The VOICE JOURNAL
Rants. Plus poems about rage, motherhood, politics, grief, awakening and the refusal to be quiet. New work posted as it happens. Read, share, feel something.
Jane Doe: Naming Her Is a Crime in the UK but Legal in America
I am Jane Doe. I can actually say that and mean it. Over here a woman who reports rape gets anonymity for life, by law. In America a man with 350,000 followers can ask the internet to find her, and the only thing standing in his way was thousands of other women. And before we get smug, 2.8% of reported rapes here end in a charge.
Within Living Memory, part one (2021): How Afghan Women Lost Everything in Three Years
I was listening to a podcast at work the other day and it stopped me dead in my tracks. Three years is all it took to go from relative freedom to being muted and erased. This is part one, and it's all true.
Treat Women Like Shit And They’re Not Going To Have Your Babies
England and Wales, 1.41 children per woman, the lowest since 1938. Korea, 0.8. Two thirds of the world below replacement. Women everywhere, at the same time, saying no. This is why, and who's panicking.
The Experiment That Never Happened
Healthy men made to live a mother's routine broke in thirty days, the post said, and not one could talk about his wife the same way again. None of it happened. The real numbers have been there for decades.
Mostly Male Doctors. Mostly Women Patients. No Trials Since 1985.
Women live 3.9 years longer than men. The advantage in healthy years is ten weeks. This is what fills the difference, and it ends somewhere most people think medicine left behind in the 1950s.
The Party Your Son’s Feed Built
Joe Rogan hosts the most listened-to podcast in Britain. In July a relatively unknown British MP got two hours on it. What he was recruiting for should worry every parent, and every woman.
The Dial: When The Rich Get Richer, Women Get Hurt
There are societies where rape is almost unknown. Two sets of researchers, forty years apart, found what separates them from ours: hierarchy. Male violence is a setting, not a fact.
The Scoreboard Lied
Denmark tops the equality rankings AND Europe’s partner violence table at the same time. It’s called the Nordic Paradox, and it exposes the lie we were sold: that closing the pay gap would stop him hitting her.
The Monster Has A Lanyard
We hand girls a faceless monster and point them at the shadows. We never tell them to look at the lanyard. On the myth that protects the trusted man, and the case that proves it.
How To Be The Best At Everything
I found two books in a charity shop. One teaches boys how to fight a bull. One teaches girls how to look beautiful tomorrow. Both published well within my lifetime. This is the painting that arrived in one second, and the lifetime of sorting that made it inevitable.
Every Reason Not To Ban It
The ban's real. So is every argument against it. Here's what I think of each one, where I'm on shakier ground than I'd like, and why none of it changes my mind.
It Was Never Just One Bad Judge
Getting rid of one judge will not fix this. It was never just one bad judge. It was a system built in a world that has never taken violence against women and girls seriously enough. One man pulled the trigger. The system loaded the gun.