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There really is nothing better than seeing people use their vast accomplishments to help others, sharing the fruits of their endeavours with those that are most vulnerable. After reading law at Oxford, becoming a parliamentary researcher for an MP, and later qualifying as a barrister who represented refugees, Katie Ghose left her career path behind to make her mark on the charity sector. She has since worked for a myriad of charities such as the British Institute for Human Rights, Women’s Aid, and her current role as the chief executive of KIDS. Ghose continues to make the most out of her background in law to bring about systemic change, as she lays out in her book, Beyond the Courtroom: A Lawyer’s Guide to Campaigning. GoInspire had the privilege of discussing the beginnings of Ghose’s career and finding out what has driven her to fight for those without a voice. GI: What is KIDS, how is it run as a charity? KG: KIDS is a national charity, founded in 1970, that provides a wide range of services to disabled children, young people and their families in England. We support children from babies through to young adults, whatever their disability. Our services include drop-in crèches and nurseries for the under 5s, youth clubs, short breaks, and residential stays for young adults. KIDS works with around 12,000 disabled children, young people and family members each year across England; during 2021 we delivered over 190,000 hours of support. We are continually developing our expertise and sharing it with others. We are proud of our achievements but know how far there is to go before every disabled child and young person leads a fulfilled life and families are supported at every stage. GI: Can you tell us about your early career which led you to becoming the chief executive of KIDS? KG: My first job was in Parliament, and helping an MP’s constituents with immigration queries sparked an interest in this area of law. After working as a parliamentary lobbyist for a national charity, I qualified as a barrister and represented refugees. But campaigning for systemic change was my passion and I’ve worked for charities ever since, helping them to develop their voice and influence. My first chief executive role was at the British Institute of Human Rights, where we worked to promote the rights of disabled people. Over a decade later, this chimes strongly with the KIDS ethos and our new vision of a society where disabled children, young people and their families enjoy equal rights and opportunities. GI: How would you describe your career? What would a normal day look like for you? KG: A ‘normal day’ doesn’t really exist; every day is different, which is the joy of the job. Before Covid, I spent a wonderful evening at one of our pioneering Adventure Playgrounds in London, chatting and dancing with a group of disabled young service users. They had travelled for miles to be part of a safe, friendly environment where they can enjoy a meal together, learn new skills and be themselves. Just yesterday I got to meet our incredible team in Camden, London, hearing about the challenges the families we work with are facing, how isolating this can be and the difference our services make. Hearing about the joy and the struggles is part of the charity CEO’s day. Most days mix internal and external tasks, so working with colleagues on breaking strategic goals down to deliverable tasks alongside presenting research to civil servants, politicians, or funders. After working remotely due to Covid, I’m now out and about, visiting colleagues in our services and connecting with other organisations to find partnerships so that together we can reach more disabled children and young people. GI: What drives you in this line of work? KG: Citizens Advice was my first charity role and their twin aims inspired me: practical support and policy influence. This is still what drives me: changing systems based on evidence from the frontline of what really makes a difference in people’s lives. Excitingly, we have now adopted this approach at KIDS. Our new strategy has two aims: 1) to provide disabled children, young people, and their families with practical, life-changing and creative support and 2) to empower disabled children and young people, to amplify their voices and to champion their rights. Our early-years work at KIDS is a good example of this combined approach. We are delivering practical work with the under 5s and their families ‘on the ground’ and we are part of strategic alliances to make the whole system work better, because we know that early help makes all the difference. On my last visit to a KIDS creche I met Molly (age 4) and her mum, Jane (not their real names). Molly and I looked at dinosaur books together while her mum sat on the edge of the carpet – we chatted a little. They had been found when Molly was a baby, living in appalling conditions. Jane, who has a learning disability, was doing her utmost as a mother but was completely on her own. When Molly came to KIDS, she was experiencing significant delays to her development and couldn’t walk. Our staff provided therapies, the chance to play with children and helped Jane with practical tips for looking after herself and her little one. When I met them, Molly was smiling and slowly walking across the room and her mum was looking forward with confidence to Molly’s first day at nursery school. These are the life-changing stories that motivate me and provide us with the evidence of what works to improve the system for everyone. GI: What challenges have you faced outside of KIDS? Have recent events made it tougher to be a chief executive? KG: It was a challenge to be overseeing the charity’s response to a crisis just a few months into the role but my team were amazing and very adaptive to the needs of disabled children, young people and their families, as well as the resources we could deploy to meet the challenge. Judging when and how to move from Covid crisis response to longer term planning was another challenge. I’m not sure if it’s any tougher now to be a chief executive– I feel lucky to have the role I do and excited about our ambitions to work with disabled children and young people to amplify their voices - the future is theirs to shape. But I’m also conscious of the toll Covid has taken on our staff who have worked tirelessly for years now to ‘keep the show on the road’. A challenge now is how to engage everyone in a conversation about the pace of change required to keep adapting to families’ needs. GI: You also have a background in politics and law, how did you get into those fields? KG: Law and politics have also been intertwined. My mum encouraged me to do law as a vocational degree, but straight afterwards I grabbed the chance to study abroad for a Masters in Political Science. I love politics and believe that we need to open it up so that everyone sees it as something for them, from parish councillor to PM. I’m glad I put myself forward to be a parliamentary candidate. I didn’t succeed in being elected but I gave it my best shot and met some fantastic people along the way. GI: Do you have any advice for women looking to go into any of these areas? KG: Don’t hang on for the perfect opportunity - dive in and do something. You will learn and grow and it will open a door to another avenue. Being a lawyer wasn’t right for me long-term but the skills and training I acquired have served me well in every role since. And I pooled my legal and political interests in my book Beyond the Courtroom: A Lawyer’s Guide to Campaigning. And DON’T wait till you have everything on the job description (plenty of men don’t!) to put yourself forward for an opportunity. GI: What are some of your proudest accomplishments at KIDS, Women’s Aid or any other milestones in your career? How about outside of work? KG: I am proud of the project to pioneer the UK’s first Citizens’ Assemblies in 2015. I collaborated with academics, civil society groups and many others to make these happen. We brought together a representative sample of citizens in a pilot project to discuss how to enliven local democracy. At the heart of citizens’ assemblies is the simple idea that every one of us has something to contribute - regardless of background or formal education. It’s achieved by using random selection (instead of relying on people who already have a strong voice to put themselves forward). Now, citizens’ assemblies are becoming more mainstream which is a joy to see. Now I’m looking forward to bringing my passion for every voice to be heard into our work at KIDS. KIDS has broken new ground in supporting young people to raise disability awareness among decision-makers and to influence their policy and practice. Already, the charity directly connects young disabled people to those who are making decisions about how and when they will receive support. We’re also consulting young people on the design of a new online hub for young people with disabilities and special educational needs to get information, advice, to connect with their peers, and get direct support from KIDS. And we’re working on a new programme to empower disabled young people to campaign for change. It’s an exciting time for me and my team! It was an honour to speak to the wonderful Katie! Thank you from the Go Inspire team. To see more information about KIDS visit: https://www.kids.org.uk/

