaneously hold the possibility of life inhabiting them. The words we choose to narrate changes at the borderline are packed with ideology. This art project looked into how we talk and think about borders between countries, focusing specifically on one point in time: Czechoslovakia, 1938. The year saw Adolf Hitler annex and claim part of western Czechoslovakia under the Munich Agreement.
The document was signed by the respective leaders of Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy at the time with the notable exclusion of Czechoslovakia. The word “agreement” is a clear political device for it rewrote an alternate version of events, negating what actually happened. What for Neville Chamberlain signified, “peace for our time”, was for the Czechoslovak people the Munich Diktat, or Betrayal. Betrayal, diktat, appeasement, agreement: how we tell history can dilute its veracity. When it comes to mapping, lines are drawn and redrawn to illustrate a version of political truth. Demarcations hold no true objective meaning, save in their function to order and separate. We become complicit in agreeing to and abiding by these lines, securing the foundation of borders which otherwise would be spaces devoid of meaning. The map is fictitious, symbolic of a human agreement to coexist: a shapeshifting mass, partitioned, undone and drawn once again.
When will I become a woman? BY MAIA MILLER-LEWIS
Growing up was never going to be easy, but it was not until recently that I really questioned how easy I had it. After watching Grayson Perry’s latest documentary ‘Rites of Passage’, I was forced to hide behind a pillow whilst I witnessed the ‘coming of age’ ceremony of Amazonian Tikuna girls on the brink of womanhood. To complete the right of passage, adolescent girls have their hair forcibly pulled from their heads by their female relatives, in front of their entire community. As you are probably aware by now, there is nothing as physically extreme as this practice in white Western culture to mark the transition between girlhood and womanhood. But this doesn’t mean that becoming a woman is straightforward. In fact, the absence of ritualistic ceremony that marks a binary between youth and maturity arguably makes this transition a lot more complicated. We are constantly bombarded with different narratives about how, when and why we become women. It is very easy to become confused and overwhelmed. Forging your way through the word fog, the significant events that become identified as marking your womanhood are usually relatively ‘painless’. The first time you get catcalled for example. Yes, it’s not a particularly nice experience being shouted at across the street for wearing some skinny jeans. But incidents like this rarely stop us from going about our day to day lives. I like to see it as character-building. I now have a litany of prepared responses to fire off at any given moment!
But within any discussion about the transformation from girlhood into becoming a fully-fledged lady woman, there is one event that undeniably stands out. Getting your first period.When I used to work at a supermarket, one of the women who the checkout told me the story of her first ‘bleed’ (her words, not mine). Upon being informed of the momentous event, her father went out to the shops and came back with a huge box of chocolates and a big bunch of roses to congratulate her on, you guessed it - ‘becoming a woman’. My first reaction: Umm, why didn’t I get any chocolates?! My second: A lovely warm feeling. What a nice gesture, a wonderful way to recognise that your daughter is growing up, transitioning from a girl into a beautiful, strong woman.
14
ILLUSTRATION BY DANNI POLLOCK
Your first bra fitting is also a key rung on the maturity ladder. Walking into one of those intimidating, fluorescently lit dressing rooms only to be clinched by a cold measuring tape can make you feel pretty grown up. After all, you have no idea what a 28 A means when you’re thirteen. Seems like a pretty big number, right?
