On May 11th 2018 Guatemala Together for Yes, held our first and only event, in solidarity with the referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish consititution. The Irish community in Guatemala is small and disperse but we managed to gather for one night to share our stories and perspectives about how our lives … Continue reading From Guatemala to Ireland: #BeMyYes
Author: Aisling Writes
Guatemala & Ireland Together for Yes On a Tuesday night, with only a month to go before the referendum, I was pulling my hair out with the frustration of living thousands of miles away from home and my ineligibility to vote. Inspired by the Repeal Global groups all over the world I decided to make one … Continue reading How Together4Yes Brought the Irish Together in Guatemala
But,What if Repeal doesn’t pass?What will become of me and my country, where my life matters less than a ball of cells, where my worth is measured on my ability to incubate potential life? All we want is choice,For most of my life it was a distant dream, a reality we hardly dared to hope … Continue reading All We Want is Choice
Maser Mural, Project Arts Centre - July 2016Hi from Guatemala! I am writing to you because I will not make it home for May 25th to vote in Repeal the 8th referendum nor will be home beforehand to talk to you in person about how you are going to vote. As you have probably guessed from … Continue reading My Appeal for Repeal
From Dublin to Liverpool,From Belfast to London, #TwoWomenTravel From Poland to Germany,From Malta to Greece, #TwoWomenTravel From El Salvador to Mexico City, From Texas to California, #TwoWomenTravel By car,By bus,By boat, By train andBy plane, #TwoWomenTravel With a cabin size suitcase, A change of clothes, And some Maxi Pads, #TwoWomenTravel Two Women TravelBecause women are denied basic health care in their own country, Because they are … Continue reading #TwoWomenTravel
flickr/Guian Bolisay Why did a workshop designed to make me feel comfortable with my body leave me feeling so gross? I t was a long and winding road that led me to the basement of a 19th century stately house in Brussels for my initiation. Lined along a narrow stairwell leading down to the basement with … Continue reading Blessed Is The Fruit Of Thy Womb, Or Why I Ran Out On My Moon Mother Workshop
Don’t go to VIP sections of night clubs, you are obviously after famous rugby players;Don’t act as if you don’t know who they are, don’t you follow Ulster Rugby?;Don’t talk to, look at or show any sign that you might be attracted to said rugby players, or you are obviously leading them on;Don’t expect them … Continue reading Things I have learned from the Paddy Jackson & Stuart Olding trial
The answer, according to Jaclyn Friedman’s new book Unscrewed: Women, Sex, Power and How to Stop Letting the System Screw us All, is by no means clear-cut. Friedman presents a stark portrait of 21stcentury sexual culture where, despite over 50 years since the supposed sexual revolution, women are still caught between the virgin-whore dichotomy. In … Continue reading Are we all screwed?
A mere six weeks have passed since the Tuam Babies case made international headlines and here I am, again, writing about the latest of Ireland's disturbing ironies: a religious order of nun's will be 'gifted' ownership of Ireland's largest maternity hospital. The same order that still owes 3 million euros in compensation to survivors of … Continue reading Keep Your Rosaries Off of Our Ovaries!
About five years ago I decided on a whim that I should really read more women authors. There was no particular reason for this except for the fact that after making my way through the (almost) complete works of Steinbeck, Orwell, Garcia Marquez, McKewan, Eugenides, Franzen, and many more, the number of women authors I had … Continue reading 5 Years of Reading Women
Oscar season has been and gone and probably fading into a distant memory by now. This year's Oscars were, typically, full of controversy: Did La La Land really deserve so many nominations? In my opinion, no. The best actor award went to a man accused of multiple counts of sexual harassment. Moonlight's well deserved win … Continue reading Falling in Love With 20th Century Women
"Educación sexual para decidir, anticonceptivos para no abortar y aborto legal para no morir." "Sexual education so we can decide, contraceptives so we can prevent and legal Abortion so we don't die." Fear and Loathing and Irish Sexuality Ireland's often dysfunctional attitude and practices in all things related to sexuality has been making national and … Continue reading Sex Positive, Sex Ed?
In another one of Ireland’s infinite ironies, while the Citizen’s Assembly was debating the Repeal of the 8th Amendment this weekend our nation made international headlines, once again, for the cruel and inhuman treatment of Ireland’s most vulnerable women and children, this time in the case of the Tuam babies. It is hard to know … Continue reading Of Life and Death and Catholic Morality in Ireland | Ovarious on WordPress.com
“Whenever women do something in significant numbers, the media immediately becomes frenzied as they try to understand this new mystery of womanhood. If that something involves female desire (as if female desire is universal), the frenzy takes on a sharper pitch. Women openly expressing their sexual desires is so damn heretical.” Roxanne Gaye The second … Continue reading 50 Shades of Patriarchy
Valentine's day is just around the corner and every feminist's principal concern at this time of year is will you be spending February the 14th smothered by red roses and teddy bears before being whisked off to dine in a fancy restaurant? Or will you find yourself alone in your studio apartment with a bottle … Continue reading The REAL Feminist’s Guide to Dating ®
February the 1st in Ireland is Saint Brigid’s Day. It also marks the first day of the Irish spring. The country fills with daffodils, snowdrops and the promise that the prolonged dreary winter will soon be over. Ireland’s most important female Saint, second in importance only to Patrick, is celebrated with the symbol of Brigid’s … Continue reading A Repeal Blessing from Brigid
This Saturday thousands of Irish women and men will take to the streets of Dublin to demand choice for Irish women and the fulfilment of our sexual and reproductive rights. The principal demand will be to repeal the 8th Amendment, a provision in our Constitution which equates the life of the unborn with the life … Continue reading 8 Reasons to Repeal
