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Woman's Hour

Preventing online abuse, Rage rooms, Puberty and sport, Actor Olivia Williams on AI

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What should tech companies be doing to prevent online abuse of women and girls? Ofcom's Chief Executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss their new guidance. It's urging tech firms to go much further to prevent the harm caused by misogynistic pile-ons, online stalking and intimate image abuse. They've also teamed up with Sport England to highlight the toll such abuse is taking on women in sport.

Have you heard of rage rooms? Or even visited one? Turns out demand for them is surging, and 90% of the UK customers are women. Believed to have started in Japan in the early 2000s, rage rooms are places where people can smash up items such as electronics, white goods and crockery. Nuala is joined by Jennifer Cox, psychotherapist and author of Women are Angry: Why Your Rage is Hiding and How To Let It Out, and culture journalist Isobel Lewis who has visited a rage retreat.

Isabelle Kyson, 17, is a national-level sprint hurdler and passionate advocate for girls in sport. Today, she releases her documentary, Out of the Race, on YouTube which explores why so many girls drop out of sport during puberty. Research shows that more than two-thirds of teenage girls quit sport by the age of 16 or 17—a trend Issey has been campaigning to change for some time, including lobbying government for action. She has also launched a new toolkit for schools, developed in partnership with the Association for Physical Education. Issey joins Nuala along with Kate Thornton-Bousfield, Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Physical Education.

We discuss acting and AI as the actor Olivia Williams discusses why she wants actors to have more control over the data that is obtained from scans of their body. Many actors contracts now include a clause granting producers ownership of an actor’s ‘likeness’ across all platforms, forever. This can cover photos, drawings, figurines, and the full body scans captured with advanced technology. In a recent article in The Guardian, Olivia suggested that something similar to a 'nudity clause' should be added to contracts. She joins Nuala along with consultant solicitor, Kelsey Farish, who advises actors and performers on AI clauses.

Presented by: Nuala McGovern Produced by: Sarah Jane Griffiths

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:07.0

Hello, I'm Emma Barnett. For most of my career, I've been on live radio, and I love it.

0:13.3

But I've always wondered, what if we'd had more time? How much deeper does the story go?

0:19.2

I remember having this very sharp thought that what you do right now, this is it.

0:24.3

This defines your life.

0:26.0

I'm ready to talk and ready to listen.

0:28.3

I'm insulted by how little the medical community is ever bothered with this.

0:33.9

Ready to talk with me, Emma Barnard, is my new podcast.

0:37.0

Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, this is

0:39.6

Newell O'Garvran and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast. Hello and welcome to the programme.

0:45.4

Well, today the CEO of Ofcom Dame Melanie Dawes is in studio, as you will have just heard in the

0:50.8

bulletin. The UK regulator. Offcom is issuing new guidance, urging technology

0:55.8

firms to address significant and widespread online abuse targeting women. So we'll get into that

1:01.5

in just a moment. Also, where did all the girls go? Well, that's what the junior athlete, Issy Kaysen,

1:07.7

wanted to know, as they faded away from her sports teams.

1:11.4

Issy now wants more awareness about puberty.

1:14.2

She thinks better understanding of the bodily changes that it brings will help girls stay in the game.

1:20.9

And have you heard about rage rooms, places you can go and break stuff and let off steam?

1:27.4

Well, demand is surging, apparently, according to news reports this week.

1:31.2

And 90% of the customers are women.

1:34.3

We're going to talk about why that might be.

1:36.0

And I'd also like to know, how do you express your rage if you feel that you can?

...

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