It’s true: ‘original series’ have officially become better than reality. We now have fully formed, four-dimensional characters who are relatable to our lives (am I Alex Voss? Am I? I am Alex Voss), even if their plot lines are wholly ridiculous. It's no wonder we never stop watching, even during sex. I mean, it’s a dead cert: invite someone over, whack on Netflix – or Amazon Prime, I’m not here to discriminate – bone a bit, eat some pad-thai, and click that space bar one more time.

But... what did we do before endless streaming and next episode autoplay? What were the films and shows we chose to guarantee a good bit of roasting the broomstick? What were the fail-safe go-to's for a bit of VHS & Vagina, a little DVD & Dick, a wee sesh of boxset & bottoming?

When wracking my little pink Smythson sex journal, desperately seeking a watching pattern for the era I now dub the "sloppy years", there was no one movie that stood out. I remember taking it deep during Annie, but only once. I was so terrified during Wolf Creek that I spent approximately an hour and a quarter gagging on my twice-my-age-love-interest so I didn’t have to gag at the onscreen violence. I once marathon watched Buffy Season Three while managing to fit 13 anal beads and two fingers in my bum before the principal turned into a giant monster (spoiler!), but I was alone for that one.

And so, turning to the world of social media, I decided to ask other people what TV shows and films they've used to guarantee the good stuff. And what did I not expect to hear? Endless anecdotes about how people hit play for a lay on the exact same film for years on end. Have some imagination people!

Ahead, I present you with a gallery of the pre-'Flix films people use to get some.

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Toothpaste isn't actually an effective method to treat acne, you shouldn't be using 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioners and running your hand through your hair as a claw-come-comb in the gym isn't the same as brushing. But we get it, we're all short on time and money. If you pick up these time-saving, but in the long run naughty habits, they're quite hard to shake.

You may think you're shaving your legs by the book but if you find yourself constantly nicking your skin, scratching ingrown hairs and finding patches of hair here and there, you could well be doing a slap-dash job. Now that it's a scorching 20 degrees outside and we're thinking more and more about shorter shorts and sleeveless dresses it might be time to go back to shaving school.

Your legs shouldn't be bleeding. You shouldn't be coming out in rashes. No bit of you should be stinging and every inch of you should feel smooth as a baby's bot.

If you're a nice and natural kind, we salute you. If you're more of a close-shave Sheila, we're here for you. Here's our simple guide to getting a better shave.

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Meet Mimi Wade, the 24-year-old Central St Martins grad, turned certified designer, who's getting the last word in on how to do modern party dresses. Mimi's name should be the first on your lips when you're chatting about London's most promising new fashion designers considering her SS17 showcase is just over a month away, during LFW this September.

Mimi is the Fashion East-approved, clothes cutter du jour, who is singlehandedly bringing the glamour, sparkle, decadence and debauchery of 1950s Hollywood to London, now. How? Well, for starters Mimi's practically Hollywood royalty what with her muse, her grandma Pamela Curran, having been a starlet herself – she featured in the cult 1950s B-movie The Blob and the fêted TV series I Dream of Jeannie. Add into that cookie-mix, Mimi's bombshell good looks (she used to model) and knack for getting the most sultry leading ladies into her deconstructed lace-slips – Lana Del Rey and Pamela Anderson are fangirls.

Her slip dresses are a riot of old movie posters, illustrations and pretty lace trims made over in acidic colour palettes. Mimi's women always appear like fabulously bored, beehived housewives on the brink of wreaking havoc on unfaithful husbands, all the while, opera gloves in place. Getting the picture?

Beyond Mimi's wonderfully overblown designs, we're also crushing on Mimi for her own inimitable personal style too; think Britney Spears bunchies, platformed Mary Janes, over-sized T-shirts worn with feather boas and a healthy stash of fishnets to hand. Delicious, no?

Here's what makes London's most stylish lady tick tock....

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A photo posted by Gorda66💋 (@makeupartistgorda66) on Jul 27, 2016 at 1:57pm PDT

Makeup can do so much more than simply mask a budding pimple; it can bring out confidence and self-love. Don't believe us? Just watch YouTuber Marimar Quiroa.

Quiroa, 21, was born with a cystic hygroma — a fluid-filled growth in her neck and mouth that requires her to breathe through a tube and use sign language to communicate. Throughout the years, Quiroa has undergone several surgeries to reduce the size of the cyst. Then, two years ago, she started her own YouTube channel to inspire others to accept their individual beauty.

Since that time, Quiroa has amassed a following of over 100,000 subscribers and over six million video views. And she's received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback in the process. "People type their comments after they view my videos, and they say some really nice things," she said in a video posted on Barcroft TV, which you can watch below. "They tell me I'm beautiful and love my makeup."

Although Quiroa has fostered a truly positive and encouraging community on YouTube, she still deals with haters, both on- and offline. "People tell me I look like a monkey...that my mouth is wrong," she said in the video. "I see them staring. I either tell them to stop or just ignore them, but if people are staring at me, I stare right back. I refuse to look away until they stop staring."