Permanently moving from busy Bristol to beautiful Cornwall, West Country activist Amy has actively campaigned for awareness of plastic pollution, ocean recovery, water quality and our ocean and climate. Her work with Surfers Against Sewage as Head of Campaigns and Policy is one of her latest journeys in what has been 10 years of work in the environmental sector. GoInspire was excited to hear more about Amy and her career. GI: When did you start working in the environmental sector? What drew you there? AS: I’ve been working in the environmental sector for over 15 years now, starting out working with the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty team, then working in Environmental Service in Local Government, before spending 7 years as an Environmental Consultant in Bristol. I’ve known I wanted to work in the sector since university really. I did an unusual joint degree in Psychology with Geography through which I really gained an understanding of the environmental and biodiversity crisis we are facing but also the importance of the environment to our health and well-being. That led me to do a Masters at the Centre for Alternative Technology which really cemented my passion for the environment and desire to do something worthwhile with my career to protect it. I’ve now got my dream job leading the Campaigns & Policy Team at Surfers Against Sewage. I’ve been a lover of the Ocean since I can remember so being able to campaign to protect and restore it is humbling. GI: How do you get into this sort of field of work? What would you recommend to something trying to find careers that also balance out with environmentalism? AS: I think its important that you want to work in the sector, particularly when it comes to environmental campaigning – its hard work and can often be disheartening so you really need to have a passion for what you do. The beauty about working in this sector is that its not like law or medicine where you need a specific degree. So many people I work with have come from a huge range of backgrounds and have studied different things from Environmental Science to English, from Politics to Photography. You don’t necessarily need a degree either. However, experience in the sector is really helpful and I would recommend getting lots of it along the way. Whether that’s volunteering for a charity, getting internships, joining a campaign group and getting involved in campaign actions. Anything that allows you to develop your passion and key skills that are really useful such as project management, writing skills, data analysis etc. GI: What do you believe makes your work, and Surfers Against Sewage so impactful? AS: I think it’s the fact that we are a grass roots campaign organisation. We started 30 years ago as a bunch of surfers that were sick of getting sick from sewage in the sea. It was this raw passion that really cut through back then and led to huge changes in legislation around water quality. We are now more than surfers and campaign on more than sewage. We are passionate about the health of the ocean and really believe in what we are doing and stand for. We could not have the impact we have without our huge network of supporters who that we refer to as ‘ocean activists’ who are so vital to our work. They are the ones cleaning beaches, collecting evidence that’s invaluable in demanding change, joining our protects, writing to their MP’s demanding action. They are the tidal wave that create the change we need to protect and restore the ocean. It’s essential to us that we are open and authentic, telling it how it is and sticking to our grass routes heritage. We’re also not afraid to be daring in our campaigning to get our message across! GI: What challenges do you have to overcome in your work today, and in the past? AS: The biggest challenge anyone working in this sector has to overcome is the stark day to day reality of what is happening to the environment. We truly are facing an environmental and biodiversity crisis which, to be honest, is getting worse. Sometimes this can feel overwhelming and like a huge uphill struggle with no-one listening. But the climate crisis is not a ‘fix or fail’ crisis. The scale of the crisis is wholly dependent how much effort we put into addressing it. Every change, every campaign win no matter how big or small, will make a difference. As a campaigner, we know that the majority of time, we might not achieve what we set out to, but we have to celebrate the things we do achieve as it really does have an impact. GI: How did you negotiate this work throughout the pandemic - and do you think more people were able to get involved? AS: The pandemic has shown us just how much the natural world means to us. We’ve seen just how much our mental health suffers when we can’t dive into the ocean or wander through woodlands. I think this has helped environmental organisations like Surfers Against Sewage as people have been connecting more with the natural world and want to protect it. Of course, the pandemic was hard in so many ways. We went from being around our colleagues every day, thriving off each other’s ideas and inspiration, to fully remote working with no opportunity to interact which make it difficult to develop creative campaigns. We also had to find new ways for people to get involved with our work and take actions – we couldn’t go out and beach clean! So we had to get smart with digital campaigning and actions. For example our brand audit in 2020 went fully digital with people recording branded packing pollution they found when doing their daily exercise. We then utilised social media to put pressure on those bands by tagging them in pictures. This really worked – we had so many companies respond to us to let us know the changes they were planning to make to reduce their pollution – although we were far from impressed with many plans! GI: Do you think environmental activism, and environmental careers are hard to get into? What could someone face - and did you ever encounter any problems going into it yourself? AS: The environmental sector is a popular sector to work in and it can feel difficult to break into, particularly environmental activism. It might not be a career that you can get into straight away but look to try and get jobs that will give you some of those vital skills that you’ll need for campaigning. Also, it can be really helpful to bring expertise to a campaigning role. For example, my years as a consultant gave me a huge amount of knowledge and experience in the waste and recycling industry which has been really useful to Surfers Against Sewage in its work around plastic pollution. Always look for opportunities to get a foot in the door at junior positions as there are often opportunities to progress once you’ve got a bit of experience. On several occasions I have had to take the risk of moving ‘sideways’ or ‘down’ the career ladder to ultimately progress into the job I’ve wanted to do – that’s what I did in order to join Surfers Against Sewage actually! GI: What, in your career, do you want people to notice? What impacts do you think you make/can create? AS: Ultimately, I want to make change that helps protect and restore the environment. I want the things I work on to actually make a difference. Sounds a bit cliché I guess but I have had jobs in the environmental sector where the things I work on don’t really go anywhere or I don’t really get to see the impact of my work. One of my proudest achievements at Surfers Against Sewage so far has been our #EndSewagePollution campaign that last year resulted in the government making a very public U-turn on amendments to the Environment Act last year resulting in much more ambitious legislation related to sewage pollution being adopted and skyrocketed the issue into the public consciousness. I really believe that the work we are doing at SAS is really helping to restore the health of the Ocean. GI: Tell us a bit more about the West Country and Cornwall - how has home helped your journey with environmentalism? AS: I grew up in the West Country and, though I lived in Bristol, I’ve always had a really strong connection to the sea. I spent much of my summer holidays growing up by the sea in Cornwall and Devon. We spent most days messing about on the water and I really loved sailing. When I left school I became a sailing instructor, teaching sailing on the Isles of Scilly during university holiday. I’m so lucky to have grown up in the West Country and to now live in Cornwall. It’s a really beautiful part of the world with two very different coastlines. The rolling hills and calm estuary waters of the south Cornish cost contrast to the dramatic rugged cliffs and crashing waves of the north coast. Its my love of the ocean that has led me to do what I do and its so integral to SAS’s heritage too. SAS is still based in Cornwall, with our office based on the cliffs above St Agnes overlooking the sea – a daily reminder of why we do what we do! GI: Can you tell us about any upcoming projects that you are working on? AS: We always have a lot going on at SAS across all the team from our ongoing Million Mile Clean programme, our education work, growing our Plastic Free Community movement and of course our fundraising. In the Campaigns & Policy Team that I lead, we have a number of campaigns we are working on that we’ll be launching in the coming months. Next week, we’ll be in Parliament running a drop in session for MPs about River Bathing Waters, tying in with our petition calling for 200 river bathing waters by 2030. We’ll talking to MPs about how they can support community groups in their constituency in applying for bathing waters designations as well as supporting demands on government to improve water quality legislation and targets. We’ll also be launching the results of our 2022 Brand Audit soon, naming and shaming the top companies responsible for packaging pollution found in our rivers, on our streets and in the sea. These results have come from data submitted to us by thousands of volunteers who have been out cleaning up their local beaches, river banks and parks over the last year…true people power! Thank you Amy from the Go Inspire team. It was great to meet you in London! To see more information about Surfers Against Sewage visit: https://www.sas.org.uk/

Men don’t know where the clit is and women fake it til’ they make it – that’s right, we’ve all heard the jokes, but what if I told you there’s some semblance of truth to that? Women face disparity in many faucets of life, jobs, careers, income, education and much more, but the lesser-known disparity is that of sex and pleasure. Society says we shouldn’t talk about this because sex isn’t for women to enjoy, but artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B and more are taking a fiery, hot sledgehammer to that stereotype – so let’s get into it. From the brutality and lack of female pleasure found within mainstream porn, to the way Kim Kardashian is still being shamed for filming a sex tape 15 years after the fact, society has found lots of different ways to discreetly teach girls and women that sexual pleasure isn’t for them. Slut shaming, body shaming, ‘it will hurt, you’ll bleed’ - as young girls, you’re sold this idea through a severely lacking sex ed curriculum, social stereotypes, and popular culture that sex will be something you will struggle to enjoy. Orgasm elusive, but pain ever present. Growing up I felt a strong sense of shame around my own pleasure, as though it were some illicit feeling that I had to supress, I suffered sexual harassment and assault, took part in sex ed classes that portrayed sex in a strictly heteronormative light, and all of these things came together to teach me this false narrative that my body is not mine. Watching documentaries, talking to friends, reading articles written by other women, I’ve learned that many have had similar experiences and feel the same way. The idea of sex is so intrinsically tied to male pleasure that if you do not fit into that category, you are not given the space to learn you can experience those feelings too. But you can and you don’t need anyone else’s permission or presence to do it. The male gaze and heterosexuality have influenced so much of what we consider to be sex. If you watch any porn video, you will likely see a whole lot of vaginal penetration, mixed in with a few moans from the woman to stroke the man’s ego, let him know he is doing a good job, and the whole thing is over once the man orgasms. When you combine this with the lack of sex education and a general unwillingness from most people to talk about it, you end up with people using these porn videos as an educational tool (this was literally the case for my school’s sex ed classes, they stook an old porno on and told us this is what happens). This is an issue for a multitude of reasons; the aggression and roughness it can create within men, the pressure on women to meet these expectations on what enjoyable sex should look, sound and feel like, and of course not everyone’s sex will look like the straight penetration that is so widely mainstream. Whilst the porn industry does have a lot to answer for, they can’t be blamed for everything. The suppression and the exploitation of female sexuality has been going on for a lot longer than the mainstream porn sites of today have been capitalising off it. Adverts for deodorant, coffee, cars, and many more inanimate objects have been rooted in sexism and exploitation for as long as I, your parents, and your parents’ parents can remember. Using the female body to sell material objects is a technique that many claim to be fruitful, ever heard the phrase ‘sex sells?’ But there’s a problem with using the female body as a marketing technique, it plays into the narrative that a woman’s body is an object with a price tag, a purchasable commodity for the masses. The impact these social messages and educational failings are having on women are staggering and undeniable. In straight relationships, 66% of women regularly orgasm, lesbian women experience slightly higher rates at 86%, but for men that figure jumps up to 95%. Various studies have found different statistics, with one I found going as little as 40% of women reach orgasm, compared to 80% of men during a causal hook up. No matter where you look, women are having significantly less pleasurable sex than men. This may seem like a topic that’s not important enough to discuss, just another disparity between men and women, but sex is so important that the World Health Organisation (WHO) consider it to be a fundamental to our quality of life. So, if the WHO consider sexual pleasure to be integral to our ability to live a rich lifestyle, maybe it’s time we take this seriously. New waves of popular culture are moving towards giving women that quality of life within their sexual encounters, taking control of their narrative and leaving behind the shame and stigma attached to the female orgasm. In the summer of 2020, as the world was shut down from Covid-19, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B dropped a single so hot, so explicitly sex positive and loud about female pleasure, people were instantly hooked. People loved it, or hated it, blasted it from their car stereo systems, or took to twitter to demonise the artists. I am, of course, talking about WAP. This song, with all its unabashed sexuality, seemed to take the conversation of female pleasure to the world stage – Women think about sex. Women talk about sex. Women enjoy sex. It seems so simple but it’s an idea the world was, and still is, waking up to. It's a liberating feeling, having songs dominate the charts with powerful women singing about their own sexuality, the way they like it, the things they want to do. Women are taking up the space they need to learn and talk about their own pleasure in a way that is authentic, unbridled, and exciting. My hope is that in 10 years my words will be a relic, a snapshot of a distant past in a future where female sexuality is unchained from its male heterosexual keeper. No one’s permission is needed to solve this issue, let’s work together to close the pleasure gap for good.

Regardless of whether you voted to leave or to remain in the EU, it was staggering to witness how Brexit ricocheted throughout the rest of Britain’s domestic and foreign policy. I was 15 when the result of the referendum was announced. I would never know a career within the EU, therefore I suppose I’ll never fully comprehend how much we gave up. What will happen to the working-class students who have spent five years learning a language only to find that they can’t afford to immerse themselves in the culture like their wealthier counterparts can? Hard and soft borders, the Erasmus programme, and a myriad of other political-economic advantages that were previously taken for granted were now on the line. As most political discourses go, the particular effect of Brexit on women has been overlooked in mainstream media. As pointed out by Julie MacLeavy, the austerity measures of Ireland, Greece, and Portugal mostly resulted in deregulation of the workforce, whereas British austerity measures typically undermine the public sector, including public sector jobs and social security, both of which are of particular importance to women. The age-old problem of paid work overlapping while facing the brunt of unpaid caring responsibilities places women at an economic disadvantage as they can expect to suffer from lower pay in public sector work, more unstable zero-hour contracts, and a weaker economic safety net. Instinctively, Britain is at the centre of Brexit and its fallout. But the withdrawal from the EU was always a two-way street. For that reason, people within the EU have their own fears regarding the consequences of Brexit, particularly among young people who are just entering the labour market. The European Commission has set aside billions of euros in the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to compensate for the economic damage that Brexit has caused for the member states, the most of which going to the Republic of Ireland. For that reason, I have spoken to young women from both the UK and the EU member states to discuss their feelings around Brexit and what it means to them. Chatting with Vicky (22) about her career path as a music journalist and language enthusiast highlighted several of the problems Brexit has brought about. Particularly as a woman from Northern Ireland, the political tensions that have been rehashed over the past five years are especially relevant to her: It’s more directly affected my degree and the year abroad [...] in terms of what I want to do afterwards, music journalism, it has a big effect. Touring isn’t necessarily as easy for bands that want to come to the UK and Europe. I think there is a risk of less touring which would have an impact on what I do. [...] I’ve had to change quite a lot already, like my literal nationality. I can be British or Irish. Since I’ve come to France, I haven’t needed to get a student visa because I’ve been able to say that I’m Irish. I’m in quite a lucky position because there aren’t a lot of hoops to jump through because I was born on the island of Ireland. It’s definitely strange to have changed that so rapidly. With the turbulent history between Britain and the Republic of Ireland, the economic and political implications of Brexit sparked both conflict and anxiety. Although there is the advantage of identifying as Irish in order to move more freely around the EU, the decision of nationality can weigh heavily on the people of Northern Ireland. Nationality is such a divisive thing in Northern Ireland, there are people who wouldn’t be willing to give up their Britishness for ease of travel. [...] It wasn’t a big deal for me but for others it comes at a big cost. Last summer, echoes of the past reverberated throughout Northern Ireland when four days of rioting ensued throughout Belfast. Many were concerned that the same political and sectarian conflicts from the previous generation would reincarnate in Northern Ireland’s youth. The government made it clear that they can’t give Northern Ireland a different deal to the rest of the UK. It needs to be different in Northern Ireland. The stakes are higher; we are in a very particular situation that the rest of the country is not and doesn’t necessarily understand. Within the EU, the level of concern varied between those who planned to visit the UK as an erasmus student and those who were content in their own nation states. Speaking with Sara (20) she expressed that her life in Spain was largely unaffected. That being said, I have a lot of friends who are now worrying about whether they’ll be able to go to England at all. The number of positions for erasmus students in the UK has dropped significantly. A lot are opting to go to Ireland instead because obviously Ireland is still in the EU but it’s changed a lot of people’s plans. Sara was part of the group throughout all of the EU and Britain that acknowledged that Brexit could happen in 2016, but never thought that it would actually go through. Therefore, the attitudes of many in Spain have shifted in response to the rhetoric of the Leave campaign. Particularly older people here have taken it as a rejection. Among my parents, aunts and uncles, older relatives and such, many have thought ‘well if you don’t want anything to do with us, we don’t want anything to do with you’! I think particularly older people take the result of the referendum more personally than younger people. Spain is one of the countries most exposed to the negative consequences of Brexit, estimated to lose about €307 million per year due to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Although the women I spoke to were all too aware of the obvious repercussions of Brexit, the mentality behind it is what bothered Elena (20) the most. The issues surrounding Brexit are not simply economic, but also sentimental as cultural exchange has been made practically and emotionally harder to do: To me, England and the English language was always something I loved. I saw myself working and living there but this has really made things difficult for me. I love the culture, the literature, and the general ambience of the place. I think that the English language is also easier to learn than others. After so many years of learning about Anglophone culture, many in Europe have developed their own enthusiasm and sense of belonging to Britain as a result, and the result of the referendum is a huge obstacle to that belonging. It is easy to see how British women have been affected by Brexit in the same vein as any worker or business-owner. But Brexit has inflicted its own set of problems on the EU and not just in a purely economic way. Brexit has called into question the harmony, the acceptance of others, and, at worst, the political stability of both itself and the way that outsiders to the UK will see it. We can hope to move forward in the future and reforge the relationships we previously had with the EU member states but can we move past the years that campaigned for separation and rejection of our neighbours?

