Jan-21

DIVA

Europe’s best-selling and most authoritative lifestyle magazine for lesbian and bisexual women

DIVA1 min read
Diva
Music editor Laura Howard Screen editor Kat Halstead Books editor Erica Gillingham Travel editor Joanna Whitehead Designer Fernando Safont Big thanks to: Sinead Mills, James Soars, Alainna Hadjigeorgiou, Alex Walker, Annabel Roe, The PC Agency, Sulle
DIVA2 min read
Reflections On A Year Of UPS And Downs
Pandemic aside, what will you remember 2020 for? For me, it’ll be partially amputating my little toe; the fact that I did it falling out of a headstand quite literally encapsulating the highs and lows of the last 12 months. I’ve got a lot of love for
DIVA2 min read
A Letter From Our Publisher
I’m guessing that, like me, you won’t be waving too fond a farewell to 2020, one of the most depressing and difficult 12 months many of us have ever endured. It’s hard to find positives in a year where Covid-19 has claimed more than 1.5 million lives
DIVA2 min read
You Said It…
Opinions expressed by correspondents and contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of DIVA magazine or its publishers. Hey hot stuff! Want a monthly date with your favourite magazine? Then turn to page 35 and #SubscribeWithPrid
DIVA4 min read
DIVA loves… DEAR QUEERANTINE
“Coming out feels like a confession and that’s not how I feel it should be. It should be a beautiful celebration. Writing about the first time we had feelings for other women was a really therapeutic process. It’s different when you’re writing the st
DIVA4 min read
What Would Anne Lister Do?
The entire world has been knocked sideways. We are in the middle of a pandemic, which was sudden and unexpected and scary. Yes, it has been scary. I haven’t heard many people use that word yet, but when we describe this to our grandchildren in years
DIVA3 min readPsychology
Being The Good Girl
VALENTINO VECCHIETTI is a writer, academic, intersex human rights campaigner and a lesbian. They founded Intersex Equality Rights UK. @ValentinoInter The winter holidays can be a challenging time, and for some of us it’s a time when we might feel par
DIVA3 min read
We Need A Queer WAP
Well, 2020 didn’t exactly pan out the way any of us had hoped, did it? But one thing it did do was give us a sexual powerhouse of an anthem: WAP. That we can be grateful for. In early, Agugust we woke up to shock headlines not about dire Covid stats,
DIVA7 min read
Accidental Super Star
mxmtoon is an international pop star, a social media sensation with over four-and-a-half million followers and – plot twist – a massive introvert. When we chat on Zoom she’s in her Brooklyn apartment while I’m locked down in London. As you might have
DIVA6 min readGender Studies
SEX And The SIMS
I lean in and ask if she wants to do it. She cheers and punches her fist in the air, which seems like a good sign. We head over to the bed and, in one precisely synchronised move, jump under the covers at the exact same time. Romantic music is playin
DIVA1 min readGender Studies
A Brief History Of Queer Representation In The Sims
✓Sims can kiss, flirt and have romantic relationships with sims of the same gender✓ Same-sex couples can adopt a child✓ LGBTQI sims can join the military career track✓ Sims can’t marry a sim of the same gender ✓Sims can have a “joined union” with sim
DIVA8 min read
The Evolution Of Lucy Spraggan
“This girl just came in, sat directly behind me, opened up her iPad and had some kind of group Zoom meeting with no headphones!” Lucy Spraggan is incredulous, calling me from a Starbucks near her home in “the middle of nowhere”. “I was literally abou
DIVA2 min read
Music
Pick of the Month ALBUM Arlo Parks We think it’s safe to say Arlo Parks had a very different 2020 to the rest of us. She blew up on the queer music scene, leaving us all yearning for a full album of her silky soulful tunes. Arlo’s debut certainly won
DIVA2 min read
Books
Book of the Month BIOGRAPHY Diana Souhami When you can call yourself a biographer of lesbians, we think you’ve really made it. Diana Souhami is that woman, having spent more than 30 years beautifully relaying and bringing to light the lives of LGBTQI
DIVA5 min read
Criminal Mind
It’s 2017 and I’m deep into crime writer Mari Hannah’s latest book, Gallows Drop, the sixth in her hugely successful Kate Daniels series. I’m gripped by the case, by Kate’s struggles with her sexuality, and by her on-off relationship with colleague J
DIVA2 min read
Screen
KAT HALSTEAD is a writer and movie buff with a penchant for female-led flicks. @kathalstead Pick of the Month Created by Sarah Streicher Teen drama, but make it survivalist… Coming of age in your high school years can feel like an endurance test at t
DIVA5 min read
Into The Wilds
Part survival drama, part dystopian slumber party, The Wilds follows eight girls from different backgrounds fighting for survival after a plane crash strands them on a deserted island. But all is not what it seems… Full of twists, turns and jaw-dropp
DIVA5 min read
At home with O’HOOLEY & TIDOW
What a year it’s been for Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow. Riding high off the success of Gentleman Jack and with a gorgeous new baby in tow, 2020 looked set to be their year. But, like many of us, their plans came to an abrupt halt when the pandemi
DIVA4 min read
Queering Up Quarantine With My Chosen Family
When I heard the news that the UK was going into lockdown in March 2020, I pretty much ran downstairs to lock the doors and hold my housemates hostage. A surprising reaction, I must say, from someone who has always thought of themselves as fiercely i
DIVA5 min readPsychology
Your Lockdown Reflections
Nobody was prepared for the uncertainty and change that 2020 would bring. Many of us have found ourselves in situations we weren’t equipped to deal with, both mentally and physically, and have been tested in ways we never imagined. For some, it was a
DIVA4 min read
Losing It
GEORGIA BUTLER is a writer who owns too many beanies and not enough cats. @orangesodaart You always remember your iconic firsts. Your first date, first kiss, first fuck. Some of us even get to have two firsts with a capital F. We all know virginity i
DIVA2 min read
My Secret Sex Diary
Want to share your secret sex diary? Email roxy@divamag.co.uk The first time I had sex with a woman, I didn’t really know what I was doing. It was in my first year at uni. I was drunk and really nervous. We lay down and I fingered her. I guess I just
DIVA2 min read
Sexy Bits
TOY After the first time using this high-end toy, just one thought came to mind: “If only we’d known about The Ballerina at the beginning of lockdown.” If you were single throughout lockdown like some of us, you’ll understand that sex toys are no jok
DIVA4 min read
The Happiest Place On Earth
Finnish Lapland in numbers 3 million saunas 8 seasons in a year 200 words for snow 52 days when the sun doesn’t come up 111 nights of aurora borealis Husky sledding over a snow-covered swamp somewhere near the border with Sweden, sun streaming throug

DIVA

More Issues From DIVA