Quiroa hopes to inspire other young women and men to pursue their passions regardless of societal expectations. She's currently enrolled in makeup school and is studying education in hopes that one day she can be a teacher for deaf children. Until then, Quiroa will keep posting beauty videos to her YouTube channel. "To me, beauty means to accept yourself for who you are," she said in the video."It doesn't matter if you have a different-looking face. Accept yourself for who you are." We're fully behind you, girl.

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Some say, “If these walls could talk.” But, for others, the real question is: "What if trees could?" Trees often survive for centuries longer than walls — in fact, Old Tijikko, the oldest living tree in the world, is more than 9,000 years old. If it could speak, it might impart some wisdom about everything that’s occurred since the last Ice Age.

We love being around trees because we feel like they’re wise and full of life. It’s probably why so many of us have fond memories of childhood tree houses. Now, it’s possible to add a new memory. Whether your travel style veers more toward rugged explorer or luxury escapist, get ready to experience 10 of the most incredible tree-house hotels across the globe.

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Laura Trott and Jason Kenny are the Brad and Angelina of the Olympics. The British track cyclists have won the nation’s hearts with their phenomenal success in the Rio velodrome.

The golden couple (literally) have absolutely slayed this year's Games. Last night, Trott won gold in the women's omnium, adding to her gold in the women's team pursuit. About an hour later, her SO bagged gold in the men's keirin. He'd already won the men's sprint and men's team sprint.

As of Wednesday morning, if the couple were a country they would sit 12th on the overall Rio Olympic medal table – ahead of Spain, Canada and Brazil. They have a whopping 10 gold medals between them. (Bet their home insurance is through the roof – so swings and roundabouts, eh?)

The couple, who announced their engagement in 2014 and are due to get married in September, will go down in history as some of Team GB's most decorated Olympians of all time. Not bad for a couple still in their twenties (Trott is 24 and Kenny is 28!)

Move over Posh and Becks, here's everything you need to know about the nation's new golden couple.

They Got Together Just Before The London Olympics

The pair went public with their relationship during the London Games, kissing and giggling together in the stands.

They Show That Opposites Attract

Clearly they have similar determination, drive and a passion for sport, but hear us out. During last night's BBC cycling coverage, Sir Chris Hoy, a close friend of the couple, said the pair perfectly balance each other out. Trott, the more bubbly and outgoing of the pair, brings out the best in shy Kenny, while Kenny helps to calm Trott down before a race, Hoy said.

Trott's dad Adrian told the BBC: "The difference in their characters is what makes it work for them. Until he gets to know you, Jason is a little bit shy. He's quiet and understated. Laura is bubbly, chatty, just as you see in her interviews."

He added: "If they were both like Jason, God only knows how they'd talk about anything. And God forbid having two Lauras in a household!"

They Just Get Each Other

“Having someone within the sport is huge because people in the outside world don’t get it,” Trott told the Evening Standard. “They don’t understand the fact that I can’t go out partying on Saturday evenings.

"Obviously my career has gone through when I should be at university and a lot of my friends from my school, I never stayed connected... It was hard, people didn’t get it, whereas Jason gets it.”

They Are Super Low-Key

Trott is a big Instagrammer, giving us a little insight into the pair's daily lives, and unlike Kenny, who avoids journalists, she engages with the press. But they don't actively court press attention, and have turned down an offer to have their wedding featured in a magazine. And that brings us to...

He's finally got rid of the moustache !! #finally

A photo posted by Laura Trott (@laura_trott31) on Aug 8, 2016 at 1:44pm PDT

Kenny Proposed During Eastenders

Their Kids Will Have A LOT To Live Up To

Trott has said they want kids but she doesn’t know when, because her career comes first. “I don’t want to be pushed out of the sport, so whether it’s after Tokyo (in 2020) or the ones after that – I don’t want to draw a line because I love it too much,” she told the Evening Standard.

She added: “Jess Ennis-Hill has shown it’s not too hard, but you need a good support system, and my mum and dad don’t even live here [up north] yet.”

Arghhhh!!!!!! I love him to bits @JasonKenny107 !! Our kids have to get some of these genes right?!

— Laura Trott (@LauraTrott31) August 16, 2016

So it might be a while off, but we're calling anyway – in 2036 all the track cycling golds will go to Kenny-Trott. Just you wait.

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Where would we be without our smartphones?

Perpetually late as we navigate our way around town with an Ordnance Survey map? Probably. Constantly forgetting about those drinks dates with friends we arranged six weeks ago? Almost certainly.

However, without our smartphones we may also have better memories, according to new research.

Regularly using Google search, Wikipedia and other technologies, such as sat-navs and digital cameras, has affected our ability to recall facts because they allow us to offload "to-be-remembered" information, The Telegraph reported.

Admittedly, without iOS notes, many of us would struggle in the supermarket trying to remember what to buy for dinner.

This process, known as "cognitive offloading", involves relying on tools like the internet to help us remember things.

In the research, published in the Trends in Cognitive Sciences journal, Professor Evan Risko, of the University of Waterloo, and Dr Sam Gilbert, from University College London reviewed existing studies to find out how the process is affecting our memories.

In one piece of research, sat-navs were shown to negatively affect how much of their journey drivers remember, and their ability to repeat a route without the device.

