Long before Sally Rooney's Normal People hit shelves, booksellers were preparing for a tidal wave. It had already made huge waves in the UK when it was released last summer, and its arrival in America this April was expected to make just as much of an impact. McNally Jackson, an independent bookstore in New York City, normally orders 30 copies of a book when its author is coming to speak. Ahead of the store's Wednesday night event with Rooney, they've ordered 300.

In fact, almost every bookstore Refinery29 spoke to, based all over the U.S., was seeing unprecedented interest in the novel. But while its popularity may sound similar to other buzzy novels that gained rapid success thanks to platforms such as Instagram (a notable recent example being Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter in 2016), Rooney — and her millennial characters — would be uncomfortable to hear her books were getting Instagrammed with oat milk lattes next to tubes of Glossier Balm Dotcom.

Rooney has blown up this past year after her first book, Conversations With Friends, won the Sunday Times Fiction Prize in 2017 and was praised by everyone from acclaimed author Zadie Smith to actress Sarah Jessica Parker. In both Conversations and Normal People (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize), Rooney deftly intertwines philosophy and Marxist theory with college party scenes and illicit emails, perhaps for the first time fully capturing the nuances and scope of the conversations and behaviour of young people. It doesn't hurt that the stories are packaged in irresistibly Instagrammable covers, the combination of all this launching her reputation from her work's more muted beginnings as a popular 2015 essay in The Dublin Review to an emphatic recommendation on Emily Ratajkowski's Instagram Story in a matter of years.

After much anticipation, Normal People finally hit US shelves Tuesday morning, 16th April. From the whimsical Books Are Magic in Brooklyn (owned by novelist Emma Straub) to the bright and welcoming Dog-Eared Books in San Francisco, booksellers told Refinery29 that patrons have been asking every day about the sophomore novel in eager anticipation of its arrival. When they host their event, McNally Jackson is expecting to fill up their downstairs event space, which has a capacity of around 175 people, and seat overflow in their cafe in front of a livestream. Books Are Magic, who is holding their event with the author tonight, had to move the event to an entirely different venue in order to accommodate the over 250 people they expect to attend.

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Heads up! 🚨 Our event with Sally Rooney in conversation w/@emmastraub on April 16 is now being held at First Unitarian Congregational Society (119 Pierrepont St) at 7:30pm! The response has been so amazing and we want to accommodate as many people as possible, so we’re moving it a few blocks north to a much bigger space. 🔹💚🔹 This event is still free! No RSVP, tickets, or purchase necessary and books will be available to purchase at the event. She will also still be signing after. Hope to see you all there!

A post shared by Books Are Magic (@booksaremagicbk) on Apr 2, 2019 at 2:03pm PDT

Unabridged Bookstore in Chicago says they received several pre-orders for the book, and have sold 13 copies already which is "pretty extraordinary for a brand new release," the seller on the phone told me. BookPeople in Austin is also seeing increased interest, telling Refinery29 that of their 20 copies, six have been pre-ordered or put on hold — which, for independent bookstores in 2019, is unfortunately still impressive.

At the same time, Books Are Magic says Rooney's first novel "has been number one our best seller [list] this week, and it’s been on the list consistently the last couple months." As those who were already fans of Rooney's clamour for the first copies of Normal People, the rest of the public is catching up on Conversations With Friends with equal gusto.

Last week, Ratajkowski Instagrammed and tweeted about Conversations With Friends, saying it was Lena Dunham who introduced her to the novel.

"Read this in one sitting," she wrote on Instagram. "Go get!"

Sally Rooney. pic.twitter.com/bOhH9vi2s6

— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) April 9, 2019

Then, just today, Camila Morrone, actress, model — and reported girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio — posted a photo of the novel to her Instagram story.

"I am finally reading this but need more book recommendations!!!"

Like Sweetbitter before it, a Sally Rooney book has become the perfect Instagram cool-girl symbol. Additionally, Normal People is taking over the feeds of actual normal people:

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This deserves a good review so here we go: 5/5 ⭐️ “No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not.” NORMAL PEOPLE by Sally Rooney is a coming of age love story about two individuals whose lives entwine with each other in the course of several years. It stretches from their high school days to their college years and there we see how they evolved and messed up in their lives around other people and whenever they’re together. This is the most GENUINE LOVE STORY I have read in my life. I did relate to these characters a lot and I saw myself in them, especially Marianne, when she struggled with her identity. People mess up, we miss opportunities by choice or by circumstances, we’re stupid, flawed human beings but we also stand up and fight for what we love. We love to be loved and we love to be perceived as someone who’s likable, outgoing and intelligent but we also like to be our real selves, so why bother being liked, right? This books explored the complexity of relationships with ourselves and with other people, dysfunctional family dynamics, mental health issues, gender roles, literature as an escape from reality which begs to answer the question, what is our real purpose in the world? Why do we struggle? Why do we make bad choices? Why not just surrender and let go? Or why not try hard enough for people we love? I don’t even know, guys. All I know is that I read this book at the right place in the right time. I agree that this book ended abruptly but isn’t that how life works all the time? One day, you’re content with what you have and you’re happy but the next day, you’re reeling for something more important and interesting and you move on. This book overwhelmed me to perfectly honest. It’s so fucking good, straight to the point and endearing. Made me want to tear my hair out. READ IT and fangirl with me. Thank you so much, @hogarthbooks , for sharing this story with me and the whole world. ITS OUT 4/16! Buy the book, support Sally Rooney because she deserves it.

A post shared by Bethany (@endpages) on Apr 12, 2019 at 7:04pm PDT

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Happy Normal People day!!! This is the book of the year as far as I’m concerned, the best novel I’ve read since I don’t even know when. Sally Rooney is a true genius of the tiny nuances of human interaction, but I’ve also been describing the reading experience to people by saying: I felt like I would blow up my entire life depending on the ending. That’s how invested I was. My life is still intact but my reading life is not, because there’s nothing else like this. Even if you didn’t like Conversations with Friends (I liked but didn’t love), GO BUY IT IMMEDIATELY. 📖 I underlined half the book but here’s one: “Sometimes when Marianne mentions a film she has recently watched, he waves his hand and says: It fails for me. This quality of discernment, she has realised, does not make him a good person. He has managed to nurture a fine artistic sensitivity without ever developing any real sense of right and wrong. The fact that this is even possible unsettled Marianne, and makes art seem pointless suddenly.” • 📷 by the one and only @tinytashhxo • #normalpeople #conversationswithfriends #sallyrooney

A post shared by Kelsey Manning (@kelseymmanning) on Apr 16, 2019 at 5:53am PDT

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#bookstagrammademedoit I picked up Normal People by Sally Rooney because bookstagram told me it was great so I hope everyone is right! I knew this account would be expensive 😂 I also got Seven Husbands because I’m determined to read every Taylor Jenkins Reid book and I’d heard a lot of mixed reviews on it when it first came out but recently it’s been all positive so I’m going with bookstagram again! What books have you bought just because of bookstagram? ps ignore the ugly plastic container for Martin, the snakeplant! I’m currently on the hunt for a good pot 🌿

A post shared by k a t i e (@betweenspines) on Apr 16, 2019 at 11:46am PDT

It's worth noting that Rooney would probably hate to hear her books classified as a symbol of an "Instagram cool girl," because it's antithetical to the ethos her books preach.

"I don’t know if I should say this, but I didn’t actually take any interest in how much the book sold," she admitted to Gulf News last September, later adding, "Because, the thing about books is that anyone can read them. There are a lot of people who probably enjoyed Conversations with Friends who are part of the system that is actively exploiting other people’s labour. I am sure there are landlords who read it and thought it was a great read. Am I happy that I have given those people 10 hours of distraction? Not really!"

