The Reading List: Aug 9, 2012

It’s been amazing to see all the support that Pussy Riot has garnered since their arrest.

Image via Jezebel

Canadian electro-punker Peaches got more than 400 people together to protest the group’s trial, citing that she wanted PR to know that people support them. Madonna had the words “Pussy Riot” written on her back while in St Petersburg, saying, “I think that these three girls — Masha, Katya, Nadya — I think that they have done something courageous. I know that everyone in this auditorium, if you are here as my fan, feels they have the right to be free.” An artist in Russia has sewn his mouth closed as a response to what he feels is the censorship of fellow artists.

– Meanwhile, over in the UK, a former aide to the mayor of London is found not guilty for owning what was originally deemed “extreme pornography.” The videos featured images of fisting and sounding, acts that are legal in the UK, but their depiction, apparently, is not. The weirdest part of this case is how the testimony was tweeted by one of the lawyers.

– The editors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, a manual used in psychology and psychiatry, have decided to remove the term “gender identity disorder” from the book. Transgender activists state, “The label of mental defectiveness really places a burden on trans people to continually prove our competence in our affirmed roles.”

– And, if you’re looking for something a bit uplifting after all that, check out this video of Antony Hegarty performing “Blind” with Hercules & Love Affair, live, for the first time ever.

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