Digital cameras were also found to reduce museum-goers' ability to recall details about exhibits.

However, the results of other studies highlighted the benefits of smartphones on our brains. They were found to free up mental resources by allowing us to outsource unnecessary tasks. This gives us more space for creative thinking and other useful tasks.

Dr Gilbert said: “Remembering your shopping list or an appointment is not the most effective use of your cognitive resources, and if you can be reminded of that task it frees up more space which can be used for any number of things,” The Times reported.

Oh. With all that excess "creative thinking" space, there's no excuse not to finally start painting or writing that novel, then.

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Clad in a floral shalwar kameez with her hair swept up, Ashi Jaan was one of the first transgender women to arrive at the protest on August 6 in Lahore, Pakistan. Her demand was simple: no more rape.

"We are raped and abused from the first moment we embrace our identity, and no one supports us. But this time, we will not back down until the government comes forward and punishes those who raped my sisters," Jaan told Refinery29.

Soon, other members of the transgender rights movement joined her, arriving in rickshaws in groups of five. Known as Khwaja Siras (a colloquial term for transgender people) in Pakistan, they gathered together outside of the Lahore Press Club to protest the gang rape of three members of their community over several days in the nearby city of Faisalabad.

On July 26, two transgender women — Julie and Nomi, who identified themselves only by their first names — said that they were brutalised in their own home. They accused members of a well-known criminal gang in Faisalabad of assaulting them. The women said that throughout the night, they were abused physically and sexually with screwdrivers and glass bottles, among other objects. When morning came, the assailants, who the women said had forced their way inside with guns and knives, fled.

Julie told Refinery29 that she had been raped numerous times before. Even while they were still in the hospital, they received threats from the men they say attacked them, Julie said. The intimidating phone calls warned them they would be murdered, mutilated, disfigured with acid, and raped again, she explained. She is currently living in a safe house in Islamabad. Both she and Nomi are in hiding because of the threats they face.

Policemen will allege that the transgenders enjoyed the forcible sex and that they shouldn't complain about such small things.

Theirs is just one story of abuse and violence suffered by transgender people in Pakistan. Estimated to be about 300,000 hijras (the South Asian term for transgender, or the "third sex," as they call it) in Pakistan in 2009, when they were first incorporated in the national census, they are ostracized for not fitting into a binary gender category. Transgender Pakistanis are often kicked out of their homes and cut off from their families. Some are forced out of jobs and educational institutions with harassment and abuse.

The concept of a third gender, or hijra, is part of both Indian and Pakistani cultures. In some circles, blessings from hijras or Khwaja Siras are considered very powerful. They are often invited to bless weddings, births, and other happy occasions, but then sent back to live on the margins with a measly amount of money. Across the country, many transgender people earn their income from dancing at weddings and other gatherings. But when they can’t find enough clients to dance for, they feed themselves through begging and sex work, Jaan said.

By coming forward after the attack, Julie and Nomi did the unthinkable, said Uzma Yaqoob, a transgender rights activist who runs the nonprofit Forum for Dignity Initiatives. Many survivors of assault are afraid to come forward because they do not believe their attackers will be held responsible, she said.

"It is very rare for transgender [people] in Pakistan to report a rape," she added.

Yaqoob added that many times, if a transgender person does summon the courage to walk into a police station and lodge a complaint, they face taunts and verbal abuse.

"Transgender rape, by thugs, the police, or really just anyone, is so common that it is not really thought of as a criminal offense," Yaqoob said. "Policemen will allege that the transgenders enjoyed the forcible sex, and that they shouldn't complain about such small things."

Police did take Julie and Nomi seriously, however.

"Julie and Nomi came to the station with activists and media to lodge a complaint about being raped. We registered their complaint and now we are investigating the case. These cases take time, [so] we will only be able to tell you more when we know more. We are trying our best to find and arrest the suspect and continue investigations," Mazhar Irfan, the station house officer in Faisalabad who received the complaint, told Refinery29.

But if a survivor is able to lodge a formal complaint with the police, the next step is a physical exam by a legal medical officer at a government hospital. That, too, is often met with resistance from authorities, said Falak Ali Chaudry, a lawyer who works at the Neengar Society, a center that provides pro bono legal counsel for transgender people.

"This examination is a form of physical and mental torture,” Chaudry told Refinery29. Often, he added, doctors will simply refuse to examine the rape victim, citing that "only females can be ‘raped,’ and examining transgenders is not part of their job."

We are raped and abused from the first moment we embrace our identity, and no one supports us. But this time, we will not back down until the government comes forward and punishes those who raped my sisters.

Julie and Nomi had activists and the media by their side when they went to the police station, so the police were forced to lodge their complaint, according to Yaqoob. They were not, however, able to convince the government doctor on duty to examine them.

"The doctor first made light of the matter saying that it's just rape, not murder, and we shouldn't create such a fuss," said Yaqoob. "He then asked how much money we wanted to settle the matter."

Often, such cases are settled privately between rapist and victim for amounts of money that can range anywhere from $100 to $1,000, said Jaan, who said she has personally witnessed such transactions.

Eventually, after five hours, the victims were examined and medical reports citing that the rapes had occurred were issued, Yaqoob said.

