In the competitive world of spiritual seekers – I kid, but only a little – “sweat lodge” has fast replaced “ayahuasca” at the top of this summer’s most-frequently-overheard-in-the-yoga-studio-changing-room list. (Other notable highlights include: “Does this crystal make me look fat?”)

But what is a sweat lodge anyway?

Let’s start with what it’s not: a sauna. This is a common misconception, born of the fact that in both you enter a sealed space in which rocks are used to generate heat, with added water creating steam. That is, however, where the similarities end.

Now, "sweat lodge" simply describes a structure – typically a dome-shaped hut made from natural materials. What people are referring to when they talk about a sweat lodge is what goes on inside: the ceremony, or sweat.

The ceremony is a religious and spiritual purification of the body, mind and soul. It is performed under the supervision of a leader, and intended for prayer and healing. It is ancient, sacred, and deeply revered among the cultures in which it is traditionally practised. Every aspect of a ceremony – from the construction of the lodge to the prayers offered – is imbued with deeply spiritual symbolism. It is not simply a "shvitz".

Sweat lodges are most commonly associated with Native America – and indeed a large proportion of the ones found in the USA and Europe follow this lineage – however, ritual sweats have been part of our lives for thousands of years, with examples found across continents and cultures, from Icelandic saunas to Turkish hammams and Japanese onsens.

In the North American Indian tradition, the lodge is built using willow bark that is placed in the ground in a circular shape and then covered with blankets. The heat inside is generated by hot basalt stones that are placed in the centre and doused with water and medicinal herbs. “The spirits of all of our ancestors are believed to dwell in the stones,” explains Roland Torikian, a Maya healer who runs sweat lodge ceremonies in Kent. “Roused by the heat of the fire, they proceed out of the stone when water is sprinkled on them. Emerging and mingling with the steam they enter the body… driving out everything that inflicts pain. Before the ancestor spirits return to the stone, they impart some of their nature to the body. That is why one feels so well after having been in a temescal.”

Indeed, devotees of sweat lodge ceremonies evangelise about the mental clarity, physical energy and spiritual revitalisation they bring. Serena, a 35-year-old Oscar-winning film producer, has twice attended The Sweat Lodge in Oxfordshire. “I found the whole process very interesting,” she says. “It is cathartic sweating and you're in beautiful countryside with kind, nice people, and the heat definitely sends your mind to a higher place.” Aaron, a 33-year-old music producer and sound healer, attends a ceremony with Healing The Land once a month, on average. “Afterwards I feel energetic, cleansed and detoxed,” he explains. “It creates more space in my mind – like things have been removed. I feel meditative, connected and calm.”

Each ceremony generally involves a maximum of 25 people in the lodge. Participants – who despite rumours suggesting otherwise, tend to be clothed, albeit lightly – enter the structure in a clockwise direction and sit in a circle on the ground. The stones are then brought in and the ‘door’ closed by the leader.

“An atmosphere is created which is often referred to as ‘being in the womb of Mother Earth’,’’ explains The Sweat Lodge Community. “It is a place of safety, giving, sharing, receiving, releasing, cleansing, healing, caring, nurturing and creativity. Done with ceremony and ritual, it becomes a place where we connect with ourselves, each other and Mother Earth. Through this contact we come to a better understanding of our place in the Universe, our relationship to all things.”

A sweat lasts around five hours, with the ceremony divided into four sessions – called rounds – each of which lasts between 20 and 45 minutes. Participants are free to leave at any time, however they are encouraged to remain through discomfort (as opposed to feeling seriously unwell). What helps you remain through the discomfort and intense heat? “Letting go,” says Aaron. “Letting thoughts go, letting concepts go. It’s not really the heat that gets you in the heat; it’s your own heavy thoughts about yourself, your lack of self-belief. But also, if it gets really hot you can just lie down on the floor.” In between rounds everyone may exit the lodge if they want, and ideally there is a freezing cold body (or bucket) of water somewhere nearby.

The ceremonies are used to cleanse, heal, give thanks, celebrate, mourn, seek wisdom and counsel, or elicit visions.‘’I go to reconnect with myself, and with the Earth and nature itself,” Aaron explains. “Because it’s so dark in there and the heat activates your brain a little, you definitely see things. I’ve connected with other places and had visions – the heat brings a lot of focus in, and you can visualise your thoughts.”

For Serena, the sweat lodge completely changed her view of ‘spirituality’. “The people running it were not what I imagined spiritual people to be like – they were sort-of cockney geezers but with names like 'Eagle Flies With Wings' – so it challenged my perceptions,” she explains. “You have to fully engage with it, though,” she says, “at times it felt a bit farcical, as if it were rife for a BBC3 comedy.”

Indeed, it’s pretty easy to make fun of the growing interest in sweat lodges, much as it is ayahuasca, the tech billionaire’s drug of choice. However, if the events of the past year or so have shown us anything, it’s that the world we live in is seriously screwed up. And as far as I can tell, doing anything that helps individuals connect with both themselves and others is a good thing.

If – and it’s a big if – it’s done right.

In 2009, three people died and 18 were hospitalised after attending a ceremony in Arizona held by the self-help author and self-styled guru James Arthur Ray. The reports from the survivors are harrowing. Ray, a ‘plastic shaman’ with no official training, allegedly refused to let anyone leave the lodge (which was itself both built incorrectly and severely overcrowded) even when they begged, and began to vomit and pass out.

This event, however, was a relative anomaly, and a ceremony conducted under safe conditions should pose no serious risks for most people. Any state in which the body is tested to extreme limits has its dangers, so an experienced leader (with an apprenticeship of four to eight years) is paramount. They must fully understand not only the spiritual significance of the tradition, but also the physical and mental safety protocols.

Thinking of trying it? Simply heed with caution. If you’re pregnant or have a pre-existing health condition (such as high blood pressure or epilepsy), then give it a miss altogether. Otherwise be sure to do your research, and find a trusted ceremony with an experienced leader with whom you feel comfortable. Remember that we all respond differently to heat at different times in our lives, so listen carefully to your body. And finally, be prepared to hate it, like 25-year-old chef Tom. “You couldn’t pay me to go back,” he says. “Ever again.”

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Summer is here, and we're more than ready to leave the safety of our couch and Netflix queue behind. We're going out into the balmier evenings to watch films in totally new, weird and wonderful locations. From lidos to boats, drive-ins to palaces, we've found the best places to snuggle up with a great movie and a bucket of popcorn this summer.

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Slip dresses have become a wardrobe essential over the past few years, the '90s and '00s staple having had a contemporary refresh. Tartan and lace was worn by everyone from Gwen Stefani to Courtney Love back in the riot grrrl days, while Jennifer Aniston made a great case for mules and a simple slip in the early 2000s. Now, the oh-so-easy dress is taking our wardrobes seamlessly from a wrapped-up winter (worn over roll necks and tights) to the height of summer.

For SS17, designers rolled out slips of all lengths, fabrics and prints, too. Teatum Jones paired lilac floral dresses with matching socks, Givenchy gave us agate-printed slips, and Ottolinger's silk hems were slashed and shredded. Each x Other's were sky blue and floor-length, while Gypsy Sport styled theirs with one strap draped over sweaters. David Koma offered a sporty take in ice white, while Topshop Unique's thigh split encouraged us to go higher.

The most basic of shapes, the slip dress is the ultimate throw-it-on-and-go for summer days and evenings. Click through to see our pick of the bunch.

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The true number of people killed in the Grenfell Tower fire could have been covered up to prevent rioting, Labour MP David Lammy has suggested.

The number of people officially reported to have died or as missing is 79 but Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said that while he had “no idea” if the number was being downplayed, he was “sympathetic” to the theory. At present, just 18 of the victims have been formally identified, with 61 more missing and presumed dead.

"What people say is that if you put the numbers out early, there could be civil unrest. That's what they say," he told BBC2’s Newsnight. "I am sympathetic to it, I am going to walk alongside those people."

