MAKE WAVES May 2013
BEDTIME STORIES
Trash the fashion rulebook and embrace DIY couture
“I will always be the girl reporter”
Saville-Gate highlighted the sexist history of media institutions, but are things really that different today? “WE ARE NOT ‘GIRLS IN A BAND’” 15 minutes with Swedish punks Beyond Pink
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Spotligh
Letter from the editor... individual opinions and talents of every woman we spoke to who felt that British lady-mags need to up their game. It’s for the girls across the country who are tired of picking up a magazine and reading the same tired beauty dictates. It’s for the women who struggle to have their voices and stories heard. It’s for the style obsessive who adores fashion but resents lining Sir Philip Green’s pockets, and the twenty-something who wants to read about feminism and fun on the same page. It’s for everyone who wants something more than celebrity gossip and badly-hidden advertorials. We intend to deliver, and hope you enjoy.
Starting a new magazine in the midst of a media revolution was never going to be easy. Circulations are falling and scoffs of “but no-one reads papers anymore” are commonplace in the age of the iPad. But small rumblings of resistance are beginning to shake. Online teen magazines are responding to calls for the real-life goods. Legions of pop-culture connoisseurs are queuing up at photocopiers and distributing DIY publications. It’s print, Jim, but not as we know it. That’s how Make Waves was conceptualised as a new breed of women’s glossy. We took our cues from the cut-and-paste fanzines we love, the blogs we follow religiously and the
Annika Victoria 22 year old science student Annika, from Sydney, started her fashion blog after being diagnosed with a lifelong chronic illness. She uses her page The Pineneedle Collective as an outlet for her sartorial creations and scientific musings.
Betti Hunter Editor
“I found out I was ill at age 19, when I’d just gone through the trauma of teenagedom and was looking forward to becoming a healthy young adult. I needed something to do to take my mind off it. Having a blog was an excellent way to forget about the real world, and stopped me from falling into depression. It’s very important to me for that reason - it’s somewhere I can escape to. It’s also really important to me because I get to share my love of science with the world. I include
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21st Century Penny Lane The fans who cross the line from supergroupie to stalker A Brighter Future? We ask how much impact a dodged triple dip recession will really have on womens lives “I will always be the girl reporter” We investigate how much has really changed in the wake of the Savile enquiries
FEATURES
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From Catholicism to Cauldrons Rock star witch Fiona Horne speaks to Make Waves about her superwoman lifestyle
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This is a woman’s world Make Waves reporters reverse the roles of ‘lad’ culture
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Beware the Trolls What makes an online aggressor tick? We take to the internet to find out...
COMMENT
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“Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down” Columnist Natalie Dzerins explains the pitfalls of being a feminist blogger
REVIEW
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Spotlight on... This month: The fashion bloggers with a difference
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Reviews A round-up of the best music, film and literature this May 15 Minutes with: Beyond Pink The Swedish punk quintet talk lyrics and life on the road
FASHION
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Bedtime Stories Secondhand bed linen gets a kinderwhore-couture makeover The Sordid Face of Style Is it possible to reconcile a love of fashion with a contempt for unethical practices?
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of a Bartender 24 Confessions One girl’s May Day journey to the brink of sanity
Contributors:
Ellen Coyne, Sian Conway, Natalie Dzerins, Josh Evans, Oliver Hutchinson, Jack Hunter, Bridget Hunter, Dale Lawson, Owen Sheppard
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awesome facts and discoveries with each outfit post, which I’ve never seen done anywhere else before. Hopefully that inspires other young people to look at the world with a more scientific eye. I don’t think there are many other bloggers who straddle the science/fashion divide out there! I’ve been lucky enough to have my blog featured on the Scientific American, which is something I am super proud of. I’ve been featured on MTV Style and also had a sentence written about me in a magazine once... so that’s... pretty cool, right? I want to become either a neuroscientist, biochemist or something which combines the two, a science communicator and a model for Zipper magazine in Japan.” Annika blogs at www.pineneedlecollective.com
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Make Waves May 2013
With thanks to Rob Campbell and Alison Stokes at the University of Glamorgan Atrium. All photographs used under the Creative Commons Licence unless stated otherwise.
Images courtesy of Hans (used under Creative Commons licence), Pineneedle Collective, Coeurs de Foxes and Not-so-lonely Londoners
Imagecourtesy of Wikimedia Commons used under Creative Commons licence
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Stu, 24, lives in East London. He’s an aspiring journalist and ‘the only straight male fashion blogger in the world’. “I was 13 when I decided I wanted to be a writer. I’d just read The Great Gatsby. My grandma has a folder of writing I did when I was a kid which I refuse to look at, because I have no doubt that it would make me cringe. My friend Amy remarked that hardly any straight men blog about fashion and said I should give it a shot. Initially I thought the fact that I was a straight male was my USP. As time has passed, I’ve come to realise my USP is more a result of that fact, rather than the fact itself. I think it gives me a free pass to be a bit more sceptical and critical of trends. If a female wrote the same words as I did, I’m sad to say I think they’d come under fire for it a bit more than I do. Fashion is usually a means to an end for me - I try to use it to say something about
Stu Bradley societal trends more generally when I can! I get some stick at work sometimes, but usually because they don’t think I’m fashionable enough to be doing it! Occasionally people at events think I’m only there with someone else, or that I’m trying to get laid. It’s not really a huge deal for me though. I was on the homepage of Glamour. com for a day and have appeared in magazines like Look and more!. Things like that make you realise that what you’re writing must be resonating with someone out there. Its pretty humbling. Blog: www.notsolonelylondoners.com
Polish Katie, 21,has been blogging about
Katie Frank
fashion for two years. “My sister first told me to start a blog. I wasn’t into the idea at first, but after more of herpestering I agreed. I have no idea why my blog is so popular. I guess the fact that the blog is very close to my heart has something to do with it. I share almost all my thoughts there and I’m very honest. I find inspiration everywhere. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes nature and other times a certain person. Right now I really like the model Charlotte Free. She kinda inspires me to be positive. I have a few problems with
self-confidence. My blog helps me to work on it. The best thing about my blogging is that I met so many lovely people from over the world. It’s just...wow! The worst thing the people who bully me. It hurts, and sometimes I think I shouldn’t blog because I’m not strong enough to deal with their bad comments about my appearance. People are so mean! I have no idea what I want to do in the future, but It will definitely be something to do with fashion.” Blog: coeursdefoxes.blogspot.com
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21st CENTURY PENNY LANE
Image courtesy of Ankooru, used under Creative Commons licence
Words: Betti Hunter
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ou’re probably not going to believe it, but it’s actually the Spice Girls who first made me go crazy for music,” chuckles Laure Privat in her quasi-Anglicized Parisian accent. “It was when I found out about them that I understood music would be my life.” “Of course, my tastes have changed a bit since!” She cuts an unassuming figure when she stepped off the coach in Cardiff with little more than a small rucksack of clothes and £27 in her bank. Dressed all in black – the result, she says, of an overly French sartorial mindset – and a blunt cut Francoise Hardy fringe, the 24 year old is in town for just one reason. Laure, by her own admission, is a super fan. “Newcastle four days ago was my 38th Vaccines show,” she grins, her finger lingering on the ‘play’ button of the band’s latest video. As she flicks through her numerous Facebook albums, which detail each step of every Vaccines tour she’s pursued across the continent, it’s clear that these aren’t just travels. They’re pilgrimages.
