BID
Bi-Monthly Magazine For Lesbian And Bisexual Women Issue 11 FREE
BEHAVIOUR . IDENTITY . DESIRE
Contributors Elly Badcock works in a call centre and pretends to be a writer, spending her spare time attempting to reverse this description. Her interests include class politics, Jarvis Cocker and science fiction. A socialist, feminist and long-time activist, Elly specialises in feature-lenth polemics and the overuse of adjectives.
Lynsey Calderwood is a Scottish fiction writer. She’s had several short stories published in literary magazines and anthologies including Nerve, Nomad, Mslexia, The Edinburgh Review and the Scotsman+Orange 2006. She is currently working on a novel.
Sophie Cohen is a19 year old English Language and Media Student at University of Brighton. She regularly contributes to B.I.D Zine writing about fashion. Likes: Rubiks Cube and Tartan Dislikes: Mushrooms and Arrogance
Lotte Murphy-Johnson is a 21 year old writer and TV researcher. She spends her week working for a TV production company and her weekend frantically putting together the B.I.D zine with her girlfriend Holly. Likes: chicken curry, baked alaska, Amanda Palmer Dislikes: Corriander, chewing gum, self-obsessed people
Melissa Martinez is a hopeless romantic and incurable insomniac. She goes weak at the knees for vintage black and white photos, tiramisu and pistachio gelato. She wanted to be a Bond Girl and airforce helicopter pilot but discovered Hitchcock films and that she didn’t have 20/20 vision. One day, she hopes to be as good as Annie Leibovitz behind the lens and finish writing her ‘Brokeback Mountain’ with two female indie leads.
Holly is a 22 year old trainee Montessori teacher who lives in London. Her passions in life are tattoos, women and computers. Shes loves music and in her dreams she’s a punk rock front-woman like Brody Dalle, in reality she is trying to learn the ukelele and can just about play Hot Cross Buns. Holly is an avid photographer and rarely ventures far without a camera. She launched B.I.D zine with her girlfriend Lotte and she enjoys being her own boss.
Contents Page
Lili Murphy-Johnson
KONY 2012 A look at the internet phenomenon INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY What it really
means for women all over the globe
THE RULES OF MOTHERS DAY About to leave the house in dungarees and a ‘does your girlfried still do that thing with her tounge?’’ top? Stop. Sophie Cohen tells you what you should be wearing this Mother’s Day GRAPHIC T-SHIRTS Sophie Cohen takes a look at
this hot new fashion
THE LESBIAN ALPHABET A poem by Lynsey
Calderwood
CHASING ROSA Melissa Martinez talks us through
how to kiss
NEWSFLASH A run-down of the week’s most interesting LGBT stories MUSLIM COMUNITY VS EDL Elly Badcock looks
at how the LGBT community are being asked to turn against Britain’s Muslim community
NEWSFLASH
MUSLIM AND ARAB COUNTRIES STAGED A WALKOUT of the Human Rights Council panel meeting in Geneva on Wednesday when the topic for discussion turned to ending violence and discrimination towards LGBT individuals. The walkout, staged by the 57 nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, was in response to the UN Secretary and the Human Rights High Commissioner stating that gays and lesbians should be protected by all governments.
THE GOVERNOR OF ST PETERSBURG IN RUSSIA has signed a bill into law which is designed to stop the discussion of anything ‘gay’ in public. The St Petersburg bill has fines of up to 1 million roubles for organizations and up to 5,000 roubles for individuals. This new bill has been passed in spite of huge international pressure from campaigners,
YOUTHS ARE BEING KILLED IN IRAQ BECAUSE OF THEIR “STRANGE HAIR AND TIGHT CLOTHES”. The campaign, reportedly by Shia militants, has led to at least 14 youngsters being stoned to death in the last 3 weeks alone because of their emo like style. Lists have been circulated in some neighbourhoods stating that the killings will continue if young people continue to dress in a Western way. Tight jeans and long or spiky hair are being targeted in particular. Although leading Shia clerics in Iraq have condemned the killings the Iraq Moral Police have released a statement which states that it intends to ‘eliminate’ the trend. Their statement read ‘The Emo phenomenon or devil worshipping is being followed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate (the phenomenon) as soon as possible since it’s detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger. They wear strange, tight clothes that have pictures on them such as skulls and use stationary that are shaped as skulls. They also wear rings on their noses and tongues, and do other strange activities.’ TODAY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH STEPPED UP ITS ANTI-EQUAL MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN. In a letter from two senior archbishops, the church is arguing that the government’s plans for gay marriage will reduce the significance of matrimony. The letter, which was read out in 2,500 parish churches this morning, says that it is Catholic’s “duty to do all we can to ensure that the true meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations”.