But that's the magic of Sally Rooney novels — how they can trojan horse hard politics and leftist theory into an unsuspecting demographic, while at the same time representing a demographic that rarely makes it to the bestseller list. Is it ironic that part of that is through Instagram, a company owned by Facebook, which has recently taken responsibility for both its role in spreading misinformation in the 2016 election and its misuse of user data? That's a subject for a dinner party in the next Sally Rooney book.

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When I first talked to Biet Simkin, I was a spiritual skeptic. By the middle of our conversation, she had me attempting to meditate by contemplating a door knob. That’s part of her charm. Simkin truly believes she can help you achieve a state of zenned-out bliss — whether you want to achieve it yourself or not. Her new book — Don't Just Sit There!: 44 Insights to Get Your Meditation Practice Off the Cushion and Into the Real World — is an extension of her personal desire to help people better their lives.

Simkin starts her book with the revelation that she first meditated when she was a 2-year-old thanks to her father, who was a shaman. But life for Simkin wouldn’t be simple or emblematic of a happily meditating baby in Lotus pose.

She had dark periods. Her mother died. She started doing drugs. Her father died. She had a baby named Ula that passed away at 4 months old from SIDS. Half of her apartment burned down, Sony dropped her recording contract, and down the spiral she went. When she was sober, she’d try to meditate, but had trouble focusing. “I was the kind of ‘spiritual’ person who took breaks in the middle of a yoga class to blow coke lines in the bathroom!” Simkin writes.

Eventually, she made drastic changes to her life. She is now a successful public speaker, musician, and the founder of the Center of the Cyclone, a meditation style that blends spirituality, music, and self-reflection. Simkin has led meditations everywhere from the Sundance Film Festival to the Amalfi Coast.

Studies have shown that meditation can be beneficial f or patients who have depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and pain, according to the The National Centre for Complimentary and Integrative Health. But some studies have found meditation can also have negative effects. A 2017 study from the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One conducted by researchers from Brown University and the University of California found that it can prompt negative thinking and may cause you to relive negative memories.

Ultimately, Simkin lays out her own spiritual philosophy in the book, which she says builds on the philosophy of enlightenment known as The Fourth Way and involves self-observation over a long period of time. Ahead of her book launch, she shares what she’s learned from writing about her spiritual philosophy — and how you might achieve bliss, no matter what life throws at you.

One overarching theme in your book is how to find peace during the not-so-peaceful parts of life. What would you tell people who are going through those tougher phases?

"I would say: If you’re going through hell right now, you are wrong about why that’s happening to you. If you’re going through something: Maybe a breakup, or a loss of career, or a health crisis. Maybe your go-to perception of that is that the universe or God hates you and is trying to ruin your life. That a malevolent force is actively working against you. I would say that the takeaway is: It’s actually working in your favour. And those setbacks are actually setting you up for incredible success if you could just see them differently. They become stepping stones to your success."

Sounds easier said than done. What’s the first step in seeing that failure differently?

"It’s saying: What if my tragedies, my problems, my losses, my woes, my failures — what if they are actually ingredients to my success? What if they make me the human I was meant to be. For example, Michelangelo’s David. He carved the David and said: Oh, I carved the David, but really he carved himself out. He already existed within the stone. We are like the David, but we’re also like Michaleangelo. We’re sculpting ourselves.

"So imagine taking a chisel to your own body, and sculpting it out and coming out like the David. It would be great. But imagine the feeling of the chisel going against your skin. That doesn’t sound pleasant does it? It sounds horrible. Life is this chisel that haunts you and hurts you and cuts you and wreaks you. If you can just tolerate it and say: This isn’t really here to hurt me, you’ll see that what it’s trying to do is chisel out the David. We’re trying to become this beautiful version of ourselves, and we have to accept that some of that comes from chiseling."

When you’re in the painful part, is meditating one way to make it through?

A lot of people have achieved great success just by pushing through, but they’re not enjoying life. This book gives you tools so you can make it to the top, but you can do it while drinking a margarita by a pool or making love or smiling at your baby. You don’t have to stop being in life to pursue your dreams. Meditating creates more time, and it creates a calm state of being and allows for pause in life. Pause is something we don’t have generally as humans. We’re reactive. So if someone says: “you’re fired.” We’re like: “Oh my god.” If someone says: “I don’t love you anymore.” We’re like “Ahhhh I’m never going to find love.” But if you meditate, someone can hurt you and you'll say: “Oh, that’s interesting. I wonder what this is an opportunity for.”

What would you say about meditating to someone who struggles with it?

Do the thing you’re doing with one attention, but with another attention, watch yourself from above doing the thing. Do it with me now. Look at something around you.

Ok, how about a door knob?

Now, listen to the sounds of the room. Try to do both of those things at the same time. See those two attentions? Add a third: Your breathe. And then see yourself from above doing all of those things. As meditators, we can follow ourselves around with an imaginary documentary film crew. Imagine who you would be if you were having a conversation with your lover and it was being filmed. Would you make better choices if your life was being documented?

So, when you’re seeing yourself from above, is that a way to focus or a way to better yourself? Or is it both?

It’s a way to lose focus. As humans, we are fascinated. We have fascinated attention. Every minute, we’re like: Oh my god, my calendar. Oh my god, a text. Oh my god, I need to make my bed! This meditation allows us to have focused attention — but focused on something that’s invisible. We’re taking our attention away from only being focused on everything around us. It allows us to have one attention on all the insanity in our lives, and one attention on our soul.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Jennifer Lawrence is ending her acting hiatus. In the past year or so since stepping back from filming movies, the 28-year-old has gotten engaged, had a tipsy night out in NYC with Adele, supported her best friend Emma Stone, and worked with Represent.us, a non-profit trying to put a stop to political corruption.

But, she's officially back, baby — and with a perfect-sounding new project. Lawrence is set to star in an A24 and IAC FILMS production. The untitled film will be directed by Lila Neugebauer, an acclaimed young theatre director making her feature film debut, from a script by first-time screenwriter Elizabeth Sanders.

Lawrence will also produce alongside Justine Polksy, her best friend, former assistant, and current producing partner at their recently launched production company, Excellent Cadaver. That's four women leading the charge on a project that is also backed by two names (Scott Rudin and Eli Bush) responsible for Lady Bird, Mid90s, and Eighth Grade. Yes, perfection.

While Lawrence is obviously known, and lauded, for her acting skills, recently she's been flexing her producing chops.

"In a relatively short amount of time, Jennifer has already proven herself to be a one-of-a-kind actress and businesswoman," Brad Weston, who has a first-look film deal with the company, told THR of her new venture. "Her versatility and commitment to working with the greatest filmmakers in the industry highlights our shared ambition to create thoughtful, fearless films, and we are extremely excited to partner with Jennifer and Justine as they start this new chapter."

According to IMDb, Lawrence is also a producer for Bad Blood, in which she'll star as disgraced Theranos entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes. Both films will likely drop in 2020, so get ready to see a lot of everyone's favourite relatable gal.

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The past three days have seen activists take to the streets of London to participate in protests of civil disobedience planned to go on until 29th April. So far there have been almost 300 arrests, mainly for acts of public order offences. Extinction Rebellion – the non-violent UK-based grassroots environmental group behind the protests – has apologised for blocking traffic over the past three days at some of London’s busiest junctions but, they say, they need to get climate change to the top of the UK agenda, and so far their strategy is working.

Joy Rowell, a 64-year-old grandmother of soon to be nine grandchildren, was arrested at Waterloo Bridge for blocking the public highway. Here is her account of what went down...

"I have always been aware of sustainable living and then when I read the latest figures about climate breakdown about six months ago, I researched and came across Extinction Rebellion.

When I looked up Extinction Rebellion, I realised it was my duty to get active and not just write letters. That’s why I am here at the London demo. I have taken part in a lot of other protests – such as the anti-Iraq war protest – but protest only gets you so far. If three million people can’t persuade a government not to do what you don’t want them to do, then you have to do something more. That’s why I like Extinction Rebellion, the thrust of it is civil disobedience and that’s the only way that we can make sure the powers that be take notice.