Female representation in politics is something slowly increasing in the UK. As of 2022, the House of Commons has 225 female MPs out of the 650 chairs available in Parliament. Each member represents a varying amount of agendas and changes for their respected constituencies. With the rise in female political power, we at Go Inspire reached out to many members of the UK parliament in London and across England. The opportunity to speak to Angela Rayner, who holds such an impactful role in government, was extremely exciting. Angela Rayner is a member of parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne and a Labour representative. She also undertakes the roles of Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work, and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. GI: Angela Rayner’s early life does not fit the mould of Eton and Oxford educated gentlemen having left state school at 16. Does she feel that this type of representation is important in politics? Working class MPs are hard to come by. AR: When I visit schools in my constituency and I talk to pupils, I always stress to them that they are unique and that is their strength. My advice to them is don’t listen when people say ‘know your place’. I was certain opportunities would be unavailable to me when I left school with no qualifications and a baby but I refused to listen. I represent a working-class area and I know my constituents appreciate the person that represents them understanding them. I think my life experience enables me to be a better MP as I have experienced the struggles that people come to me for help with. I wasn’t handed anything on a plate, I have worked hard for everything I’ve achieved. GI: What inspired her to get into politics? AR: Politics wasn’t something I was particularly interested in until I got involved with the trade union movement. I was working as a home help and my colleagues and I were unhappy with new conditions that were being forced onto us at work so we organised and refused to accept them. I worked my way up through the ranks at UNISON and became North West convener and realised where my true strengths lie. I found out I was pretty good at persuading people to listen to me. GI: Being a woman in politics comes with its own set of problems, especially since the most well-known female politicians in British history have often been staunchly conservative (Thatcher, Liz Truss, Priti Patel). Have you encountered any issues being a woman in politics as part of the Labour party? AR: The Labour Party has had its own important women politicians from the groundbreaking Barbara Castle to Margaret Beckett and Harriet Harman, both of whom were Deputy Leaders of the Labour Party before me. I’m really proud that more than half of Labour MPs are now women. There are still challenges for women in politics more generally as my own experience shows, but there are also fantastic organisations like the Labour Women’s Network that encourage participation. GI: Tell us a little bit about your role as the Shadow Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster, what does that involve and how do you go about it? AR: It’s quite an old-fashioned title! This means that I am responsible for holding the Government to account for the Cabinet Office, which includes the civil service, government contracts and a whole host of other areas including sleaze and waste. It involves quite a lot of persistence to uncover information, asking the right questions and being persistent. GI: What was your most challenging role? Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow First Secretary of State, and Chair of the Labour Party. AR: I’ve enjoyed each of these roles and they all come with different challenges. There has been a lot to learn to make sure I do the best job I can no matter which hat I am wearing. Being elected Deputy Leader at the start of the pandemic was a strange experience. We had had a frantic time during the campaign, meeting so many people and then when it was time for the results, it was just me and a video link. But I was incredibly proud to have been given such an honour. Doing PMQs is also a challenging but incredibly exciting experience. Across all these roles what is most challenging though is being in Opposition. It’s really hard to see so many issues and injustices, knowing that you are not in power to change things. GI: What are the biggest problems in our country and what kind of changes do you hope to see? This can also include within the Labour Party. AR: The biggest challenge our country faces right now is tackling the cost of living crisis, and that’s our immediate focus - but we also need to secure a Labour Government with both a vision and a plan for the future. Britain deserves better. GI: What would you say to a woman who is considering getting into politics but put off by the culture that we see from the outside? For example, the belligerent shouting in the House of Commons, the tone policing that women often face etc. AR: I certainly don’t want the experiences I’ve had to put anyone from a background like mine off. I would love to see more women getting involved. It sometimes feels like we don’t start on an even footing. When a man in a suit walks into a room, they are often automatically respected and know people will listen to them. When I walk into a room, I have to work twice as hard just to prove I have the right to be there. I’m no shrinking violet but I am often aware that women, and especially women from backgrounds like mine, have to ‘earn’ their place at the table despite the fact that our lived experience means we’re often much better equipped to tackle the issues that matter. GI: Recently in the House of Commons, Angela Rayner lamented that the cost of living crisis is being overshadowed by chat about Downing Street scandals. AR: Boris Johnson knew about the parties at Downing Street and he was at some of them. He could have told the truth and done the decent thing many months ago but instead he’s been dragging this out and distracted from tackling the cost of living crisis people facing. GI: Our voter turnout in the UK has been infamously divided by age. Young people are most likely to vote for Labour compared to their older counterparts, and this disparity is even more extreme among female voters. Is Labour more in the interest of younger people than older? AR: The Labour Party is made up of lots of perspectives. At our core, we believe in fairness and equality, be that for women, people with disabilities, gay people or people from BAME backgrounds. I think young people who are maybe voting for the first time see that our vision for making our country the best place to get on and grow old is a really positive one where they can thrive and make a decent life for themselves and their family. GI: Do you consider yourself a feminist? AR: I’d never really considered myself a feminist with a capital ‘F’ but some of my own experiences and people who have contacted me about theirs show the barriers, challenges and different treatment women still face. There are certainly plenty of women that I admire. I will tell anyone who will listen to hunt down former Australian PM Julia Gillard’s speech on misogyny from 2012. It was voted the most unforgettable moment if Australian TV history and it’s not hard to see why. I am also hugely inspired by my fellow women frontbench MPs and so proud to see so many women in positions of power within the Labour Party. GI: UK politics is very Westminster/South of England based, offering little representation for the interests of northerners and the devolved parliaments. How do you serve your constituents in the North? Is that a different picture to what an MP might do in the South? AR: It’s a real eye-opener being in Westminster to represent constituents and every decision I make is done with them in mind. They elected me to serve them and that is the most important thing. You will usually find me in my constituency on Fridays where I hold advice surgeries for residents and visit local schools -my favourite bit of the job - as well as groups and community organisations. GI: What are the most pressing issues that the Labour Party is up against? AR: The biggest challenge and the one we are working towards is getting a Labour Government elected at Westminster. Labour makes a difference for people when we’re in power. GI: What is your best advice to anyone feeling disenchanted by the thread of scandals and other problems that we have faced throughout the pandemic, most recently this sharp hike in energy bills? Do you see room for optimism whereas many of the British people feel unheard? AR: I always see room for optimism. I’m inspired by the passion, commitment and determination of people who fight for and achieve change every day. There is no doubt that these are really challenging times and it can be tough, but that’s also why it matters. The stakes are high because it’s people’s lives and life chances we’re talking about, and so representation really matters, hearing those other voices really matters now more than ever. We would like to thank Angela and her team for this interview - it was an honour to visit the House of Commons to do this shoot.