"This in itself is quite an achievement," Chaudry told Refinery29. He claimed that in transgender rape cases, it is nearly impossible to persuade the police to formally lodge a police complaint and receive medical evidence from a doctor.

"It’s not the laws that need to be amended. What Pakistan needs is to sensitize and train its police force and its doctors to aid transgender people instead of abusing them," Chaudry added.

But others disagree, saying that in order for transgender people to find safety, employment, and a place in mainstream society, laws must be put in place to protect them and recognise them. A 2009 Pakistani Supreme Court ruling helped establish some protections for transgender people, including how they can inherit property.

Many transgender activists feel that the government needs to do more to educate trans people about their rights. The reason Nomi and Julie stood up to demand that their alleged attackers be punished is because they were aware of their rights, Chaudry said. Like Yaqoob's organization, Chaudry is focused on empowering transgender people by teaching them the law so they can know and report abuse by police and others when they see it.

"Most disenfranchised people don't know they have rights," he added.

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Deliveroo has barely been out of the headlines in recent days. The online food delivery company has been criticised for how it treats its workers, who aren't really "workers" per se, but self-employed contractors.

It's under fire over a new pay deal it's trialling on some of its riders this month.

Last night, the company announced it wouldn't force the new contract on them, which many believe will make riders' earnings even less secure, and offered some other concessions. But some say these concessions aren't enough.

So what exactly is going on?

What Is Deliveroo Proposing?

Remember, because the couriers are self-employed they already provide their own transport (bicycles and motorbikes), insurance and aren't eligible for holiday pay or sick pay, The Guard ian reported.

And because they're not legally "workers", they're not eligible for minimum wage. Their £7 per hour wage was already below the minimum wage. In practice, the line between being "self-employed" and a "worker" is thin. The government recently stepped in, telling the company it must pay riders minimum wage unless a court rules that they're actually self-employed.

Deliveroo Riders Have Been Striking

One rider told Vice it would make him more likely to have an accident on the roads while trying to complete as many deliveries as possible in peak times. "I'm gonna be crazy. I'm gonna be the fastest rider on the road. I'm gonna be like, 'Oh shit, if I do this job, there's more chance of getting another job.' I'm gonna be rushing everything – I might jump a traffic light, you never know. There's more chance of having an accident," he said.

Riders want a guaranteed London living wage of £9.40 per hour, an extra £1 per delivery and "a commitment by Deliveroo to cover the costs of insurance and repairs," said Mags Dewhurst, Chair of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain couriers and logistics branch.

#london now: #deliveroo riders vote for a demand of £9.40 per hour and £1 per delivery #strike #solidarity pic.twitter.com/aQ3cPtP0qd

— Jane Nellist (@janenellist1) August 11, 2016

What Happens Next?

Deliveroo will go ahead with a trial of the new payment scheme, on 280 out of 3,000 riders in London, but it now won't force riders to sign a contract agreeing to it. They can try it and opt out.

However, if they don't want to and the trial is taking place in their assigned delivery zone – including parts of Camden, Hampstead and Belsize Park in London – they'll have to work elsewhere, in an area they might not know. "If riders wish to stick with the old scheme, we simply ask them to move over to a neighbouring zone, no more than two miles away," Shu said.

The trial will last until the 14th of September, when the company will meet with riders to discuss their month's pay. So, until we know how what riders make of the new deal, we can't be sure what the impact will be.

Unfortunately, the only way to ensure your takeaway finds it way to you ethically is to go and get it yourself.

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A dorm room can be a pretty depressing place. The concrete block walls, ultra-thin mattresses, and lack of natural light can almost make them feel like jail cells. To combat that grimness, many students try to decorate their rooms in a cheerful, personal way, which for most means tacking up a poster of their favourite band and calling it a day. But two first-year students from The University of Mississippi took dorm decorating to a level of luxury we’ve never seen.

Lindy Goodson and Abby Bozeman met on social media back in December after both committed to attend Ole Miss this fall. The two hit it off, agreed to room together, and immediately started planning their dorm room decor. According to BuzzFeed News, since the young women lived in two different states, they had to do all the planning long distance. They had never even met in person before moving in this week.

Despite the students having to coordinate designs from different parts of the country, the room really came together. Actually, that's an understatement; the end result of their decorating efforts is a room fit for a queen. The girls told BuzzFeed News this is actually not out of the ordinary at Ole Miss. Goodson said, “Everybody decorates their dorm. It’s really competitive. So I was like, we definitely have to make ours look good. A lot of them here are done up.” The two young women surely achieved their goal. This may be the most "done up" dorm we've ever seen. (PopSugar)

Martin 203 in tha 38655!! #babyrebs #hydr

A photo posted by Abby Bozeman (@abbyboze) on Aug 15, 2016 at 3:46pm PDT

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For something that permeates so many aspects of our daily lives, we know surprisingly little about the internet. Just think about a typical day: We wake up and check emails, social media, and the weather forecast on our phones, laptops, or tablets. We check traffic and train schedules on Google Transit, and perhaps even listen to a podcast, or stream music, on our way to the office. Millions of Americans spend a good portion of the day working (or not working) on the web — on email, news sites, doing research, and using internal networks. Then, after a long day many of us go home, chill out with Netflix, and order a meal from Seamless.