It breaks my heart that my children will not hear the birdsong I grew up with, see the variety of wildflowers that I grew up with...

It breaks my heart that my children will not hear the birdsong I grew up with, see the variety of wildflowers that I grew up with. The rate of losing them is accelerating. I am really angry, we have known about this for so long and it is so low on the government agenda.

I attended with Roger, my husband, and we met up with the local Forest of Dean group at the demonstration later on for moral support. There is a fantastic atmosphere, people are incredibly supportive and there are places you can go if you are feeling apprehensive. You only put yourself forward if you are prepared to be arrested, and there is no shame in saying you don’t want to be arrested for any reason. A lot of the people who attended the demonstration are employed and so they can’t be arrested. Whereas I am retired so I can do whatever it takes.

A lot of the people are employed and so they can’t be arrested. I'm retired so I can do whatever it takes.

The protest is a bit like a festival. People say that we are the 'great unwashed' and 'a load of hippies'. It’s not like that at all – there is a huge spectrum of people. From professionals to the unemployed, babies to people in their 80s. People were distributing coffee, a guy was cooking and giving away free food, everybody is sharing. Everybody is in the same frame of mind of 'this is it, this is our last chance and we need to get the authorities to see it'.

When I was arrested, they said we were breaking the law in terms of Section 14 [of the Public Order Act], which is blocking the public highway. We were sitting down at Waterloo Bridge, and the tactic was to make a lot of noise so that we couldn’t hear what they were arresting us for. I’m actually slightly deaf so I couldn’t hear anyway!

They asked if we were going to move, and I smiled, and then they asked us to go with them to the van. The policemen were incredibly gracious and they were on long overtime; in times gone by I have seen police aggression, but they weren’t aggressive in the slightest. At the police station they were incredibly caring, they were bringing us food and that aspect of it I was quite surprised by.

I was kept in a cell in Wood Green for seven hours, and my husband who was arrested 20 minutes before me was kept in Wembley. I think from the messages coming through in the police van, every police station in London was full. I was released pending investigation, but my feeling is they didn’t know what to do next because there were too many people arrested.

I would do it all again. I certainly will be back to the protest this week – probably not to be arrested as I want to see what happens with the 'pending' thing – and if nothing happens and it comes to doing something else more creative than sitting in the street but which is still civil disobedience, I am still happy to do that. My conscience tells me now that I need to protect the Earth, not only for my children and grandchildren but because we are seeing floods of refugees fleeing climate change already. That will increase so much, and we will start to see real problems here and all over the world. We need to have system change and that’s why I am prepared to take civil action."

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After getting ready for a wedding, seventeen-year-old Zoe Laverne pulled out her iPhone, took a slow-mo video of herself twirling in her bedroom, and paired it with "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeren. Two days later, the video has 337,000 likes and over 10,000 comments. Zoe, like a growing number of teen influencers, is well-known and loved for her videos on TikTok.

Unless you’re a Gen Z’er, or are super hip and with the times, you might still think TikTok is just a Kesha bop from 2009, or worse, the sound a clock makes. And while you’re not wrong, if you ask any young person under 20, they’ll tell you TikTok is their very lifeblood. A complete subculture, TikTok has taken the tweeny boppers by storm, leaving us millennials completely in the dust of Instagram and Facebook.

What is TikTok?

Originally launched in April 2014 as Musical.ly, TikTok is a lip-synching app that boasts over 500 million users worldwide. Musical.ly was purchased by Chinese company ByteDance in November 2017 and officially absorbed into their already existing app called TikTok in August 2018. The app is known for 15-second lip-synching videos, endless challenges (ex. The Mannequin Challenge), and making Millie Bobbie Brown’s friend, Jacob Sartorius, break the iTunes charts. A social media platform teeming with Gen Z users, TikTok is basically the new Vine, with a music twist.

What Does It Do?

Originally made for lip-synching to your favourite songs, TikTok has exploded in all different directions. The feed is filled with fifteen-second vertical videos across genres — from dancing to gymnastics to short-form comedy— their one uniting factor is some kind of audio (either a song or voiceover). It has its own audio library, with a diverse catalog including popular songs and silly voiceovers (a la the emoji challenge), as well as Snapchat-esque filters. Users can garner likes and comments similar to Instagram, and, of course, like any other social media platform, TikTok has its very own influencers, called “Musers.”

Why Is It In The News?

TikTok made headlines in the last week for propelling country trap star Lil Nas X into the spotlight. After his single "Old Town Road" went viral via a meme on TikTok, the song found itself on top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart and Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs, but not on the Hot Country Songs chart — despite Lil Nas X identifying as a country artist. Only the third country song to hit the number one Hot 100 spot in thirty years, the exclusion from Hot Country Songs sparked a hot debate about race and the definition of country music itself.

The app is also somewhat controversial: This week, the Government of India asked Google and Apple remove the app from their respective app stores. The Madras High Court originally asked for the ban months ago stating that the app was “inappropriate for children” and “encouraged pornography.” The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has put a ban on downloading the app in India, though existing users have yet to lose access. Whether or not a complete ban will go into full effect is still up in the air, this isn't the first time TikTok has been in the news for being a bad influence on children. Last July, Indonesia banned the app.

Who Are TikTok Girls?

Also known as egirls, the TikTok girls are 2019’s version of MySpace girls. With colourful hair, thick winged eyeliner, and a signature black heart under each eye, egirls are the ultimate cool girls. Though the term “egirl” can be sometimes used as a dig, many of these young influencers, such as, fattysalmonella34 (formerly thiccbeefcake69) and Ashley Eldridge, have garnered thousands of followers.

Is TikTok Safe?

Like any other social media platform, there is always the possibility for inappropriate behaviour, especially when minors are involved. TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, does work to remove videos in violation of the Terms of Use, but that can only go so far. In recent months, many social media sites have taken action to protect young people on their platforms — for example, YouTube has disabled comments on videos made by minors to protect them from predators. Only time will tell how TikTok continues to fend off potential threats, but for now TikTok and its community of booty-shaking, challenge-accepting tweens is mostly harmless.

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Olivia Wilde's directorial debut Booksmart may be hailed as the next Superbad, but the central friendship is completely unique. In the comedy, Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever play besties Molly and Amy, who, despite their honor roll status and buckets of extracurriculars, neglected to have any wild-and-crazy high school shenanigans. The friends agree to let their fun flag fly, leading to a night of complete hilarity.

In real life, Lady Bird star Feldstein and Last Man Standing alum Dever really did grow close on the Booksmart set. During a visit to the real school where Booksmart filmed pivotal scenes (Refinery29 and other journalists were treated to their very own notebooks and lunch bags, with mom-approved inspirational messages and me-approved Oreos inside), Feldstein and Dever talked about how they created a lasting bond offscreen.

"We’ve been living together throughout the shoot, which has been so immeasurably important and special," Feldstein told journalists during the visit.

The move was suggested by director Wilde, but ultimately it was the stars who wanted to make the co-living situation a thing. Explained Feldstein:

"It was that thing where you don’t want to be the person who is like, ‘So, do you want to?’ We both sort of looked at each other and were like, 'Well, I would do that.’ Everyone making the movie was kind enough to make that happen for us, and it’s been so special."

"It’s made a huge difference," added Dever. "I think our chemistry would be totally different if we weren’t spending 24/7 together."

"So many pancakes have been had," joked Feldstein of the pair's morning routine. "It’s really made it a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

The actors have a lot of love for each other, but also their onscreen counterparts.

"When I read for Molly, it was so exciting because she’s so strong and so fierce," explained Feldstein of her character. "I’ve never really seen that before or played that before, a young woman who is so unapologetically fierce in that way, and just very gung-ho and forward thinking."

"I think they’re really like sisters, and they’d do anything for each other," said Dever. "The character I play, between the two of us, I’m more of the good cop, she’s more of the bad cop."

