Bodie A. Ashton

@manwithoutatan

1,078 Following3,961 Followers3,207 Posts

YouTube YouTube Bluesky

gay

Is this your profile?Claim it and manwithoutatan.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 24

Also an "essential feature" would be John Olday, a satirist and cabarettist, a fixture of Australian entertainment between 1950 and 1970. Olday was also a queer anarchist antifascist who married the socialist resistance fighter Hilde Meisel in 1938 so she had the protection of British citizenship.

A black and white portrait of a young man with a high forehead and swept-back hair, wearing a suit.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 21

The “I know writers who use subtext and they’re all cowards” meme but the text has been changed to “I know authors who died and they’re all cowards.”

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 18

But maybe this one has found a source that we don't know about? So I read it. There's one mention of "whore-filled eldorado." And when you read it, it might appear...familiar to you. (NB: Harris' book is readily publicly accessible; this BA isn't; for that reason I'm leaving off identifiers.) 12/

An excerpt from a BA thesis. The highlighted text reads: "Both men who fell 'into the clutches of whores' and 'upstanding women and girls', were the 'victims' of such prostitutes. Many citizens were forced to 'live within a whore-filled eldorado' as a result of 'the terrible housing shortages' in the city."

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 18

But if you know your German geography, this should've been obvious anyway, because St. Georg and St. Pauli (the "eldorado of the prostitute riff-raff", so Abel) are famous districts in Hamburg. St. Georg is nowadays the queer centre; St. Pauli is home to the Reeperbahn red light district. 9/

A street map of Hamburg. St. Pauli is to the west; St. Georg slightly to the northeast.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 18

That's right! Hermann Abel is back! (Evidently he was pretty thrilled to have used the word "eldorado" before and decided he couldn't have too much of a good thing.) Yes, that guy. The guy from Hamburg, who lives and publishes and campaigns in Hamburg and who writes about Hamburg. 8/

An expanded version of the same excerpt, making it clear that Harris is quoting from Hermann Abel and his "Nachtpost."

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 18

That, of course, doesn't mean the AI is wrong though! Hamburg is one of the "other German cities", after all. Maybe there's mention elsewhere. So I went hunting. Harris uses the term "eldorado" once more in her book. It's here: 6/

Excerpt from Harris' "Selling Sex in the Reich", pp. 123-4. Highlighted text: "He lamented that in the neighbourhoods of St. Pauli and St. Georg, the 'eldorado of the prostitute riff-raff', the children had learned what he termed the 'whore's alphabet' instead of normal, correct vocabulary."

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 18

So, all good so far? Well...not quite. The summary isn't necessarily wrong in most instances; this is because it's paraphrasing directly a passage from Victoria Harris' "Selling Sex in the Reich: Prostitutes in German Society, 1914-1945" (Oxford University Press, 2010) — a great book by the way. 3/

An except from Harris' "Selling Sex in the Reich", specifically p. 119. Highlighted is one sentence: "Many citizens were forced to 'live within a whore-filled eldorado' as a result of 'the terrible housing shortages' in the city."

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 18

I wanted to see who else has used it, so I did a quick Google search. Google provided this handy summary: 3/

A screenshot of a Google search AI summary:

The phrase "whore-filled eldorado" is a historical reference used to describe the rampant prostitution and severe housing crises in Berlin and other German cities following World War I, particularly during the Weimar Republic. It highlights how desperate economic conditions and extreme housing shortages forced many women into sex work, transforming parts of the city into unregulated red-light districts. The phrase is frequently cited in historical analyses of Weimar-era society and cinema, such as in the book Selling Sex in the Reich and studies on the Representation of Prostituted Women in Weimar Cinema."

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 12

Science status: queer.

A modern spiral staircase bedecked in a variety of sparkly rainbows.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 8

Oh no! Cap and Bucky send their best!

Two cats, Cap and Bucky, snuggle on a quilt.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 7

My cats now have passports and therefore possess the only good ID photos on the planet.

The identification page in a pet passport, with the details of the black and white tuxedo cat, Cap. His picture has him wearing a red bow-tie.

