Exactly! I usually run on UK sizes too, and I would say she looks to be maximum a UK size 10.

She looks like me and I think I'm hella skinny. I'm a US size 2-4. How is she a size 10?

1997, I believe! And early 90s before condoms were generally available. And it took the Irish government being taken to the European Court of Human Rights before homosexuality was decriminalised. But Ireland now has civil partnerships, and that happened a hell of a lot faster than I thought it would. So maybe the…

As I said, set up by the Good Shepherd Sisters, a catholic nun's order. Very shaming and anti sex work.

Ireland's abortion laws are terrible. In terms of equal pay, anti-discrimination legislation, maternity leave and many other measures of social protection, it's pretty awesome. The majority of Irish people want abortion to be legalised, but there's no political will to do so.

The only pills that can be prescribed for me at the moment are progestin only pills, which seem to be associated with more moodiness and obviously don't even out oestrogen-related mood swings. So I'll try coming off my current mood-levelling combination pills and if things get really bad I can be referred to a…

Yes, I very consciously said cultural attitude to working mothers, as legally things are pretty egalitarian. It's lovely to see a couple take a year off to travel with their newborn, part-financed by their Elterngeld. I agree that the prejudice is probably very variable, depending where in the country one lives.

In all my years in Germany, I never experienced one incident of street harassment. It was really weird. Then I moved back to the UK and it was all creepy again. Maybe lack of street harassment is part of the lack of understanding? It's still depressing though.

I hope things get better for you Soy, it's a horrible situation to be in.

Hmmm. I am disappoint. I dug around a bit more and found that they're affiliated with Turn Off The Red Light, which is very pro-Nordic model. :(

I was casting side-eye at this too, but the Immigrant Council of Ireland are legit anti sex trafficking. If it was Ruhama, the organisation set up by the Good Shepherd Sisters, it would be a different story. Here's Ruhama's latest campaign:

I imagine it will be like the female-only lanes in the shopping centres - women interacting with women. I suppose it stands to reason that female members of the traffic department would have to be able to drive and over 30.

They are religious police, and while you don't want to anger them to the point where they make a big fuss, apparently you can ignore them — esp. after they walk away.

I am a straight woman, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Went out for dinner tonight with a dude I dated almost ten years ago. I had a wonderful evening, we had a great time together. Now I'm home and I feel empty and shitty. I suppose it's because I didn't feel he was attracted to me, but i wasn't attracted to him either, so why should it matter? I feel really insecure now…

Your generation, if it was pre-internet, wasn't affected by the online disinhibition effect.

As in, how to spot the assholes in advance? I have no idea. My personal rule is see how he treats his mom, see how he talks about people who are ill/people with disabilities, and see how he deals with conflict. Within a relationship, Gottman's 7 principles for making marriage work is a good manual.

Oooh, tempting! No, I hold on to my anger and vent it with a colleague at a later time. In the moment I explore why they think that, how they would feel if the situations were reversed, and how they feel about the fact that they're such assholes.

The orbs could be emerald too. And she must sigh at her obviously unattractive too-skinny body...

Absolutely. I wasn't contradicting you, just adding my experience.