6^th Sept 1997.  Paris France

Twenty years ago exactly and yes  - a day that I remember well;

In those days we spent most of the summer months in the Languedoc area of Southern France at our lovely village house in Salleles d’Aude. It was an idyllic kind of place mainly consisting of old traditional houses and located in a beautiful unspoiled location where the Canal du Midi meets the mighty river Aude just before the canal system joins the Mediterranean sea.

There were five bakers in this tiny village of only about 800 inhabitants including the outlying areas – not unusual in this part of France-  and every morning at about 6 o clock I would walk out to collect a freshly baked baguette and a couple of croissants.

As I got to the entrance gate of her house I saw my neighbour Anna Claire , a lovely housewife with two beautiful young children coming toward me from our local shops.   As she got a bit closer I saw that she was crying , the tears running down her pretty face.   What on earth is the matter , I asked her as still crying she fell into my arms.

“ We have killed your Princess”  she sobbed, ”Lady Diana is dead”. Although her English was quite good  I didn’t really quite understand what she was talking about until she had repeated it several times.   It was hard to believe that what she was saying was true and as soon as I got home I tuned into an English radio station.   It was indeed the truth – or what passed as the truth at the time - and for me has over the years turned into the worst imaginable condemnation of the British Establishment whenever danger of the status quo threatens . No different of course today than it has been over hundreds of years.  

Whatever happened in that tunnel – I know it well and have travelled through it many times during my visits to Paris - it was never a simple road accident and anyone that believes the garbled and distorted account of events must be simple minded.   The real truth will not come out in my lifetime and may never come out at all.

M.M. 06/09/2017   

   

August 15^th 2017 -  A RED LETTER DAY

I have been writing all kinds of stuff from my varied lifestyle over the past 17 years ,  but today is still rather special.  It began with my contributions to the old H & E magazine in about 2000 when I was contributing a readers agony aunt style letters column.  I was paid £80 for each column, my very first paid for work  and a selection of the more interesting letters  were turned into two  illustrated books. Nude Rude and in the Mood 300pp (2011) and Walk on the Wild Side 200pp (2014) are both still available on Amazon and Lulu as paperbacks.

Always a bit of a scribbler , essays were my most successful school work when I could be bothered – but unlike that of most of my contemporaries mine were always about real life events .  Later on elements of explicit sexuality;  part real, part fantasy crept  into the overall output, which rapidly grew in quantity if not quality.  

At the same time, I was writing a series of illustrated articles on naturist sites both large and small covering our travels to unusual very scenic places in France , Spain and Croatia.   Many of these stories  were also published in H & E magazine for which we received a reasonable payment although sometimes having to wait several months for it.    The remainder of these features are about to be published as The Collected Diaries and Journal Extracts of Barbara Matthews (aka Belinda Mosse) and Mike McGregor (aka Mark Golding).

Barbara’s Diary of a Nudist – part 1 ( true events )  has had good sales on Amazon. Part 2 will be included in the new combined work – The collected Diaries and Journal Extracts of Mike McGregor and Barbara Matthews (Illustrated)as above . 

New work is also  currently in hand to make a Blurb Picture Book “ The Best of Barbara “ a selection of glamour and fashion shots spanning a period from about 1995 – 2010. 

My memoirs “Everything in Moderation” by Michael McGregor - Part One A  Matter of Survival  (200pp)   is much more than it appears from the title.  Subtitled The Life and Times of a Cockney Kid and appearing to only cover the first twenty years of my life it takes the reader back and forwards from pre-1940  right up into the  early 1990’s and includes some very interesting periods of my life. 

My very latest offering –The Good The Bad and the Absolutely Awful  (200pp) and actually part 2 of my memoirs - only just appearing on Amazon and Lulu in paperback and kindle format, also includes a nicely produced colour cover and a number of relevant illustrations.

Sex on the Beach is a 92 page illustrated book I wrote which was  published in 2013  and is also available on Amazon. It’s primarily about sex which is probably mentioned in some detail on almost every page so there is no need for the reader to search avidly to find it.  Based on true life events it’s very explicit and makes no excuses for its main purpose – to seduce and excite the reader – and has been well received on Amazon.

I have to say that none of this could have happened without my incredibly talented and hard work editor and publisher Peter May , so far mostly with little real monetary reward but I hope to rectify this in the near future.

 I dedicate this latest book to him without any reservations.    

The Male Homosexual – The Cause and Effect.

The KRAY TWINS-Ronnie & Reggie (with their older brother Charlie in centre picture)  were notorious in the East End of London for their much publicised violent lifestyle. 

Ronnie was a self confessed homosexual who was at times extremely unhappy with his sexual identity and made several failed attempts to do something about it. His two brothers were perfectly normal heterosexuals. Although they both had violent characters and often fought each other ( in public) almost to the death - they were also highly intelligent and successful in business, especially Ronnie who was also something of an entrepreneur and genuine philanthropist. As identical twin males their lives and lifestyles are a good illustration of the many complexities of homosexuality.

About the Male Homosexual.

