Category: Love

labels in relationships
Love

‘So what are we?’: Exploring Labels and Self-Advocacy in Relationships

words by: Sarah Mason New people are exciting, new sex is exciting, and new relationships are perhaps the most exciting. Not only do you get to discover another person, but through your experiences, you also learn about yourself, your desires, your needs, and your boundaries. In the midst of these blooming connections, youÔÇÖll eventually reach the infamous point of ÔÇÿthe talkÔÇÖ. Maybe scary, but oh … Continue reading ‘So what are we?’: Exploring Labels and Self-Advocacy in Relationships

Contributing Writer
A heart decorated with rainbow stripes is surrounded by three fists in the air all with different skin tones. This is on a pale pink background.
LGBT+, Love

Queer History in Schools? Why We Still Need LGBTQ+ History Month

By Emily Bryant With LGBTQ+ History Month upon us, myself and my fellow members of the community can take time to commemorate those who helped shape the culture that we know and love today. Since 2003, LGBTQ+ people have been able to use the whole month of February to learn about and honour figures and events of queer history. Such celebrations, however, are not present … Continue reading Queer History in Schools? Why We Still Need LGBTQ+ History Month

Contributing Writer
Love

How Media Did BDSM Dirty

Image by Anna Kerslake- @starryeyeddoodles By Maja Metera Th issue of misrepresentation has been studied by researchers for probably just as long as the area of media studies exist. It has covered various types of sexual and racial minoritiesÔÇÖ portrayal in media. This text ÔÇô in a less scholarly but not less educational way ÔÇô will try to explain how film and TV mistreats BDSM … Continue reading How Media Did BDSM Dirty

Contributing Writer
A couple wearing masks are in tehe centre of the pages with flowers between them. They are surrounded by images of a girl in a bathrobe reading, a pink dildo, a heart shaped box of chocolates, roses, a cocktail and a gay couple on a video call
Love

How to Look After Your Mental Health This Valentine’s Day

Illustrations by Rahima Bhatti, @rahima.creative on Instagram Valentine’s Day is a difficult day for a lot of people. The pressure to be happy and in love can really take a toll on your mental health. Today we wanted to give you some advice for ways to look after yourself, and put you first this Valentine’s Day. Catarina Vicente’s Advice As everything else this year, ValentineÔÇÖs … Continue reading How to Look After Your Mental Health This Valentine’s Day

Contributing Writer
Valentine's in Lockdown
Love

How to Spend Valentine’s in Lockdown

Finding inspiration for what to do on Valentine’s day is never easy and this year, with lockdown, there are extra obstacles in the way of having a fun Valentine’s. We asked our contributors to give us their ideas for the best ways to spend Valentine’s day whilst respecting measures in place. Here’s what they had to say: Spa and Cocktail Night By Shannon Bowes-Cavanagh A … Continue reading How to Spend Valentine’s in Lockdown

Contributing Writer
Portrait of Sarah Waters beside a illustration of a stack of books on a light pink background
LGBT+, Love

Sarah Waters: The Queen of Vintage Lesbians

By Aruni Deraniyagala What is the ÔÇ£lesbian agendaÔÇØ? For Sarah Waters, it means putting more wlw (women who love women) stories out into the world. Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966, Waters was encouraged to engage in artistic hobbies from a young age by her father. She particularly loved writing poems and stories. Despite this clear passion for story-telling, it wasnÔÇÖt until she was much … Continue reading Sarah Waters: The Queen of Vintage Lesbians

Contributing Writer
Love

Grandparents and Their Vision of Love

Featured Image Credit: @desindes.desindes on Instagram. It can be very easy to forget that the older members of our family had a life before us; wrapped up in our own worlds where our grandparents are just that: grandparents. Six writers share beautiful tales from their grandparents’ own stories, reminding us the universality of love, loss and heartbreak. John and Alice My Grandparents, John and Alice … Continue reading Grandparents and Their Vision of Love

Contributing Writer
LGBT+, Love

1988, Section 28 and Its Lasting Unwanted Legacy

Illustration by Madeline HowellBy Sarah Belger In 1988, British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher banned the ÔÇÿpromotion of homosexualityÔÇÖ by local authorities with the introduction of Section 28 of the Local Government Act. This meant school children received no formal education about LGBT+ identities or relationships. Local libraries were also prohibited from stocking books and films which contained mentions of homosexuality, meaning that most children … Continue reading 1988, Section 28 and Its Lasting Unwanted Legacy

Contributing Writer
Love

Pornhub Deserved the Flak, but its Abolition and Censorship Will Help No One

TW: Rape, sexual violence ItÔÇÖs been a disastrous year for Pornhub. Until recently, criticism of the porn site, which is the tenth most visited site worldwide, had only cast quiet ripples in the media. But when US police discovered Pornhub videos of a missing fifteen-year-old girl in October last year, the floodgates burst open. By March, a Change.org petition by anti-exploitation group Exodus Cry called … Continue reading Pornhub Deserved the Flak, but its Abolition and Censorship Will Help No One