"[The fact] that the comedy comes from their intense intellect is so exciting," said Feldstein. "There are so many of these films where [the women are] so funny but also silly. These girls aren't that silly. They're smart. They're so smart. I think it's exciting to see that duo at the center of that teen comedy."

Check out a behind-the-scenes look at Booksmart below.

Booksmart is out in the UK on May 24.

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On a recent Tuesday evening, Ashley Sorrondeguy was folding laundry when a notification lit up her phone. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive darling and youngest woman ever elected to Congress, was live on Instagram. From her home in Massachusetts, Sorrondeguy watched the 29-year-old freshman congresswoman assemble some IKEA furniture while drinking white wine and chatting about everything from President Donald Trump’s tax returns to her Green New Deal proposal. While Sorrondeguy is not one of Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents in New York’s 14th District, she feels a sense of kinship with her. Both women were born in the late 1980s, are of Puerto Rican descent, and share a lot of the same ideology. To Sorrondeguy, Ocasio-Cortez’s social media presence has made her accessible in a way no other lawmaker has in the past. “I always thought that in order to be a politician you needed inside connections or lots of money. It’s really cool to see her in a real light — not just photo ops with lobbyists that other politicians do,” she told Refinery29.

In true millennial fashion, Ocasio-Cortez had already been incredibly effective at connecting with constituents via social media even before she delivered the biggest primary upset of the 2018 election season, a victory which launched her into immediate stardom. Hence, the “AOC” moniker she’s known by. But the Instagramania began in earnest shortly after the election, when she began documenting scenes from the congressional orientation via the app’s stories and livestreams — offering a peek into a process that remains foreign to many people outside the Beltway. There she was, a “girl from the Bronx, ” as she often refers to herself, exploring the tunnels below the US Capitol, posing in front of Shirley Chisholm’s portrait, nerding out about the office lottery process and guides on how to be an effective member of Congress. This is around the time that Liz, a 30-year-old from Miami, FL, got hooked. “The most interesting part to me has been the behind-the-scenes of what it means to be a representative, how things work, and why they work as they do,” she told Refinery29. “She will sometimes talk about her day and say, ‘I have this office and it’s not set up yet.’ Or when she went to chase [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell. Here she was, actually on the job. It’s something that I had not seen before.”

Call me a loser if you must — and LET’S TAKE POLITICS OUT OF THIS FOR A SECOND — but Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram is endearing and refreshingly earnest during new-member orientation week. (Seems she discovered the tunnels under Congress today?) pic.twitter.com/UgaCAMKS6d

— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) November 14, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez currently has 3.9 million Twitter followers and 3.2 million Instagram followers. Thousands engage with her tweets, which are usually quick clapbacks or short explanatory threads. Her Instagram stories and livestreams are another monster altogether, with hundreds replying in real time as the congresswoman explains policy and current news while making dinner or tending to a community garden. (Refinery29 asked Ocasio-Cortez’s office for details about her social media engagement, but they declined to comment for this story.) The congresswoman said earlier this week she’s pulling back, limiting her interactions to the workweek, but she has definitely left her mark.

Other lawmakers have noticed AOC’s success on Instagram and have attempted to engage with their constituents in a similar way. Think of Sen. Elizabeth Warren drinking beer in her kitchen while doing a Q&A or Beto O’Rourke getting his teeth cleaned while discussing the U.S.-Mexico border. Jennifer Grygiel, a social media expert and assistant professor of communications at Syracuse University, said it makes sense that Ocasio-Cortez’s main platforms are Instagram and Twitter. (This week, she said she quit Facebook.) “The ability to engage people on Twitter is often the ability to engage influencers, who can carry her message on social media but also possibly bring it into neighbourhoods and communities not only in the United States, but around the world,” Grygiel told Refinery29. “Instagram is rising because of its memetic force. A lot of imagery there is shared through visual-based memes. A lot of people think that an internet meme is a picture with a silly joke on it, but a word is a meme…branding for a policy like the Green New Deal is also a meme. Her ability to have a biting response is memetic in nature. People are excited about her because she has shown that strength.”

View this post on Instagram

If Republicans thought women dancing in college is scandalous, wait till they find out women dance in Congress, too! 😉

A post shared by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@ocasio2018) on Jan 4, 2019 at 10:36am PST

However, Grygiel cautioned about the impact of Ocasio-Cortez cutting out the middleman, i.e. the press, when delivering her message to constituents. While her strategy does differ from President Trump’s aggressive and meme-filled Twitter use, Grygiel argues the gatekeeping can quickly become a slippery slope. “AOC has grown into a position where she can manage her relationship with the free press. She’s able to put out her message and get her view and narrative into the public by way of social media,” they said. “But there’s risk in this. As good as her platform is and as good as she might be as an elected official, some of her practices, [such as] not granting comment, is showing a selective gatekeeping, and maybe avoiding the hard questions coming from the free press. We want our public officials to really engage with the free press… And I would encourage her [to do so].”

Questions about the impact of this approach on the press aside, some of the people who follow her social media activity almost religiously admire her effectiveness. While Liz considers herself a progressive, she doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with Ocasio-Cortez. “I don’t always agree with AOC on all of her politics. But I’m so interested in seeing how she communicates what she believes in, not so much in the what but in the how,” Liz explained, giving as an example what she has found to be a lacklustre response on the part of the congresswoman to the crisis in Venezuela. “A lot of the times, the reason why I keep watching is because she breaks down things in everyday language, she speaks authentically, she gives you her opinion and then backs it up with what her constituents want — which is what she’s there to do. She is explaining things in a conversational way, which I take away for my own work but also when talking with my friends and family about the issues I care about.”

Hadiya Afzal, a 19-year-old student from Chicago, IL, has been following Ocasio-Cortez’s career long before she won her primary. She said the congresswoman’s ability to connect is due in part to her past life as an educator and organiser, and it's something other lawmakers should also try. “I want other politicians not to take her techniques, but the motivation behind it,” Afzal told Refinery29.

The pull of Ocasio-Cortez’s social media presence is also tied to the issue of diverse representation, or lack thereof, in politics. Karla, a 27-year-old from Nashville, TN, has not seen a lot of young Latinas running for office and winning in her state. Ocasio-Cortez has filled that space to an extent. Karla met Ocasio-Cortez last January in Washington, D.C. Despite her obvious stardom, the congresswoman “opened the door with a donut and a cup of coffee in her hand.” Karla says it was the same type of approachable behaviour that she has seen on social media. “She’s telling us about her day, but she happens to be a congresswoman. It makes the process more accessible,” Karla said. “It gives me hope. There are not many in our community who are encouraging people like us, with our backgrounds, to run for office.” The duo snapped a pic — which led Karla to start dating her partner, Ángel. The way the couple tells it, Ángel, 30, pretty much slid into Karla’s DMs after seeing the photo and told her he was also an AOC fan. They met up for a date and magic ensued. Now, one of their favourite pastimes is tuning in whenever Ocasio-Cortez is live on Instagram. Both of them are political nerds and discussing the congresswoman’s policies has brought them closer together.

Ángel said: “She seems like a familiar friend you’re talking to, it’s really relatable. There are a lot of politicians who already try to use social media in that way, but it doesn’t seem natural when they do it. It was easy for us to connect with her that way. Who our age doesn’t assemble IKEA furniture by themselves with a glass of wine in hand?”

When asked about their favourite livestream, the couple pointed to the video of Ocasio-Cortez repotting her plants. “We were talking about getting plants. Typical dude that I am, I had plastic plants,” Ángel said. Karla interjected: “Not only is she awesome, but she also loves plants!” The day after watching her livestream, the couple set out to buy Ángel’s “first plant children” both for his office and his apartment. “They are alive, in case you were wondering,” he said.

* Some last names have been withheld out of privacy reasons.

