Living in a remote, mountainous region of Tennessee during her teenage years, Alicia remembers feeling lonely. “My parents were missionaries and we moved around a lot,” she says. “I come from a conservative Christian background and didn’t go to school, so my upbringing was very different from that of other kids my age.” By 1997, […]
The world’s most feminist city: how Umeå in Sweden became an idyll for women | Feminism
The big red puma is the focal point of Umeå. The world’s first publicly commissioned statue dedicated to the #MeToo movement depicts a snarling cat atop a steel frame designed to imitate prison bars. Its official title, according to its artist creator Camilla Akraka, is Listen but everyone just calls it “puman” – the Puma. […]
Dressing up as a witch at Halloween? The sickening origins of this caricature may make you think again | Art and design
What comes to mind when you think of a witch? A woman with a pointed hat, hooked nose, green skin, long straggly hair and a broomstick? Perhaps she’s older, bad-tempered, evil to children, wreaks havoc. From Macbeth to The Wizard of Oz, that is how witches have been portrayed – and it largely continues today. […]
Feel it in your bones: taking the pain out of osteoporosis | Menopause
Imagine a room full of women. Imagine half of them breaking a bone. What will it be? Hip? Spine? Wrist? Neck? Imagine the plaster casts, the metal screws, the pain, the immobility, the grief – a third of those who break a hip will die within a year, according to the NHS. The Royal Osteoporosis […]
The last boundary of body shaming and the stories none of us want to tell | Women’s health
I thought it was stupendous, giving birth. I felt like an Amazon, pushing out those wonder-children – long and hefty, smooth pudgy skin, so tender under my hand. It was a miracle of world-making to see a whole human unfurl from my womb. But this other shocking reality: torn flesh, lumpy stitches, burning urine, painful […]
Everything I’ve learned as a beauty columnist about the products that actually work, from £17 body cream to LED masks | Beauty
I’ve been writing about beauty for almost two decades, and in that time my ardent pursuit of hacks and game-changing advice has had two goals: to make my routine faster, and to get a better overall effect. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn […]
The 12 best women’s winter pyjamas for peaceful nights and cosy sofa days | Fashion
The temperature has dropped and the nights are drawing in, so it’s time to think about winter nightwear. The right pair of pyjamas can stop you from reaching for the thermostat dial and keep you toasty as you let the dog out first thing. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if […]
Neglect, rape and wrenching loss: can Rebecca Roberts survive it all to become the strongest woman in history? | Life and style
The gym where Rebecca Roberts trains is in an unremarkable industrial unit in St Helens, Merseyside. The room is small, the ceiling low, the music driving, the equipment incongruously large. There are the 115kg (253lb) logs she presses over her head and the atlas stones she heaves on to plinths. The heaviest stone she has […]
Can breast implants make you sick? | Well actually
In 2016, when Britney Pollock was 26, she decided to get breast implants: 400 cubic cm of silicone, inserted under her pectoral muscles. She “felt awesome” after the procedure, says Pollock, now 34 and a teacher based in California. “It just felt good to look good.” Around 2019, things began changing. “I started getting randomly […]
‘Young women from the ghetto were taken advantage of’: the power and pain of R&B’s ‘new jill swing’ era | Music
A flash of Technicolor fills the screen, as four women spin and glide in perfect unison. The bouncy crunch of drum machines collides with slick, soaring vocals, as the women then jump over one another’s heads. “I broke my ankle doing some of this stuff,” says Stacy Francis of the lively music video for You […]