When asked whether he thought the authorities were deliberately obscuring the death toll, Lammy, who was friends with 24-year-old victim Khadija Saye, said: "I wasn't there, but people on the ground are saying they saw more [people jump from towers] than is being suggested," reported the Mirror. "And so what people say is that in two, three weeks' time, if you start to reveal the numbers, things have moved on."

"In one flat alone, people say there were up to 40 people gathering, because they gathered in the flat, it was Ramadan," he continued.

Lammy said he had spoken to survivors of the tragedy, many of whom believed a substantially higher number of their neighbours died than has been reported, and he said it was right to “validate what they’re saying, they’re not making it up”.

The MP also called for all relevant Grenfell Tower documents to be seized by the prime minister and Metropolitan Police as soon as possible, reported the Telegraph.

"When you have tragedies of this kind that could have been prevented, we know from Hillsborough and other affairs in our national life that governments, local authorities, big corporations, companies, the contractors – they cover their backs. That's why I raised issues around the documentation," he said.

Lammy has previously labelled the fire as "corporate manslaughter" and called for arrests to be made.

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It was a typical baby shower — or, at least, it looked like one. Someone had twirled pastel streamers across the walls and strung up pale pink and blue balloons. The gift table was overflowing with adorable Onesies and binkies, boxes of wipes, and a blue plush bear. Guests giggled their way through silly shower activities; there was a round of "guess the celebrity mum" and a bottle-chugging contest.

The only thing that appeared to be missing was the mother-to-be herself. She never showed, but that, along with the guest list, gifts, and games, seemed to be part of the plan. The shower was a club event organised by Missouri State University’s chapter of Students for Life. And the “gifts” were donations for a local Pregnancy Care Centre that counsels women against abortion.

“We had a blast...all while reminiscing about the culture of LIFE our generation is fostering, both on campus and across the nation,” a caption on the MSUBearsForLife Instagram account reads.

How does a pro-life club celebrate the end of a fantastic school year? With a baby shower of course! 👶🏽🎊 We gathered items to donate to Pregnancy Care Center, and we had a blast playing "pin the sperm on the egg", "guess the baby food", "my water broke", "baby bottle chugging contest", "guess the famous mom", and many other games, all while reminiscing about the culture of LIFE our generation is fostering, both on our campus and across the nation. We thank you all for a fabulous year. 😊 #prolife #bearssavebabies #probearsprobabiesprowomenprolife #sfla2017 #prolifegeneration

A post shared by MSU Bears for Life (@msubearsforlife) on May 3, 2017 at 8:01pm PDT

These sorts of gatherings are taking place on campuses across America. At Louisiana State University, student activists gathered in the campus’ “free speech alley” to hand out diapers, Onesies, and infant shoes. Clubs in California, Colorado, and Florida went so far as to find actual pregnant peers to fete with gifts and ‘Gram-able metallic B-A-B-Y balloons. The celebrations are so popular that the national Students for Life website posted baby shower tips for helping a “pregnant woman while having a great time."

All of this — the young ambassadors seemingly stripped straight from the sorority composite, cute baby clothes, the festive metallic balloons — is the new Instagram-ready face of the modern anti-abortion movement. You know that old stereotype of in-your-face angry protestors outside abortion clinics waving pictures of dead foetuses? These events are the polar opposite.

While the current political landscape has led many abortion rights activists to focus their ire on the male lawmakers introducing and voting in anti-choice legislation, these "pro-lifers" are young, social-media savvy — and overwhelmingly female. And, at a critical moment in the fight over abortion, they're betting this softer lens will help frame the issue in their favour and, ultimately, win over the next generation of voters.

The pro-life group on campus, their job is to say: yes you can.

Theirs is an approach that leans hard on the women’s maternal impulses trope, focusing on aww -worthy images of infants, and celebrations of motherhood. They’re throwing showers, petitioning for nursing rooms on campus, stockpiling itty-bitty baby socks to symbolise their steadfast opposition to Planned Parenthood. They rely on lifelike 3-D ultrasound pics and pregnancy apps to make the case for personhood during the earliest stages of pregnancy. Their social media accounts pop with inspirational quotes, mommy-blog worthy pics, and celebrity baby bumps.

“We love to highlight when famous celebrities are talking about their pregnancies or posting cute pictures on Instagram,” says Bethany Goodman, assistant director of the annual March for Life rally. “It kind of connects to the inherent knowledge that we believe that everyone has: that an unborn baby is a baby.” A recent post from Students for Life replicated that technique, congratulating Beyoncé and Jay Z on the “the life and birth of the twins!”

And when you ask these activists to describe their passion for this cause, the responses are dripping in rhetoric reminiscent of — of all things — pop-feminism. The language of girl power and images of feminine strength are used liberally.

“This is about a generation of women saying, 'We’re better than this, we’re more empowered,'” says Americans United For Life president Catherine Glenn Foster. “We’re not going to be stuck in the Victorian Era, where men are going to say we can’t work and have a family.”

Arina Grossu, the 34-year old director of Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, sees a wave of women standing up and saying: “We are empowered, we can do it all. We want solutions, and killing our baby isn’t a solution.” Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins blasts the idea that a woman can’t have a child and go to college. “It’s complete and utter bullshit. That’s the message of 'you can’t'; of 'you’re not strong enough to do this,'” she says.

“The pro-life group on campus, their job is to say: Yes you can.”

If that sloganeering sounds familiar, that's because it's been the choice phrase of feminists on the front lines of the abortion debate for literally decades (not to mention the mantra that launched pro-choice President Barack Obama into the White House back in the mid-aughts). But this new crop of pro-lifers see a major flaw in the left's logic behind those messages.

On the left, feminists who support abortion rights are focused on tying reproductive choice to economic well-being, while simultaneously settling on hard truths, like we can’t really have it all. Reproductive freedom, which includes the right to an abortion, they say, is crucial to women's economic independence and empowerment. (Case in point: More than 100 female attorneys signed an amicus brief to that effect, filed last year in the Supreme Court case over Texas’ clinic regulations). But for women on the other side of the debate, motherhood, even unplanned motherhood, is deserving of a you-go-girl message all its own: Yes, you can have it all — including that baby.

Of course, balancing a child with a career or college demands more than a few boxes of diapers and emotional support from peers. The safety net for mums in the US — especially ones facing an unplanned pregnancy — is, in many respects, nonexistent (only 14% of working parents even have access to paid family leave). Childcare costs are soaring. Proposed federal budget cuts and GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act could make things harder for low-income parents already struggling with raising a child. And studies have documented the adverse effect an unintended pregnancy can have on a woman’s educational and economic prospects — as well as on the development of children born to women who wanted an abortion but could not get one.

Critics are quick to call out what they see as the hypocrisy of lawmakers pushing for anti-abortion laws, while simultaneously failing to prioritise policies that make juggling parenthood possible. “It is new and it is woefully blind to class and equity,” Karissa Haugeberg, author of Women Against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the 20th Century, says of this "pro-life" message. The “myth that women can have it all,” she adds, ignores the “reality of life for low-income and even middle class women. It is less and less financially possible for even a woman without a child.”

That family policy question is a complicated one for anti-abortion activists, especially given the movement's large GOP base (Hawkins, for example, identifies as a fiscal conservative and opposes government-mandated family leave; other women involved in the movement interviewed by Refinery29 expressed support for such proposals). But enacting more pro-mum legislation isn’t exactly the point. A key aim, activists say, is to create a broader culture shift, one that celebrates and prioritises "life." That is what, they believe, will help to bring to their side a group they see as crucial in the high-stakes fight over reproductive rights: the so-called “mushy middle," voters who have conflicted, or not yet fully-formed, opinions on abortion.

The anti-abortion movement always knew it was vulnerable to criticism if it looked like it was a bunch of white men trying to tell women and people of colour what to do with their bodies.

It might be hard to believe that these people even exist, given that abortion remains one of the most polarising issues in the country, even among women. One recent study from Pew Research found 59% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases — a statistic that's at a 20-year-high, with women driving the increase. But the sentiment is split along partisan lines. Among Democratic women, support for legal abortion spikes to 85%; while among Republican women, it’s only 32%.

