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Home was last modified: July 11th, 2016 by Madrid No Frills

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Spain’s new menstrual leave bill brings us one step closer to feminising medicine
27 May 2022
Unforgotten Spain: An intact concentration camp has finally been put back on the map
26 April 2022
The little wicker shop in Villa de Vallecas
22 April 2022
Three of Madrid’s football stadiums were once Francoist concentration camps
12 April 2022
Journalists of the Future course enrolment now open for May 2022!
8 April 2022

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𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲

📸 @aldarazn

Medicine is dominated by the study of white, male, western bodies, which have long been seen as the most perfect human specimen – any others have been seen as a deviation. For as long as medicine has existed, women and people of colour have been excluded from medical research, resulting in healthcare systems made by white men for white men.

Medicine has always seen women first and foremost as reproductive bodies. The female reproductive organs are seen as the greatest source of difference to men and resulted in the creation of gynaecology departments, whose main focus still remains on the reproductive system and therefore does not typically take into account other differences between female and male bodies.

“Angina pectoris (chest pain) or heart attacks do not manifest the same in a woman and a man,” says Carmen Diego, a spokesperson for professional care workers in Madrid. “We should also look into why the socio-sanitary sector has more cases of anxiety and depression and what factors cause these illnesses to occur, such as working conditions and salaries.”

To some extent, gynaecology departments have shifted the responsibility when it comes the medical study of female bodies, ticking a box while simultaneously deleting it. But the new menstrual leave bill has the potential to refocus attention on women’s health.

Up to 10% of the country experiences severe period pain. With a huge portion of Spain’s workforce being granted unlimited menstrual sick leave, the country must now stop and think of its future. There are two directions in which we can move: either stop hiring women and remove us from the country’s workforce – something I fear is not an unrealistic option for the right – or invest in the medical research into female bodies and make us a healthier, happier workforce.

Feminising medicine must also push for the decolonisation of medicine.

🔎 Read the full article linked in bio @madridnofrills

#leymenstruacióndigna #madrid

@isabeldiazayuso has just said one of the worst th

@isabeldiazayuso has just said one of the worst things I think I’ve ever heard her say. Attacking the feminism of the current government, she's let slip what she really thinks about her sisters:

"Their way of seeing life, typical of spoiled people who aspire to go home alone and drunk, devoid of responsibilities even in the face of their worst decisions, embarrasses most of us women who work every day to move our country forward."

‘Sola y borracha’ (alone and drunk) is a slogan you can find in many of Madrid’s feminist spaces. It highlights the fact that it should be okay for women to walk home alone at night – even after a few drinks – getting home safely without being intercepted by an attacker.

In using the word “decision”, she’s implying that we are “deciding” to get raped. She is victim-blaming women and enabling rapists.

And all this from the very woman who won her Madrid presidency on a campaign for “Libertad” (freedom) to be able to drink and be free. But this is not freedom. Since becoming predisdent of the Comunidad de Madrid, she has done nothing but continue allowing women the freedom to go out, the freedom to drink, the freedom to go home unescorted, and the "freedom" to be raped. Ayuso's government have not made one attempt to make Madrid safer for women and, after her statement over the weekend, she has made this city less safe.

A woman not being able to walk home at night is not freedom, it's repression. Perhaps that should be Ayuso’s next campaign slogan, “Represión!” 🙌🏾💃🌺

#feminismo #ayuso #solayborracha

"Tenemo flan" Always there, always the first thin

"Tenemo flan"

Always there, always the first thing to be read out, always the top choice.

#tenemoflan #flan #comidaespañola #spanishfood

It's confirmed: Madrid's no-frills bars have come

It's confirmed: Madrid's no-frills bars have come back to pre-pandemic life and more 🎉 and I love it 😍

#madrid #sanisidro #nofrillsbar

A photo I took outside no-frills bar Köln exactly

A photo I took outside no-frills bar Köln exactly three years during San Isidro festival! It's good to have it back ☀️🍺🥘🔥🌺💃

#sanisidro #madrid #nofrillsbar

☀️ Today is a hopeful day for equality in Spai

☀️ Today is a hopeful day for equality in Spain as a new bill on reproductive rights is set to be approved next week! As well as providing better, safer and more discreet access to abortion and better support around pregnancy, birth and parenting, menstrual health is taking center stage!

Here’s a summary:

⚕️ People suffering from painful or unmanageable periods will be entitled to a three- to five-day sick leave approved by a doctor.

💝 Education centers, social centers, prisons and many more public institutions must offer free tampons, pads and other period products.

👛 VAT on sanitary products will be removed, making them more affordable.