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Sophie Turner just got real about her depression. The 23-year-old Game of Thrones star opened up to Dr. Phil McGraw about her long-term mental health struggles on McGraw’s podcast, Phil in the Blanks. “I’ve suffered with depression for about five or six years now,” the star said. “The biggest challenge for me: Getting out of bed and getting out of the house — and like, learning to love yourself.”

Turner is known for her role as Sansa Stark on GoT since its debut in 2011, and she said her depression ramped up when she’d been on the show for about four years. She was about 17. "I think it was a combination of social media on the rise at that time, and also my friends were going to university, and I wasn't going to university,” she said. “I was working, but I was still living at my parents' house, so I felt very alone."

“Did social media cause you to get depressed?” McGraw asked her, point blank. “I think it contributed,” Turner replied. “I wouldn’t say it was the main reason. I think it’s some sort of chemical imbalance. But I think it definitely was a bit of a catalyst.”

Turner said her depression was fuelled by trolls on social media who knocked her appearance and acting skills, USA Today reported. “I used to get a lot of comments about my skin and my weight and how I wasn't a good actress,” Turner told McGraw. I would just believe it. She said that worrying about her appearance impacted the way she did her job and how she interacted with the world.

In 2016, 3.3% of people in the UK are said to have experienced depression, according to mental health charity Mind. Depression can cause fatigue, a low or hopeless mood, and even thoughts of suicide. Severe symptoms impact how you feel, think, and handle daily activities such as sleeping, eating, and working. Turner said she experienced some of these symptoms, telling McGraw: "I had no motivation to do anything or go out. Even with my best friends; I wouldn't want to see them; I wouldn't want to go out and eat with them."

But Turner told McGraw that she’s in a better place now, thanks to a recipe of therapy, medication, self-love, and positive affirmation from her fiancé Joe Jonas.

"I'm now with someone that makes me realise that I do have some redeeming qualities, I suppose," she told McGraw. "When someone tells you they love you every day, it makes you really think about why that is, and I think it makes you love yourself a bit more."

She has also started tuning out when it comes to social media. McGraw tried to reassure Turner during the interview: “They don’t know you, and they wouldn’t say that to you in an elevator,” McGraw said. “They’re keyboard bullies.”

Turner said she occasionally breaks her social media rule, though. On instance was when she spoke out about mental health issues this January, after a British journalist retweeted and seemed to agree with the sentiment that celebrities were trying to “make mental health problem ‘fashionable.’”

Or maybe they have a platform to speak out about it and help get rid of the stigma of mental illness which affects 1 in 4 people in UK per year. But please go ahead and shun them back into silence. Twat. https://t.co/mvddYPjcht

— Sophie Turner (@SophieT) January 9, 2019

“Or maybe they have a platform to speak out about it and help get rid of the stigma of mental illness which affects 1 in 4 people in UK per year,” Turner tweeted at the time.

Now, she’s using her platform to do just that. She’s healing herself, too.“I love myself,” she told McGraw.

He replied: “You said that like you meant it.”

If you are in crisis, please contact Samaritans on 116 123. All calls are free and will be answered in confidence.

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So, you're going to be a bridesmaid. Whether it's your first time walking down an aisle or you've lost track of how many bachelorette parties you've organised, the universal plight is the same: How do you find a wedding-day look you want to wear that fits into the exact dimensions of the bride-to-be's Pinterest board?

While we can't help in choosing the mandated bridal-party dress — colour, style, or cost — we can help in finding the perfect bridesmaid beauty look, something that will make you feel like the best version of yourself as you glide down someone else's rose petal-dusted aisle. Ahead, find eight stunning (and super-simple) makeup looks that fit any wedding aesthetic. These are sure to please you, everyone else in the party, and — most importantly — the bride.

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Netflix is back at it, giving new life to the rom-com genre. This time it has tapped former Sweet Vicious writer (gone way too soon, MTV) Jennifer Kaytin Robinson to direct and write the screenplay for Someone Great, the new Netflix rom-com that adds a new layer to the cherished genre.

Someone Great tells the story of Jenny (Gina Rodriguez), a music journalist whose boyfriend of 9 years breaks up with her on the eve of her move cross country to San Francisco. Determined not to end her New York life on a sour note, she spends the time she has left on one last epic adventure in the Big Apple with her two best friends, played by Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise. Viewers can expect hilarious quips, dance parties, a great soundtrack featuring artists like Lizzo, and a story about love and the power of friendship.

If that plot isn’t enough to make you excited, seeing a Puerto Rican woman lead a rom-com with a diverse cast should push you over the edge. The movie hits Netflix on April 19 but for now, check out the all-star cast that will make this rom-com truly unique.

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If you're anything like us, you can't resist the power of a good motivational quote. Those nuggets of positivity and support can be just the reminder you need to lift your head up and face the challenges of the day.

At the end of February, ahead of International Women’s Day, we were invited to the TRESemmé Power Your Presence Talks. Guests like Alesha Dixon, authors Viv Groskop and Bryony Gordon, and our very own Lifestyle Director Jess Commons shared invaluable advice around imposter syndrome and owning your voice in the workplace.

Their tips and anecdotes were too good not to share, so we’ve designed our favourites into beautiful backgrounds for your phone, or your desk.

Hit save on the quote you're most drawn to, and set yourself up for a daily boost of self-belief.

TRESemmé have created The Presence MasterClass®, a free 7-part online Masterclass designed to help women to power their presence & ditch Imposter Syndrome. Discover your Presence Profile® here

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I can vividly remember a time when I would be hard-pressed to find anything suitable for 4C hair like mine anywhere other than the specialised afro hair shop in the ethnically diverse area of London that I grew up in. I always wanted to be able to buy my haircare along with my skincare and makeup in high street mainstays like Boots or Superdrug.

Luckily, for my fellow naturals and me, the boom of e-commerce means small Instagram businesses are thriving in the black hair market, with amazing brands like Afrocenchix, Afro & Curl, Boucleme and Dizziak catering specifically for our hair types. Like many others, I turned to these higher end, niche companies to fix my haircare woes. After stepping away from relaxers and harsh chemicals, I wanted to trust the products I used weren’t going to set me back in my haircare journey — and that seemed much more important than the convenience I was longing for on the high street.

But as more of us invested in these small businesses, the high street started to listen up and take note of the pounds rolling in from women willing to shell out for their haircare routine. Initiatives like Superdrug’s Shades of Beauty campaign, for example, have seen an influx of big brand products that cater to afro hair appear in store, and although there is still some way to go, it seems afro hair is being catered for more than ever before.

But is the novelty of shopping for all your toiletries in one place worth swapping out your trusted, highly curated haircare routine? Ahead, myself and three others tried the high street's afro hair offerings — these are the products that actually worked.

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When eagle-eyed fans spotted 28-year-old YouTuber and influencer Yovana Mendoza eating fish in a vlog last month, the vegan social media sphere (and beyond) was outraged. Why? Because Mendoza has made a career by espousing the supposed merits of a raw vegan diet (she calls herself "Rawvana") to her more than three million followers across YouTube and Instagram. Furious commenters hurled fish emoji and taunts of "Fishvana" at her in the comments, in what became known as – you guessed it – #fishgate.

"It's been two months since I started incorporating eggs and fish into my diet," Mendoza admitted in a grovelling 33-minute follow-up video, explaining she'd done so for "health reasons" (irregular periods and digestive issues) after six years of veganism.

Mendoza isn't the only prominent internet vegan – veganfluencers? – to have resumed old dietary habits in recent months. Several others have also declared their return to animal products recently and faced similar backlash. In January, 26-year-old YouTuber Bonny Rebecca told her 366k followers that she'd quit veganism after five years over skin and gut problems. "Part of me wanted to believe in this diet so much... that I was turning a blind eye to my problems and to the severity of my health issues," she confessed, while Stella Rae admitted that it was her salmon craving and digestive problems ("the worst poops and gas") that motivated her.

Although my conscience felt lighter, it was not healthy. I was ill. I was thin.

