Everyday Sexism

Laura Bates talks to our Year 12s and Year 10s about Everyday Sexism, Men who hate Women and why we all need to speak out against sexism and misogyny

We took a group of Year 12 and Year 10 students to hear Laura Bates speak at Marymount School on  20^th March and they were so inspired by her talk. Laura is an award-winning author, campaigner and founder of the Everyday Sexism project which brought together thousands of women's accounts of sexism and sexual assault. It was very effective in shining a light on how the very common and pervasive nature of sexism was actually makes the issue almost invisible and far too widely accepted as the norm. Her message to the students was that commonplace sexism must not be ignored and that everyone (men and women) should be allies against it.

We also discussed intersectionality and how some women face increased discrimination not just as women but on account of age, ethnicity or religion and other aspects of their identity. She was a very engaging speaker and our students were really delighted to have had the chance to hear her. Some of our students asked her questions and some had brought along her books to be signed as you can see in our photos!

Students said;

"Listening to and engaging in the talk with Laura Bates was greatly inspirational. It was intriguing to hear of various points of view and counterarguments surrounding the feminist movement and methods of tackling this in our current society. I will definitely look forward to reading her books in the near future!" 

"I found the talk extremely empowering and interesting to find out about other women's experiences across the world, and how we must fight for our justice."

"It was absolutely brilliant thanks for the opportunity."

"I found the event very interesting and informative as it had many striking facts and statistics that made me question society as a whole."  

 "I found the event very interesting and informative as it had many striking facts and statistics that made me question society as a whole."  

"The talk with Laura Bates was not only inspiring but insightful. Shocking statistics were shown that are not talked about in everyday life and I think although it was nothing new to us, it gave a reality check to the inequalities which are still apparent today. It also offered an approach to how to help and ways of reporting things which affect women due to the inequalities in society, it is so important for women to know the different resources and ways to get help. The Q&A was brilliant at the end and was very interactive and peers shared their concerns or questions."

"Listening to and engaging in the talk with Laura Bates was greatly inspirational. It was intriguing to hear of various points of view and counterarguments surrounding the feminist movement and methods of tackling this in our current society. I will definitely look forward to reading her books in the near future!"