Learn about the newest members of the Girl Museum team:

I’m an undergraduate studying English Literature in the U.K. who loves books, sitcoms and the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series.  Movies and music are my two main passions (alongside cake). I’ve been going to Reading & Leeds festival since I was 13 and it’s always the highlight of my year. I have a long list of favourite films, many of which I have to admit are guilty pleasures (cringey teen romcoms). A few of the less embarrassing are: Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Dirty Dancing. I’ll also watch any Richard Curtis movie and adore The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

As I come to the end of my degree, I’m faced with the terrifying reality of job searching. Although I do dread the moment I have to leave the University bubble, I am excited about the prospect of working in my dream job. For me, this would have to be working in a research and curatorial role at the British Library in London.

I would also love to work in a literary house museum such as the Brontë Parsonage in Haworth. This is one of my favourite museum experiences. As I both live and study literature in Yorkshire, it felt like an honour to visit the place where the sisters wrote their books. Some of the museum’s exhibitions address contemporary reception. One looks at the production of the TV series To Walk Invisible, and another explores Branwell Brontë through Simon Armitage’s poetry. There are also opportunities to gaze at the family’s furniture, letters, clothes etc.; these are all presented in the rooms of the parsonage. This mix creates a really interesting dynamic whereby the past is celebrated but modern perception is always present.

The biggest issue facing the girls I know is sexual harassment and abuse. It is a regular occurrence on nights out and I have yet to talk to a girl who hasn’t experienced unwelcome attention, touching and force despite saying ‘no.’  Additionally, when this harassment has been reported or observed by members of staff in bars and clubs, they have removed the girl from the situation; kicking them out for ‘their own safety.’ This does nothing to discourage the harasser from moving on to another girl. Universities hold consent lectures and seminars, yet the problem does not seem to be improving quickly enough.  

-Phoebe Cawley
Junior Girl
Girl Museum Inc.

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