Last Friday I went to see the new film 'Me Before You', adapted by Jojo Moyles from her bestselling book of the same name. There had been a lot of controversy over the film to do with the portrayal of the disability Will has and how the story handles it. Being part of the disabled community I personally didn't have a problem with the way his disability was handled, bar one or two lines that did seem a bit cack handed at worst, although I can completely understand why some people were offended. I'm not going to say that there are opinions are wrong, because the effects of the film on different people are equally important, but I will say that I think it needs to be taken into consideration that Will had previously been able bodied and so become disabled was too much for him to cope with. As he says in the film, of course, you can live a full and vibrant life with a disability - and even to the extent where you live more 'boldly' than you would have if you had not been disabled because you are aware of being grateful for all the things you can do. However, not everyone is capable of doing that and I personally believe that it is someone's human right to decide when they live and when they die. Now that we've got the controversial stuff out the way, onto the review and fashion!

Plotline: 7/10 

There was a great development from when we first meet Will to the end of the film, with the subtle romance slowly taking over Louisa and Will with a realistic trajectory, the love and loss between them is incredibly realistic and really pulls on your heartstrings.

Acting: 7/10

Emilia Clarke was the perfect person for the role of Louisa. She brought comedy, confidence, stunning eyebrows (seriously they could act on their own) and just the amount of seriousness to the complex role of Lou. While some of the crucial bits of Lou's storyline were taken out of the film, Emilia takes them into account anyway and creates a truly believable and relatable performance

While Sam Claflin is a good actor, I feel like he didn't quite bring the character to life as much as Emilia, which is why the score is low. Also, very disappointed they cast an able-bodied actor for a disabled role, they could have chosen out of some very talented actors -  Keith Cavill, RJ Mitte, Kurt Yaeger and much more. Now I know there is a section of the film where Will is walking about, but firstly it's not strictly necessary or crucial to see this, and they could also have used some form of CGI - if they can make Chris Evans as tiny man for nearly a quarter of a film, I'm sure they could make it appear if they could walk if it was genuinely necessary.

Overall: 8/10

The general feeling I had when I came out of the cinema was one of sadness, happiness and 'omg I've never cried so much at a movie before', which is why this got a pretty decent 8 out of 10. Also props for having a female director, screenwriter, and producer!


Now onto my favourite bit... Lou's clothes

I love her clothes so, so much. I envy her ability to wear such bright, colourful and quirky clothes without looking like a crazy bag lady or someone who's just lost their marbles. Fans of the book will recognise the iconic bumblebee tights and the beautiful red dress, but people seeing the film for the first time will also envy the wonderful range of clothes.





Apart from her outfit she wore to the interview and the last outfit, her wardrobe features a lot of very bright coral colours, yellow and pastel blue. Some of the clothes look like they may not work, I mean cardies haven't really been in fashion since my grandma was 10, but she somehow manages to make it look cute and it just fits with her. She tends to wear a lot of very kitsch shoes, mini skirts and fluffy jumpers which makes for a really classic look that is somewhere between grandma, your little sister and those 'high fashion' runway clothes that no one bar Harry Styles and supermodels can really pull off.




She has this amazing bright yellow mackintosh that I really really want, reminds so much of Paddington bear which is a major plus. A big fluffy faux fur coat also features several times and it looks so comfy, I have one similar but in a reallydark navy with light blue stripes, because of course I can never wear colour. She also wears this super cute blue pinafore and yellow top which honestly is my summer goal.
Also - block coloured tights are now a thing.

Dear RJ,

I don't really know how to start this letter, but I guess saying why I'm thankful would be a good idea. I am thankful because for the first time that I have seen a headline with the word 'autism' in, the story has not been about pity, or coddling, but of admiration and elation. I am thankful because your photos and story will go out to the public and represent us in a way that I don't think has been done before. We are often portrayed as weird, or scary, or any other number of bad things; you however have challenged that and showed that yes, we are different, but we are just as talented, valuable, intelligent, ambitious and able as any NT. I am thankful because you are succeeding in ways that I wish to and ways that I hope I to. I am thankful because although I got emotional reading about your modeling, and your open letter, and reading the experiences that you detail, that I have experienced too, I wasn't angry or upset, I was hopeful that it doesn't always have to be like that.

