Description
The View Magazine Launches Issue 18 Focused on the Female Fight for Justice.
London, UK–7th July 2026, The View Magazine, the award-winning independent platform dedicated to amplifying the voices of women impacted by the criminal justice system, announces the release of Issue 18, a 100+ page spring edition filled with stories of resilience, creativity, and legal accountability.
Issue 18 brings together investigative journalism, first-hand testimony, and creative work to document how women experience incarceration, healthcare provision, and access to justice. The issue centres the voices of those directly affected, presenting their experiences in their own words and through their creative output.
Key features include:
- In the Cracks of the Law: Decrim Now! a coalition formed in 2018 to campaign for the full decriminalisation of sex work in the UK.
- The Art of the Essay, author Zadie Smith reflects on fiction, the internet, and the changing landscape of literature at the Cambridge Literary Festival at Cambridge Literary Festival.
- Olga Balakleets and the Creative Women Forum: For three days in June, London played host to the ten-year anniversary celebration of the Creative Women Forum, an event aiming to unite and empower women across different entrepreneurial sectors.
- Possibility Over Past: a walk through the new 2026 BBC series, Waiting for the Out, adapted from Andy West’s 2022 memoir, which encourages us to see the humanity inside a system most know so little about: the inside of male prisons.
- Violence, Gender, and the News: Is the Media Still a Boy’s Club? This analysis examines how media narratives continue to obscure the systemic nature of misogyny and gender-based violence, despite the staggering scale of violence against women worldwide.
- Musa Munir Khan, a gripping recount of a colonial court case where a woman was able to hold imperial powers to account and access her rights – a court case that still echoes in Indian law today.
- Growing Old in an Age that Values Youth: as the United Nations considers a new global treaty on the rights of older persons, the Liberation advocacy group argues that the greatest threat facing old age is not decline itself, but a society increasingly organised around the assumption that ageing diminishes a person’s value.
- An interview with Alexandra Pickford, the 77-year-old ballet dancer who refuses to quit ballet.
- Who Protects Children of Imprisoned Mothers? An estimated 17,000 children are affected by maternal imprisonment every year in England and Wales – an analysis on the impact of imprisonment in some of the deepest and most painful ways.
Issue 18 spans investigations, interviews, cultural reviews, and first-person testimony with a particular emphasis on women, their work, and their struggles. One of our writers talks to the organiser of Decrim Now! About the decriminalisation of sex work, and the need for both structural and cultural change. Meanwhile, another writer uncovers the story of one woman fighting for her rights in colonialist India, a legal battle that echoes in present day Indian property law. Alongside investigative reporting, the issue also includes cultural and artistic contributions. Zadie Smith shares her wisdom on the creative and critical power of an essay, whilst we also read about the life and sound of David Bowie, as laid out in the art exhibition at Lightroom.
We also cover recent theatrical productions and films like The Witch and The Whistleblower, and Surviving Earth, as well as book reviews including The Franklin Scandal, The Job’s F*cked, Feminism for a World on Fire, and Abolitionist Voices.
Amelie Baker, Editor of The View Magazine, described Issue 18 as reflecting the publication’s focus on women’s ongoing struggle for justice, whether that be within the carceral system, the health system, or even the media itself. Through investigative reporting, lived experience testimony, and cultural commentary, she highlighted the issue’s goal of underscoring the hurdles that women overcome across all walks of life, to continue the fight for justice via politics, protest, arts, and literature.
“This issue brings together a plethora of investigations and analysis, signposting topics such as how the media fails women; the reality of women in secure settings; or the social prejudice hiding in endometriosis diagnosis”, Baker said. “It also highlights the work of writers investigating the justice system in myriad ways, and of women fighting to make space for empowered female existence and enact change across different sectors.”, Baker said.
Issue 18 also provides coverage on the decriminalisation of abortion in England and Wales marking a significant shift in the legal treatment of reproductive rights.
Baker also gave thanks to the publication’s contributors and editorial team, without whom the publication would not exist. As a volunteer-run publication, the team is wholly reliant on each contributor’s commitment to the cause, to bring quality journalism on important stories to our readers and supporters.
Through testimony and investigation, Issue 18 examines the power of women, and our ongoing battle for justice and recognition.