Make Waves May 2013
For those who have been walking around with their eyes and ears glued shut for the past two years, The Vaccines are a London indie rock quartet who shot to fame on the strength of their catchy, low-fi debut and whose signature track “If You Wanna” was the unofficial soundtrack to the summer of 2012. They’ve been lauded as British rock royalty, and for the past year and a half Laure has been following them as they play their way across Europe. “I found out that they were the band I had been waiting all of my life for. They brought me the sound I didn’t know I was missing so badly. They are ‘the one’!” She laughs, and then furrows her brow for a moment. “Their music is just everything that I am, and it fits perfectly to all my sides and moods. I got love at first sight.” *** The extreme measures Laure has taken to be close to her idols is by no means unusual. Whilst trailing bands across the world was once seen as the preserve of a fanatical few heavy metal groupies, the era of the handwritten fan club letter is a
distant memory. Devotees can now track their favourite artist’s every move via Facebook and book a cheap bus ticket to anywhere in the country within seconds. It’s a situation that Tom Owen knows well. The 24 year old plays guitar in Newport-based band Save Your Breath, who have hit the pop-punk big time since the release of their debut album Vices last year. Within six months they’ve progressed from playing basement shows to supporting fellow Welsh luminaries Kids In Glass Houses and the Blackout, but Tom and his band-mates have found that the warm glow of fame comes with a different class of fanatic. “Our fans are mostly really friendly and caring,” he says. “A lot of them make such big efforts to come to shows. Some of them even bring us food and sweets, ask how the tour has been and how we are which I think is really awesome.” “But we have had a few people that have literally followed us on whole tours. They end up sleeping outside venues in the freezing cold, getting trains overnight, sleeping in McDonalds and stuff,” he explains. CONT. page 6
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CONT. from page 5 “I always say they shouldn’t sleep outside venues or in Burger Kings but I don’t think they’re ever going to listen to me. It’s amazing that they want to see the show that much but I don’t love the idea of people sleeping outside on the street and travelling a lot on their own late at night just because they want to see us. It’s worrying.” *** The Biebers and Gaga’s of the world are used to fending off legions of screaming fans and often have armies of terrifying muscle men to do the job for them. But the mid-level bands who conquer their relatively niche indie-rock scenes are rarely afforded such luxury, and often the thankless task of crowd control falls upon a jaded tour manager. Of course, a certain amount of fan interaction is tolerated and even encouraged by band members looking to have a unique on-road experience whilst boosting their nice-guy profiles, but some fans take a bit of friendly chit-chat as an all-access pass to the tour bus. Laure met the band for the first time after attending a few of their gigs in France, and now considers them to be friends of hers. On at least ten occasions, she says, lead singer Justin has arranged a guest list spot for her at their French and UK shows. It’s at this point that she reveals that she’s hoping for such an outcome tonight. “During my bus ride here, I sent a message to the guitarist Freddie, asking for guest list, because I couldn’t buy a ticket,” she sighs. “He still hasn’t replied. I don’t know what to do.” She stops, and thinks again. “I need to be there. I need to.”
Make Waves May 2013
A Brighter Future? The UK economy has taken its first tentative steps towards recovery, but what does that mean for YOU? MAKE WAVES investigates. WORDS: Betti Hunter
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Images courtesy of ramonatheta used under the Creative Commons licence, and Make Waves
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons used under Creative Commons licence
just s i C MUSI r i am, e h I T “ t a h ing t h t y tly r c e e f ev r e its p f t i and and s e d i my s l l AT a E V to O L got I . s d moo HT.” G I S T FIRS
She wrings her hands and paces the small room. “It’s like, their show in Blackpool last May, I got so moved I cried after the show, hugging some girl I had just met. That show was special, because for the first time I fully realized just how big they had got, and just how much they had improved as artists. It felt like being a mother on her children’s graduation day. And Freddie, the guitarist, made it even more special by getting down to the barrier to thrust his own set list into my hand.” “I’ve done all the dates on this tour and it hasn’t been like this so far. I feel like I do so much to be a great fan, the biggest fan. I hold the record for the most Vaccines gigs, and they can’t even reply to one email? It does hurt, yeah.” *** The information superhighway allows fans regular glimpses into the world of their heroes. This explosion of interactivity has helped bands and their sales to flourish in an otherwise difficult time for music, but it’s a double-edged sword. The all-inclusive attitude ends up backfiring as super-fans immerse themselves in the band’s online world and convince themselves that they’re not just followers, but friends. “There are sometimes a few people that are a bit intense and irritating, but I guess I tend to just go with the flow and be as nice as possible until they do something that’s out of order,” says Tom. “Some people have written us pretty intense letters. We always try to read and be respectful of them, but it sometimes gets too much. They know too much about us, who our friends are, where we live. Where we’ll be. We’re still not used to this stuff. One girl threw some pretty sketchy photos of her on stage once, I won’t go into detail but they were really explicit. That was kinda fucked up. We threw them away.” *** As she works on a hand-drawn card to give the band when she sees them, Laure lets slip that it isn’t just the music she loves. Over the two years she’s spent trailing the Vaccines, she’s fallen for charismatic guitarist Freddie. She says its love, but it isn’t reciprocated. “I love him, I admit,” she groans. “And he is so lovely to me, he will hug me at gigs and he even took me to meet his parents after their gig in Sweden. But I don’t know if he really regards me as a friend. English boys, they never like to offend people so I don’t know where I am with him. It sucks.” “Once I had an argument with one of their technicians, who thought I had bad goals. Freddie got involved and it ended quite terribly, but then a few days later I patched things up with him and it was so great, but he still never added me back on Facebook. I don’t understand why.” As she waits on for Justin’s reply, refreshing the screen on her email account every minute, Laure contemplates what she’d be doing if she hadn’t dedicated her life to the Vaccines. “I have no idea. You see, it combines both the things I love most in the world; travelling and music. It also teaches me to grow up and make things on my own, to sort me out even when I’m broke. Whenever I come back from tour I always feel stronger and cleverer. So I don’t know what else I’d do.” There’s a long pause. Laure looks genuinely stumped. She refreshes the screen a couple more times before finally, she offers; “Honestly, I’d probably be making all the wrong choices.”
ongratulations, guys! We did it! After the grim forecasts of doom and destitution from analysts and press pundits alike, crisis was averted. The UK managed to dodge a dreaded triple dip recession after economic growth increased by 0.3% in the first three months of this year. But don’t crack out the champers just yet. Despite this glimmer of hope, the benefits aren’t likely to be felt across the country for some time as the economy continues to languish far below its pre-recession peak. For while Chancellor George Osborne is piddling his pants with glee at the underwhelming increase and genuinely optimistic figures for male employment, young women are facing up to the stark realities of widespread unemployment, harsh cuts to female-dominated jobs and an ever-widening pay gap. A report by the Fawcett Society has highlighted the huge blows dealt to women in the labour market over the past year. It claimed that the level of women out of work has risen to its highest point since the mid-80’s, and believes that the ongoing development of a female-unfriendly labour market will lead to over 1.4million unemployed women in the next five years. “The government’s various plans for growth continue to leave many women behind, with the majority of new jobs being created in the private sector going to men,” says chief executive Ceri Goddard. “At the same time, those women who do find work in this sector are likely to face lower wages and a wider gender pay gap. This “head in the sand” approach ignores the fact that women are now nearly half the workforce – and has serious consequences.” he economic landscape is particularly bleak for women under 25. Recent graduates have been conditioned to expect an initial dearth of jobs upon entering the workplace,
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but few anticipated just how cut-throat the entry level job market has become. “I’ve been unemployed since last November, and finding work is really hard,” says Sammi Pearce, a 23 year old graduate from Cardiff. “I’ve applied for around 40 jobs every two weeks and had just one interview, which was unsuccessful. At first I was picky about the type of job I applied for but now I apply for almost anything. I spend £5 - £10 every 2 weeks on food – which is mainly economy value tins - and other essentials, but almost all of my Job Seekers Allowance goes on repaying my debts. I don’t waste money anymore, every penny is accounted for.” But fighting to the top of the employment chain is only half the battle. Many young women who have been lucky enough to secure themselves a contract are still struggling to balance the books, and find that doing a double day of work is the only way to ensure that bills are paid. Zoe Sutton, a 25 year old attendance officer from Cardiff, has taken on an extra teaching job in the evenings to make ends meet.
“Its bloody difficult working two jobs,” she says. “I literally leave one job and go straight to the other. There’s about half an hour in-between. The long hours and stress levels take their toll.” “I’m lucky because I do actually enjoy both jobs, but I wouldn’t have the luxury of leaving one if they stressed me out too much. I’m still low on money, paying the bills is a struggle and running my car is a stretch. I’m working to live, but not much else.” o what does the future hold for women who want and need to work in a stagnating economic climate? “If the government doesn’t address this growing problem, we risk returning to a much more male dominated labour market,” says Ceri. “If women continue to make up the majority of those that lose their jobs, but the minority of those being hired in new roles, the strides women have made in the workplace in the last half a century risk being undermined just when women, the families many of them support, and our economy need them more than ever.”
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“I will always be the girl reporter”
MAKE WAVES investigates the sexist underbelly of the British media, and asks if things have really changed that much since Jimmy Savile’s heyday...
Images courtesy of Freewood Post and Wikimedia Commons, used under the Creative Commons licence
WORDS: Betti Hunter
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he Jimmy Savile enquiries have rocked the BBC to its core. It’s been almost a year since the first allegations were made against the eccentric presenter, yet fresh information about more of the UK’s most respected celebrities and broadcasters is surfacing every week. Popular TV personalities Jim Davidson and Rolf Harris have most recently made the headlines with tales of their arrests following accusations of assault on young fans. BBC producer Stuart Hall has just pleaded guilty to committing sexual offences against 13 young girls. The BBC has bent over backwards in an effort to make amends to the now adult victims of sexual assault and paedophil-
Make Waves May 2013
ia, and have at times gone too far in their attempts to rectify their wrongs (McAlpine, anyone?) But it wasn’t just teenage fans who suffered as a result of one of the biggest hush-ups in British media history. Routine sexism, harassment and assault were all part of the job for the many hundreds of females working within the BBC in what NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet called “an institutionalised problem that has taken hold over many years.”
