My party outfit was so fancy I couldn’t even use the toilet. Some joker still told me I looked ‘comfy’
I like a compliment as much as the next woman. But why do they so often leave us smarting, asks the comedian, actor and writer Jessica Fostekew
‘Some people are freaked out’: how Laetitia Ky tackles abortion, sexism and race with her extraordinary hair
From vacuum cleaners to menstruation, the Ivory Coast artist and activist creates incredible sculptures with her hair to tackle taboos. She talks about how learning to love her natural hair taught her to love being a black woman – and western criticism of her work
Sofie Hagen on the legacy of lockdown: I realised what the world feels like for thin people
The comedian explains how staying at home offered a respite from abuse on the streets and feeling unwelcome in public spaces. But did it really have to take a global pandemic?
Living in a woman’s body: I left prison, but can’t forget how it feels when desire is criminalised
A prison rights activist who spent decades in jail remembers the longing and fury she felt when sex and touch were suppressed
Living in a woman’s body: as the world moves on from Covid, I feel the pain of being left behind
I have blood cancer and continue to isolate, living without touch, hugs, intimacy or love. It is heartbreaking
Living in a woman’s body: I want my daughter to be inspired by my miraculous scars
When I was pregnant, I discovered that I had developed breast cancer – just like my mother before me. One day, the child I was carrying may face the same hard choices
Living in a woman’s body: like Earth, we are changing quickly through the violence of climate collapse
Our bodies and our planet are united – and it is time to listen to what both are saying to us
Living in a woman’s body: my body belongs to me. I can harness and shape it as I see fit
We get the body we get at birth. But I learned eventually that I didn’t have to accept it, that changes are within our grasp
Living in a woman’s body: it’s a potent myth that all women want children – but I have experienced other wonders
The lie that all women have a yearning to be a mother can feel like biological gaslighting. I’ve had a different kind of life – and it is meaningful, rewarding, joyous
Emma Thompson on living in a woman’s body: my daughter thrums with life, my mother is frail – and I’m balanced between
When three generations of my family were together I realised how, wordlessly, we recalibrate each other