How to stop worrying and learn to love your vulva

Alex Casey goes on a journey to find out all there is to know about what a “normal” vulva looks like. Spoiler alert: there are many, many versions of normal.  The funniest and most embarrassing thing anyone has ever said to me in my whole life happened during my very first smear test. I was … Read more

It’s time to talk about bodies after birth, and not just stretch marks

The impact of pregnancy and birth on the body is immense, yet we rarely discuss the ways it impacts women’s lives, says Emily Writes. Before writing this piece on pregnancy and postpartum body changes  I ran a short survey that I shared in a small Facebook group. Within half a day I had more than … Read more

What older women wished you knew about them

While ageing men are celebrated as sexy silver foxes, their female counterparts tend to slowly disappear from our screens – an example of how prejudices often leave older women sidelined. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Alex Casey talks to two women who are defying the expectations around old age. At 82 years … Read more

A brief history of women removing all their body hair

Millions of women spend hours a day shaving, trimming, plucking, waxing and lasering their hair to maintain a certain ‘acceptable’ level of body hair. But why and where did the pressure come from? Alice Webb-Liddall investigates. In the years leading into puberty, my mum told me not to shave. I have light, fine hairs on … Read more

Positive influencers: The Kiwi women changing the face of Instagram

As Instagram comes under increasing scrutiny for contributing to poor mental health and body image, Alex Casey discovers a growing number of local women who are using the platform to empower and educate.  The average Instagram user under the age of 25 spends 32 minutes a day on the app. That’s a cool 11392 minutes … Read more

What our unhealthy obsession with body image is doing to us

In the first part of a new series in partnership with Women’s Health Action, Anna Beard looks at the effects of poor body image on our health and how to push back against those pressures. Body image is a critical health issue, particularly for women and girls. Recent research has linked poor body image and body … Read more