This article appeared in Aeon magazine. It traces the history of women protesting with thread whilst also drawing on contemporary examples. Women’s use of thread as a form of protest began centuries and ago appears in countries all across the world. In the article, examples include the USA, Chile, South Africa and Palestine. In addition to this, the article looks at the issue through a feminist lens, tracing the evolution of thread based crafts from the domestic realm to the political one.

This booklet was funded by The Being Human Festival. It features information about Threads of Protest and includes a brief history of women protesting with thread. In addition, there is instruction on how to crochet a granny square. It was created with help from Jana Vodičková, Helen Davies and Sophie Neville.

I was invited to speak with Lindsay Weston on her Making Stitches Podcast. We discussed my own motivations for beginning Threads of Protest and the journey so far. Lindsay is a former BBC journalist and her podcast features people involved in textile art and crafts.

I was invited to write for the Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre a blog on Threads of Protest. In the piece I discuss the work of Katharina Detzel, a woman incarcerated in a so called ‘insane asylum’ in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century. She and other female inmates were prohibited from using the reading room and in desperation turned to thread related craft. In one case, this included a woman crocheting with her own hair.

I was invited to write a blog on Threads of Protest for the Durham University Obstetric Violence Blog. One thing that has become clear to me during this project is that obstetric violence is not a new phenomenon. Often when I speak to women of my parents’ generation and earlier, they have also experienced appalling levels of abuse during childbirth. This blog touches on the issue.

This is one of the first articles I wrote about Threads of Protest. It describes the frustration I - and other women - often feel with the violence against us that is normalised in our society. Often there is nothing we can do at the time. However, I have used Threads of Protest to challenge obstetric violence and other abuses during the maternity period in a slower more subversive way.

Lots of people - especially obstetricians - do not like the term ‘obstetric violence.’ A position statement appeared in an academic journal from a range of maternity staff stating their opposition to the language. I was invited by AIMS to write a response to this and to defend the use of the term. Although the word ‘obstetric’ is used in the terminology, this does not mean that the abuse can only be carried out by obstetricians. In fact, it can be carried out by any health care practitioner involved in maternity care.

I was super excited (and terrified) to be invited to speak on ABC Breakfast Radio in Australia to discuss Threads of Protest. The producers had read my Threads of Resistance article (above) and were interested in the history of women’s craftivism and the ways in which we had used it to challenge human rights violations.

This is an A4 poster that was used to promote Threads of Protest. The artwork was created by Michelle Freeman and the poster appeared in local spaces such as libraries. Please note that the closing date for squares has now passed and I include the poster here solely to show off the lovely artwork Michelle created.