Rahila Gupta

Amid Death & Despair, A Feminist Revolution Is Happening In Syria

  Ever wondered what it might be like to live through a revolution? A revolution which puts women and young people at the leading edge of change? When society as you know it and all its institutions are turned upside down, virtually overnight, in the pursuit of ideals such as women’s equality or true democracy … Continue reading

Prosecuting forced marriage is satisfying – but preventing it is better still

Some women will testify in court against their parents. Most will not. BY RAHILA GUPTA Crimes of violence against women have unconscionably low rates of conviction.  This appears to be particularly true of violent crimes experienced by minority women, as in the case of forced marriage and female genital mutilation. No wonder then that the first successful conviction of … Continue reading

When bully boys dictate the West’s agenda, Turkey invades Syria with impunity

How can bully boys and aggressors label a resistance movement ‘terrorist’ when the whole question of Turkey’s accession to the EU turned around its democratic deficits? On 19 January, Kurdish people and their supporters stood outside the Turkish embassy in London denouncing Turkey as a fascist state because it had begun cross-border shelling of Afrin, a … Continue reading

‘It’s not the laws that kill our women. It’s not the streets that kill our women. It’s the men’

Bridget Perrier speaking at Julie Bindel’s book launch. Image: YouTube Prostitution or sex work? Your choice of words gives the game away, marks out where you stand on the issue. Violence against women or just a job? It is a serious battleground for the soul of feminism. Into this contested territory lands Julie Bindel’s well-researched book, The … Continue reading