Very Loose Women

Elaine Willis joins to speak about social housing and joining the Women Speak Out project. With Florence Burton of the Women's Resource Centre, and friend Paola Tamma speaking about living in a cooperative and an excellent social housing quiz.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Helen and Evie trained as clowns. They talk about their clowning and explain to the very loose women exactly what a clown is. Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nyisha, who has participated in the Women Speak Out project, joins us to talk about her experience of being a young carer.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by members of the English Collective of Prostitutes, who campaign for the decriminalisation of prostitution, as well as for sex workers’ rights and safety. We talk the real effects that current laws in the UK have on sex workers' safety and looking at alternative models of prostitution law reform. Featuring excerpts from sex worker testimonials from Make Mum Safer. Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jenn Hart is a poet and punk fan. On the steps of a London pub where she is about to perform, she talks about writing, going to gigs and picking up a bass. The podcast has snippets from classic 90s punk bands - Sleater Kinney, Bikini Kill, The Gits and Heavens to Betsy.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by anti-deportation campaigner, Sarah Hop, to talk about the very real dangers facing migrants and asylum seekers in the UK, from detention centers to mass deportations back to places of persecution. We will be discussing what we can do to support asylum seekers and migrants.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ilia Rogatchevski interviews Electric Indigo, a musician, composer and DJ.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We've spoken a lot about orgasms on VLW. But in this show we explore the opposite, sort of... We talk about not having orgasms. Kate Gould, a PhD student, campaigner and writer tells us about her discoveries in looking at reporting around pink viagra and what it tells us about how female sexuality is viewed. Emma, Leo - and a surprising number of listeners - share their stories of what sex without orgasms means to them.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We spoke to Roizin Khalil Hanjool, who made a petition for the UK government to help Yazidi women and girls in crisis. Roizin is a 19 year old living in Coventry. When she was 10 years old, she moved to the UK from Northern Iraq, where she grew up. At 17, she began speaking out about the fate of Yazidi women and girls kidnapped by terror group Isis.Trigger warning: references to genocide and rape.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW have an hour long show featuring Vivi Lachs, Yiddish folk singer and historian of the Yiddish East End. We draw parallels with the issues Jewish women faced in London in the early 20th century that still affect women today; featuring music and poetry relating to immigration, poverty, sex work, exploitative working conditions and the pitfalls of marriage. With musical contributions from Kastsha'nes, Klezmer Klub and Polina Polina Shepherd and the Very Loose Women themselves.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Theorist and writer Tristam Vivian Adams joins Leo and Katherine to discuss his book, The Psychopath Factory: How Capitalism Organises Empathy, and how psychopathic behaviour and characteristics are rendered in film and TV femme fatale characters. Central to Tristam's writing is the argument that the modern, working world is conditioning our empathy to an alarming degree, whether in dialling up our empathetic response to excel at customer care or by putting empathy to one side in order to meet a quota or deadline. If you've ever told someone to have a nice day, and not meant it in the slightest, this is the episode for you.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jo runs the website lowcarbonlove.com and will be taking part in Fashion Revolution, a week that aims to highlight the true cost of fashion. Emma, Leo, and Jo talk about where they buy clothes and how to avoid waste. Emma talks about a song she sang with Yiddish choir on textile workers in the early 20th century.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lucy is a whale-enthusiast, and has been active around issues of plastic waste. She previews the documentary 'Plastic Ocean' at Whirled Cinema in South London. Plus Jo, the founder of ethicalexistism.com, and Helen from helensplasticchallenge.wordpress.com, share their efforts to not buy any plastic.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tutor and dancer Omari Eccleston-Brown joins the Very Loose Women to share his personal story of living with Body Dysmorphic Disorder, which he describes as a traumatising belief that you're abnormal and repulsive to others. BDD is estimated to affect 1 in 50 people. Although it has one of the highest suicide rates of any mental illness, it's still little understood. But Omari is raising awareness with a 365 day photo archive of his recovery. He's being open about his fears and inviting someone new - from friends and family to unsuspecting strangers - to snap his picture every day. Passionate about how dance and education can shape our relationships with our bodies, Omari is on a mission to help young people grow up with a positive body image. Follow Omari's campaign on Instagram.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by members of Speaking of IMELDA, a direct action feminist performance group challenging the ongoing problem of IMELDA (Ireland Making England the Legal Destination for Abortion). They use performance to campaign on abortion rights, with a focus on Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We discuss the shocking fact that women in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland do not have access to safe, legal abortions where they live, leading those who are in need of abortions to go to desperate lengths to access them. The archaic laws which create and maintain this situation are being challenged by the Repeal the 8th campaign, which refers to an amendment which attempts to equate the life of the pregnant woman to that of an embryo / fetus.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Model Adwoa Aboah explains why she set up her online platform Gurls Talk as a space for women and girls to discuss their personal experiences, and explore what it means to be a girl in the 21st Century. Adwoa uses her well-followed Instagram account to promote a healthy body image, explore female sexuality and raise awareness of mental health issues affecting young women. This year, she's talking the project and her own personal story of addiction, depression and recovery, into schools across the UK to get girls talking.Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Emma and Leo speak to friends and colleagues about phobias: fear of cotton wool, fear of time, fear of milk...Follow us on Twitter @VLWRadio, Instagram VLWRadio and on Facebook.com/VeryLooseWomen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Zinemaker and drummer Megan Pickering from the band "Clammy Hands" speaks about her zines - on topics ranging from frigidity to bullying, Buffy to Spare Rib. Featuring music from Nachthexen, NYE anecdotes and lies that our mums/mams have told us.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by Ari Rice and their alter-ego, Calvin Decline, as they lead us into the world of toxic masculinity and an exploration of Drag Kinging. Featuring gripes, singing and contouring. TW/CW: discussion and airing of misogynistic jokes. Donald Trump.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Luke and Liz Hodgkin chat to Emma and Leo about their mother, the Nobel prize winning British chemist, Dorothy Hodgkin, advancing the technique of x-ray crystallography, the only British woman ever to win a Nobel prize and Margaret Thatcher's tutor at Oxford.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.