Vegan and vegetarian diets continue to gain popularity in the UK – around 1% of people are vegan and 2-3% vegetarian, according to the most reliable data available – and it's never been easier to live healthily without animal products. The NHS now advises vegans how to consume all the essential nutrients and food groups, and countless websites and blogs dole out similar tips to veggies. In spite of this, many veggies and vegans return to meat and animal products – be it for health reasons (sometimes due to a doctor or dietitian's advice), on financial grounds, because of peer pressure, or plainly because no amount of tofu, tempeh, seitan or even Quorn cocktail sausages can quell their hunger for steaks or beef burgers.

Twenty-nine-year-old Nina, from London, hung up her vegan hat last month after a year of vegetarianism and two years of veganism. "The decision was health based," she explains. "I was having some ongoing digestive issues that doctors couldn’t get to the bottom of, but put it somewhere in the very large ballpark of IBS." Think stomach cramps so bad she would vomit, stabbing pains that left her writhing around on the floor, and multiple trips to the toilet before 10am. A nutritionist she visited "expressed dismay" at the rise of trendy junk food veganism (which is often highly processed and gluten-heavy) at the expense of natural, healthier options. (Suffice to say, Nina was a fan of "sloppy seitan burgers and endless carbs".)

I was trundling along thinking vegan equalled healthy, but in fact I was mindlessly eating a ton of crap.

That's when the penny dropped. "I was trundling along thinking vegan equalled healthy, but in fact I was mindlessly eating a ton of crap." She began gently reintroducing things like eggs into her diet on her nutritionist's advice. "I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt at first, but when I did the improvements were immediate," she concedes. A few weeks later at a French restaurant for a friend's birthday ("obviously there was nothing vegan on the menu"), Nina plumped for a dish as far away from her usual plant-based fare as she could get.

"I could’ve asked the waiter if the chef would prepare something specially. I could’ve just eaten bread and oil, and maybe nibbled on a vegetable dish that had all the inevitable dairy elements removed. But on that day, something in me went 'y’know what, fuck this' and I ordered a massive steak. A £70 Chateaubriand. And it was delicious. I enjoyed every mouthful while friends looked on in utter dismay."

Many lapsed vegans blame flagging energy levels for their decision to return to animal products. "Although my conscience felt lighter, it was not healthy," says Ashleigh-Jayne O'Connell, 30, a social media and content manager in London who was vegetarian as a teenager. "I was ill. I was thin. I was tired all the time and collapsed in classes. I took supplements and love vegetables so that was never an issue, but my body couldn't take it." It was a childhood love of animals that made her turn veggie aged 12, and she didn't eat meat for five years until a post-exam holiday to Barcelona with her family.

"I was just so completely over feeling the way I did every day. I was tired from all the walking – almost all of the energy I'd had that morning had been sucked out of me," Ashleigh-Jayne admits, and she vowed to return to meat when she got home. "Obviously, my mum was happy and she promised to make me a roast lamb dinner as that had always been my favourite."

For others, it's a weariness of the social and financial costs that prompts them to drop off the #vegan bandwagon. According to one recent study, vegan diners pay up to 65% (£14) more for a standard restaurant meal in the UK. "The milk substitutes, chocolate and supplements etc are quite expensive," says 21-year-old Lily Edwards, a singer-songwriter in London, who was veggie for her 20th year and vegan for four months until the beginning of 2019. On top of the expense, Lily's family weren't always on board with her lifestyle either. "I never made an active decision to stop being vegan or veggie, it just slowly started happening at social events and family gatherings."

People implied I was being selfish because I stopped, or that I didn't care enough in the first place.

Lily still eats predominantly vegan meals and intends to go back to it soon. Unlike Nina and Ashleigh-Jayne, she felt healthier as a vegan and became more aware of what her body needs. "I didn't get much iron or vitamin B12 before I went vegan, whereas when I had to go out of my way to find them I was far more on it." Consequently, Lily is "annoyed with [herself]" that she didn't stick to it and hasn't felt comfortable sharing her reversion with others. So far, while her family is happy she can eat the same thing as them at mealtimes again, her "religiously vegan" friends have "gotten quite upset about it".

Vegans can be a passionate bunch, with a select few taking a very extreme view, and some of the women we spoke to have felt their wrath. Ashleigh-Jayne says she felt pressured to justify putting her health before her veganism. "At times, people implied I was being selfish because I stopped, or that I didn't care enough in the first place. These days, I feel I need to be careful about what I say and to whom.

It's like I’ve just come out of a long term relationship with someone that my friends secretly hated.

"I've come across some militant vegetarians and vegans over recent years who have been quite aggressive over my choice of going back to eating meat. But I just need to look at the whopping prescribed iron pills I need to take every day to realise that I made the right choice and stopped something... before it potentially got worse."

Nina admits that vegans have a reputation for being pious and judgmental at times, and she was "a bit apprehensive about people finding out" about her return to meat. The reality, though, was the opposite. "It's like I’ve just come out of a long-term relationship with someone that my friends secretly hated. There’s been a few shouts of 'thank god!' and 'finally!' but the most noticeable thing is that while when I went vegan I had to defend and justify my decision until I wanted to slam my fingers in a car door, the overwhelming response [this time] has been a shrug and the assurance I can do what I want."

All three women say they remain committed to minimising their environmental impact and to reducing animal cruelty as best they can, despite changing their diets. (Avoiding meat and dairy is the "single biggest way" to reduce your environmental impact, according to Oxford University researchers.) But as Ashleigh-Jayne concludes, "Everyone's body is different and we're not all cut out to follow a vegetarian or vegan diet." Ecological reasons were what turned Nina initially, and even now she doesn't eat meat or dairy every day. "I want to make an effort where I can, regardless of whether I’m carrying the label 'VEGAN' around my neck. I'm still horrified by what’s happening to the planet and think we should collectively move to significant reduction, but I would never advise that everyone should be vegan."

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There's been a quiet shift in the world of accessories over the past few years. No longer a choice between high street and high end, there is a whole generation of brands offering mid-range price points and directional design.

Just think of Staud 's cult bucket bags and Cult Gaia 's homespun architectural aesthetics, both examples of accessories that look as great on Instagram as they do on your arm. With cool and contemporary flair, they have the lasting impact of a bag at a much higher price point.

There are several labels that just keep cropping up – both at fashion month and on the 'gram – which the fashion-forward are championing right now. Ahead, we've rounded up the best of the brands we're investing in, from a mother-and-daughter set-up in the Philippines to LA's most cult name.

Click through to find our favourite plus-ones.

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Last week, Instagram announced it would be clamping down what it deems "inappropriate" content, meaning that posts don't need to violate its community guidelines outright to be penalised. Sexually suggestive content falls under this umbrella and such posts would be "limited from being recommended on [its] Explore and hashtag pages", the company explained. In practise, a sexually suggestive post will still appear in your feed if you follow the account, but such posts "may not appear for the broader community in Explore or hashtag pages."

The guidelines have already been described as vague and those whose livelihoods could be affected by the move argue the policy is unfair. Among them are sex workers in the UK, many of whom claim to have had their Instagram accounts deactivated in the last week, and they are calling on the social media behemoth to urgently clarify its stance.

UK-based sex worker Rebecca Crow says her account (@katsandcrows) was deactivated last Friday (12th April), and on Monday she started a Change.org petition urging Instagram to meet with her to discuss sex workers' rights on the platform. Crow, who is currently posting on Instagram as @indie_brownbelly, has compiled a list of more than 100 other UK sex workers whose accounts have also been suspended, and won the support of more than 1,600 signatories at the time of writing.

"Instagram's censorship policy is disproportionately affecting sex workers on Instagram," Crow writes. "We try our best to stay within Instagram's vague guidelines, but increasing numbers of sex workers are having their accounts deactivated unfairly and it is seriously impacting our ability to maintain our businesses."

