It's also pretty demeaning to blokes, as if they are Incapable! of Restraining! Themselves! due to their animalistic penis-brains. Erm, no.

Is this what the women's movement was fighting for? The right to get wasted on equal terms with men?

Yes? Or put another way: The women's movement most definitely was fighting for women to have the freedom to take risks, fuck up, and even behave badly on equal terms with...

Women get some pretty mixed messages about what is acceptable dress -you are expected to dress "nicely" and "accentuate your assets" and also "not put it...

It's also pretty demeaning to blokes, as if they are Incapable! of Restraining! Themselves! due to their animalistic penis-brains. Erm, no.

My animalistic penis-brain would find even Emma's awesome French Whore Top eminently resistible. Then again, my APB gets cranky if it's out too late and finds loud noises and...

My first thought on seeing that paragraph yesterday (well maybe my second thought if you count spluttering expletives) was "Emma's going to post angry".

You should have seen it, I was actually completely speechless.

It's also pretty demeaning to blokes, as if they are Incapable! of Restraining! Themselves! due to...

Also, this famous scene from Body Heat:

Ned (William Hurt): Maybe you shouldn't dress like that.
Matty (Kathleen Turner): This is...

(I've created a phrase worthy of an acronym! I feel so proud.)

Next time the cops put out an All Points Bulletin there might be some confusion.

I'm also really impressed with this woman's chest, both up-thrust and barely-clad. Obviously she has an invisible push-up bra, which is awesome.

(My French Whore Top is awesome.)

At which point are we being serious, or am I missing something? Aw TITS

"Dear God! Not another out of control penis brain running amok. I bet it was that Hart woman's mortgage falling out of it's dress again. Those liquored up investment portfolios can't keep their...

You write such great headlines when you're angry.

Um, I don't get it.

At which point are we being serious, or am I missing something? Aw TITS

Ah, you assume even I know any more.

Um, I don't get it.

Don't worry, it just means you're immune to The Listener

You write such great headlines when you're angry.

Um, I don't get it.

It's a tribute to Finlay Macdonald's wonderful quip about the ultimate contemporary Listener cover line being 'Will your mortgage make you fat?'

I largely buy the listener because I can't be arsed figuring out which day the paper publishes TV listing

The downturn of The Listener had an upside for me – when I stopped buying it, I also stopped watching TV, because I never knew when anything was on. Brilliant!

Oh, I thought it was about her assets.

Fix or float...

The fault of unwanted attention is soley on the person giving it.

I believe "The fault of continuing unwanted attention is solely on the person giving it" is a better generalisation. There are plenty of situations where it's either difficult to tell if attention is wanted or previously...

The fault of unwanted attention is soley on the person giving it.

However as the attention is only unwanted as determined by the contrary value judgements of the recipient, the giver is quite possibly blamelessly at fault.

The assumption in this debate always seems to be that the recipient has made it clear in some way that the (or any) attention is unwanted and we all know that's often not the case. 'No means no' fer sure, but something has to happen to trigger the no.

This...

As long as we're all on the same page I can happily pop out for a couple of hours without worrying about finding my post under a pile of embers when I...

I miss Diana Wichtel and Fiona's Stooges story still sticks in mind but otherwise I got no regrets on that score.

The other day I found myself being nostalgic for Steve Braunias. Then I figured that compared to Joanne Black even smallpox could elicit fond memories.

Remember when turning to...

After having four babies, I see my breasts as more of a utility thing, rather than sexual objects.

I have a similar outlook. These days, I now view my buttocks as more a convenient way to keep the small of my back from sliding into my thighs (and, in extremis,...

Although with columnists like Ralston and Black they probably need to rebrand to The Curmudgeon.

Now that Edwards has completed his transition into conservative commentator, I think he'd be ripe for inclusion. They need somebody else who'll just phone it in.

they probably need to rebrand to The Curmudgeon

But there's already a magazine called North and Sou – oops, my bad.

Thanks for sharing about those walnuts Jack :)

Cyclist, you see.

as if they are Incapable! of Restraining! Themselves!

Maybe we don't want to restrain ourselves?* maybe we don't care that allowing our reptilian brain to control our actions and words makes us less attractive. And why would we need to show any self control when if we do cross a...

This is of course true, which is why I talked about 'persisting'.

