From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Psychic driving was a psychiatric procedure of the 1950s and 1960s in which patients were subjected to a continuously repeated audio message on a looped tape to alter their behaviour. In psychic driving, patients were often exposed to hundreds of thousands of repetitions of a single statement over the course of their treatment. They were also concurrently administered muscular paralytic drugs such as curare to subdue them for the purposes of exposure to the looped message(s). The procedure was pioneered by Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, and used and funded by the CIA’s Project MKUltra program in Canada.

Psychiatry and MKUltra

The psychic driving procedure was a chronological precursor to Cameron’s depatterning, the latter involving massive doses of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) combined with similarly large doses of psychedelic drugs (such as LSD). The intent was to break down the subject’s personality—theoretically psychic driving could then be used with some efficacy in establishing a new personality.^[1] In Cameron’s depatterning, the ECT would often continue to be administered despite the manifestation of convulsive fits, which were consensually considered to be contraindications to normal and safe ECT procedure. Such biologically and psychologically devastating procedures, adopted internationally by the psychiatric establishment, were largely abolished by the time the CIA was brought before a Senate Hearing (1977)^[2] for its involvement and funding of Cameron’s experimental activities—as part of the MKULTRA program.^[3] The topic of Cameron’s psychic driving is dealt with in some detail in the docudrama entitled The Sleep Room (1998) directed by Anne Wheeler.^[4]

Other uses

Similar techniques are alleged to have been used in the kidnapping and death of CIA operative William Francis Buckley by Aziz al-Abub, a medical doctor from Beirut who was seen as epitomizing medical torture. Aziz al-Abub, also known as Ibrahim al-Nadhir, was known for using his medical training to refine torture techniques. His techniques were shown to be closely connected to the CIA-developed torture techniques.^[5] As with the CIA, he used drugs to make it easier to handle those he tortured, carefully determined how long to keep a prisoner hooded and when to isolate them and other techniques seen as medical torture.

In popular culture

Initially, in the hit NBC TV series Hannibal, Dr. Chilton uses psychic driving on a patient of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Dr. Abel Gideon (played by Eddie Izzard), to convince him that he is the main antagonist of the series, the Chesapeake ripper. Later in the series psychic driving is alluded to by the main character Dr. Hannibal Lecter as a means to convince FBI profiler Will Graham that he has committed a string of brutal murders during a bout of encephalitis, to throw him off the trail and keep himself safe. Dr. Lecter uses psychic driving by purposely inducing trance-like states during therapy session, using Will Graham’s encephalitis, then reinforcing his delusions that he has killed during episodes of lost time where he can’t remember his own actions.^[6]

More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_driving

Definitions

Sexual orientation

The enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction (or lack of attraction) to other people. Sexual orientation is an inherent, unchanging attribute (i.e. not a preference or a choice.) People do change how they describe and/or understand their own sexual orientation.

Some common terms to describe Sexual orientation include:

Homosexual

Describes a person who is attracted to the same gender. In some regions, “homosexual” is considered offensive due to its history as a clinical term used to marginalize LBGT people.

Asexual or ace

Not sexually attracted to anyone. Asexual folks can still have happy, healthy, romantic, and loving relationships with other people and can also be gay, bisexual, pansexual, etc.

Aromantic or aro

Not romantically attracted to anyone. As with asexual people, aromantic people can still be happy and have healthy relationships with other people.

Heterosexual/straight

Attracted to the sex/gender opposite their own on the spectrum.

Demisexual

Doesn’t experience sexual attraction to someone unless they have a deep, emotional connection with them.

Gay

Attraction primarily to members of the same sex/gender. This term has historically been used for men specifically, but is often a more widely used term for both men and women.

Lesbian

Describes a woman whose sexual orientation is primarily geared towards other women.

Bisexual

Attracted to more than one gender or gender identity. Although the prefix “bi” strictly means “two”, it is inaccurate to say that all bisexual people are only attracted to two genders (i.e. male and female). More commonly, people who identify as bi are attracted to multiple gender identities, including trans/non-binary identities.