Shifted problem
Many were keen to shrug off such testimonies as merely a hangover from a bygone Carry On-esque era where male chauvinist caricatures reigned supreme over docile lady secretaries. Howev-
er, recent reports have shown that the same undercurrent of sexism continues to flourish in today’s media landscape. Over 70 pieces of evidence regarding intimidating and bullying behaviour within the BBC were submitted to the 2013 Rose review which detailed, among many things, 37 cases of alleged sexual harassment and a widespread culture of fear and intimidation. Though there have been a few high-profile cases of veteran female presenters and producers speaking out about sexism, older media professionals tend to regard the issue as one which has long been consigned to the history books. But former Guardian Women’s editor Kira Cochrane disagrees, and believes that the
I felt I couldn’t say anything.” problem has merely been shiftEllen insists that she isn’t going to ed onto the new crop of talent. let a little thing like a glass ceiling “I wrote a piece where I put forget in her way of making to the top ward my idea that sexual harassof the career ladder, but admits ment in the workplace wasn’t acthat the cumulative effect of this tually a thing of the past,” she says. everyday sexism wears her down. “People sexually harass those who “A lot of people ask what a little don’t have much power, and that girl like me is doing in this industry. often tends to be younger women The worst people jokingly ask if I’m in junior roles. Once women have lost,” she says. “It does affect me aged out of that age group they a lot, because I know it will always think that sexual harassment has be a thing I have to contend with. died out, whereas in fact it’s just I will always be the girl reporter.” affecting the next generation.” The vast majority of sex discrimination complaints received by Fresh guidelines the BBC were levelled by young The dirty laundry has been women, who reported sexist aired, and once-powerless vicremarks, unwanted advances tims have finally found the powand denied career opportunier to speak out against those who ties. Sadly, student journalist Elabused them. But the question len Coyne is all too aware of the on everyone’s lips is ‘what now?’ scope of the problem. The Rose review pubThe 23 year old from lished some sage Dungarvan is attempt- “I felt so ashamed, but I was so terrified of guidelines for the BBC ing to break into the to follow, but breakthem that I felt I couldn’t say anything.” hard-nosed world of ing down an ingrained investigative reporting attitude will be a far and has undertaken harder nut to crack. . ity of her work experiences placements in respected media inThe NUJ have said they are comas overwhelmingly positive, stitutions across the country. But mitted to ensuring that such she has often found herself despite her experience and love of widespread discrimination is elimbeing discouraged by bosscrime reporting, she believes her inated from the media industry. es from pursuing political gender is more of a hindrance than “We are calling for media employscoops and restricted to the fea help in the struggle to prove herers, trade unions and journalists male-friendly soft news pages. self as an accomplished reporter. to work together to ensure that “Sexism is still here, and it’s “My dream job would be working women are safe at work,” stated across the media,” she sighs. on Dispatches, but a lot of the time Michelle Stanistreet. “We want “When I did a placement on the people won’t take me seriously beto see measures to protect vicEvening Herald I was made to do cause they have the preconception tims and we want procedures to some pretty degrading stuff. I that I’m just a little girl who wants be introduced to effectively tackle had to write articles about cats, to be on TV,” she says. “I’ve had the harmful and damaging behavscarves and rugby. That was nevloads of unwanted sexual attention iour of the perpetrators. That the er sports reporting though; it from contacts, editors and fellow BBC is now taking action and getwas just a chance to get a picture reporters. Some of them have even ting a grip of what is a toxic probof me posing in a jersey. Their exsuggested that I could get better stolem can only be a good thing. It’s planation was ‘you’re short and ries if I slept with a certain person.” vital that this is a genuine fresh blonde, and we like to have girls start, one that marks the disSexism - it’s still here on the pages’. I was so ashamed, mantling of a culture that has alWhile Ellen describes the majorbut so terrified of them that lowed harassment to take hold.”
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MW FEATURES FEATURES MW vels at how what once was just another adolescent piss-offthe-parents strategy has now become both her meal ticket and way of life. “I was first inspired by the nature-honouring aspect and dualistic principle of divinity - I was brought up Catholic and encouraged to believe in an angry male God in the sky. Modern Witchcraft opened up my eyes and heart to the concept that there could be a more expansive concept of divinity than what I had experienced.” Fiona released her first book on the subject back in 1998, an undertaking which marked her public “coming out of the broom closet”. Witch: A Personal Journey is the autobiographical tale of her first foray into magic and she’s since published 11 more, including specialist ‘teen’ editions and witchy sex guides. “I’ve always been an avid scribbler - I started writing when I
CATHOLICISM
was 5 years old!” she explains. “But as far as published books on the Craft go, I was offered a book deal by Random House Australia when my band Def FX broke up in 1997 to write a book about my experiences in the band and my experiences as a Witch.” “The reaction to the book was wonderful! It was embraced and enjoyed. It was the first book of its kind in Australia in that it was a book about Witchcraft written by a well known Australian personality. It broke through a lot of taboos and stereotypes.”
CAULDRONS
RETURN TO ROCK
MAKE WAVES talks to author, rock star and all-round superwoman FIONA HORNE about magic, mayhem and her long-awaited return to the stage.
Images courtesy of Fiona Horne
WORDS: Betti Hunter
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et’s play a word association game. We’ll start. What’s the first thing you think of when we say the word ‘witch’? A good half of you will probably conjure up the requisite image of the old crone and her bedraggled cat riding through lightning-cracked sky on a broomstick. Some of you might chuckle and remember childhood Halloween costumes. A few might scoff. A minority may run off screaming blue murder about devil worship and ritual bloodletting. Fiona Horne has heard all of the above many, many
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GOOD TIMES AND BAD
Of course, despite the reams of information that thoroughly denounce any kind of Rosemary’s Baby style behavior, Fiona still encounters backlash from people who presumably believe in reinstating the community witch pricker.
“Negative experiences only have as much power over you as you give them...all are lessons and opportunities to grow.”
FROM TO
day with yoga, meditation and prayer - that chills me out too.”
times before, and thinks it’s getting rather old. “One of the biggest myths that I’d like to debunk right now is that we worship Satan and we’re evil - we don’t, and we are not.” She laughs. As a renowned author, musician and actress who also just so happens to be one of the most well-known and respected practitioners of modern Witchcraft, it’s pretty safe to take her word for it. Though the contemporary version of the ancient Pagan religion is about as far removed from the narcissistic LaVeyan satanist ideas it’s often compared to, the
stereotype of the robed witch stirring a cauldron and waving a wand isn’t too far from reality. Witches follow a spiritual path that honors nature, and believe that spells and rituals can effect change in their lives. Sadly there’s no Sabrina-style finger pointing magic going on, but Fiona’s school of books detail more than enough real-life anecdotes of hedonistic parties at Stonehenge and spells gone slightly awry.
MAGIC MOMENTS
Now 47, Fiona looks back at her angsty teen-goth years with affection and mar-
When talking to Fiona it’s impossible to ignore just how darned upbeat she is about absolutely bloody everything. She’s got good reason to be, seeing as how her resume marks her out as the biggest over-achiever OF ALL TIME. Before she found international acclaim as an author, she was famous in her native Australia as the vocalist of 90’s industrial rock band Def FX, who recently reformed and played a sell-out tour across Oz. “The support and turn out of fans was so amazing, and it was such a beautiful experience that we are doing it again this year. We will be on the road in Australia October 2013 – I can’t wait. I never thought I would get to be a rock star again, it’s so much fun!” In between recording, writing and touring, Fiona has also found the time to unleash her inner thespian. She’s acted in four independent films, and opened Australia’s run of The Vagina Monologues in 2001. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s also an accredited scuba diver and a world record holding skydiver. Does the woman ever sleep? “I’ve been working since I was 15, so I’ve had some time to try a lot of things. I enjoy being creative!” she exclaims “I chill out by flying single engine land planes, and jumping out of them! Also, I love spending time in nature of all kinds. I start every
“There have been so many experiences over the years - one that jumps to mind is doing a book signing in a store in Perth, Australia 15 years ago and there were over 400 people there and news cameras and protesters and craziness. It was mayhem. And just because I’d written a book on witchcraft! I managed to stay and sign copies and chat with the fans and interested people who had come along. Even the protesters turned out to be quite nice once they met me and realised I didn’t have horns growing out of my head!” “But negative experiences only have as much power over you as you give them. I don’t see those experiences as negative anymore - all were lessons and opportunities to grow.”