Of course walking and determining if the assets are fixed or floating is pretty much an offense the first time.

When did it become okay to make women into objects for our own emancipation?

Whenever the Tui "all-girl brewery" ads started, about 2-3 years ago I think.

Best NZ mag out there these...

Of course walking and determining if the assets are fixed or floating is pretty much an offense the first time.

determining if assets are fixed or floating via a visual estimation method may or may-not be acceptable, depending on various factors,

confirmation by the braille method is nearly always off...

confirmation by the braille method is nearly always off limits unless you already know the owner of the assets on a fairly intimate basis.

For a long time now, I've wanted a t-shirt that says 'If you can read this, you're too close' in Braille.

Whenever the Tui "all-girl brewery"...

I knew the time had come when so many of the good columnists had gone that I was looking forward to Joanne Black.

I know it irritates Giovanni, but I was reminiscing with friends the other day about the Good Old Listener Days, when the first thing you did was...

See, I think the Tui ads are funny – the joke being that the men aren't displaying APB, but are too beer-obsessed to notice the women at all. ("Gorgeous beer.")

Aw, come on, they're gay. Isn't that obvious? Same with the Speights ads, where the guy who's engaged with the...

loves the Primo ad

Love that ad too – there is just something surreal about those girls on bouncy balls. It's the wierdness of it all that works for me.
Agree about the coke and Burger King ads – they are just crass and lazy. Somewhere there is someone who...

My comments have all been silly. that's because I find the Listener piece so stupid it's hard to respond with anything other than silly.

I detest the idea that you are allowed to do or not do to someone simply because of what they wear...

I know it irritates Giovanni, but I was reminiscing with friends the other day about the Good Old Listener Days, when the first thing you did was turn to page 94 and read Steve Braunias's latest tale of his red couch/custard squares/drinking binge.

He had his moments, but his whiney...

You've said this before and still your partner hasn't given you one for Christmas? I think you need to be less subtle.

This is the last t-shirt he bought me. The guy is basically made of win. I'm not sure it's possible for me to be less subtle.

That may be rather too much of a metaphysical question, actually. Let me rephrase: what was her gig before this?

Let me rephrase: what was her gig before this?

She was a missionary in Montecarlo, bringing expedited building consents to the super-wealthy.

The awful driving statistics for [15 to 24-year-olds] are made worse by our Anglo-Celtic genes which seem to inspire binge drinking in many adolescents, with young women (the ladettes) now alarmingly emulating the males.

link

It's all William the Conqueror's fault!

Whereas the Burger King and Coke Zero ads are just crass

I (slightly) know one of the guys behind the Burger King ads. He has a degree in Performance Voice.

I hear a catchy infectious tune, I see scantily (but extremely colourfully) clad women on roller skates.

"Hmmm.... they're going a bit over-the top on the women in underwear thing." I think to myself. "So what are they selling?"

"Oh-...

Would have linked to them too but when looked at their site couldn't get any further than the front page.

Apparently other people want that same 'if you can read this ...etc braille tshirt or maybe this one.

Awesome. Thank you, internet.

It's all William the Conqueror's fault!

I think William was a Norman, hence the idea of "The Norman Yoke" on the anglo-celts who were there pre 1066.

"Oh- they're selling womens underwear"

I guess that's OK then

It reminded me of the great ad for Hanes using the Momix dancers...

It's all William the Conqueror's fault!

He wasn't very Celtic was he?

He wasn't very Celtic was he?

Ah, true. For some reason I was mentally confusing celts and gauls.
(and I guess the Normans were only half-gaul at best)

So can we blame? Boadicea?

Ah, true. For some reason I was mentally confusing celts and gauls.
(and I guess the Normans were only half-gaul at best)

Not that confused: Gauls are Celts. Normans are mostly Viking.

I hear a catchy infectious tune, I see scantily (but extremely colourfully) clad women on roller skates.

"Hmmm.... they're going a bit over-the top on the women in underwear thing." I think to myself. "So what are they selling?"

"Oh- they're selling womens underwear"

I guess that's OK then?

Yes...

I love watching 70's movies where the leading woman, though attracttive and slim, has flesh that wobbles. You can tell she's never met a gym machine in...