. It is paramount that we have an ongoing conversation about menstruation, drawing attention to the issues of period poverty and persecution in society. However, the stress on periods as being a definer of womanhood can inadvertently alienate period-less women in an ultimately damaging sense. Speaking from experience, chit-chat surrounding the most insignificant things like what kind of tampons everyone is using, makes those who are missing out on this natural phenomenon feel isolated and abnormal. By putting too great an emphasis on periods as the transition point, period-less women are left in an identity limbo. They are no longer children but do not make the cut to be classed as women. I would argue that there is no hard border you need to cross to become a woman. It is a long, drawn out process of evolution, defined by socialisation and experience. It is different for everyone and I don’t think it ever really ends. I reflect on my nana who, at 79 was in so many ways still a girl. As a result of her upbringing, she spent her whole life afraid of womanhood, constructing an impenetrable bubble to protect the ‘little lady’ inside. According to biology, she would have been considered a woman. But in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t really count for much. If we are honest, the prospect of becoming a woman is actually quite terrifying. The media is always telling us about all the roadblocks placed in front of us: sexism, assault, objectification. Many girls will suffer setbacks: eating disorders, body dysmorphia, incited by the pressure placed on us to live up to the ideal of a concept that in no way should be universalised. There is no singular definition of what it means to be a woman other than perhaps our right to inherent individuality. I still haven’t figured it out. I feel like it was only yesterday that I was a five years old, running around my back garden. I don’t feel I have yet to become a woman but I know that if anything, I am on my way.
15
Graffiti in Peru
AGAINST CORRUPTION, TRUE EDUCATION
LESBIANS #WE EXIST AND WE RESIST
YOU DON’T NEED A VAGINA TO EMBODY PUSSY POWER
GRAFFITI AS A WAY OF DECORATING THE BORDERS OF PUBLIC SPACE. It offers an opportunity to share information // spread an anti-establishment message // express identity that may be non-conformant with normative narratives // publicly affirm state of being // creatively engage with the environment. ONLY EIGHT YEARS OLD SEVEN SHOTS KILLED HIM
BY MARIA PARADINAS
Because of this relationship, coupled with the fact that all sexual/romantic liaisons I’ve had (with a few exceptions) have been with people of the opposite gender, I have never really felt that I have the right to identify completely as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, just due to my utter lack of experience. I was raised with an extremely liberal mindset, so it never really occurred to me that I might myself be doubting what I knew to be true: that no matter who your relationships have been with, if with anyone at all, sexuality is personal and valid. It’s very easy to know this and assure other people of it confidently, but it’s often a much harder thing to tell yourself.
BY STEPHANIE LEVER
Being queer+ in a heterosexual relationship
I’m pretty sure that I could count on one hand the times that I’ve actually called myself bisexual. I’ve always been very happy to just say that I like who I like and that’s that. But however much I prefer not to ‘put myself in a box’, I have been wondering a lot recently about whether there is a reason I’ve chosen not to define my sexuality too clearly in the past, and have come to the conclusion that being in a two-year relationship with a guy may have something to do with it.
Being in a long-term monogamous relationship, it occasionally feels as if somehow your sexuality becomes your partner, and having spoken to friends about it, this seems like a fairly common experience. The question of sexual preference is left largely untouched I’m sleeping exclusively with my boyfriend, so it can easily become a question that I no longer need to give any attention to. It therefore seems as if I have a completely separate identity; separate to the me who lives my everyday life and has a committed boyfriend. This idea unsettles me, it isn’t right that such an unexplored yet intrinsic part of who I am should be pushed to the side merely as a result of who I choose to date at any given time.
