Beginning Of The End - The Walking Dead 'Spend' Review

There are only two episodes left of this season of The Walking Dead and up to now it's felt like the show hasn't really been going anywhere.  Yes, the survivors reached Alexandria and have started to become a part of the community, but it hasn't felt like it's been building to anything the way seasons three and four did with the Governor and Terminus.  'Spend', however, ramps everything up a gear and begins to set the stage for what is sure to be a very dramatic finale.

Since the show came back after it's mid-season break it's been a little slower, more focused on the group and their personal struggles rather than action and horror.  We lost Tyrese sure, but it was done in such a way that it was slow, that we saw his demise through his eyes, but other than that the second half of season five has been about the people.

'Spend' bucks this trend and gives us not just one, but two dramatic scenes with Abraham facing off a horde to save a member of the Alexandria community and Glenn, Noah, Terra and the other runners in a supply run gone massively wrong.

What these two situations pointed out though is that perhaps Alexandria isn't the haven everyone was hoping for,  It's no Woodburry by any means, there's nothing dark hiding under the surface, instead it's the ineptitude and cowardice of the community that proves to be a problem, and possibly one of the biggest one the group has had to face.

They're not in direct danger from these people, it's not like being caged up to be eaten, but they're fighting against a system that just doesn't work in this new world.  People died in this episode because of the actions of the people from Alexandria, because of their cowardice.  Tobin, leader of the Alexandria construction group, even goes to Diana and tells her that if people had listened to him then Francine would have been killed.  It was only the actions of Abraham that saved her and kept people together.

The fact that some of the people in Alexandria notice that they're not doing things the best way and that Ricks group can help them is a good sign, it shows that they're not all bad people, just soft.  Tobin insists on stepping down, placing Abraham in a position of authority because he knows its the right thing.  Even Aiden had started to listen to Glenn and realise that perhaps the way things were being done before weren't the best.  It was only an unlucky shot from his gun as Glenn was warning him that led to an explosion and the terrible events at the warehouse.  From the growth we'd already seen from him this episode I'm sure he would have listened to Glenn if he'd have had the chance and things would have ended up very differently.

As it is Aiden met a grizzly end at the hands, and mouths, of several walkers, Terra has suffered a major head injury and is in life threatening condition and the group lost Noah.  Whilst Noah has only been with the group a very short time and we've not been given a chance to really get to know him his death comes as a massive shock.  After the scene at the beginning of the episode where he starts down a new path towards becoming a builder and architect, with ideas on how to improve the community I'm sure many viewers were shocked that he died.  I myself was expecting him to be around a lot longer.

It wasn't just the suddenness of his departure that will be sure to have people talking though, but the brutality of it.  Quite possibly the goriest and most brutal death the show has ever given us the scene is made even harder by poor Glenn.  Not only do we have to watch Noah die, but we have to watch on as helpless as Glenn as he is forced to see his friend die.  Glenns reaction is quite possibly what makes the scene truly heartbreaking.

Suddenly Rick wanting to take over Alexandria doesn't seem like such an extreme reaction, but possibly one of the best things that could happen.  The people of ALexandria have been behind their walls for too long, they've not had to face the horrors in the world beyond and it really shows.

How these events will play out, and what Rick will do now that he has discovered that Pete is beating his wife and son is anyone's guess, though I highly doubt that Diana would freely hand over control of Alexandria without some kind of fight.  What will be interesting, however, is to see what sides people will take.  Will some of Ricks group side with Alexandria?  Sure, Gabriel has already betrayed them by going to Diana and telling her that they're not good people.  And after Abrahams actions on the construction site I'm sure some residents will see the advantages of having Rick and his group in control.

Either way, something big is coming, tensions are rising and sides are being drawn.  By the end of the season nothing's going to be the same again.

Amy.
xx

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Piers Morgan Claims The Dolce and Gabbana Boycott Is 'Bullying'

Former journalist and all round tool and idiot Piers Morgan has gone on record saying that the boycott against Dolce and Gabbana after their controversial comments as being another form of bullying.

World famous fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana made controversial comments earlier this week when they said that they 'oppose gay adoptions' and that 'the only family is the traditional one'.  'No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: Life had a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.'

Whilst these comments caused offense to many it was the musician Sir Elton John who first called for a boycott of the fashion company.  After reading the article Sir Elton released the following statement to Dolce and Gabbana, 'How dare you refer to my beautiful children as 'synthetic'...your archaic thinking is totally out of step with the times, just like your fashions.  I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again.'  Sir Elton has two sons, Zachary and Elijah, with his husband David Furnish.

Writing for the ever woeful Daily Mail, home of hatred, misinformation and closed mindedness Morgan said that whilst he supported gay rights and supports Elton John he believes that boycotts are just another form of bullying.

'Where I disagree with Elton is his call for a boycott of Dolce and Gabbana.  We seem to be living in a celebrity-fuelled boycott society these days.  Barely a week goes by without some star somewhere demanding we all boycott something.'

