Here’s the wind laughing at Tanya Burr’s efforts to keep it together at the ‘Iron Man 3’ UK premiere. In Gaelic and Greek mythology, groups of women raised their skirts en masse to defeat Irish sun god Cúchulain and Greek hero Bellerophon, respectively. Ancient and modern history relate how women deploy the raising the skirt gesture in protest and as a military tactic. In 551 BCE, collective vulval display changed the outcome of war between the forces of Media and Persia; in nineteenth-century China, rows of older women would stand on the top of the city wall and expose their genitals to frighten off enemies. This DIY was a really powerful experience for me; the sensitivity and openness of the artists enabled us to have in depth discussions of a level that I have not had the opportunity to experience since my DIY10. Thank you LADA for encouraging these developmental events, which enable artists to really grow from working with each other in a supportive environment. With over 100,000 copies sold worldwide, join me on an eye-popping, raising the skirt journey through history, language, mythology, art and science. Find out why the clitoris is crucial for sensual, safe sex (and why men have a clitoris too), meet the great vagina goddesses, marvel at women’s orgasmic capacity and celebrate the age-old act of anasyrma – revealing the vagina. Raise the skirt: reclaim your power.

In 2014, DIY projects took many forms, from the creation of a temporary biker gang in Cambridge, astrology in Yorkshire Sculpture Park an eavesdropping in Bournemouth, a workshop for assholes in Glasgow and a superhero weekender in Colchester. Between them they covered diverse subjects of investigation including chance, plagiarism, archives, the weather, criticism, feminism, participation, ageing, documentation, wage and much more. She is also the author of The Man Who Saw the Future: a biography of William Lilly, the story of the world famous seventeenth-century astrologer whose celestial forecasts enthralled the nation and changed the course of the English Civil War, and how the Establishment attempted to silence him and astrology for good (Watkins, 2015). Documentation from Johanna Linsley and Rebecca Louise Collins' DIY Stolen Voices can be found on Tumblr.

1. Queen Maxima

A weekend of intercultural grocery shopping, culinary adventures and sharing stories about ingredients, journeys, migration, nationality and material culture. Victoria Justice exiting the Rebecca Minkoff fashion show held during New York Fashion Week in New York City on February 7, 2014 18. Kimberley Garner The book that changed my mind… It turns out the female orgasm is the biggest news on the planet,’ Booker-shortlisted author Lucy Ellmann. Thomson De Grummond, Nancy. (2006) Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. ISBN 1-931707-86-3

I’m also on a mission to empower girls and women – ensuring we grow up confident and proud of what we have between our legs. I believe a vital first step in achieving this is using positive, respectful language for our genitals, that’s why I am campaigning too add the word verenda to the dictionary as the positive, respectful word for the vagina; it means the parts inspiring awe, respect or reverence. Please do sign and share my petition at www.change.org/SayVerenda and let’s change the world one word at a time. Kristen Bell looking embarrassed while holding her dress down at the “Veronica Mars” premiere in Hollywood, California on March 12, 2014 20. Lindsay Lohan Many historical references suggest that anasyrma had dramatic or supernatural effect—positive or negative. Pliny the Elder wrote that a menstruating woman who uncovers her body can scare away hailstorms, whirlwinds and lightning. If she strips naked and walks around a field of wheat, caterpillars, worms and beetles fall off the heads. Even when not menstruating, she can lull a storm out at sea by stripping. [4] La Fontaine plate More info about DIY 11: 2014. Professional development projects BY artists FOR artists across the UK. Finding out I was infertile as I stood on the brink of adult life changed me in innumerable ways. Infertility corrodes and maims – but it also transforms. I am sadder but capable of finding joy much more easily. I am wiser and far more aware of how little I knew as a child and young adult about sex and fertility. Infertility was one of the catalysts in my becoming a heartfelt advocate for fertility, sex education and sexual equality. On a lighter note, my not-guilty pleasures include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, tap dancing and Depeche Mode.When fertility goddess Demeter wanders the earth refusing food and drink as she mourns the loss of her daughter Persephone (who is imprisoned in the underworld after being abducted by Hades), the land loses its energy source, crops shrivel and famine ensues. It’s only when older woman Baubo lifts her gown and points out her naked vagina to the goddess that Demeter finally laughs and accepts sustenance and the world becomes fecund once more. Japan tells a remarkably similar myth of how vaginal display restores fertility to the earth after angered sun goddess Amaterasu-o-mi-Kame has withdrawn from the world. Isis-Aphrodite 2nd-1stC BCE