Manga image of grey woman holding staff of Aaron with light showing her blue eyes

About me and my blog – April 2020 edition

About once a year I seem to have a good long hard think about what my blog is about and how I should present myself to the world. It’s not deliberate, but anyway — here is the latest about me, my writing, my theology and my feminism. (And the different sections of this post have now also been split over several pages on my site.) Continue reading About me and my blog – April 2020 edition

Manga image of grey woman holding staff of Aaron with light showing her blue eyes

About me and about my blog – April 2019 edition

Extract from artwork created by Siku (@theartofsiku, www.TheArtOfSiku.com).

I updated my ‘About Me’ page. It won’t be the last time, but here’s what it now says:

I’m actually quite a shy person.

But once I’m talking, I’ll tell it as it is. I’ll say the words that aren’t being said, I’ll delve the topics that are too taboo and I’ll throw out challenges for people to wrestle with.

As for this blog, it’s a space where I write at the edges of ideas that relate to hope, sexuality and consent. I want to lean into the grey places where people haven’t yet distilled their thoughts or figured out where they want to stand. I’ll disentangle complexities and dare to re-open questions where the standard answers now seem incomplete.

In practical terms, that means I write about:

  • sex and portrayals of sex,
  • consent and consent culture,
  • purity and purity culture,
  • inclusion and transformation,
  • bodies and personhood,
  • the Bible and Christian witness.

I approach these topics as a Christian and a feminist, but also with a listening ear to the sex-positive community.  

Make no mistake, I hold a high view of the Bible and believe it to be inspired, so I ground my perspective there. However, I don’t think the Bible can be understood without – at least in some sense – recognising it is literature. I also think that the church can learn from people who are outside of the church. Certainly, this was my experience when it came to consent.

And Christians really oughta know about consent! Continue reading About me and about my blog – April 2019 edition

Grey woman with the staff of Aaron, art by Siku

New profile picture: grey places and the art of Siku

Extract from artwork created by Siku, @theartofsiku  www.theartofsiku.com

If you’ve spent time on Facebook or other social media, you’ve probably seen one of those alerts telling you that a friend has changed their profile picture. You may also have noticed that some friends never seem to change their picture – and others seem to change it every week.

For myself, I’m someone who prefers to choose a picture and stick with it. But a few days ago I updated my Twitter profile and today I’ve made a similar change on this blog. Here’s why…
Continue reading New profile picture: grey places and the art of Siku

The rebranded blog is here!

So… I’ve just given the blog of a new look, but more significantly it’s got a redefined focus. Yes, I’ll still be blogging about that grey area, 50 Shades, but thinking bigger too.

There are (or will be) three main themes of this blog:

Lines in the sand – on consent and boundaries

Life outside Eden – on sexual expression and gender

Love in eternity – on faith, hope and God

If you like what I write, you can also now follow me on Twitter: @hope4greyplaces

Timing out – but not for long I hope

This is just an FYI to anyone and everyone who’s interested – I’ve been thinking very much about what this blog is for and who it benefits and what’s unique about what I have to share with the rest of the world (if anything!?)

The upshot is I’m planning on revamping the blog in a number of different ways — and I’m currently working on this.

Unless EL James shocks the world with a gender-reversed version of her story (sigh, Stephenie Meyer, sigh), I’m not intending to blog until the full revamp is ready.

Fifty Shades Of Grey London premiere protests: Hot off the press

The campaign 50 Shades Is Domestic Abuse was at the London premiere this evening. Read all about it:

Some great pics here: Fifty Shades of Grey protesters claim the movie glamorises domestic violence | Daily Mail Online.

Natalie Collins from 50shadesisdomesticabuse gives her views in a short video here: Fifty Shades Of Grey premiere: Domestic abuse campaigners protest on film’s opening night – WATCH – Mirror Online.

This one has Natalie Collins’ as well as Dakota Johnson’s views on whether the film promotes abuse: 50 Shades of Grey London premiere gets domestic violence protest group – Movies News – Digital Spy.

An interview with Natalie Collins modelling her eye-catching t-shirt (I’d love to say sexy t-shirt, but that might be stretching the truth!): Fifty Shades glamourises abuse, say campaigners | Christian News on Christian Today.