Aberystwyth! And the person who brought it in was a lovely elderly Lesbian from the Land Down Under. It was wrapped in a pile of sweaters. Seriously, I saw her all the time in church. She and her wife were such sweeties. I never brought it up in conversation.

This is just to say that, when I worked for a charity shop in Wales (I was the weekend manager, supervising all the grannies who'd been caught shoplifting and were performing their community service), somebody donated a dildo-cum-bottle-opener made out of a treated kangaroo scrotum with a rubber-and-leather tip. My…

Koalas have the smallest brain to body ratio of all the mammals (marsupials are included) and their brains are smooth. Opossums are more intelligent. Shrews are more intelligent. They lack the thinky thinky bits. Basically, in terms of intelligence, they are fuzzy iguanas. That’s fine, if you like iguanas (and I do!)…

In the gospels Jesus was condemned by the pharisees for hanging out with the Samaratins, who were considered apostates by the mainstream religion of his time. I’m pretty sure Christ was happy to pray with anyone so long as they were sincere and had good intentions. When it comes to faith there’s more than one ‘right’…

I read the Redwall books when I was 13 and living in a South Carolina orphanage. I read them to escape from being physically, emotionally and sexually abused. At the time, I could not handle human protagonists. These books really helped. They gave me someplace better to go. And now, I write my own worlds.

This isn’t soft-sexism. It’s hard sexism, but I’m going to tell it anyway. I started teaching at a university with a PhD and two years experience. A man starts teaching (the same subject, the same job description) at the same time, with no experience and a masters degree. The man earned TWICE as much as I did. Two…

Oh, we did. Exploding fist-bumps.

Prepare for the most English thing that any of you have ever, or will ever, have the privilege of hearing: in the CofE (that's the Anglican church) wedding ceremony the bride and groom are never asked to kiss. They are told to shake hands. This took both my husband and I by surprise. The Canon didn't bother to mention…

Thanks for this. I think that we are still reactionary creatures, unfortunately. It's a very good article. Unfortunately, now I want to go scream into a pillow for a while.

Nope. I was the victim of a very violent crime. But by punishing violence with violence we let cruelty win. I would not wish this misery on my attackers. There is more meaning in rehabilitation, more cultural benefits, and more peace comes (for the victims) with the balm of forgiveness.

Reading this, I couldn't help but remember that thousands of Americans are being locked in isolation in prisons all over the country. I don't care what they did, no one deserves to sit and feel their brains dissolving. Especially when psychological rehabilitation works so much better. But, as a culture, we don't seem…

Ha! I do watch, but I hadn't made that connection. Though it's staringly obvious now that I think about it. My mom was always very careful with my sister's skin but not with mine, at least not at first. She was much more worried about my body hair. It really worried her.

So maybe it's a gender thing? I'm white, but olive. My sister is Filipina and very light skinned. She was always the maganda girl. But maybe light skin is considered feminine?

My foster-mother is Filipina. I'm having flashbacks. I really need to thread my eyebrows. Also, my feet and nose, and hands are too big, and I walk like a man. It's funny though. My Mom is, in America, generally considered the prettiest Castro girl. She's small, slim, and her features are delicate. But because she's…

200 for a stepper is not bad. I don't care that it's Oprah's. I just want a gym quality machine.

Ah, the benefits of having a 2k wedding after a 3 month engagement. We fought a lot in the first year (which seems to be both normal and part of the adjustment that nobody seems to talk about - though it's a pretty good argument for cohabitation first) but then when we got used to living together we just got happier…

How about no-pants? Or house-tights? Those are a thing, right? Seriously, if bad garments really caused divorces my husband would finally buy some more, non-torn boxers and I'd have to stop airing my vagina.

Actually, the early church was VERY pro-woman. And Christ actually asked women to get out of the kitchen and join the conversation. The problem began with Paul (who was a misogynist and whose works, unfortunately, seem to have trumped the books on which the religion was based) and (later) Augustine who converted and…

Yo, pro-choice, pro-contraception member of the Church of England right here. Of course, in the UK contraceptives (and abortions) are free for everybody. A lot of us actually really lobby for this, and give time and money to organizations (such as planned parenthood) that work to spread the word in the USA. By the…

2k. Most of that came in the form of CofE church fees. My dress was $200. Our wedding bands were $400. My husband's suit was $200. We had the reception in his parent's garden and the party lasted about 16 hours. It was very fun, there was little stress, and everyone had a good time.