But that's just the Pew poll: Gallup data shows Americans evenly split when it comes to identifying as pro-choice or pro-life. Another, from Knights of Columbus and Marist, found that while a majority of Americans 18 to 34 identify as pro-choice (58%, to precise) virtually the exact same percentage of millennials would ban abortion after 20 weeks, except when necessary to save the life of the the mother. Half of those young voters consider abortion morally wrong. (Pew and Gallup have both found similar trends, with at least 4 in 10 Americans overall holding that view).

Hence: the must-win mushy middle. These people are predominantly young, and, like many millennials, they eschew labels. Talking pro-life vs. pro-choice doesn’t do much to move the needle (Hawkins and other Students for Life activists says they’ve mostly stopped using the term pro-life when canvassing on campus because it doesn’t resonate). What does, anti-abortion activists have concluded, is something the reproductive rights side has already been cultivating for years: a “woman-focused brand.”

The Institute For Pro-Life Advancement, an arm of Students for Life, lays out the imperative for focusing on “women’s equality and well-being” in a 2016 research and polling report. It’s a strategy informed by the success of one of their chief adversaries: Planned Parenthood.

“They appealed to emotion and claimed woman-focused messaging as their own — and it worked,” the briefing says. To counter that, the report advises doubling down on what it calls “the abortion industry’s betrayal of women” in a way that is clear, concise, and, most importantly, “not judgmental.”

“We know,” the briefing reads, “that our message going forward must be pro-woman...that pro-lifers and individuals on the fence will come together to oppose injustice against women.” That messaging has been core to Students for Life’s aggressive grassroots field campaign. In the decade since its founding, the number of Students for Life chapters on college and high school campuses has increased tenfold, to 1,200. In the past year, the group chartered its first middle school chapter.

Claudia Schwenzer, a 21-year-old senior at Oakland University in Michigan, was once a member of that mushy middle. Her mum supported abortion rights, as did her older sister. She herself remembers getting riled up after clicking a link on Facebook that warned cuts to Planned Parenthood would leave women without access to healthcare, thinking, “I can’t believe pro-life people would do this to women.” When it came to describing the “pro-life” movement, the word “hateful” came to mind. “I definitely thought that it was just old people on the sidewalk in front of a clinic holding signs, protesting and yelling,” she says.

I realized [the movement] was younger people, like me and my friends. That was the first step of ‘this is who I am now, and there’s no going back.

Then, in January 2014, a teacher at her Catholic high school handed her a flier about the upcoming March for Life. Curious, she brought the form home and worked up the nerve to ask her mum for permission to go and cash to cover the $90 trip fee. After an all-night bus ride, she rolled into in Washington and saw the sea of women filling the streets. The signs, the songs, the prayers, she felt, were focused on protecting people like her.

“I realised [the movement] was younger people, like me and my friends,” she says. “That was the first step of ‘this is who I am now, and there’s no going back.’”

Schwenzer is now a board member of her university’s Students for Life chapter. Her room is so full with pro-life lit and swag — a “Feminists for Life” bumper sticker is affixed to her mirror — that her pro-choice mum can’t come in without “being surrounded” by it. When her parents turn on left-leaning late-night shows, many of which decry the ongoing attack on reproductive rights, she quietly leaves the room.

But what peeves Schwenzer most is listening to her peers, including her “radically left” sister, whom she also describes as her best friend, complain that her cause is dominated by old, white men in Washington who “want to control my body... want their hands on my uterus.” It’s a popular sentiment for Women’s March signs and feminist merch. But while it's true that the majority of the GOP caucus — and, if we’re being honest, Congress as a whole — fits that description, young, female, anti-abortion activists like Schwenzer say that characterisation fails to account for their growing influence.

“The pro-life movement is female-led, as it should be,” Schwenzer says. “It is true there are men in Washington who are making these decisions. But people don’t understand that it is young women who are advocating for their rights and for their unborn children's.”

Women have, of course, always been central figures in the debate over abortion on both sides. But their role in the anti-abortion movement has evolved over time.

In the late 1960s, Catholic leaders came together to form a new strategy for tracking and addressing the growing push for abortion rights. The National Right to Life Committee, one of the country’s oldest and largest anti-abortion groups, was born. Its first president was an attorney from New Jersey, named Juan Ryan. And that was representative of the emerging professional anti-abortion movement, one primarily dominated by bishops, members of the clergy, doctors, and lawyers — a.k.a men.

In those early days, the movement’s most visible female voices were the wives of the male leaders, or women organising on a grassroots level, according Haugeberg, who teaches at Tulane University and has studied the movement extensively. Others soon rose in prominence, though it wasn’t without conflict. Activist Marjory Mecklenburg, who chaired NRL in the wake of Roe v. Wade, left to start her own organisation over a split on prioritising the rights of the foetus versus the needs of pregnant women, Haugeberg writes. In the mid-1970s, NRL named Mildred F. Jefferson, the first Black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, as its president.

Jefferson’s background as a doctor made her a compelling and powerful surrogate. (After her death, one NRL leader praised her as “the greatest orator of our movement.”) Women like her “achieved pretty big leadership posts pretty quickly because they were anomalies,” according to Haugeberg. “The anti-abortion movement always knew it was vulnerable to criticism if it looked like it was a bunch of white men trying to tell women and people of colour what to do with their bodies,” she says. “They were really sensitive to that — and it was true, it was a lot of white men. In a PR move, they tried to promote people of colour and women very quickly to have them be the face of the movement.”

The true roots of the “women centric” message that is experiencing a resurgence today, Haugeberg argues, is the Crisis Pregnancy Centre. These centres, which offer pregnancy tests and counsel women against abortion, started popping up in the 1960s. Many were led by women. And they took a different approach than the “fire and brimstone” rhetoric of other leading conservatives.

It is so powerful visually that so many pro-life organisations at this point are being led by women, and many of them young women.

“It was much softer and more gentle,” Haugeberg says. “They basically treated girls like they had been victimised by boyfriends who didn’t care about them, or had gone wayward. It was part proselytising, offering them a redemption pass.” For decades, these women, and their message, remained the minority faction, according to Haugeberg’s research. But in the 1980s, she says, the “[anti-abortion movement] realised it was untenable, to simultaneously make women be pregnant and then demonise them for being pregnant.” The woman-focused approach moved to the forefront.

Today, women are serving in key roles on all levels of the movement. Women lead 60% of Students for Life chapters nationwide, Hawkins estimates. Five out of six full-time March for Life staffers are female , and organisers claim that the “majority of those who march are female and/or millennial” (Hawkins says a plan to hold a voter-registration drive at one was a bust because so many participants were under 18). Leading groups that advocate for restricting abortion — March for Life, National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony List, Americans United for Life — have women at the helm.

“It is so powerful visually that so many pro-life organisations at this point are being led by women, and many of them young women,” Foster, who was just named AUL president this May, says, adding: “We are very thoughtful and intellectually choosing life, and that’s what we’re about.”

Maddi Runkles was, in many respects, a model student at Heritage Academy, a private Christian school in western Maryland. She got straight A’s and was elected president of the student council. When she wasn’t playing soccer or hanging with friends, she volunteered at Vacation Bible School and for Meals on Wheels. That résumé helped her secure admission to Bob Jones University, one of the preeminent conservative Christian schools in the nation.

Then she got pregnant. She thought briefly about abortion, she has said, but decided to have the baby. Her parents pledged their support. But Heritage Academy's leadership saw things differently: Premarital sex is a violation of the institution’s moral code, and Maddi had broken that rule. They suspended her, a punishment she says she accepted. Then came word the visibility pregnant teen wouldn’t be allowed to walk at her graduation. “The best way to love her right now is to hold her accountable for her morality that began this situation,” the principal reportedly wrote in a letter to parents.

The decision made national headlines — with Students for Life acting as one of Maddi’s loudest cheerleaders. The group collected messages of support, petitioned the school, and, yes, threw Maddi a graduation ceremony, complete with baby gifts.