Yeah, who would have thought that the women who burned their bras did so for women to wear thongs, corselettes and high heels.

Or perhaps for women to have the choice to do so – or not do so – as they please. Preferably without getting shit for it. If...

(Also, you can pry my bra from my cold dead... hands.)

Or perhaps for women to have the choice to do so – or not do so – as they please. Preferably without getting shit for it.

Yes, that was sort of Emma's original point, I thought? We don't get to give other women shit for their clothing choices. (We are...

(We are allowed to be wide-eyed with wonder in private, though, right? Because otherwise half of my TV-watching is ruined.)

Best done with one of those companions who's so on the same wavelength as you that a glance will suffice to communicate the 'wtf' in its full glory.

It's a tribute to Finlay Macdonald's wonderful quip about the ultimate contemporary Listener cover line being 'Will your mortgage make you fat?'

Ahem. I think a little linkage is in order ;)

Anyway, to carry on with the "what's wrong with the Listener" discussion, here's what I feel about...

Can I come out of my 'wide-eyed with wonder in private' closet for just a mo and ask what all the clothing choices were about on...

How we dress makes a statement. We dress in formal business attire when we go to make a sale or job interview, gym clothes to go to the gym and a swimsuit to go swimming. You wouldn't wear your clubbing clothes to work – it makes...

There is no amount of flesh I can expose on a night out which makes me fair game – sorry, the author of my own difficulties.

It's remarkable that a presumably experienced journalist who has also presumably done research and thought deeply about what they are writing about can't come...

the clothes you wear clubbing also make a statement about your intentions

OMG! You're telepathic!

Acting as though that doesn't exist and that you have no control over it?

We're not in charge of how you act around a corselette: *you are*.

Therefore, it should be perfectly acceptable to assume that the clothes you wear clubbing also make a statement about your intentions.

Jason, the issue is that one person doesn't know another person's intentions. I might have had a rubbish day, so might decide to go out and have fun, get...

Therefore, it should be perfectly acceptable to assume that the clothes you wear clubbing also make a statement about your intentions.

I recommend a scientific study. Go out three times. Once in the sluttiest outfit you can find, once in a set of track pants and a third time in...

If it changes based on outfit, then it's the clothes

So if they go out in a burqa and get beaten up by skinheads it's the clothes?

Thankfully there are more things to heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the Listener's editorial department, but if they don't fit the "what's in it for me?" test they won't be making it to the front page any time soon.

Sometimes the lack of introspection reaches heroic proportions,...

We're not in charge of how you act around a corselette: *you are*.

Boom!

Thankfully there are more things to heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the Listener's editorial department, but if they don't fit the "what's in it for me?" test they won't be making it to the front page any time soon.

You're very perceptive.

The editor's exhortation has long...

And re the portrayal of women in TV ads: if you're cynical you'll say it's just a branding exercise, but can I recommend the Dove "Onslaught" clip. I can't do the linky thing, but google it. I'm a father of daughters and I think it rocks.

For YouTube clips, just...

OMG! You're telepathic!

Thank you, Danielle. Sometimes I run out of snark.

Also, what club are you getting into in trackies? (youth of today, standards, etc) And you know what? Even if I am looking to 'hook up', that doesn't mean I'm looking to hook up with YOU. I might...

no matter how much No means No a person's safety cannot always be maintained

That's certainly true. I don't know why the discussion often (not here so far, but) ends up being about what the victim of the harassment or assault could have done differently, though. It should really be...

That's certainly true. I don't know why the discussion often (not here so far, but) ends up being about what the victim of the harassment or assault could have done differently, though. It should really be about the harasser's actions.

There are areas in which that is less clear-cut, though...

might she be the author of her own difficulties?

by this logic, anyone harassed at the beach or pool were wearing togs that were "asking for it".

in tokyo, sometimes i think, "the world is just these pricks' giant ashtray". maybe the nz equivalent is "the world is just these...

It's like being trapped in a dinner party where the only two subjects discussed are houses and the person's daughter.

It's the fact that whilst these are her only two subjects she displays very little love for either that gets me.

the world is just these APBs' giant building site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJa7VzfWJQg

it ought to be permissible to promote ways for women of making themselves less unsafe without exculpating the men who are doing the harassing

I'm waiting anxiously for the 'hey, could you not harass people, APB dudes?' PSAs, because they don't seem to make very many. There are quite a...

