I experience bi-erasure constantly: why can’t people accept my bisexuality?

June 18, 2018, 4:30 am

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I spent my whole life held back by bi-erasure. It kept me down, resting on my laurels, before I came out of the closet.

Bi-erasure, or bisexual erasure, is the tendency for society to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality.

In its most extreme form, it denies that bisexuality exists and damns the idea of personal, sexual identification.

Only 28% of bi or pan people ever feel safe enough to come out to their friends and family, according to a LGBT survey by… Read the full story

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A sexpert teaches us how to be really good at dirty talking

June 18, 2018, 4:38 am

≫ Next: Alfie Deyes ‘£1 challenge’ accidentally makes an important point about food & poverty

≪ Previous: I experience bi-erasure constantly: why can’t people accept my bisexuality?

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We all know how hot dirty talk can be.

Experts recommend it as a way to keep the heat in your relationship or to help you connect with a new partner.

Unfortunately it can also be quite nerve wracking. The words ‘talk dirty to me’ are likely to make a shy person seize up.

Getting naked with your sexual partner is one thing, but sharing your thoughts? Somehow even more exposing.

Luckily, sexpert Tami Rose offered to help us out, and put together her top tips for how to talk dirty.

Slow… Read the full story

Alfie Deyes ‘£1 challenge’ accidentally makes an important point about food & poverty

June 18, 2018, 5:12 am

≫ Next: Finally, someone’s made vegan baked beans and burgers in a tin

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Zoella’s boyfriend Alfie has made a video setting himself the challenge of living off £1 for an entire day.

So far, so YouTube. Only, the £1 doesn’t include anything other than food or drink. So he’s not living off £1 for a day, he’s spending £1 on food.

He sets out the rules (petrol is free but water in his filtered water jug is not, he can’t make a coffee at home but he can have a personal training session) and explains that he’s going to spend the day going out trying to feed himself for a quid. The first stop? Signing up to schemes… Read the full story

Finally, someone’s made vegan baked beans and burgers in a tin

June 18, 2018, 5:22 am

≫ Next: Why Malta is the adrenaline junkie’s dream destination

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The things I thought I’d miss after going vegan were eggs, halloumi and quiche.

But do you know what hurt the most? Not being able to buy random crap in tins.

As a kid, me and my dad would often pop to Tesco and buy the grossest sounding thing we could find – which was often in the form of a meal in a tin. And they were strangely addictive. And perfect for camping.

When I stopped eating meat, the all day breakfast tins had to go, which was distressing for all concerned.

Until now. For veggie food company Suma… Read the full story

Why Malta is the adrenaline junkie’s dream destination

June 18, 2018, 5:58 am

≫ Next: Ultra-marathon training: learning to train for 62.1 miles

≪ Previous: Finally, someone’s made vegan baked beans and burgers in a tin

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So, you want a holiday that’s excitement-packed?

You’d rather be splashing in the sea than lounging in the spa, exploring rather than snoozing, paragliding instead of sunbathing.

Have you thought about heading to Malta?

Turns out it’s more than a nice sunny spot (there’s more than eight hours of sun each day and high summer temperatures of 31 degrees, FYI). Malta’s the perfect place to head if you want a trip packed with activities, adventures, and adrenaline.

That makes planning your next holiday easier: You’ve got the location sorted.

You know what makes it even more simple? Jet2holidays offers a host of packages that’ll put you right in the middle of all… Read the full story

Ultra-marathon training: learning to train for 62.1 miles

June 18, 2018, 6:21 am

≫ Next: Morphe Brushes is finally opening a store in the UK

≪ Previous: Why Malta is the adrenaline junkie’s dream destination

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Next month, Ella (our amazing illustrator) and I will be running our first ultramarathon.

Not a marathon (so done already), but a 100k race across the hills and valleys of Oxfordshire. To put that distance in perspective, that’s roughly two and a half marathons. In one go.

And rather than get started on the training months and months ahead, we only really got going last month. Don’t get me wrong, we’re both fit and active but the reality of the monumental challenge only really hit us after running the Hackney Half Marathon in May. It was pretty tough, despite getting a pair of PBs…but a half is a drop in the ocean compared to 62 miles.

Rob Forbes, 35, is the course record holder for the 100k Dixons Carphone Race to the Stones – the race that we’re hoping to do all in one go, on 14 July.

Based on the edge of the Cotswolds, it sounds like… Read the full story

Morphe Brushes is finally opening a store in the UK

June 18, 2018, 6:43 am

≫ Next: Tom Pollock talks about mental health in fiction on Mentally Yours

≪ Previous: Ultra-marathon training: learning to train for 62.1 miles

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Attention, beauty fanatics: Morphe Brushes is set to open its first UK store, and we are super excited.