 This short but precise discourse will undoubtedly upset many people – not only homosexuals themselves but probably many of their families too , but like it or not it is essentially the truth in what is a difficult situation to write about with causing some kind of offence along the way.    At the present time (2017) the UK media in general are not being particularly unkind to the homosexual - in fact the exact opposite - positively reporting their skills in home design and fashion for example -   but we have to remember that things can and do change - often on a whim – when the positive can quickly become a negative – both cruel and obstructive.   Homosexuality is today an illegal activity in 73 countries of the world providing several layers of punishment for offenders.

At the time of writing certain religious leaders within the Christian (Catholic )  church are promoting the idea of homosexual marriages , including  both inside and outside the church.  Not unusual I have to say as for hundreds if not thousands of years  the male homosexual has been able hide away inside the Catholic church to carry on their unnatural lifestyle without too much trouble. But with the power of the internet and social media it’s not so easy now to keep it secret.

The Male Homosexual.

It was as a teenager of about 17 or 18 that I made a sudden discovery about something that had never really bothered me before.  As street wise youngsters we had always been aware that some men were different to the rest of us and could be a danger in some unspoken way or another.   Before our teens and without really knowing what it was all about we called them derogatory names like – bum boys or the like – and kept well out of their way.  As we got a bit older and ostensibly wiser the name calling changed – queer boys, poofters,  gingers ( rhyming slang, ginger beers–queers) or worse and would often put the fear of god into anyone we came across that we thought was that way inclined, even to the extent of beating them up on occasion for some imaginary offence. By then a clear image had been formed enabling us to identify such creatures – slyness, strange secretive habits, feminine traits like their way of speaking, the occasional wearing of women’s clothing and a presumed craving for young boys.  To be honest the whole issue was mainly based on innuendo, misunderstanding and misapprehension and was very confusing not just to youngsters, but to just about everyone and in any case no-one appeared to make any attempt to investigate the truth of any of it. 

In 1958 The Kalin Twins - an American pop duo - had just found fame with the release of their recording of  ‘When’,  which sold over 2 million records and immediately reached number one in the UK charts.  It was their one and only hit record after which they faded away into virtual obscurity, however before they disappeared off the pop radar they came over to the UK to appear in a promotional concert in London.

 It was only then that I discovered that one of my best friends brothers had been working as a barman in a club which was hosting a special one night only private performance by The Kalins.  The club was called The Rockingham and was right opposite The Windmill Theatre.  I knew the location of The Windmill well- it was a well known London and Soho landmark that I had walked past many times, but I had never heard of the Rockingham. The important thing was that Harry had acquired four free tickets for the evening and one of them had my name on it.  

We arrived in plenty of time dressed up in our in our smartest outfits and even though Great Windmill Street was only a short thoroughfare had a job finding the club entrance, just a single plain wooden door with the name on it and a spy hole to see who was calling.  

We almost didn’t get in - thankfully our tickets were marked with the brothers name - but when we did eventually get inside we couldn’t believe our eyes. Every person that we could see in the club were male - men of various ages but mostly in their forties and fifties, all very smart and from their dress  probably pretty well off.  To my eyes this could just as easily have been some kind of business conference of the kind that I had seen in films in the past, instead of a performance by two American pop artists.   

Then we suddenly realised – the whole lot of them must be homosexuals - and although one or two were a bit outlandish the vast majority could have been and probably were men from all walks of life, intelligent, well educated and cultured.  This did not fit our image of poofs in any way at all and I was amazed to say the least–as we all were including Harry who seemed to be every bit as surprised as the rest of us.      

As I remember it was a pretty good show, but all in all it was to say the least a very a strange evening.  On the way home we spoke between us only about the performance, no mention whatever was made about queerboys, homosexuality in general or Harry’s brothers part in the whole thing.  In retrospect I think that the family had no idea about his obvious homosexuality and that this invitation was the way the brother had decided to do what is now called ‘coming out’.  The whole experience was for me an eye opener of enormous proportions and from that very day put a very different perspective on my view of this much aligned minority section of humanity.

In those days although it was not an actual crime to be a homosexual the majority of sexual activity between them was deemed to be a criminal offence.  To be honest in those days there was no idea of the cause or effect of what is clearly some kind of sexual deviation, with religious and medical experts either unable or unwilling to either comment or properly investigate it - and I have to say that even today with important changes in the law regarding homosexuality and the growth of various [Gay Rights] movements all over the Western world,  it’s not that much better. 

In my first business-trading in fine art and antiques and hand made furniture -many of my most valuable clients came from the world of theatre and interior design and were clearly  homosexual, although not demonstratively so to those outside this community.  But close contact with them on a regular basis was the first opportunity I had to understand a great deal more about them as individuals and-to put it bluntly-their somewhat abnormal lives.

Later on, when in a major career change as a part of my ongoing naturist lifestyle I became a specialist writer and photojournalist–especially during my eighteen years as editor and writer of the problem pages for an international magazine–I became much more aware of the troubles they faced on almost an everyday basis.  

