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Students, sex ed, and safety

Sex education is something many university students may think they’ve graduated from: the secondary national RSE (relationships and sex education) curriculum, however ineffective, has been taught and now is time to put theory into practice. However, the importance of a thorough and ongoing sex education should not be overlooked. Conversations surrounding anatomy, sexuality, gender, children and consent are ever evolving and each of us always have something to learn.

UEA attempts to cover this g
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Do something green week, nature and mental health

Do Something Green Week, hosted by the Do Something Different (DSD) team, runs from March 21. It includes a range of engaging activities that create a “direct opportunity to be involved” for the student community, who “have a passion for sustainability”, Neith Charlesworth (DSD Coordinator) explained to me.

The week’s activities include a vintage fair, cacti and succulent gardening, as well as bat-box and bug hotel making- which is hosted by the Conservation and Wildlife society and will subseq
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The gender pay gap requires urgent action

International Women’s Day is a time for the world to focus on levelling the so-called playing field for women, though it is not a game for those facing unequal pay, the glass ceiling or glass cliff effect. This year’s #BreakTheBias theme is useful in centering this conversation to the perception of the gender pay gap, which many would suggest is improving. Certainly, the legislation regarding reporting pay is helpful to the effort, though the reality for many women remains bleak.
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Alumni spotlight: equality, diversity and inclusion

UEA alumni are a valuable network to learn from, and Cindy Williams-Findlay is no exception in her role as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Lead at the Electoral Commission.

I asked her to describe what this looks like day-to-day: “I’m really fortunate to have such a varied role. I usually have up to five meetings per day” including “with external organisations such as the Equality and Human Rights commission for Northern Ireland, who have recently responded to our external consultation
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Celebrating Queer Inclusion at UEA

This LGBTQ+ History Month has highlighted how effectively UEA works to create a positive, actively inclusive environment for queer people. Similarly, International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate all women and non-binary folks who face a struggle against the patriarchy. One example of such is the work of our Welfare, Community and Inclusion Officer this year, Aaron Campbell, who introduced the club night Spectrum- including a quiet hour especially useful for neurodivergent students to have a
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UEA’s COP26 Festival: Voices from the Reeds, “a magical mystery water-land”

The Voices from the Reeds performance took the audience on an environmental journey around the UEA Lake and Norfolk’s rich ecological history through a series of dramatic readings from Professor Steve Waters’ playscript.

The first dramatic performance encouraged the audience to engage in the relationship between gender, sexuality, and the natural world, an intersection often overlooked in historical environmental academia. As contemporary audience members, we could draw upon our own knowledge o
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My journey of self-acceptance in the in between

Are labels all that necessary? This is the question I have found myself asking throughout my journey in exploring what identity means to me.

After being diagnosed with dyspraxia in primary school, I became aware that my difference between the other girls on the playground was not merely that I preferred football to cat’s cradle, or that I would rather talk to the teachers than engage with my peers, but rather there was ‘something wrong with me’. I was given educational assistance tools such as