THE BIG PICTURE
Two alleged members Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot face up to seven years in jail for an anti-Putin protest held in Moscow’s main cathedral.
ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE
vs.
The Muslim Community Matthew Wilkinson
Matthew Wilkinson
Matthew Wilkinson
Elly Badcock looks at the E.D.L and it’s attempts to turn LGBT people against the Muslim community in Britain TWO RECENT DOCUMENTARIES - My Hometown Fanatics: Stacey Dooley Investigates, and Proud and Prejudiced - have again focused public attention on the relationship between the Muslim community and LGBT people. Focusing on English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson and Sayful Islam's Al-Mahajaroun group, both documentaries touch on the contentious triangle of Islam, women's rights and homophobia - and should set alarm bells ringing for any anti-racist LGBT activists. In 'Proud and Prejudiced' EDL leader Tommy Robinson declares 'of course it offends me to see a woman in a burqa'. Why this should be such an uncritically accepted assumption is unclear; perhaps Tommy Robinson thinks it is his god-given right to look at women's faces, arms, chests, legs and
cleavage whether they want him to or not. For LBT women the constant fascination with our dress is something we understand all too well. Lesbians in skirts and heels are sexually harassed and their sexuality denied because they had the audacity not to wear a boiler suit. As a bisexual woman, I've witnessed people flinching in shock when they find out little shorthaired me in Doc Martens is also attracted to men. Discussion of women's issues, and issues of religion, sexuality and gender has to evolve beyond the type of fabric we put on our skin, and how much of it there is. Hopefully this is something relatively uncontroversial for any progressive LBT woman. What is more contentious is that Tommy also makes a plea to LGBT activists to fight against homophobia in Islam. On the face of it, this may appeal to some in our community - we understand the homophobia prevalent in most institutions across society, from religion to education. There are, however, major problems with this appeal. Most importantly, it tars all followers of Islam with the same brush. Of course, institutional religion has the tendency to be more conservative because it is a mirror to society - it tends to reflect the most conservative aspects of the world around it. A glance at the liberation theologists of Latin America shows,however, that it can also mirror mass movements for social justice, too; and a blanket assumption that Islam is inherently homophobic only serves to divide marginalised groups. This, of course, is exactly what the EDL are really asking us to do; to turn against a group that is already treated as the lowest of the low within British society. As LGBT women, we should already be well aware of how it feels to be near the bottom of a large scrapheap. We are attacked, vilified and abused. And it is this experience which should warn us off antipathy towards our Muslim brothers and sisters. British Muslims are attacked and policed in almost every area
of their lives. Racially profiled when they step outside, they can expect stop-and-searches, racist abuse, physical violence and arrest, as well as the daily mistrust, verbal abuse, and suspicion which seems never-ending. Women have their hijabs torn off them; during the student revolts of last year, student Tahmeena Bax was beaten unconscious and then told by two male police medics that trying to remove her hijab was like 'unwrapping a pass the parcel'. This is how agents of the government treat Muslim women. Now imagine what outand-out racists like the EDL would do given half the chance. As for claims that the EDL are standing up for LGBT rights in Britain, their invitation of homophobic, Quran-burning Pastor Terry Jones shows they hold the rights of Muslims and the LGBT community in equal contempt. Racists and fascists often try to appropriate the rights of LGBT people and women in their fight against diversity. They will shamelessly pit exploited groups against each other, safe in the knowledge that when they have launched an all-out war against Muslims they will come for us. The EDL, sickeningly, have a 'pink triangle division' - the pink triangle, of course, being the symbol the Nazis used to denote LGBT prisoners in concentration camps. Whilst the EDL is not an out-and-out fascist organisation, its tradition and history is that of the National Front and the BNP, the nailbombers and racist thugs. Let's not forget that bomber David Copeland targeted both Brixton and Soho - he was launching a war on grounds of race and sexuality. This is what groups like the EDL will do to marginalised communities today. We've recently passed LGBT History Month and International Women's Day. That should give us cause to decide as LBT women whether we stand with our sisters - whether those sisters wear hoodies, hijabs or hotpants - or whether we succumb to those who want to divide us.