Not only does my relationship tend to sideline my sexual orientation in my own mind, making it a part of me that I’ve never really had to fully confront, but general interactions I had with boys as I was growing up have made me view lesbianism in a specific way, to the detriment of how I viewed my own bisexuality. The hyper-sexualisation of love and romance between two women is perhaps the biggest impact that being LGBTQ+ in a heterosexual relationship has had on my life. My boyfriend has never particularly liked hearing about people that I have been with in the past, especially when we first got together. However, my relations (sexual and/or romantic) with girls, although few, never seemed to fit into this offensive category of topics we didn’t like to breach. Instead, it was really ‘interesting’ and ‘sexy’. It has always seemed as if my history with other girls has been of far less value that that with boys, it wasn’t the same currency and not to be taken seriously. The perpetual sexualisation of lesbianism practically renders it illegitimate when compared to the guys that I have been with. Rather than being a part of my own identity, my attraction to girls becomes a commodity for guys to commandeer and get excited over, imagining all the threesomes that I must want to have, making me cool and fun and different. In a way, recognising this is a step towards reclaiming my bisexuality as belonging completely to me. I think that most people suffer from impostor syndrome in some form or another; it’s very easy to feel like you are not quite enough. However, it is important to remember that regardless of your relationship status, or range of experience, we are all valid. Whether I choose to label myself bisexual or carry on just ‘liking who I like’, whether I’m in a straight or gay relationship of any length, my sexuality is my own to explore and define however I see fit. 19
ILLUSTRATION BY RIVKA COCKER
h t i w w e i An Interv
MELTEM AVCIL Meltem Avcil has first-hand experience of the UK Immigration Detention system. She has spent time in the notorious Yarl’s Wood detention centre. This is her story. How did you end up in Yarl’s Wood and how long were you detained for? My family and I came to the UK in 2001 to apply for asylum. After six years of being relentlessly moved from city to city, our asylum claim was rejected. One very early morning in August 2007, around eight to ten immigration officers forced their way into our home and took me and my mother to Yarl’s Wood detention centre to deport us back to where we had come from. We were detained for three months; I was thirteen years old at the time. Detaining children for more than twenty-eight days was illegal, but despite that, I was still detained. What like
in
were the
the detention
conditions centre?
As soon as we entered the B-class prison, our belongings (we were not allowed to take much) were confiscated and we were searched thoroughly. Our photos were taken, and we were given ID cards to use inside the ‘ward.’ There were two wards at the time: one was the family ward and the other was for single people. We were taken to the family ward. The series of metal doors we passed by were locked one after the other as we walked further along. We were given a room to share, number 150. The windows could open just an inch and it was sealed so we could not be seen. Yarl’s Wood is in the middle of nowhere so we wouldn’t be seen anyway.
There was a courtyard with very high walls, barbed wire and strict rules of usage. For people suffering from pain, there was a ‘GP’ kind of place where victims of the system were treated badly. Very badly. I went one time when I had kidney pain and I was crying, trying to endure the pain.The nurse came out and shouted at me, telling me to shut up. Yarl’s Wood had nasty conditions. What did it feel like to leave the detention centre and adjust back into your normal life? I do not think I fully ever left the prison. I would not call it a detention center; at least in my imagination, detention centers come with some sense of freedom. Not Yarl’s Wood. For me, it was a prison for people who had not committed a crime. I was thirteen years old but did not feel like it. I grew up a lot, more than I wanted in three months. In the end of our long fight, we were told that we were to be released on the 22nd November 2007. I felt a broken sadness; it had already taken so much away from me, that I did not understand what the outside world could ever give to replace the pain and suffering Yarl’s Wood caused. It was a moment of my life I have never forgotten, and I do not think I ever will. Normal life? I could not adjust at all, I felt alienated. I was always afraid to build a ‘normal’ life that could, one day, again be taken from me. I was messed up academically, I was in a different high school every year, and at one point I moved from two different high schools in just one year. So honestly speaking, I never could adjust back to the normal life.
Tell us about the campaigning you have done on the issue of immigration detention I started a campaign in Yarl’s Wood at the age of thirteen with the help of great people, we won that in 2010. I still simply could not move on, and started another campaign with the help of more great people in 2014 to close down Yarl’s Wood. Even though I was still not fine, I knew we could do something about the situation and so I accepted an offer from Natasha Walter (founder of Women For Refugee Women) to start another campaign and speak up for what we believed was right.
Mine and my mother’s lives were saved because of campaigning and the help of people who genuinely cared about the issue. Selfless people, who were passionate about the lives of others. My advice would be that campaigning really can save lives, and although it does take time, in the end what is right will win. If the students can campaign for anything they are passionate about, then they should go for it! Campaigning can save a lot of things, but before campaigning, caring can save even more.