TIME TO SLOW DOWN?
So after months of relentless book promotion and setting gears in motion for the extensive Aussie tour, will the world’s busiest Witch be taking a load off and enjoying the fruits of her labour any time soon? Not likely. “I am very focused on achieving 500 hours flight time as a private pilot so that I can qualify to donate my time and flying skills as a volunteer pilot for the charity organisation ‘The Flying Samaritans’.” She enthuses. “I’ll be able to fly doctors, dentists and medical supplies from the USA to Mexico - to areas and villages that are impoverished or under serviced by health care and support.” And with that she’s off, no doubt to her latest scuba diving, stage-storming, world-saving mission. Perhaps that old crone stereotype is in need of an update...
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Ellen Coyne and Betti Hunter take
Images courtesy of Wikipedia Commons used under Creative Commons licence
their cue from ‘UniLad’ culture and try their hand at the new sexism... “Well, if you go out dressed like that, I don’t really know what you expect?” After they’d been spat out, the words hung in the air. All three of us did our utmost to maintain our exasperated expressions as a baffled, victimized boy stared back at us; his face a cocktail of appalled astonishment and incredulity. All he’d been doing was innocuously standing at the bar when we three had slithered over and decided to assault him with our overly-sexualized feminine wiles. After he’d politely evaded our garish attempts to insult him into bed, we decided to drop the ‘charm’ and go straight for the ‘offensive.’ “Honestly, guys like you make me sick, yeah?” said Efa. “Dressing like a tease, then acting like you’re not interested?” Genuinely confused, the boy started down at his completely non-provocative
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ensemble of a t-shirt and jeans, searching for an answer to our questionable behaviour. Our faces twitched. This was mean. All part of the job, we’re afraid. To celebrate International Women’s Day, we decided to try a little role reversal; subjecting unsuspecting men to the very worst everyday sexism we had at one point or another witnessed as students. Having decimated victim number one’s self-esteem, we spotted a swagger of blokes in university sports hoodies & little else toddling towards us. Their expensive board shorts were worn dangerously low on their hips and the fuzzy toe cleavage formed by their Havaianas left little to the imagination. We narrowed our focus and zoomed in on a particularly broad-shouldered specimen with a good five inches of boxer on show, the tart. We figured something needed to be said. “Hey, hey, you there! You with the shorts!” Five pairs of eyes squinted through the dimly-lit gloom at us. Betti took this as her cue to carry on.
“I’m surprised your girlfriend lets you go out dressed like that! Hahahaha…ha…ha.” Our laughter was abruptly cut short when the confused expression failed to fall off the lad’s face. We realised, too late, that we hadn’t actually mentioned our sexist motivation when commenting on his revealing ensemble. Consequently it looked like we were spending our evening roaming the streets, doling out catty sartorial advice to anyone in our immediate vicinity, like trio of rogue Gok Wans. By this point we’d attracted the attention of Broad Shoulders’ underdressed posse, and felt the unspoken wrath of five slightly pissed rugby lads bearing down on us. We ran away, reassuring ourselves that we were, in fact, cutting through the knotty, overgrown woodlands of everyday sexism with our machete of righteousness.
Turn the tables
Limited by reality, there’s only so much three Make Waves reporters can do to
Lad rules
Sexism at university is particularly endemic. Despite the myriad articles published each month detailing the disturbing rise of a sexist, often misogynistic student culture of booze, butt-grabbing and banter, very little direct action has been taken to combat this seemingly inexorable phenomenon. All too often such behaviour is written off as
ts
The sta M S I X E
S
70% of female university students have experienced sexual harrassment 14% of female students have
Sources: www.gov.co.uk, NUS, the Guardian
try and emulate a world where sexism is reversed. You’ll have to imagine with us; just think of all the things that we would do if the tables were turned? We would tsk at men who get too drunk, or walk home alone. Don’t they know that every nine minutes, a man is raped? We’d scrutinise the ethics of those who had been violently attacked by women. Were they dressed appropriately? Were they asking for it? We’d laugh at men who look annoyed when we grab their arse; slip our hands up their tops on nights out. We’d snigger at the ones who look scared when we yell at them or follow them down the street. We’d wince sympathetically at ambitious young men hoping to get into politics, media, business or law. Obviously, they would have to work harder than us lucky females, who’d make up 3 out of 4 MPs, dominate 84% of front page articles and would account for 85% of High Court Judges. Even if they do manage to succeed, there will come a point when many men will have to choose between success and family. We’ll call the ones who choose not to have children selfish. We’d remind British men how lucky they are. In other countries, they’d be seen as our property. In other countries, their gender would mean they’d be persecuted, harassed and violently abused for their entire lives. We’d roll our eyes at men who preach or campaign for things to be better. Men who want equal rights are obviously frigid, or boring, or have no sense of humour. Don’t they know that they’re pretty much equal now, anyway? Can’t they take a joke? Don’t they understand that if you’re born a man, there are just some compromises that you’ll have to make? Not every man acts like the ones we parodied for this feature. We know that. But, enough do for almost every woman or girl reading this article to be able to identify with one of the incidents we mentioned. Women are not a minority, and this is not a feminist issue. Do white people shrug off racism? Are straight people apathetic to homophobia? Speaking at the womens rights movement Reclaim the Night, Finn Mackay hit the nail on the head when she said: “What do men have to gain from feminism? Their humanity.”
been the victim of serious sexual violence
400,000 women experienced some form of sexual assault in 2012
10% of sexual assault cases are reported to the police
6% of sexual assault allegations result in conviction
boyish hi-jinks or the inevitable result of grouping too many young males together in a tuition group. Those who speak out against the UniLad mentality find themselves accused of being humourless and uptight – a damning label for any new student attempting to make friends. It’s hard to understand how jokes which reduce females to walking sex vendors can be seen as innocuous, but this extreme
humour is now so commonplace that otherwise rational and intelligent students are having a hard time differentiating between a laugh and abuse. “We’re seeing young men confessing to sexual assault and rape all over the internet and actually not realising that’s what it was,” explains NUS Women’s Officer Rhiannon Hedge. “This culture is so engrained where violence against women is normalised - if not promoted by - this ‘uni lad’ sort of atmosphere. It’s really damaging.” If you think these are just the overstretched ramblings of the PC brigade, think again. A new NUS survey, entitled ‘That’s what she said’, found that one in seven female students have suffered an incident of serious sexual violence during their time at university. A whopping 70% have experienced sexual harassment. In light of these sobering facts, the repeated ‘rape is just surprise sex’ japes suddenly don’t seem quite as hilarious. “Universities are a hotspot, a hub for sexism,” said English Literature student Alice Pember. “I think it’s almost as damaging for the men. Often they don’t support it. They go on a night out and feel pressured into it as a way to fit in. Their mates will do something and they won’t stand up to them. That’s kind of the first step to it.”
Back to basics
But all hope is not lost. Bastions of sanity remain vigilant and vocal in universities across the country. “Spotted: sexism on campus” Facebook pages which mimic the recent fad for anonymous bulletin sites have been established as a knee-jerk response to university-based harrassment. Hundreds of students - both male and female - have offered their anecdotes to the site and delivered a cyber slap on the wrists to perpetrators of sexist behaviour. It’s vigilante justice gone digital, and the movement has already won the approval of feminst doyenne and founder of Everyday Sexism Laura Bates. “It’s about encouraging those re-
“We’d remind British men how lucky they are. In other countries, they’d be persecuted, harassed and violently abused for their entire lives.”
sponsible to face up to the reality of their actions,” says Alice. “It’s about standing up, speaking out and telling those who make rape jokes and pass it off as ‘banter’ that we’re not going to ignore this anymore. It isn’t OK.”
Make Waves May 2013 13
MW REVIEW
MW REVIEW
Keeping you up to date with the best new music, films and live entertainment the UK has to offer.
Live...
14 Make Waves May 2013
earlier. Thankfully she pulled four gems out of the bag, discussing her conflicting emotions regarding her Catholic upbringing, tensions within relationships and the perils of cooking a hangover breakfast with sparkling metaphor and confident delivery. Birkenstock regular Esther swapped her usual ukulele for a snazzy electric guitar and belted out a selection of her haunting songs. Her unique voice has an almost otherworldly tone and is most striking on her new track ‘Kindness’ which caused an awed hush to fall over the audience. Stomping folksy vibes with a twist of rockabilly were brought to the party by the indomitable Maddie Jones, whose diva vocals truly shone on her cover of Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’. Not one to shy away from a sense of humour, she pulled out a kazoo and invited fellow musicians Efa Supertramp and Molly Zacharias onstage for her final song to provide what was possibly the most bizarre duet since Ozzy Osbourne and Miss Piggy. By the time Little Eris came on to round off the night any worries that Wales suffers a lack of genuinely talented, inspirational female artists had been put to rest.