Pansexual

Attracted to the person rather than their sex, gender, or gender identity. Pansexual people commonly describe their pattern of attraction as being interested in “hearts, not parts.”

Queer

Often used as a term for someone who is gay, but more recently has become popular as an umbrella term for someone who identifies as anything other than straight/cisgender.

Some people also choose the labels ‘queer’ or ‘fluid’ as a way of expressing themselves by their own personal feelings.

Make sure that you use queer as an adjective and not as a noun. Good examples:

• “Amy is a queer developer.”
• “Amy is queer.”

But something like “Amy is a queer” is offensive.

Further Definitions

Gender identity

A person’s internal perception of their own gender and the words they use to label themselves. A person may identify as a woman, or a man, a blend of the two (keep reading for more information on this), or neither. A person’s gender identity may or may not be the same as their sex assigned at birth.

Gender expression

A person’s external display of their gender identity through clothing, grooming, behavior, etc. Gender expression commonly falls on a spectrum between feminine, androgynous, and masculine.

Cisgender

Cisgender or cis, refers to a person whose gender identity and/or expression generally aligns with the typical expectations of their sex assigned at birth.

Transgender

Transgender or “trans”, is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression generally differs from typical expectations of their sex assigned at birth. For example, along with trans men and trans women, people who identify genderqueer, non-binary, or genderfluid can be also identified as transgender. Transgender people may or may not choose to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.

There are many people who choose to socially identify as transgender, or “trans” and it is a big part of who they are. Many people are transgender and choose to keep it hidden, as they want to be known as the gender they feel most comfortable with.

Some people may be visibly transgender. It is important that you do not address them by the gender and pronouns you think they are based on physical appearance. If you are not sure, use gender-neutral pronouns (they/them).

Trans man

An identity that describes a man who was assigned a female gender at birth. The term female-to-male transgender, abbreviated as FTM or F2M, is also used by some transgender people.

Trans woman

An identity that describes a woman who was assigned a male gender at birth. The term male-to-female transgender, abbreviated as MTF or M2F, is also used by some transgender people.

Genderqueer

Genderqueer is an umbrella term to refer to gender identities that differ from the binary identities of male and female, including gender non-conforming and non-binary identities. People who identify as genderqueer may see themselves as a combination of both male and female, neither male nor female, different genders at different times or as no specific gender at all.

There can be an overlap between genderqueer, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and genderfluid, but they are not interchangeable terms. You should not use these terms to refer to someone unless they have self-identified with the term(s).

Genderqueer, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and genderfluid people may or may not identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.

Gender non-conforming (GNC)

Gender non-conforming is an umbrella term for gender identities and expressions that don’t conform to typical gender expectations and falls outside of or in between the feminine and masculine binary.

Non-binary

Non-binary refers to gender identities other than the traditional female and male “binary” identities.

Genderfluid

Genderfluid is a gender identity where someone sees themselves as male, female, or non-binary at different times or under different circumstances. Some people like to express different sides of themselves depending on who they are with or where they are.

Transition or transitioning

Gender transition is a process of changing to align more closely with one’s gender identity. It is not a one-time event but involves many steps over time to change social, medical, and/or legal aspects of one’s life such as name, appearance, and pronouns. Transitioning can involve talking to friends, family, and coworkers, changing legal and medical documents, and/or medical intervention such as taking hormones or undergoing surgeries. It’s important to understand that not everyone who transitions chooses to change their body and some people may choose to change some parts of their body but not others in order to feel comfortable within themselves.

Gender dysphoria

Gender dysphoria is a clinical diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) that refers to undue pain and distress experienced when a person’s gender assigned at birth is different from their gender identity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between sex and gender?

Sex and gender are often seen as the same thing but in reality, sex and gender are distinct.

Sex can refer to a person’s anatomy and physiology, which can include phenotype, internal and external genitalia, gonads, hormone levels, chromosomes, epigenetics, etc… Maybe people believe sex is binary (either male or female) but in reality, sex is a non-binary construct where 1 in 1500 people are born intersex.

