Controversial studios

I love a good debate and in any conversation or discussion, it's a sign of intelligence to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it. I've seen plenty of topics causing controversy lately and so I thought I'd wade in and have my say (qualified as I am).

Should Shemima Begum be allowed to return to the UK?

This conversation is louder than any other at the moment and is about the Jihadi bride who left the UK 4 years ago to join ISIS and now wants to come back. While I've seen one or two people saying they think she should be forgiven, I very much fall into the majority category of believing she should be left there to rot. However, the controversial side of my opinion comes after comments she made that the Manchester attacks were retaliation or "justified" in some way. Cue, outcries left, right and centre about how evil it is to think that when innocent people died.

What you have to remember is that ISIS may be the villains to us, but Brits (and white people in general) have been villainous way before that organisation even formed. We've invaded other people's countries, bombed their homes and enslaved their people, and yet our history books are still pretty keen on painting us as the good guys. Face it; we've done way more harm than we've had done to us.

Taking the, obviously horrific, Manchester attack as an example; the culprit was from Libya. A country that was under the UK's reign until the 1950's and had more than 110 missiles (plus numerous bombs) sent their way less than 10 years ago, again by the UK. So imagine you were a child growing up and experiencing that; you wouldn't see the UK as "helpful interveners", you would consider us the enemy, and a terrorist of our own kind.

How is it so easy to see other countries as being evil when they attack us, but so difficult to see that we've been doing MUCH worse for centuries? I don't think Shemima Begum should be allowed back to the UK, because she must have had a special breed of hate in her heart to join ISIS in the first place, and that hate will be passed on to her unborn child (who could become a next generation terrorist). But understanding that the UK has a worse track record than pretty much anyone is important for realising that it's never as easy as "good" and "evil".

Should the smear test age be lowered from 25?

Another topic that has a lot of women talking and this time, I sit in the minority category. I do not think that it should be lowered and I can only assume that those who think it should be, are leading with emotion and outrage, over research and medical backing. Even a quick google search will tell you why the age is 25. Firstly, cervical cancer is very rare in women under 25, so the cost of offering routine checks to those who are 18 and over will put more of a strain on the NHS than it's worth. Secondly, cervical cancer screening in under 25's has literally been proven to have no effect on the number of cases diagnosed; countries where they routinely check younger women do not have lower numbers than those countries where the minimum age is 25. So it literally does nothing to help catch or cure cervical cancer.

The medical system hasn't randomly plucked 25 out of thin air and I think you need to have a little faith in the experts here. Cervical cancer screening is not done for under-25s because when you're young, your cervix are constantly changing. These changes can sometimes deliver results in tests that lead to unnecessary treatments and harmful surgeries, when the cells would have otherwise corrected themselves when left alone. You also have to remember that our generation (and onward) are at pretty much the lowest risk of any generations before us, thanks to the HPV vaccine we got when we were 14 (which also protects against genital warts, which is good to know).

The NHS is not neglectful and if you're experiencing worrying symptoms then you will be sent for smear test. I myself have already had one when a certain pill I was on was making me bleed, and they wanted to check there were no other problems (which there weren't). Plus smear tests are no walk in the park - not the worst thing I've ever been through but far from the best! I think the age should remain at 25 and if you want one before then you can buy a self-test one for £50 from Superdrug. The most important thing surrounding this topic is that once you are over 25, you go every 3 years as recommended.

Where does the responsibility to help feminism lie?

After Emma Watson's iconic speech of 2014, there was a campaign launched called 'HeforShe', which seemed to place the responsibility for raising women up on the men. Of course, this is true to an extent; we've lived in a patriarchal society (and world) for such a long time that they still largely hold the power. So in relation to fair pay, equal opportunities and equal rights to our bodies, I think it lies with the men. But something we often skim over or seemingly forget to talk about, is that so much of women being oppressed is because of other women.

If a woman sleeps with hundreds of men, who do you think would judge her more harshly, men or women? I can almost guarantee that it would be women. The same applies for if a woman puts on a weight, if a woman chooses to have kids instead of work, or work instead of have kids. I would put money on the fact that all those 'worst dressed' lists in magazines have been written by women, and all those 'worst bikini body' ones too.

Female friendship groups spend hours discussing (ie, bitching about) other women and what they've been doing, with women always coming off worse than a man in anything sexual. If a woman sleeps with her boss, she's the tramp (rather than him being an embarrassment to his position of power), and if a girl gets with someone who has a girlfriend or is married, it's her who takes the blame and the abuse, despite him being the one in the wrong.

It's interesting to me that so many feminists point the finger at men to give them equality, but only allow it as long as it fits with their idea of what a woman should be. Being a true feminist means championing women in every single one of their choices (good or bad), regardless of whether they want to settle down and become a wife and mum at 20, or have causal sex with strangers until she's 30. And that largely sits with us women because let's face it, men simply don't care about that sort of stuff one way or the other. You wouldn't catch a man talking about how a woman's shoes totally don't match her dress.