Betti Hunter
Sian Conway
ALSO COMING UP...
Gentlemen’s Dub Club blast their way through Bristol O2 Academy May 13th// Laptop guru MC Lars revisits Cardiff May 22nd//Underground Rebel Bingo host a riotous evening of whiskey and winning in London May 17th//The Jezabels play a one off show in London May 22nd//South African rap-ravers Die Antwoord hit Manchester June 22nd//
C/o Andrew Black
If you don’t like 80s music there is but one question – what’s wrong with you? There’s simply no excuse and the best place to get your fill is sure to be Let’s Rock Bristol!. An all day event in the grounds of the eighteenth century Blaise Castle, there’s definitely something for everyone. The family friendly festival has dodgems, a circus, an eighties themed children’s play area – not to mention some of the most awesome acts still trooping on from the eighties like Go West, whose signature tune “King of Wishful Thinking” featured on the classic film “Pretty Woman”. It promises to be a great day of music with many other acts besides, including Howard Jones, Billy Ocean and ABC. So pack up your hampers, dig out your shoulder pads and get down to Let’s Rock Bristol for what promises to be a super day. Let’s Rock Bristol!, Blaise Castle Estate, Bristol - letsrockbristol.co.uk
C/o Let’s Rock Bristol!
A tattooed, balaclava-clad woman brandishing a selection of sharp implements would in most cases prompt any right-thinking person to run for the hills. Unless of course that woman is Molly Zacharias, the brain behind Cardiff’s only feminist mini-festival Birkenstock, enthusiastically collecting raffle money in exchange for badges in order to raise awareness of the plight of imprisoned Russian punk collective Pussy Riot. Sighs of relief all round. Gwdihw feels like a cosy party in a friend’s living room even on its most raucous nights and Birkenstocks fourth outing was no exception. An atmosphere of conviviality filled the room as the free shop handed out second hand clothes to anyone interested and small children sat nibbling on the complimentary cakes. Proceedings weren’t so much kick-started as eased into, as winsome harpist Sam Hickman quietly introduced herself and charmed those who had ventured in from the garden with her fragile, captivating ballads. Meirion & His Mooncup drew rowdy applause after throwing his signature sanitary device across the room before poet Rosie Gleeson nervously took the mic and warned the crowd that since she hadn’t written any pro-Pussy Riot feminist verse they’d have to make do with something she wrote
REVIEW The Computers Love Triangles Hate Squares (One Little Indian)
PREVIEW Let’s Rock Bristol! Saturday 8th June
Image courtesy of The Joy Collective
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons used under the Creative Commons license
REVIEW Birkenstock 4; Free Pussy Riot Gwdihw Cardiff
Albums...
ALBUM OF THE MONTH Frank Turner Tape Deck Heart (Xtra Mile Recordings)
This 11 track offering brings the sound of the Exeter five piece’s debut ‘This is the Computers’ a two-step closer to Chuck Berry whilst rendering them almost unrecognizable from their hardcore roots. Imagine Henry Rollins mimicking John Travolta’s moves in the Pulp Fiction Jack Rabbit Slims scene. Love Triangles Hate Squares is almost comically over blown, and unsubtle. You can barely go 10 seconds through these belters before an ambush of hooks. Chief song writer and font man, Alex Kershaw has composed an astounding record of genre alchemy. He should try his hand at writing a West End musical. Everything from washes of organs, skiffle guitar licks, piano strokes, hand claps and gospel harmonies greet you like theatrical happy slaps. Yet somehow it all runs comfortably next to chunky bass lines and high distortion guitar injections. ‘Call On You’ ‘Point Of Interest’ and ‘C R U E L’ could sound track adverts on Comedy Central, but The Computers are nonetheless punk.
Despite being the first Etonian ever able to boast a sell out Wembley Arena show, as well as playing on a hill surround by 15th Century peasants at the Olympics Opening Ceremony, ex-Million Dead singer Frank Turner has somehow found the Owen Sheppard time between a never ending world tour to release his latest folk-punk offering. Under the watchful eye of mega-producer Rich Costey, REVIEW Tape Deck Heart explores Cloud Atlas the emotion of relationship Cloud Atlas is a beautiful and daring break-downs, lost friendships film that discusses love, death and freeand failed expectations resultdom over six different time periods. ing in a darker, more intimate The film juggles six very differaffair than previous efforts. ent stories with spectacular editTurner has always carried a ing and glamorous action sequences. knack for smashing together The plot slowly connects through the inhis unique style of story tertwined stories as we witness simitelling, acoustic guitars and lar themes of love, death and freedom punk rock sing-alongs, so it running through each different event. is no suprise to see that his Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving and Halle Berdevelopment into a mature ry provide strong performances, but the song writer has bloomed. show is stolen by Ben Whishaw. Despite the lack of screen time, his perfomance as an His raw passion combined impoverished composer, is phenomenal. with the significant contriUnfortunately, as Cloud Atlas is a very long film bution of his Sleeping Souls some of the characters, and therefore their stobacking band has led to one ries, are mildly underdeveloped. A strong idea, of his strongest albums yet.
Oliver Hutchinson
but the magic is sometimes lost i the execution.
Dale Lawson
C/o Wikimedia Commons
Reviews
Paramore Paramore (Fuelled by Ramen)
After four years without a release the Tennessee based alternative-rockers are back with their fourth album. Their departure from their signature emo sound is obvious from the first 30 seconds of album opener Fast In My Car. Whooshing synthesizers are punctuated by blues-rock guitar riffs , and Hayley Williams’ lo-fi, distorted vocals reminiscent of an early Black Keys offering. There are many stand out songs and dedicated fans won’t be disappointed, but with 17 tracks and a running time of over an hour it feels as though the album is too long.
Josh Evans
ALSO COMING UP...
Caro Emerald releases The Shocking Miss Emerald on May 6th//She and Him release Volume 3 on May 13th//Electro pioneers Daft Punk release Random Access Memories on May 20th//
Film... PREVIEW The Great Gatsby
Fans of flamboyant cinematography rejoice, as maverick Australian director Baz Luhrmanns adaption of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel hits cinema screens this month. The decadent tale of love, luxury and lies in the Roaring 20’s has been given an injection of extra glitz and souped up for a 21st century audience. Hotly-tipped performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan and a soundtrack featuring the likes of Jack White and Florence Welch make The Great Gatsby the must-see movie of the month.
Betti Hunter
ALSO COMING UP...
Kiss of the Damned is released May 3rd// Selena Gomez vehicle Aftershock is released May 10th//Geek out when Star Trek Into Darkness hits screens on May 17th//After Earth is released May 31st...
Make Waves May 2013 15
MW FEATURES
MW FEATURES
Beware the TROLLS...
Images courtesy of LilipilyArt and Geograph used in agreement with the Creative Commons License, edited by Make Waves
WORDS: Betti Hunter
T
16 Make Waves May 2013
A Troll’s Life Psychologist John Haines explains some common theories about trolls:
overwhelmingly female and apparently now on the verge of an early nervous breakdown as a direct result of my actions. Every derogatory comment I posted started to feel like shooting a very large fish in a very small bucket, and I felt an overwhelming,
“A bogus Youtube profile takes three minutes to register. Within fifteen minutes, I’d set up five.”
he internet is great, isn’t it?
How lucky we are to live in these enlightened times, where minds can meet and discuss all manner of weighty issues and information is available at the tap of a keypad. However, some people find it so difficult to control their opinions that they cross the line from annoyance to abuse. Yep, we’re talking trolls – that small subsection of humanity who hasn’t yet managed to grasp that ‘freedom of speech’ does not translate to ‘freedom to be an absolute arse for no reason other than my own amusement’. These perpetual axe grinders lurk in every corner of the internet, and range from seemingly innocuous ‘Bieber suxx LOL’ Youtube bait to a darker, altogether more unscrupulous breed who think nothing of spamming the memorial pages of the recently deceased with abuse. Now I’m no internet whiz, so identifying exactly why these miscreants would actively enjoy parking themselves in front of a screen for a ten hour circulating argument about the Annoying Orange is vastly beyond me. I did hope to discover a conveniently verbose troll among the deepest recesses of my Facebook friends who wouldn’t mind being interviewed for the sake of some very tenuous ‘research’, but unsurprisingly none were forthcoming. Instead I decided to settle for second best. I would become what I’ve always hated – a bona fide troll. It’s an easy business, this prospective online havoc-wreaking. A bogus Youtube profile takes an average of three minutes to register. Within fifteen minutes, I’d set up five.
ter-howling from the tween 1D army. The band recently recorded a Blondie/ Undertones mash-up for Comic Relief, and a teaser video popped up online two days before the release date to shake up the fans. Hands shaking with glee, I posted a direct reply to a couple of the more fervently obsessive comments already on the video: “Dear God 1d make me sick. This is sacrilege, taking a once great song and butchering it. Seriously - THERE IS GOOD MUSIC OUT THERE. This ain’t it.” It took less than a minute for the replies to start rolling in. Most of them were in Caps. “WE DON’T NEED YOU, YOU FILTHY PEASANT. GO EAT SOME ICE CREAM AND GET A LIFE.” “1D are doing this for charity, u idiot. Get a life and LICK A HOBO’S VAGINA.”
