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 […]
Valentine’s Day origins in Roman orgies 12 February 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Sexuality , No Comments Valentine’s Day is upon us and as a result the price of a blood-red rose skyrockets. Misty-eyed lovers feverishly scribble anonymous cards to the various paramours they are desperately besotted with (or simply fancy shagging). […]
Angkor Wat the butt of tourist nude jokes 7 February 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: News , Sexuality , No Comments Agence France-Presse—who can be trusted on such matters—advise that two American sisters were arrested at the Angkor Wat temple complex after “they lowered their pants and took pictures of their buttocks”. Lindsey […]
Anne Frank’s genitalia – sex meets history 23 September 2014 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Sexuality , No Comments One of the most poignant memoirs of the World War II Holocaust, Anne Frank’s Diary, has recently become the battleground in an entirely different kind of war. Anne Frank’s Diary Gail Horalek, the mother […]