Vicky Spratt's Recent Articles - Refinery29

Skip navigation!

I Got My Chest Lasered To Improve My Skin & I Learned A Lot

Stop Seeing Your Breakup As A ‘Failure’

The Great Accelerator: Why Are We Feeling So Much Pressure To Make Big Life ...

Should We Ever Block Lovers & Friends On Social Media?

“I was seeing someone and he ended it. Well, it was a classic fade out – it ended but it didn’t. My friends swooped in and told me to block him,?

by Vicky Spratt

I Got My Face Lasered To Improve My Skin & Here’s What I Le...

In 2021, it’s safe to say we’re no longer as afraid of growing older as we once were. The beauty industry is slowly phasing out the term “

by Vicky Spratt

I’m Not Sure I’m The Same Person I Was Before The Pan...

I saw the light – hovering above my balcony late one night last November – and now I can’t unsee it. It was the first autumn lockdown. The one that p

by Vicky Spratt

AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT

“It Feels Like A Loss”: How COVID Made Friends Drift ...

“I have no idea what my friendships look like now,” says 32-year-old Janelle*. “Since the pandemic, one of my closest friends, who I used

by Vicky Spratt

I Think I’ve Forgotten How To Socialize

I am staring at a WhatsApp message. It’s from one of my closest friends and contains dates and restaurant names. In the run-up to lockdown easing, she ha

by Vicky Spratt

There Is No Shame In Feeling Lonely Right Now

I wasn’t on my own by choice. As 2020 turned into 2021 I was recovering from coronavirus, sitting alone on my sofa and watching light from fireworks rico

by Vicky Spratt

Why Do I Think All My Friends Hate Me At The Moment?

How are you supposed to be a person in a world that increasingly makes no sense? Honestly, I don’t know but I keep asking myself this question. The menta

by Vicky Spratt

Can’t Poop At Someone Else’s Place? You Might Be Suff...

During March, as lockdown descended, a young woman in her late 20s moved in with a man she had been dating on and off since December. Coronavirus, it turne

by Vicky Spratt

Uncharted Bodies

Hysterical Women: Why Is Hormonal Contraception Still Failing Us?

Reproductive autonomy as we know it today began on October 15, 1951 with a Mexican wild yam root. Carl Djerassi, PhD, (also known as the father of the pill

by Vicky Spratt

Why I’m Not Sure I Want To Leave Lockdown

On the day that the scale of the coronavirus crisis hit me, I was at the Department of Health. It was early in the morning and I was there for a breakfast

by Vicky Spratt

No, You Don’t Need To Use Isolation To Write A Novel

If lockdown were a woman, she’d be a middle class young professional with around 300,000 Instagram followers. She’d be posting about finally writing th

by Vicky Spratt

My Little Sister Got Engaged & People Keep Asking If I’m Ok...

I’m sitting in my local Turkish restaurant after a long Monday at work. I’ve just been to a gruelling gym class with the only one of my friends who wil

by Vicky Spratt

“Self-Partnered” Really Isn’t The Term Single W...

Jane Austen is now so dead that she’s on a banknote. And yet, two centuries since she died, society’s attempts to write the endings of single w

by Vicky Spratt

New Study Proves The 28-Day Menstrual Cycle Is A Myth

In 1968 Gloria Steinem wrote a satirical essay called “If Men Could Menstruate”. It imagined a world in reverse, one in which men had periods a

by Vicky Spratt

What Do Your Sex Dreams Really Mean & Should You Pay Attention To...

In certain schools of psychoanalysis, namely that of Sigmund Freud, dreams are considered to be a snapshot of our unconscious desires. As he saw it, while

by Vicky Spratt

AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT

The Sinister Side Of Fasting & Fitness Apps That No One's Talking...

Earlier this year Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey asked his 4.19 million followers a question: Been playing with fasting for some time. I do a 22 hour fast dai

by Vicky Spratt

The Greatest Lesson My Grandmother Taught Me: Stop Saving Things ...

I wasn’t there when my grandfather died but I had been there plenty of times when he didn’t. I’d sat in the ICU at Croydon University Hospital in 200

by Vicky Spratt

How The Out Of Office Became The Message For Our Times

Lydia* was working as a baby creative in advertising when she encountered her first unnecessarily elaborate out of office message from a colleague. New to

by Vicky Spratt