I spent many years on research, with much information gained during my 30 year spell as an agony aunt for the naturist /fetish communities,  carefully noting the results not just on homosexuality but also the confusion between that and other connected deviations, the whole of which eventually formed a major dissertation on the entire subject, still to be published as part of my journals.   The question of male homosexuality in society – its acceptance or in some cases the exact opposite – criminalisation - has ebbed and flowed over the centuries and there has been plenty of research carried out and  written on this subject over the years. Even so it is  a matter that still contains deeply seated bigotry and prejudice some of which are perfectly valid and others merely total  ignorance of the subject matter.

The Male Homosexual – The Cause .

The male homosexual in general tend to either keep as quiet about it as they can under the circumstances or otherwise promote the idea that apart from their sexual desires they are otherwise just about the same as everyone else – ie; normal. But they are not normal at all.     On the surface there is of course no noticeable difference  – no litmus test at all to physically or medically detect the homosexual from the heterosexual.  The only real means of detection is in fact either by a clear admission by them or by catching them in the act – neither of which is in fact 100% proof .   Incidentally I am pretty certain that there is no such gender as a bisexual homosexual. This term is just a cover for those who enter into some kind of fake M/F relationship.

The human foetus begins in the female of the species as soon as the sperm hits the egg and apart from the actual gender defined by the donor – whether it is male or female - most of what goes on thereafter takes place as the mother carries out her internal programming before the birth.

In the normal way of things an automatic male/female attraction is created rather like that of a magnet the purpose of which is the successful continuation of the species in order to attract the male and female to procreate and to raise their young.  The usual word for this in modern western society is marriage. 

The numbers of homosexual births appear to rise and fall according to some kind of reaction taking place to the foetus while it is still forming inside the mother and may have something to do with the mothers levels of stress present at the time.

The Homosexual male has no sexual attraction whatsoever to the female of the human specie , but some women do tend to be attracted to the homosexual male as they imagine some kind of feminine affinity. In most cases they are aware that the homosexual male is not interested in having any kind of sexual relationship with them.  Women also seem able to leave out of their imagination the homosexual lifestyle – the fact that they are not in any way normal and the way in which homosexuals have sex with each other – ie anal.  Unless they have made a point of learning more about it women are also most likely completely unaware of the fact that they themselves have actually created their male child as a homosexual as part of the foetal programming process.

The majority of Homosexuals have no idea how or why they were made that except perhaps for the few that go out of their way to try to discover more about it – sadly with varying degrees of success.  A relatively small percentage of young males commit suicide as they pass into adulthood . It is not known if this has something to do with homosexuality as these youngsters rarely make their actions public , but it is quite possible that this is so in many cases.

So - as much as they like to promote the idea that they are normal – as normal is what the great majority of us in this respect are - then homosexuals quite clearly are not so.   It follows that if the entire population of the world is homosexual then very soon there would be very few new births  and a rapidly shrinking and eventually disappearing populace. Male homosexuality is in fact a simple process of population control, naturally decreasing the number of new births, especially when conditions of extreme stress or overpopulation occur. 

And the Effect.

Some homosexuals go to a great deal of trouble to try to prove what they promote as their normality – and from time to time with a certain degree of success – but their efforts often tend only to have the reverse effect, especially amongst the younger male heterosexual population who have a very natural aversion to them in general.  The current social and general media promotion of homosexuality as a normal harmless activity will not in the longer term do them a great deal of good.

 The simple facts are that the homosexual is an accident of normal birth and as such unfortunately for all concerned , an inherent danger to society. Wrongly programmed at the foetus stage they are condemned to an unnatural life and a worrying degree of rejection by the rest of society.   

The homosexuals most vociferous campaigner is undoubtedly Peter Tachell. Born in Australia , Tachell is a highly intelligent man who publicly accepted the fact that he was a practising homosexual in 1969.  Moving to London In 1971 he led a new pressure group formed to support homosexuality calling it the Gay Liberation Front (GFL) and became its main quite notorious and vociferous campaigner. Using the word ‘Gay’ as the dictionary  description  - meaning jolly and frolicsome - was a piece of marketing genius, a smart move appearing on the surface to make the homosexual life more acceptable to the general public but in those early days it did not work all that well.  Not the kind of individual to give up that easily he went one stage further, helping to form another group of various social/physical  misfits and including a tenuous but for homosexuals a vitally important link with homosexuality called the L B G T – nominally Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transvestite (sometimes incorrectly referred to as transgender ) and effectively not much more than a small rag-tag percentage comparison of the total population. There is no proper dictionary definition of the word gender except that it is commonly used by the individual as how they see themselves. There is of course no connection whatsoever between the male homosexual and the Lesbian or Transvestite genders. And we don’t seem to hear that much about Tachell of late either.

When young, many homosexuals react to their personal sexual discovery with loathing and self  hatred asking themselves why me ? and in some cases with masochistic and sadistic behaviour to themselves and with others ,  but  generally speaking most of them tend to get on with their lives without too much trouble as they get a bit older.

CONCLUSION:

It is clear then that there is nothing normal about the male homosexual – they arrive by an accident of birth and although they are still persecuted or victimised either directly or indirectly in many countries and by almost all religions they are not on the whole a direct threat to the rest of us.    

