โHope went out like a candleโ โ EU official Johan Floderus survived years in an Iranian jail
Reunited with his partner and ready to return to work, the 34-year-old Swede speaks to POLITICO.
Sexuality
Pope Francisโ progressive legacy nears judgment day
Church conservatives and liberals feud bitterly over reforms teased by the pontiff.
WHO warns of increased STI, pregnancy risk as condom use among youth drops
Teenagers are using fewer condoms when having sex, a report commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found, warning of the risks of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Coma review โ vital signs are weak in Bertrand Bonelloโs mopey lockdown drama
There are stabs of the same fear that made The Beast fascinating, but this tale of a bored teenager in a scary, affectless future is too unfocusedProminent French film-makers are supported by their national industry and even their lockdown projects ha…
EU diplomat imprisoned in Iran kept his sexuality a secret from the regime
Johan Floderus proposed to his boyfriend immediately after landing in Stockholm, he said in new interview.
Pope Francis has lost control of his liberal revolution
Trouble is brewing in the very regions that cradled the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.
Advancing Gender Equality: The EU`s Landmark Directive 2024/1385 on Violence Against Women
Dr. Ceren Kasฤฑm, Postdoctoral
Research and Teaching Fellow, University of Hildesheim, Germany
Photo credit: MesserWoland, via Wikimedia Commons
INTRODUCTION
The first-ever binding European
Union (EU) legal instrument to…
Slow review โ intimate portrait of asexual romance unfolds at unhurried pace
Shot on 16mm, Marija Kavtaradzeโs quiet drama tells a mature and moving story about the many ways people can be in loveA delicate love affair blooms in the new film from Lithuanian director Marija Kavtaradze, which explores attraction and intimacy with…
Dutch police clash with pro-Palestine protestors at Amsterdam university
University staff denounced “extreme” violence by police toward student protestors.
Europeโs content police have a new target: generative AI
The EU announces that it’s looking into AliExpress, LinkedIn and generative AI.
โThis is still tabooโ: queer teens and their families embrace gay comedy in Serbia
Audiences are finding sharp resonance and emotional comfort in Patrik Laziฤโs moving and funny play Our Son, about topics still sensitive in the BalkansThe hurling of a salad bowl to the floor might not sound like the most dramatic of moments, but it s…
10 ways a second Trump term could be more extreme than the first
From nationwide abortion bans to classroom culture wars, assaults on climate science and political weaponization of the military, his return to the White House could make Trump 1.0 seem tame.
Finnish presidential candidate surprised at renewed focus on his sexuality
Pekka Haavisto says discussion about his being gay has increased since he made it through to the final round of votingThe Finnish presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto has questioned why his sexuality has come under such strong focus in the final days …
Pope Francis says sexual pleasure is ‘a gift from God’
Pope Francis’s sermon on lust followed criticism of an old book on sexuality by his head of doctrine.
The New EU Asylum Laws, part 1: the Qualification Regulation
Professor Steve Peers,
Royal Holloway University of London*
Photo credit: Ggia, via Wikimedia
Commons
*sentences with an asterisk have been corrected or updated since the original publication of this post. Most recently updated 14 May 2024.&n…
Sex work splits the EU Parliament
German lawmaker Maria Noichl wants to ban buying sex โ but not everyoneโs on board.
Russia outlaws โinternational LGBT public movementโ as extremist
Human rights activists say supreme courtโs vague wording provides wide scope for persecutionRussiaโs supreme court has outlawed what it called an โinternational LGBT public movementโ as extremist, in a landmark ruling that representatives of gay and tr…
โMy motherโs neurosurgeon loved Berghainโ: producer Sofia Kourtesis on love, loss and her debut album
The Peruvian artist left her country for Berlin to be comfortable in her sexuality โ then family illness took her back. Sheโs poured the turmoil into one of the yearโs best dance albumsOf all the places to take your motherโs world-renowned neurosurgeon…
UK facing highest number of asylum claims for two decades
The last time UK asylum claims were this high was 2002, when 84,130 asylum applications were made in a year.
โNot for the faint-heartedโ: the gripping, horrifying show about the Marquis de Sade
His name has become a byword for extreme sexual depravity. But was there more to the French nobleman who spent much of his life in jail? Our writer finds out at a new exhibition in Barcelona investigating his shocking workItโs a bright, sunny day in Ba…