On gender, diversity, and feminism
by Nanette Ashby
Lyon, France, 2nd June 1975. More than 100 sex workers occupied the Saint-Nizier Church demanding to have their voices heard. They insisted on the release of ten sex workers who had been jailed for solicitation just days prior, as well as the cessation of police harassment, fines, abuse and stigma attached to their work.
by Serdzhan Ibryam Hasan
The figure of the “witch” has historically functioned as a socio-political construct used to discipline individuals who threatened dominant religious, patriarchal, and racial orders. In early modern contexts such as the Salem witch trials, accusations of witchcraft operated as mechanisms of social control through which women who transgressed religious and patriarchal expectations were marginalised and punished.
by Clara Sophie Feldmann
Is there such a thing as morally legitimate capitalism? In modern capitalist societies, morality often appears curiously displaced from and at odds with the dominant economic values. Principles such as competition, profit maximisation, and efficiency sit uneasily alongside ethical ideals of justice, empathy, and solidarity.
In this episode, Nanette Ashby is joined by Anne Nørkjær Bang, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. Her work is situated within cultural studies and feminist science studies, looking at the intersection of reproduction, gender, technology, environment, and contemporary culture. Together, we discuss her project Endocrine Economies: the Cultural Politics of Sex Hormones and her take on the birth control pill as more than just a contraceptive technology, but a cultural phenomenon. We immerse ourselves in the so-called “spiral campaign” led by the Danish government in the 1960s and 70s in Greenland, and the debates around the administration of Depo-Provera injections that followed.
by Martine Mussies
A museum named Fenix promises rebirth. I expected flames, wings, ascension. Instead, I encountered porcelain treaties thin enough to fracture at a touch, documents that regulate belonging, and images of movement structured by permission.
by Noemi Chiavassa
Going to the library has long been part of my routine. It is a space where I can focus – where ideas settle and take shape. Wherever I am – whether in the Netherlands, Italy, or Spain – I find myself drawn to the small exhibitions that line the library walls, quietly offering something to anyone willing to pause.
by Sadaf Javed
War in real life wages
without uplifting music to silence the screams.
By Noa de Kievit
In classical Greek epics, heroism is traditionally defined through martial glory, public recognition, and the pursuit of immortal fame. In The Song of Achilles (2011), however, Madeline Miller reimagines this tradition by shifting the focus of the Trojan-war myth from battlefield triumph to emotional intimacy and queer desire.
by Serdzhan Ibryam Hasan
Melibea Obono’s novel, La Bastarda (2016), centres on Okomo, a young Fang woman whose lesbian identity is suppressed by the heteropatriarchal norms that pervade family and communal life in Equatorial Guinea.
In this episode Nanette Ashby dives into the world of Porn Film Festivals together with organiser Jessica van der Berg. Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Jessie is a copywriter, Sextech School graduate, and speaker on masturbation, vulvas, and pornography. She is part of the team behind the Porn Film Festival Amsterdam. She is also the organiser of SONA, South Africa’s first Sex of the Nation Address – a sex-positive, consent-centered, post-porn festival and fundraiser for the sex worker movements Sweat and Sisonke.
by Pia van de Schaft
As a consequence of the increased appreciation of empirical research, a new scientific culture emerged. Intellectuals collaborated in national scientific academies while amateurs gathered in scientific societies of their own. Especially in Western Europe, the growing interest generated pathways for some women to engage with the sciences.
by Camilla Di Nardo
I’m a hysterical woman
Some believe that my uterus moves around my body
Forcing me to do strange things
Raffia 