Maddi courageously chose life after finding out she is pregnant during her senior year at her Christian high school. Now her school won't allow her to walk during graduation. It's this response that drives many women to Planned Parenthood for an abortion. Can you send Maddi a message of love and support now? Go to the link in our bio. #prolife

A post shared by Students for Life of America (@studentsforlife) on May 22, 2017 at 4:47pm PDT

“She made the courageous decision to choose life, and she definitely should not be shamed,” Hawkins told The New York Times at the time. “There has got to be a way to treat a young woman who becomes pregnant in a graceful and loving way.”

That public support came with costs. The group lost donors, Hawkins says, and she personally received nasty messages from fellow, mostly older, activists who felt she was wrongly celebrating teen pregnancy. Some took issue with her taking aim at the actions of a Christian school. She concedes that the controversy probably hurt the Christian cause. But to Hawkins, highlighting the case was critical — she worries that a response rooted in shame is what drives young women to seek abortions in the first place. And there's another silver lining: She thinks her stance might have struck a chord with another key demographic in her fight to end abortion.

“I told Maddi at graduation, ‘I think we probably made a lot of new pro-lifers,’" Hawkins says. “It probably made some people who are in the mushy middle go, ‘Yeah, I want to be part of that.’”

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Just beyond the parking lot of the Jackson Women's Health Centre in Mississippi, protesters gather, brandishing signs, singing hymns, and clutching their Bibles. Escorts and security guards hold the line between the protestors and the women entering the clinic, but the protesters raise their voices for all to hear.

"Mommy, mommy, don't kill me, mommy," a man in a pro-life T-shirt says to a woman approaching the clinic. A child among the protesters calls out, "In the end, there will be judgment!"

As the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, the Health Centre has become the front line of the state's war on reproductive rights. On one side of the parking lot stand the doctors who wish to protect women's right to choose, and on the other stand those who'd like to see the clinic shut down for good. This contentious fight has been documented by Maisie Crow, a documentary film director, cinematographer, and photographer.

After finishing The Last Clinic, her short film about the Health Centre, Crow started working on another film, Jackson, a full-length version that tells the story of abortion access in Mississippi from all angles. In fact, Jackson features abortion providers and crisis pregnancy center (CPC) employees in equal measure.

For those who aren't familiar with CPCs, they are essentially offices that work to deter women from having abortions. The tactics they use involve false information and emotional manipulation, and they're usually in close proximity to actual abortion clinics — it's not uncommon for CPC employees to intercept women on their way to terminate a pregnancy.

Crow says that the goals of a CPC go well beyond stopping an abortion. Oftentimes, women leave these facilities believing that giving birth is their only " real" option. That's exactly the impression that April Jackson, the pregnant mother of four whom Crow features in Jackson, came away with.

"She didn’t know that she could go to the [abortion] clinic, or [she] was too fearful to go because of what the anti-abortion movement had instilled in her," Crow says. "In places like Mississippi, the anti-abortion movement’s message is just so much louder than the message for choice."

And according to Crow, that's exactly what the Jackson Women's Health Centre is working to counteract: Its goal is to promote choice. "Not to provide women necessarily with abortions, but to provide women with the option to have an abortion," she says.

This message lies at the heart of Jackson, and all of Crow's work in Mississippi, for that matter. Abortion isn't accessible simply when a clinic is allowed to remain open. It's accessible when women have the information, resources, and emotional space to decide for themselves whether they're going to walk into that clinic in the first place.

Throughout her time filming in Mississippi, Crow shot still photos of the clinic and the people in and around it. On the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down abortion restrictions in Texas, we're bringing Crow's images to your attention as a reminder of the state of abortion access nationwide. "We need to work hard for the people in Mississippi, but we also need to be aware that this is happening across the country," Crow says.

Ahead, view a selection of Crow's work and read about her experiences in her own words.

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Never underestimate the power of a your-lips-but-better nude to set off a work outfit, or how a pop of red can take your night-out look up a notch. No matter the outfit or the situation, a slick of lipstick can be transformative, not only in the style stakes but in your mood and confidence, too.

But with lipstick comes commitment. Just think of the potential problems: chapped lips, bleeding edges, no staying power, marks on your teeth and smudges across your chin. So what's one of the biggest clinchers for ensuring your Cupid's bow stays in check? The formulation, of course. Luckily, Burt’s Bees’ new 100% Natural Lipstick is the antidote to all your lipstick woes.

There are 18 (yes, 18!) shades on offer. From pinks, corals and reds to deeper tones of plum and berry, plus a selection of nudes, you could even go as far as matching your lipstick to your outfit. We're eyeing up Fuchsia Flood, a bubblegum pink, for our summer holidays and blue-toned red, Scarlet Soaked for balmy BBQ evenings. For an everyday neutral, Blush Basin and Suede Splash are our favourites, while Crimson Coast, a deeper red, is the perfect dance floor partner.

The nourishing satin-finish formula lends just the right amount of sheen without compromising on staying power, which makes it perfect for the warmer months when easy beauty is our go-to and a full matte lip can feel too heavy. It’s buildable, too; use your ring finger to pat the lipstick into lips for a hint of colour or, for a more pigmented finish, swipe it on from the bullet or use a lip brush.

Then there's the key ingredients of moringa oil, raspberry seed oil, mimosa flower wax and community-sourced beeswax, which guarantee up to eight hours of moisture, so you can forget about dryness and unsightly patches – lips are left feeling soft and smooth instead.

A lipstick range that moisturises and nourishes without compromising on colour? We’ll take all 18, please.

To find out more about the Burt's Bees 100% Natural Lipstick collection, watch our 'Beauty Surgery' Facebook Live.

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There’s that age-old, frat-boy saying that women, like a fine wine, only get better with age. Cringeworthy, but could it be true?

Take this week at the movies. The three main films of note are Hampstead, a romantic comedy about a homeless Londoner; The Seasons in Quincy, an experimental documentary about a recently deceased art critic; and Souvenir, a little-known French arthouse melodrama set in a paté factory.

Each movie, taken on its own, has received indifferent reviews. But look a little closer and there’s something remarkable at play here.

The stars of each are America’s Diane Keaton, aged 71; Scottish actress Tilda Swinton, who also directs, aged 56; and France's Isabelle Huppert, aged 64.

There’s a truism in performing circles. For men, age makes it easier. For women, age is the enemy. As Cate Blanchett, 48, said recently: “Actress years are like dog years.”

Sexism in cinema doesn’t need evidence – it’s obvious. Even before the creation of the Bechdel test, which analyses whether a fiction film contains at least two female characters who speak about something that isn’t a man, the film industry weathered a torrent of criticism for its treatment of women.

There are signs the industry has started to respond. The number of female characters in films has begun to increase and, in Hollywood productions last year, a little over one-third of speaking parts were played by women. Which is great, until you consider the fact that the average actress reaches their earning peak at the age of 30, while male actors see their careers peak at the age of 46, according to a TIME analysis of the careers of over 6,000 actors and actresses who have played the lead role in at least one feature film.

Then there’s the study from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, which looked at 1,256 speaking parts in 25 movies that received Best Picture Oscar nominations from 2014 to 2016. It found that only 148 – or 12% – of the characters from these films were more than 60 years of age. Of those 148 characters, only 22% were women. That's 3.5 men for every woman in what is already a minuscule category.

It’s almost as if the film industry has bought into the bullshit about the biological clock and come to the conclusion that, if you’re not of perfect childbearing age, you can’t act.

As Zoe Saldana said in an interview with The Telegraph: "By the time you’re 28 you’re expired, you’re playing mummy roles."

Maggie Gyllenhaal has also revealed she was turned down for a role opposite a 55-year-old actor because, at 37, she was considered by casting directors to be “too old” to play his partner.

Yet men can carry on being the romantic lead until they pick up their pension. As Vulture noted recently, Hollywood routinely pairs young actresses with much older male leads (but never the other way round).

There are, of course, notable and celebrated exceptions. “Meryl Streep is so brilliant in August: Osage County,” Tina Fey said when opening the Golden Globes in 2014, “proving that there are still great parts in Hollywood for Meryl Streeps over 60.”

Streep has ruled the roost of older actresses for a long time. But what of the other women who are leading the way on our cinema screens this week?

