There is something that each one of us has in common. Underneath all of our clothes, we are naked. Yes it’s true — even in winter, beneath the layers of clothes, scarves, gloves and thick socks, there is a live naked person waiting to get out. If you don’t believe me, visit your local gym […]
Jen Thorpe
Jennifer is a feminist, activist and advocate for women's rights. She has a Masters in Politics from Rhodes University, and a Masters in Creative Writing from UCT.
In 2010 she started a women's writing project called 'My First Time'. It focuses on women's stories of significant first time experiences. Buy the book on the site http://myfirsttimesa.com or via Modjaji Books.
Jen's first novel, The Peculiars, came out in February 2016 and is published by Penguin. Get it in good book stores, and on Takealot.com
Posted inGeneral
The war on women and men
You have to be able to talk for someone to hear you. You have to be able to speak the same language for someone to understand you. You have to be able to express yourself if you want someone to be able to empathise or sympathise with you. But what if you can’t talk? What […]
Posted inSport
Feel it, it is here
People are walking with a spring in their steps. They tread as though the ground is bouncing them to higher goals, higher dreams, higher hopes. People crowd the streets, mingling their colours, their genders, their sexualities all united towards a single goal — to be South Africa. Stony stalwarts of anti-South Africanism have had to […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Mis-leaders: Understanding homophobia in Africa
We give too much power to our leaders in Africa. We invest them with god-like status and then feel disappointed when they deliberately disregard the public good, or stray from the path we hoped we’d be on. Worse though is the fact that we influence who our leaders are, so African leaders’ (in)action is a […]
Posted inGeneral
The politics of personal space
On Friday a woman on the train repeatedly slapped a disabled man. She then spent twenty minutes of train ride justifying her actions very loudly to all of the other passengers and trying to recruit others to support her reaction. Need she have done this? The man in question is a frequent train beggar. He […]
Posted inGender violence
Raped by ‘consent’
When you define rape as occuring when someone does not consent to sex, instead of when coercive circumstances are involved, you enter a minefield of confusion and definition that is extremely harmful to the rape survivor.
Posted inNews/Politics
A heterosexist ANCYL: One boyfriend, one girlfriend
Like the ANCYL says, multiple concurrent partners are certainly not “fashionable” these days. HIV has made them decidedly untrendy. One thing that apparently is fashionable, however, and is getting a lot of southern African support, is homophobia. And polygamy. Goodness, that one is really hitting the headlines these days. The YL believe that Zuma is […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Is Metrorail benefiting from the strikes?
We all have a right to strike, but does it follow that others should pay more while we strike? If so then Cape Metrorail is within its bounds, but if not I’d like some answers. A notice appeared on the heavily protected windows of the wildly confusing and inarticulate Metrorail ticket sellers last Monday (3rd). […]
Posted inGeneral
Take back the right to sexual pleasure
Do you remember your first time? For every person this may mean something different. Some smile fondly whilst others cringe at the extreme embarrassment surrounding their “first time”. Most people immediately think of sex, but really, this isn’t the only first significant time for most people — certainly not for most women. If you’ve read […]
Posted inLifestyle
Is God bad for you?
Are all religions like a cult? If you have a number of subscribers who believe that by following a particular way of life, and performing particular activities regularly they will be taken to some place better, and will be better people, is this madness? Should we have any faith in faith? My friends and I […]
Posted inGeneral
It’s hard to be free
Democracy promised us many things and freedom was one of them. Bathed in the light of a brightly coloured rainbow, we were told that we were finally free. Somehow, some of us are still asking “Does that apply to me?” Freedom for many people means the ability to choose the path they want, get onto […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Today’s conspiracy theory
It’s quite simple. Imagine if the plan was never to oust Mbeki in favour of Zuma, but in fact to put Malema in place as our president from the beginning?! Why not do it straight away then you ask? To put Malema against Mbeki would have seemed ludicrous. I mean, Mbeki is practically an “agent”. […]