Women and girls deserve to feel safe online and offline. In public spaces and in the comfort of their own home. These are our bodies, our lives, our liberty. I hope you’ll join me in recognising these harrowing statistics and feel emboldened to push for reform. #whiteribbonday #endvawg

This is because online, misogyny makes money. Algorithms boost and amplify harmful narratives. Researcher Luciana Di Meco calls this a “violent, vicious gendered disinformation and online hate campaign.” Mirroring Glitch’s 2023 report that digital misogynoir is “toxic, dehumanising and unchecked..”

Like most all gender-based crimes, these are underreported and under recorded echoing the plights of women offline. For example, according to Rape Crisis UK, fewer than 3 in 100 rapes were recorded by police between July ‘23 and June ‘24.

For migrants, second generations and ethnic and religious minorities, cyber violence damages social integration and lowers trust in institutions, adding an extra layer of complexity for women in these groups.

Moreover, there are cyber crimes that almost exclusively target women and girls. From non-consensual image abuse, like cyber flashing and extortion (as well as virtual r*pe). This is part of a continuum of gender-based violence that women and girls endure.

According to a report by the EIGE, this has a tremendously negative impact on women and girls’ confidence in technology.

We often think of online and offline as separate spaces, but the truth is they are an enmeshed, singular reality, that can have deathly consequences and impacts on mental and physical health and well-being.

Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls (CVAWG) is an endemic, with reports from the European Women’s Lobby that this era of digitalisation is causing an unprecedented surge in online gender-based violence.

For women living in poverty, or who are marginalised in any other way by patriarchal society, this is an acute reality. But, with the inexplicable and unstoppable radicalisation of men in far right and misogynist groups online, the threat is more pervasive and perverse than we can imagine.

Every 10 minutes a woman is killed, according to a new report from the UN. And, for at least 51,100 women in 2023, this cycle of gender-based violence ended in brutality from intimate partners or family members. #NoExcuse

I feel you!

Yes! And imagine getting a little kickback from something you wrote. I’d love to see magazines pay an advertisers fee to writers as standard. Or a means of listening the work rather than buying outright in the same way that a graphic designer or illustrator might.

I love the NHS. I love public health. It’s a human right. I do not love male doctors who admit to know nothing about gynae and metabolic health who then deny reasonable action. The pill isn’t the fucking answer.

It took me explaining (ironically) in hysterics for them to put my case forward to a PCOS specialist.

Regardless of the fact that I meet most criteria except for BMI and full blown type 2 diabetes AND I’ve been on the medication before (paid for privately) and not only did my periods come back but I began ovulating again.

I love connecting with other journalists working the same beat. So if you see this and want to say hi - please do!

I also work with organisations on their content and copywriting. Currently, I’m working with the Women’s Equality Network (WEN) Wales to help them deliver reports on gender inequality and government level change for women across Wales.

I am also, perhaps unsurprisingly, Welsh.