This new bill could and should go much further: we need better public health care and speedier access to gynecologists; better education in schools on tackling painful periods, including destigmatizing young people using contraceptive pills and implants (which should be free); and having better access to more affordable and sustainable sanitary products.

Also, not all workplaces or systems have the infrastructure to facilitate menstrual leave and it is unclear how/if freelancers will be able to access this sick pay.

But one thing that is for certain is that this new legislation is a step towards eliminating the stigma surrounding menstruation and levelling the social and economic playing field! 💪🏾

Cartagena No Frills 🌺 #crucesdemayo #cartagena

Cartagena No Frills 🌺

#crucesdemayo #cartagena #murcia

🎓 The Journalists of the Future are here!!! W

🎓 The Journalists of the Future are here!!!

We've just finished week one of my of Journalists of the Future course and I'm so ridiculously proud ❤️ I'm proud of each and every one of my students for their dedication to learning how to both do and push for better journalism! And I'm proud of myself too for believing in myself to create something like this, then actually creating it, then getting out there and finding all of these totally inspiring people who I'm honoured to call my students!! 🥰 So ridiculously excited for week 2!!! 😍

#mnfjournalistsofthefuture ❤️✨

🌳👴🏼 The Arbuelo: a park tree chosen by ab

🌳👴🏼 The Arbuelo: a park tree chosen by abuelos to store their bags, coats and caps while they play park games.

Each Arbuelo has around 10 to 15 large nails hammered into the trunk at about head height, put there by abuelos over the decades knowing they'd be useful for generations of abuelos to come.

Can be found in most parks across Spain.

Today is World Press Freedom Day and a perfect mom

Today is World Press Freedom Day and a perfect moment to highlight that our supposed democracy is under siege from a Franco-esque law implemented as recently as 2016.

Because of Ley Mordaza (the Gag Law), we can't honestly report on police actions, we can't call out institutional corruption when we see it, nor can we report accurately on racist killings.

Well, we could, but who can afford to be fined, sent to prison, or perhaps loose their right to live in Spain?

The current government promised they would repeal the Gag Law, which exposes that they know it's unethical and objectively unlawful, but they still haven't.

Dear Pedro Sánchez, Repeal the Gag Law NOW!

📸 Me at a recent protest ✊🏾

#acabemosconlaleymordaza #gaglaw #leymordaza #stopleymordaza #madrid #worldpressfreedomday

One of the most famous shots of Cuenca taken from

You wouldn't necessarily know that there's a no-fr

Last night, gastronomic writer @jorgeguitian featu

Last night, gastronomic writer @jorgeguitian featured me in his newsletter – an honour 💕 Translated from Spanish and shortened slightly, it goes like this...

"Today, I want to talk about @madridnofrills, the project of Leah Pattem (British) who has lived in Madrid for years and who dedicates herself to talking about that other, much larger Madrid to which we devote much less attention.

Surely, if you dedicate yourself to writing about gastronomy, this week you will have received three or four press releases about openings in which they talk about interior design more than about the cuisine, promising you that this will be the place everyone talks about.

Last week, there was another one, but this is the good one. Behind all the glitter and the spotlights – amid which very special things are hidden – there is another Madrid. The day-to-day Madrid of 4 million people, and in which the soul of what was still lives – a soul less photogenic but impossible to imitate. Leah sees it and has made its recovery a form of activism. And I think it's the best thing that could happen to us, not because I think that the openings in the coming months should actually be new no-frills bars that only serve grilled ears and chicken, but because, today, there are no more no-frills bars left – this Madrid will be dead and, in its place, we will have another that insists (in vain) on wanting to be something that it is not and on looking like other places, and, in the process, Madrid’s personality will be lost.

She explains that gastronomy, even a tapa of tripe in Villaverde, is a political act. In a country where the average salary does not reach €1,300, paying €400 for dinner seems to me something that we should at least question. Because it is impossible for many and because for others it is obscene. I know that there are places that are worth it, but there is more life out there and we are in danger of gastronomy ending up looking like the cover of Hello.

I have been happier in some no-frills bars on the southern outskirts than in fashionable places that have cost me a penny. Because there is more life out there and journalism should tell us about it."

I first visited the Cañada Real three years ago,

I first visited the Cañada Real three years ago, where I met some of the same children that attended a protest through sectors 3 to 6 yesterday – the same kids in this photo.

Back in 2019, I watched these little ones walk on stage with the biggest grins, in front of an audience of parents who clapped and cheered 👏🏾 It was the inauguration of their film festival, called 16km, with the aim of bringing visitors to their barrio in an attempt to destigmatise it. Their plan was working, but then, 571 days ago, their electricity was cut off.

Today, the same young protagonists of the 16km film festival stand on quite a different stage narrating quite a different story. They're no longer grinning and waving to their parents, but shouting "Queremos luz!" (we want electricity!) into the cameras of photojournalists.

