Latest Stories from Flo
Financial abuse has been declared a ‘national emergency’ in the UK
A new report reveals millions of mums and children face quietly pervasive economic coercion – with family budgets being used as tools for domestic abuse. Abuse isn’t always obvious – least not when it takes place in the domestic sphere. But new figures from the charity Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) show that financial coercion is quietly affecting a staggering number of women and children. It’s a form of violence that remains underreported...
Women are bearing the fertility burden with invasive treatments
Lack of research and misdiagnosis is forcing couples, disproportionately women, into gruelling fertility treatment. When a couple struggles to conceive, you would expect both partners to be treated equally during the process of diagnosis. But fertility care still leans heavily toward invasive focus on the woman and little attention on the man. Not only does this imbalance place the onus of fertility struggles onto women, who then face an isolating sense...
Feeling low? Here’s how to tackle the winter blues
From getting outside to tweaking your routine, these small changes make a big difference. Every year, winter rolls around and smacks me in the face. I know it’s coming – and yet I remain naive to its impact on my mental state. I’ll be half way through December before I realise the nagging sense of doom I’m feeling isn’t just ‘me’. My body’s been contending with dwindling sunlight, freezing temperatures, and a...
The UN warns that women face rising online abuse
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, UN Women reveal a disturbing rise in violent abuse toward women in digital spaces – with little consequence for perpetrators. A few years ago, someone described the internet to me as ‘the world’s biggest public square,’ which sounded charming until I remembered that public squares throughout history have also hosted witch trials, duels, riots, and the occasional beheading. The past year...
Is menstrual blood the future of female healthcare?
How ‘femtech’ startups are using groundbreaking tests to overhaul a systemically misogynistic healthcare system. Despite around 800 million people experiencing a period on any given day, very little is known about menstrual blood. The history of menstruation is itself a fraught story – women and those who menstruate have been ushered into a code of shameful silence since time immemorial, and despite strides in healthcare and gender rights, this sense...
The media has missed the point of the Epstein story
Coverage has fixated on big names and sordid details, but the focus should remain on Epstein’s victims. If you’re an internet user you’ve probably scanned at least one headline pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein in the past week. The child sex offender is back in the news due to newly revealed details around his crimes, and mounting pressure to release the infamous ‘Epstein files’ – a hypothesised document containing the names...
What the age of AI music says about the future of art
We’re living through transformative times. I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing. When Nick Arter first downloaded Suno and Udio – off-the-shelf AI music tools – he wasn’t thinking about a career comeback. He was a 35-year-old call-centre drone in Washington, D.C., who’d long since abandoned dreams of being a professional rapper. But somewhere between composing prompts, tweaking lyrics, and using Midjourney to conjure album art, Arter discovered that you...
Gen Z are backing intellectual growth
Being chronically online in the age of AI fatigue has us all fearing for our brains. But it’s also pushing a movement of intellectualism and academic stimulation amongst Gen Z. I divide my saved posts into folders on Instagram. Bar a few short-lived, overly aspirational extra-curriculars (cough, baking sourdough, cough), these have remained the same since I saving posts became an in-app feature. Outfit inspiration, books, recipes – the usual suspects. But...
Gen Z don’t know how to feel about perfume in public
Is spraying in shared spaces a cardinal sin? I love perfume. Personal fragrance, scent, whatever you want to call it; giving myself a spritz of luxurious notes is what keeps my heart beating. No more so than during winter when, let’s face it, there’s little else to brighten up a drab day. To be honest, I thought everyone was with me on this one. I know personal preference varies greatly when...
Reaction to Claudia Sheinbaum’s assault highlights normalisation of gender violence
If they can grope the president, what hope do the rest of us have? The groping of Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum by a drunken man has sparked outrage among women, many of whom saw their own fears and experiences reflected in her plight. But a tepid and partisan domestic reaction to the sexual assault reveals how normalised gender violence has become in the country and around the world. ‘If the president suffered...