FACILITATED BY ANJUM NAHAR
ILUSTRATION BY JIANNING WU
There are various campaigns happening in Bristol working towards ending and delegitimizing the immigration detention system. What would you say to students and young people to encourage them to participate and support these campaigns?
21
Why Fast Fashion is a Feminst Issue
ILLUSTRATION BY RIVKA COCKER
Fashion has had a longstanding relationship with feminism, empowering women to choose how they will represent themselves to the outside world. I for one love the connection I feel between what I wear and my identity, and cheap high street clothes have allowed for easy access to fashion. But what effect is our thirst for bargains having on those that produce our clothes? The fast fashion industry has boomed in recent years, and in the last year alone consumers spent £50 billion pounds. As 80% of garment workers are women, this is a gendered issue, and we need to be aware of the human cost of providing a demand for such cheap clothing. Identifying as a feminist is to hold a belief in the liberation of all women across the world, to quote Emma Lazarus “Until we are all free…none of us are free”.
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You might remember the infamous 2008 Panorama documentary, ‘Primark: On The Rack’, which showed horrifying footage of extremely exploitative conditions for labourers in Primark factories. The documentary has stayed with me, and I have since avoided shopping at Primark. But the hypocrisy in this is all too clear, as it’s not just Primark who are guilty. The reality being that access to cheap clothes from all high street brands means dire working conditions for all those producing the clothes. You only have to look at the label to see that the majority of high street clothing is produced in countries where employees have fewer or even nonexistent labour rights to protect them from extreme exploitation. Countries who produce these cheap garments are pitted against each other by high street fashion brands, to provide the lowest wages in order that these brands will then set up shop in their country. Labour behind the label, a Bristol based cooperative who campaign for the rights of garment workers worldwide, draws attention to the human rights abuses within many factories. These include poverty wages, long hours, forced overtime, unsafe working conditions, alongside cases of sexual, physical and verbal abuse. The collapse of garment factories such as the Rana Plaza complex in Bangladesh, which killed 1,134 people in 2013, also demonstrates that the factories themselves can be shockingly dangerous due to a lack of enforcement of safety regulations.
There have been moves within the fashion industry to tackle this, with sustainable collections from brands such as H&M using eco-friendly fabrics, and making commitments to specific codes of conduct to ensure better working conditions for factory workers. Despite this, the issue here still lies with the outsourcing of work to independent suppliers, who are under no such obligation to comply with the codes and can continue to hire workers for extremely low wages. Another problem is that the rest of H&M’s products are not bound to these sustainable and ethical pledges, so whilst it’s great that they have made some effort in this area, the vast majority of their clothing is still being made in exploitative environments. This is not to mention the environmental impact of fast fashion, with Stacey Dooley’s recent documentary ‘Fashions Dirty Secrets’ drawing attention to the fact that fashion is the second biggest polluter to oil. As a vegetarian attempting to navigate ethical food choices, it feels disingenuous to neglect the impact that my clothes are also having on the planet. It is also important to take into consideration that climate change affects those in the poorest regions first, and perhaps more notably that women in these regions are disproportionately affected by environmental crisis due to socio-economic factors. It can feel overwhelming to tackle these issues, but there are things we can do it pressurise companies into change. A quick one is to sign up to campaigns and petitions that promote fair trade in the fashion industry. A longer term commitment for those of us privileged to have the time and resources to consider our fashion choices is to be prepared to pay more in exchange for the knowledge that the workers are getting a fair wage. Ethical fashion brands such as ‘People Tree’ do exist, and the more we support them, the more the industry will grow and protect workers. Also, check out the ‘Good On You’ app, which looks at the ethical credentials of brands so you can make informed decisions.
