Tara Moss's Blog, page 6

Hunting ruins in the Spanish Pyrénées

The moment when you push open the creaking door of an abandoned Medieval church on a quiet mountain peak in the Pyrénéesis not one you’ll quickly forget.

First the tentative push at the heavy wooden door, the surety that you can’t get in, and then the creaking movement inwards and the dank, cold air that rushes out of the darkness like a cloud of bats. As your eyes adjust, stairs leading downwards, a chapel, small pinpricks of light pushing through the thick stone walls. An undiscovered beauty...

The Age of Invisibility?

Below, I present two fairly random examples ofThe Agenewspaper online, snapped as screenshots. The first was taken by me on July 17 and the second today, July 25. At a glance, I count over 43 men, 1 baby boy, 2 illustrated boys (Both ads for the filmParaNorman) and 1 woman, partially visible behind a male. Oh, and a cockatoo of unknown gender:

I have no interest in targeting The Age, which I enjoy reading (hence the reason I found these front pages in the first place), and it is significant th...

Vintage Berlin

When most people think of Berlin, they think of the wall and the horrors of WWII, but this is also a city with a long and fascinating history of art, fashion and the avant garde. Berlinboasts a veritable treasure trove for lovers of art and antiques, and for those interested in vintage clothing – a unique,affordable and sustainable alternativeto many modern labels – there is much to explore, includingToast and Jam, the famous vintage fashion fair that runs twice a year. But with trendy second...

Meeting Ecce Homo

‘Ecce Homo’ (Behold the Man) by Elías García Martínez, famously restored by 80 year old Cecilia Giménez, is the only work protected by glass in the chapel of Santuario de Misericordia, in a tiny village outside Borja, Spain.

The fresco, dubbed the’worst restoration in history’,has spawned one of the most popular memesof the past year, hilariously incorporating images of everything from the Titanic movie, ET, TheMona Lisa andThe Scream, to Jonah Hill andTom Jones, among others. It has been visi...

Three nights in Seville

We are wandering through the old city in Seville (Sevilla in Spanish), the capital of Andalusia, Spain, and we arelost.

It is our third night in Seville, and being lost here is a surprisingly pleasant feeling. Each corner of the old town brings yet more wonders and even now, past ten in the evening, the sky is glowing blue and the streets are alive with the chatter and activities of friendly locals. The centuries-oldlabyrinthinestreets twist and turn, sometimes so slowly that the direction gra...

Deadlier Than The Male

Throughout history many – if not most – cultures have perpetuated the myth of the evil woman. Television presenter, journalist and bestselling crime novelist Tara Moss discusses evil women, female criminals and the demonisation of the female gender: from Eve and Pandora to Elizabeth Bathory, Amanda Knox and Paula Broadwell for The Wheeler Centre, in her talk Deadlier Than The Male – The Myth of the Evil Woman.

Watch the video now:

Excerpt:

Women are a necessary evil, the famous proverb says.

Pand...

Families lose out again – particularly women and children

We recentlycut payments to single parents, saying they were being ‘grandfathered’. And now we have cut some assistance to stay at home parents by changing the Baby Bonus. Those negatively affected by these changes are young children and their parents. Many of the parents who will be worse off, thanks to these changes, are single women and women who are not in paid work and therefore do not qualify for paid parental leave.

AsSex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick told The Australia...

On vintage, quality and the perfect ‘Otta Fir’ coat

It is easily overlooked that what is now called vintage was once brand new.
- Tony Visconti,record producer, musician and singer.

It’s been three months since I found I needed to restock my wardrobe with clothing that actually fits. (What a concept!) Winter looms, and as the mountain air grows cooler, my morecurve-friendly40s/50s inspiredwardrobe seems increasingly in need of a good, warm coat. Preferably one that is older than I am.

On the weekend I found just the thing in a charming vintage s...

On ‘Australia’s most self-obsessed models’

Here is a piece called ‘Australia’s most self-obsessed models’, published at the Herald Sun. (Linked)

I am sharing this because a) the images were released by the models originally, so don’t compromise privacy. And b) I think the headline, obsessive collection of numerous unrelated images and faux-analysis of these images are needlessly demeaning. Why ridicule professionals for sharing images of themselves when that is what fans and professionals clearly want of them, and when nearly everyone...

My plea for a better quality discussion on breastfeeding

Every time I see an apparently well-intentioned opinion piece on breastfeeding or other health matters filled with statements that any doctor could tell you are false or misleading, I feel saddened. Every time I see an article that creates false divides between breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding mothers, I feel saddened. There are a lot of blogs out there and a lot of opinion pieces. A parent or parent-to-be searching for answers online is going to come across a lot of good information, and...