Gender refers to the social norms, emotions, and behaviors that are associated with being female, male, androgynous, or others. Gender traits can vary greatly depending on the time period and cultural context. It’s important to remember that gender is not an inherently natural thing, but rather a social construct that varies from society to society.

What’s the difference between being transgender and being gay?

Transgender is a gender identity while gay is a sexual orientation. They are two different concepts. Someone can be transgender while being straight, gay, bisexual, or another sexual orientation. Similarly, someone can be gay and be cis, trans, genderqueer, or another gender identity.

What’s the difference between being bisexual and pansexual?

Both gay and straight refer to sexual orientations in which a person is primarily attracted to only one gender. Bi- and pan- are sexual orientations in which a person is attracted to multiple genders. Bisexual tends to refer to attraction to multiple sexes, genders, and/or gender identities. Pansexual tends to refer to being attracted to a person, rather than their sex, gender, and/or gender identity.

This FAQ on bisexual vs pansexual orientations goes into more details.

Bi- and pan- can be very similar so it is ultimately up to the individual as to which they identify as.

What’s the difference between cross-dressing and being transgender?

Cross-dressing is a specific form of gender expression that involves wearing clothing, accessories, etc. that is traditionally not associated with one’s gender. Cross-dressing does not imply anything about a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

Transgender is an umbrella term to refer to and capture all non-traditional gender identities and expressions. As such, people who cross-dress may also identify as transgender however, the distinction between being trans and cross-dressing should be noted. Cross-dressing is a temporary activity, while transgender is a state of permanence. It is best to use the term preferred by the individual.

Is being transgender a mental disorder?

No, being transgender is not a mental illness.

Transgender people can experience a mental illness known as gender dysphoria, however not all trans people have this experience, so being trans in and of itself is not a mental illness.

This Vox article on transgender mental health says it well,

“The AMA, APA, and other medical experts agree that letting someone transition, which can entail medical treatments like hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries, without social stigma is the main treatment for gender dysphoria. In this way, being trans isn’t the medical condition; living as trans is in fact the treatment to the medical condition.”

Do all people who transition have surgery?

No, not all transgender people desire medical transition such as hormone therapy and surgeries. Additionally, some trans people do desire medical transition, but cannot afford it. They are still trans none the less.

As HRC says well,

“Many transgender people cannot afford medical treatment nor can they access it. In light of these injustices, it is important that civil rights and protections are extended to all transgender people equally, regardless of their medical histories. It’s also critical to continue advocating for full access to health care coverage for transgender people.”

How do I know which pronouns to use?

Simple, just ask 🙂

Asking for someone’s pronouns is the same as asking for their name. In the same way that you wouldn’t assume what someone’s name is and start calling them by a name that wasn’t theirs, you shouldn’t assume someone’s pronouns.

In English, there are many common pronouns such as the singular they/them and ze/hir/hirs. To learn more see this Time article on pronouns.

What if I accidentally use the wrong pronouns?

Quickly apologize, correct yourself and move on. Don’t make a big deal out of it. It happens.

Can someone be fired for being transgender, gay, etc.?

The answer to this question, unfortunately, largely depends on where you are in the world. At GitLab, you will not get fired for any of the following reasons, no matter where you are:

Race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, disability, HIV status, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, past or present military service, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

(about.gitlab.com)

The company that oversees the children’s author’s estate said that the titles contained depictions of groups that were “hurtful and wrong.”

By Jenny Gross

• Published March 2, 2021 Updated March 4, 2021 (NYTimes.com)

Six Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published because of their use of offensive imagery, according to the business that oversees the estate of the children’s author and illustrator.

In a statement on Tuesday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises said that it had decided last year to end publication and licensing of the books by Theodor Seuss Geisel. The titles include his first book writing under the pen name Dr. Seuss, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” (1937), and “If I Ran the Zoo” (1950).

“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises said in the statement. The business said the decision came after working with a panel of experts, including educators, and reviewing its catalog of titles.

Mr. Geisel, whose whimsical stories have entertained millions of children and adults worldwide, died in 1991. The other books that will no longer be published are “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”

Mr. Geisel’s stories are loved by fans for their rhymes and fantastical characters but also for their positive values, like taking responsibility for the planet. But in recent years, critics have said some of his work was racist and presented harmful depictions of certain groups.

