Tick tock

Thought it was about time I updated my works in progress page.

http://lillianfrancis.blogspot.co.uk/p/work-in-progress.html

Another day to celebrate

Happy Bisexual Pride Day!

Yes, today is Bisexual Visibility day.

I had just intended to send you guys to a couple of links over to articles at Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-berg/22-reasons-why-bisexuals-_b_5851458.html

&

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/23/celebrate-bisexuality-day_n_5863320.html

And I still want you to go there. In fact I'll pause while you pop off to read, especially the second link because that is important to this post.




I said go and read. At least look at the slideshow...




Thanks. On with the post then. Where was I?

I had just intended to send you guys to a couple of links over to articles at Huffington Post but while I was appreciating the fact that Amber Heard was on that last list (and maybe lingering slightly longer on her picture) I realised something. Twenty-three of the twenty-eight celebrities on that list are women. That is 82%. Wow! Is it really more socially acceptable for women to be bisexual than men?

I think the answer to that is obviously yes.

The reason?

I could say that women are stronger in spirit than men, but that is bollocks, gender has nothing to do with strength of spirit and would be underlining gender stereotypes that I don't actually believe in. It could be surmised that when women get to a certain age, rather than reaching for the hair dye and a sports car or motor bike, many women throw their hands up in the air and say Fuck it, this is who I am, suck it up or jog on. Except just as many women reach for the make up, ridiculously high heels, and the nearest 20something greek waiter.

Possibly (hell, probably) the acceptance of female bisexuality has more to do with the 'girl on girl action' fantasies perpetuated by porn* for straight men.

Food for thought?
Meh, it came to me over breakfast (Nutella on crumpets, if anyone is interested) so maybe.
In the meantime, let's just celebrate the diversity of love.

Right, I'm off to ogle that photo of Amber Heard again.



(*Not that I'm blaming porn, far from it, porn only caters to the needs of the people who watch it.)

There's a chill in the air

Yes, the temperature is dropping and, for the first time in forever, I tugged on a pair of long trousers yesterday.
Do you know what that means?
I've been able to wear my Converse for the first time since threading my rainbow laces.

Okay, freaky angle to take your own photo, it makes my feet look tiny.
But I could hardly ask somebody else to take a picture of my shoes. Most people IRL already think I'm slightly mad.

Funky, eh? And a great match with my Converse.

But more importantly Rainbow Laces have been designed the raise awareness of homophobia in football (soccer). While other sportsmen and women have found the courage to be open about their sexuality, there are still no openly gay or bisexual professional players in the Football League in Britain.

That's a tragedy because footballers, for whatever reason, are seen by many young boys in this country as heroes. People to look up to and admire. To emulate. Haircuts, fashion, attitudes. Every time a footballer waits until they retire to come out they send a message to our young people. Unfortunately that message is not 'Yes there are gay players in the game and their sexuality doesn't affect how they play football' but 'I had to hide who I was to fit in'.

I'm not knocking anyone who decides to take that leap. Coming out is a courageous thing for anyone to do, whenever they choose to do it--at fifteen or fifty--and on whatever scale--to a few close friends and family or the world's press.

However, I fear that footballers who wait until their career is over before taking a stand send a jumbled signal to the youngsters that hero worship them, one that breeds an atmosphere of confusion and shame. And so the sorry cycle begins again.

If you want to learn more about the campaign to fight homophobia in football try the Stonewall website (worth it for the Arsenal Team's video supporting the campaign) or take to Twitter #RAINBOWLACES.

Sometimes little things seriously naff * me off

Now I know that much of what you put on the internet is there for all the world to see and that certain sites are just a collecting place for ideas and images meant to be readily shared. One such site is Pinterest, which I use--among other things--to  collect images for various stories that I am writing. To give me an idea of the plane a certain character flies, the clothes another one might wear, or the animals that can be found in certain parts of a particular country.

And therein lies the reason for my displeasure. I collected details of the types of antelopes living in South Africa and popped those animals' pictures and range maps into a Pinterest board to refer back to them later. Job done. One made it into the story and though I might not need to look at those pictures again, I kept them up for completion sake.

Animal conservation is high on my list of priorities. (Avoid palm oil in products if you can, people--although it is damn near impossible. Palm oil production is destroying the habitat of the Orangutan leaving the animal on the endangered list.)

So imagine my annoyance when this email from Pinterest turned up in my inbox.




I tried not to jump to conclusions but one click onto the board confirmed my fears. 

Happy pinning! I'll pin something somewhere, but knowing Pinterests rules on what can and can't be pinned I doubt if anyone would ever see the photo should I manage it.

Okay, rant over. If anyone fancies having a glance at my pins they are here. There's no order over there so you'll have to take me as you find me and not all boards are story related.



*And for the curious, the Urban Dictionary has this to say about the word naff:

British slang, today meaning uncool, tacky, unfashionable, worthless... or as a softer expletive, in places where one might use "fuck" as in "naff off", "naff all", "naffing about". 

Origins of the word are disputed, but it appears to have come from Polari (gay slang), used to dismissively refer to heterosexual people. It was introduced as a less offensive expletive verb ("naff off") in the '70s UK television show, Porridge. "Naff off!" was famously used by Princess Anne in 1982.

(Most of which is backed up by Oxforddictionaries.com )