The identification page in a pet passport, with the details of the grey and white cat, Cap. Bucky picture has him wearing a multicoloured neckerchief.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Jun 6

It’s a Farmers Union iced coffee, or it’s nothin’

A person stands in front of white cupboards. They are wearing large-framed transparent glasses, and an off-white linen blazer. Their lapels have two badges: one shows a Farmers Union iced coffee carton, and the other is a cat holding a bisexual flag.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· May 31

Even more gloom than usual recently but Cap is here to save the day.

A tuxedo cat lies on his back and stretches his paws over his head.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· May 28

University job portals, please find ways to be less embarrassing about your institutions of higher learning. This one includes eccentrically-placed apostrophes, a table that refreshes and deletes the information you've included, and this gem, in which three = two:

A screenshot from a job portal includes the text "Please advise us of three professional references?" The options are "Yes I will do this now", "Yes they will be available upon request if successful in gaining an interview", and "No I will not be able to provide two references."

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· May 10

First Mother’s Day without mum, and the second on which I haven’t been able to call or send a card. A weird, empty feeling.

A woman with short dark hair reclines in a red velour chair with a toddler in blue overalls standing on her lap.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· May 9

The other day’s fit.

A person with mauve hair and wearing transparent glasses wears a rainbow coat and a red and pink neckerchief

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· May 6

I have never been more South Australian than I am in this moment.

In a blue bowl, a bright green soup is the base surrounding an upside-down pie with tomato sauce.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Apr 5

G’day Gadigal, you’re looking a bit lovely.

From altitude, a photo of the Sydney cityscape including the harbour, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 31

My (now ex) boss really knows me though

Sitting on a table, a tubular white pencil case with a unicorn face and pink hair.

The same pencil case but with the head unzipped.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 28

…because this is the other guy. (He was snuggled up until the neighbour’s dog went berserk at 5am and he was startled awake. He spent the rest of yesterday a bit shy; I think he must’ve felt bad for accidentally scratching me!)

A tuxedo cat, Cap, stares with huge eyes at the camera. He sits on a felt-covered cat tree.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 28

So I love my new glasses, which I got when I was in Newcastle at the end of last month. They’ve just come back with my new lenses. Also, yes those are scratches on my face. You should see the other guy…

A person wearing a tan cord overcoat looks at the camera. They’re wearing bisexual-coloured glasses and a pin that says “FUCK TERFS.”

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 21

Me: huh, today I’ve got the sads. Bucky, a second later:

A grey and white cat snuggles up with a sad-looking human.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 18

Happy birthday mum.

A woman with very late-1980s curly hair sits on a grey carpet, holding a child on her lap. They are in front of a wooden cabinet.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 15

Boy too swift.

A blurry picture close up of a black and white cat face.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 8

Hullo from the living room.

A person standing in a living room wearing a white linen jacket and a red and pink-striped top and an orange and pink neckerchief.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 4

"AI models aren't perfect" is a sentiment I'd expect when a chatbot invents a citation or, I don't know, tells you that glue was a good addition to your chocolate cake. In this case, it refers to Gemini encouraging a man to take his own life so that he'd meet his AI wife in a "pocket universe."

Screenshot of text:

"Gemini is designed not to encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm. Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations and we devote significant resources to this, but unfortunately AI models are not perfect", a Google spokesman said in a statement.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Mar 3

Felt cute so took a photo in a very nondescript bathroom at work because aesthetics are my passion or something.

A person looks at the camera. They have blonde hair, transparent glasses, a black and orange top, and a black, blue, red, and white tartan blazer. They’re also wearing dangly earrings with calico cats.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Feb 21

G I R L

A tubby little grey and white cat, Bucky, looks up from a rug on the floor. She has gigantic orb eyes and a very pink little nose.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Feb 21

B O Y

A person looks very suspiciously at a tuxedo cat who has flopped upside down on their shoulder.

Bodie A. Ashton@manwithoutatan· Feb 15

On Sundays we rainbow.