Tag: history

Hi, It was reported in the news that Richard Dawkins – author and humanist – recently posted this on his Twitter account: In 2015, Rachel Dolezal, a white chapter president of NAACP, was vilified for identifying as Black. Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss. Richard Dawkins After receiving criticism, he added: “I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic ‘Discuss’ question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue.” […]

Hi, I’ve been struggling to write a post this week. Not for any momentous reason, but the usual suspects of tiredness and a somewhat busier than usual few days at work. But, perhaps, the truth of it is some posts are hard to write. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as ONE Bill Hicks Perhaps I’m taking the late Mr Hicks’s words sightly out of context, but maybe he’ll overlook it this one time 😉 The fear of gay people over won’t someone think of the children?! lead us to the nonsense Section 28 in the 80s. Decades later, […]

Hi, In the weekend just gone it was time for the UK to fill out the census. This time around, things were a little different to the previous decade. The department had taken the option – via feedback and involving trans groups – to improve the data collection and ask about gender identity. Looking into some of the history around that and on listening to a specialist from local government, it seems there’s very much an interest on how many people in the UK consider themselves to be part of the transgender spectrum and also how they choose to identify. There’s a page about that here. Having had the conversation with said specialist a few weeks back, as I say […]

Hi, A long time ago, in a cineplex, not so far away, I – a late teen – sat in the audience watching Silence of the Lambs. Thrilled and occasionally horrified, it’s quite a ride as a film. For me, it’s the performances of the actors rather than any effects. Foster’s performance as Clarice: her wide eyed fear, her vulnerability, and also strength in, quite frankly, an insane situation. Likewise, Hopkins’s turn as Lecter: the quiet, cerebral menace, and then… well, the demonic glee towards the end. There’s a reboot coming to TV called Clarice and like older subject matter, through the lens of post MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and/or the transgender tipping point, things are more complex, or occasionally […]