I'm waiting anxiously for the 'hey, could you not harass people, APB dudes?' PSAs, because they don't seem to make very many.

We just don't seem to know how to handle that. Which baffles me, since we don't seem to have a problem formulating messages against family voilence. A campaign...

It's like "OMG, some black people in the US are crims, why did they free the slaves?" Because some random people of subgroup X always represent all other members of that subgroup.

And I agree with Craig – feminism is all about the right to be...

It doesn't matter if someone's wearing thongs and high heels (call me crass, but I thoroughly...

– Referendum voters
– Those who opt out of student unions
– Listener subscribers (Emma, you may make a special "professional exemption" list, but I really...

I'm waiting anxiously for the 'hey, could you not harass people, APB dudes?' PSAs, because they don't seem to make very many. There are quite a lot of the 'chicks, look out!' ones, though.

Reminds me of the anecdote (Inga Muscio's?) about the city (Seattle? Portland?) in which the police...

I must say, too, that the Listener is particularly egregious in its gratutious use of slim, young, white female bodies to publicise its me-me-me story of the week (nice...

Freezing cold night in any city with cobbled...

I recommend a scientific study. Go out three times. Once in the sluttiest outfit you can find, once in a set of track pants and a third time in formal business. Count the number of times you are hit on in each outfit.

Yeah, because when I go out to...

Freezing cold night in any city with cobbled streets, and there they all are: pelmet miniskirts, bare legs, boob tubes, tottery high heels. Er, why??!

Because that's what is regarded as "hot" or "sexy" and we want to be attractive. I don't know why women dress in such uncomfortable gear,...

but I do really question why women are dressing in ways that are ideally suited to appeal to the male sexual gaze.

Because that's what is currently "fashionable"? And hence what is being sold in shops – especially cheaper shops like Glassons, or Supre, or as I like to call...

(Or perhaps I'm just particularly well-attuned to hearing 'vagina-bearers, you're not allowed to get drunk in public in case you get raped' messages. Um, yay?)

IMO, that ad was worse than that. As I said at the time, they should have changed the tag-line to "It's not the drinking, it's...

Somewhat akin to a wildebeest...

You see, those ads were meant to be "provocative" and "hard-hitting" ways to bring about "culture change"

In my house, the only culture they changed was to one of changing the channel any time anything to do with ALAC comes on, and pretty much ignoring everything it has to say...

There is some responsibility on us all to minimise our likelihoods of becoming a victim.

Stewart, I know what you are saying, but all too often (to me, at least) it feels like that all the responsibility is on "us" and none on the people that are making other people...

If you recognise that fact then you can appreciate why...

There is some responsibility on us all to minimise our likelihoods of becoming a victim.

Up to a point, Stewart. When I lived in Palmerston North (on the fringes of Highbury, if that means anything to you), the house I was sharing was burgled three times.

Was I and my...

Yeah, Ok, there's some hyperbole in that statement. But I, and a lot of people, felt that the Lisa ad was unnecessarily victim blaming, and are still, like Craig said, frustrated by ALAC's refusal to acknowledge the complaints.

Like Danielle said up the thread, most women don't need to...

deserves is a bit of an overstatement

I like to compare the ALAC rape ad to the one with the dude who swings his kid against the bookcase and ends up in the alley crying. You probably feel a bit of empathy for that dude, right? But you also think...

I have...

We're not in charge of how you act around a corselette: *you are*.

My APB controls all my actions.

I don't know why the discussion often (not here so far, but) ends up being about what the victim of the harassment or assault could have done differently

It's about control. It feels very much like you have no control over the perpetrator so the reaction is to try and...

being in the wrong place at the wrong time and representing an easy target.

It has seemed to me, though, that just the very fact of my having a vagina ("down there" as my doctor said last week) makes me in the wrong place at the wrong time. There have...

It's the same reason more folks are afraid of flying than driving, because when you fly someone else is in control and when you drive you are in control.

Being ten thousand feet in the freaking air might also play a part.

there does not seem to be a story they cannot creatively publicise with a T-shirt stretched winningly across a pert pair of tits.

I'm betting they have a really talented creative director.