'Recently, Hollywood decided to boycott the Beverly Hills Hotel because its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, introduced draconian and outrageous new anti-gay laws.  I didn't join the boycott because I didn't see why the hard-working staff there should suffer for the political actions of a boss who lives thousands of miles away.'

Boycotting Dolce and Gabbana may make Elton and a few celebrities feel better, but all it will do is damage the livelihoods of thousands of innocent Dolce employees and it wont make any difference to the debate on gay rights.  What will make a difference is honest, sensible, passionate argument.'

'There are tens of millions of people around the world who still feel, many from religious convictions, deeply uncomfortable about the concept of gay marriage and gay parents.  The best way to alleviate that discomfort is not by strangling their rights to freedom of thought or speech, or demonising them.  But by making them see that their fears are unfounded.'

'If I were Elton John, I'd stop calling for a boycott, and invite Dolce and Gabbana round to one of his houses for them to see with their own eyes what a great dad he is and how happy and well adjusted his kids are.  Eltons best weapon in this debate is practicing what he preaches, with demonstrable success - not trying to stop others from having an opinion.'

'I'm also launching my own hashtag today: #BoycottAllBoycotts.'

Amy.
xx

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Salvo Sports Apparel Produce Massively Sexist and Misogynistic Clothing

Indonesian clothing company Salvo has been forced to issue an apology following the discovery of a massively sexist and ill thought out label inside a number of pieces of their clothing.  After the initial tweet of the offending shirt by one eagle eyed consumer more images began to appear online and very quickly the company were facing hundreds of angry comments.

Salvo quickly issued an apology statement a few days later, but like the initial stupidity of the clothing in question the apology came across as fairly problematic;

'The message is simply, instead of washing it in the wrong way you might as well 

give it to a lady because they are more capable.  There is no intention to humiliate 

women.  In contrast, (we want to tell men) to learn from women on how to 

take care of clothes because they pay attention to details.  Not all men understand/know 

how to take care of their own clothes, women are more knowledgeable/experts 

on such matters.  We apologise profusely for any misinterpretations. 

Even after this somewhat pathetic excuse for an apology the company has continued to receive ire from a number of twitter users.

Despite a large number of people finding offense at what Salvo has done, it's probably not surprising to find that some people have not only found nothing wrong with the clothing, but also gone on to condemn the people speaking out against it.

Typically from what I have seen it tends to be men who find the whole thing 'massively funny' or that there is nothing wrong at all.  Of course, to them it's just us overly sensitive women who are making something out of nothing or just over reacting because we're 'on our periods'.

Yes, in the grand scheme of things some washing instructions in clothing made by one company might not be the worst thing in the world and there are certainly bigger issues in the world that need addressing, but moments of everyday sexism like this cannot simply be ignored.

Everyday sexism is in some ways more insidious than obvious and extreme examples.  If you see a woman being told that she's useless, or that she can't do certain things or act certain ways because she's not as good as a man people will find it offensive and cry out about how wrong it is.  On the other hand, if a joke is made that a woman's job is to wash her mans clothing then it's just funny and we're the ones wrong for finding it offensive.  That's the difference, everyday sexism is insidious.  It make itself appear to be innocuous or normal.

Those people that find this kind of thing funny or acceptable, or that think that people are over reacting to it are not only in the wrong, but help to reinforce the notion that sexism to fully acceptable.  Equal rights for women still have a long, long way to go and if we're ever going to succeed we need to challenge any use of sexism whenever we come across it.

Amy.

xx

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Yes, My Breasts Are Real, No, I Will Not Prove It - Being Hounded By The Wrong Questions

I'm sure that the trans people reading this know all too well that one of the things people feel that they are able to do once they find out that you are transgender is demand some kind of proof that you are in fact genuine.  Sometimes it can be subtle, perhaps well meaning, but others it can be down right rude and offensive.

We've all seen it, even if we've not experienced it first hand.  Any time a trans celebrity appears on an interview at some point the presenter will ask a question about the persons body.  From breast enhancement to bottom surgery, it eventually comes up.  I'm sure some of you are familiar with the incident last year when television host Katie Couric went too far when interviewing transgender model Carmen Carrera and the backlash the host received because of it.

It's not just trans celebrities who have to face these kinds of questions though, every trans person goes through it.  It doesn't matter if you're male or female, if you're trans people want to know about your bodies.

I've faced a lot of questions like this myself, even from friends and coworkers.  I've been asked what effects hormones will have on me, I've been asked if being trans means I'm gay if I'm attracted to men, I've been asked if I want to keep my penis.  Whilst most of the questions I get asked face to face are coming from a place of concern or genuine innocent curiosity it's still very insulting.

It seems to me that as soon as someone discovers that you're trans that filter in their heads that tells them certain things are inappropriate disappears.  Suddenly your medical treatment needs to be discussed, your sexuality becomes suspect and your private parts become public parts.

