CULTURE

Voices: Listening to Womanhood Through Sinéad O’Connor

image credit: Andreas Larsson in The Gentle Woman 2012 https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/sinead-oconnor I wanted to add the voice of Sinead O’Connor because no matter when I listen or how I am feeling her voice and words have something to teach me. Her perspective matches mine in various ways, this doesn’t mean I have lived her experience or want to but it does help me understand myself as a woman as it did when I listened in the 1980's and 90’s she articulates so well the

Katherine

Jun 123 min read

CHANGE is the constant of living

I want to write about change and how it is the constant of living. I want to say that rather than waste energy trying to stop it, control it and fight it, put energy into learning from it. Moving with it; being open to opportunities which will come along, they always do, all we have to do is be prepared by knowing who we are. I wanted something for myself and thought I had it but then it ended or is in the process of ending (which is annoying but as I say everything is a proc

Katherine

May 2410 min read

'Karmic Masculinity': welcome to my new concept for 2026!

Karmic masculinity: a form of masculinity shaped by accumulated social, cultural, or historical patterns (e.g. class, media, or inherited norms) which are reproduced over time but can also be reworked or interrupted. Situated from a fashion angle, masculinity as something circulated, repeated, and “returned” through visual culture (e.g. fashion) rather than fixed in social structure alone

Katherine

Mar 282 min read

Notes on 'The Limits of Masculinity': a serendipitous, reflective reading experience from a historical perspective.

I came across this book ‘The Limits of Masculinity’ entirely by accident, in a tiny vintage bookshop in Chipping Camden. At first, I bought it as a joke; thinking it would amuse my male colleagues, as part of our ongoing “bantification” of creative design and social theories and occasional role-playing of gender stereotypes. The book turned out to be unexpectedly interesting and in some ways quietly profound. Reading the book answered some questions I had, particularly aro

Katherine

Mar 2810 min read