Blog

  • UpROAR! Prehistoric Forced Marriage in Dinosaurs

    Do you remember Dinosaurs, the Jim Henson TV show from the 90s? I loved it as a kid, and though I didn’t retain any of the plotlines I do have vibrant memories of shouting “NOT THE MAMA” at the top of my lungs and continuously insisting that everyone in my house “Gotta love me”! I

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  • Close Reading The Conversation: Forced Marriage and Human Trafficking

    Of course, we aren’t the only folks talking about forced marriage. It’s such a pervasive issue that it’s being addressed around the world. Though this is troubling in terms of how widespread the problem is, it is also reassuring to know that there are a multitude of diverse people tackling it in different ways. For

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  • Alex Says Goodbye

    “I believe in comics,” I said in my job interview for the research assistant role. I remember it distinctly because I cringed about it afterwards. Oh no, I thought, aghast. Why did I say that? It sounded so earnest, so cheesy. What if I came across as insincere?? I squirmed, I blushed, I gnashed my

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  • This Dreadful Nonsense is the Law: A Not-So Marvellous Marriage by Lemony Snicket

    The overwhelming feeling I have for the Baudelaire Orphans is concern. In fact, so concerned was I for their safety that when the Netflix show came out, I couldn’t watch the final episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events for months. Because what if? Snicket had been promising emotional devastation since the first page, the

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  • Playing Marriage

    “Marriage is no picnic.”  Indeed it is not. It also isn’t a play. Or is it?  A Series of Unfortunate Events (the movie) follows Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire on their quest to uncover the truth behind their parents’ deaths and the destruction of their home. On their path to truth and justice, they (have

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  • Conflict-related forced marriage in Army Of God: Joseph Kony’s War in Central Africa 

    Do you remember #BringBackOurGirls? Or the Yezidi women forced into marriage by members of ISIS? They are two of many examples of conflict-related forced marriage. Across many but not all conflicts, a similar pattern emerges. Women and girls are taken by male fighters, forced to marry them, and subjected to various forms of physical, sexual

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  • Get to Know the Team: Anja Koermer

    Who are you? Anja Koermer, Careers Manager for the Lydiate Learning Trust which includes Childwall Sports and Science Academy and Deyes High School. When did you first become interested in careers? I’ve always been fascinated by people and careers work gives me the opportunity to inspire people of all ages to discover possibilities, support them

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  • Persephone and Hades : A Marriage Made in Hell?

    A strange shift is occurring within the myth of Persephone and Hades: the young people have gotten hold of it, and they’re making it wholesome. This metamorphosis occurred to me recently as I was scrolling through my Instagram, and a page I follow (@lit.memery – I am who I am) posted the following: And I’ve

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  • Let’s Talk About Human Rights and Forced Marriage! – How We Launched Our Comic

    It has taken about thirteen years to arrive at this moment. From the very first glimmer of inspiration in Hannah’s postgraduate mind, to December 2023, with a comic in our hands and a teaching pack online. This year alone has been a whirlwind of school visits, art revisions, and data collection, as well as feedback

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  • A Statutory Definition of “Honour”-Based Abuse 

    For over a decade now (Time flies when you’re having fun!) I have been researching the politics behind the categorisation and definition of crimes. Why are some harmful behaviours criminalised and others are not? Why is one newly criminalised conduct shoved in the box labelled ‘other bad stuff’ (The box right at the bottom of

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