Round One
I knew that I was going to have to jump straight into the big leagues, so I chose what I considered to be a decent selection of massively-viewed and hotly debated subject matter and homed in on a Men’s Rights activist vid. Three hours, endless page refreshing and a painfully over-flexed index finger later, the only comment I had received in response was from a particularly sarky regular on the MRA propaganda video. “Ugh. I just flagged her for being annoying.” Rats! My carefully placed taunts had been relegated to the ‘spam’ division. The belly-butterflies had long gone. My nerves were deadened, replaced by a vague
sense of annoyance. Why weren’t these buffoons biting? I refreshed the page a couple of more times, before reluctantly admitting defeat and heading to bed.
Round two
I awoke on day two with a renewed energy. Inspiration had struck. In my attempts to cover all bases, I had missed the wood for the trees and completely neglected the one social group who can be relied upon to react to even the slightest criticism with apoplectic levels of fury. It was time to go after the One Direction fans. I cherry-picked my target to make sure it elicited an appropriate level of coun-
I leapt from my chair and pumped my fist. Victory was mine! I clicked ‘refresh’ again, my mind whirring and buzzing as I brainstormed and frantically tippy-tapped another barrage of bile to these utter idiots. “One Direction fans advising people to get a life. Now I’ve seen it all.” I sneered, as I pressed refresh once more and wiped a speckle of drool from my cackling lips. My hands were shaking, and the butterflies in my gut were threatening to rip right through my stomach lining. Frissons of excitement juddered through my veins, and I felt like I’d strawpedo-ed a crate of Red Bull as I mentally pleaded with the glowing laptop screen for replies. 4am came, and went. I kept typing. As the bells chimed 5.30, my other half threw a pillow at my head and I reluctantly retired for the night. Sleep eluded me.
Round Three
I hopped out of bed on day three dishevelled and unrested, and instinctively switched on my laptop to see if I’d missed anything during those five precious hours lost to tossing and turning. Reams of outraged, borderline hysterical comments greeted me, but instead of malevolent glee I felt hollow. The buzz had dissipated. I didn’t feel great anymore. In fact, I felt kind of bad. Self-realisation kicked in with a vengeance. The people I was riling weren’t the idiotic far-right nutjob brigade I’d originally set out to antagonise. They were young,
“A troll’s behaviour is usually motivated by a desire to induce a reaction in another person, or to obtain some form of recognition, as opposed to comment on something they generally feel anger towards. Society has become increasingly restricted from a perspective allowing freedom of speech. Where people are obstructed from airing their views, regardless of how abhorrent to others, the internet becomes almost a haven for people who feel more comfortable in expressing their opinions without punishment. I would imagine a possible causal factor of low self-esteem and a need to be recognised. Those with low self esteem may seek to make a name for themselves, or seek some degree of satisfaction from invoking distress in others. There is also a kind of emotional detachment experienced, or a sense of it not being ‘real’, that removes any aspect of guilt and shame. I have seen numerous people, particularly male, aged 16-24, who have grown up largely living their social life on the internet. Given that social norms are learned, I’d say it is not surprising that such people are acting more in line with internet social norms that those reflected by wider society. Young people have grown up online playing Call Of Duty and have never learned actual social skills. It is a real problem that I personally think will become something of a mental health epidemic over the next ten years.”
inexplicable urge to apologise and declare myself a Directioner forevermore in penance for my actions. Half an hour later, all but one of my profiles had been deleted. Yes, one small vestige of my brief trolling alter-ego will languish forevermore in the nether regions of a Taylor Swift comment thread. I’d forgotten the account password. I’m not going to pretend that this was a revelatory experience. I’m still confused as to what motivates trolls to dedicate hours, days, even weeks to their campaigns, and why they’d feel the need to leave badly spelt slurs on the pictures of a murder victim. However, my brief foray into the world of the internet miscreant did give me a small insight as to how rapidly the urge to stoke the potential flames of fury can become an obsession. The brain ticks, the mouse clicks, and you find yourself endlessly waiting for another outraged comment to backhand a swift and cutting response to. It’s narcissism, pure and simple. Knowing that people across the world are paying attention to you and your ramblings will very quickly inflate your ego. You start to feel as though you have something to prove, and that if you don’t make this particular point right the hell now in a suitably biting manner then all will be lost. Game over.
The people you’re sparring with cease to feature in the equation. The real world doesn’t exist anymore. All that matters is this virtual argument, and your intent to win it. Such behaviour, despite what many people would have you believe, isn’t merely limited to sad middle aged men anonymously blowing off steam in their basement. Its teenagers, twenty-something’s, our friends, ourselves, and some of this behaviour is creeping into our everyday lives. How many times have you insulted a celebrity directly via Twitter, or made a derogatory remark about someone you know on Facebook and dismissed it as banter? I’d imagine it’s a heck of a lot easier to face yourself in the mirror if you’ve convinced yourself that online mud-slinging is somehow less odious, and that it’s all in good fun. After all, it’s just the internet. Right?
Make Waves May 2013 17
MW FASHION
MW COMMENTS
Our columnist Nat Fantastic offers some sage advice on how to deal with a common-or-garden misogynistic troll.
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons used in agreement with the Creative Commons License, edited by Make Waves
Nat Fantastic is also known as Natalie Dzerins. She’s a 23 year old feminist writer and blogger who contributes to the Independent and the Guardian
O
ne of the most difficult parts of being a feminist in any online space is dealing with trolls. Like bindweed in a garden, rabid anti-feminists seem to spring up in every available place in order to strangle discussion and let misogyny reign. Trolling of feminist spaces can take many forms - from constantly asking inane yet ridiculous questions in order to ‘trip up’ the feminists, to derailing discussions to be about what they want to talk about, to outright abuse and threats - you name it, a feminist has seen it. What they all share is a desire to shut down the discussions they ruin and overwhelm people so much they stop daring to be a Feminist In Public. Over the past year there’s been some notable cases. In September Jen McCreight of Blaghag announced her intention to cease writing indefinitely due to the amount of hate mail she was receiving from anti-feminists. The interminable ‘Elevatorgate’ scandal finally came to a head this year when the online atheist movement schismed into ‘Atheism’ (people who get terribly upset if you mention any kind of oppression other than being an atheist around them) and ‘Atheism+’ (the branch that look at other social justice issues too). This abuse isn’t just limited to the big names though - every feminist I know with a blog or Twitter account has at least one story about someone trying to shut down their online activism through abusive tactics. It’s certainly happened to me more than I care to think
18 Make Waves May 2013
about, and the fear of it has stopped me from writing some pieces I’ve been asked to. So, yes, being a feminist on the internet can be scary at times. However, it can also be totally awesome and one of the most rewarding things you can do - it’s a way to meet friends, swap ideas, co-ordinate projects and find out about key issues. Which is why I’ve collected this quick guide to what to do if your online space gets a nasty infestation of trolls. Obviously this advice won’t be universal but I hope that reading this helps people better equip themselves to deal with the bad so they have more time to enjoy the good. Firstly, and probably most importantly, is to know your boundaries and stick to them. Your online space is your own, and it’s up to you what to do with it. Some people get a kick out of taking down trolls, and see it as a good way of practicing and refining their arguments. Some people don’t wish to engage with them at all, sticking to the old refrain of ‘don’t feed the trolls!”. Nothing you do in this situation can be ‘wrong’. Think of your blog’s comment section as a conversation in your living room what would you do if someone said that to you in real life? If you don’t like someone, you have the power to block them, and you never have to think about them again. You don’t owe anyone your time, effort or self-esteem, let alone a platform on your website - so if you don’t want to engage, don’t. Secondly, don’t let the bastards get you down. Remember that a troll will say any-
thing to try silence their target. They don’t know anything about you other than that you’re a feminist, so they’ll just throw out any invective in order to find your weak spot. Don’t let it stick. Don’t even let them know when they’re wrong, as it won’t shut them up - they’ll just use it to try refine their aim in order to hurt you. So for example, if they try dismiss what you’re saying as the rantings of someone who ‘couldn’t get a boyfriend’, don’t let them know if you do, instead ask them what it has to do with your original statement and you might actually get them to go away. Finally, speak up. Trolls are boring, repetitive creatures who never seem to pick up any new tricks. Chances are if you ask for help, someone will have been through the exact same thing before and be able to help you through it. Whether it’s in the form of emotional support or pointing you in the direction of the exact statistics you need to refute the troll’s ‘argument’, there’s enough good people out there to help you stop the bad one in their tracks. Feminists are a friendly lot - but if you don’t stick your hand out of the water, nobody knows to grab it. Furthermore, if you ever feel like you have been personally threatened, go to the police. It’s their job to aid you and it’s better to be safe than sorry. So that’s that. Even though this is a negative article, don’t let it put you off speaking your mind. Trolls are idiots, and the more people that speak out, the harder their job will be. Happy internetting, and don’t forget to be excellent to each other.”