The Lesbian Alphabet
Lynsey Calderwood
A is for Anna Nolan, avenger and androgynous B is for baby butch, bisexual and bicurious C is for clone zone, cross-dressing, closet-case carpet munching, coming out, cats, clits, cunts and cunnilingus D is for diverse diva, diesel dyke and drag king E is for Ellen Degeneres and Emily Dickinson F is for femme, Fingersmith, and Frida Kahlo fridge magnets faghags, flannel shirts, friendly, funny, faggots G is for gender-bender, glamour butch and gold star granite, girlfriend, Gina Gerschon, gaydar and granola H is for homo, hetero and Helen the governor I is for identity and internet lover J is for Janis Joplin K is for KD Lang L is for labrys, lesboz, leather, lipstick and the les-be-friends gang M is for matriarchy and Martina Navratilova mothers, male impersonators, monogamy, Madonna N is for no-nuts-needed, Nell from Ally McBeal, navel jewels, nail clippers, nipples and non-heterosexual O is for over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders, oysters and Orlando P is for pride, pinkie rings and purple Q is for Queen Latifah and queer-as-a-three-dollar-bill questioning sexuality and the quest for the right girl R is for rainbows, Rubyfruit Jungle and Radclyffe Hall S is for Sapphic sisters, sensible shoe wearers and Stonewall T is for tomboy, Tipping The Velvet and Tatu Tinky Winky, Tori Amos, tampons and tofu U is for u-haul, undercover and underwear V is for vagina, Virginia Woolf and vibrators vanilla sex, Victoria Wood, virago, vegetarians W is for wife X is for x-girlfriends Y is for youth, no it’s not all in their heads And Zzzz is for sleeping, that’s what most folk do in bed.
With the new wave of graphic t-shirts in shops Sophie Cohen takes a look at some of the more interesting things around town and how you could wear them! I am not sure anyone can say that fashion has ever been a ‘serious thing’. Yes of course it is important to people (especially those who make a living out of it) but one of the good things about fashion is that it is all about self expression. You decide what you want to wear. And you see items of clothing and accessories in a certain way that makes you...you. Fashion, these days, is great because of how not serious it is; if ever there were a chance we could make a fool out of ourselves (in terms of our dress sense) and get away with it, it would be now. Maybe making a fool out of ourselves is a little over the top, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be geeky and goofy and wear silly outfits that describe our personalities and beliefs. This week’s trend is the Graphic T-shirt, an item which is showing its face ever more so in numerous high street shops and smaller boutiques. The good thing about graphic t-shirts is that there are so many different types and no matter how you feel on a given day there will be a t-shirt out there to state it;. Whether it’s a quirky saying, lyrics from a song, phrases and catch lines from TV shows and films, or just a gimmicky image, the graphic t-shirt has every emotion, belief and personality pinned down. It is not even as though they are a difficult piece to wear; matching a graphic top with jeans, shorts or a skirt and topping them off with dolly shoes or trainers is child’s play. Plus this whole running shoes and skater look is really starting to hit the mainstream - I bet Nike and Vans have never hit so much profit. Shops such as New Look and River Island have really started to stock up on their graphic tees recently so there is no excuse for you not to walk to your nearest town and grab one.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY What it really means for women all over the globe Lotte Murphy-Johnson looks at International Women’s Day, how it is celebrated all over the world, and what still needs to be done to help women achieve full equality
LAST THURSDAY (8TH MARCH) WAS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY. I’ve always been aware of the day - one of my closest friends was women’s officer at university - but this year I decided to look into IWD properly and see what it was really all about. I suppose I expected it to be centred around a few hardcore feminists in Europe and the USA but I’ve come to realise over the week that it’s actually a very varied celebration. What first surprised me was that it really is an international women’s day. Since the early 20th Century women’s day has been celebrated by women throughout Europe as part of campaigns for greater equality. But as the 20th century progressed, so did the span of International Women’s Day. This year organised events were held in over 100 countires, many of whom declare 8th March a national holiday. In Russia it is traditional to buy flowers for women. So, on the morning of 8th March, Moscow’s streets are filled with men buying roses for their wives, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, daughters and grandmothers. Unlike the exclusivity of Valentines Day or Mother’s Day, IWD in Russia is for every woman, regardless of her relationship status. This tradition is also widespread across parts of Eastern Europe and Italy. While IWD has become a day of celebration in many countries, there are parts of the world where IWD is used to fight for equality. In Pakistan working women celebrate International Women's Day every year to commemorate their ongoing struggle for equal rights, despite facing many cultural and religious restrictions. Similarly, in Poland every IWD includes large feminist demonstrations in major cities. In comparison to this, our celebrations in the UK seem pretty dull. As I walked into work on Thursday I informed one of my few female colleagues that it was International Women’s Day. She didn’t seem very excited. Maybe it’s because women in Britain don’t feel they need to assert themselves the way they did in 1911? We’ve got the vote, contraception is widely accepted and we can wear and do whatever we like. Gone are the days of men escorting women to parties; instead, on a Friday night the high street is filled with tipsy women heading out to clubs. But does this really mean women are equal?
