Very Loose Women

Florence Burton leads a project called "Women Speak Out!" where she interviews women who have a social or a political message. Andrea spoke out in one of these videos about the impact her immigration status has had. Watch the videos here: http://womenspeakout.wrc.org.uk/video/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by live looper and sound artist, Xana as they talk us through their musical influences and inspirations and perform some live freestyles of their own. Featuring the Prodigy, Whitetown and more.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by London-based sound artist Ilia Rogatchevski, who performs some of his greatest hits, explains to us what sound art actually is, and talks about his upcoming shows. For more information: https://sebastianmelmoth.bandcamp.com/ http://sebastianmelmoth.co.uk/ @mlmthuberalles https://www.facebook.com/events/1148236851921988/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dr Lisa Eberle, assistant professor at the University of Tübingen, joins Emma and Leo to talk about women in Ancient Rome. She explains how Roman women gained property rights and how the notion of love in marriage arose. Dr Eberle also reveals she has never attended a toga party. More on Dr Eberle here: https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/philosophische-fakultaet/fachbereiche/geschichtswissenschaft/seminareinstitute/alte-geschichte/personen/dr-l-eberle.html and here http://uni-tuebingen.academia.edu/LisaPilarEberle  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by Dr Seán Williams, discussing the changing role of the hairdresser and wigmaker over time, in society and as portrayed in the arts. Seán also combs through some hair raising hair scandals, and does a hair-reading on Trump and Clinton's rival hairstyles. Featuring topical tunes from Amanda Lepore and Morrissey, hair lingo, too many puns and an unexpected foray into the world of Adam Sandler. For more information, see: https://www.shef.ac.uk/german/staff/williams @WiggishHistory  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Musician Lilith Ai comes on the show to speak about her collective, Fight Like a Girl, and sings her latest single, Rude Grrrl.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Leo chats to Catherine Connolly and Grace McDermott, founders of the blog Women are Boring. Their project, which aims to promote women's research, came to VLW's attention thanks to listener and academic Phyllis, who also contributes to this episode.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW discuss coming of age, and what it means to be an adult. Featuring an interview with Jenny Gage, director of new coming of age documentary All this Panic.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Leo met Clare Stewart and found out about her journey from living in a small town in Australia with no cinema to being Festival Director at the BFI London Film Festival. Clare also explains how the festival is curated, and how attention is paid to addressing the lack of diversity in film- with this year's LFF shining a spotlight on directors from minority ethnicity backgrounds. Leo, Clare and Emma all talk about films that shaped their love of film, as well as sharing some celebrations of the week. And a bonus Bechdel quiz!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fiorella and Jonathan join Leo in the studio to talk about their experience volunteering. Jonathan volunteers for JCRAG, the Jersey Calais Refugee Aid Group which takes aid to Calais from Jersey's unique position, while Fiorella was part of a volunteer group in Paris which provided material aid and solidarity to refugees in Paris. They are quizzed on how they got involved with volunteering, and what these groups, operating in very different contexts, aim to do. More details on the Jersey Calais Refugee Group here: http://jcrag.org.je  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW talk to two sisters from Sisters Uncut, an anti-austerity group focusing on cuts to domestic violence services. Jumanah and Caroleen let us know what SIsters have been up to over the last year- discussing demos, successes and the exponential growth of the group. We all discuss how Sisters have made us feel- in meetings, on demos and in organising together as Sisters. Featuring music from Rihanna and Sister Sledge, discussion of period trackers and a cameo from La Roux!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bethany Rutter was the DJ at one of Leo and Emma's favourite London nights, Dancing on my Own, as well as the creator of the "fatshion" blog, Arched Eyebrow (http://archedeyebrow.com/).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Poet, activist, musician, journalist and punk, Penny Pepper, joins Very Loose Women to talk about her memoir First in the World Somewhere, the Paralympics and Unlimited Festival at Southbank. For more information please check out: https://unbound.com/books/first-in-the-world-somewhere https://www.theguardian.com/profile/penny-pepper @PenPep http://www.pennypepper.co.uk/ http://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2016/06/tramways-unlimited-festival http://weareunlimited.org.uk/ http://unlimited.southbankcentre.co.uk/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cassie Fox, the organiser of Loud Women Club and Loud Women Fest, speaks about running the nights and the festival. Singers Lilith Ai and Nia Wyn perform songs live in the studio. Loud Women on FB: https://www.facebook.com/loudwomen/?fref=ts Lilith Ai on FB: https://www.facebook.com/lilithaimusic/?fref=ts Nia Wyn on FB: https://www.facebook.com/niawynmusic/?fref=ts  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW and Dr Henry Fisher, policy director at Volteface, discuss The Loop's pioneering drug testing service for festival goers. We talk drug policy, IR spectroscopy, harm reduction, wacky street names for drugs and more. For more information, please visit http://volteface.me/ and http://wearetheloop.co.uk/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jenny and Ilia join Very Loose Women Emma and Leo in the studio to discuss their favourite tv shows. This episode includes a mini-celebration from our favourite contributor, Phyllis!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW are joined by selfie aficionado Julia Brown, discussing everything you ever wanted to know about selfies. Touching on points such as when where and why do we take selfies? Are selfies empowering or embarrassing or both? Featuring mini celebrations of the week - including a contribution from superfan Phyllis.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VLW delve into the world of shame, embarrassment, cringe and humiliation and explore comparisons between how much shame they felt at school and how much young people feel today. Featuring discussions of Mizz, Mumford and Sons and Masturbation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Helena Maratheftis, a designer and illustrator with a background in biology, joined Emma and Leo in the studio to speak about her visual representations of viruses on homeware - specifically, her "herpes mug". Biomedical researcher Leah Fitzsimmons gives an overview of what the herpes virus is. Finally, Esther, Emma's mum, a former herpes researcher, and a recipient of a herpes mug, shares her views on how pretty the herpes virus is. To buy a herpes mug, visit http://www.thefty.org/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Feminist Library in Elephant & Castle is under threat. Anna, a librarian at the library, takes Very Loose Women on a guided tour of the collection, explaining the history of the place, and picking out her favourite zines.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.