If war is to end, so must war stories 20 February 2016 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Patriarchy , No Comments Ca-ching! Multiplex cash registers around the world are still sizzling hot from the record-breaking box office performance of The Force Awakens, episode seven of the long-running Star Wars saga. Star Wars Inside […]
Freud, repression and today’s anxiety epidemic 11 December 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Anxiety , History , No Comments In 1929 Sigmund Freud, the ‘founding father’ of psychoanalysis, wrote a book that was originally titled The Uneasiness in Culture. It finally emerged a year later as one of his seminal works, Civilization and its Discontents. […]
The secret purpose of Papua New Guinea’s witchcraft trials 23 October 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: News , Patriarchy , No Comments Videos from Papua New Guinea reportedly showing women accused of witchcraft being tortured have recently appeared on social media. These videos—taken by people participating in the abuses—are commonly shared among Papua […]
Paris, paint and prostitutes 24 September 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , History , Sexuality , No Comments In the second half of the 19th century Paris saw the confluence of two major streams of change. The first was to the French capital itself. The cramped old arrondissements were demolished to make way for Baron […]
The curious case of the blindfold and the strap-on 15 September 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: News , Shame , No Comments You wouldn’t read about it in the The Erotic Sherlock Holmes, that obscure Victorian casebook which men smirked over during billiards and women with pince-nez glasses curdled their faces at while desperately […]
The sexual radicalisation of Elliot Rodger 18 June 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Radicalisation , Shame , No Comments Radicalisation. This single, scary word has rapidly shot to prominence in British current affairs. Everyday the news carries stories of people who want to go to Syria, who have gone to Syria, who have […]
The redemption of Monica Lewinsky 30 March 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: News , Shame , No Comments “You’re looking at a woman who was publicly silent for a decade”. So begins a brave and inspiring TED talk from Monica Lewinsky. For those of you who weren’t following American politics in 1998, Lewinsky—then a […]
The hypocrisy of Thailand’s ‘underboob selfie’ crackdown 16 March 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: News , Patriarchy , Sexuality , No Comments “Makes Saturday is better with some #underboob”, runs a Facebook post from drunkenstepfatherdotcom. But for Thai actress and model @saramalakul, tagged in the said post, Saturday (or whatever day of the […]
Point Blank – Springsteen and the shadow of shame 5 March 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Shame , No Comments As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, hopes of a freer and more egalitarian society arising from the flower power revolution and the Summer of Love gave way to disillusion […]
Death of a Car Lady – under the hood of Anne Naysmith’s life 16 February 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , News , Shame , No Comments Last Friday, the eve of Valentine’s Day, red roses spontaneously appeared in the windows of many of the shops lining the Chiswick High Street. The […]