Women may not be ‘escorted’ to parties or public events any more but if a young women steps into a club she is sure to face a lot of attention from male on-lookers. While for some this attention may be wanted, I think for a lot of women male attention can sometimes be threatening. Even more worryingly, there is still a significant gap between men and women’s annual incomes. According to Reuters newly trained female doctors in the United States make nearly $17,000 less than their male counterparts, even though women increasingly are choosing careers in higher-paying medical specialties, U.S. While the majority of employers pay their male and female staff equally, there are still quite a few cases where this is not happening. Of course in comparison to some parts of the world Britain is doing pretty well, but that shouldn’t be a reason to ignore the importance of IWD for the millions of women who don’t have the same basic rights as men. One thing that this year’s IWD has made me realise is the amount that still needs to be done to help women escape repression. Take a look at some of these figures and it might make you think twice about ignoring International Women’s Day next year... •
Seventy percent of the worlds poor are women.
•
Women earn only 10% of the worlds wages despite doing two thirds of the work
•
In Sub-Saharan Africa, women own less than 2 percent of the land, but produce more than 90 percent of the food
•
Women own only 1% of the world’s property
•
49 percent: The amount of lesbians and bisexual women who say they have had a child.
•
20 percent: The amount of female same-sex couples who are raising children and living in poverty, compared to 9 percent of married heterosexual couples who are raising children and living in poverty.
•
21.1 percent: The poverty rate of black lesbian couples versus 4.3 percent for white lesbian couples.
•
Almost 50 percent: The amount of black lesbians who have experienced some form of domestic violence, compared to 25 percent of heterosexual women of all races.
•
Three times more: Lesbian couples were three times more likely to serve in the U.S. military between 1990 and 2000 compared to women generally.
THE RULES OF:
Mother ’s Day
Sophie Cohen makes sure you impress your mum this mother’s Day
MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE LABELLED THIS week’s The Rules Of: ‘Things your mother would like to see you wear’, but seeing as most of us will be visiting our parents around the Mothers Day period why not show some appreciation for what you might want to think about wearing in the following weeks. Make the effort Obviously everyone has a different relationship with their own mother; for instance now I am at university I don’t get to see mine for a few months at a time (even though I do talk to her on the phone e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y). So on those occasions when she does visit me for the day or I go home for the weekend, I try to look my best. Looking my best doesn’t mean I wake up every morning, run into the bathroom to have a shower, shave my legs and armpits, wash my hair, cover myself in moisturiser, blow-dry my hair, contemplate curling it, and then pile on the eyeliner and glittery eye shadow before I deciding what to wear... I just mean not wearing my PJs all day, or a pair of tracksuit bottoms and one of dads old t-shirts. I never take it to the extreme either: never has my mum turned up in Brighton to see me in my favourite black dress with a pair of heels and a clutch bag all so we can do a weekly food shop at ASDA. Despite this, I find not looking like a stereotypical student does me justice when I go home. Beware: Cleavage + Bum If you’ve got it, flaunt it... isn’t that what everyone is always saying? Seriously that phrase has been bouncing from chick to chick for at least 30 years now. I guess it means well: if you happen to have it, why not flaunt it? But just make sure you’re flaunting it to the right audience! Your mother may have seen your behind and chest when you were a little one, but 20+ years later those 34DDs and sculptured bottom were not exactly what your mum had in mind when she was expecting a surprise visit from you and the family. Instead make sure you wear tights and not your shortest of skirts or dresses, don’t wear that top that is cropped just below the nipples and instead go for a flattering square or sweetheart neckline, a chance to show your best assets without actually having them out. Low Rise and See-Through Is it a silly thing to say that your mum really doesn’t want to see your lacy bra through that top? Or that she doesn’t admire how your thong rests on your body? No I didn’t think it was, so why do people do it?! I don’t particularly find low rise jeans and a high rising thong that attractive but I’m sure there is someone out there for you that does...just maybe not the mother. Jeans are acceptable to wear, just not ones that you know are going to fall down to reveal your underwear and the same with see-through clothing; as thin and refreshing as the material may be make sure that when mumma is around you put a tank top or plain dress underneath. A lot of high street shops do incredibly decent quality and value for money basic range tank tops, long sleeve tops, skirts and bodycon dresses.