However – there is a proportion of homosexual males who have a strong sexual attraction towards the younger male. They are in fact dangerous sexual predators and have the ability to secretly insert themselves into places where they can find suitable victims, the church for example, other leisure pursuits or parts of the social caring systems.  

Of course not all homosexuals are sexual predators but about 99% of male sexual predators are homosexuals and their activities secret or otherwise are very often only exposed to the public gaze long after the events have taken place.

The majority of homosexuals have no idea how or why they were made that way and only a small minority seem to care, but nevertheless because of their male/male sexual behaviour they do pose a direct health risk to themselves and sometimes indirectly to others – and not only to other homosexuals.  This serious health risk is a constant problem not only for the homosexual community but for the population in general, especially so in the more backward places in the world.

The anus is the natural exit for our body waste and with  it a whole host of nasty germs. We are taught to keep that part of the body clean and most of us do so and in addition the body’s  own immune system does its best to do the same thing.  Provided not too many outside viruses get into the system there are few problems ,but once something new gets into the system -  usually from another adult via anal intercourse, major problems can occur.  

Through multiple partners, the variety of viruses gradually build up in many homosexuals creating what is known as AIDS ( auto immune deficiency ) an incurable illness which although it can be controlled by drugs taken throughout the life of the patient  is a constant threat and not only to homosexuals. It is a very virulent and life threatening disease which easily spreads throughout throughout entire communities and even into ordinary M/F relationships and according to current media information (2016) is a rapidly increasing problem with new cases in the UK alone running at between 7-10,000 each month.  

Homosexuals, especially young men ought to be aware that what appear to be positive attitudes towards them can change overnight and in spite of current media hype probably most of them already are. 

There is absolutely nothing that can change the negative attitudes of ordinary heterosexual males towards the homosexual male and nothing much that  either of the groups can do about it.   The very best that we can do is to feel a bit sorry for them , glad that we were not born like them and hope that more useful information like that in this article reaches the public eye.  

Although the parents and siblings of many sufferers as well as religious and semi-religious organisations hope that some kinds of therapy /prayer might work there is no evidence at all that it has any positive effect except for perhaps short periods of time where the homosexual himself makes valiant attempts to control his sexual urges before regressing back into the norm.

So is there any kind of cure – right now or on the horizon perhaps.  ??.  Very unlikely – some kind of partial brain transplant is about the only thing if it were at all possible. And that’s about that !!!!!

m.m. 2017.

Modigliani

MODIGLIANI and his Models – A Retrospective at the Tate Modern June 2017.  

A short but legendary life.

 

Influenced by many different  styles,  from ancient Egyptian, through tribal African to French post impressionism, Modigliani’s highly original and modern style of painting has a different and unusual quality about it.  Apart from a few odd landscapes mainly done in Provence, his work was restricted to portraits and nudes.   

Modigliani portrayed the naked female body as a subject in its own right,  free for the first time of any of the traditional references and artistic convention of the  past.  His nudes are sensuous , each one an expanse of pure flesh contained within  ornamental,  softly curved lines.  There is nothing else in the picture , hardly any background and therefore very little to distract the viewer from the main subject – a beautiful naked erotic woman ,   never aggressive , sometimes carnal and always dignified.

His highly original and modern style of portraiture,  featuring elongated faces, blank eyes and  long swan necks are , just like those of Tamara de Lempicka,  a female contemporary equally famous for her Slavonic beauty and degenerate and outrageous lifestyle,  unmistakeable even from a distance. 

Body Painting , Public Hair & the Naturist Magazine Health & Efficiency.

In 1914 a number of works by Modigliani were included in an exhibition of 20^th century Art held at Whitechapel Gallery in East London ( my local Art hangout  ) and it was there that he met he met the journalist Beatrice Hastings.  Born in Hackney of a South African father and an English mother , Beatrice who was unashamedly bisexual practised  almost as outrageous and excessive a lifestyle as Modigliani.   They soon became lovers living together in Paris where they were for a time considered to be the perfect match.

In 1915 they were invited to a grand ball in the centre of Paris attended by many of the capital’s most influential and wealthy people.     At first sight they appeared to be dressed in the very height of fashion , and indeed Modigliani was so attired.  But on closer inspection the other guests were shocked to discover that Beatrice was in fact stark naked her entire ensemble having been expertly painted on her nude body by her lover. Popularised for many years in naturist circles all over the world as a recognised art form , this outrageous act was probably the very first record of body painting as a contemporary style

Modigliani was also the first modern artist to include pubic hair on his female nudes ,  breaking one of the unwritten rules of traditional art regarding the portrayal of nakedness  that had stood unchallenged for many hundreds of years.   In reality no one had taken that much notice of it until the day, in 1917,  that he staged his first  ( and only ) one man show in a Paris gallery . A picture placed in the window caught the eye of a passing policeman who immediately had the entire exhibition closed down on the grounds of obscenity – referring in his complaint to the disgusting sight of pubic hair.

