Barbara Minchinton’s persuasion is gentle but foolproof: the women of Little Lon benefited from prostitution. Consensual commercial sex, when driven by women, isn’t more dangerous than other work. Problems with sex work lie in undue criminalisation and stigmatisation.
My Body Keeps Your Secrets mourns the endemic of women and non-binary people losing their peace and internalising continued violence against their bodies. But I felt unequipped to decipher the gut-wrenching feelings of this book.
I messaged my friend the thoughts keeping me awake, “It scares me that you can learn and learn but never know enough to piece it together. But we never had this responsibility before. People didn’t know much beyond their day to day. I have this access they didn’t, but I am so scared to not know and never understand.” He thought to be forever learning was an exciting problem.
It feels like a baseline commitment, but I can’t care about the NGV.
David Mountain’s ‘Past Mistakes’ is a crisp reminder to step beyond easily accessible narratives and stay objective when viewing the past.
Kaitlyn Blythe talks about the value of travel, the damage of positive thinking, the scarcity mindset of the Australian arts scene and liking Taylor Swift.