The h igh s tree
t is dying
. DIY coutu
re is thriv
ing.
So grab a needle, thread and a secondhand bedsheet.
plicate. Innovate, don’t re
Make Waves May 2013 19
MW FASHION FASHION MW
MW FASHION Don’t be shy, DIY
This May, Make Waves are lusting after pastel hair, flimsy dresses, Courtney Love, witchy bitchface girl gangs, gigantic 80’s bouffants, camaraderie, the Cottingley fairies and Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty. Make Waves went back to basics andworked three sets of charity shop bed sheets into three easy-to-make designs. All that’s needed is a bit of time, patience, and a rudimentary knowledge of how to manipulate a needle and thread. Chunky gothic jewelry, messed-up tights and clunky DM’s balanced the delicate frocks and grounded an otherwise whimsical, flyaway affair. ases a loose a couple of pillowc g gin t jig re d an ng lly off Sarah’s sligh By deconstructi to hang dramatica d te ea cr s of wa ed ne tte s in trapeze silhoue ght - the dress wa were an afterthou es ffl s was hand ru se e ca Th e e. th m m fra ver trim fro fto le e th so ph m a bit of extra oo ed onto the hem. gathered and popp
90’s revival
Thanks to the Tumblr-spheres incessant promotion of all things pastel-grunge, the rough and ready 90’s revival has boomeranged back into the collective fashion consciousness. Even Saint Laurent’s newly-appointed Hedi Slimane has grabbed a piece of the action – his A/W 2013 collection was a love letter to the low-maintenance aesthetic of the decade.
Courtney love kinderwhore
Though she’s had her trials and tribulations since her hey-day as one half of music’s most influential couple, Courtney Love’s signature girl-gone-wild style is as relevant today as it was two decades ago. Lashings of kohl eyeliner and smudged pillarbox red lipstick were teamed with cutesy childlike dresses in a sartorial equivalent to sticking a middle finger up at the traditional Western beauty ideals of the youthful female ingenue.
Florals
Now that the sun has finally emerged from hibernation, floral motifs are taking their obligatory trot around fashion’s main stage. Baroque-inspired rose prints and clean, ditsy prints are the order of the season.
A tried-and-tested circle skirt/simple darted bodic e formula flatters Lauren’s hourglass figure perfectly. We cut a deep V on the back of the bodice to create an alternative point of intere st and draw attention to her small waist. Ov ersized hand-gathered ruffl es were fashioned from the trim and haphazardly attached wit h giant safety pins.
tilitarian classic u cle skirt and e h t n o ir ary take and, flouncy c shoulders. tempor b t n ed o is g c a g a w u r ign is gging tly sh s u n e print. h d la a e ’s r h d u c on rose non e fig s Heled r h e T im . h r s c s ff y e o t e dr he dain erfectly pinafor hangs p complement t ib b y h slouc uttons ed red b Oversiz
Heavy duty shoes
If you haven’t noticed that punk staple Doc Martens are having a bit of a moment you must be either blind, deaf or both. Seriously, it’s impossible to ignore the stomps echoing around the high street as a result of the legions of DM converts. The brand have been one of the few to see their sales soar during the triple-dip recession as the fash-pack embrace shabby, disillusioned chic.
All dressmaking tutorials can be found at makewaves.com.
20 Make Waves May 2013
Design and styling: Betti Hunter Photography: Jack Hunter Additional sewing: Bridget Hunter Models: Sarah Banks, Heledd Williams and Lauren Gelsei
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MW FASHION
MW REVIEW
15 minutes with
BEYOND PINK
The sordid face of In the wake of the Dhaka factory collapse which killed over 400 Bangladeshi labourers, retail giants are facing big questions about their production methods. But just how much does our obsession with consumer culture contribute to the sweatshop scandal? MAKE WAVES asks if it’s possible to reconcile a love of fashion with a hatred of unethical practices. The dull rustle of a deep burgundy taffeta sets my pulse racing. The mischievous way spun silk grabs the light makes my fists clench with excitement. I look forward to the first glimpse of the new Meadham Kirchhoff collection more than I anticipate a visit to my own grandmother. I will happily spend endless hours trawling through the style blogs of green haired pre-teen Harajuku gurus to find my next hit of visual bliss. But an obsession with the sartorial world comes at a steep price. In the 21st century, ‘fashion’ is edging ever closer to dirty-word territory, eliciting sniggers of distaste and assumptions of vapidity by those who assume that an appreciation of a perfectly cut A-line skirt and functioning critical faculties are two mutually exclusive qualities to possess. Stifled giggles and pedantic jibes sail over my head. The growing, burbling cesspit of
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unease in my gut is not so easy to ignore. You see, when the industry you blithely feed your hard-earned bucks into is unmasked time and again as the arch-villain of the economic world, the sheen on that spun silk loses its lustre. It becomes increasingly difficult to justify an appetite for cheap and cheerful spangles when a disaster as huge and as horrific as the Bangladeshi sweatshop collapse strikes and points an accusing finger at the retailers we blindly support. The deaths in Dhaka are not a one-off. Since 2005, 700 sweatshop workers have been killed in Bangladesh alone. Worldwide, the figure is close to 1000 work-related fatalities every year. Labourers also have to contend with being viewed as living, breathing production lines and are paid a miniscule piece rate for their efforts. Predictably, women workers are particularly vulnerable. Sexual abuse is rife, and some employers even force workers to take birth control and regular pregnancy tests in order to dodge costly maternity benefits. Rose-tinted, romanticised imaginings of wild-eyed creative genii throwing cotton and colour around an airy studio flanked by jolly seamstresses hand-crafting couture lace are shattered in the face of the reams of hard evidence provided by world-weary employees and undercover journalists. That Gucci show doesn’t look so pretty when you’re painfully aware that the factory workers who stitched the garments were denied access to clean drinking water by their employers. The false economy of a Primark t-shirt is more bogus than first understood. So why aren’t we all cutting up our Topshop store cards and picketing the doors of New Look? Perhaps it’s all too simple to shrug off another report of inequity and suffering with a callous reference to economic necessity. Maybe we just don’t give a hoot, although I’d
hope that our cultural apathy towards other nations hasn’t advanced that far yet. My suspicion is that we fashionistas are just not ready to relinquish our love of style, and have been conditioned for too long to see no other option other than complying with the status quo. After years of being told that our choice of dress defines us, we’ve reached breaking point. Not owning that season-defining statement piece is not just an oversight, but a deeply personal failing indicative of a severe and alarming lack of style savvy. No one wants to hear that their inner psyche is passé. And so we resume our places at the tills, key in our PIN, and clutch our purchases tight to our chest. We show off our acquisitions and congratulate each other on our ability to spend. We try to disregard that gnawing feeling in our bellies, and force ourselves to forget that a human hand made our trinket and suffered for our gain. But there is an alternative, and it involves – as most solutions do – running back to the rulebook, ripping it up and starting over. For fashion is more than the slavish pursuit of trends and the thrill of the splurge you know you can’t afford. It’s about embracing the personal style you cultivate over years of absorbing external influences and following internal trains of thought. It’s the vintage shawl your mother passes down which still smells faintly of Rive Gauche. It’s developed during conversations with friends, through admiration of strangers and honed by hours spent browsing second-hand shops that smell vaguely of cat wee. It’s less about what you spend, and more about what you save. It’s an injection of pure creativity that an ‘It’ product will never replicate. Choose swap shops, not sweat shops and rediscover your inner sartorial spark.