Sure, it’s not like you can’t buy Morphe in the UK – thanks to the likes of Beauty Bay, but we’re thrilled to know we’ll soon be able to test products out before buying in person.

For those who are new to the world of Morphe, the US beauty brand stocks makeup by Jeffree Star and YouTuber Jaclyn Hill.

So yes, it might mean that you’ll finally be able to get your hands on the likes of the often sold out Jeffree Star Cosmetics.

Morphe’s… Read the full story

Tom Pollock talks about mental health in fiction on Mentally Yours

June 18, 2018, 6:47 am

≫ Next: 25 fruity nail designs perfect for summer

≪ Previous: Morphe Brushes is finally opening a store in the UK

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*Trigger warning: This episode contains discussions of bingeing, purging, and suicide.*

We’re used to a certain portrayal of mental illness in films, TV, and literature.

We’re the scary ones. The ‘crazy’ ones. We’re the villains, the lonely people, the ones stuck in straitjackets and locked up in hospitals.

That’s not a particularly helpful representation of what mental illnesses – and people with mental illnesses – are like.

Thankfully, change is coming.

We’re starting to see characters with mental illness shown in an honest, true to life, unsensationalised way, from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to This Is Us.

Tom Pollock is a part of that shift.

He’s the author of White Rabbit, Red Wolf, a thriller whose main character has panic attacks and self-harms.

Read the full story

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25 fruity nail designs perfect for summer

June 18, 2018, 6:52 am

≫ Next: Strawberries and cream gin will make the perfect summer cocktail

≪ Previous: Tom Pollock talks about mental health in fiction on Mentally Yours

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Fruit prints are so big this summer, with lemon and pineapple dresses selling out at online stores like Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing.

And honestly, we’re feeling the fruity vibes this year – so much so that we think we should even start transferring the look to our nails.

We’ve come across a selection of fruit-printed nails and we’ve fallen in love – and they’ve inspired us to get the nail varnish out.

From lemons to blueberries, here are a few of our favourites:

We are in love with this lemon pinstripe look

 

This look is more simple, but lovely

Read the full story

Strawberries and cream gin will make the perfect summer cocktail

June 18, 2018, 7:40 am

≫ Next: John Lewis is trialling a buy-back service for customers’ unwanted clothes

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If you love gin and you have a sweet tooth, we’ve found the perfect beverage for you.

Strawberries and Cream Gin is here, thanks to Poetic License.

The 37.5% gin is said to be distilled, as well as infused, with strawberries, which results in a creamy texture with lots of red-fruit notes as well as hints of juniper, coriander and Orris root.

The gin is apparently perfect with elderflower tonic or as a summer drink with lemonade, fresh fruit and a spring of mint – much like you’d serve Pimms.

Read the full story

John Lewis is trialling a buy-back service for customers’ unwanted clothes

June 18, 2018, 8:08 am

≫ Next: Amazingly, Neopets is still going

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Read the full story

Amazingly, Neopets is still going

June 18, 2018, 8:28 am

≫ Next: I’m a survivor of HPV throat cancer – offering the vaccine to boys will save much pain

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Ever woken up in the middle of the night and realised that you forgot to do something?

Maybe that thing that you forgot wasn’t actually just a bit of stress manifesting as something you’d forgotten.

Maybe it was your Neopet.

If you haven’t thought about Neopets for over a decade, that’s okay. Neither have we. But astonishingly the website is still going, and it’s pretty much unchanged. So if you can (by some miracle) remember your username and password, you could get back into Neopet world.

If you go to log in, you’ll see that the home page hasn’t been updated for a while.

Nice blast from the past, there. Though, these… Read the full story

I’m a survivor of HPV throat cancer – offering the vaccine to boys will save much pain

June 18, 2018, 8:36 am

≫ Next: Gaming addiction is real – because of it I lost my family, my job and my home

≪ Previous: Amazingly, Neopets is still going

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In May 2015, to my complete surprise, I was diagnosed with stage four Human Papillomavirus (HPV) throat cancer.

It was such a shock because I thought I was showing signs of glandular fever – a sore throat, difficulty swallowing, food being caught in my throat – and, as a cyclist and runner, I was very fit and healthy.

I wasn’t told exactly how long I might have had the cancer before it was detected, but there was a five month lead up to my diagnosis where I was tired, experiencing headaches and feeling generally unwell.

HPV can be contracted through skin-to-skin… Read the full story

Gaming addiction is real – because of it I lost my family, my job and my home

June 18, 2018, 8:54 am

≫ Next: 90s kids: Wear your nostalgia with these retro Groovy Chick tops

≪ Previous: I’m a survivor of HPV throat cancer – offering the vaccine to boys will save much pain

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I’d always played computer games; since being about seven-years-old I played on my computer, but never to the point where my parents struggled to get me to stop.