Winchel and Take 5, crossword, Slade ...

dammit might as well check Clifton, Easton ...

the breaking point usually comes about Ralston

or yet another pile of uninspiration from one Hill or other ...

getting really pissed with myself ...

I hate addiction, at...

In both cases the feeling (while real) is wrong.

Indeed, and what bothers me about this 'careful ladies' attitude is that it's wrong. Factually. Where are women most likely to be assaulted, no matter how they're dressed or how much they've had to drink? At home. And which group is...

There is some responsibility on us all to minimise our likelihoods of becoming a victim.

I don't think the message is 'be careful', I think it's 'be afraid'. When you make a decision about what to wear or where to park or where to go, make it out of fear...

They were running women-only classes at the beginning of this year, and will probably do so again if there is enough interest.

There is a 2-day...

Being ten thousand feet in the freaking air might also play a part.

In a *metal tube*. At *insane speeds*. Using scientific principles *I don't understand*. Knowing that if something goes wrong you are almost automatically *doomed to death*.

Ahem. Yes, I take heavy doses of prescription drugs to fly...

In a *metal tube*. At *insane speeds*. Using scientific principles *I don't understand*. Knowing that if something goes wrong you are almost automatically *doomed to death*.

In fact I'm pretty sure I would be even more freaked if I was driving that thing. (I'm flying home in less than a...

The Listener, I cancelled my sub a while back and don't miss it.

And as for Emma's original...

I don't think the message is 'be careful', I think it's 'be afraid'. When you make a decision about what to wear or where to park or where to go, make it out of fear.

Seems though
anywhere can be dangerous

anywhere can be dangerous

Does that article sound suspiciously like the police officers were the ones doing the beating? Or am I just a cynical person?

Yet where are the 'careful gentlemen, if you get drunk you might get punched in the face' ads?

To be fair, there's the bloke-in-a-bar who gets tanked, lashes out at a barmaid who bumps his jug and gets a right old kicking — subsequently frightening the hell out of his...

But that is a wee bit different.

Yeah, because the Lisa version of that ad would go something like this. Guy goes out with his mates, they're getting tanked, having a good time. Through the evening he gradually gets separated from them. Then because he's so tanked he, say, trips...

Ah, true. For some reason I was mentally confusing celts and gauls.

Does that count as an own gaul, then?

they can't accurately predict how the message will be perceived because of the variability of the target audience

Isn't that exactly what social marketers spend rather large sums of money doing? I guess not so much any more given the ripe potential for savings such projects represent..

Trouble is that when they make these ads they can't accurately predict how the message will be perceived because of the variability of the target audience

I've never seen anyone complain about the Dennis From Accounts ad, or the one where the woman comes home pissed and phones her ex-boyfriend...

The thing is, Sacha, that a young lady with good self-esteem & a knowledge of martial arts

Um....yeah, I am young (ish) lady with good (possibly too good) self esteem and if not a knowledge of martial arts, a good few years of kickboxing classes at the gym.

And the ad...

Beat the bitches until they learn how to behave!

I think what the ad was trying to do was to remind people that when you are drunk you put yourself at risk.

Yup, and that's what the message should be.

On the odd occasion when I find myself beholding the flocks of drunken popsies in handkerchief dresses and high...

In fact I'm pretty sure I would be even more freaked if I was driving that thing.

Probably stretching the analogy but...

You'd also be freaked out if they announced the pilot has done his practice with the radio controlled planes and this will be his first go with with...

Does that count as an own gaul, then?

Rofflenui.

the flocks of drunken popsies in handkerchief dresses and high heels tottering around the Viaduct at midnight.

But that's part of the thing that annoyed me about that ad. I get plenty drunk and totter around town on occasion, but I would never leave one of my friends in that...

Maybe if the guy stays in control and doesn't get tanked up on booze he and Lisa get it on with consent?

Dude, the guy in the Lisa ad isn't drunk, he's dead sober. (Is that just my perception, that he's portrayed as doing what he does entirely coldly and...

there are so many ways they could have reinforced the safety message to me that wouldn't have made me want to hurl my television through a window every time it came on.

Yes, that's what I meant – not that the ads were defensible, but that the idea of reinforcing...

(Is that just my perception, that he's portrayed as doing what he does entirely coldly and deliberately?)

Yes, he's portraied as somebody who preys on drunk women in bars.