Throughout the 21st century and arguably more so in the last 10 years, mixed-raced people have been racially fetishised for their exoticism. The prevalence of social media has heightened this with many users on Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok exclaiming their desire to date a BAME person so they can have a baby with olive skin, deep eyes, and luscious dark hair. For a mixed-race person, it can be perceived as a fetishisation of solely the ‘good’ features of being in a minority group whilst disregarding less popularised attributes. There seems to be a preference for a skin colour that is dark enough to be exotic but not dark enough that their children are burdened with racial microaggressions and an appearance that strays too far from western beauty standards. Being a mixed-race Asian will often result in a plethora of questions surrounding your native identity. People often ask ‘what are you’ because you look ‘so exotic’, too exotic to be fully white yet too racially ambiguous to figure out where you are from. In a society that already supports social constructs of race (even if done implicitly), questioning someone’s identity in such an abrupt manner forces people into concrete categories of race, gender, and sexuality. Mixed-raced individuals are expected to fall into social categories and stray from a single race. This questioning of identity insinuates a social narrative that the nuance of a mixed-raced identity can be reduced to the singular identity whilst ignoring the needed celebration of diverse cultures. More sensitivity is required when asking around the topic of a person’s heritage. Asking about a person’s family, where their mother and father grew up, what it is like in their parents' family home is a supportive and gentle way to find out about a person’s history. “Dating can be hard because the question of my ethnicity is inevitable. My skin is not white enough to be white-passing and not dark enough to be fully Indian. Once getting to know a potential partner, I must tell them the ins and outs of my culture to make sure that they are aware of how the Indian side of my family perceives dating. I often think it would be better to date a person who understands my culture to avoid complications, yet living in the UK, it is hard to do this. ”– Anonymous, British-Indian. Finding a balance of respecting my Asian mother while accepting that my situation in British culture is conversely different to Asian culture has been a struggle. I often felt irritated that my mother would prohibit actions that I assumed were normal for a teenage girl. Acknowledging that what seems harsh for a British teenager is a social norm within Asian society aided me to understand where my mother was coming from and my perceived intolerance with her house rules. When I told my mother that I was going to pursue a degree in English and Philosophy, I was welcomed with an embracing support that comforted me with the fact that my Asian mother accepts me for who I am and my strengths. I appreciate the prevalence of Asian culture in my childhood. I will always devote my love of authentic Taiwanese cuisine, Buddhism, and the ability to speak Mandarin to my mother. My capability of merging Asian and British culture has taught me that my mixed-race identity doesn’t necessitate a linear experience. I can proudly wear my Jade necklace that my mother handed down to me and still get a tattoo although it is often shunned in Asian culture. This mixture of culture has formed my identity above anything else, and I will always thank my parents for their open-minded leniency for my dual culture. Growing up in London has been a hugely beneficial experience for me as a mixed-raced individual. Living in a city that celebrates multiculturalism through art, food, and events has shown me that I should celebrate my Asian identity instead of whitewashing the oriental culture that I have grown up with. This only became obvious to me when I moved to Birmingham for university and the microaggressions that are present in UK cities that are less aware of racial insensitivity. Nevertheless, stereotyping is still prevalent for biracial women in London, especially through catcalling. In a time where everyday sexism is still an issue, race becomes a catalyst. Women of all races have been victims of sexual stereotyping. Other stereotypes that come from being BAME include the grave expectation that Asians are high achievers in school which has detrimental effects on adolescent mental health because of this stereotype. black people are stereotypically labelled as aggressive and therefore, deemed less approachable in society. When added with the layer of being mixed-race, further ignorance can occur. Once overcoming the generic assumption of mere oriental origin that people often guess, an announcement that I am half Taiwanese, and half British becomes a shock. ‘You don’t look Asian’ or ‘you definitely look more white’ is a common response. The problem with these stark questions is the insensitivity. Growing up, being questioned for my ethnicity becomes an alarming occurrence. Mixed-race people become conditioned to these questions and maintain a tolerant attitude, disregarding the patronising implications of asking ‘what are you’. Yet with a history of colonialism and imperialism targeted at minority groups, the question becomes negatively loaded with a perpetuation that one’s ambiguous appearance doesn’t belong in western society.

In mainstream society, there is a belief that because all LGBTQIA+ people have similar experiences of discrimination, that does not mean that they will share the same mindset, especially considering the community is full of people of different genders, backgrounds, age, religion, and place of birth. This may lead to some hostilities towards some people within the communities due to personal bigotries still being at play. I interviewed several queer women about their experiences in the community and asked about this phenomenon. There was a general consensus found throughout these interviews that there are many inner workings of the community that can negatively affect specific people within the community. A notable experience that many of the women identified was the differential treatment of bisexuals, specifically bisexual women. One interviewee described how “bisexuals are probably the most invalidated in the community, I’m someone who currently identifies as pansexual, and I’ve had my sexuality invalidated by people who told me that my sexuality is transphobic because it apparently infers that bisexual people are stuck up for only being into two genders. It’s weird.” Another interviewee described the misconceptions around bisexuality. “There are still a lot of preconceptions that bisexuals are either greedy, promiscuous, or cannot "make up their mind". These misconceptions rely on the idea that women who identify as bisexual “inevitably” end up with men. One of the queer women interviewees stated that “I would try to explain [to my lesbian friends] why this seems like the case and how bisexual women hold a lot of compulsory heterosexual internalisations, but inevitably I would get nowhere with it. […] They can only wrap their heads around being gay or straight. Someone who exists somewhere in the middle is just incomprehensible, and if they end up with someone of the opposite gender, they become a pariah in the community”. It is clear there is still a lot of distrust and misunderstanding when it comes to bisexuality, and within the LGBTQ+ community, women are still disproportionately criticised for their sexuality. The interviewees also brought the idea of a “gold-star lesbian” to the narrative. This is a lesbian who has only been with other women, and has never had a sexual experience with a man. If a woman who identifies as lesbian has been with a man before, or has never been with a woman, they can be referred to as a “baby gay”. This language creates a hierarchy within the community of people who are deemed “worthy” of the label they identify with, and those who are not, due to lack of 'experience'. This notion is flawed as even if a straight person was still a virgin or had no encounters with the opposite sex, their sexuality would not be brought into question. One interviewee describes this experience: “It’s like trying to say that you’re a lesbian and you’re proud, but that also unintentionally negatively impacts lesbians who happened to date men in the past.” Although the interviews carried out were only with women, several noted how they have gay male friends who also experience discrimination within the community. One interviewee noted how they have seen friends be rejected because they are effeminate. She notes how it is “so obviously just internalised misogyny”. Gay men disproportionately are glamourised by the typical straight cis woman, who see a gay man as “an accessory” or “gay best friend”. This type of faux allyship was explained by one of the queer women, “gay men, for the most part, are not considered men, not men that we are afraid of, so they are one of the girls”. This soothes the egos of the straight cis women by not making the gay men in their group an equal. This collection of interviews uncovers a lot of the universal experiences that most queer people are familiar with. In recent years, we have seen shows such as Pose highlight these struggles faced by the community right now. There was a general consensus that in order to reverse some of these nuances within the community, everyone must actively listen to each other and understand the experiences they share with their community. This way, there will be more understanding and less misconceptions will be circulated. Therefore, with a collective effort, we can understand, connect, and respect each other.

