Privacy notice.

Rose & Sword is run by Kieran Dowling, a sole trader of 40 Buxton Court, London N1 7TN, United Kingdom. I am the data controller for everything described here. You can reach me at kieran@roseandsword.com.

This is written plainly rather than legally, because you should be able to read it. If anything here is unclear, write to me and I will answer.

Reading the site

You do not need an account to read Rose & Sword, and I do not build a personal profile of readers. Basic server logs — your IP address and the pages you request — are recorded by the hosting provider for a limited period, to keep the site available and secure.

Analytics

I use Umami for site analytics. It runs only on roseandsword.com, sets no cookies, and does not identify individual visitors. It tells me which pages get read and how quickly they load, and nothing about who you are.

The Meta pixel

This site loads the Meta (Facebook) advertising pixel. It runs on every page except the Sexual Confidence Check and its results, which are deliberately excluded.

The pixel sets cookies and tells Meta that a browser visited a page on this site. I use it to measure advertising and to build audiences for future campaigns. It does not receive your quiz answers, your questionnaire answers, or anything you have written to me.

It loads without asking you first. I would rather tell you that plainly than pretend otherwise. If you do not want it, you can block it with a tracker-blocking browser extension, by using a browser that blocks third-party cookies by default, or through your Meta ad preferences. None of that affects your ability to use this site.

The newsletter

The newsletter is hosted on Substack. If you subscribe, your email address is held by Substack under its own privacy terms. I use it to send essays and occasional announcements. You can unsubscribe from the footer of any email.

The Sexual Confidence Check

The Sexual Confidence Check is an educational self-assessment. As you answer the twelve questions, four aggregate scores are calculated in your browser. Your individual answers stay in your browser and are never sent to me or stored anywhere.

Your scores are stored only if you give explicit consent on the results page. If you do, I store your first name, email address, the four aggregate scores, your focus areas, the record of your consent, and the date.

I use that to send you follow-up guidance based on your results, and to look at patterns across submissions so the material improves. Individual answers are never used for anything, because they are never stored.

To send you that guidance, your first name, email address and broad focus-area tags may be added to my email provider, Kit. Kit does not receive your scores or your answers, and processes your data under its own privacy notice.

Joining the Foundry

If you join the Foundry, payment is handled by Stripe. Your card details go to Stripe and never reach me. Stripe processes them under its own privacy terms.

From that transaction I hold your name, email address, billing address, what you are subscribed to, your payment history, and your answer to the question asked at checkout about why you wanted to join.

Taking Your Measure

Once you are in, I send you Taking Your Measure — an in-depth questionnaire covering your principles and values, your working life, your relationships, your sexual confidence and your health.

Some of what this asks about — your health and your sexual function — is treated as special category data under UK data protection law. That means it gets handled more carefully than ordinary information, and it means I need your explicit consent to hold it. You give that when you submit the form, and you can withdraw it at any time by writing to me.

I read every questionnaire myself. Nobody else sees it. It is not shared, not sold, not used for marketing, and not used for anything other than your membership. It is held on the form provider's servers and in my own records.

I use it to decide whether the Foundry is the right room for you, to work out where to start with you, and to give you a baseline you can measure against later.

The members' group

Members get access to a private group for use between sessions. What you post there is visible to other members. I read it. Please treat what other men write there as confidential — that is a condition of membership, set out in the terms.

How long I keep things

• Membership records and Taking Your Measure — while you are a member and for twelve months after you leave, then deleted.
• If I decline your application and refund you — your questionnaire answers are deleted within thirty days.
• Sexual Confidence Check scores — twelve months from submission, unless you become a member, in which case they are kept with your membership record.
• Payment and invoice records — six years, because HMRC requires it. This is financial information, not your questionnaire answers.
• Newsletter subscription — until you unsubscribe.

Your rights

You can ask me what I hold about you, ask for a copy, ask me to correct it, or ask me to delete it. Write to kieran@roseandsword.com and I will deal with it within a month. You do not need to give a reason.

Where I hold something because you consented — your quiz scores, your questionnaire — you can withdraw that consent at any time, and I will delete it.

If you think I have handled your information badly, tell me first and I will try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Children

Rose & Sword is written for adults. The site is not intended for anyone under 18, the Foundry is not open to anyone under 18, and I do not knowingly collect information from children.

Changes

I will update this page if any of the above changes materially. The date at the top is the latest revision.