In “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” a character described as “a Chinaman” has lines for eyes, wears a pointed hat, and carries chopsticks and a bowl of rice. (Editions published in the 1970s changed the reference from “a Chinaman” to “a Chinese man.”) In “If I Ran the Zoo,” two characters from “the African island of Yerka” are depicted as shirtless, shoeless and resembling monkeys.

A school district in Virginia said over the weekend that it had advised schools to de-emphasize Dr. Seuss books on “Read Across America Day,” a national literacy program that takes place each year on March 2, the anniversary of Mr. Geisel’s birth.

“Research in recent years has revealed strong racial undertones in many books written/illustrated by Dr. Seuss,” according to the statement by the district, Loudoun County Public Schools.

The decision to stop the publication of some Dr. Seuss books helps revive a debate over classic children’s titles that do not positively represent minority groups. In France, the latest in a series of beloved comic books, Lucky Luke, features a Black hero and a narrative that reimagines the role of the cowboy, drawing criticism that the book was caving to an American-inspired obsession with race.

Before he became a giant of children’s literature, Mr. Geisel drew political cartoons for a New York-based newspaper, PM, from 1941 to 1943, including some that used harmful stereotypes to caricature Japanese and Japanese-Americans. Decades later, he said he was embarrassed by the cartoons, which he said were “full of snap judgments that every political cartoonist has to make.”

Random House Children’s Books, which publishes the Dr. Seuss books said in a statement that it respected the decision of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the work of the panel that reviewed the books.

Cameron Russell|TEDxMidAtlantic (ted.com)

Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she’s tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don’t judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16 years old.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMidAtlantic, an independent event. TED’s editors chose to feature it for you.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Cameron Russell · ModelCameron Russell has stomped the runways for Victoria’s Secret and Chanel, and has appeared in many magazines. But she is much more than just a pretty face.

By Ben Gilberti, H.W., M.

March 4, 2021

This video doesn’t water down its subject, so only a person with a degree in Physics will understand it completely. But I believe there is value in showing you what Quantum Field Theory is really about so long as three things are kept in mind:

1. Particle physics doesn’t deal with things, but rather with occasions of characteristics arising in fields.

2. For us, the significance of Quantum Field Theory is the intelligibility it represents.  Translation is an exquisite form of intelligibility.

3. As the founder of Quantum Mechanics, Max Planck, famously said: “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”

So what you’re about to see in the following video is a glimpse into the intelligibility of consciousness that constitutes the substance of the universe.  

ScienceClic English How to reconcile relativity with quantum mechanics ? What is spin ? Where does the electric charge come from ? All these answers in 15 minutes ! 0:00​ – Introduction 1:52​ – Field and spin 4:38​ – Conserved quantities 6:02​ – Quantum field 7:39​ – Standard model 10:15​ – Interactions 13:58​ – Conclusion For more videos, subscribe to the YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/ScienceClicEN​ And if you liked this video, you can share it on social networks ! To support me on Patreon : http://www.patreon.com/ScienceClic​ or on Tipeee : http://tipeee.com/ScienceClic​ Facebook Page : http://facebook.com/ScienceClic​ Twitter : http://twitter.com/ScienceClic​ Instagram : http://instagram.com/ScienceClic​ Alessandro Roussel, For more info: http://www.alessandroroussel.com/en​ _ To learn more : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum…​ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetr…​)

A huge, 8.1M underwater earthquake struck in a remote area between New Zealand and Tonga Thursday morning, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is saying that tsunamis may be possible in Hawaii later today as a result.

It’s not yet a certainty, and an official tsunami warning has not been issued for Hawaii. As the Associated Press reports, an earlier warning the agency issued for American Samoa was later downgraded to an advisory, but Hawaii is currently under a tsunami watch.

As scientists assess whether the tsunami threat is real, they say the first waves would arrive on the shores of Hawaii at 4:35 local time, or 6:35 p.m. Pacific Time.

