As everyone admires this year’s Met Gala ensembles, it’s important to think about the lens through which we see clothing and fashion. The Met Gala is undoubtedly one of the fashion highlights of the year: celebrities and other notable people dress up in the most amazing — most of the time, simply bizarre — outfits …
After the extensive media coverage received, there is no need to recap the events of 28th March 2022, when Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock out of anger at the latter’s belittling jokes about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaven head caused by alopecia-induced hair loss at the Oscars. Very few Hollywood incidents have received this amount …
Why practising your religion should not prevent you from thriving. Why does wearing religious garments or symbols marginalise you in society? From my experiences and observations, I found that it is not normal for people to carry visual symbols of their religion — in fact, many of these people face prejudice and discrimination. I found …
What does a Q&A between a White Englishman and BAME immigrant woman reveal about differences in lived experience and privilege, even between two people in a committed relationship? I am an Asian woman and immigrated to England at a very early age, so, for all intents and purposes, I think of myself as English and …
How many of our instinctive habits are results of our ancestors’ experiences of inequality and discrimination? For years, I have known what the concept of ‘intergenerational trauma’ was, but I’d always thought about it as something that affected other people — something I didn’t really need to think about much apart from just to be …
Challenging the Taliban’s belief that women have no place in politics. On 7th September, the Taliban announced that they had formed the new Government of Afghanistan after they took control of more than 90% of the country and seized Kabul, the capital, last month. From Prime Minister to Interior Minister, the 33 roles have been …
Non-straight hair is beautiful, normal, and above all human. While we have made strides in becoming a more inclusive society, Western Eurocentric beauty ideals are still ingrained in our society, creating a society that is hostile towards non-European physical features. The standardisation of straight hair is due to straight hair being the common hair type …
Overlooking people of colour harms not only the people in those communities but businesses as well. The lost potential that arises from overlooking ethnic minorities over time is staggering, estimated at £24bn a year. In corporate America and corporate Britain, people of colour often do not get promoted within the same period as a White coworker …
Discomfort with confronting whiteness, and a fear of being labelled as ‘racist’, is preventing White people from engaging in important conversations about race. The last year has seen the explosion of a global conversation about race, with an increased focus on the importance of being anti-racist. However, conversations about racism can often find themselves shut …
Language used, both by those working or featured in the media and individuals, has a huge but often unseen effect on our unconscious biases. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, (but words can never hurt me)” is traditionally used to brush off insults but, whilst there is of course some benefit to boosting emotional …
