Graham Coutts' murder conviction overturned

The so-called "violent porn internet killer" who was convicted of murder has had his conviction quashed, according to the Register:

In the original trial, jurors heard how he had viewed extreme violent internet pornography, particularly strangulation fetish sites. Coutts' defence argued that Ms Longhurst's death was an accident during consensual sex.

A trio of appeal judges yesterday upheld a Law Lords decision that the conviction was unsafe. The Law Lords said jurors should have been given the option of a manslaughter verdict.

Via Epicycle.

Feminist Fightback Conference on Saturday

FAC, Abby Lee (author of the "Girl with a one track mind" blog) and Backlash will be speaking about feminism and sexual expression at the Feminist Fightback conference on 21 October. This will take place at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London. (Nearest tube stops are Russell Square, Euston and Goodge Street.)

This is is a one day activist conference, initiated by Education Not for Sale Women. Other speakers on the agenda include sacked Gate Gourmet workers; NUS Women's Officer Kat Stark; International Union of Sexworkers; Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq; Scottish Socialist women on sexism on the left and Kate Ahrens from Keep Our NHS Public on abortion rights.

Compensation for Big Brother Contestant

It has been reported that Lesley Sanderson, a contestant from the 2005 series of Big Brother, has received a payout because of a false claim in the Sunday Sport that she had a threesome. Her advocate told the judge that the story caused her "huge distress, humiliation and embarrassment" and that "she found it horrific and extremely upsetting, especially knowing that it would be read by her friends and family. She still finds it difficult to go out socially knowing that people have read the false claims about her."

While I appreciate that Sanderson would want to put the untrue story straight and seek compensation from the paper for printing it, I would also say it's rather sad that we still live in an age where the suggestion that a woman has had a threesome is something that can cause "huge distress, humiliation and embarrassment." The story seems to indicate that, even in 2006, we women are subjected to the same scrutiny as we ever were. We are free to bare our breasts or proudly and publicly refer to their size (as Sanderson frequently did during the show) but enjoying sex with more than one man at a time would be somehow shameful.

It seems that, yet again, the ominipresent Conservative critique wins the day. We might not be expected to play "virgins" anymore, but we're still under pressure to defend our precious reputations by not being seen to do anything that could lead to us being branded as "whores".