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Berena Deserved Better
Lessons in better representation #BerenaDeservedBetter

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  • #BerenaDeservedBetter

An Exercise in Catharsis Following the Berena Split

Posted on 21 December 20183 January 2019by #BDB
heart carved in wood

Looking back now it’s all so obvious. I was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole and couldn’t figure out why I felt so different, so ‘wrong’.  Why didn’t I see it earlier?  It’s so simple really, it’s because when I looked around I couldn’t see myself. Read the full text by […]

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  • #BerenaDeservedBetter

A Shipwreck Called #Berena

Posted on 21 December 201815 February 2019by #BDB
Berena

Getting under your skin is the hallmark of a good story. When that story seeps into the lives of people across borders and cultures, it’s an indication that there’s something monumental afoot. Something monumental is exactly what happened when two middle-aged women kissed in a British TV series. Read the full text by Payal Dhar […]

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  • #BerenaDeservedBetter

First, Do No Harm

Posted on 18 December 201830 December 2018by #BDB
Cover of Sapphic Angst Fest

I’ve been working on a research project with fans of Holby City’s Berena for almost two years now, and in that time I’ve had the opportunity to get to know a global network of viewers who have found something special in this rare onscreen romance between two older, professional women. Read the full post by Georgina […]

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  • #BerenaDeservedBetter

Berena: Tandem est nocere

Posted on 17 December 201830 December 2018by #BDB
Berena

Finally there was harm. It is this global impact that I find most astonishing, heartbreak shared from England to New Zealand, North America to Vietnam, Belgium to Kazakhstan. And my share of it. In the end the faith was broken Read the full post by Dr Viv Pointon here

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About us

(Read our founding principles and code of conduct.)

#BerenaDeservedBetter is a forum for people to voice their opinions about the representation of lesbian and bisexual women in popular culture and to take action to make storytellers and producers more accountable.

We set up this space spurned by the depiction of the couple popularly known as Berena in the UK TV drama Holby City, which is produced by the BBC, played by Jemma Redgrave (Bernie Wolfe) and Catherine Russell (Serena Campbell).

We are a group of people from across countries and timezones, across occupations and cultures and ages, gay and straight. Berena brought us together and touched our lives in different ways. We were promised a respectful representation but, in the end, we were given a mish-mash of the worst stereotypes about lesbians and bisexuals, and about women, not to mention about older women. It was wrong, and we decided we wouldn't be silent any more.

We invite you to join us in this campaign.

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