Bethany has shared her spoken word poetry on various wide-reaching platforms, speaking on BBC3 with her poem Pink, opening up about her depression in a stunning Ted Talk, alongside creating crucial conversations about feminism and sexuality. Go Inspire had the privilege of asking her about creative processes, performances and the pandemic. GI: What drew you to poetry as a medium to convey your desired emotions and/or messages? BR: I seem like a really easy-going person, but I am actually really neurotic. I like an even space between my clothes hangers, my photos archived and dated in exact order, and every drawer and cupboard immaculate. I think it’s because I know deep down that I am a hoarder of memories and unfinished thoughts, so I have to create a clear space somewhere physical so that I can breathe. I have always been drawn to the idea of containing wildness- how to hold the unholdable. I think that is what I love most about poetry; that it tidies away chaos and big emotions into straight lines and metrics. I can’t tidy away my messy heart, but I can find ways in which I feel held. Language holds the things that my arms are too heavy to carry. GI: How did you discover that for you, poetry was the most effective creative outlet? BR: When I was eleven, I wrote a poem in my English class. My teacher asked me to stay behind after class and told me that it was extraordinary. I couldn’t believe that I was actually being praised for having emotions, that I could actually make a piece of work out of the weird way my brain worked. I wanted and demanded a lot of attention when I was growing up, and this felt like a good way to harness my need to be seen with an actual craft. I love drawing, painting, playing the piano, singing and writing songs too. These are the things that bring me comfort and joy. It’s actually the day-to-day practicalities of living that I have to work hard at getting right. I could happily keep my head in the clouds all day, dreaming of the sky. What is harder for me is balancing my creative outlets against the need for creative escape. I feel like poetry encompasses both. GI: What were your biggest challenges, personally speaking, mental health-wise when the pandemic first hit? BR: When the pandemic hit, I was recovering from the biggest mental health breakdown of my life. I had not been working for a year, I had partially been living in my family home as I needed round-the-clock care and supervision, and I had just moved back into my home full time again with my partner Cat (Cc) a few weeks before we went into lockdown. As a result, my life didn’t change much because I had been living in a very small world previously. I remember being worried for those that I love but also relieved that there were no social expectations on me and that I could take my time getting better with Cc by my side. My mental health team continued to work with me remotely, I took lots of photos of flowers and the night sky, and I taught myself the names of the constellations, the names of the trees and plants in the forest, and how to run. For the first few weeks, I was too weak to walk down the road, but I loved putting my music on loud in my ears and looking at the sky. It had been a long time since I had been able to feel any kind of joy. Running took me back to a place where I had not been for a long time; my body. GI: With that in mind, what did you learn about yourself? BR: I learned that as somebody who has suffered with depression her whole life, that I am good at ‘being’ as opposed to ‘doing’- because there have been so many times where I couldn’t be defined by my output as a person because I was too unwell to even move. I had to learn how to just be because being present and in the moment was sometimes all I had to keep me above the water. I also learned that I had a resilience I wasn’t aware of. People were talking in horrified tones about isolation, anxiety, fear, the threat of job loss, feeling trapped and claustrophobic, money worries, exhaustion, monotony and lack of structure. None of these things phased me in the slightest. When you struggle with your mental health, then you will know all these things in a familiar and intimate way. So I knew what to do. And my friends who are really successful- lawyers and surgeons and teachers and directors – they would call me and ask me how I was coping with the long empty space of the days, and it was such a privilege to be able to help them in the way they had always helped me over the years. I learned how good a quiet life is for my soul. I love spending time with my cats and my partner, just dotting around the house, chatting and organising and dreaming and reading and being soft. GI: Do you feel the literary world, specifically in poetry, is a safe space for women or do you think it could be improved? How so? BR: This is such a complex and interesting question that I could talk for a long time about. I think that there is no place in any world where women are entirely safe, and there are a lot of male poets who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, hiding poor behaviours behind the guise of being gifted with their language skills. Not many happy people write poems, and the sadness in some of the rooms sometimes takes on a strange and dangerous energy. It’s the energy of desperation, a room full of people who are staring into the abyss and don’t know what to do about how dark it is, so read each other poems into a microphone. To me, that isn’t a safe space in so many ways, but it also is - because there is solace in the togetherness and the collectiveness of our shared experience. At some queer nights, there is palpable joy in the room. Joy that we are all still here, making poetry and power out of our pain. GI: You performed one of your poems on BBC3; how did you personally feel, and what was the public response towards the poem? BR: I performed this poem in a t-shirt covered in cat hair because I didn’t think anyone would watch it. It has had nearly 6 million views now, and to be honest, I found the whole thing terrifying and exposing. On one hand, I had these amazing messages from all over the world about how it helped them come to terms with their sexuality or how it helped them feel less alone- and then, on the other hand, I was being called homophobic slurs, having my appearance and writing criticised hourly, and I felt so much shame that I hadn’t worn a nicer t-shirt. It opened up some amazing opportunities for me, and I feel really lucky about that. I still sometimes can’t believe how many people have watched it! GI: What is the main message you want people to take from your new book Neon? BR: That there is a person who is just as grieving and mad and confused and lonely as them- but who is also laughing rather a lot at all this because what choice do we have but to make art and to laugh? That you can turn your pain into something way more powerful than the person who caused it, even if that person is yourself. That there is absolutely nothing wrong with being sad because it means that you are paying attention. Attention is devotion. GI: What has been your favourite part of getting your book out there? For example, a certain book shop stocking your book? BR: I have a few moments which stick out to me. One was the first student I ever taught, ten years ago, messaging me for a signed copy, a grown-up adult herself now. That was magic. Another was going with one of my best friends, Christabel, to the Waterstones in the town where I grew up and placing an order for it as we both screamed and cried with joy. I went home that day, and my Mama brought me a coffee, and my Dad was outside watering the flowers, and I sipped my drink and looked out at the apple tree blossoming in the garden of my childhood home- and I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be for the first time ever. I felt like I could breathe, and nothing in my body hurt. I felt like I made sense. GI: Who are your target audience for your poems? BR: Anyone who thinks the world is magical and absolutely brutal in equal measure- and who struggles to hold the dissonance of that. Anyone who has the brain of an adult but the heart of a child. Anyone who is lonely. GI: With that in mind, what's the most prevalent stigma that you would like to dismantle either in regards to the queer community, mental health or feminism? BR: There are so many! I feel like, as a lesbian, I don’t fit in with the kind of gay people who write poetry on the scene. I’m not very alternative, and I’m not a hipster- I really like watching Holby City, shopping for candles and pastel-coloured knitwear, and eating snacks on my sofa in my pink tracksuit bottoms. I want people to see that you don’t need to have green hair or androgynous clothes or a lip ring to be listened to (although those things are wonderful too!). I am completely obsessed with talking about mental health. OBSESSED. I think that trauma is incredibly interesting and especially the systemic trauma that we are experiencing living on a planet filled with people we love and stars and forests, but also that is filled with war and poverty and is literally being boiled alive (I’m not very fun at a dinner party!). If I have too much wine, I end up going on a rant about capitalism. I still sometimes can't believe that we actually need to work in order to LIVE- for our basic needs to be met. It seems like a joke to me- and I talk about it in my work a lot. We know it’s time for me to be escorted home when I start going on about how it’s a war crime that we don’t tax the billionaires... GI: Who were your inspirations growing up? BR: I really looked up to my baby brother Sammy. He was born seven years after me, and he was just like this insane ball of light and joy. I remember loving him so much that it made my jaw hurt – and whenever I was sad or overwhelmed, he would be there in my doorway at 5:30 am every morning, standing quietly waiting for me to wake up so he could come in for a cuddle, holding his little juice cup and blinking his eyelashes that were so light they looked like sunsplinters. Being around him made me realise that I was capable of great love and that I could make the people around me feel safe and witnessed. That I wasn’t good at a lot of things, but I was good at the most important thing; tenderness. GI: Do you ever miss London? BR: I don’t. I live in Scotland now, by the beach and the mountains and the Northern Lights, in a large haunted Victorian house. The ghost here is called Vicky, and she is a babe- good vibes only. I love my new job in a local secondary school, and I love that all my London friends and family visit me. I’m lucky that I still get flown down for gigs and talks and photoshoots – and I enjoy being in the city for a few days, but I am always ready to come back here, to Cat and my cats and the highland skies. London always made me feel pressured- I found it hard to rest there and always felt burned out. My boundaries have always been very permeable, so it is useful for me to have physical distance to act as a protector against me overextending myself. GI: What message do you have for young poets, especially young queer poets or literary individuals who also find comfort in expressing themselves through words but are unsure on how to get started? BR: I started doing spoken word in a time where it wasn’t popular or cool. There were often audiences of two or three, and it only picked up after a few years of working at it and going to every venue in the city. It is so much harder now that the market has become saturated with people, and I don’t know if younger me would have been able to have handled the pressure that is on young poets now. I made sure that I went to all the spoken word nights, that I gave my best, and that I always pushed myself. I entered contests, performed at venues in the middle of nowhere, wrote to publishing houses who didn’t even open my letters, let alone read them. But I am not going to say something pithy like ‘never give up’. Obviously, never giving up is important, but there is always an element of luck in this industry. People told me to listen to my guts- but then again, guts are hard to listen to if you have mental health issues because you can’t work out if the noise telling you to do something is the safety of your car engine or the panic of your car alarm. All I can say is; what you say is important, and you matter. And a poem that lives in a drawer is better than a poem that lives only in your head. And a poem that is read out loud to living, breathing souls is better than anything living in your drawer. If you use poetry as a means to connect with other vulnerable people, not as a means to get famous, then you will always find meaning in the most terrible of places. Talent doesn’t always indicate success- but good work ethic helps as poets are notoriously disorganised. Sometimes I think the fact that I am organised and on time and reliable is the real reason I get so much work- not actually for my poetry at all! GI: Can you tell us about any upcoming projects or any project ideas that you are working on? BR: I am still riding the wave of Neon and the TED talk! And I am currently working on developing an idea for a project where a girl gets so depressed she turns purple- and everyone is finally kind to her because they can actually see how much she is hurting. How amazing it would be to turn the pain into something visible so that we could experience the luxury of universal empathy. I guess that is what writing is for me; a way to make what is unseen and unformed into something that can be held in the palm of your hands. See more of Bethany Rose's work at https://www.bethanyrosepoetry.com/ The Go Inspire UK team, thank you for such a wonderful interview, Bethany!