   

In an equally controversial move in London , England nearly sixty years later , the naturist magazine Health & Efficiency published the first photographs of naked women showing their pubic hair.  Until then the complete pubic area of naked models had been air brushed completely out of view in all published photography.    It caused a big stir at first , but before the authorities could do much about it all the other glamour and nudie magazines had followed suit.  It was a “ fait accompli  “ finally overturning the rules of censorship in Britain that had prevented the proper depiction of the body natural for hundreds of years. 

During his lifetime Modigliani  never greatly valued his work,  selling much of it for next to nothing and even giving lots of it away , but  immediately after his death his paintings  became very sought after.  As demand rapidly increased,  prices went quite mad and have been so ever since,  remaining amongst the highest amounts paid for any artist,  with one nude selling at a New York auction for almost 27 million dollars.

The recent book by Jeffrey Meyers entitled Modigliani : A Life  makes an excellent read.

 Born in 1884 into a wealthy Jewish/Italian family in Livorno , Amadeo Modigliani began his studies in art at the age of fourteen.  Two years later he became seriously ill and to speed his recovery was taken by his mother to spend the winter in the warmer climes of Rome and Capri.  He left his place of birth in the following year to continue his studies in Florence and Venice and in 1906 moved to Paris, joining the well established and international avant-garde community of writers and artists,  whose lifestyles were an unconventional mix of every sort of sexual excess and morality.     

Although his paintings , drawings and sculptures were exquisite examples of a regressive and tasteful style his private life was the exact opposite.   Described as decadent debauched and drunken, and addicted to drugs,  alcohol and violent sex,  Modigliani soon became legendary even amongst such contemporaries for his dissolute and highly immoral lifestyle.    But he was also well bred , very intelligent, extremely good looking, slim, and elegantly dressed,  a combination that in spite of his addictive behaviour made him supremely attractive to women of just about every background. 

A self destructive genius he died in 1920 at the age of 35,  but not before he had established himself not as the most talented perhaps , but certainly as one of the most popular artists of the period. A friend of Picasso - a portrait he painted of him in 1915 was on show in the exhibition – Modigliani,  had he lived long enough would undoubtedly have found equal fame and fortune.

His highly original and modern style of portraiture,  featuring elongated faces, blank eyes and  long swan necks are , just like those of Tamara de Lempicka,  a female contemporary equally famous for her Slavonic beauty and degenerate and outrageous lifestyle,  unmistakeable even from a distance. 

Body Painting , Public Hair & the Naturist Magazine Health & Efficiency.

In 1914 a number of works by Modigliani were included in an exhibition of 20^th century Art held at Whitechapel Gallery in East London ( my local Art hangout  ) and it was there that he met he met the journalist Beatrice Hastings.  Born in Hackney of a South African father and an English mother , Beatrice who was unashamedly bisexual practised  almost as outrageous and excessive a lifestyle as Modigliani.   They soon became lovers living together in Paris where they were for a time considered to be the perfect match.

In 1915 they were invited to a grand ball in the centre of Paris attended by many of the capital’s most influential and wealthy people.     At first sight they appeared to be dressed in the very height of fashion , and indeed Modigliani was so attired.  But on closer inspection the other guests were shocked to discover that Beatrice was in fact stark naked her entire ensemble having been expertly painted on her nude body by her lover. Popularised for many years in naturist circles all over the world as a recognised art form , this outrageous act was probably the very first record of body painting as a contemporary style

Brasserie Zedel

BRASSERIE ZEDEL

Leave Piccadilly Circus underground station by exit 1 and within half a dozen steps you are on the very edge of Sherwood Street just as it enters Soho.  Look to the left  and you can’t help but notice the  superb original Art Deco entrance of this world renown restaurant.   If the weather is good there may be a couple of tables outside, but very little that indicates what is inside and even once through the doors visitors only get a glimpse of what is eventually in store  - an authentic Parisian brasserie  in the 1920 style which has been magically transported  even to its art deco furnishings and decor to the very centre of London. 

The ground floor entrance , although smart and trendy with it’s  simple cafe bar next door to le Crazy Coq – a cabaret and live music venue with a seven days a week ever changing variety of live music - gives the visitor no real idea of just what delights are in store. But that is only the start of things which have for many years served to  please and excite visitors from all over the world.

After a quick drink at the bar the lift will take you deep down underneath the underground station into a vast and almost  unimaginable place, once a part of the famous Regents Palace Hotel and now the magnificent art deco dining halls of Brasserie  Zedel .

The sheer scale of the place is quite striking especially when remembering just where you are. The subterranean dining room  reached via a staircase which on its own is larger than most new restaurants, is on a scale so epic that if it were above ground could well be visible from space.

Handsome black clad waiters glide effortlessly around the floor – with immaculate service to match the decor.  Taking into account their reputation and location the prices  are amazing - the fixed price three course menu which includes a glass of good quality wine is only £ 19.95 - with a fully comprehensive a la carte menu also always available. 

Belinda has been going on at me ever since I started this BLOG about putting some of her work on it.  I haven’t deliberately been ignoring her , just had so little time what with one thing or the other, but perhaps it’s time now to give her a chance to show off her talents – so here goes with ;

 HIGH HEELS      or      of the FOOT and of the SHOE.

by Belinda Mosse

How many shoes make a fetish and what exactly does the word mean ??.  You might find the answer here, and then on the other hand ( or foot ) you might not !!.  But I’m sure you will find it interesting.

