Just two weeks ago one of my closest friends “celebrated” his one year anniversary with HIV. As part of the general annHIVersary bonanza, he wrote this awesome and hilarious post about what it’s actually like to be diagnosed with HIV in the 21st century. People shared it on Facebook and Twitter, words like “inspiring” and…
Every time you post an “empowering” selfie you reinforce the message that your value lies in the way your body looks. There is a celebrity who likes to post selfies. You might say she’s known for it. Many of them are semi-naked. More recently she posted an entirely naked one. I’m not going to include…
Relationships / Sex / Society
Recently I was invited on to BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour to talk, as part of a panel of “young women” about modern attitudes to sex. As part of that discussion I touched on the fact that Juarez and I are not sexually monogamous. “Oh, so you have an open relationship?” the presenter said. “No!”…
Current Affairs / Education / Religion / Sex
Last week the government ruled out the possibility of introducing compulsory sex and relationships education in all schools. David Cameron blocked calls to make SRE a statutory part of both primary and secondary teaching and provide specialist training for teachers required to deliver it. The recommendation was made following a report by the Education Select…
A while back I read an article by a woman purporting to be pansexual, entitled something along the lines of “8 common mistakes people make about pansexuals”. I’m not going to share the original article because, to be honest, I find linking to articles for the express purpose of disagreeing with their authors or the…
I’ve recently written a couple of published pieces that have got me thinking more about my own sexual “journey”. The first was about why it’s important to learn to have sex while sober and the second was about the so-called half-night stand (where you hook up with someone but you leave in the middle of the…
Last week, during a conversation about workwear, a friend of mine described her outfit as “lesbian chic”. At the time I didn’t say anything. We were in a group of long-standing good friends, who, like most people I choose to hang out regularly with, have an unconditional love for freedom and equality. To mock an…
A lot being written about Tampon Tax today, after George Osborne’s Autumn Statement announcement that until a change in EU regulations can be achieved, the tax paid on sanitary products will be diverted to so-called women’s charities and healthcare organisations. I haven’t read much of it but I thought this piece from The Debrief was…
Following a symposium in the House of Commons last week, organised by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) to give evidence on the case for decriminalisation of sex work, the education and advocacy group, the Sex Worker Open University (SWOU) held a two day conference, including an Open Conference on the Advancement of Sex Worker…
I am profoundly sick of the term “feminazi”. It’s deeply offensive and well, sick. Not only does it offend the women to whom it is applied, equating them to possibly the 20th century’s greatest manifestation of evil but, as Laura Bates pointed out in her recent piece, 10 ways you can tell if you’re a…
Today The Telegraph published this story. You don’t need to read it, you only need to read the headline. But if you want to know more about the background to this story, there’s a decent link HERE. Since then she’s been disparaged left, right, and centre, not only on social media (our era’s most sinister…
Following the discovery that 51% of Brits have not had sex in the past month, sex and relationship counselling service Relate – who commissioned the survey – this week said that couples should not shy away from planning sex if that’s what it takes to get them going again. In conjunction with their latest book…
Way back around Christmas time last year I tweeted about a ‘Christmas Party Guide To Flirting’ sent to me in a press release from Maritalaffair.co.uk. Yes, that’s correct. A website for people looking to cheat put together a ‘Christmas Party Guide to Flirting’. It was based on a survey conducted of their members (after all who…
Fake Geek Guys: A message to men about sexual harassment On the surface, this aims to address men involved in comics and their fandom but the points made apply to everyone, everywhere, in all industries. Essentially the message is that men need to get the fuck on board with tackling sexism and misogyny and stop kidding themselves…
It doubtless won’t have escaped your notice that this week the latest Facebook trend is make-up free selfies. You probably know why as well: it’s a viral campaign for Cancer Research. Post a selfie, make a donation. Everyone’s doing it. Well, not everyone. Just women. A few men have come up with an alternative, posting…
Francesca Da Rimini 