KONY2012: WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? HOLLY RICHARDSON LOOKS AT THE LATEST INTERNET PHENOMENON A week ago the name Joseph Kony was practically unheard of. Now it is the name that everybody is talking about, the #1 trending topic on Twitter, the subject of numerous discussions on Facebook. The Ugandan warlord has been made famous due to a 30 minute video going viral; the film has so far been viewed more than 64 million times since Monday. For those of you who haven’t watched it yet KONY2012 is a film made by the American Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Invisible Children which aims to educate people about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. The makers of the video want to make Kony famous and ensure that people know both about the crimes he has commited and the risk he poses to innocent children. The idea is that if people are aware of the warlord and his crimes and they make it clear that it is an issue that they care about then America might not withdraw the 100 military advisors which they sent last year to help the Ugandan Army in their efforts to track down and apprehend Kony. The aim was to raise public awareness and celebrities are doing their bit to get the message to huge numbers of people; P Diddy, Justin Bieber and Rihanna have all tweeted about the issue in the last week.
Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, is wanted for numerous brutal crimes including rape and murder. Members of the LRA approach villages at night, kill the parents, rape the girls and make them sex slaves, and recruit the boys as child soldiers for the army. The group is reported to have abducted over 60 000 children over the last 2 decades. The video centres on charity worker Jason Russell who is trying to explain to his five year old son who Kony is and why he needs to be stopped. It also features former child abductee Jacob Acaye, a friend of Jason, who is in support of raising awareness of the LRA and its crimes. Although undeniably very moving the video has not been without criticism and the backlash has begun. The Invisible Children organisation has come under fire for its spending practises, its support of the Ugandan Army which has been accused of torture and human rights violations and a lack of transparency concerning their figures. A foreign affairs article published last November accused Invisible Children and other NGO’s of manipulating facts and exaggerating figures to make their case appear stronger. The spending of the charity has also been criticised, the group Visible Children pointed out that in 2011 Invisible Children spent over 8.6 million US dollars but only 32% went to direct services. The other millions went on things such as staff salaries and film production. Jason Russell
has responded saying that they need to spend their money on advocacy and awareness, especially in the West, because people just don’t know enough about what’s going on. My friends and I had never heard of Kony this time last week so raising awareness is important if policy makers need to be convinced that people care about issues which don’t affect them directly. The money that has gone to the ground has been spent in Uganda and its neighbouring countries to build a rehabilitation centre, an early warning radio network and an LRA crisis tracker, all things that help protect villagers from the LRA. Many have also commented that Kony is no longer in Uganda and hasn’t been for about 6 years now so the LRA, now comprised of only a few hundred members, poses a reduced threat. While it is true that the LRA is now fragmented and operates in various countries it still poses a great risk to children in Africa. The way the presenter portrays himself has also been criticised, with Ugandan blogger Rosebell Kagumire saying “This is another video where I see an outsider trying to be a hero, rescuing African children. We have seen these stories a lot in Ethiopia. Celebrities coming in Somalia. It does not end the problem. I think we need to have sound intelligent campaigns that are geared towards real policy shifts rather than a very sensationalized story that is out to make just one person cry and at the end of the day, we forget about it.” I didn’t particularly warm to the presenter, I thought he did appear to have an inflated sense of self and the fact that he consistently referred to ‘Africa’ in the way that many Americans do (it’s made up of many different countries you know!) was quite annoying. However Russell nor his son should be the stars of the video, the children and the families effected by Kony should be. The film was made to tell people like us who Kony is and to get us to care, which has been an unequivocal success. The speed at which the video spread around the world was quite amazing and it really does highlight how the internet and social media are becoming increasingly powerful tools for education and action. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube represent an extremely powerful network, one where friends are connected and also one where a single tweet by a celebrity can reach over 20 million people immediately. The film itself admits to being an experiment, an experiment to see if a single video can make a man world famous by the end of 2012. If the current rate of dissemination is anything to go by the film will definitely succeed in that part of its mission.
