This photo of Edward Carpenter is often used to champion gay rights:   Carpenter and Merrill by Alfred Mattison (c. 1900). Available on Wikimedia Commons. Print kept in Sheffield City Council archives, s09113. Yet it is a mysterious photo.At first sight, it simply depicts the intimacy between a

“I heard of the discovery of America, and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of its original inhabitants,” so says the Frankensteinian creature in Mary Shelley’s 1818 masterpiece. As noticed by many scholars before me (eg Burkhart 2020), some of these “red flags” in

On a sunny Friday afternoon, my friend Linsey and I walked along the Linnaeusstraat in the east of Amsterdam. We enjoyed the rustling green of the Oosterpark and recognized the Burgerziekenhuis - this is the route the horse tram once rode, towards the depot, in which after the Wibra now a high class

When I published my autiethnography “The Do less travelled by'' (about the benefits and challenges of budo for people on the autism spectrum), I was overwhelmed by the reactions. Hundreds of people reached out to me. Most of the feedback I received made me very happy, as it was about my hard work

The newest adaptation of Emma (1815) by Autumn de Wilde and Eleanor Catton brings Jane Austen’s classic to a new generation. With every new adaptation I’m curious if the makers have managed to bring across Jane Austen’s wit and sarcasm, and whether they have chosen to highlight the

Once in a while, you come across a piece of writing that deeply resonates with what lives inside you, in words you do not have yet. That happened to me. On a sleepless night I fell in a YouTube rabbit hole and ended up at a recording of Adrienne Rich’ ‘Diving Into the Wreck’, a feminist poem from 1973. It struck me that, forty-seven years later, Rich’ comparisons and images have lost nothing of their eloquence or relevance. This rich poem offers a variety of interpretations. I have found

This poem is analysed in Martine Mussies' article "Still 'Diving Into The Wreck'", which you can find here. Diving into the Wreck - by Adrienne Rich First having read the book of myths,and loaded the camera,and checked the edge of the knife-blade,I put onthe body-armor of black rubberthe absurd flippersthe

When the Disney studios announced that they had cast Halle Bailey in the role of Ariel, aka The Little Mermaid, for their latest live-action remake, there was a wave of reactions and most of all: criticism. Twitter hashtags #NotMyMermaid and #NotMyAriel became trending topics and Halle was ridiculed

Alice in Wonderland is one of the most variedly illustrated stories ever, and yet artists over the past 150 years have limited themselves in strange ways when re-imagining this classic. Last year, I made a call for African, African American, or otherwise non-European-looking Alices in Wonderland on

Since the end of 2018, every role in the Armed Forces is open to women.

When I was 14 years old I made a bet with my father that I would make it to the Olympics as a show jumping rider for the Dutch Olympic Equestrian team.

Soft, round and curvy: a part that pops out in my silhouet. A source of irritation. Container of food, wrapping my vital organs. My belly, occasionally somewhat of a mystery to me, a mystery that I carry around and would sometimes like to get rid of.