The internet is such a vast topic that only a filmmaker as formidable as Werner Herzog could do it justice in one shot. And his latest documentary, Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, does the job beautifully. Herzog ( Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams) takes us from the first message ever transmitted via the internet (the letters L-O in 1969, as in "Lo and Behold") to the web of the future (think: Mars). We look at the web's myriad miracles (the information explosion, unprecedented collaboration) and pitfalls (addiction, hacking, cyber war) along the way. (And it's not just the internet — Herzog also covers tech fronts like artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.) Most eerily, he has us imagine two equally frightening scenarios: A post-apocalyptic world without technology, and a world controlled by technology but devoid of human interaction.

We highly recommend taking the time to have your mind thoroughly blown for 98 minutes. But here are the 10 wildest facts about the internet we learned from Lo and Behold.

1. There used to be a list of all the people on the web. In the early days of the internet, there was a directory of every single person who was on the internet in the U.S. It contained the name, email address, and phone number of each individual on the web — and it was no larger than your standard phone book. If they tried to print a directory like that today, if would have to be 72 miles thick.

2. The WWW belongs to all of us because of one guy. Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web, which he innovated around the model of the internet. Lucky for all of us, he chose not to patent his invention. And today, nobody can claim to own the web.

3. It's hard to even conceive of the amount of information on the internet. Here's one crazy visualisation that might help: If you burned CDs of the worldwide data flow in one single day, they would form a stack so high that it would reach Mars — TWICE.

4. There is rehab for internet addicts. The first centre of its kind, reSTART, is outside of Washington. It treats people who exhibit classic signs of addiction — manipulation, isolating, lying, putting the addiction before everything else, including their own health — in relation to the web, video games, social media, technology use, etc. For example, one patient came to the center after having his leg amputated. He developed thrombosis from lack of movement after playing video games for days at a time.

5. There is an emergency plan for Wikipedia if the world ends. It's called the Wikipedia Terminal Event Management Policy. Basically, it's a how-to for Wikipedia editors in the case of a civilisation-threatening event. It details how to save the content of the web encyclopedia in a non-electronic form. In other words, if the apocalypse is nigh, start printing stuff out ASAP. There's also the possibility of compressing all of Wikipedia and transmitting the data to the 300 nearest stars using radio telescopes.

6. In the future, war will be on the web. There have already been hacks into mammoth entities like NASA, the U.S. military, the World Bank, and the White House. Cyber warfare is much more attractive than traditional warfare because it is so much less expensive and risky than physical war. Smaller nations can compete on the same playing field as countries with massive armies.

7. We could create an interplanetary internet. If Elon Musk's SpaceX ever makes it to Mars, we could not only set up an internet on Mars, but establish a web connection between Earth and Mars.

8. We could be in a digital dark age. Some experts think that historians will call our current era some kind of a Digital Dark Age. If a catastrophic event destroyed all of our digital records — including everything stored on servers, clouds, and our devices — there would be little paper evidence for historians to rely on.

9. The internet helped scientists make a huge leap in medical research. In 2010, the National Science Foundation started EteRNA, a crowd-sourcing research game where the players — of any age or profession — solve puzzles pertaining to the complex patterns in which RNA molecules are folded. Figuring out what designs work is too complex for high-powered computers, but not the human brain. Stanford scientists then synthesise molecules in the lab based on the players' designs.

10. The Internet of Things is a dangerous proposition. Concerned experts point out that the more devices, appliances, and systems we connect to the internet, the more civilisation relies on the internet. This is risky because, should the internet ever be compromised by a catastrophic event (like a giant solar flare), everything that functions using the internet will be rendered inoperable.

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A Kenyan man has been accused of cutting off his wife's hands and mutilating her for not giving him children — even though doctors told him he was the one who was infertile.

Jackline Mwende’s husband is accused of attacking her in their home in Machakos, Kenya with a machete in late July, the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday. According to Mwende, 27, her husband, Stephen Ngila, slashed her face, leaving her disfigured, and cut off both of her hands. A neighbour told local media that area residents heard screaming and called the police. She said that upon entering the house, she saw rooms spattered with blood and a severed hand on the floor.

Mwende told The LA Times that the marriage had started out happy, but eventually turned sour over the couple's fertility issues. She said that after a doctor told them that Ngila was infertile in 2014, her husband started drinking and beating her. Her parents pleaded with her to leave, but her church leaders advised her to stay in the marriage.

“In most cases, every time there was a problem, I would run to our pastor,” she said. “The pastor would always tell me, ‘Jackie, please persevere. That man will come to change one day,’” she said. “I always wanted to protect my marriage so I decided to stay with him.”

Domestic violence and abuse is a significant problem in Kenya. According to statistics from the Gender Violence Recovery Centre at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital, between 39% and 47% of Kenyan women experience gender-based violence in their lifetime, and 41% of women who have ever been married there have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner. Domestic violence was outlawed in Kenya in 2015, when the country passed the Protection against Domestic Violence Act.

