I have heard people express bitterness towards those who have taken their own lives, I have heard others ask sufferers ‘why’ they’re depressed considering how privileged they have been in other aspects of their lives, writes Louise O’Neill

I don’t have any issues with my age. This shouldn’t seem like an extraordinary statement but sometimes it feels as if getting older, particularly for women, is a fate worse than death and must be warded off at all costs whether that’s through the ritualistic sacrifice of young virgins or a self-portrait putrefying in the attic. You do you, babe.

I spent this morning listing the reasons why I became a writer, says Louise O’Neill.

Winners never quit, I would tell myself, and quitters never win, writes Louise O’Neill.

On a recent Saturday night, I spent an hour lecturing some poor man about gender politics — it wasn’t my fault!

Sometimes I get messages from people who want my opinion on a particular topic or event because, they say, I am ‘always right’.

I ??shouldn’t be writing this column. The last thing the world needs right now is yet another cisgender woman sermonising about her views on the trans community.

In a study released in 2013, scientists found that when they applied an electric shock to mice as they were exposed to the smell of cherry blossoms, the mice were, in time, trained to fear that scent. 

Supposedly sexually harassing women in the work place and going on to win an Academy Award for best actor are perfect examples of rape culture, says Louise O’Neill.

I can be sociable and outgoing but I require a great deal of time by myself in order to recharge, says Louise O’Neill.