The daughter of a Catholic schoolteacher who encouraged her daughter to act, and a Jewish manufacturer of safes, forced to conceal his background during the Nazi occupation, the 5ft 3in, pale, tightly wound Isabelle Huppert is the physical embodiment of French arthouse cinema, and Parisian culture in general. Forty-six years into an acting career, Souvenir is one of six films Huppert has slated for release in 2017. Among them is Elle, the controversial rape-revenge dramedy, and Happy End, her fourth collaboration with Michael Haneke, shot in the Calais 'Jungle' before it was bulldozed.

In Souvenir, Huppert plays bored and lonely factory worker Liliane, once a contestant in the European Song Contest. It’s about as shallow and fluffy a movie as Huppert has leant her name to, yet the film is still notable for the way her character can embark on a romance with a 21-year-old without it feeling the slightest bit out of sorts.

But her early career did not immediately mark her out as an acting prodigy. True, she won a BAFTA at the age of 24 for Claude Goretta's La Dentellière. But it wasn’t until her American film debut, in Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, an overlooked masterpiece, that Huppert started to gain genuine attention. By that point, she was in her late 20s. As she moved into her 30s, she started to become the actress we know today, working with Jean-Luc Godard, Andrzej Wajda and Claude Chabrol.

The Australian film critic Julie Rigg tells Refinery29 about the experience of interviewing Huppert in Venice for the release of White Material, the film she made with Claire Denis. “I asked Huppert some banal question about how she managed to achieve all that she does,” Rigg says. “She looked down at my feet, which were red and swollen in new sandals I’d bought for the Venice summer. ‘Comfortable shoes’ she said, and laughed.”

Diane Keaton’s career has lasted even longer. She made her debut in 1970, at the age of 24. Her third film, at 26, was The Godfather. At 28 came The Godfather II, and then, at 31, Annie Hall. Look at her early work: few actresses in cinema can point to such considered credits. She has continued to make a movie every year ever since.

As for Swinton, she didn’t start seriously performing until well into her degree in social and political sciences at Cambridge University. She spent her 20s on small parts in small movies, coming to some prominence through her relationship with the cult arthouse director Derek Jarman, with whom she first worked on Caravaggio at age 26. It wasn’t until Danny Boyle’s The Beach, in 2000, that Swinton started to garner mainstream attention. By that time, she had turned 40.

Hannah McGill, the film critic and former artistic director of the Edinburgh Film Festival, tells Refinery29 that the suggestion it’s all over for female actresses at 30 is overplayed – and risks becoming another way of imposing self-doubt on women.

"It's certainly true that Hollywood and the wider mainstream film business have a depressing tendency to cleave to convention by placing women in more passive roles, and having a lot of use for female eye candy,” McGill says. “But there's also a long tradition of female actors consolidating their power and doing their best work in their 30s and 40s, and carrying on long beyond that.

"Think of Mae West, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball, Barbra Streisand – these were women who retained business clout, high glamour and megastardom far beyond the supposed female sell-by date."

McGill suggests we try and look at ageism the other way around, by worrying more about the dearth of substantial, non-objectifying roles for young women, rather than constantly claiming that it's all over at 30.

"The more young women get to cut their teeth on actual parts as complex human beings, rather than set-dressing, the more savvy and experienced actresses – rather than exploited-and-dumped flash-in-the-pan It Girls – will develop, and the more movies will be built around them as their working lives go on," she says.

"Nor should we confuse ‘still really young’ with ‘better off in every way’. In the movie business, as in life, being fresh-faced and in high sexual demand does not equal having power or control. The idea that there are twenty-somethings running around controlling Hollywood and getting first pick of all the best projects is bogus – but it's one that will only shift by women and men alike rejecting it.

"Why do we seem intent on minimising the achievements of older women, and hand-wringing on their behalf, rather than recognising that their success actually makes perfect sense?"

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An uplifting force on the London Fashion Week schedule since 2005, Ashish's sequin-strewn shows are undoubtedly one of the most eagerly awaited each season. In February, for AW17, the collection was a colourful, optimistic extravaganza celebrating love, diversity and unity, and today Ashish has unveiled a preview of his latest offering: a playful, equally colourful collaboration with high street store, River Island.

The gender-neutral 15-piece collection offers a tongue-in-cheek take on loungewear, outerwear and dresses. Fridge-magnet alphabet sweaters and embroidered pyjamas feature comic slogans including “sick of all this chic” and “good in bed”, while XXL sleeping bag puffa jackets and Ashish’s signature glamour, in the form of sparkly slip dresses, complete this unconventional but highly covetable range. Describing the line as "something lazy and a bit dreamy," Ashish wanted to inject a sense of humour yet provide an easy-wear concept, adding "something relaxed enough to slouch around the house in, yet stylish enough to be taken out."

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Following the lead of brands such as Katie Eary, Eudon Choi and Sibling, who have previously designed capsule collections for the high street retailer, Ashish's River Island Design Forum line will launch via a short film, screened during London Fashion Week Festival this September. The collection will then go on sale exclusively on River Island's website, with prices ranging from £30 to £180. "I think it’s great to be able to bring a fashion point of view to a wider audience by being able to design and produce it for a more accessible price" Ashish explained. And judging by the popularity of Ashish's sell-out Topshop collections (who remembers those must-have LED platforms?!), this new range for River Island will be an instant success. Roll on September when we can not only get our hands on everything from this collab but see Ashish's next genius offering from his own brand for SS18, too.

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I'll be the first to admit that ever since the music video came out, I can't walk down the street while listening to HAIM's "Want You Back" without pretending I'm in one of my own. With three new singles already dropped and a full album on the way, this is truly the summer of HAIM — and now, they're getting a documentary.

Available on Apple Music July 14 — one week after the release of Something To Tell You — Behind The Album takes a deep dive into the past two years of songwriting through the lens of the band's secret London performance back in May.

"When we write songs, it's very much a democracy and we all contribute to it," they explain in the trailer, which shows the three sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana, alternately practicing in a recording studio and strutting through London in some truly incredible outfits. "We've spent the last two and a half years working every day on these songs."

"This is one of the first times we have people waiting to see us play new songs," they continue over footage of the L.A.-based siblings taking the stage in London. Why London? It's kind of where it all began.

"London is a very special place for us," Alana explains.

"People have such an open mind here about new music, and a thirst for new music, I kind of can't imagine doing it anywhere else," Danielle adds.

While we may not all be in London, at least now we'll be able to experience the magic as if we were. And if you want to hear the sisters premiere some of the tracks from their London show, they'll be calling into Beats 1 9am PST/ 12pm EST to do just that. Until then, get psyched for the full release, and watch the documentary trailer below.

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Update: Tennis legend John McEnroe has declined to apologise for his controversial remarks to NPR regarding Serena Williams' abilities as a tennis player. When asked by CBS This Morning co-host Nora O'Donnell earlier today whether he'd like to apologise, McEnroe simply said, "No."

He bolstered his opinion by saying, "I respect Serena very much...she’s the greatest player, female player, that’s ever lived."

Emphasis on female.

In an interview this week with NPR, tennis legend John McEnroe shared several soundbites worthy of being picked over. For starters, he dished about how the iconic Andy Warhol screwed up his sex life, and how his wife, singer Patty Smyth, once put him in his place after he assumed he could be a guitarist in her band. Though the most controversial bit of his interview came when he commented about fellow living tennis legend, Serena Williams.

When the interviewer asked his thoughts about whether Williams was the best “tennis player” in the world, McEnroe felt Williams’ performance was the best of the women. “If she played the men's circuit she'd be like 700 in the world,” he said about Williams.

He continued, explaining to NPR that he felt Williams was an “incredible player” and how, “[O]n a given day, Serena could beat some players. I believe because she's so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke 'cause she's been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit — the men's circuit — that would be an entirely different story."

Today, Williams responded, "Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based. I've never played anyone ranked 'there' nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby. Good day sir," she tweeted.

Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017

I've never played anyone ranked "there" nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby. Good day sir

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017

Whatever your thoughts on both tennis and the division of men and women in sport, you have to admit the comment, "700th place" is, well, shady considering Williams' many accomplishments. Not to mention, this is also coming from an individual who thought he could retire and just pick up a guitar and join his wife's band.

Williams' response was concise to say the least. Well played, Serena. Considering that Williams is currently in her third trimester of pregnancy and busy making moves in Silicon Valley, it's not hard to see why she responded with such brevity.

Though it does make you ask, perhaps it's time to have men and women on the same court?

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Like many roads, in Haiti the path to Borgne, a town on the northern coast of the island, is a long, hot, and uneven one. In favourable weather, a sturdy Toyota 4X4 could make the westerly trip to Borgne from Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second-largest city, in two body-rocking hours. Deft motorbike taxis, technicolor “tap-tap” pick-ups, and massive trucks transporting construction materials stir up enough dust on dry days to make a bandana surgical mask a valuable accessory on what will still be a doable ride. On rainy days, however, the pockmarked routes fill up with water and run, leaving travellers to wade through waist-deep byways at their own risk or stay put until any floods have passed.

When V. Simeon recently journeyed north, she didn’t have to contend with the harshest elements, but she did have to worry about how to safely transport the ill child strapped to her body from southern Haiti up to Borgne’s specialised hospital for pregnant and nursing mothers and their children in the Nord department. The trip took a toll on both of them.

Simeon’s 3-year-old son Narkendor Dorval is one of 22% of children in Haiti who suffers from chronic malnutrition. Eleven percent of children are considered underweight, and 65% of children under five years old (and 49% of women of reproductive age) have anemia. These are lifelong problems that contribute to Haiti having the highest child and maternal mortality rates in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Narkendor was born in fair health, Simeon says. He appeared jaundiced at first and always had some difficulty moving around since one of his legs is longer than the other, but she saw no obvious signs of the turn he would take by eight months old. Despite starting to crawl as he got older, Narkendor’s health began to backpedal along with his mother’s.

Until recently, Simeon split her time between Port-au-Prince and Léogâne, a coastal city roughly 25 miles from the capital that was at the epicentre of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck southern Haiti in 2010. An estimated 80% to 90% of the buildings in Léogâne were destroyed, leaving one-fourth of the local population dead or missing and crushing many opportunities for people to work or support themselves.

Simeon later moved to Port-au-Prince, where her parents lived. They helped take care of Narkendor when she went out for work, and after she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and unable to do much else. When she felt well enough to travel herself, Simeon tucked her son into an infant carrier and paid a mototaxi driver 150 gourdes (50 extra for a smoother ride) to drive them to Borgne. They left at 5 a.m. on a Monday morning, with Narkendor sore, small, and unable to walk any of the distance, as many people who go to the clinic do. The pair arrived by 10 a.m. and were seen almost immediately by the Ministry of Health nurses, who were already shorthanded.

“Both of us are receiving treatment because I haven’t finished mine yet,” Simeon said through a translator.* “When I first arrived, I was very sick, like many other people. Some of them lost their lives but I’m still here and, aside from God, if it weren’t this group of nurses, I would have lost my life as well. Even my parents were completely discouraged, but the nurses here are intelligent and efficient, and it’s thank to them that life is continuing for me.”

Nonetheless, Simeon is realistic about her situation, even if she is increasingly optimistic. Her father died recently, making money even tighter in her family. Focusing on her and Narkendor’s health takes a toll on her ability to earn an income while she waits for him to completely recover. Simeon’s story echoes that of the other two-to-three dozen women also waiting at the clinic. The perfect storm of manmade and natural disasters has exacerbated all of their problems.

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed more than 220,000 people, left about 300,000 injured, and displaced 1.5 million others — roughly 15% of the country’s entire population. Later that year, thousands of people’s health conditions worsened when one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern history emerged in Haiti as a result of improper sewage disposal by UN peacekeepers stationed on the island as part of the rescue efforts. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admitted wrongdoing and accepted fault for the epidemic for the first time last December amidst calls that the organisation compensate Haiti for the impact of the devastation, but the damage was done. Since the 2010 outbreak, 807,273 suspected cases of cholera have been reported, and more than 9,500 people have died.

Six years later, while a mix of national government institutions, private enterprises, and international organisations continued to rebuild the country, southern Haiti was struck again by Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm that left an additional 175,000 people homeless. 70 to 90% of the livestock and crops in affected areas were destroyed. It is a loss that may be extended for another decade, and will be felt much sooner than that.

The price for food and produce in local markets has skyrocketed in recent years. Nearly 75% of Haitians live on $2 USD per day (about 63 gourdes), however, the majority of marketplace prices are unregulated by the government, leaving vendors to sell the foods people need most at the cut-rate prices they choose. Meanwhile, a vast number of Haitian business owners earn their revenue in dollars, but pay their employees a less-than-liveable wage in gourdes, further compounding inequality across the country.

After the earthquake, UNICEF Haiti implemented two consecutive programs to help stabilise the country, focusing on emergency relief, recovery, and development. In 2014, UNICEF USA launched the Kid Power program, which links global initiatives that combat malnutrition with domestic work that centres on children’s health. For example, research has shown that only one-third of children in the United States are physically active each day, which can lead to a number of juvenile, and eventually adult, health problems. With the Kid Power program, participants buy Fitbit-like bands online or at Target that serve as a watch and a pedometer. (They can also download the Kid Power app for free and link it to the pedometer on their iOS or Android phone.) The more active users are throughout the day, the more points they rack up in the Kid Power app, unlocking funding from friends, parents, partners, and other donors. Some of the program's participants include students in traditionally underserved areas like like P.S. 5 Ellen Lurie School in Inwood, New York.

"Parents love that their kids want to walk more and go to the park more," says Kristen Sabatini, a fourth-grade teacher who applied for and received a grant to bring Kid Power to her students at P.S. 5 as they learn about Uganda. "We are a Title 1 school in an underserved community, but things like respect and being helpful are all free, and are things that that kids universally can do."

UNICEF’s current programs in Haiti will run through 2021 and focus on issues such as health (vaccination, immunisation, paediatric and postnatal care), child protection (decreasing children’s exposure to violence and abuse, neglect, and abandonment), education (improving enrolment, sanitisation, safe access to water), and nutrition. The latter is an area that could have a tremendous impact on children like Narkendor, but that UNICEF says is drastically underfunded. That is especially true given the massive impact that malnutrition can have on populations for generations.

"The consequences of insufficient nourishment continue into adulthood and are passed on to the next generation as undernourished girls and women have children of their own."

In 2008, medical journal The Lancet issued a series of reports on maternal and child undernutrition, which indicated that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life (and the first 1,000 days of motherhood) play a crucial role for individuals and whole communities.

“By the time children reach their second birthday, if undernourished, they could suffer irreversible physical and cognitive damage, impacting their future health, economic well-being, and welfare,” the researchers wrote. “The consequences of insufficient nourishment continue into adulthood and are passed on to the next generation as undernourished girls and women have children of their own.”

If left unchecked, undernutrition in pregnant women can result in low birth weight postpartum, stunting, chronic restriction of growth height, micronutrient deficiencies, and more. Many of these are issues from which Narkendor suffers.

The researchers explained that rapid weight gain after ages 2 and 3 could lead to a spate of chronic illnesses and result in permanent cognitive impairment. “Children who are stunted or born with IUGR are also shown to complete fewer years of schooling and earn less income as adults, hindering their cognitive growth and economic potential,” the researchers continued. “Lower income, poor health, and reduced access to proper nutrition then continue to impact the health of children born into the next generation, establishing a repetitive cycle.”

And if children don’t build the cognitive foundations necessary to learn, retain information, think critically and creatively, or even simply concentrate — no number of donations of textbooks will make the difference necessary to help young people develop into self-sustaining and self-advocating adults. It’s one of the reasons so many researchers continue to look into the impact of school lunches and performance. It is also a reason that other researchers have started to consider the impact that ingesting poisoned water can have on children’s families even two generations from now.

