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Woman's Hour

Riki Lindhome, Dutch appeal, Student loans, Author Lucy Apps

·57 min·5 clips
At 34, Riki Lindhome's doctor told her she should have frozen her eggs 10 years ago, forcing her to start the process that same day.
The episode opens with host Anita Rani introducing the day's topics: Riki Lindhome's one-woman show about infertility, a Dutch sextortion case, student loans' impact on women, and Lucy Apps' debut novel. First, reporter Anna Holligan explains a case in the Netherlands where a 22-year-old man, using the alias Terpene, coerced girls aged 13-20 on Snapchat to send explicit images, then blackmailed them for more; police have launched a social media campaign to identify more victims. Riki Lindhome then joins to discuss her show 'Dead Inside,' describing her fertility journey that began at age 34 when a doctor urged immediate egg freezing. She recounts freezing eggs three times, a pregnancy loss at 38, and discovering silent endometriosis, which causes infertility without pain. Riki eventually had a son via surrogacy and married quickly, but faces online backlash for her choices. Next, Amy Brookham from the Women's Budget Group shares her student loan story, having accrued £90,000 in debt as part of the first cohort to pay £9,000 fees; she explains how women, due to lower earnings and career breaks, repay loans longer, affecting economic freedom and pensions. Kate Ogden from the Institute for Fiscal Studies adds that women repay less on average but for more years. Finally, Lucy Apps discusses her novel 'Gloria Don't Speak,' longlisted for the Women's Prize, which follows Gloria, a woman with learning disabilities, and her complex friendship with Jack; Lucy, a GP and volunteer, aimed to center an overlooked character. The episode weaves personal narratives with broader social issues, emphasizing women's experiences across fertility, online safety, finance, and representation.

As heard by us

A broad Woman's Hour episode lands hardest in its Dutch report on online sexual extortion.

Woman's Hour pairs Rikki Lindholm's Dead Inside, a one-woman show framed as both funny and painful, with a Dutch police campaign on online sexual extortion.

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Why you'd press play

You want a sharply varied Woman's Hour listen: comedy that laughs and cries, then a Dutch police appeal about sextortion.

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