In the aftermath of the alleged attack, activists are calling for better protections for women. Activist Naitore Nyamu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that authorities needed to make certain that victims of domestic violence were protected. “We can’t afford to let the perpetrators act with impunity — which has sometimes been the case in recent years,” she said. Ngila, whose family claims his innocence, has been arrested and is awaiting trial.

Mwande, still recovering from her injuries, said that while, as a Christian, she can’t encourage anyone to leave their marriage, that she hoped she could act as a warning for other domestic violence survivors. “I’d like to talk about my personal story so other people, or other victims, may learn [from it] and speak up,” she told The LA Times.

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Even if you're the most careful shopper in the world — forgoing sample sales, "just looking" store trips with friends, and even those curiosity purchases from e-commerce sites with convenient return policies — you know how much buyer's remorse sucks. It's not just that you've got this thing sitting in your closet that's taking up space. It's not even that you spent money on it that you could have used toward something — anything! — else. It's mostly that you knew better, and you still bought it anyway.

So stop it already! Understand your weaknesses, know your blind spots, and start recognising when that little voice in your head is spinning you a fantasy about how perfect a certain dress will look with those shoes you saw on that random woman on the tube, so you can recreate that scene you saw on Instagram earlier today of that blogger who was partying with celebrities on a yacht in Corsica. That voice is a lying liar. Ahead, we've sounded out the seven times when you should just drop it and walk away.

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Though we often eat Greek yoghurt straight from the container, that method (and the occasional layered-up parfait) isn't the only way to eat the creamy snack. In fact, this fridge staple can have a place in all of your meals, not just breakfast. From serving as a sour cream substitute to being used as an ingredient in pizza dough, this dairy powerhouse can do way more than you think.

We've rounded up some of the best alternative uses for Greek yoghurt, for all of your cooking needs.

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A woman named Samantha Wragg recently listed her wedding dress on eBay. After about two weeks with very little interest from any potential buyers, her brother gave her the idea to spice up her listing with a few brutally honest details about why she wanted to get rid of the gown in the first place. Specifically: Her husband cheated on her and she wants to use the proceeds of the dress sale to finance her divorce. Once Wragg added that info to her item description, bids suddenly went through the roof.

Back in 2014, the former bride’s parents purchased the dress for £2,000. Now, with three days left in the auction, the bids are up to £65,900. So what exactly did Wragg say to make this item go viral?

Aside from describing the actual style of the dress, which is a strapless empire gown in ivory, Braggs also added bits that could either come across as funny or harsh, depending on how you look at it. She wrote, “If you want a dress that is full of bad memories and shattered hopes and dreams, then this is the one for you!” She even added that the dress would probably need to dry-cleaned before being worn again, saying, "I didn't have time to get it dry-cleaned myself before my cheating scumbag of a husband decided to call an end to our marriage." Are you laughing or cringing?

After all the attention the eBay listing received, Wragg wrote a response to criticism on her personal blog. "A lot of people have got the wrong end of the stick and think it’s really bitter but anyone who knows me knows I’ve got a great sense of humour and it’s very tongue in cheek," she wrote. Aside from a few haters, Wragg says she's mostly gotten positive reactions and empathy from people who have seen her listing. "One thing all this has taught me is that people are SO NICE," she added. "I literally can’t count the amount of messages I’ve had on eBay from both men and women wishing me all the best with everything."

Though Wragg refered to her cheating ex in the description, she assures readers in her blog post that she has forgiven him and wishes him the best. Now, she just wants to be happy, move on, and make a little bit of money. (ITV)

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If you haven't yet heard the word “gluten,” you've probably been living under a rock. Celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Miley Cyrus have embraced the gluten-free “lifestyle” — or at least have dabbled in it — and there’s no shortage of wellness bloggers and influencers who tout the purported benefits of skipping this complex protein found in wheat. The result: Most of the people cutting gluten out of their lives aren’t doing so because of celiac disease, according to a recent paper published in the journal Pediatrics. Instead, they’re doing it because of the many circulating myths out there.

A gluten-free diet is literally a life-saver for people with celiac disease, which is a genetic autoimmune disorder that damages the small intestine, triggering symptoms such as cramping, bloating, and diarrhoea. In fact, going gluten-free is the only available treatment for people who have this condition.

But too many people wrongfully believe that a gluten-free diet will help boost energy, lead to fast weight loss, solve headaches or inflammation, or help with auto-immune diseases in general, explains Peter H.R. Green, MD, director of the Celiac Disease Centre at Columbia University. “There just isn’t any scientific basis to these claims.”

Still, it isn’t quite that simple, Dr. Green admits, as we are learning more about the existence of what’s known as gluten sensitivity.

Ahead, we debunk the major misconceptions surrounding this much-maligned protein and share the latest on who can and cannot eat gluten.

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In January, I found a grape-sized lump in my left breast. It wasn’t brought to my attention at the gyno’s office, but rather during a mundane and medically irrelevant event: a hug.

As my boyfriend and I stood on the subway platform, he pulled me into a tight squeeze, and in that normal gesture, I felt an abnormal pang of pain on the left side of my chest. I shifted my stance to see if maybe it was a “bad angle” — but nope, that spot was tender no matter what direction the pressure came from.