Stay informed. Follow @plataformaluzcr, join their campaigns, sign their petitions, share their stories. The Cañada exists, and they will not be switched off 💡✨

📸 @_a.astudillo__

Translation: The Hot-Air Balloon Bar, on Fat Mount

Translation: The Hot-Air Balloon Bar, on Fat Mountain Range Street 🎈⛰️🍻✨

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗱 🌾

"This building was completed in 1970, that's around when my father moved his workshop in," explains Alberto Crespo Gutiérrez, who owns a small wicker workshop in Villa de Vallecas.

Alongside magazine cutouts of designs Alberto finds interesting – his real-life Pinterest board – there are photographs of his father weaving wicker. He tells me that the collection of wicker bull heads are his favourite pieces by his dad, which you can see in the centre of photo 2. "The wicker came from Cuenca and Valencia, and we still grow a lot of it here in Spain".

Alberto worked alongside his father from a young age. "He taught me everything I know about wicker, repairs, design and business. He passed away quite a few years ago now, which is when I took over and made this place my own. Today though, there's not much business in wicker furniture anymore. You can't make much money in it, so I mostly focus on repairs."

Alberto showed me some things he's working on at the moment: two vintage chairs and a wicker handbag, and one of his proudest works: the wicker cot on the top shelf above his dad's wicker bull heads.

📍 Artesanía de Mimbre y Caña de Crespo. Calle de la Sierra Vieja, 35, Villa de Vallecas 🌾

#villadevallecas #vallecas #madrid #mimbre

👋🏾 Hi! I'm Leah, your grassroots journalism

👋🏾 Hi! I'm Leah, your grassroots journalism professor! I know I look pretty fierce here and I kind of am – it takes being fierce to do what I do: to tell the stories that matter and deal with all the grief I get for pushing against the long-established grain of elitist journalism.

But as a teacher, I'm both your guide and your equal, I'm here for you and here with you, and I find each and every one of you as inspiring as you do me. My previous students can confirm this, especially when we get together in Madrid or on Zoom for cañas and have amazing conversations about ideas and life ❤️❤️❤️

That's also another wonderful thing about this course, getting to know your fellow students and also my fabulous alumni! 🥰🥰🥰

There are just 10 spaces left on my Journalists of the Future course – that's 10 more Journalists of the Future that I want get to know and welcome into my small but growing no-frills family! 🎓🎓🎓

Got a question about the course? Send me a DM! Want to enrol? Send me an email to hola@madridnofrills.com and let's get you signed up!!!

🕖 Tuesdays at 7pm (7 spaces left)
🕗 Wednesdays at 8pm (full)
🕛 Fridays at 12pm (6 places left)

🐦 Early-bird price of €65 available until Friday!!!

👉🏾 All info and course details linked in bio @madridnofrills

#mnfjournalistsofthefuture #vivalaropatendida

📸 @angelbiyanueba

Grab a coffee and let's talk about colonialism and

Grab a coffee and let's talk about colonialism and racism in journalism.

Colonialism and racism are institutionally ingrained in journalism and are responsible for a culture of 'us versus them'.

Universities teach journalism students that they must remain at an arm's length from their subjects while also spending time getting to know them, almost like a voyeuristic anthropological study. From covering migration and homelessness to business and food, racism is weaved into far too many narratives. As a result, dangerous perspectives are shared on platforms that reach millions of people around the world, both allowing and exacerbating the formation and fossilisation of racism.

When I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in journalism, I did a lot of research into the industry, and found that there were no courses that suited the journalism I wanted to do. So I decided to teach myself, and it's going pretty well.

I have one of the most popular media platforms in Madrid and have bylines in the Guardian, Al Jazeera and El País. I've also been featured for my work on the BBC, Cónde Nast, Al Jazeera and almost all main Spanish newspapers.

Now it's time to teach you everything I've taught myself! Learn about ethical journalism, how to make sure that you don't fall into a culture of colonialsm and racism in storytelling, and how to be a part of the future of journalism!

Enrol today and be a journalist of the future!!!

🎓 May class slots still available:

🕖 Tuesdays at 7pm (8 spaces left)
🕗 Wednesdays at 8pm (full)
🕛 Thursdays at 12pm (6 spaces left)

🐦 Early-bird price of €65 available until Friday!!!

👉🏾 All info and course details linked in bio @madridnofrills

#mnfjournalistsofthefuture

Érase una vez en Calle Puerto de Alazores, 10, Vi

Érase una vez en Calle Puerto de Alazores, 10, Villa de Vallecas 🥛🧀 🐄

#vallecas #villadevallecas #productoslacteos

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