This will hurt me...

Ezra up a tree. Binalong Bay, Bay of Fires, Tasmania. July 2021. See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence by Jess Hill  A bleak insight into the history, culture and laws around familial violence in Australia. The book offers a broad sweep of the movement Hill identifies as a "historic shift in power and accountability" in which "the Western world [has] finally started taking men’s violence against women seriously". The full truth of the latter half of this statement remains still to be seen. Unlike the dry government reports and inquiries cited throughout the work, Hill gets behind the simple facts and figures (although there are plenty of these too) to give the reader a real visceral sense of the terror, abuse and personal and institutional failures behind the dreadful data. It's not perfect, and I scratched my head at times in which she defers to various authorities and takes assertions at face value (telling rather than showing), but it...

Ah the Good Old Days ™, how we miss 'em! You might know them better as a Thermos®, but this bloke liked his vacuum bottle so much he appears to have beaten/murdered/dismembered his missus all over misplacing it! For enhanced comedic effect, the fuzz appear to be utilising heavy-handed interrogation techniques to get to the bottom of the matter. I've long said, we don't laugh off domestic violence enough these days...

Here you can see a pre-haircut Henry in his secret bedroom lair/fort last weekend. He sets himself up safely under cover, only to emerge from his bunker to lob missiles from his vast stores of ammunition at any unsuspecting visitor. Toys, drinks, pillows, books, blankets, sleeping bags and everything in between has been lobbed in my direction (generally at the head). Thankfully, we don't let him keep his revolver in his room...

Here is a billboard snapped somewhere in the Caribbean. I think that it may be Trinidad, but I offer my unreserved apologies to any Trinidadians who may be reading if it isn't! I heartily endorse the message, but it does sadden me somewhat that it needs to be made so bluntly. Perhaps the fellows from some of these other ads that have been featured need to look and learn.

If there’s one thing I think most people can agree upon, I think that it is how we just don't see enough explicit violence towards women in advertisements these days. As this ad indicates, a thrashing for failing to ensure the coffee was fresh was once clearly a beatable offense. What I particularly like is – if you look very very closely – she appears to be enjoying her beating. She knows that she’s done the wrong thing. She’s sorry. She appreciates that her husband cares enough to remind her. They just don’t make ads like this anymore, and the world is clearly worse off for it!.