A first-generation student writing about their experiences at university is no new thing. ‘Fish out of water’ does not do justice to the culture shock that you go through when the drunken camaraderie of Freshers Week dies down and you actually have to contend with your environment and the people in it. My experience wasn’t that of blatant exclusion nor a crisis of class consciousness as the sons of Bullingdon make fun of my shoes and spit on passing proles. However, studying modern languages and taking a year abroad has exacerbated the differences that were little grievances before. A bit about me: I’m an English and Spanish student from a single-mother household in South London. I’m among the first of my family to go to university and the first person in my family to learn another language. With some individual merit but mostly the guidance of some amazing teachers, I’ve come out of Britain’s ever-disintegrating modern languages department with the tools to live in Spain without any major issues. My family also prides itself on being well-read, fitting the space to read somewhere on a busy day. I wasn’t exposed to the classics that have become more relevant to me at uni (I didn’t know who Homer was until he was compulsory reading) but my relationship with language was undeniably nurtured by my mother and grandparents. I still remember the rising excitement of reading a new word in a Lemony Snicket book and thinking, “Yes, I will find a way to say ‘lachrymose’ at the dinner table tonight”. During my childhood, my sister and I were constantly reminded of the importance of language by both sides of the family. My limited memories of my father involve lectures on ‘proper English’ as opposed to his thick cockney twang. I still remember the mantra “you don’t want to sound like me when you grow up”. As a result, my accent wouldn’t immediately reveal my social class until I’m in a room with my cousins. Even now, my natural accent that comes out with my cousins and sister is not the way I would speak to my own mother, let alone a lecturer at my university. The prestige of my uni isn’t on par with Oxbridge (no one goes punting along the Itchen River) but Russell Group universities are not exempt from elitism and class ignorance. I got into the uni after months of worrying about whether I would be able to afford the commute to my sixth-form college. After a surgery that knocked me out for weeks, I had to get cabs to school and back while I recovered from the anaesthesia. Money has been an issue all the way through school and university. I didn’t erupt with joy upon receiving my invitation to my first-choice uni. Instead, my mind became saturated with everything we’d have to buy and how quickly I could land a decent part-time job. As I say, I didn’t feel much of a difference between myself and my peers at university until the novelty of moving to a new city had worn off. It was very much a slow-burning realisation that for all my merit and education, I was just born in a different world. From money talk to outside connections, it can be disheartening to immerse yourself in a world that so clearly wasn’t created for you. Everyone seems to have an uncle somewhere that can fix them up with some exclusive work experience, or even your dream job straight out of graduation. Everyone’s parents have a company where they can conveniently slot in your classmates with no questions asked or have the disposable income to follow their postgraduate dreams. I worked as a receptionist with my naive dreams of doing a masters and a PhD. I looked up the annual cost of both a casual afterthought to my lamination duties. It was there I had to start accepting that maybe my dreams might come true a bit further down the line. I might have to make some judicious cuts to my ideal career path to support my family. I came to uni with that Girl Power outlook: career first, become independent, do whatever is necessary to get to that point. To this day, my education and career has always been a priority but not to the detriment of my family. I think many single-parent children grow up with the fierce determination to give their parents something better than what they’ve had for so long. I want to get to a point where my mother doesn’t have to work anymore if she doesn’t want to; where my mother doesn’t have to take the minimum from employers that don’t appreciate her worth; where she never has to look for a man for financial security and the dangers that come with that. These sentiments often go amiss in higher education. I remember sitting in a Spanish oral class in which the subject was wealth and poverty. One of the questions on the board to break the ice was “have you ever had to go a day without eating?”. This question would have been strictly out of bounds at my comprehensive secondary school. Even then, my secondary school was predominantly middle-class but somehow still had some notion of class sensitivity. From casual conversation to obtuse lectures about travelling abroad to maintain your progress in your second language (“why don’t you just move to Barcelona for three months?”) I couldn’t help but feel alienated by a course that was supposed to open the world up to me. Of course, this experience isn’t limited to university. I wasn’t 18 the first time someone reacted with palpable discomfort when I said my father wasn’t around. I wasn’t 18 when I first became friendly with people whose lifestyles were too rich for my blood. I wasn’t 18 when I had to clarify that I can’t just ask my mother for money to compensate for reckless spending. I still see university as emancipation, a direct means to achieving a better life for myself and my family. It’s just harder to keep up the optimism when you’re surrounded by a culture in which my way of life is inconceivable. Despite the complaints, university is definitely the best thing that’s happened to me. It’s been my gateway to some degree of social mobility and to opening my mind beyond myself. I’m literally writing this in Spain during my year abroad which never would have happened without higher education. For all the compulsory reading, seminars and presentations, my relationship with language stems from a single mother and a family that banded together for a budding bookworm and her sister. My family has carried me to a place where we’ve since become inconceivable but I write this to make ourselves, and the families like us, known.