Mike O'Brien
Love

Ethical Porn and Where to Find It

By Georgia MeropoulosImage credit: Dainis Graveris via Unsplash As long as porn has existed (which is probably almost as long as human existence), straight male pleasure has been taken care of. This has often happened at the expense of women’s own pleasure and safety. In the United Kingdom, only 28% of visitors to PornHub- the internet’s most popular pornsite- are women. This is not due … Continue reading Ethical Porn and Where to Find It

Contributing Writer
Love

All Your Questions About Sex Toys Answered (with Poppy Scarlett Lepora)

By Kate Waldock Let me begin this by saying that I am not going to start this article in the way that you see countless other articles do. Sex toys are not just for people whose relationship has gone downhill in the sex department, as many heteronormative magazines would have you believe. Nor are they an indication of how ÔÇÿkinkyÔÇÖ a person is. Sex toys … Continue reading All Your Questions About Sex Toys Answered (with Poppy Scarlett Lepora)

Kate Waldock
Love

My Life in Chronic Pain: Endometriosis

By Hope Docherty Endometriosis, for me, is forever striving to live like an able-bodied person due to the invisibility of the illness. It has taken me years to forgive myself for not always being able to ignore the chronic pain and simply rest when my body tells me I must.┬á┬á In medical terms: Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue┬ásimilar to┬áthe lining of the womb … Continue reading My Life in Chronic Pain: Endometriosis

Contributing Writer
Love

Loving and Leaving: Cardiff Students Recall the First and Final Days of Relationships

What happened in between is up for you to guess. Six years and two months He was the coolest of the cool. Cooler than the Fonz. Cambridge, December 2013 I just knew. Straight away like out of the movies. Barely time for ‘What’s your name?’ He was the coolest of the cool. Cooler than the Fonz. My 16 year old self couldnÔÇÖt describe it or … Continue reading Loving and Leaving: Cardiff Students Recall the First and Final Days of Relationships

Laura Dazon
Love

What Was Sex Education Like in Your Country – Sexpression Cardiff

This article is part of a series created for Sexual Health Week. What was your sex education like at school? Did you even receive sex education? For many students, if they did have any; it was minimal. In fact, RSE (relationships and sex education) has only just been made mandatory for all secondary schools in England. 2020. This means that too many students of Cardiff … Continue reading What Was Sex Education Like in Your Country – Sexpression Cardiff

Contributing Writer
Love

No Country for Bald Men: Identity Politics vs Male Body Positivity

By Mike O’Brien Identity politics is TwitterÔÇÖs favourite toy. ItÔÇÖs an attempt to understand social issues through the lens of demographic groups and their place in the power hierarchy. It has its uses. The Black Lives Matter movement frames the issue of police brutality as a racial conflict between black and white people in America: a reasonable and factual inference. But where male body positivity … Continue reading No Country for Bald Men: Identity Politics vs Male Body Positivity

Mike O'Brien
vaginismus vulvodynia pain relationship vulva
Love, Sexual Health Awareness Week 2020

Sexual Healing: My life with Vulvodynia, Vaginismus and Pain

This article about vaginismus and vulvodynia is the third of a series created for sexual health week. By Laura Dazon We had been together for six months, and after another fruitless attempt at having sex, my ex-boyfriend sighed those words. “I wish you were normal” Growing up as a girl, I had heard the classic warnings about sex, desperately clinging onto any information that older, … Continue reading Sexual Healing: My life with Vulvodynia, Vaginismus and Pain

Laura Dazon
healthy underwear women oddobody
Love, Sexual Health Awareness Week 2020

Mind your Underwear: Why Victoria Secret isn’t the way to go

This article about healthy underwear for women is the second of a series created for sexual health week. By Shubhangi Dua The last six months of living at home with my family and not being able to step out made me reevaluate my lifestyle choices immensely. Those modifications not only include home workouts or eating nutritious food but also wearing healthier and comfortable clothes, specifically … Continue reading Mind your Underwear: Why Victoria Secret isn’t the way to go

Contributing Writer
guide being sexually sensible
Love, Sexual Health Awareness Week 2020

Big Sister: A Guide to being Sexually Sensible

This guide to being sexually sensible kick-starts a series of articles created for sexual health week. By Olivia Adams The conversation surrounding sex can be a difficult one. In many regards, it is considered a taboo subject. Many have and still frown upon the discussion, perhaps because of the private nature of the experience or because society used to view it differently, which can make … Continue reading Big Sister: A Guide to being Sexually Sensible

Contributing Writer
Love

“Can I Ever Love Myself?”: A Self-Love Journey

By Sarah Mason The first relationship of our lives is with ourselves, so today we are talking about the journey to self-love. WeÔÇÖve all heard the infamous “you canÔÇÖt love anyone else before you love yourself”. While attempting to sound uplifting, this actually terrified me. Because if this statement is true, then can love ever find us? Can we ever completely love ourselves? And if … Continue reading “Can I Ever Love Myself?”: A Self-Love Journey

Contributing Writer
Love

New Year New Me: Leaving Toxic Relationships Behind

By Kate Waldock As the first academic term of the new year creeps ever closer, students returning from previous years and those that are newcomers have a chance at a fresh start. We start a new year; many of us still reeling from relationships left behind in the past. University is exciting, it brings with it the opportunity to meet new people and potentially find … Continue reading New Year New Me: Leaving Toxic Relationships Behind

Kate Waldock