Everyone wants to know what's up there.

As bad as it is in real life though nothing compares to the level of invasive questions that I face on the internet.  Whether it be Facebook, Twitter or OKCupid I've received literally dozens of messages from people that I don't know that feel that I need to in some way validate my gender identity.  Ranging from accusations of not being trans at all to demands that I show people pictures of my breasts to prove that they're real.

I know that every woman, trans or cis, faces sexual harassment, that people will try and find any excuse to have people reveal their bodies.  I'm not saying that trans women or myself are the only people facing obstacles like this, but where some women might be asked to show their breasts off to prove how big they are they can get through a lot of life without facing that.  And I doubt that they're told they need to show their breasts in order to be recognised as real women.

I've never seen a cis woman get asked what her genitals are like or if she's planning to have any plastic surgery, but I've had it more times then I can count.  I've had people ask to see my genitals, I've had people start conversations by asking how far into transition I am (before they've even said hello!), and in one case a guy messaged me on OKCupid and asked me when I had my last piece of surgery.

I know that trans people are uncommon, that most people will never know an openly trans person.  Yes, you'll meet trans people and never even know it, but the number of people who are openly trans that you will meet in your lifetime is small.  But just because there aren't that many of us, that you might think to yourselves that 'I'll never get to meet another one' doesn't mean that you should think that it's okay to bombard us with personal and invasive questions.

We're not some exotic specimen for you to examine, we're not some mystical creature for you to learn all you can from.  We're people.  We're people that have had to deal with so much physical and psychological stress and turmoil just to have survived as long as we have.  We don't want to be treated as less authentic.  We don't want to be seen as alien or exotic.  We don't want to be your source of education.  We just want to be able to live our lives and be who we really are.

Amy.
xx

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Daily Mail Columnist Claims 'The NHS Shouldn't Fund HIV Preventing Drugs'

Amanda Platell, Daily Mail columnist and former press secretary to Tory leader Willaim Hague, has publicly condemned the idea of HIV preventing drugs being made available on the NHS.

The new drug, Truvada, was recently found to be 86% effective in preventing the transmission of HIV when taken by healthy adult males in a recent study.  Many AIDS prevention charities have called for the drug to be made available on the NHS, available to gay men in particular.

However, Platell has made opposition to the drug being freely available as she believes that it would encourage people to engage in 'risky behaviour'.  She has also argued that the NHS has already spent 'millions of pounds' on trying to prevent AIDS infection and suggests that the money would be better spent on cancer treatments instead.

She goes on to say, 'The National AIDS Trust says the cost of the revolutionary new drug can be justified because of the long-term costs of treating HIV.  They insist that the NHS has an 'ethical duty' to protect men from the disease as there are 2,500 new cases of HIV in gay men  in the UK each year, despite the millions of pounds of public money spent raising awareness of unsafe sex since the Eighties.'

'What kind of ethics is it to save one group of society that can be prevented by using a £1 condom, while denying cancer sufferers a longer life?  In a country where the die neglected in hospital corridors, where life-extending drugs are denied to people with leukemia and lymphoma, and life-enhancing alzheimer's drugs are restricted.  I would suggest it can't make sense to provide an expensive drug for a minority of healthy people who make a lifestyle choice not to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases.'

'If you don't want to get HIV, use condoms.'

Personally I believe that Platell's choice of argument is a horrible one.  She's essentially saying 'we've spent enough money on HIV, if you don't want it then don't put yourself at risk', whilst also advocating that the money be spent elsewhere to treat cancer, that in some cases can also be prevented.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that time and money shouldn't be given to the treatment of cancer.  My mother is a cancer survivor and I have so much respect for the level of treatment she received and owe those people who helped save her life everything.  However, you cannot say to one group that they should not have treatment for one disease over another because they can prevent theirs.  Would Platell also deny smokers with lung cancer treatment or people who sunbathe and get skin cancer treatment because these conditions also arose from choices they made?

We can't start treating people differently based on some kind of elitist view based on what diseases they may or may not have.  You cannot argue that HIV can be prevented by just using a condom and forgetting about drugs.  Condoms don't always work.  Sexual transmission isn't the only way you can contract AIDS.

If anything it would seem that Platells argument is coming from a place of homophobia.  She doesn't think gay people should be protected from AIDS, but what about straight people?  What about those who contract it by means other than gay sex?

Platell is wrong.  This drug should not be denied to those who need it.  You cannot argue that it would be unfair because other drugs to treat other conditions are not available, so therefor these ones shouldn't be too.  Instead of trying to put other people in the horrible position of having life saving and life changing medication denied to them why don't you put your time and effort into helping those other groups get the help they need too?  Get the treatment for those with Leukemia, fund the medication for alzheimers.  Don't just deny this treatment to those who need it because you personally feel that it's unfair.

Amy.
xx

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