Instagram’s community guidelines state that users must "follow the law", but that "offering sexual services" via the platform is banned completely – "even if it's legal in your region". So it's no wonder that many sex workers in the UK, where prostitution itself (the exchange of sexual services for money) is legal, believe they are being unfairly penalised.

When Refinery29 asked Instagram why "offering sexual services" was prohibited, they said the platform strives to appeal to the broadest possible audience, and pointed us to the Facebook's policy on sexual solicitation, which they said equally applies on Instagram. "We draw the line... when content facilitates, encourages or coordinates sexual encounters between adults," these guidelines state. Sexually explicit language is also banned.

We didn't expect to get deleted because we didn't post any nudity.

Instagram's stance on sexual solicitation may be clear, then, but some users still believe their content is being wrongly classified as inappropriate.

Joana Nastari, 29, is a writer, performer and one of the co-founders of Fuck You Pay Me (FYPM), a collective of artists, activists and sex workers, whose Instagram account (@Fypmshow) was deactivated on Sunday morning (13th April).

Nastari says there was no nudity on the account and she doesn't know why it was deactivated, as Instagram hasn't given them a detailed explanation other than saying it violated its terms.

The group relied on Instagram as its primary means of communication and they've been been engaged in a back-and-forth with the company since Sunday in a bid to get the account reinstated. "It was a really tight community of people who we really engaged with who came to all our stuff [parties, plays and events], which we cultivated over two years, so it's really gutting to lose that," Nastari told Refinery29. "It was a beautiful little bubble on the internet that existed and is now gone. We didn't expect to get deleted because we didn't post any nudity or even drawings of nudity."

FYPM is currently posting under @fypm.show to around 650 followers, a significant drop from the 1,700 on its deactivated account, but Nastari says they are now weighing up whether they want to be on Instagram at all. "We’re wondering whether it’s the right place to be anymore," she says, "We don't want be on there and worrying constantly that we're going to lose everything that we've done for no reason with no guarantee we can get it back." The threat of being "shadowbanned" – when your content doesn't appear on people's feeds unless they follow you – is also a huge deterrent, Nastari adds.

It's 2019 and a lot of people do sex work... we should be allowed to promote ourselves in the same way as any other business.

Others believe that Instagram should at least warn people beforehand – particularly if those people rely on the platform to make a living – before it deactivates their accounts.

Sara Willis, 33, a UK-based camgirl, has had three Instagram accounts deactivated, the first of which had almost 290k followers, she told Refinery29. In one photo which was removed, she says she "was fully covered in a t-shirt and full knickers, it wasn't even a sexy pose and nothing sexual was in the caption." Willis re-uploaded the post, assuming the deletion was a mistake.

"The next day without warning I was logged out and given an error message telling me my account had been disabled. I tried to appeal for weeks before giving up and starting a new account in February last year," she explains. Two other of her accounts have since been deleted without warning. As a camgirl using its platform, it's not surprising that Willis would be on Instagram's radar, owing to its guideline against sexual solicitation. But in the absence of a similar rival platform, she is adamant it's Instagram that should change its outdated stance.

"It's 2019 and a lot of people do sex work in some form or another. As long as we follow the rules, we should be allowed to promote ourselves in the same way as any other business," Willis asserts. "Banning and removing us from these sites pushes people, especially full service sex workers, into a place where they may feel pushed into making choices they wouldn't normally to survive."

As for Crow, who has brought the issue to the fore with her petition, she believes Instagram "needs to take a long hard look at itself". She told Refinery29: "Sex is used as marketing in every industry. If the people who are using sex to sell sexual services are the only ones being penalised then that is discrimination.

"We direct our business to websites that are equipped to filter out under 18s, which will become even more effective come July when the UK's porn age verification law comes into effect. I'd also argue that most sex workers sell products and not services in the form of nude photos and videos, which are digital products."

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Period poverty is finally being taken seriously by the British government – in the last month alone, it announced a move to provide free sanitary products in English secondary and primary schools. It is a huge step that will be life-changing for women and girls, and is in large part thanks to persistent lobbying from devoted charities and campaigners, who have shone a light on the issue over many years. But a lack of period products isn't the only plight gripping women across the country.

Hygiene poverty – an inability to afford essentials such as deodorant, shampoo and other personal care products – is another "hidden crisis" in the UK that urgently needs addressing, according to the charity In Kind Direct, which estimates that thousands of people across the country are suffering in silence. Nearly four in 10 (37%) of 1,000 people surveyed by the charity in 2017 – and 56% of 18-24-year-olds – said they'd gone without hygiene or grooming products, or been forced to cut down on them, for financial reasons.

Not being able to shower or brush your teeth isn't something that most people will readily admit to outside the context of, say, a festival or big night out, so it's impossible to know how many people are truly affected by the issue. But with 14.2 million people in the UK now living in poverty, according to a report by the Social Metrics Commission last year, awareness of the problem is growing slowly but surely, and charities have been established to provide solace to those in need.

Founded last August, The Hygiene Bank has already distributed around 16 tonnes of hygiene products, amounting to roughly £210,000 in retail value, in over 160 locations across the UK. Its mantra is simple: being clean shouldn't be a privilege. Founder Lizzy Hall was so moved by a scene in Ken Loach's Bafta-winning film I, Daniel Blake, that she decided to take action. "It was the scene where Katie, a single mother of two, is caught shoplifting and in her bag they find a pack of sanitary pads, a pack of Bic razors and a bottle of deodorant – things she needed but weren’t available at the food bank."

We know of young mums who scrape out the contents of their babies’ nappies before reapplying them.

Hall had donated to food banks previously, but it had never occurred to her to give anything other than food. "That these everyday bathroom essentials are out-of-reach luxuries for people who are financially struggling, stuck with me," Hall says. A few days later she visited her local food bank, which confirmed the gravity of the situation.

"We know of whole families washing their hair, their bodies, their faces and clothes with the same cheap washing-up liquid used to do the dishes. We know of young mums who scrape out the contents of their babies' nappies before reapplying them. This leads to terrible nappy rash," Hall explains, adding that low wages, high housing costs, cuts in benefits, illness and bereavement should not leave people struggling to keep themselves clean in a civilised society.

"We know of girls bullied at school because they have greasy hair and smell, because shampoo and deodorant would have meant missing a meal. The first time I delivered toothbrushes to a food bank, a young mum turned to her children to say 'You can have a toothbrush each now,' and the kids reacted as though it was Christmas."

With its recently launched #ItsInTheBag kickstarter campaign, the charity aimed to raise £8,000 in 60 days to put towards ending hygiene poverty. Backers will each receive a branded duffel bag to help them collect new, unused and in-date hygiene, beauty, grooming and personal care products, which can then be taken to one of the charity's drop-off points to be distributed locally. The campaign has already raised over £8,200 from 250 supporters, with just over a fortnight to go, suggesting that with much less media coverage than period poverty has hitherto received, the issue could be on its way towards being eradicated for good.

Other initiatives, like Beauty Banks, founded in 2018 by the journalist Sali Hughes and the beauty director at PR firm Communications Store, Jo Jones, also allow supporters to do their bit by buying new products online to donate. Like The Hygiene Bank, it also accepts surplus unopened toiletries, such as hotel freebies and unwanted gifts.

In a world where we are judged on our appearance, how we look impacts not only how others see us but how we judge ourselves, Hall says. "Basic hygiene goes to the core of self-worth, self-respect, confidence and dignity. With hygiene poverty comes isolation, exclusion and shame and these impact our ability to participate in society and therefore what it means to be human."

Tara*, a 32-year-old mother of two in Kent, knows the shame and stigma that comes with not being able to afford the basic toiletries that most people take for granted. Now a part-time volunteer for The Hygiene Bank, she says her firsthand experience informs her work.

My life is settled now but it hasn't always been this way, I remember what it was like to struggle. When I was 17, I was living at home and attending college; I was pretty confident, outgoing and I knew what I wanted to do with my life. That all changed when I was raped and became pregnant. I was broken, scared and didn’t know what to do.