It is so important that people like you do what you do and show the world that autism is not something to be 'cured', but something to be celebrated, embraced and accounted for.

So, thanks RJ Peete.

A.

For a while now, me and my only other friend who isn't part of the itty bitty titty committee have said that if it was socially acceptable to go braless, we would. The constriction of bras, the uncomfortable sweat, twisted bra strap, that extra roll that magically appears when you put one on are my main reasons for wanting to not where a bra, but other factors apply as well. I feel so frustrated that something that I was born with, and can't help having, prevents me from doing what makes me comfortable because it has been hyper-sexualised.

There's this really annoying thing in the media and pop culture that happens with lesbians. One of two things happen: they are hyper-sexualised  or, they don't get portrayed at all (or if they do they are never actually called lesbians). So I thought it might be fun to compile my favourite songs about being a lesbian, or song written by lesbians. (Or just about girls liking girls because some of these artists are bi/pan). Enjoy!

SHE

For a while I've felt uneasy about all the seemingly unending praise for Meghan Trainor. Her supposedly 'feminist' and body positive song 'All about that Bass' based all of it's self-loving message on what men want, and simultaneously shamed skinny women. Although she has defended herself saying that she immediately says 'nah i'm just kidding', is it really necessary to include it in the first place?

She then went on to release 'Dear Future Husband', which at the least is confusing and at the worst something straight out of a 'how to jump back in time to the 1950's' manual. The video features her scrubbing a flaw and the lyric 'I'll be the perfect wife / Buying groceries / Buying what you need'. Not exactly the feminist sentiment she seems like she's trying to project at the moment.


In her latest video, 'NO', she is attempting to portray a strong independant woman who doesn't need a man, but 'If I want a man, then I'mma get a man'. The song itself is a good song, catchy enough, i'm not saying it's bad at all but the style, again, flags up something that makes me frustrated.

In interviews Meghan has said that she is 'bringing music back' and that she is bringing 'instruments and doo-wop feeling', yet she seems to have ditched all of this for recycled noughties music. I love noughties music, but I feel like she should at least recognise what got her to where she is, the fact that 'All about that bass' has over 1,000,000,000+ views on youtube, but 'NO' has only 120,000,000 views is very telling (Yes of course AATB has been up longer, but it's undoubtable that NO has had a significantly worse reception). Also, just something I noticed in the 'NO' video, all of the dancer's are the 'skinny bitches' she talked about in AATB - none of them were above a UK size 10.



I feel that if Meghan had just stuck to the original style of AATB and 'Lips are Movin' it would be so much better for her image, and I feel like people would receive her better - I mean 'Better When I'm Dancing' is a great, happy, fun song that I think should have been promoted as much as 'NO'.

What do you think about Meghan's music? 

Apart from being an amazingly fun and catchy song, if you choose to, 'Love Myself' can represent a much more deep and significant issue. Female masturbation. Now, if you've made it this far into the post, well done! The words 'Female masturbation' are taboo, un-talked about and looked down upon, so it's understandable if you felt weird reading these words. Despite the awkwardness that comes with talking about this subject, it is such an important thing to discuss. Here's why.



While male self pleasure is widely accepted as something all boys will do, and are expected to do as soon as, or before, they reach puberty, female pleasure is shunned. The unanomous story I hear from my friends and pretty much every girl I've talked to about this, is that they felt like they were doing something wrong, dirty and in some cases, even a sin. This is part of a wider issue of men's pleasure coming first and women's coming second, or never at all.- the fact that 20% of women never have orgasms during intercourse, and about 80% fake orgasms to speed up men finishing because they are bored and/or fatigued. This also leads in to topics such as the use of women merely as sexual objects, and things used to sell stuff, but that's another post.

