Helen LewisVerified account

@helenlewis

Staff writer, ; author, Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights; presenter, BBC Radio 4's The Spark.

helenlewis.substack.com
bit.ly/DifficultWomen…
Joined June 2007
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    Feb 12

    Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? It took me years to write, will you take a look? (It's not the "dirty story of a dirty man" but there is a very informative chapter on a 19th century princess who was also a sex researcher.)

    109 replies 67 retweets 461 likes
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  2. Mar 20

    I got the mother of all Twitter dunkings for that piece, but - I hope - it pushed the enduring weirdness of hereditary peers up the agenda.

    7 replies 1 retweet 108 likes
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  3. Mar 20

    One simple way to phase out the hereditary peers would be to stop the by-elections which currently occur when one dies or retires. A recent by-election for a new Lib Dem hereditary peer slot had an electorate of *three* voters.

    3 replies 12 retweets 86 likes
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  4. Mar 20

    Yes, hereditary peers should no longer sit in the Lords. It's bizarre to have seats reserved in parliament for people whose ancestors fought a battle or shagged the king, not least since they are *all men* (and 39 of the 85 went to a single school: Eton).

    21 replies 89 retweets 452 likes
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  5. Mar 18

    "Arriving at the Everard vigil, I realized something else: The rhetoric of right-wing libertarians contains an unlikely lesson for feminists."

    7 replies 50 retweets 102 likes
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  6. Mar 17

    Finally, I was inundated with suggestions of fakers to research - such as the "pretendian" Grey Owl - from my newsletter readers. It's a fun little community full of smart people. Sign up here:

    3 replies 2 retweets 24 likes
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  7. Mar 17

    Really interesting thread from on a type of fakery which skews male - military impostors, also known as "stolen valor" - and on "pseudologia fantastica".

    For a version which skews male, the equivalent would be ex-military identity fakers, who often have elaborate stories of the 'lasting effects' of their nonexistent combat experiences - known as "military Munchausen's" in the medical literature
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    4 replies 5 retweets 46 likes
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  8. Mar 17

    "We can all understand the hoaxers who pretend to be someone else with malign intent: the con artists, the charlatans, the cads. The inexplicable, and haunting, cases are those people who seem to believe their own stories."

    31 replies 85 retweets 273 likes
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  9. Mar 16

    A new longread from me: what's behind the spate of white activists and academics pretending to be minorities? This is one of the wildest research journeys I have ever been on.

    128 replies 426 retweets 1,406 likes
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  10. Mar 16

    If, like me, you're always unsuccessfully trying to manage your morbid interest in Twitter beef, can I recommend subscribing to ? It's like culture war methadone. & are smart, sane and - crucially - funny.

    NEW EPISODE: Neera Tanden, Jacobinghazi, Brueniggate, And The Legacy Of The 2016-2021 Brocialist Twitter-Woke Twitter Wars
    8 replies 13 retweets 143 likes
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  11. Mar 15

    The majority of women in prison are there for non-violent crimes. The majority are victims of abuse themselves. There's a strong case - morally and economically - to jail fewer women. But it's not "carceral feminism" to expect murderers to be jailed.

    9 replies 88 retweets 617 likes
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  12. Mar 15

    And here is Chris Daw QC arguing to abolish prisons - and laying out the limits of that policy, which unsurprisingly includes detaining those who are a risk to others.

    3 replies 13 retweets 138 likes
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  13. Mar 15

    Most prisoners are men. There is little political interest in making conditions better for prisoners of any gender. I would highly recommend Chris Atkins's book about his experience in HMP Wandsworth:

    5 replies 17 retweets 207 likes
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  14. Mar 15

    There is a suicide on the prison estate every three days. Mental health care in prisons is appalling. Inmates are often locked in their cells 23 hours a day, and coronavirus restrictions have limited their ability to receive visits for a year.

    1 reply 15 retweets 224 likes
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  15. Mar 15

    No 93, Joanne Latham, formerly Edward, poisoned a flatmate, tried to kill another inmate and stabbed a third in the neck, ending up with three life sentences. Latham was found hanging while in a close supervision unit on suicide watch. An inquest ruled it as suicide.

    10 replies 70 retweets 388 likes
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  16. Mar 15

    This Sisters Uncut list of women "murdered by the state" should come with some caveats. For example, no. 15, Michelle Pearce, died of cancer while in prison for stabbing her mother to death.

    This Tweet is unavailable.
    23 replies 280 retweets 836 likes
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  17. Mar 13

    I really do want to stress for anyone who wasn't there tonight: the mood really turned when the police decided to move in and disperse the crowd, particularly when they formed a ring around the bandstand. It was freezing cold, people would've drifted off home otherwise, I think.

    35 replies 320 retweets 1,198 likes
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  18. Mar 13

    And yes, I walked past a group of police officers discussing how they were going to move in and start "dispersing" people gently. It doesn't take an expert to understand why this is a bad idea at a - completely peaceful, until then - protest about the police.

    9 replies 89 retweets 555 likes
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  19. Mar 13

    I agree with Kate. Far-left groupuscles were leafleting there, along with anti-lockdown protesters. It felt like multiple attempts to hijack the attention of the media, which should (IMO) stay on this specific case and what it reveals.

    Without question: this gathering at Clapham Common is less Covid safe, more angry and much more radical in terms of the voices dominating it, than if the Met had reached an agreement with for a marshalled events. (Instead, it is led by )
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    12 replies 81 retweets 433 likes
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  20. Mar 13

    Everything I saw was peaceful, but there was clearly rage quite close to the surface. When the minute's silence (led by a member of the local council) ended, a woman shouted at the photographers: "Did you get your shot, you vultures?"

    6 replies 34 retweets 259 likes
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  21. Mar 13

    Very mixed feelings about the Sarah Everard vigil tonight. The first thing I saw on arrival was a bank of (almost entirely male) photographers in the bandstand. Later, a (male) Covid denier started haranguing the crowd. Women shouted back: "NOT YOUR SPACE."

    21 replies 172 retweets 699 likes
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