The earthquake, the third in a row in the region, hit at 11:28 a.m. Pacific Time in the area of the Kermadec Islands. Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said on Twitter that an early 7.4M quake in the same region was likely a foreshock, and an earlier 7.3M quake closer to New Zealand but near a tectonic plate boundary was “more ambiguous.”

“It is far enough away that it is at the very edge of where we see statistical evidence of triggering,” Jones says. “‘Did it trigger the M8.1?’ – seismologists will be arguing.”

The M7.3 is also near the plate boundary but has a different focal mechanism so doesn’t look like an interface event. It is far enough away that it is at the very edge of where we see statistical evidence of triggering. “Did it trigger the M8.1?” – seismologists will be arguing— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) March 4, 2021

Jones also says that the likelihood of a tsunami being triggered is fairly low, especially at a distance as far away as Hawaii.

“The Japanese tsunami [in 2011] was from a M9.0 that moved over 30 TIMES more water than this event,” Jones says. “Geometric spreading means you need to move a lot of water to still see a measurable tsunami on the other side of the ocean. M9s do it. M8s much less so.”

Incidentally, and crazily, a February 13 quake off the Japanese coast is considered a late aftershock of the 2011 earthquake, Jones said.

A person of sub par intelligence, to the extent that you have to assume they are merely a non-hominoid simian who has somehow acquired a human shaped, halloween costume.

Paris Hilton is a monkey in a person suit. Hell you can see the zip.

by Elburno October 03, 2011 (urbandictionary.com)

by Kittredge Cherry | Mar 7, 2020 (qspirit.net)

Saints Perpetua and Felicity were brave North African woman friends who were executed for their Christian faith in the third century. Some consider them lesbian saints or patrons of same-sex couples. Perpetua is sometimes seen as a transgender saint because she had a dream about being transformed into a man.  Their feast day is March 7.

Perpetua and Felicity were arrested for being Christian, imprisoned together, and held onto each other in the last moments before they died together on March 7, 203.  Their feast day always falls right before International Women’s Day on March 8.

Perpetua and Felicity are still revered both inside and outside the church. For example, they are named together in the Roman Catholic Canon of the Mass. They are often included in lists of LGBTQ saints because they demonstrate the power of love between two women.

Perpetua kept a vivid journal

The details of their imprisonment are known because Perpetua kept a journal, the first known written document by a woman in Christian history. In fact, her “The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity” was so revered in fourth-century North Africa that Augustine of Hippo warned people not to treat it like the Bible.

Perpetua was a 22-year-old noblewoman and a nursing mother. Felicity, her slave, gave birth to a daughter while they were in prison. Although she was married, Perpetua’s husband is conspicuously absent from her diary.

Perpetua’s journal does include descriptions of her dreams.  In her fourth and final dream, she is transformed into a man and fights in the Coliseum. During the dream she sees herself enter the gladiatorial arena. Her assistants remove her clothes for battle. Perpetua looks at her naked body and exclaims, “My clothes were stripped off, and suddenly I was a man” (The Martyrdom of Perpetua 3.2). In male form, Perpetua goes on to fight and defeat an ugly Egyptian man.

Mosaics of Perpetua and Felicity at Archiepiscopal Chapel in Ravenna, Italy. Sixth century. Photo by Nick Thompson.

People loved the gender-bending story of the two women comforting each other in jail and giving each other the kiss of peace as they met their end in the amphitheater at Carthage (in contemporary Tunisia).  They were exposed to a wild cow before being beheaded. The women are often depicted with a cow, and Perpetua is the patron saint of cattle.

Yale history professor John Boswell names Perpetua and Felicity as one of the three primary pairs of same-sex lovers in the early church. (The others are male pairs Polyeuct and Nearchus and Sergius and Bacchus.) The love story of Felicity and Perpetua is told with historical detail in two books, “Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe” by Boswell and “Passionate Holiness: Marginalized Christian Devotions for Distinctive People” by Dennis O’Neill. O’Neill is founder of the Living Circle, the interfaith LGBTQ spirituality center that commissioned a well-known icon of Perpetua and Felicity by Robert Lentz.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity in art

The icon of the loving same-sex pair appears at the top of this article.  It was painted by Brother Robert Lentz, a Franciscan friar and world-class iconographer known for his progressive icons.  It is rare to see an icon about the love between women, especially two dark-skinned African women. The rich reds and heart-shaped double-halo make it look like a holy Valentine.