Chasing Rosa Pucker-up! I have a sweet tooth. My dentist will vouch for that. I like to be smothered in chocolate or at least have my daily mid-afternoon fix of hazelnut praline. Granny Smith apples just don’t do it for me whereas a cacaocoated almond will catapult me to heaven and back. I'm not totally fruit-phobic. I do adore a giant juicy peach and munching on anti-oxidant-rich blueberries but there just isn’t the same amount of feel-good endorphins in fruit. If you're a member of the clandestine Chocolate Lovers Club, you will know that apparently the type of chocolate you crave and how you eat it, says a lot about you. Whether you're the type that ravenously devours chunks of Green & Blacks organic crispy-milk chocolate or if you prefer to delicately savor a cherry liquor truffle slowly melting in your mouth. I have to confess I’m verging on the edge of being a devourer.
I like kissing in the same way I like chocolate. It’s an insatiable daily craving and desire thing. Although kissing a woman is an entirely different affair to kissing a guy. While I’ve got nothing against a passionate smooch, the worst kissers are the lip-balm-wielding lizards that dart and fondle their tongues straight off the bat without any kissing foreplay. It's like going to the dentist and having an invasive check with a glacial sickle-like probe. In my experience, guys often only kiss you as a prelude to something else and if 'that' isn't forthcoming your kissing will be labelled as teasing. A girl will kiss with the sole intention of demonstrating love and affection. Of course, I'm generalising but in my humble opinion, girls are the connoisseurs.
My first French kiss was unforgettable but for all the wrong reasons. I actually don’t remember the boy except that he wasn’t French. It was at a school social with Sacred Heart private boys college. Our once-ina-year opportunity to cavort with the opposite sex. Luckily my very conservative father was working late that night and was unable to chaperone, otherwise even hand-holding and innocent canoodling would have been strictly out-of-bounds. I do remember fleeing to the girls powder-room in panic when the boy in question started leaning in suspiciously close for a snog - around the same time the record radically switched from Kenny Loggins Footloose to Wham's Careless Whisper. I was mortified with embarrassment as I was 14 years old and didn't have a clue what went on behind sealed lips! I only knew how to give an innocent butterfly kiss where you flutter your eyelashes on someone's cheeks like doing the cha-cha but I figured somehow this wouldn't quite cut it. I decided to ask my best friend Carla to kiss me privately in the
cubicle so that I would know what to expect. Unfortunately I was too late as I found her already tonguetied and occupied with a slick James Dean type. When Rosa first kissed me I remember crouching to her height so she didn't have to lean up. She immediately curtailed that and said "no hagas eso tonta" (don't do that silly). Her tender kisses felt so natural like a dozen feathers nuzzling my cheeks or a black swan daintily pirouetting on my lips. They have this unique, undeniably mystical quality to them. The problem is I am so lost in them, afterwards it is virtually impossible to deconstruct them. It is like when you are eating something deliriously fabulous and you just can't pinpoint that secret ingredient. I think the best way to describe a perfect mouth-watering kiss is lingering, leaving you feeling both cherished and titillated and always wanting more. The simplest pleasures are often the most underrated. When I was little I used to love tickling my friends with dandelions under their chins (if it reflects yellow it was suppose to mean you like butter). I think if I could wrap Rosa’s sweet Spanish kisses into little pieces of tinfoil, I could give Hershey's a run for their money. As the Spanish say, un beso fuerte M x
B.I.D ZINE Issue 11
With Thanks To: Holly Richardson Lotte Murphy-Johnson SOPHIE Cohen lynsey calderwood Lili Murphy-Johnson Melissa Martinez Elly Badcock