In Haiti, there are various plans of action in the works. From June 2011 to April 2013, a Haitian NGO called FONDEFH and UNICEF worked together in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Population (Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population, or MSPP) to establish triage-based systems across the country to handle cases of moderate malnutrition through severe acute malnutrition.

Their reach previously extended to areas in the north and remote locations where resources were more limited, to help people like V. Simeon and Narkendor. One level focused on children with cases of moderate malnutrition to prevent them from worsening. The children were evaluated by height and weight, and then given a variety of supplements and medicines, chiefly iron, vitamin A, and Albendazole for parasites. A second component involved ambulatory patients making regular visits to clinics every eight days for four to six weeks. The third focused on treating cases of acute malnutrition that required hospitalisation and regular doses therapeutic medicine and supplements until patients were healthy enough to be discharged.

The nurses instruct all of the women on proper breastfeeding methods, and about the foods that consist of a well-rounded diet. They also give out therapeutic milks supplied by UNICEF, as well as Plumpy’Nut, a peanut butter paste high in calories that is fortified with powdered milk, sugar, oil, vitamins, and minerals. The packets have a shelf-life of about two years and are far less susceptible to contamination than food options that might need to be mixed with unclean water or require intense storage methods. All anyone has to do is knead the sachets until the paste is smooth and pliant, similar to agitating organic peanut butter when the oil separates from the base. Older babies can easily squeeze the Plumpy’Nut up the sachets themselves (think Go-Gurt with the flavour and consistency of a peanut butter cookie dough), or mothers can help them along after tearing the packets open.

On a wider scale, the Plumpy’Nut factory in Cap-Haïtien, which opened in 2012, employs 65 Haitians and works with farmers in an extensive agricultural program to help them produce better, healthier yields. UNICEF buys 80% of the world’s Plumpy’Nut stock and supplies it free of charge to clinics across the world like the one in Borgne so that patients don’t have to worry about the cost.

Additionally, UNICEF uses funds generated from the Kid Power program to distribute more therapeutic packets including Plumpy’Nut (6.4 million through Kid Power to date). The sachets range in price depending on product type, from $49 per box to $80 per box for a full course of treatment. (A full course is considered to be one full box of sachets — 150 — consumed across eight to 12 weeks.)

Unfortunately, funding for the MSPP/FONDEPH program has largely dried up now that UNICEF’s contract has expired. The Haitian government has yet to fill that gap, in terms of financing, personnel, materials, or medicine. Even so, dedicated staffs of nurses and health agents — often unpaid and working on a volunteer basis — continue to try to find women and children in their local communities who need help, resources, and information, and direct them to clinics like the one in Borgne where they can make some progress. Inter-community efforts like that can make a difference in the lives of people like Simeon, who was referred to Borgne herself when a health agent met her and learned about Narkendor.

The majority of the health agents working on the day Simeon and Narkendor arrived were from arrondissements in Côtes-de-Fer, another coastal town near Port-au-Prince. Two agents, Pierre Solis and Lafleur Josean, say that their work has become more difficult over time as funding has diminished. Fewer parents are willing to make the five-hour (or more) journey to Borgne when there is less medication available, and less staff on hand to see them. If they have more than one child, someone would need to be left behind. If they are working, missing out on pay would be another burden. If they bring their children only to find out that treatment will take days or weeks, they might have to leave their child behind under the care of pre-teen or adolescent relative and staff, as was the case with Darling, a 12-year-old girl charged with staying with her severely malnourished baby brother.

Despite the difficulty of their assignments, all of the agents feel passionate about their work and are doing their best to continue it, even under-or-unpaid, on a skeletal organisational budget, and with dwindling numbers of new recruits.

“What keeps us doing this work is that these kids are from our neighbourhoods, and when we see them dying, we accompany them and try help,” Solis said. “Helping them encourages us.”

*All quotes interpreted through translator.

Editor's Note: Refinery29 traveled to Haiti in early June as a media guest of UNICEF USA. The organisation paid for travel and accommodation.

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Close to two-thirds (61%) of all women in the UK have used emergency contraception at some point in their lives – a higher rate than any country in the European Union – yet until now we’ve had to pay up to five times as much for the morning-after pill as our European counterparts.

The pill can cost upwards of £30 in the UK, while in France it can be bought for as little as £6, according to research from the European Consortium for Emergency Contraception. It’s possible to get it for free in the UK from sexual health clinics, some pharmacies and elsewhere, but often it’s easier and – crucially – quicker just to bite the bullet and shell out the ridiculous sum.

But one high street retailer has just made our lives a whole lot easier – and cheaper. Superdrug has launched a generic emergency hormonal contraceptive pill (EHC), which will be available at half the price of the current branded morning-after pills.

At just £13.49, it costs less than half the price of what it could cost at a pharmacy. Sure, it's still more than twice as expensive as it would be in France, but it's no doubt a step in the right direction.

The new, cheaper pill is already available at over 200 Superdrug pharmacies and from Superdrug Online Doctor. It'll also be available on the company's website later this year.

The pill contains levonorgestrel 1.5mg (the same active ingredient found in the branded Levonelle One Step). It can be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or if a usual contraceptive method has failed, but it's recommended to take it as soon after unprotected sex as possible. It works by delaying the ovaries from releasing an egg.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has welcomed the move. Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS, said the organisation was "delighted" by Superdrug's "trailblazing step" and that it looks forward to other major retailers following its lead.

"We know the high cost of emergency contraception can be a major barrier to women accessing it when their regular method fails. Superdrug has illustrated that where appropriate it's perfectly possible to sell this safe and effective medication to women at a significantly more affordable price than is currently on offer."

Furedi continued: "There is frankly now no excuse for others not to do the same. We will keep campaigning on this issue until all retailers do the right thing and offer women a fairly priced product, as Superdrug is doing today."

Michael Henry, Superdrug's healthcare director, said the company is "committed to leading the way in sexual health and offering a generic emergency contraceptive pill at half the price of what’s currently available on the high street."

He added: "Its availability will give women more choice and access to this medication at a time when they are most in need.” Too right. Your move, Boots.

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Earlier in my career, I was working as a marketing manager at a beauty company — a position that I thought would check every box on my “dream job” checklist.

But, as it turns out, I wasn’t great at marketing, I wasn’t fulfilled by working in that industry, and I realised that what I really wanted was to build a career doing the one thing I’d always loved: writing.

There was one problem, though, and it was a big one: All of my previous experience had been building toward my marketing role. Making a major change would mean scrapping everything I had been working for and heading back to square one — not exactly an inspiring thought.

But fast forward a few years later, and I was starting my position as Editor in Chief at The Muse, a website dedicated to helping people find jobs that they love. I had pivoted my career into a role that perfectly matched what I was looking for, and I was able to do so by building on my past experience — not starting from scratch.

So, I’m here to tell you that, if you’re not happy, but you’re daunted by the prospect of making a career 180, I’ve been there. And throughout my own experience, I’ve identified three steps that can help you get closer to your goals.

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When Margaret Cho and Tilda Swinton had a come-to-Jesus moment late last year about the whitewashing of Asian characters in films like Doctor Strange, Swinton boasted about an upcoming project that would show the world that she was on the right side of the diversity fight. According to Jezebel, Swinton gave Cho an exclusive scoop on the project she had been working on for two years with Bong Joon Ho. That project is the upcoming Netflix original film, Okja, which will hit Netflix and selected cinemas tomorrow. The film is about a Korean farm girl who befriends a giant pig and, when a big corporation wants to eat it, she has to fight to be reunited.

On the heels of backlash about Scarlett Johansson’s role in Ghost in the Shell and its very own Iron Fist, Netflix was keenly aware that it was treading on thin ice with this movie. From the trailers, it appears that the streaming site — and Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company, which partnered with them to produce the film — had at least a few of its ducks in a row. First of all, Bong Joon Ho directed, wrote and co-produced the film. Letting people of colour tell the stories of people of colour is always a good idea. They also cast a Korean actress, 13-year-old Ahn Seo-hyun, to play the lead role of Mija.