Is that just my perception, that he's portrayed as doing what he does entirely coldly and deliberately?

No, the shifty glance around, and the ominous music as he drags her up the alley say that to me too. Why yes, I have spent far too much time thinking/talking/watching/arguing/screaming about this...

Does that count as an own gaul, then?

Rofflenui.

You Romans are crazy.

the guy in the Lisa ad isn't drunk, he's dead sober. (Is that just my perception,

My impression too

Sober, calculating, feral

While I'm gone, Megan and Danielle are in charge of voicing my opinion, k?

Ooooooo, the power!!

But that's part of the thing that annoyed me about that ad. I get plenty drunk and totter around town on occasion, but I would never leave one of my friends in that situation, and I'd be furious if they did it to me.

I reckon there's a useful public...

I would have felt a lot more comfortable about the Lisa advert...

... if it had been killed at the pitch meeting? Because that's where I am, and seriously can't mentally re-mix the ad enough to get the stink of APB out.

Dude, the guy in the Lisa ad isn't drunk, he's dead sober. (Is that just my perception, that he's portrayed as doing what he does entirely coldly and deliberately?)

Yes, but that in that case he (the problem) is really outside ALAC's sphere, as I noted.

The problems of why...

I don't know why women dress in such uncomfortable gear

Because they can. It is their monument to their time, in the most obvious way.

All to soon, the words of Shelley have relevance when they look in the mirror:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my...

I reckon there's a useful public service ad in that.

My life as a public service ad? Have at it.

But yeah, I believe I said somewhere on the internet when the ad first came out, that maybe the story could have been told from the point of view of,...

Pragmatically, we'll be talking with our daughters in years to come about looking after themselves in the big wide world,...

All to soon, the words of Shelley have relevance when they look in the mirror:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Shelley bitches.

Older women aren't allowed to like what they see in the mirror?

Of course not. The cosmetics industry would collapse, and the recession's bad enough already, don't you think?

Does that article sound suspiciously like the police officers were the ones doing the beating? Or am I just a cynical person?

I guess thats one reading of it... my (only marginally) less cynical reading of it is that the police sat in their car watching the beating (possibly by...

I would like to see something that tells men it's time to step up and stop being a dick, and that goes for your mates as well.

Same. I'm imagining something more like the Not OK ads, that taps into male honour and loyalty.

Here's where alcohol might take a...

Older women aren't allowed to like what they see in the mirror?

Course not. Young is beautiful and beautiful is moral. As exemplified by a killer line from this recent article on the kerfuffle surroundoing a painting exhibited at an art gallery in Nelson:

"[The artist] deliberately pictured beautiful bodies...

"[The artist] deliberately pictured beautiful bodies so it wouldn't be offensive"

The generous reading of that line is that the artist painted bodies (which happened to be beautiful) in such a way (not naked) that it wouldn't be offensive.

Or maybe it does mean that the artist thinks beautiful bodies...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk

4 mins long and extremely graphic.

The generous reading of that line is that the artist painted bodies (which happened to be beautiful) in such a way (not naked) that it wouldn't be offensive.

It does seem a bit generous. (And they are naked. Although not full frontally. But really I think if the quote is...

I don't know why women dress in such uncomfortable gear

Hey, every so often, I like sucking in the tum-tum, getting tricked out in a ridiculously uncomfortable (and expensive to hire) penguin suit with the dress shoes that should be classed as torture implements, just because I can. And if...

4 mins long and extremely graphic.

The ad is four minutes long and they think it's going to work on the attention span of the kind of person who will text while driving? Okay.

Course not. Young is beautiful and beautiful is moral.

Yes, beauty is truth. ;P

Yes, beauty is truth. ;P

Shelley, Keats – what is this, the Thread of Whiny English Poets?

I strove with none, for none was worth my strife;
Nature I loved, and next to Nature, Art;
I warmed both hands before the fire of Life;
It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

4 mins long and extremely graphic.

Dude. that was horrible.

I would like to see something that tells men it's time to step up and stop being a dick, and that goes for your mates as well

Meta: I must say that this thread is rather warming the cockles of my heart. Not one person has yet said that by...

Upon the work of Walter Landor
I am unfit to write with candor.
If you can read it, well and good;
But as for me, I never could.