The word fetish originally came from the Guinea coast of Africa where it was used to describe especially designated objects used in primitive tribal worship often with some kind of magical or sexual connection.  But in modern times fetish ( or fetishism ) is used more generally to describe objects or parts of the body which command intense sexual interest often to the degree of obsession.

Abnormally stimulating or what ??

Women’s shoes – especially very high heeled shoes - are considered by some to be a modern fetish object and I suppose I have to agree with that. Although my dictionary defines the word fetish as an object worshipped as magical by primitive peoples it also says that it is something evoking irrational devotion or respect.  Now that sounds a bit more like it to me .

HIGH HEELS

And yet another interpretation is for something abnormally stimulating or attracting sexual desire.  Hmm , pretty near the mark again , but I wonder what is considered abnormal ?? Not me I hope.

Well, I  know I’m not primitive ( well maybe just a little bit – on certain occasions ) and I don’t think my shoes are magical but I do have an enormous collection of high heeled shoes and I just love wearing them.   I suppose that some people may say that  I’m mad , others that I really do have some kind of fetish  - and perhaps I have , but I just find this kind of footwear so irresistible.

As I stood looking into a shop window on one of my trips to London’s Oxford Street  some years ago , a man came up behind me and said “ I do like your shoes “.  I turned round and in a surprised tone of voice replied  “ Oh , thank you .  I just love high heels “ . He continued , “ you don’t see many ladies wearing them that high these days “ and then he went on his way.

At the time I was wearing a pair of fairly unusual blue mosiacs with about a four and a half inch heel – not that high I must say , but rather nice nevertheless.    Although I have worn high heels ever since my young teenage days , that was the first time this kind of thing had happened to me , but it was not the last.

My very own collection

I have to admit that I really do love shoes and in fact I am fascinated even by just looking at them in  shop windows.  If there is ever a really big shoe sale on then it could prove fatal for me.   My collection of boots , shoes and sandals in various styles and colours have long overflowed my wardrobes and until recently I kept lots of them stored in their boxes in the spare room.  Although most of the boxes are quite attractive with little pictures of the contents on the outside , I thought that maybe my guests wouldn’t really appreciate lying in bed looking at them from the corner of their eyes so I got Mark to make me a dressing room fitting especially for them.

Shoes are of course a part of every woman’s wardrobe and are a necessity  for day to day use, but I think that the kind we wear depicts our mood and overall well being.    For instance when working I always wear low comfortable shoes.  This is just a matter of common sense as they are much kinder to the feet when working in conditions where a lot of standing is involved. 

On the other hand , when I wear shall we say a pair of lovely bright pink strappy high heeled sandals I feel kind of European inside and out.  I feel like having fun  , feel so alive and can just imagine parading in the hot sunshine through a bustling market square with the sound of the traders calling out their wares to sell.  Hold on – I’m getting a bit carried away now !!!. 

It’s like stepping into another world 

But wearing real stiletto’s is the best and for me like stepping into another  world.  Black patent stiletto heels look sexy and sophisticated , while red crocodiles in the same style are sexy and seductive.  I have an unusual pair of black sandals with a steel stiletto heel which are naughty and suggestive , while some of my animal designs are slinky and wild. Stiletto heels make my legs look good and make me feel sexy and teamed up with the appropriate clothes – wow – it’s just too much.

High heels of course are also lovely to wear with nothing else at all , just to be totally naked in them.  Walk about like this at home and you will be irresistible  and I can guarantee that your husband or lover would soon pounce on you.  To bring out the dominatrix in you a pair of high leg , high heeled black boots certainly looks the part , and yes I do have such a pair - in black simulated crocodile.

Fashions and styles may change and women’s shoes are always an object of desire, but there are also certain people who have what can be called a real shoe fetish which I think is something in a completely different category to my own desires.    For instance there are men ( and women ) who enjoy being stood on  by a person wearing stiletto heels , others love to lick the shoe or the heel of the wearer and worship then in some way.

Red or Black are the favourites

There are specialist catalogues which cater specifically for these shoe fetishists which feature enormously high heels some adorned with zips and buckles, others just plain but even higher.  Black or red seem to be the most popular colours, although there is an enormous range now available.

If you can’t wear these very high styles in your daily lifestyle ladies , then it’s perfectly in order to invest in a pair or two for photography. Sauntering about at home in them is a thrilling experience and a little bit of sauciness and imagination can really spice up your sex life.  That’s what life is all about at the end of the day – isn’t it ?.

I know of a photographer who has a studio in the south of France that does nothing else except take pictures of women’s feet clad in the most beautiful shoes , using unusual props and compromising positions to make them more interesting.    There are also clubs for people who share this shoe fetish where they can air their views and act out their fantasies.  I think that this is a good idea,  although some participants do take it rather seriously and it’s not  just a game to them.

