Excess, patriarchy and the murder of Stanford White 22 April 2018 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Patriarchy , No Comments The media dubbed it—perhaps for the first time—the ‘crime of the century’. On the night of 25 June 1906, Harry K. Thaw shot architect Stanford White at point-blank range in the rooftop […]
The sexual radicalisation of Lawrence of Arabia 9 March 2018 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Radicalisation , No Comments I recently wrote about the influence of unconscious shame upon the personality of perhaps the single most memorable individual to emerge from World War I, T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of […]
Lawrence of Arabia – a shame-driven hero? 18 February 2018 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Shame , No Comments Shifting Sands, an exhibition at the British Civil War Centre in Newark, examines the perennially fascinating story of T. E. Lawrence—a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia—from multiple perspectives: historical, archaeological and personal. Pursuing clues in […]
“Violate the King’s companion” – the gravest form of treason 14 August 2017 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Patriarchy , No Comments In a post titled Why is treason the gravest crime?, I recently wrote about how the emotional mechanics of patriarchy demand that treason—aiding and abetting the overthrow of one’s own […]
Why is treason the gravest crime? 23 July 2017 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Patriarchy , No Comments Throughout recorded history, treason has often been regarded as the worst crime an individual can commit—morally worse than murder, robbery or other crimes. Historically, treason against the ruling sovereign has often been called ‘high […]
Porn categories reflect historical taboos 5 March 2017 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Pornography , No Comments WARNING: Contains nude images As you are no doubt aware, PornHub recently released their statistics for 2016. Being very graphic people, they produced a nicely-coloured map of the world showing the top porn categories for […]
Freud, repression and today’s anxiety epidemic 11 December 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Anxiety , History , No Comments In 1929 Sigmund Freud, the ‘founding father’ of psychoanalysis, wrote a book that was originally titled The Uneasiness in Culture. It finally emerged a year later as one of his seminal works, Civilization and its Discontents. […]
Paris, paint and prostitutes 24 September 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , History , Sexuality , No Comments In the second half of the 19th century Paris saw the confluence of two major streams of change. The first was to the French capital itself. The cramped old arrondissements were demolished to make way for Baron […]
Valentine’s Day origins in Roman orgies 12 February 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Sexuality , No Comments Valentine’s Day is upon us and as a result the price of a blood-red rose skyrockets. Misty-eyed lovers feverishly scribble anonymous cards to the various paramours they are desperately besotted with (or simply fancy shagging). […]
Anne Frank’s genitalia – sex meets history 23 September 2014 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: History , Sexuality , No Comments One of the most poignant memoirs of the World War II Holocaust, Anne Frank’s Diary, has recently become the battleground in an entirely different kind of war. Anne Frank’s Diary Gail Horalek, the mother […]