The Feminist Files

Welcome to The Feminist Files! As the podcast turns 2 years old, we are looking back on how we've grown, and on the conversations we have explored on the topics of foreign policy and diplomacy, AI and technology, activism, education, the justice system, healthcare, culture and the creative industries, and many more! In their final year at the University of Cambridge, Helena Kondak and Astrid H...

In this episode, Sophie Biancelli and Rosie Hillary are joined by Clare Chambers, Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, to discuss her book ‘Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body’. Clare makes the simple yet radical argument that our bodies should be allowed to be good enough just as they are. Sophie and Rosie ask Clare about a range of controversial issues, such as...

Dans ce deuxième épisode avec Françoise Vergès, politologue, militante et autrice (Un Féminisme Décolonial, Making the World Clean, Une Théorie Féministe de la Violence), Astrid Carrasco et Lili-Rose Dupin s'intéressent aux projets pratiques et créatifs de celle-ci, ceux qui font germer des horizons utopiques, qui mettent en pratique les textes révolutionnaires et les appels à l'intersecti...

Dans cet épisode, Astrid Carrasco et Lili-Rose Dupin proposent à Françoise Vergès, politologue, militante et l’autrice de Un Féminisme Décolonial, Making the World Clean, et Une Théorie Féministe de la Violence de revenir sur son travail de décolonisation du féminisme et de l’écologie. Comment appréhender et construire ensemble un féminisme véritablement décolonial ? L’écologie est-elle un outil c...

In this episode, Siya Goyal and Juliana Lariios are joined by Maria Jose Rivadulla based at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá whose work sits at the intersection of urban studies, sociology and gender studies. She has published extensively on urban inequality, segregation, and most recently the city’s feminist care policy, the CIVICUS Care Blocks in Bogotá (Manzanas del Cuidado), which this episo...

Host Faith Cunningham is joined by Kim Alexander, a PhD student in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Jesus College, Cambridge. They dig into her thesis and discuss the rhetoric of choice, of ‘perfect use’, and how efficacy percentages for contraceptives are communicated. Together they trace the history of contraceptive technology and how it's been conveyed to users, showing wh...

In this episode, Asha Metcalfe and Sophie Biancelli are joined by Dr Isabelle Higgins, a sociologist at the University of Cambridge, to discuss how online culture reflects and perpetuates systems of power and inequality. We explore how epistemic and affective structures influence aesthetics, visibility and representation. Drawing on Stuart Hall’s theory of regimes of representation, and conjunctur...

Dans notre premier épisode en français, Astrid Carrasco et Helena Kondak s’entretiennent avec Perrine Lachenal, anthropologue chargée de recherche au CNRS et co-coordinatrice de l’axe thématique « Chantiers féministes » au Centre Norbert Elias. La chercheuse a coordonné une ethnographie multi-située menée par une grande équipe de chercheurs sur le procès des viols de Mazan; une affaire qui “tient...

In this episode, Isobelle speaks to Elaine Banton, a barrister at 7BR Chambers specialising in employment, equality and discrimination. The discussion begins with a discussion of Elaine’s recent appellate success in the case Pal v Accenture. This case tackled disability discrimination and workplace progression systems, leading us into a broader consideration on how workplace models are frequently...

On today’s episode, Asha Metcalfe and Rosie Hillary speak to Sveto Muhammad Ishoq, a women’s rights advocate, TEDx Speaker, and social enterprise founder who works to empower Afghan women economically and amplify their voices on the global stage. We discuss how media representations of Afghan women distort the reality of their experience, and unpack the importance of Sveto’s own project Chada...

In this episode of The Feminist Files , Helena and Astrid are joined by Delphine O, the former French Ambassador and Secretary General of the 4th Conference on Feminist Foreign Policies. They explored Delphine O's exceptional career trajectory as the first person ever to lead and represent France's feminist diplomacy in multilateral and bilateral relations. She gave them insights into the inner wo...

In this episode of The Feminist Files , Helena sits down with Dr Maria-Andriani Kostopoulou, President of GREVIO: the Council of Europe’s independent monitoring body for the Istanbul Convention. As the leading mechanism ensuring that states uphold their commitments to combat violence against women and domestic violence, GREVIO occupies a crucial role. President Kostopoulou give her insights on how...