Shoes also play an important role in the book and film world.  I remember seeing a Spanish film some years ago now called Red High Heels.  I can’t remember all that much about it except for the main theme than ran right through the film where an attractive woman wearing ( yes , you’ve guessed )  red high heels,  went clacking along the pavement to work, passing over the grill of an underground basement whose occupant observed her every day.   I expect there was more on his mind than just her shoes !!

It’s a great turn on !

I suppose that some people may think that I’m talking a load of twaddle or maybe they can’t understand what it’s all about , but I wouldn’t mind betting that the majority of men think differently and know exactly what I’m saying. 

Ask almost any man and if they are honest they will say that a nice looking stiletto heeled shoe makes a woman look more sexy , is a great turn on and arouses the natural instinct in them.   As the dictionary says –  a fetish object is something abnormally stimulating or attracting sexual desire – and I would have to agree with that 100%.

Sex for shoes

The young lady in a “ Sex for Shoes “ national newspaper feature recently would know exactly what I am talking about.  She sleeps with men for shoes and apparently got the idea while on holiday in Belgium of all places.  She was window shopping one day gazing at a shop full of beautiful shoes when some rich foreign hunk came up behind her and told her that he would buy her the sexy red sling backs she was drooling over if she would have sex with him.    So she did , saying that the sex was nice but she was much more excited afterwards when returning to the shop to buy the shoes.  She could hardly wait and actually said that she was “gagging “ for them.

After this first encounter she became totally hooked on the idea of taking a man to bed for sex in return for a good pair of stilettos and she now apparently has thirty pairs that she has acquired this way.

Well as much as I desire lovely shoes I would never go to this extreme and nor I imagine would most women, but there are of course extremists in every walk of life.   I don’t actually condemn this girl for what she is doing , but I think she is playing a very risky game just to satisfy her irresistible urge to have more and more shoes.

It’s nice to have fun like I do, but far better to know where to draw the line and that I think is the real difference between sensible stimulation and big trouble.

Stockings & tights

Many fetish objects that are used for sexual stimulation are often linked to something else, which may also be classed as a fetish object in it’s own right as well.   Stockings and tights, women’s underwear including knickers,  suspender belts and a range of corsetry - and even images of the foot itself - can form a part of the fetish that might have started off with only a more than normal interest in shoes.

Although the items themselves are usually worn by females, men who have this kind of fetish attraction will also collect them ( or images of them ) and some will even go as far as wearing them, even though they are completely heterosexual in every other way.

Often the materials that are used in making the objects - think plastic , rubber , PVC etc - can also form a part of the fetish and some kinds of  submissive or dominant behavior will incorporate the use of any or all of the items I have written about here.     What might initially have begun with just a small collection of shoes could easily swell to the degree where on top of  the overall cost it becomes difficult to find somewhere to keep it all and as well as items of clothing and footwear can include  books and magazines , catalogues, photographs , personal anecdotes and stories and even membership of specialist clubs.

The foot has a deep symbolic power and once shoes were believed to carry the spirits of previous owners. Almost every culture has used the foot as a unit of measurement and many great figures through the ages, including Buddha and Mohammad have left their footprints as a reminder of their earthly presence. 

The troubadours of 18^th century Italy wore long phallic shaped shoes which the church tried to ban (without success ), but it was the tiny Catherine de Medici who first adopted the high heel from which our present day stiletto comes. She obviously wanted to make herself appear a little taller and hopefully more sexy.  It worked then for her and it has worked ever since,  over the last couple of hundred years or so for millions of other women ( and men of course).

Even though my primary interest is in shoes I sometimes find something else that attracts me enough to want to add it to my collection.  A picture maybe , some special piece of underwear perhaps or even a while ago a pair of huge black feather fans and a matching mask that I saw in a shop quite by accident as I was buying a clip for my hair. 

I like the feeling I get when I buy whatever it is that takes my fancy at the time and it certainly adds to the many pleasures of (our) lifestyle, but I do make sure that we never let any single theme take over and become an obsession for us. 

I wrote the first draft of this feature just over three years ago and shortly after reading it Mark decided to keep a look out for suitable illustrations or pictures to go with it.  Within 15 months he had accumulated a huge collection of cuttings , enough to fill more than 40 pages of a 25cm x 38cm album.  

Most of them came from The Sunday Times magazines as well as one of two other specialist Arts listings and it was truly amazing to see just how much of this obviously fetish style illustration is now included in everyday mainstream media and not only by way of direct advertising. I was surprised to see it being used by international names in design and retailing not just in fashion as might be expected, but even for mundane products like cleaning materials and electrical goods.   

  

Our own photographic collection taken over the last fifteen years or so also includes some suitable examples of the genre - although many of these could  only be published in a private work of this kind – and we have included about 40 of them in the album.  See if you can work out which ones are ours ??

Even if you haven’t been able to make up your mind on the question of fetishism it will hopefully have been an interesting way to spend an hour so.  

B.M.

The Wellcome Collection .

The Institute of Sexology at The Wellcome Collection .

 The two substantial buildings - one in traditional stone the other an ultra modern construction -  that house the Wellcome Trust take up a substantial part of the busy Euston Road close to the British Library and St Pancras International Station.    In a prominent position it’s a rather grand location, but nowhere near half as impressive as the man from whom the trust takes its name. 