When I got home, I did a more thorough exam of the area, tracing my breast until I came across a small lump at the tender spot. Then, I did what any modern hypochondriac would do: I burst into tears and hopped online for a diagnosis.

I was pretty sure I had cancer at this point (thanks, Google), so I booked a next-day appointment with my gynaecologist. She didn’t think it was anything serious, but she agreed I needed an ultrasound. The results a few weeks later seemed to confirm my dire prognosis.

“It’s a solid mass,” the radiologist said, adding that it “looked suspicious and had irregular borders.” Within 20 minutes, I was lying topless on an examination table while a very nice doctor jabbed a needle into my left breast, removing a piece of the tumour in the process. Since nothing good ever has irregular borders, I hopelessly accepted Google’s prophecy while awaiting the biopsy to confirm.

After what felt like the two longest days known to man, the lump came back C-word-free. It turned out to be a fibroadenoma, a benign tumour that’s pretty common in young women and something I had never heard of in my life.

Of course, I was relieved by this news. But I wish I’d known beforehand that that there is such a thing as a non-horrible breast lump — I could have saved myself a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

October after October, the world turns pink to remind us that we might get breast cancer and that we need to remain vigilant. No one could say this is a bad thing: It’s good to be aware that breast cancer is increasing in young women. Plus, breast cancer when you’re young tends to be more aggressive, with lower survival rates.

But it’s also true that finding something unusual in your breasts is not uncommon, and it’s often not a sign of something serious. “More than 99% of lumps in women under 30 are benign,” says David Michael Euhus, MD, director of breast surgery at Johns Hopkins. “And for women 30 to 40, it’s about 95%.”

After going through this myself, I learned that even benign masses (yep, there’s more than one kind) are not created equal. Some will get bigger, some might hurt, and some might still need to be removed ASAP. With the help of breast experts, we’ve put together a list of the benign breast lumps every twentysomething should know about.

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We tend to assume that women don't have as much of a desire for sex as men or that female arousal is some kind of eternal mystery that no scientist — let alone the rest of us mere mortals — could ever really decode. But thankfully, none of that is true.

In the actual research, "we don’t see the kind of gender differences people assume exist," explains Kristen Mark, PhD, at the University of Kentucky. So why do we assume they exist at all? "Women have always been [seen] as not as sexual as men," she adds. "And women's sexual pleasure for the sake of it has been ignored, whereas for men, it's been celebrated. This directly impacts how we see the way in which women experience sexual desire."

Part of the reason sex drive might feel like a mystery is that it truly is a complex response, involving multiple factors. "Sexual desire is a motivational force that brings people toward sexual behaviour," Dr. Mark says. "It's the more psychological piece [of your sex drive], whereas arousal is the physical piece." And your level of sexual desire is determined by physiological things (such as your hormones), psychological things (such as stress), as well as more contextual things (such as the quality of your relationship with your partner).

But it's not always straightforward to study the way our libidos work. Because researchers aren't usually able to follow participants around to track their sex lives, they have to rely on those participants to report their own experiences, Dr. Mark explains. Each individual participant might interpret questionnaires differently, which introduces opportunities for inaccuracy. Another option is to include a physiological measure of arousal (e.g. blood flow) in studies. But that can make it easy to conflate physical arousal with sexual desire. "Although they're very related, they are also different processes," Dr. Mark says. This distinction is especially important in situations of sexual assault, for example; it is possible for a victim to be physically aroused but absolutely not into what's happening.

We don’t see the kind of gender differences people assume exist.

The challenge for researchers, then, is to create questionnaires that accurately and consistently reflect the nuanced experience of sexual desire for as many people as possible, as it changes from day to day. And that's exactly what Dr. Mark has been working on: building a way to investigate the question, What do we really want out of our sexual experiences?

What she and other researchers have found so far — contrary to popular opinion — is that women don't have a lower baseline level of sexual desire than men. But when we zoom out to look at it overall, Dr. Mark says there are some slight differences (women's desires tend to be a bit more context-dependent, for instance). For example, one of her papers, published in 2014 in The Journal of Sexual Medicine surveyed 406 people and found that, while the levels of sexual desire didn't differ between genders, what they desired did: All participants agreed that pleasing their partners was important, but women also desired emotional intimacy and "feeling sexually desirable" where men placed more value on physical sexual release and orgasm.

For non-heterosexual women, the picture is much murkier, unfortunately. For decades now, research looking at LGBTQ populations has focused only on the risks for STIs associated with sex, explains Dr. Mark. "That has not allowed a lot of room to look at sexual desire and pleasure." But she and other researchers have done some work looking at sexual desire in lesbian and bisexual women, shedding light on the complexities of sexual fluidity and the differences between sexual desire and romantic bonding. For instance, a 2014 study in Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity found that women who identify as bisexual tend to be less supportive of traditional views of monogamy than heterosexual women. However, there's still plenty of research to be done in this area.

Your gender doesn't necessarily determine your level of sexual desire, but being in sync with your partner's drive is still an important factor in a relationship. Luckily, if you're not matched up in that particular department, Dr. Mark says that is something you can work on. However, "partners should always try to meet in the middle rather than placing all of the pressure [to change] on one member of the couple, which typically falls on the individual with lower desire," she explains.