In this episode, Rosie Hillary and Sophie Biancelli are joined by Rida Fatima, an intersectional feminist writer currently working at the Asian University for Women. Together, they discuss both the Rohingya crisis and Taliban rule in Afghanistan from an intersectional feminist perspective, questioning Western assumptions about what it means to be a refugee and a woman in the Global South. They foc...

In this episode, Isobelle Oppon is joined by Dr Elly Hanson, a clinical psychologist and research lead at Fully Human whose work and research focuses on reducing abuse, trauma and sexual exploitation. The Feminist Files also welcomes back Ella Perkin and Sam McQuaker from the Cambridge society, Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE). We discuss the problematic rhetorics of sex positivit...

In this episode, “Iran : Roots of Resistance”, Asha Metcalfe and Astrid Healy Carrasco are joined by Iranian activist Zolal Habibi to discuss the current state of Iranian resistance politics and its generational heritage. Given current military and political developments, the episode starts with much-needed context from Zolal, but also with insights into the current Iranian resistance movement. Sh...

In this episode, we discuss the socialist origins of International Women’s Day, how it has developed over time, and how it has been co-opted for corporate gain today. Exploring examples of pink washing and virtue signalling, we interrogate what ‘International Women’s Day’ really means for us today. Acknowledging the ongoing institutional inequality experienced by women, we reflect upon how we can...

In this episode, Asha Metcalfe and Rosie Hillary are joined by Eilis Boden and Jess Martins to discuss what it is like to be a woman in the creative industries. We investigate stereotypes imposed upon women, such as ‘women aren’t funny’ and ‘women can’t take a joke’, and unpack the harm caused when those generalisations are internalised.  By looking at the comedy scene in and beyond Cambridge...

Faith Cunningham speaks with Kwaku Adomako about heteronationalism, colonialism and Ghana's 2021 "Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill." They discuss how anti-LGBTQ+ legislation reshapes Ghanaian cultural identity and the role of political actors in framing sexual and gender diversity as a national threat. NOTE: The NDC should be referred to as the National Democ...

In this episode, Helena Kondak is joined by Professor Shazia Choudhry (University of Oxford) to discuss her two-year comparative European research project on how justice systems and family law deal with domestic abuse cases. Drawing on extensive work with women’s rights organisations and key stakeholders across England & Wales, France, Spain, Italy, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, the research e...

In this episode, Helena Kondak, Astrid Carrasco and Isobelle Oppon interview Dr Daisy Dixon, philosophy professor at the University of Cardiff, for insights on her embodied experience of AI assault.   What does the Grok sexual image generation scandal say of emerging digital violence, its impact on vulnerable bodies, and necessary legislation?  Analysing the onset of Grok AI image-g...

In this episode, Asha Metcalfe and Rosie Hillary sit down with Lauren Sayers and Rosie Freeman after the debate: This House Would Abolish Prisons, held by Gender Agenda, the University of Cambridge’s largest feminist collective.  In our first episode out in the field (breaking free from the recording studio), we are joined by two fellow Human, Social, and Political Science students to discuss...

We have been nominated for the Political Podcast Awards' People’s Choice Award, please vote for us here: https://politicalpodcastawards.co.uk/the-peoples-choice-award/ In this episode, we explore commercial sexual exploitation: its specificities, how it can be combated, and its evolving technological manifestations. In an era of rapid digital expansion, how can feminist organising and policy-makin...

In this episode, hosts Asha Metcalfe and Rosie Hillary are joined by Reese Marley Robinson, a recent Cambridge graduate, to discuss her sociology dissertation exploring the lived experiences of Black girls in Britain’s private schools. Drawing on interviews and her own experiences, Reese explains the “affective cost of inclusion” and the emotional labour of navigating elite, predominantly white in...

In this episode, Helena Kondak is joined by Zoe Abrams , DPhil student in Sociology at the University of Oxford, to discuss her latest work: Explaining Societal Shifts in Victim Blaming and Perpetrator Culpability for Sexual Violence: Evidence From the #MeToo Era . Abrams studied Politics and Sociology at the University of Cambridge before pursuing an MSci in Sociology at the University of Oxford,...

Women’s college-level football has recently taken the form of an informal intercollegiate league following the banning of transgender women from participation in college-affiliated league matches, in line with the UK Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. What are captains, colleges and Cambridge University doing in light of this legislative pressure? What does this mean for inclusivity and the f...