Biography

September 28, 1986 · Islington, North London, England, UK

1.52 m

[on being saved from a potential pedestrian accident by 'Ryan Gosling'] As a feminist, a writer, and a gentlewoman of fortune, I refuse to be cast in any sort of boring supporting female role - even though I have occasional trouble crossing the road, and even though I did swoon the teeniest, tiniest bit when I realized it was him.

[on issues leading to the "Me too" movement] Rebellions involve risk and defiance. It takes fantastic courage to name your abuser. Naming your abuser is an act of defiance. It means overcoming every lesson you've ever internalized about what happens to women who make trouble. And there are always consequences for that defiance. If you stand up to your rapist you risk being iced out of your industry, called a liar and a lunatic, and being shamed and humiliated in public and punished in private. That's how structures of oppression work - by excusing almost everyone involved from acknowledging what's happening. The reason that so many men can honestly claim not to have the scale and extent of sexual abuse is that women and children have protected them from that knowledge. That's what rape culture is. It's not just a system that allows rapists to get away with it. It's a system that allows them to feel okay about it afterward.