“To Penetrate or to Envelop?” Deborah Cameron On How We Talk About Sex
Have you shagged anyone this term? Maybe you’ve fucked someone, or, God forbid, been fucked? Did you partake in a bit of fifth week love-making? Did you get railed, or did you screw someone? “One thing that’s changed is people do talk about sex, and they do so publicly”, Profes
“Psychedelics can be life-changing compounds.” Icon of the Week: Rebecca Smausz
Rebecca and I walk around for a bit, trying to find the best place to have our conversation. Being Balliolites, we stick to its vicinity. We try the JCR at first — but there seems to be a Balliol Left Caucus meeting. The light spills out from the windows of a pub with a horse […]
Autism and ADHD: Sex, Drinking, and Self-Diagnosis
TW: Mentions of alcohol abuse and sexual assault. Charlotte Mia and Jess Joy are a modern-day platonic love story. They first gravitated towards each other during Freshers’ Week at Plymouth University 11 years ago, and from that moment onwards, have braved the rollercoaster of life hand-in-
‘Gay night out and then a kebab!’ In Conversation With: Stephen Bailey
The first thing you notice about speaking to Stephen Bailey is how the conversation immediately settles itself into a startlingly familiar and comfortable shape; the feeling of sinking into dialogue as if onto a plush velvet couch. If you forget yourself for just a moment, you may be laughing at a c
Icon of the Week: Pedr Charlesworth, The Man Behind Byke
Pedr Charlesworth is the man behind Byke (formerly Oxbikes), the business re-vamping old bikes and giving them a second life on an easy-to-use platform so that they can pick them up “anytime, anywhere”. As we become increasingly conscious of our impact on the environment, Byke is working to impr
British Bombs: The Rise of Declan McKenna
Sitting in silence on a Zoom call with a group of strangers and waiting for Declan McKenna to appear is a peculiar experience. We are all students, amateurs, hyper-self-aware and never more acutely aware of our immaturity than in this very moment. What do people do with their hands on a Zoom call? A
Poor Things: Why did Steampunk Barbie Get All the Awards?
Conversations with my girlfriend outside the cinemas at which we saw Barbie and Poor Things have merged into a feverish mixture of hot and cold — the warmth of the summer and the biting cold of a Scottish winter. If memory serves, though, she asked the same questions on the 21st of July as she [&h
In Defence of Caring Too Much
The muffled din of a crowded college bar on a Saturday night. Liquid courage invites new-found proximity to strangers, conversations struck like matches with people you don’t typically see in the sobering light of day. At the forefront of the scene is a mouth agape, eyebrows and nostrils carving t
Rethinking Sustainability: How Do Working-Class Creatives Sustain Themselves in a Cost-of-Living Crisis?
One cold October evening at the University of Oxford, girls dressed head to toe in Burberry flocked to listen to former British Vogue editor, Alexandra Shulman, discuss all things fashion. Given the recurrent questions about sustainability, I would assume that many of these garments were Depop purch