Susanna Rustin

💥Today, 29th December, is 50th anniversary of the sex discrimination and equal pay acts coming into force, along with equal opportunities commission to help enforce. Before then, employers & others *legally* blocked women from all kinds of roles, responsibilities, promotions 1/

I notice that women tend to outnumber men in these polycules - which is how polygamy always works.

BBC Radio 1 turning the "sponsored bike ride" into a week-long national event (Greg James cycling Dorset to Edinburgh for Comic Relief) is really lovely.. as it was when Mollie King did it 👏🤩🚴 tinyurl.com/8pfb7jsp

A brilliant piece by the principled Sally Dunsmore: I was branded a Nazi & told I would burn alive for defending free speech. I've run Oxford Literary Festival for 30 years. Our commitment to intellectual freedom will not be dampened by cowardly bullying telegraph.co.uk/gift/db6f43703…

@LukeTryl The defence of UK women's sex-based rights, culminating in supreme court last year, has been phenomenal

Not a comment on merits of the above (although I helped work on equal marriage campaign so no secret my views on that!) just examples of campaigns I think have so successfully achieved their goals and particularly by swinging median decision maker consensus.

Would say the two most successful 21st Century UK social issue campaigns: Pro gay marriage (big shift in attitudes in short space of time) Anti Assisted Dying (even against public in principle consensus, and shifting elites during process) What have I missed (am sure loads!)?

And not just strange but also dishonest. I cannot stand it when news orgs do this, it makes me feel like I'm living in a world of lies

Unkind is essential reading 🔥 @glosswitch’s coruscating critique of ‘kindness culture’ is sparking urgent conversation, and the paperback is out now. Have you read it yet?

If @BBCWomansHour wants to interview someone about misogyny, I'm available. In the old days, when it was a programme for women, they devoted a whole edition to my book Misogynies.

@msjlindsay I'm so cross and sorry about it all. and i realise its not over, with @MsPollyClark the latest. And yes you are right the cancellers should be asked about it x

@SusannaRustin I'd very much like the hounders to start being interviewed and asked how they feel, half a decade on. Do they stand by all they said and did? Their targets constantly have to revisit extremely traumatic experiences, while they blithely walk away. It does bother me, that.

It's great to see Rachel Rooney interviewed about how she was cancelled & bullied, but infuriating too for anyone who would have hoped for more from children's publishers, Society of Authors & the world. It is also really sad.

@RooneyRachel They should be ashamed

@SusannaRustin The SoA are key. They could have turned it around had they wanted too.

love looking at all the dresses 🤩.. link next

Latest Guardian editorial on the govt's foolish rush to scrap BTecs (link follows)

👏 Congratulations to all the women who fought for "sex" to be added to Scotland's hate crime laws, so that women have same protection as other groups

Jane Austen celebrated a woman’s prerogative to choose a man for emotional companionship and devotion. This is one of the most foundational aspects of Western gender equality. Turner captured the feeling of being at sea, in awe of the ocean’s power and turbulence. Like other Romantics, he elevated not religious dogma or social convention but each individual's *subjective feelings*. Turing embodied the spirit of scientific endeavour for national progress, saving us all by cracking the code. And his tragic demise reminds us of the crimes of past illiberalism. Churchill rallied a nation under existential threat. Brilliantly chosen, they represent British history. These figures form a part of our "imagined community", our shared sense of history, who we are. "Social cohesion" cannot be built by memos. It comes through story-telling, rituals and celebrations, including our everyday bank notes. So it's a real shame that Britain may be scrapping historical greats, for owls.

Very pleased to see my book DO NOT GO GENTLE get a great review in the Guardian today. Out on April 2nd. theguardian.com/books/2026/mar…

And it will forever be appalling to me that a bunch of celebrities with influence over young people used their platforms to amplify unevidenced claims for the benefit of transitioning minors while smearing those urging caution as bigots.

📢 My long read about the epoch-shaping Sex Discrimination Act - and the women including a bunch feminist journalists who fought like hell for it (published in December to mark 50th anniversary)- is now a podcast! 🎉(link follows - also on Apple podcasts/ Spotify etc)