By releasing this song, whether she wrote it or not, she is joining a very, very small club of women who openly sing about female pleasure. Hailee Steinfeld has secrured herself a position in the growing group of women expressing themselves unabashedly and this is an incredibly powerful message to be sending, especially since she has such a wide reaching fan base, the majority of which is teenage girls.




With lyrics such as "Know how to satisfy / Keeping that tempo right without you" and "Got me speaking in tongues / The beautiful, it comes without you", this song is undoubtedly about masturbation, and I think that's great. Putting something that's normally taboo into the public eye (and the top ten!) is an incredible feat that is hopefully one more step on the road to female expression being as widely celebrated as male expression and sexuality.

Thanks Hailee.

Yesterday I watched the final episode of House M.D. after re-watching the entire program - all eight series. I'm guessing anyone that would be bothered about spoilers has already watched the last episode so I won't put a warning. Anyway, in the last episode when House has disappeared for a few days Wilson and Foreman get worried about him doing 'something stupid'.



While I understand the sentiment and reason why that phrase is used, I mean no one wants to say, 'I hope they haven't topped/killed/offed themselves', I still feel uneasy about the wording. It implies that suicide is stupid, because obviously, right? Why would someone want to end something? Of course everyone's life can get better and every situation will one day get better, right? (If you didn't detect that, heavy sarcasm)

As someone who is a sos I am very conflicted over the subject. I am very grateful that I am still here and that I got the help I needed and that my situation got better, but i'm also very aware that not everyone has the means or privilege for that to happen. The only reason I got onto my path of recovery was because my family physically took me out of that situation. We sold our house, split the family for a year and moved away. Not everyone has the money, resources or the support to do that, and even if they did it would not be guaranteed that things would get better. There was always a chance that the same thing that happened in my last town would happen again in the new one. I also know the feelings some might experience before suicide and how - I can't even think of a word to describe the feelings, I guess isolating, terrifying, calm, chaos, hurt, agony and eventually pointlessness - the person feels. I feel strongly that this should not just be dismissed, because I feel that it often is.

People talk about how selfish suicide is, how wrong it is to do 'that' to your loved ones. This gets me so, so angry. The thing that is selfish is making someone stay in a situation that is leaving them feeling like nothing, or hell depending on your beliefs (I'll come on to that in a minute), is better than being alive. Forcing something like the guilt of hurting someone you love, on top of whatever is causing that person to feel suicidal in the first place, is disgusting and just plain wrong in my view. I know many people disagree and they are entitled to that opinion, however I do believe that those who have never experience suicide or attempted suicide themselves, firsthand, really have no place to place the blame.

This post is really all over the place, so I apologise, but I just needed to get my thoughts out. What's your view on suicide?

Squad. Squadgoals. Whatever you want to call it, it has recently taken over the white world. Yes, the white world. Before researching the topic for this post, I was ready to defend a certain celebrity (you know which one) without even realising what I was trying to defend. What I was going to blindly defend was the unintentional, but still deeply damaging, use of cultural appropriation.

I had originally planned to write this piece along the lines of saying 'why Squadism isn't damaging, but rather the way the media portrays it', but I have realised it goes much deeper.

The roots of #squad, I discovered, lie in the culture of young black people creating a self made family to stay strong in a world still plagued by oppression - racism, sexism, classism - and to survive in a very much white man's world. I had the privilege to be ignorant to this subject, but I am so glad I took the time to read up on it because even the most simplest things to me have a deep rooted history in a culture that I am not a part of, and a culture that was (and still is) oppressed by my culture. By partaking in the use of #Squadgoals without understanding where it came from or how the overhaul by white people has affected the original use, I was inadvertently taking part in cultural appropriation.

And while I don't think that the use of #squadgoals will or can stop, it is so important for people to understand the words they use. Taking something that's been done in black culture for years and making it 'mainstream' (code for 'white') is something that is happening increasingly in social media today and needs to stop - or at the least people need to take the time to understand and appreciate, not appropriate

So, do you think #SquadGoals is damaging, or empowering?