Period pains: how the menstrual taboo is being challenged
Social taboos over menstruation cause undue shame to millions of women – but it is finally being understood as a human rights issue.
Human Rights & Ethics
Does literature help or hinder the fight for equality?
Today, the concept of human rights is being dangerously undermined. Does literature offer us a way back from the brink?
Echoes of history at Europe’s borders
Almost a century after a mass “exchange” of Muslim and Christian minorities, the Aegean coast sees a new wave of refugees.
The real consequences of misogyny on-screen
Sexual violence against women has become a staple of mainstream entertainment. It’s a worrying trend.
The tragedy of Pakistan’s blasphemy law
Mashal Khan, a student describing himself as a humanist, was murdered at his university in Mardan.
In search of whiteness
Identity politics is back with a vengeance in 2017 – but one particular kind of identity is often left unexplored. Lola Okolosie and Vron Ware ask why.
“Secularism isn’t about the absence of religion, it’s about the structure of the state”
Q&A with Yasmin Rehman, veteran campaigner recently named Secularist of the Year.
A politics of humanism can help build a just, free and more equal world
Intolerance and bigotry are in the ascendant. Owen Jones surveys the challenges ahead.
The dangerous stereotype of the self-hating homophobe
The assumption that homophobic attackers are themselves secretly gay lets straight society off the hook.
The EU debate did not create racism in Britain
But the surge in hate crimes after the result demonstrates that racists feel legitimised.