David Maguire – författare

There is no denying that Meir Zarchi’s I Spit on Your Grave (1978) deserves its title as one of the most controversial films ever made. While many condemn it as misogynistic, others praise it for raising uncomfortable issues about sexual violence. While its reputation as a cult film has undoubtedly been cemented by its unique position in the 1970s/80s exploitation era and the "video nasties" scandal, it has also become mythologized by its own official and unofficial franchises.David Maguire examines why the film still continues to provoke fierce debate forty years on, not only investigating the historical, social, and political landscape into which the film was first released—and condemned—but also examining how it is has inadvertently become ground zero for the rape-revenge genre because of its countless imitators. The book explores how academic study has reevaluated the film’s importance as a cultural statement on gender, the conflicting readings that it throws up, the timeless appeal of its story as examined through folklore and mythology, and its updating to reflect contemporary issues in a post-9/11 world of vengeance and retaliation.

At the beginning of a Southern Hemisphere Autumn, the ISOTT tribe assembled for its annual corroboree on the banks of the Brisbane River in Australia for five days of exciting science. Some of the tribe had travelled from as far as Sweden and other parts of Europe; many had spirited themselves across the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. Yet another small contingent had paddled down from Japan. All came with message sticks from their camp-sites. The conference opened with an outdoor barbecue at the Southbank precinct, with the stars of the Southern Cross painting the river on one side and the artificial beach on the other; a perfect venue to meet old friends and to welcome new ones as a cool breeze wafted over our fires. For the next five days there was the usual focus on oxygen; measurement techniques, its role in cancer and other diseases that beset us mortals and the biochemistry and physiology of this small vital molecule. It still astounds many that we have not yet learnt everything there is to know about this valuable friend, albeit a dangerous foe. Time was found for us to visit Australia Zoo and stand in awe before exhibits of Australia’s wild-life; great vicious creatures unchanged from the age of the dinosaurs, poisonous snakes and spiders, and gentle marsupials that posed for our digital cameras.

At the beginning of a Southern Hemisphere Autumn, the ISOTT tribe assembled for its annual corroboree on the banks of the Brisbane River in Australia for five days of exciting science. a perfect venue to meet old friends and to welcome new ones as a cool breeze wafted over our fires.

The profile of prisoners across many Western countries is strikingly similar – 95% male, predominantly undereducated and underemployed, from the most deprived neighbourhoods.