Opinion

The campaign for women’s rights persists. Conformed to two options, women and girls carrying an unwanted pregnancy must either continue with their pregnancy or pursue clandestine methods. This is the reality thousands of females in El Salvador struggle against every day. Abortion in all circumstances, was banned in 1998 meaning women would face a severe sentence of two to eight years for abortion and those found guilty of assisting her face six to twelve years imprisonment. The risk is especially great for young girls and those in poorer areas. Shockingly women with miscarriages have also been charged with aggravated homicide which can lead to up to 50 years imprisonment. María Teresa Rivera, a 28-year-old single parent is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence for havi...

… Shouldn’t it rather be something that I give, not something taken from me? Last year, I wrote an article about the term ‘virgin’ being used as a slur against individuals who have not had sex. As a virgin myself, I was frustrated by the openness that some people took upon themselves to discuss another’s lack of sex, whether by choice or not. My aim was to explain how virginity is something that should only concern the individual themselves and not a crowd of people saying the why’s and should’s about virginity. So, with SHAG Week fresh in our memories, I felt like it was perhaps time to provide a more positive spin on my previous article on virginity, rather than condemn those who use it negatively against people. The day that I do lost my virginity, whether that is tomorrow or in a...

Third year carries a certain prestigious expectation of being completely and utterly terrifying. Not only does it count more toward your degree, it is also your last opportunity at scoring a good mark, meaning you didn’t just waste thousands of pounds on a bad grade. For many of us, numerous deadlines have been handed out throughout the week and we are forced to think about that 10,000-word dissertation that we should have been reading for over summer. Not to mention all the job applications, the constant searching for graduate schemes and, of course, the dreaded plan of what to do with your life after university. As I stare at the mountain of books piled next to my desk I know I should be feeling some sort of anxiety about the term ahead. I should be stressed about all the essays, read...

Whenever we hear the word immigrant we firstly assume it is an adult in search of better prospects. With the word immigration being rife, which has become part of local and national political debates, we often forget to reflect upon second generation immigrants. It was at the age of 8 when I moved from Egypt to Italy with my mum and brother, where my dad was already living and working. That, for me, meant being exposed to a completely different culture, an unfamiliar language and, above all, different norms and values. On my first day of school, I had the feeling of having lost all points of reference, a feeling of lack of approval, a feeling of fear and vexation, which resulted in me becoming a tearful infant. I had to immerse myself in an unfamiliar cultural environment, I was stri...

The problem with a break up/heart break is that there is no easy way out. Your friends can't really help you, nor can alcohol, nor can *cringe* whatever you think is a good idea after a few drinks at the SU. Heartbreak is still there in your bed the morning after (usually along with a stranger). Heartbreak is a post -it note. A bright, unavoidable reminder of how happy you were and the person you lost. The weird thing is absolutely everyone goes through heart break and everyone deals with it or fails to deal with it in certain ways. However, when you ask someone how to deal with heart-break they can't give you a straight answer. Time is a word that gets thrown around a lot. But how much time? A week? Maybe if you're 14 and don't know what love is, a month? But thats four weeks, that's four...

With free access to abortion in the UK, there is really nothing to fight for when it comes to reproductive rights. Except this is not really the case. In Northern Ireland abortion is illegal even in the case of rape, incest or if the foetus has no chance of survival. Women are left by our government to raise their rapists child, or a child they cannot afford. The right for women to control what happens to their bodies is taken away; more shockingly the right for women to control their own bodies has been made illegal, holding a penalty of life imprisonment in Northern Ireland. Of course this does not stop women in desperate situations from trying to obtain an abortion. As the abortion charity ‘Women on Waves’ states: ‘No one can prevent all abortions. You can only eliminate safe abortio...