I only told a few people what had happened – most people, including family, didn't know. When they found out I was pregnant, I had to move out of the family home. I was classed as homeless and the council sent me to live in a B&B in Maidstone. I found myself with only a bag of belongings in a place I didn’t know and with no money. I was forced to leave my job and college as I could no longer afford to travel there and back every day or do the hours needed. Accessing benefits took a while, and even then I barely had enough money to eat, let alone get ready for a baby. I had to decide whether to buy food or shampoo and sanitary products.

Even toothpaste and a new toothbrush seemed like an extravagant expense.

When my daughter was six months old, everything I had been through caused me to have a breakdown and I took an overdose. I then had counselling and was honest with my friends and family. I eventually got a flat, went back to college and secured funding for childcare, but I still survived on benefits. When my mum visited, she would bring toiletries and food.

My daughter was my priority so I had to buy nappies and barrier cream over things like deodorant and sanitary products. Even toothpaste and a new toothbrush seemed like an extravagant expense. I was lucky, my family would buy these things for me because I didn’t have the money. But it was humiliating, I was looking after a baby and couldn't look after myself. Even though I was back at college and feeling more positive, not being able to present myself how I wanted to really lowered my self-confidence and self-worth.

I don't think people discuss hygiene poverty because it’s shaming. I certainly wasn't telling people. My mum was sensitive enough to understand and she'd give me care packages. Not everyone has that, so what The Hygiene Bank is doing is so important to help restore some of people's dignity. Life is hard enough without the added knock hygiene poverty has to your confidence. It's something many people are just not aware of because it’s hard to admit. Unless people have experienced it or been told about it, it’s just not at the forefront of their minds.

You don’t think you will ever be in a situation where you will need benefits or where you will have no money or support. But life can change overnight and if you have the support there it can make all the difference. That’s why I help. I help because I can, I help because it’s the right thing to do and simple things like shampoo or deodorant can really change people’s lives.

Donate to The Hygiene Bank's #ItsInTheBag campaign on Kickstarter before 4th May 2019.

*Name has been changed to protect the interviewee's identity.

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Twenty-seven-year-old photographer Lucia Sekerková Bláhová comes from a small town called Stará Turá in Slovakia but today she lives in bustling Munich with her husband. As an artist, her love and talent for documentary-style photography led her to tell the stories of marginalised communities. Her fascination with Christianity comes from her upbringing; intrigued by it and other religions, she began to use her art as a way to understand her identity.

In the collection of photographs here, named Vrăjitoare (meaning 'witch' in Romanian), Sekerková Bláhová takes us to the heart of what it looks and feels like to live among Romania's new generation of witches. The project began in 2013 when she stumbled upon a video of a Roma woman who was operating a thriving business as a witch. With her lens, and the help of friend and ethnologist Ivana Šusterová, she spent four years capturing the private and public lives of Roma witches – exploring their spells, witchcraft and potions as well as their social media profiles and business savvy. These are truly 21st century witches.

Here she takes us through a selection of the intimate images and provides context for each one.

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Female voices are reverberating across the airwaves, and we've picked out some of our favourite on the British podcast scene at the moment. Need a nudge towards that big idea you've been putting off actually doing anything about? We've got one for that. In awe of the original cool girls, the rule-breakers and way-pavers of earlier generations? There's a podcast to feed that appetite right here. So before you resign yourself to another few months of screen-burned eyes and achey neck from watching Netflix on your phone, we have alternatives. Ahead, find some of the smart, funny and engaging women who are talking about the things that matter to us.

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Netflix is known for being secretive about how many people are actually watching its content. Every so often, the streaming giant will release figures for an especially high-performing title – like when it trumpeted the fact that 45 million people had watched Bird Box in its first week, for example.

But generally, the best gauge we have on whether Netflix has launched a hit series or original film comes from the amount of social media – and real-life – discussion it's provoking. Remember when it felt as though everyone was talking about Sex Education at the start of the year?

However, Netflix has announced this week that it intends to start showing UK users Top 10 lists of the most popular titles across multiple categories.

"For those who want to watch what others are watching, this may make choosing titles even easier," Netflix execs explained in a letter to shareholders, Variety reports. "After a few months we’ll decide whether to end or expand the test."

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Back in the early 2000s, the world fell in love with Kate Hudson as a bubbly magazine columnist with bouncy air-dried curls in the rom-com How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Since then — almost two decades, three kids, one activewear brand, and countless haircuts later — Hudson has remained loyal to the same stylist who prepped her for her first red carpet: David Babaii. To celebrate the multihyphenate's 40th birthday, Babaii shares some of his most memorable moments with Kate, including the time he used deodorant on her hair. The following interview was told to Megan Decker and edited for length and clarity.

It All Started With Spray Deodorant
I've known Kate for 20 years. Back then, I was in beauty school and Brad Cafarelli, who's Kate's publicist and a friend of mine, asked if I wanted to style Kate Hudson's hair. I was like: Who's Kate Hudson? She obviously wasn't famous yet, but we met, hit it off immediately, and started working together. Soon after, The Skeleton Key came out and that changed everything.

I remember Kate and I were travelling to London for that film premiere, and the airline lost my luggage. I had nothing to style her hair with for her first, major red-carpet appearance. All we had was Kate's bag, and she had nothing except this hippie-dippie spray deodorant — probably the first natural deodorant ever made. It's all we had to work with, so I sprayed it all over her hair and hit it with the hotel blowdryer, which was so old-school that it was actually attached to the wall. I was haphazardly wrapping her deodorant-covered hair around my fingers and just scrunching the strands for texture; it was a crazy mess.

But by some miracle, she got to the premiere and looked incredible. Honestly, to this day, it's the best hair I've ever done. Serendipitously, that's also when Kate started doing her now-signature look-over-the-shoulder pose on the red carpet, and just like that, everyone was talking about Kate Hudson.

A post shared by David Babaii (@davidbabaii) on Oct 7, 2016 at 3:55pm PDT

From Classic Waves To Badass Buzzcut
I will always love Kate's long, bright-blonde hair — down to her waist and tousled with that effortless, Bohemian wave — that style was so right for her. But my favourite look of all time is when she shaved it all off, definitely.

It's kind of a crazy story: Kate was working on a movie, and the character she was going to play had a buzzcut. At first, she was going to wear a wig, but I told her: If you're going to do it, just shave it off for real — it's a fresh, clean start. So she was on set before filming started, and she truly just grabbed an electric razor and shaved it off herself, like Demi Moore style. But Kate's always been like that, pretty fearless.

A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson) on Oct 16, 2017 at 1:49pm PDT

Clean & Simple Style
Now, Kate's hair has grown out — past the buzzcut and the pixie phase — into this cool lob length that's fun to style. The tricky part is that she won't use any beauty products that aren't clean. That's with her skin care, hair, everything. She wants it super-clean. It's not like she's keeping up with the clean, L.A. beauty trends, she's always been that way. Actually, Kate was a big inspiration for my hair-care brand, n:p beautiful, because working with her brought to light that there was a white space in the market of clean hair care.

My line is all-natural and Kate really loves it, so that's what she uses. For shampoo and conditioner, she likes the hydration line, because she's always in the pool or surfing, so it keeps her hair soft — it also smells like coconut, which is nice. Then for styling, my routine is really simple. There are three must-haves I always use: my blowdryer, curling iron, and beach spray. I use the blowdryer to blow her hair out smooth, then we add soft bends with the curing iron, and use the beach spray to hold that piece-y texture.

A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson) on Feb 1, 2019 at 2:35pm PST

Considering Kate's busy schedule — with kids and babies and all that craziness — she's going back to her long hair, and the style that made her famous. I think she kind of misses her iconic Kate Hudson hair, that length and cool factor. With long hair, she'll probably just hop out of the shower, let her hair air-dry, and it will look amazing — which has kind of always been Kate's M.O.

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