This same icon also appears on the cover of the classic LGBTQ Christian book, “The Queer Bible Commentary,” edited by Deryn Guest, Robert Shore-Goss and Mona West. Prints of “Saints Perpetua and Felicity” by Robert Lentz are available through Amazon and Trinity Stores.

“Perpetua and Felicity” is one of 40 icons featured in “Christ in the Margins,” an illustrated book by Robert Lentz and Edwina Gateley.

“Perpetua and Felicitas” by Katy Miles-Wallace. Available as prints and more at the Queerly Christian Etsy and Zazzle shops.

Perpetua and Felicitas share a rainbow halo in an icon created in 2017 by queer Lutheran artist and seminarian Katy Miles-Wallace as part of her “Queer Saints” series. It appears at the top of this post. The series presents traditional saints with queer qualities and heroes of the LGBTQ community.

The icons are rooted in queer theology and in Miles-Wallace’s eclectic faith journey that began at a Baptist church in Texas and led to study at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. She drew many of them on the altar of a seminary chapel. For more info, see the Q Spirit article “New icons of Queer Saints created by artist Katy Miles-Wallace.” The icons are available as prints, jewelry and more at the Queerly Christian Etsy and Zazzle shops.

“Perpetua and Felicity” by Angela Yarber. Prints are available at her shop on Fine Art America.

Artist Angela Yarber paints a gloriously glowing icon of the women saints. “I first learned of Perpetua and Felicity on Kittredge Cherry’s blog, Jesus in Love. Now they join my other Holy Women Icons with a folk feminist twist,” Yarber writes at the Feminism and Religion blog.

Yarber is founder and creative director of the Holy Women Icons Project, which was renamed the Tehom Center in 2020. She is a painter, author, scholar, dancer, minister and LGBTQ-rights activist based in Hawaii and North Carolina. She earned a Ph.D. in art and religion from the Graduate Theological Union at the University of California in Berkeley. Nearly 50 color images of her folk feminist icons included in her book “Holy Women Icons.”

She depicts the pair of women saints with golden warmth and an African vibe. Her icon shows Perpetua and Felicity hugging as their hearts unite into a single large heart. It is inscribed with the words:

Comfort, love, and a holy kiss
Bound their hearts in
The moment of death,
Embracing so that all
May embrace

“Felicity and Perpetua: Patrons of Same-Sex Couples” by Maria Cristina

A banner saying “patrons of same sex couples” hangs above Felicity and Perpetua in the colorful icon painted by Maria Cristina, an artist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She paints the two women holding hands in an elegant gesture. The skull of a long-horn cow, similar to paintings of famous New Mexico artist Georgia O’Keefe, adds a welcome bit of Southwestern flavor to the image while echoing the standard iconography of portraying the pair with a cow.

“New icon: Saints Perpetua and Felicitas” by Kalle Hamm

Finnish artist Kalle Hamm created an image of Perpetua and Felicitas that is suitable for society now, when “icon” is more likely to mean a computer symbol than a religious figure. He writes their story using emoji with the goal of affirming LGBTQ people in a contemporary, accessible way. Hamm’s 2018 “New Icons” series includes these and many other same-sex pairs of saints who suffered for their beliefs.

Perpetua and Felicitas share a single halo as “patrons of women’s rights” on elegant pendants from artist Shoushan of Artisan Courtyard. Perpetua and Felicity ear rings, candles,shirts and incense are also available.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity appear together as a couple on a religious medal available from PicturesOnGold at Amazon.

Felicity and Perpetua by Jim Ru

Artist Jim Ru was inspired to paint Felicity and Perpetua as a kissing couple. His version was displayed in his show “Transcendent Faith: Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Saints” in Bisbee Arizona in the 1990s.