Women's sexual pleasure for its own sake has been ignored.

Instead, work towards a compromise: The partner with a higher level of desire can rely on masturbation more frequently. And the partner with lower desire may need to expand their idea of getting turned on beyond simply being an in-the-heat-of-the-moment thing: "Like their partner did the dishes or took care of the kids, for example, and that helped make them want to 'reward' their partner with sex," says Dr. Mark.

There are also health issues to consider. For example, anxiety and depression can lower sex drive. In fact, Addyi, a drug developed to treat low libido in women, was originally developed to be an antidepressant. However, other antidepressants (such as Prozac) are known to lower sex drive for some. So once again, it's complicated.

If you're in a long-term relationship, your sexual patterns are bound to change anyways. In some cases, that does mean you'll be having less sex, but that doesn't have to be the case. "People shouldn't expect desire to look the same as it did earlier on in a relationship," Dr. Mark says. Later on, it's not so much "I want to tear all your clothes off right now " as it is "You were really funny with our friends at a party and seeing you be in your element got me excited." But if it feels like you two just aren't on the same page, a sex therapist can help you sort things out.

As with all things in a relationship, sexual desire is a dynamic thing, and it may take some work to keep it humming along. But we think it's safe to say it's worth the effort.

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Grimes is very high on the list of women inspiring us when it comes to IDGAF beauty. The singer is what we call the antithesis of the pop star (that's why she holds a spot on our "singers shaking up beauty standards" list). She marches to the beat of her own (super-catchy) drum and doesn't take herself too seriously — a refreshing quality that we love. It makes sense, then, that she was selected to be the face of Stella McCartney's Pop fragrance and is one of four celebs tapped to star in the campaign video, below.

The scent is described as bold, authentic, and irreverent, which are all words we'd use to describe the 28-year-old. We are talking about the person who documented her own haircut-gone-wrong on Instagram, after all. We had a chance to chat with the artist about collaborating with Stella McCartney, her beauty mantra, and what came of her hair saga. Scroll through to read what she had to say.

What excited you most about collaborating with Stella McCartney?

“I obviously care a lot about fashion — it has a very big and intense carbon footprint and I think Stella is really moving in the right direction with regards to her ethics in making clothes. For me to ever do something like this, it would have to be something that abided by those ethics. I think that it represents the future of fashion in regards to sustainability.”

What’s been your favourite part of the campaign?

“Probably working with Stella and Amandla [Stenberg], because they are both really cool. It was actually really chill on the day that we shot; everyone was just really nice.”

Why do you like to experiment with beauty?

“I think because of boredom, but also there's a sense of necessity. When you're on tour, you kind of just roll with whatever happens. I'd probably chalk it up to boredom. Like, why not?”

Have you ever felt like you've had to subscribe to a certain beauty ideal?

“I don't think so. Maybe I'm not a very perceptive person, but I've never really felt like anyone forced me to look a certain way.”

Has your beauty mindset changed since coming into the spotlight?

“Not really. Although, I do pluck my eyebrows now. I like a unibrow, and I will probably have a unibrow in the future. I support unibrows.”

Has anyone helped you define your personal style?

“Yeah, definitely. Dolly Parton is a fashion icon, [and] Selena Quintanilla. Rihanna has the bes t style, although mine does not match Rihanna's at all. I appreciate all forms of audacity.”

Would you say those women are your beauty icons, as well?

“My beauty icon might be more of a Frida Kahlo; [she] may be a bit more androgynous.”

What is your beauty mantra?

"Lots of avocados, oil, and sleep. Avocados because I bleach my hair so much and it's really good for your hair. Also, I don't wear deodorant or anything. I think my beauty mantra is basically to eat healthy. I start feeling gross when I don't eat healthy, and I’m too low-maintenance to bother having a beauty regimen.”

Are there any other foods you swear by, besides avocados?

“Just tons and tons of oil — olive oil, almond oil, coconut oil — in my food, and in my skin and hair.”

What's your biggest beauty regret?

“Every time I cut my hair, that's my biggest regret. I'm in a state of deep regret right now because I recently cut my hair. That's just the circle of life.”

We saw your hair transformation on Instagram; what happened with that?

“It’s not the worst. I hate the length, but I did a decent job. I've never had a hairdresser because I've always cut my own hair, so it's not totally foreign to me. I've fried my hair so badly that it had to be cut off anyway.”

What are your must-have beauty products when traveling?

“Face wash, shampoo, face oil, and black eyeliner. I think those are the only things you need. I like anything Burt's Bees and Kiehl's. There is a brand called Alima; it's vegan and all-natural. That stuff is good.”

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Though summer is sadly coming to an end, that doesn’t mean you need to stop travelling. Every upcoming weekend represents a possible trip. But don’t think you should just head to the same obvious spots again and again. Instead, grab your friends and plan a weekend break somewhere new and unexpected.

Heard of Portafino in Italy? Wondered what Gothenburg has to offer? Forgotten where Graz is? Well here are ten European vacation spots you may not have considered but definitely should...

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