The power of poetry was used to highlight inequality between the sexes at a special show to mark International Women’s Day.
Constellations put poets in the spotlight on Thursday as part of a series of local and worldwide events to commemorate the occasion and celebrate the achievements of women.
The Greenland Street bar gave local spoken word performers the opportunity to display their skills, and deliver thought-provoking verses.
Liverpool John Moores University student, Annie Taylor, was on the bill, and she explained the significance of the event to her.
Miss Taylor told JMU Journalism: “I think that throughout history women have always been oppressed. Women have always been ‘inferior’, and it is important that we celebrate women and help empower them.”
The 20-year-old began writing poetry two years ago after being inspired by artist Kate Tempest.
Annie explained: “A lot of people tend to think of poetry as being old and boring and it never really appealed to me either. Then, when I found artists like Kate Tempest, that was really inspirational – she makes poetry modern and relevant to my life. I really love how she combines rap and spoken word.
“I like to talk about things that affect me, political things, social problems, about being a woman and experiences that I have had.”
She revealed that while has never personally experienced any negative comments about her poetry, it is a growing problem for some of her contemporaries and in general. Annie said: “On social media I see a lot of anti-feminists or ‘men-inists’ commenting really disgusting things. They just don’t understand that there is still sexism and that men and women are still not equal.”
To help combat the issue, Miss Taylor said: “People need to engage with what’s going on in the world and have a conversation, so that new ideas can come through and change can come.”
YouTube: Megan Dodds