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32 results
  • Article
  • Article

The stranger who started an epidemic

| Anna Faherty

New Orleans, 1853. James McGuigan arrives in the port city and succumbs to yellow fever.

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

Sexy (medieval) times

| Katherine Harvey

Penis badges, the mysterious Office of the Night, and sneezing as a form of contraception – enter the surprising world of medieval sex. It wasn’t cold baths and self-denial for everyone, as Katherine Harvey explains.

  • Article
  • Article

History of condoms from animal to rubber

| Taryn Cain

Come on a journey from the first recorded condoms in the 16th century to the modern female condoms in the 1990s – and everything in between.

  • Article
  • Article

Living with less for spiritual gain

| Kate WilkinsonLaurindo Feliciano

Today, a minimalist lifestyle is trumpeted as a route to happiness. Find out what religious ascetics from history and modern proponents of the spartan-looking home can teach us.

  • Article
  • Article

Sarah Carpenter on making time for herself through creativity

| Sarah Carpenter

Art provides a refuge for Sarah Carpenter, allowing her to utilise her energy and keep up the momentum of her recovery.

  • Article
  • Article

The Ladies of Llangollen

| Sarah Bentley

As we celebrate LGBT History Month, Sarah Bentley explores the relationship between the two 18th-century women known as the Ladies of Llangollen.

  • Article
  • Article

The sickness in the wellness industry

| Gwendolyn Smith

In recovery from anorexia, Gwen Smith began to realise how the wellness industry needs its followers to feel bad about themselves in order to make money out them.

  • Article
  • Article

Fees, funding and the NHS

| Cal Flyn

In the 1950s, dramatic political battles over NHS charges brought down a government. But public confidence in the service still grew.

  • Article
  • Article

A message from my skin

| Sydney BakerCat O’Neil

As wildfires threatened Seattle, resident Sydney Baker experienced corresponding flares of acne and rashes. Her skin was telling her something about the health of the world around her.

  • Article
  • Article

Thousands of years of women’s pain

| Jaipreet VirdiAnne Howeson

Even in the 21st century, women with severe monthly pain find their suffering minimised or dismissed by the medical profession. Such pain is seen as simply a natural part of being female.

  • Article
  • Article

The pain that punished feminists

| Jaipreet VirdiAnne Howeson

In a society that viewed getting the vote, and pursuing an education and career, as unnatural goals for women, the pain of endometriosis was viewed as nature’s retribution.

  • Article
  • Article

What is violence?

| Laura BuiJessa Fairbrother

Criminologist Laura Bui explores her early understanding of violence and outlines its definition and wider consequences.

  • Article
  • Article

Thalidomide babies

| Ruth BlueHollie Chastain

In a time without scans or antenatal tests, neither medical staff nor parents were prepared for the damage to the foetus caused by the thalidomide drug.

  • Article
  • Article

Sex work and critical campaigners

| Ella SmithJessa Fairbrother

When campaigners filmed secretly in the club where she worked, exotic dancer Ella Smith felt frightened and degraded. Here she speaks out about the attack on her livelihood.

  • Article
  • Article

Enduring taboos and the future of skin bleaching

| Ngunan AdamuAmaal Said

Many condemn skin bleaching in public while secretly lightening their own complexions. To break away from these taboos, we need honest information and open conversation.

  • Article
  • Article

How writing helps me manage schizophrenia

| Erica Crompton

For Erica Crompton, writing is much more than a career. It’s an essential component of her mental health toolkit.

  • Article
  • Article

Colonialism and the origins of skin bleaching

| Ngunan AdamuAmaal Said

The widespread practice of skin bleaching was heavily influenced by the Western colonisation and slavery of African and South Asian countries. Ngunan Adamu explores this toxic history.

  • Article
  • Article

How to cure the eco-anxious

| Christine Ro

Could community activism be the key to overcoming a fear of environmental collapse?

  • Article
  • Article

A flat-packed forest

| Abi PalmerMaïa Walcott

The regular ritual of creating seasonally changing mini-forests for her indoor cats brought Abi Palmer a focus for reflection while the cats explored.

  • Article
  • Article

Rose Mackenberg’s deceptive activism

| A R Hopwood

Discover how a New York private investigator became part of Houdini’s mission to expose the fraudulent mediums making money from their vulnerable, grieving clients.

  • Article
  • Article

The art of soundproof design

| Kristin Hohenadel

Too much noise is more than annoying – it has serious negative effects on health and cognitive ability. Find out how designers and architects are mitigating the downsides of sound.

  • Article
  • Article

How light pollution affects our circadian rhythms

| Christine Ro

Too much of the wrong sort of light can send our natural cycles off-kilter – is city life messing with your circadian rhythm?

  • Article
  • Article

When you don’t belong, you drink

| Tanya PerdikouNaomi Vona

In the third part of her exploration of belonging, Tanya Perdikou unpicks the addictions that have shaped her past and uncovers the connections that make recovery possible.

  • Long read
  • Long read

Healthy scepticism

| Caitjan GaintyAgnes Arnold-ForsterPaul AddaeFranklyn Rodgers

Healthcare sceptics – like those opposed to Covid-19 vaccinations – often have serious, nuanced reasons for doubting medical authorities.

  • Article
  • Article

Queer cafés and gay mylk

| Holly ReganCat O’Neil

Holly Regan explores queer London spaces where the alternative – oat milk – is the norm for the communities gathering there.