We also need to work on buying less, and not more! Many of us are guilty of treating clothes as disposable, buying something for single use, particularly since the rise of internet shopping and days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday which encourage us to continue the endless cycle of consumerism. I’m looking at you ASOS… Finally, vintage and charity shops is another way to change spending habits, if you’re not quite ready to commit to a smaller wardrobe. As feminists, or more generally as consciousness consumers, we need to do more to advocate for those who are trapped within an industry which denies them a voice and to make this discussion a public one in order to pressurise our favourite brands into doing a whole lot better!
BY LARA BODGER 23
t c e f r e P y l r a e N t s o m Al hen anaw e c n a u n ce of n The importa equality r e d n e g g lysin
BY IONA HOLMES
Denmark, along with the rest of Scandinavia, is often idealised by other nations. Its progressive politics are admired, particularly their gender equality policies, and it’s known for being home to some of the happiest people on the planet. When I moved here in August, I was intrigued to learn the reasons behind this and hoped to incorporate some of the Danes’ habits and outlooks into my own lifestyle. However, I have come to realise something that perhaps should have been obvious to me before - that once one engages with the nuances of a system across the border, the illusion of a perfect nation fades. Don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of Danish institutions and attitudes that deserve the praise they receive. Danes seem to be of the opinion that they are well reimbursed by the state for their high taxes. On a general level, their intensive welfare state ensures that citizens are well-looked after in all areas of their lives, thus the lowest standard of living is higher than average and there is less income inequality. More specifically, while we graduate in thousands of pounds of student debt, Danish students do not have to pay tuition fees and are paid (not loaned) approximately £720 per month to attend university. In turn, this creates a more equal society with greater levels of happiness across the board. The emphasis on maintaining a healthy work-life balance, evident from their shorter working hours and the enjoyment of ‘hygge’ activities, also contributes to this greater life satisfaction. In terms of gender equality, the Danish paternity and maternity leave policy springs to mind as being particularly noteworthy. Overall, parents are entitled to 52 weeks leave with maternity subsistence allowance. The mother is entitled to four weeks leave prior to giving birth, and 14 weeks after, while the father is entitled to two weeks leave after the birth. The remainder of the time can be divided however the parents wish. This flexible system should prevent women’s career progress being hindered upon having children, because it breaks the assumption that men will promptly return to the workplace after starting a family, while women remain at home with the baby. This all contributes to the image of Denmark as an aspirational nation. However, closer inspection reveals that not all aspects of Danish society are so desirable; their glowing policies do not necessarily translate into practical results.
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Firstly, Danish society seems to be rather insular. Hostile attitudes towards immigration are rife, as are casual racist and Islamophobic remarks. This could perhaps be an unfortunate by-product of having such a comprehensive welfare state funded by the people, along with a racially homogenous demographic. What is particularly problematic about this from my perspective, and has put me in some rather uncomfortable situations among my peers, is that such comments are just as likely to come from young people as they are from the elderly. This suggests that these perspectives are likely to remain prevalent for the foreseeable future, whereas in the UK we tend to associate them with older generations. Harking back to the previously mentioned parental leave system, it appears that doesn’t actually result in men taking more time off work, and women are still failing to progress to leadership positions in their professions. Figures show that on average, the father takes approximately 30 days paternity leave, while mothers take a considerably larger 297. Furthermore, Denmark ranks 80th in the world for the gender leadership gap, and the number of women in top roles has only increased from 10% to 15% in the past 20 years (1995-2015). Therefore, customs are still prevailing despite the law allowing for change, meaning women remain trapped below the glass ceiling. More shocking, are the archaic rape laws which still form part of the Danish criminal justice system. The legislation is not consent-based: according to the legal requirements, rape only occurs if sex is forced through violence or under the threat of violence. This creates two main issues - firstly, such a limited definition of rape restricts access to justice for those who are forced to have sex against their will. Secondly, it can have a concerning influence on the attitudes of society at large towards sexual relationships, by devaluing the importance of communication between partners. Acknowledging Denmark’s reality has brought me to the realisation of the importance of fully engaging with a country’s laws and societal attitudes before simply classifying it as ‘progressive’ or ‘good’ at gender equality. This need to consider intricacies extends beyond analysis of countries - it should be the approach taken to assessing businesses, cultures, individuals and so on. We need to consider what works, what is ineffective and the actual impacts of policies
