Latest Stories from Annie
The power of swearing in positions of powerlessness
Is being explicit how we cope with how out of control things are – and how out of control we feel? Recently, internationally acclaimed Irish popstar CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) posted an Instagram story responding to someone who criticised how much she swears on social media. She explained that, sometimes, when there’s nothing else you can do to relieve yourself from the shittyness of a situation (like an underpaid job that...
Opinion – stop letting men get away with silence
The belief that another person will complete us means that many people are settling for the bare minimum in relationships, rather than taking the time to get to know themselves as an individual. For modern dating to work, we need to recognise the importance of reciprocal communication between partners and an equal distribution of all kinds of labour. Before the evolution of the internet and international travel meant that you...
Modern medicine continues to neglect women’s health
Women are disproportionately suffering from a lack of medical attention, facing difficulties seeking treatment for painful symptoms and having their needs misunderstood. In a supposedly developed world, we are consistently letting women down by failing to close the gender health gap. From Queen Elizabeth I’s white face makeup – which she used to cover smallpox scarring – to well-known modern-day lipstick brands including Mac, L’Oreal, and Maybelline,...
Exploring Gen Z’s love of horoscopes
From Aristotle to A-listers, astrology has been popular for centuries. Gen Z is particularly obsessed, with star signs playing a major role in how they interact on social media. Whether you believe in the power of the Zodiac or not, star signs have been in magazines since 1930, when the Sunday Express printed a birth horoscope for Princess Margaret Rose on August 24. Those of you who can...
Have tattoos become too expensive?
For various reasons, getting inked increasingly involves breaking the bank. What does this mean for the industry and for the future of an art form that’s been around for generations? If you cast your mind back to the days of T-shirts and shorts earlier this year – now replaced by jumpers and thermals as British winter rolls in – an afternoon of people watching may have had you believing that...
Opinion – why giving weight loss jabs to unemployed Brits is problematic
The government’s proposal endorses the stereotype that larger people without jobs are ‘just lazy’ and implies that a body that ‘works’ is measured by how much labour can be extracted from it. These days, it’s almost too easy to compare ourselves as we binge episode after episode of fatphobic media like The Biggest Loser, or My 600-lb life, or Supersize vs Superskinny, watching as people told they’re unhealthily large...
The problem with AI playlists on Spotify
Spotify algorithms are alienating us from each other and casting shadows over smaller artists by playing the same music over and over again. Is there a way we can rediscover the joy of sharing through streaming and continue to expand our tastes and experiences through sound? Whether you’re passionate about podcasts or crazy about carefully curated playlists, chances are you’re no stranger to Spotify, the world’s most...
What is the IKEA effect and how does it apply to relationships?
We value IKEA furniture more because we’ve invested time and energy into reading the instructions and then assembling it. This has taken on a whole new meaning online. For gamblers, the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ might sound familiar. Defined as ‘a reluctance to abandon a strategy or course of action because one’s invested heavily in it, even if it’s clear that abandonment would be more beneficial,’ it’s a phenomenon that sees...
Why are men sabotaging the ‘she deserved the purse’ trend?
Men have been sabotaging women’s pay-it-forward scheme by wrecking baby aisles and taking money intended for young mothers. Is this a clap-back against the unnecessary spectacularisation of generosity or against women experiencing privileges men have excluded themselves from by unequally distributing parental responsibility? Across the US, women have been hiding money and gift vouchers among baby products in popular supermarkets as part of a new pay-it-forward scheme developed recently by...
The dangers of gymcel culture
As the worlds of incels and gym nuts collide, the impacts of this are not only concerning for women, but for the susceptible men whose wellbeing is at stake as a result of these trends. By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the infamous red pill community, whose members rule the online manosphere. Incels reign supreme in this space, the term a portmanteau for ‘involuntarily celibate,’ which describes a person...
