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Woman's Hour

Helen Fitzgerald, Abortion Clinic Harassment, Nuns and Juliet Stevenson on Acting Your Age

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2022

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Helen Fitzgerald grew up in rural Australia as one of 13 siblings. Her new novel Keep Her Sweet looks at what happens when 'normal' sibling rivalry turns into something else. She joins Krupa to explain why she's so fascinated by the dark corners of family life. When was the last time you saw a nun? It feels like a very old-fashioned vocation – and there are less and less in the public eye now. But some nuns in the US are turning to Tik Tok to bring religion into the 21st century through social media. The Daughters of St Paul are known as the ‘media nuns’ on Tik Tok, they do skits and dances, and have millions of followers worldwide. Then Sister Monica Clare from the Community of St John the Baptist went viral because she was on Tik Tok and everyone wanted to know her skin routine…now she answers people’s questions about being a nun. And, of course, we’ve got everyone’s favourite - less PC nun – Sister Michael from Derry Girls, played by Siobhan McSweeney. Women attending abortion clinics in the UK can face “regular harassment” according to a report from BBC Newsnight. Anti-abortion groups who gather outside services say they’re holding “prayer vigils” and offering help but some patients say they have been so distressed they’ve had panic attacks or even felt suicidal. Now charities are calling for protected areas outside all services which activists cannot legally enter. More than 100,000 women in the UK attended abortion services targeted by activists in 2019, according to latest data from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which is a leading provider of abortions. Anna Collinson is the Newsnight Correspondent who compiled the report. It’s four years since journalist and actor Nicky Clark founded the Acting Your Age Campaign. Incensed by the lack of middle-aged women on stage, television and in film, and rarely seeing stories of women like herself portrayed, she has attracted a lot of support from women such as Meera Syal, Tracy-Ann Obermann and MP Jess Phillips. Actor and fellow-supporter, Juliet Stevenson joins Nicky and presenter Krupa Padhy to explain why it appears male actors on screen ‘have a whole life and women have a shelf life’ and why this campaign is necessary.

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

0:05.1

Hello, this is Krupa Party and you're listening to the Women's Hour Podcast.

0:09.8

Hello, welcome to the programme.

0:12.0

Four years since the UK's first abortion clinic buffer zone was set up, only two more

0:17.2

have followed.

0:18.2

The BBC has found women attending services at clinics can face regular harassment.

0:24.4

We're going to get more on that with my colleague from BBC Newsnight, who carried out that

0:29.7

investigation.

0:30.7

We're also going to talk about sibling rivalry with the author Helen Fitzgerald.

0:36.6

Her new novel Keep Her Sweet explores the relationship between two sisters and what happens

0:42.4

when sibling rivalry turns dangerous.

0:45.8

We want to hear from you on this.

0:47.6

How have you managed conflict in your relationship with your brother or sister as a child or

0:53.1

indeed as an adult?

0:54.9

Did it ever become toxic and how did you manage it?

0:59.0

You can text us on Women's Hour on 84844.

1:02.6

We are of course over on social media, on the handle at BBC Women's Hour on Instagram

1:08.0

and on Twitter and you can email us through our website.

1:11.6

I'm also going to introduce you to an American nun who is also a TikTok star.

1:16.9

In her own words, Sister Monica says, we're not all grim old ladies reading the Bible,

1:22.0

there's joy and laughter.

1:23.6

The women in my community are very intelligent, very feisty, they know what they want.

...

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