Monthly Archives: February 2016

British style tea

British style tea

  • The kettle is brought to a rolling boil (with fresh water to ensure good oxygenation which is essential for proper diffusion of the tea leaves).[19]
  • Enough boiling water is swirled around the teapot to warm it and then poured out.
  • Add loose tea leaves, (usually black tea) or tea bags, always added before the boiled water.
  • Fresh boiling water is poured over the tea in the pot and allowed to brew for 2 to 5 minutes while a tea cosy may be placed on the pot to keep the tea warm.[20]
  • The host asks guests if they want milk and sugar with their tea.
  • A tea strainer is placed over the top of the cup and the tea poured in, unless tea bags are used. Tea bags may be removed, if desired, once desired strength is attained.
  • Fresh milk and white sugar is added according to individual taste. Most people have milk with their tea, many without sugar.
  • The pot will normally hold enough tea so as not to be empty after filling the cups of all the guests. If this is the case, the tea cosy is replaced after everyone has been served. Hot water may be provided in a separate pot, and is used only for topping up the pot, never the cup.

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There’s Now a Study That Proves Gay Men Fat Shame One Another

Yes, our culture categorizes everything from Bears, Twinks, Otters, glam, size, girth, and status. For a culture that has been outcaste for centuries, it’s amazing what we do within our own group.

There’s Now a Study That Proves Gay Men Fat Shame One Another
BY LES FABIAN BRATHWAITE
TUE, 2016-02-02 15:50

http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2016/2/02/theres-now-study-proves-gay-men-fat-shame-one-another

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If you self-identify as a gay, bisexual and/or otherwise queer man, and you’re breathing air, you’ve probably experienced, witnessed or perpetrated some form of fat shaming. A recent study in Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity refers to this as the more scientific-sounding “antifat bias.”
“Fat Chance! Experiences and Expectations of Antifat Bias in the Gay Male Community”—or, as I’d like to refer to it, “The Mean Gays Report”—used two studies to explore just how antifat gay men are, because simply logging into Grindr doesn’t carry quite the same professional heft.
The first study found that out of 215 gay men, age 18 to 78, over one third of them had directly experienced antifat bias, even though most of them were not overweight using common body mass index guidelines. These men also reported that the most common form of antifat bias they received was from potential romantic partners, which was associated with several types of body image disturbance.

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The second study compared the expectations of antifat bias among gay and straight college men. These ‘mos and bros rated the likelihood of certain outcomes if they saw an overweight man hit on an attractive target. Basically, if they saw a fat guy hitting on someone out of his league, what would they expect to happen:
Gay men reported greater likelihood that the overweight man would be blatantly ignored, treated rudely, or mocked behind his back if he approached an attractive potential romantic partner.

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The shade of it all.
So not only do gay men face antifat bias, regardless of actual weight, we also expect our peers to exhibit the same kind of behavior in our pursuit of love, or what have you. The results aren’t surprising, which is perhaps the worst part of this study. It only confirms what so many of us have experienced and further illustrates a problem that it seems has plagued gay men for as long as anything resembling a gay community has existed. A problem that is exacerbated by the media and perpetuated by hookup culture.
There’s no simple solution to fixing generations of this antifat bias—the idolization of the male body has always been part and parcel of gay culture—but that’s why we have bears. And otters and cubs and others in this sexual menagerie that reject and subvert the idea of the ideal body. 
One simple solution we can all do, however, is to stop broadcasting ignorance and prejudice—like, if you’re filling out a dating profile maybe, I dunno, leave out the “no fats, femmes, etc.” bullshit. Just a thought. Oh, and don’t fuck with others who use that kind of language. You know, gay it forward, be the change you want to see in the world, etc, etc. And on Wednesdays we wear pink. 

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