As a magazine that strives to create a sense of community between women, it is impossible to ignore the daily challenges that women, girls, and other marginalised genders experience. In March 2021, the UN released a report that revealed that 97% of 18-24 year old women had experienced sexual harassment. This is not even considering the harassment directed at teenage girls. Seeing a near-unanimous statement on the prevalence of harassment towards women such as this, it’s difficult to think of solutions that can tangibly bring positive change to the rampant misogyny in the UK. And then we got in contact with Eliza Hatch… Eliza Hatch is best known for her social media campaign, Cheer Up Luv, a photography series that helps victims of sexual harassment reclaim public spaces with power and confidence. Soon to be launching her exhibition, Hysterical, alongside Bee Illustrates, it was high time for a chat with Hatch about the inspirations behind her work and the social backdrop that drives her. GI: Why do you think it’s taken so long for sexual harassment to become a crime? EH: There’s a multitude of reasons that factor into why public sexual harassment still isn’t a crime, and also why it still goes unreported on a large scale. From the biases that people have towards victims and arduous reporting processes that can leave people more traumatised than before, to the toxic behaviour that's so normalised it still doesn’t even register as harassment to some people. The latter was definitely the case for me when I was at school. There was such a lack of education around what was acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in the classroom. My friends and I just brushed off every experience we had with "at least it wasn’t rape”. This was also mirrored in the actions of some of my teachers. If boys tried to put their hands up our skirts, we would be told off for the length of our skirts. If boys in our class pinged our bra straps, we were scolded for wearing colourful bras or makeup. The bottom line was: if we experienced sexual harassment, it was our fault for attracting the attention. That's an unhealthy attitude to have ingrained into you from a young age. The campaigners, @ourstreetsnow, released a survey asking students about violence and sexual harassment in the classroom. They found that only 14% of students had been told about sexual harassment and that 72% of pupils who did report public sexual harassment described receiving a negative response from their school. I personally think that we need a two-pronged approach. We need to focus more on education around the issue rather than only focusing on carceral solutions. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that education would have a positive effect on the above statistics and would make children, adult women, and marginalised genders feel safer moving forward. GI: Who influenced you growing up who made you notice the misogyny in today’s society that so many ignore? EH: I was heavily influenced by the strong women in my life growing up, but I didn't really have a grasp on what feminism was until I went to university, and certainly didn’t act on that knowledge until after I graduated and started experiencing rampant workplace and street harassment firsthand. I think its extremely important to share stories of sexual harassment, because, for far too long, people have brushed off their experiences and suffered in silence. One of the main reasons I began my campaign five years ago was because my own male friends dismissed and challenged the lived experiences of my friends and me. They said they couldn’t believe what we were saying because they hadn’t seen it, experienced it, or been victims of it themselves. One of my male friends even said he’d “love to be pinched on the bum every now and again, for a change”. And this is exactly the problem. Many of the cis straight men in our lives are blinkered to these kinds of issues, and not from a place of malice, but from a place of inexperience. If they have barely witnessed, experienced or even heard their friends talking about sexual harassment, of course they would need a little more convincing of the scale of the issue. So the more we can bring sexual harassment into the conversation, the easier it will be to tackle the stigma surrounding it and combat the normalisation of it in society. A huge part of that is being able to have frank discussions with your friends, and in spaces where you can share experiences freely without the fear of being judged or disbelieved. GI: How did you personally cope with the pandemic when it first hit? EH: I have been working within the same model for @CheerUpLuv since 2017, so the pandemic gave me the opportunity to let go of some of the rigid structure I had given to myself and the project. I decided to branch out, switch it up and start experimenting with making different content. I was initially really scared of taking the leap, and using social media and other forms of media entirely in a different way to communicate my message. But it ended up being a really positive thing for the platform and for the direction of the Campaign. Instead of in-person shoots, I started doing FaceTime shoots; instead of in-person talks, I started hosting online workshops and sessions. I also launched a podcast! I wanted to create a podcast based on my Instagram series @cheerupluv, a platform dedicated to raising awareness about sexual harassment, through harnessing the power of collective storytelling. With the reach of my work becoming more limited during the pandemic, photoshoots put on hold, or taking place on FaceTime, it seemed like the perfect time to start sharing stories through another medium. The mission of the podcast is to create an environment where you can have open and honest conversations surrounding sexual harassment and everyday sexism, whilst platforming stories and discussions that don't usually get air time. GI: What was the experience that made you decide to create the Cheer Up Luv Campaign? EH: Cheer Up Luv is a globally renowned photo series and platform retelling accounts of street harassment. I founded the campaign after being told to "cheer up" by a stranger in the street. After my male friends dismissed the experience as a “compliment", I felt inspired to prove them wrong. I realised not only was the issue completely normalised, but there was a huge lack of awareness surrounding it. I began taking portraits of friends in public places and posting the photos online. Each location reflected the testimony of harassment, the effect was empowering survivors by turning a negative memory into something positive. But most importantly, taking back control of the experience and reclaiming the space. GI: What do you think is the next step for us as women combating this issue? EH: Education, education, education. GI: Do you think the UK media has a responsibility in the way they cover harassment against women? EH: I think the UK has a responsibility to report honestly and non-sensationally on crimes of sexual harassment, assault, and violence against women girls and marginalised genders. On the other hand, I also think the media and government has a habit of minimising experiences of sexual harassment, often referring to them as “catcalling” or “wolf-whistling”, which detracts from the seriousness of the issue. GI: What’s next for you and Cheer up Luv? Have you got any projects in the works? EH: I just finished co-curating my first ever exhibition, Hysterical, with non-binary queer creative, Bee Illustrates. We wanted to put on a group show that included work by women and marginalised genders who were using their voices for change, and advocating for causes they believed in through their art. wI hope to put on more events and future exhibitions and keep pushing the platform forward in different and exciting ways. See Eliza's work here: http://elizahatch.com/ Thank you for speaking to us, Eliza.

Formally working for Action for Children and Women's Aid, Polly joined Shelter in 2017 in the role of Chief Executive. Taking some time to speak to us away from her work at one of the biggest UK homeless charities, GoInspire wanted to get to know Polly and learn about what pushed her into her years of charity work across the UK. GI: Tell me about your current role and why you are passionate about it. PN: I’m chief executive of Shelter, the charity that helps people who find themselves victims of the national emergency our housing crisis has become, either because they are homeless or because the safety or security of their home is under threat. I’m passionate about it because I believe that without a safe and secure home, we can’t build our lives, fulfil our potential, grow and develop. A home is one of the most basic human needs, and I believe it should be a right. But it’s very far indeed from being a right in the UK. GI: Tell me about the moment you knew this is what you wanted to spend your time doing? PN: When I was a magazine editor, I had a moment when I realised that talking about how bad things are and analysing why things are going wrong wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to try and change things for the better. I was offered two really great new jobs in journalism, and when I realised my heart wasn’t in either of them, I started asking myself why, and found the answer. I was in my late 30s at the time, having spent many years as a journalist. GI: Is there are particular moment or memory that stands out for you? PN: One of the first ever features I wrote as a journalist was about families trapped in temporary accommodation. This was in 1990. I visited a family of five in one room in a horrible B&B. The whole room was beds, literally. No floor space. No privacy, no possibility of cleanliness or order, or any kind of normal life. All along the corridor were families in the same state. A communal kitchen at one end, a communal bathroom at the other. I joined Shelter in 2017 and since then I’ve met countless families in exactly the same situation. Every single one brings back that first family I met. And a sense of shame and anger that nothing has changed. GI: Is there an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of? PN: When I was at Women’s Aid we campaigned for coercive and controlling behaviour to be made a criminal offence. This was incredibly important because “coercive control” isn’t just a type of domestic abuse, it is the heart of it, and the most dangerous aspecto of it. We were successful and it’s now a crime, which opens the door to freedom for many women. I’m also really proud of the work we did with The Archers to raise awareness of what coercive control is. They ran a long storyline about the abuse suffered by Helen Archer and it was incredibly powerful, made a ton of headlines, and made people much more aware. GI: Why? What attracted you to this cause? PN: A safe home is everything. GI: What inspires you? Who are your female icons? PN: Feminists inspire me. The person I quote most often is Audre Lorde. The women I have met working at Shelter and Women’s Aid inspire me: they will never be famous but they struggle unbelievable odds. Celebrities don’t inspire me. I like watching lots of them, but inspire? Not really. GI: What was the biggest challenge you were facing? PN: I’ve faced challenges in my life like everyone, but I’m an incredibly fortunate person. GI: What do you think other people should know about this organization? PN: Shelter believes everyone should have a safe home, in which they can build a life for them and their family. We work alongside people to find and keep a home. And we work with communities and campaign across society to bring the day closer when there’ll be a safe home for everyone. GI: Are you a feminist? How do you see the role of women in charity and social work? PN: Yes I am a feminist. Women have been at the forefront of helping others since charity and social work began, and we still are. Sometimes in roles like mine, but more often because it’s women who care for others, unpaid, unnoticed and often unrewarded. GI: During your period at Womens Aid, you worked with lots of women from different backgrounds. What was your biggest lesson learned from this time? PN: That domestic abuse is no respecter of wealth, culture, education. GI: What do you think the future looks for women? PN: We are not equal yet. Don’t let anyone tell you we are. Women are still turning ourselves inside out and upside down to do the right thing, look the right way, please everyone. Actually in many ways the pressures on my daughters’ generation are worse than when I was their ages (23 and 17). But they are more confident than we were, so I have faith and hope in them to change things. Polly Neate was one of our first interviewees for the magazine, and we thank her for the opportunity to speak and shoot at her home/workplace. More information on supporting Shelter, Women's Aid and Action for Children can be found by those links. Any contact information if you need help can also be found on these sites.