Wilfred de Bruijn: The Comfort Of Strangers

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Images via facebook. 

Wilfred de Bruijn was walking home through Paris with his male partner after a dinner date on Sunday night. He woke up in an ambulance after being savagely beaten in a homophobic attack and posted this photo to his Facebook account shortly afterwards. The story went viral and activists responded by staging an anti-homophobia demonstration on Rue Des Archives in Paris on Tuesday evening.

Would you have done it? Imagine that for a second. If you were beaten in the street for being different, would you post an image of your broken face on your timeline? Would it make you feel a little better about what happened to you if that image had inspired hundreds of people to protest in your name and express their support for you?

Maybe. Maybe not. But just think how lucky you are to have that choice.

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TV Review: Swimming With (Empathetic) Monsters

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Er… Steve? Image via discovery. 

Before yesterday evening I would have sworn, in a document written using my own blood if necessary, that I had sat through every conceivable televisual extrapolation of man’s fascination with Great White Sharks.

I’ve watched Robin Reliant sized members of this extensively toothed species launch themselves out of the water in pursuit of Styrofoam seals, force their way into pitifully inadequate dive cages and literally hundreds of hours of footage of them swimming in the vicinity of divers armed with cameras and inadequate poky sticks, the expressions on their pointy faces suggesting they’re as bored and pissed off with the whole charade as I am.

But that was the old days, before Steve Backshall.

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Vladimir Putin & Angela Merkel: They’re Just Tits!

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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“…when female nudity is placed outside a sexual context, both men and women recoil from it.”

A big thank you to Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin and assorted other dignitaries, who this morning took it upon themselves to prove my theory about the efficacy of FEMEN’s topless activism, whilst attending a Hannover trade fair.

The amount of criticism they’ve been receiving lately from women I respect was making me doubt myself.

UPDATED Sophie Lancaster: No One’s Victim

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image via bigissuenorth.

UPDATE: As a result of Sylvia Lancaster’s campaigning, attacks on people pursuing alternative lifestyles will now be treated as hate crimes by Greater Manchester Police.

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Five years ago today, Sophie Lancaster passed away peacefully with her Mum & Dad by her side. It was the smallest of  mercies afforded to them, but perhaps one of the most important.

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The Class War: Divide & Conquer

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Image via bbc.

The British class system is far more complex than the traditional working, middle and upper tiers we were once content define ourselves within. These tiers, which emerged as a response to the unprecedented disparities in wealth generated by the Industrial Revolution, are “too simplistic” according to Professor Mike Savage of UCL. He claims that cultural and social capital are as relevant as economic capital in defining an individual’s place in society and once these are factors are taken into consideration, the number of class categories rises to seven.

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Dispatches From The Feminist Frontline: Dissent In The Ranks

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Woman at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2013. Image via politico.com.

Not every woman wants to associate themselves with feminism. But I’m pretty sure that many of those who reject it don’t do so because they enjoy being treated like sex objects, receiving lower pay and/or having their professional achievements overlooked because they’re not conventionally beautiful.

So why does it feel like some go out of their way to undermine the aspirations of those of us who do want to make a difference?

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Charles Krafft: Porcelain Gods

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Image via pictify.

Is this porcelain replica of an AK-47 any less beautiful than it was a few weeks ago? Is it any less thought provoking, challenging or inspiring?

It’s a question that is confounding the art world after it’s creator, Seattle ceramicist Charles Krafft, was ‘outed’ as a holocaust denier in an online journal. Prior to this, Krafft and his work, which also includes porcelain teapots in the shape of Adolf Hitler’s head and hand grenades, had been described as ‘ironic satire’.

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