 Henry Soloman Wellcome was born in 1853 in the north western part of the USA to an itinerant missionary who with his wife travelled the country in a covered wagon preaching to the unconverted.  Given the middle name of Soloman one might wonder if his father had a premonition of the riches that would come to him, however Henry was brought up with a strict work ethic and deeply religious convictions.   He displayed an early interest in medicine , eventually working  as an executive for a  pharmaceutical firm  and at the age of 26 together with a colleague called Burroughs began his own company  – Burroughs, Wellcome & Co.

In 1901 Wellcome married Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo, a daughter of  Thomas John Barnardo.   Born in Dublin, Barnardo trained as a doctor at The London Hospital in the East End of London and after qualifying set up a Ragged School in the same area, where poor children could get a basic education. It's still there prominently positioned on the now fully updated and regenerated East London section of the Grand Union Canal and a popular visitor attraction. Welcome went on to later found the charitable foundation known as the Dr Barnado Childrens Homes which still exists today.  The marriage  was perhaps Welcome’s first brush with philanthropy and may possibly have influenced him in some way in later life.

His wife, better known as Syrie was a by all accounts  a flighty  thing and during their marriage allegedly had several affairs , one with the department store magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge, and another with author William Somerset Maugham with whom she had a child and later married.  Wellcome divorced Syrie in 1915 naming Maugham as co-respondent , but  later displayed no apparent ill feeling about the whole episode.

In 1910, Wellcome became a British subject and in 1932 after being made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons he became Sir Henry Wellcome, a knight of the realm.   He died in The London Clinic in 1936, aged 82, and in his will vested the entire share capital of his company in individual trustees, who were charged with spending the income to further human and animal health. 

In the window of the excellent restaurant in this section is a ball gown decorated with 6000 foil wrapped contraceptive pills, at its waist an inter-uterine device donated by a schoolteacher for whom it had provided continuous contraception for 26 years.

 The Wellcome Trust was established as a charitable foundation eventually becoming one of the world's largest private biomedical charities.  Dedicated to fund biomedical research and support the public’s understanding of science and independent of both political and commercial interests, it is the largest provider of non government funding in the UK as well as one of the largest in the world. 

Wellcome was an insatiable collector , especially of medically related artefacts and by the time of his death there were a total of over one million objects in his collection.   His collection of books, paintings, drawings, photographs and other media is available for viewing at the Wellcome Library and a selection of the remainder formed the basis for an  exhibition aptly entitled The Institute of Sexology.

Billed as “eye popping” and “an intellectual romp” it was neither the largest or most luxurious I have covered in my time , but it was certainly one of the most interesting and thought provoking.   The figure of a life sized naked man hanging upside down from the ceiling in the huge reception area could certainly be described as “ eye popping “ , sadly I couldn’t discover the significance of it , but the remainder of the display I found to be very significant indeed.

                                                   
                                                         SIR HENRY WELCOME

The three separate illustrated guides, headed Spicier , Braver and Deeper made it very easy to navigate the entire exhibition  as well as providing a useful amount of information. Mainly about sex of course, the exhibits in the Spicier Trail included  an early Roman amulet in the shape of a large penis with small bells hanging from the frenum ,that could be worn round the neck or hung in a courtyard rather like a modern wind charm.

Items about the temptations in the Garden of Earthly Delights”  by Hieronymus Bosch illustrates his narrative about the origin of sin and the constant argument of whether it condemns or supports lascivious human behaviour. In the window of the excellent restaurant in this section is a ball gown decorated with 6000 foil wrapped contraceptive pills, at its waist an inter-uterine device donated by a schoolteacher for whom it had provided continuous contraception for 26 years.  The Braver Trail was primarily a powerful exploration of human stories of oppressed sexualities, with numerous unusual medical artefacts to support them. The Deeper Trail was part meditative contemplation which ponders over some intriguing theories and leads on into the Reading Room. This is like no other reading room I have ever been in – where lush cushions line the sweeping staircase and you could even try on an antique straitjacket.

The archives contain the original records of some of the major sex researchers of the 19^th and 20^th century including Kraft-Ebbing , Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey and Masters & Johnson’s  unique accounts of hundreds of individuals having sex.   Also on display was Wilhelm Reichs orgone accumulator , a small closed box just big enough for one person that the client sat inside while receiving a dose of orgone, which would supposedly lead to good health and a renewed sex life.  Input by the visitors themselves, who were all invited to complete a personal survey also formed a valuable part of the exhibition itself. 

I was particularly attracted to this exhibition by its description of a candid exploration of private acts spanning art, erotica, film and photography, the very same subjects I have studied and written about over the past forty years or so.   This brand new gallery is dedicated to year long shows which will continue when this one ends to include new commissions that may have evolved during the run of this present exhibition.  Within this context I am surprised that no organisation anywhere in the world has so far included an exhibition to publicly examine the naturist lifestyle and wonder if perhaps such an event would fall within the aims and ambitions of The Welcome Collection.