I wrote about the brilliant Mary-Ann Stephenson's appointment and what the campaign against her says about her detractors' attitude to equality thecritic.co.uk/are-you-or-hav…

‘The policy consequences of my own views are so insane I refuse to believe anyone would implement them’

Victoria Smith on what the failed smear campaign against Dr Mary Ann Stephenson tells us about equality thecritic.co.uk/are-you-or-hav…

There is so much pressure on girls & young women to be 'inclusive', and not just from their own peer group. Trendy parents too add their own expectations of their daughters to prioritise the feelings of male strangers over their own instincts. It's the opposite of safeguarding.

There is nothing progressive about mothers encouraging their daughters to put male feelings before their own. It's as old as the hills, done for lots of reasons (including the idea this keeps them safer than women who say no), but it's so grim to see it presented as modern

Gotta love the men who think you reject rigid gender roles by letting men do what they like all the time while women STFU. Really smashing the binary there, chaps.

The spin-off story of how and why so many men are so anxious to jump in on this topic with this sort of guff, and some women to back them up, deserves its own separate reporting.

Men who liken women's wariness of men and fear of sexual violence to gay panic deserve some kind of award for empathy failure

The decision by an EU country to grant refugee status to this Brazilian woman is significant for more than one reason. To begin with, it is the first of its kind (at least that we know of). It is also an acknowledgement that the threats and punishment imposed on women who assert

Tfw you try to impress the school bullies, knowing your friend whom they target will still be there for you, so no need to bother if she's hurt. Most people grow out of it and feel ashamed, but clearly not certain actors.