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Woman's Hour: Hadley Freeman, Latest in Iran, Rom Coms

Hadley Freeman, Latest in Iran, Rom Coms

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Hadley Freeman, Latest in Iran, Rom Coms

Hadley Freeman on her memoir Good Girls about having anorexia.

The writer Hadley Freeman stopped eating when she was 14, and spent the next three years in and out of hospital, battling with anorexia.  Now in her mid-forties, she says she didn’t completely close the door on the disease until relatively recently.  In Good Girls – A Story and Study of Anorexia, she gives an unflinching account of what happened to her and looks at what happens to girls who become anorexic now; what we know and what we don’t about the mental illness. 

Did you know there are 36 new romantic comedy films coming out this year? From big blockbusters like Your Place or Mine featuring Reece Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher to smaller budget hits like Rye Lane. So, are we having a rom com revival? We speak to film director Elizabeth Sankey, whose film Romantic Comedy looked at the history of the genre, and TV and film critic Rhianna Dhillon.

The Iranian police force have said that they plan to use smart technology in public places to identify and then penalise women who violate the country’s strict Islamic dress code. This comes a week after a video on social media showed a man throwing yoghurt over two women for not wearing a hijab. Nuala is joined by Faranak Amidi, the BBC’s Near East Women's Affairs correspondent to discuss. 

Alexis Strum is an actress and sketch comedian.  Twenty years ago she had a record deal and achieved her dream to make an album, but then it was pulled.  She walked away from music – until now.   A few weeks ago someone asked her to put her music up on Spotify and now she has finally launched her album including the song -  Bad Haircut – which was inspired by a breakup, and has had 1 million views on TikTok.  She joins Nuala to discuss becoming a pop star at nearly 46.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce

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