Woman's Hour

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Woman's Hour: Writer Heidi Thomas, Angela Saini on the origins of patriarchy, Codeword Mascara

Writer Heidi Thomas, Angela Saini on the origins of patriarchy, Codeword Mascara

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Writer Heidi Thomas, Angela Saini on the origins of patriarchy, Codeword Mascara

Author Angela Saini on why the patriarchy is more fragile than it appears.

Lisa Jennings Young, former head of Content Design at Twitter, explains why proactive design can protect women and girls on social media.

On last night’s Panorama, Twitter insiders told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolls, following lay-offs and changes under the owner Elon Musk. Lisa Jennings Young is the former head of Content Design at Twitter, and worked on safety features aiming to protect users from online hate, including misogyny. In October 2022, Lisa's entire team was laid off, and she herself chose to leave in late November. To find out more about her time at Twitter, and how proactive design can protect women and girls on social media, Nuala speaks to Lisa from her home in San Francisco.

Heidi Thomas is best known as the writer and creator of Call The Midwife. Her newest project is a film adaptation of the Alan Bennett play Allelujah. Set in a much-loved geriatric hospital in Yorkshire – The Beth - that’s been earmarked for closure, it stars Jennifer Saunders as the formidable sister in charge. Heidi joins Nuala in the Woman’s Hour studio to talk about what it’s been like to go from writing about the start of life to the end.

Feminism isn’t as modern as we might think, and the patriarchy is more fragile than it appears. That’s the basis of a new book by science journalist Angela Saini. In The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, Angela uncovers stories of female-led societies, and tells Nuala the lessons they might teach us.

Young women are using codewords to describe their experiences of sex, and in some cases assault, on social media platform TikTok. The hashtag ‘Mascara’ has racked up more than 100 million views over the past month or so, and is the latest code that’s developed to avoid TikTok’s censorship filters. Sophie Smith Galer joins Nuala to discuss this latest trend.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

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Writer Heidi Thomas, Angela Saini on the origins of patriarchy, Codeword Mascara

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