ILLUSTRATIONS BY BECKY ARMSTRONG
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G R U B 26
BY HOPE MCDONALD
Rip a hunk of flesh from this Thumb, emaciated turgid pink Encased. Devouring myself over and over, Until sticky starlight Winks through my throat, bitter. Betwixt me and between you I wait, over pasta and bread Offering myself amidst flour Broken cheese in flight Until the task of reduction is forgotten, just For a second at the threshold. Falling, slipping back into Retreat - what are girls if not
ILLUSTRATIONS BY RIVKA COCKER
One another, lover and lover, Entwined creases scattered On the same knuckle, us both in Hunger’s hand. Palm open Uncut, uncupped flickers of Fearful burnt skin, before
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Photo Diary: sylhet, Bangldesh
BY ANJUM NAHAR
Aunty Angie’s 2019 Horoscopes of Friendship, Fulfillment and Fun Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19) We all know that the fiery Aries likes to take a ‘full steam ahead’ approach to life. However, you might come across a few speed bumps in 2019 and you should be careful not to let yourself burn out. Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20) As a Taurus you’ve always been slightly on the stubborn side. But 2019 could be the year you start to relax your guard, embrace change and become more flexible. This is likely to attract new friends and widen your social circles. Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20) The curious Gemini is going to embark on the adventure of a lifetime in the new year. The stars urge you to travel as much as possible over the next few months to avoid becoming restless in one place. Cancer (Jun 21 - Jul 22) Your going to learn the lesson of a lifetime in 2019 Cancer: how to handle criticism. Receiving feedback is tough for sure, but once you become unphased about receiving criticism you will start taking leaps in your personal growth. Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22) Be careful around other people’s feelings over the upcoming months Leo. You might find yourself in a situation where you have the capacity to break someone’s heart. Karma is real though, so act wisely. Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22) As a Virgo, you like attention to detail. This will be your strength in the new year - when things start to get a little chaotic you will be able to organise yourself and those around you ensuring that even the trickiest situations have happy outcomes.
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Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22) Try not to be indecisive in 2019 Libra as this will slow you down in all aspects of life. Make it your new year’s resolution to be more spontaneous and to learn to trust your instincts. Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21) You’ve kept your cards close to your chest this year Scorpio and haven’t been good at sharing your emotions. You will meet someone soon who will teach you to open up and this will be good for your emotional development. Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21) The Sagittarius always knows how to have fun. However, it is important that you maintain a balance between your social life and work life in 2019. Capricorn (Jun 21 - Jul 22) Capricorns are known for their maturity and loyalty.It can be frustrating for the Capricorn when you have to be dealing with immature people. Your going to meet a lot of those in 2019 Capricorn, get ready to have your patience tested. Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18) You might find yourself having deep and recurrent mood swings in the first half of 2019 Aquarius. Don’t worry though, you will pick up a new interest in the latter half of the year which will preoccupy your mind and help with your emotional stability. Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20) 2019 will be romantic and dreamy for you, Pisces. You’ll end up falling in love with many people, especially yourself.
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ISSUE 16
STARRING: Becky
Armstrong,
Youssefian,
Maria
Anjum Paradinas,
Yasmin
Nahar,
Maegan
Farrow,
Delara Rivka
Cocker, Neha Masqood, Maia Miller-Lewis, Jianning Wu,
Created by Maegan Farrow and Maria Paradinas
CREATED BY MAEGAN FARROW AND MARIA PARADINAS
Cliodhna
Cunningham,
Stephanie
Lever,
Lara
Bodger
Hope
Danni
Mcdonald, and
Domi
Pollock, Iona
Holmes, Rybova
Cover by Maegan Farrow