I was still a normal kid, I still enjoyed playing outside and going to school. Playing games at home was just a bit of fun.

Gaming addiction is now a mental health problem

But everything changed in the late 90s when the internet came about. I was 21-years-old and online gaming became everything… Read the full story

90s kids: Wear your nostalgia with these retro Groovy Chick tops

June 18, 2018, 8:58 am

≫ Next: Channel your inner Western wolf in these furry buckled sandals

≪ Previous: Gaming addiction is real – because of it I lost my family, my job and my home

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If you were a kid in the early 00s and didn’t have any Groovy Chick merch, then were you even a 90s/00s kid?

Pencil tins, baseball caps, drawstring bags – the Bang On The Door character was emblazoned on them all.

The crop top wearing cool girl has come back into our lives by way of three new tops, selling exclusively on Truffle Shuffle.

The site has said if these initial new products prove popular, they’ll look to introduce even more designs in the future.

All tthe new tops are available tomorrow (19 June) but you can pop your email on the website and be… Read the full story

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Channel your inner Western wolf in these furry buckled sandals

June 18, 2018, 9:59 am

≫ Next: ASOS bans the sale of mohair, silk, cashmere, and feathers

≪ Previous: 90s kids: Wear your nostalgia with these retro Groovy Chick tops

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ASOS is known for selling 99% ‘need need want’ and 1% ‘U OK HUN?’ apparel.

These furry buckled sandals fall in the latter camp.

While pool slides have had something of a resurgence in recent years, these really take the biscuit.

These furry numbers are by contemporary shoe brand Jeffrey Campbell, whose shoes you were probably coveting a few years ago when fugly platform boots came back with a vengeance.

(Jeffrey Campbell knock-offs were probably responsible for many drunk people’s trips to A&E circa 2010.)

These one give a nod to Jeffrey Campbell’s usual clunky style with the flatform, as well as to wolves (with… Read the full story

ASOS bans the sale of mohair, silk, cashmere, and feathers

June 18, 2018, 10:37 pm

≫ Next: Mum-of-three explains why she still breastfeeds her almost four-year-old daughter

≪ Previous: Channel your inner Western wolf in these furry buckled sandals

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ASOS is set to ban the sale of all mohair, silk, cashmere, and feather products across its site.

That’s a pretty big deal, considering ASOS carries more than 850 labels in addition to its own-brand stuff.

The brand had already announced they would stop selling mohair, the hair of angora goat, following the release of a video from PETA that explored the mohair industry in South Africa. Now they’ve stated that they’ll also ban the sale of cashmere, silk, and feathers by the end of January 2019.

If you search ‘mohair’ and ‘silk’ on ASOS right now, you’ll notice that the majority of products are heavily discounted – so the brand… Read the full story

Mum-of-three explains why she still breastfeeds her almost four-year-old daughter

June 18, 2018, 10:41 pm

≫ Next: Woman gave birth and then made it to her sister’s wedding five hours later

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A mum-of-three days she still breastfeeds her daughter at almost four years old, and feels there is too much pressure on mums to wean early.

Sarah Everett, 32, is an advocate of what’s known as natural term breastfeeding – where the child decides for themselves when to wean.

Looking back, the photographer, of Colchester, Essex, said she felt societal pressure to switch her eldest Archie, eight, on to cows’ milk too early and now wishes she’d breastfed longer – particularly as she’s still nursing daughter April just weeks shy of her fourth birthday.

Sarah explained: ‘I share a lot of photos of me feeding April on Instagram… Read the full story

Woman gave birth and then made it to her sister’s wedding five hours later

June 18, 2018, 10:42 pm

≫ Next: I’m not a ‘loser’ for claiming state disability benefits – despite what my ex-boyfriends think

≪ Previous: Mum-of-three explains why she still breastfeeds her almost four-year-old daughter

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A bridesmaid made it to her sister’s wedding just five hours after giving birth.

27-year-old Emily Chell went into labour three weeks early while staying at a hotel with sister Katie ahead of her big day.

Last Saturday she was rushed to hospital where she gave birth to a boy, Brody, at 7.10am.

Instead of relaxing and recovering after the birth, Emily was insistent that she couldn’t let her sister down, and therefore travelled back to meet her ahead of the ceremony.

Emily and her partner Wayne made it to the church in time… Read the full story

I’m not a ‘loser’ for claiming state disability benefits – despite what my ex-boyfriends think

June 18, 2018, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Release your inner geek with a summer break in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley

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Living with schizophrenia carries with it the extra burden of the social stigma attached to it.

But in my experience there is a greater stigma aimed at me from others – being in receipt of state benefits. In my case, Employment and Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment.

10 common myths about schizophrenia that are just not true

This even comes from those who were supposed to support me.

One partner wouldn’t allow me to even put in a claim for disability benefits, though he didn’t… Read the full story