Supposed Sexual Superiority

Whether it comes from the media or from our peers, there is a lot of pressure within our society to be having ‘good’ sex. This entirely undefined term seems to refer to having frequent sex, as well as, of course, having lots of orgasms. There is a decent amount of resistance to these notions, which is great. I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve been reassured by women’s magazines that penis-in-vagina sex alone doesn’t quite do it for most women (information which I will store in the ‘in case I ever become sexually involved with a man’ file in my brain). But this reassurance that penis-does-not-equal orgasms (necessarily) just adds fuel to the most persistent of rumours: that lesbian sex is inherently amazing.

And this rumour is everywhere.

“There is no such thing as society” – Margaret Thatcher.

“There’s a new film about gays and unions. Looks like the sort of thing you might like.” – My Mum

Surviving

Content warning: rape & homophobia.

Femme Fatigue

Queer spaces have always felt like home. From meeting like-minded people to not being on red-alert for the constant risk of unwelcome groping and everything in between mean that I feel safe.

But what isn’t fun is when we are made to feel like interlopers in our own spaces.

 

Happy Pride!

 

Love Substitutes

This week we interviewed the fabulous Kirsty Logan about her book ‘The Rental Heart’, her experiences being a queer author writing queer stories, and what the road to success looks like, sharing some top-tips for early-career publishing!

Photo cedit: Monkeytwizzle

Me: So Kirsty, you’re a published author, which is awesome!

Could you tell us a little bit about your journey to this point: how you got here, how you got started, and how you became successfully published?

Shh! Can we tell you a secret?

Silence Helps Homophobia!

This week launched LGBT Youth Scotland’s campaign to raise money for their education work in schools. This work enables LGBT young people to feel happy and confident in their lessons, and to successfully challenge homophobia.

Schools can be a horrible environment, and I’m sure there’s not a single LGBT person who doesn’t know someone who’s work at school suffered as a result of homophobia in or out of the classroom. It is up to every teacher, every parent, every pupil, every single person to make themselves personally responsibility for challenging homophobia, and stamping out bullying!

Watch the film (it’s slow to start, and if you’re having a sad day I would recommend fast-forwarding to 2 minutes 30 and starting from  there) and join the campaign !

Get Involved!

The Paying Guests

Growing up Tipping the Velvet on the TV was some of our first glances into lesbian life. Sarah Waters tells us about her new novel ‘The Paying Guests’, which takes us on a journey with two very ordinary women in 1920’s South London lodgings, ultimately ending in tragedy.

Out tomorrow! I hope you are as excited as we are….

Manchester Pride: a parade for the privileged?

It’s easy to see Manchester pride as a massive success: it’s one of the few Prides which is omnipresent throughout the city attracting people from across the UK and wider – amazing! But this year made us question whether Pride in and of itself is intrinsically valuable to the LGBT+ community.

Are you the woman we’ve been looking for?

Orange is the New Black Season 2: Episode 1. ‘Thirsty Bird’

Orange is the New Black is back. After binge watching Season Two as quickly as we could we thought we’d recap the episodes to hold on to it for a little bit longer.

Oh Orange.