Gender - not on the agenda
Words: Betti Hunter
A
re you, like many others, sick and tired of the endless MTV rotation of skinny-hipped indie hopefuls a trading their souls and songs for a shot at the NME ot ‘girls in le. n e r a e peop ht. W front cover? If so, never fear. Beyond Pink his straig punk band. And t t e are your antidote. g s t “Le are a In the era of the five second musical attennd’. We a b k n u p tion span, Ida, Tijana, Clara, Patricia and - Tijana Casja are old-timers. The Swedish five-piece nd girls.” A have come a long, long way since their 2002 D.I.Y release Cunt-oh-Licious, and a decade on are still peddling their unique brand of hardcore ‘crust’ punk around Europe with a zeal not often found in jaded old-timers. “It’s great when we see that people are really listening room. When I wrote the guitar parts for In Our Hearts… to us and come to shows to see us,” says uber-tattooed my main influence was a Christmas carol.” vocalist Tijana. “Most shows we do are ok in some way “We don’t have any main lyrical themes,” interjects or another. It’s like you win some and you lose some. Tijana. “I can’t come up with anything really that we Sometimes the crowd is great but the organiser sucks, couldn’t write a song about, as long as it’s something sometimes the crowd is stiff but we meet one great that seems relevant to us in some way.” person, sometimes everything is awesome but there’s “I think the most frequent topic is people being morats in the room you’re suppose to sleep in!” rons in one way or the other,” pipes up bassist Clara. “Including ourselves.” Mocking the morons
Images courtesy of Beyond Pink
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Utne, used under Creative Commons license and adapted by Make Waves
STYLE
“I tend to forget almost everything,” admits Ida. “ Last tour I have no idea where we were. Everything just melts together into sitting in the van, and then sitting in the van again, and then sitting in the van again. But I like sitting in the van, so maybe that´s why I forget everything else.” “The best aspects of playing in Beyond Pink, though, are to be able to hang out with four of the best people in the world. Doing the things you like most with the people you like most.” “I agree,” says Clara. “I love just hanging out with the others in the band. We get to go places and see things I would never have seen. Also, I think we make really great music and it’s fun to do that!”
Though their genesis was sparked by an interest in the raw-as-eggs riot grrrl renaissance in the early noughties, over the years Beyond Pink’s signature sound has twisted itself into an altogether darker, more macabre beast. Politically-minded rhetoric is interspersed with a large pinch of whimsy, and their back catalogue covers subject matter as diverse as reverse evolution, missing the bus and the flaws of the Swedish healthcare system. “It´s pretty difficult to pinpoint what it is exactly that inspires you to write each riff,” laughs guitarist Ida. “Sometimes I feel like shit and I make a song, other times we just write songs from scratch in the practice
The perils of relentless touring As you’d expect from a band with a song called In Our Hearts We’re Puking, Beyond Pink shows are pretty intense. Considering the energy expended per gig and the hours of sleep lost due to bedtime in a shaky old van, it’s hard to believe that tour life is a bed of roses. Surely there have to be some aspects of life on the road that suck? “Yeah, of course,” says Clara. “When you miss out on swimming possibilities, when there aren’t any decent toilets or coffee, when there’s cockroaches at the sleeping place...”
It’s pretty difficult to dispute Clara’s opinion, but it’s likely that many will have taken one look at the band and rejected any notion of musical prowess out of hand. The reason? As you may have already noticed, the five Beyond Pink members are female, and there is a certain breed of boorish Luddite who clings steadfastly to the outdated notion that a human being with boobs couldn’t possibly create music of any great significance. Being an all-girl punk band in a male-dominated genre can’t be easy, and one wonders whether there have been any particularly crappy incidents where the band has been judged first and foremost by their gender. “Ok. We are not ‘girls in a punk band’,” spits Tijana. “We are a punk band. And people. And girls. The worst assholes are those who treat us like ‘girls in a punk band’. Both guys and girls. We deal with it in different ways. Sometimes quietly, and sometimes not. “Play in a punk band for 10 years with other people who happen to be girls and guess how many times you get that question,” sighs Ida. “I´m not going to answer it.” Moving on swiftly...so Beyond Pink have already taken the European punk world by storm, notched up four full-length albums and decimated more eardrums than the Tunguska meteor. What more are the band hoping to achieve in 2013? “We´re going to take over the world,” declares Ida. “We´re starting the crusade in England in the end of February, and in the summer the battle goes overseas!” “The aim is the same as always,” Tijana shrugs. “To play gigs, to kick ass.” Amen to that.
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MW COMMENT
Confessions of a bartender and adapted by Make Waves Image courtesy of Claus Rebler, Wikimedia Commons and Public Domain Pictures used in agreement with the Creative Commons License
.. rs and bad times.ary tale to May Day revelle g in w o ll e b , on Booze er tells a cauti Our rogue serv
D
rinking characterises the sunny season; it wouldn’t be the same without Grandpa sat in the garden with a hanky on his head and a glass of gin surgically attached to his hand, long nights drinking cider in the beer garden of your local and regular cries of “It’s Pimms o’clock!”. There is one sub-section of society, though, that positively dreads the run up to summer. For the bartenders of Britain, the mere mention of the month of May is enough to prompt a shriek of terror and a 15 minute monologue as to why temporary seasonal migration should be considered an acceptable life choice. For when most of us are eagerly anticipating May Day drinks deals and a four day weekend, the lowly bartender is shaking his or her head in misery as they see their
name pop up on the rota for five consecutive 12 hour shifts. Year after year they are blighted by the knowledge that whilst everyone else is out having a whale of a time they’ll be suffering an enforced state of sobriety and handing out drinks they’d rather be necking in one to people who have already had far, far too much. There’s no quicker way to decimate a sprightly mood than by watching a portly lawyer in a Hawaiian print shirt downing white wine spritzers until he’s sick on the bar, as your own dry mouth craves just a drop of pure ethanol and the sweet release of death. Those who haven’t been unfortunate enough to have worked in a bar before are the lucky ones. They sail through the festivities with smiling, Pimms-stained lips and glowing complexions, wailing about sunburnt shoulders and the horrors of waking up too hungover to catch some rays. Those who have will be wearing a
pained expression after reading the above, and are all too aware of the sense of impending doom that strikes whenever two of the most terrifying words in the English language are uttered. Bank Holiday. The date is spoken of in hushed, fearful whispers amongst bartenders. A sager recommendation would be to batten down the hatches and remain locked in a soundproofed room with a few box sets and a ready supply of hard liquor until the last remaining sourbreathed stragglers lurch into the sobriety of June. Extreme? Maybe, but it sure beats the harsh realities of dealing with gaggles of guffawing, middle aged louts. On one particularly dismal evening, I spent almost an hour trying to eject one such inebriated fellow. He was wearing a suitably ‘wacky’ tie, a pair of ill-advised board shorts and was purring – yes, purring – to himself, causing large globules of saliva to fly out from the corners of his mouth with every jowly cheek vibration. “Hotel. HOTEL!” he yelled. Despite my repeated assertions to the contrary, where I even went so far as to grab my last pay slip to prove him wrong, he remained staunchly adamant that ‘Hotel’ was in fact my name. “Now listen ‘ere, Hotel.” He garbled, and clicked his fingers to usher me over. I sighed and tried to push any Saw-style retribution fantasies out of my head. “Whaddaya shay you and I, me and you, wet martini. Yeah?” He stifled a belch, wobbled slightly on his stool and shakily arched an overly bushy eyebrow. Presumably in his addled state he believed he resembled a young, dangerous Jimmy Cagney. In reality, he looked like he wanted to eat someone. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a vein in another bartender’s forehead bulging
dangerously as he calmly explained to a corpulent woman that refusing to give her a round of free drinks did not make him an arsehole. Across the room a bunch of obviously underage girls are giving the game away by swigging smuggled-in alcopops. Our manager was eating tapas in the staff room, having retreated after his facial tic had alarmed a couple of older patrons. In a crowded cellar bar with ‘In The Summertime’ on repeat, no one can hear you scream. “Damnit, Hotel!” Jowls banged his fist on the wooden counter and snarled, aggrieved by my reluctance to engage in conversation. Before I could snatch the remains of a vodka martini from his grasp – he’d insisted on shaken, not stirred – he swept forward in a surprisingly co-ordinated lunge, chucked the whole thing back in one and threw the glass across the bar, narrowly missing my head. I spent the rest of the night chain-smoking behind the bottle bins. The next day, I called in sick. So this year when you begin planning your annual May Day fiesta, spare a thought for the poor drinks monkey who will more than likely be mopping up your expelled bodily fluids well into the early hours of the morning. You could tip a little extra, or buy them a much-needed shot on the sly. Even a comradely nod of commiseration would work a treat. Bartenders have feelings, sensitivities, hearts, and can be driven to madness or malice more often than you’d think.
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