But the question of whether or not Okja is whitewashed is still valid. Trailers and teasers from the film — including a particularly weird commercial for the Mirando Corporation featuring Swinton — show that there are plenty of white people in the film. But they are portrayed as generally horrible, which is refreshing. Large corporations led by white people, swooping in to wreak havoc on the lives of people of colour sounds about right. So-called liberals who want to help people of colour when it’s in their own self-interest is also spot on.

So yes, for a film about a Korean girl, Okja is pretty white. But in this case, it appears to be for the best. I look forward to seeing the film and hopefully getting an answer to this question: if Okja is supposed to be a giant pig, why does he look like a puppy?

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Lindsay Lohan knows everyone is wondering about what her day-to-day life looks like now that she's been attached to two new television projects, separated from her Russian boyfriend, and briefly lost her grip on the English language. At 30 (nearly 31), the actress seems to be in a great place. So, what's been behind all this good juju? We're finally going to find out — for $2.99 (£2.39) a month.

Yes, Lohan is joining the ranks of the Kardashian-Jenner family, Zendaya, and Jeremy Renner by connecting with fans personally and sharing secret information with her biggest fans, E! News writes. The site is called Preemium, and appears to be a hosting platform for different celebrities and influencers to share personal blog posts, videos, and more.

As of now, Preemium promises that there are four more stars joining Lohan to share their knowledge on fitness, sports, music, and lifestyle. Her monthly cost is also currently the same as the aforementioned Kardashian-Jenners', except she does not appear to have a correlating app (yet).

According to a description on Pret-A-Porter, Lohan's site promises the following: "You will get personal diaries, video updates, exclusive personal photos, breaking news, fashion and beauty tutorials, shopping guides, behind the scenes content and much more." At the moment, Lohan is teasing a few upcoming videos featuring behind-the-scenes footage from a photo shoot (one alone, one with a male model). She also already has a few selfies up because #2017.

But I hope the posts stray from filtered kissy-faces, and go more in to more Goop-esque content. Based on Lohan's latest Instagram posts, that feels like a major possibility. She's been showing off footage of herself cooking scallops (she even references Jamie Oliver), she's been sharing #workoutmotivation, and she's been going on spirited adventures.

Cooking on a #boat In @alexanderwangny 😎😍

A post shared by Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) on May 19, 2017 at 9:16am PDT

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While we're busy waiting ever so patiently for Stranger Things season 2 to drop, Netflix has announced another TV show that's got us excited. Likely based on the success of the previous cult hit's '80s vibe, the new show, called Everything Sucks!, is set firmly in the '90s. 1996, to be exact, and it stars another cast of adorable child actors.

Everything Sucks!, created by writer Ben York Jones ( Like Crazy) and Michael Mohan ( Save The Date), will consist of ten half-hour episodes about an A/V club and a drama club in Oregon that meet head-on, and a likely touching and quirky coming-of-age story ensues.

"Some of our favourite shows of all time — The Wonder Years, Happy Days, That 70s Show, Freaks and Geeks — looked back at bygone eras with 20 years of hindsight," Jones and Mohan said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "We think this is a great time to take a look back at high school and relive the fashion, music, and attitudes of the mid-’90’s the way we remember it. Not sensationalised, not watered down; but desperate, heartfelt, awkward, and exciting."

The cast includes young actors Peyton Kennedy ( American Fable), Jahi Winston ( The New Edition Story), Sydney Sweeney ( Sharp Objects), Elijah Stevenson ( Captain Fantastic), Rio Mangini ( Teen Wolf) and Quinn Liebling. Patch Darragh ( Sully) and Claudine Nako ( Grimm) also star as parents on the new series.

The show isn't slated to hit the streaming service until 2018, so we'll get all the '80s nostalgia of Stranger Things out of our system before we swap out our neon leggings for patterned scrunchies. Luckily, Eggo waffles are timeless.

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Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, there's no shortage of benefits to the experience of travelling solo. It allows you to create your own itinerary, operate on your own schedule (when you're a night owl travelling with a morning person, the struggle is real), meet new people, and gain a sense of independence and self-sufficiency.

We'd recommend going on at least one solo trip in your lifetime, but if you're already a major fan of travelling alone, chances are you're always on the lookout for new places to visit. Airbnb has released a list of the top 10 cities for solo travel and one look at the photos has us clamouring to hop on the next plane to one (0r 10) of these destinations.

Data from the popular home rental site shows that solo bookings are rapidly rising in a number of cities and the winner is (*drum roll please*) Cancún, Mexico.

Despite its reputation, Cancún is far more than a destination for spring breakers. The coastal city has seen a whopping 170% increase in solo bookings over the past year, and travellers should definitely check out tourist-free markets like Mercado 23 and Pewter Mexicano. There's also Museo Subacuático de Arte, an underwater art gallery that has seriously piqued our interest.

Grabbing the number two spot is Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, followed by Cologne, Germany; Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Johannesburg, South Africa; São Paulo, Brazil; Auckland, New Zealand; Mexico City, Mexico; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Busan, South Korea.

Solo travel enthusiasts, it's time to update your bucket lists.

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Donald Trump, the man who decries "fake news" every chance he gets, literally has fake Time magazine covers celebrating himself adorning the walls of at least five of his golf clubs, according to a damning report by The Washington Post.

A Time Magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake. https://t.co/GbabQP5hXQ pic.twitter.com/EFTEcyasRE

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 27, 2017

In The Washington Post's tweet from this morning, the outlet cleverly pointed out some of the fake cover's style mistakes, including the thinner border, the placement of the secondary headlines, and the incorrect date in the upper-right corner (there was, in fact, no Time edition released on March 1, 2009, as the phony copy suggests).

For those who need a quick reminder, the president has been aggressively tweeting about fake news since even before he took office, letting out his latest tirade this morning.

So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017

Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017

So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017

The president even retweeted a photo someone posted mocking CNN' s logo.

pic.twitter.com/6sDcyiW4Kt

— Jeff Tutorials (@JeffTutorials) June 26, 2017

The childish rant was in reference to CNN's firing of three employees after they retracted an article regarding the Trump administration's ties to a Russian investment fund. Instead of interpreting the firings as the network's way of taking responsibility for its errors, Trump persecuted the entire organisation while also lumping in NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post for good measure.

It's a welcomed coincidence that on the exact same day as said rant, The Washington Post's David A. Fahrenthold slammed Trump for his ridiculous attempt at self-praise and got the internet to erupt into a cacophony of cries asking "who posts fake news now, sucker?"

To make things even better, Time later responded to The Washington Post confirming that they never published exclamation-laden cover. A spokesperson also told the paper that the magazine had also contacted the Trump Organisation and asked for the removal of the photoshopped glossies from Trump Golf clubs.

Though the embarrassing revelation isn't likely to deter the president or his administration from blasting the wicked mainstream media, we fully support everyone taking a moment to savour just how good the delicious irony tastes.

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Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period – and we're tracking every last penny.

This week we're with a 27-year-old who works in banking in London. She earns well but says she has now sort of lost the ability not to waste money, as she doesn't see the consequences of running out. She is hoping that keeping this record will shame her as she thinks she should be saving much more than she currently is...

Industry: Finance/ Banking
Age: 27
Location: London
Salary: £75k
Paycheque amount per month: Varies by month (depends on bonus), but usually £3.6k (I think?!)
Number of housemates: 3

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: £720
Loan payments: £0 – paid off my student loan last month!
Utilities: Around £110 – including £25 a month for a weekly cleaner for the communal bits of the house.
Transportation: Usually I buy a monthly zone 1-2 travelcard for £130, but this month I’m doing without.
Phone bill: £45
Health insurance: £0
Savings? I have set payments into a help-to-buy and a savings ISA each month where the maximum I can put in is £700. The idea is then to transfer anything else remaining at the end of the month into another savings account but due to lots of upfront costs for holidays, festivals, hen parties, etc earlier this year (plus an ability to leak money constantly!), I haven’t done this for a while.
Other: Insurance £6 monthly, Gym membership (with a hefty corporate discount through my company) £50, Times subscription + other magazine subscriptions – around £40 month, discounted ClassPass subscription £19.

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