Irish artist St. George Hare, painted an erotic, romanticized vision of Perpetua and Felicity around 1890. His painting “The Victory of Faith” shows the women as an inter-racial couple sleeping together nude on a prison floor.

Their lives are the subject of several recent historical novels, including “Perpetua: A Bride, A Martyr, A Passion” by Amy Peterson and “The Bronze Ladder” by Malcolm Lyon.

Perpetua and Felicity prayers

Q Spirit’s Litany of Queer Saints includes these lines:

“Saint Perpetua and Saint Felicity, who shared a holy kiss before dying, patron saints of same-sex couples, pray for us.”

Links related to Perpetua and Felicity

“Eternal Bliss” – SS Felicity and Perpetua, March 7th (Queer Saints and Martyrs – and Others)

Suspect 3rd Century Women Put to Death in Arena: Ancient Hate Crime? (Unfinished Lives: Remembering LGBT hate crime victims)

Facebook discussion of this article at Believe Out Loud

___
Translations:

To read this article in Spanish, to to:
Perpetua y Felicitas: santas patronas de parejas del mismo sexo (Santos Queer)

To read this article in Russian, go to:
Святые Перпетуя и Фелицитата: покровительницы однополых пар (nuntiare.org)

To read this article in Italian, go to:
Perpetua e Felicita, le sante patrone delle coppie omosessuali (gionata.org)

___
Top image credit:
“Saints Perpetua and Felicity” by Brother Robert Lentz, OFM. Prints are available through Amazon and Trinity Stores.
___
This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.

This article was originally published on Q Spirit in February 2017 and was updated for accuracy and expanded with new material on March 2, 2021.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

____

Follow Kittredge Cherry Founder at Q Spirit Kittredge Cherry is a lesbian Christian author who writes regularly about LGBTQ spirituality.She holds degrees in religion, journalism and art history.She was ordained by Metropolitan Community Churches and served as its national ecumenical officer, advocating for LGBTQ rights at the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches.

How strong is your emotional vocabulary?

Karla McLaren, M.Ed.

(emotiondynamics.org)

The more I talk to people about emotions, the more I realize how small our emotional vocabulary tends to be. People can get by with just a few words for their emotions, such as fine, unhappy, bummed, or stressed.

Having a larger vocabulary — for anything — makes you more articulate and more able to express subtle ideas. Having more words gives your brain more data, and helps your senses become more acute. Having more words can make you smarter, faster, and more skilled!

This tiny vocabulary is a problem, because descriptive words help us understand ourselves and the world around us. If we don’t have enough names for our emotions, it’s hard to get a handle on what we’re feeling when an emotion arises.

Cognitive psychologists have been finding that having a more precise vocabulary (for instance, having specific names for light blues and dark blues, as Russian speakers do) tends to make people quicker at identifying subtle differences. Basically, if you know more names for things, you can actually see, hear, or feel more than people whose vocabularies are smaller.

We’ve all seen that having a larger vocabulary makes us more articulate and more able to express subtle ideas; what’s interesting is that having a large vocabulary also helps you identify things more quickly. Having more words gives your brain more data, and helps your senses become more acute. Having more words can make you smarter, faster, and more skilled.

This can be immensely helpful where emotion are concerned! The sooner you know what you’re feeling, the quicker you can take effective emotional action.

I and many of my readers from all over the world (thank you!) created the following emotional vocabulary list for seven different categories of emotions in three distinct levels of intensity (Soft, Medium [or Mood State], and Intense) so that you can become smarter, quicker, and more articulate with your emotions. Excellent!

Download your free Emotional Vocabulary List!

This free list is my gift to you, but it’s also a kind of a message in a bottle; I’d love to live in a world where people understood their emotions, knew how to work with them, and knew how to support emotional awareness in others. Wouldn’t that be brilliant?

As you work to develop and strengthen your emotional awareness, this vocabulary list can give your brain more data to work with. With more emotional vocabulary, you can become more emotionally precise, more aware, and more skilled. Knowing what you feel is one of the first steps toward accessing and developing your innate emotional genius.

Thank you for bringing more emotional awareness into our waiting world!

(Submitted by Sarah Flynn)