Issue 8

Inside Culture: 15

It’s Sexist, But... tackling misogynistic writers: 23

Linder In Profile: 25

In Defence of the Cupcake Feminist: 27

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12th November 2018 / Issue 8

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Manchester SU “ready Two-tier tuition 9 in 10 students believe to help” financially fees on the cards GM Police ‘don’t do enough’ to protect women struggling NUS Page 3

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2 News

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Inside Issue 8

Photo: Stephen Richards @ Wikimedia Commons

Meet the woman trying to make upskirting illegal Interview: Gina Martin Features, page 9

Photo: Vita Student @Flickr

SU maintains so-called ‘clapping ban’ as votes are delayed at November Senate Stories of misogyny

Opinion articles on student experiences of sexism Opinion, pages 10 and 11

How to report a hate crime Lifestyle, page 29

Follow us on Editor-in-Chief: Ethan Davies editor@mancunion.com Deputy Editor: Amy Wei deputyed@mancunion.com Online Editor: Jeremy Bijl online@mancunion.com Design Editor: Kizzy Bray design@mancunion.com

Josh Sandiford News Reporter The University of Manchester Students’ Union Senate has doubled down on its controversial so-called ‘clapping ban’, with 53% either abstaining or voting against a measure to revoke the original policy which recently caused a media storm.

A proposal was put forward at November’s Senate to formally revoke the ‘ban’ on clapping, arguing that the BSL sign language policy “excludes blind people for participating”.

The Senate also voted to amend its constitution, a motion was passed by 77% for the ‘T’ to be added back into the SU’s recognised definition of ‘LGBQ+’.

In total, nine proposals were supposed to have been debated and voted on during November’s Senate, and part-time officer

elections were supposed to have been held.

However, there were a number of technical issues and procedural complaints with part-time officer voting, so the election was postponed. As a result, the session ran over time considerably, so only two of the nine proposals were voted on.

The seven proposals which were not voted on will now roll over to the Senate’s December meeting for consideration, which is likely to disappoint some campaign groups.

The environment would have been a big focus of November’s senate. Four out of eight policy proposals were related to environmental issues, including one that would have made the Students’ Union officially support ‘Extinction Rebellion’, the pressure group that recently caused chaos by blocking Oxford Road in protest.

Other proposals that were not voted on

related to the inclusion and advocacy of QTIPOC (Queer, Trains, Intersex, People of Colour) and the SU supporting the fight for marriage equality in Northern Ireland.

The Senate also didn’t get to vote on endorsing the #MisogynyIsHate campaign, despite a member of the audience noting that it was a time-sensitive measure.

Following the so-called ‘clap-gate’ scandal which arose out of the first Senate of the academic year in September, attendees were asked at November’s Senate to “take extra care” if they wanted to report on the proceedings.

Senate is the highest decision-making body at the Students Union, meeting six times a year. The next Senate will be held on Thursday 8th December.

The Mancunion has reached out to representatives from Extinction Rebellion and #MisogynyIsHate for comment.

Clarifications:

See it, say it

Contact us

In a session interrupted by technical hitches and procedural complaints concerning part time officer elections, the decision-making body doubled down on its so-called ‘clapping ban’

Head News Editor: Nicole Wootton-Cane Deputy Editors: Sam Honey and Shivani Kaura news@mancunion.com Science & Technology Editor: Jacklin Kwan science@mancunion.com Investigations Editor: Felix Hanif-Banks investigations@mancunion.com

Fol low i ng l ast we e k ’s stor y on Vice Ch ance l lor p ay ( p age 7, Inve st igat ion s) , the Un ive rs ity of M anche ste r h as a ske d to cl ar i f y t h at P rofe s s or Dame Nancy Rot hwe l l , P re s ide nt and Vice Ch ance l lor of t he Un ive rs ity of M anche ste r, do e s not re ce ive a p e n s ion cont r i but ion . The Mancunion wou ld Features Editor: Liv Clarke features@mancunion.com Opinion Editor: Sophie Marriott Deputy Editor: Cachella Smith opinion@mancunion.com Societies Editor: Chloe Hatton societies@mancunion.com Music Editor: Olivia White Deputy Editor: Jake Oliver music@mancunion.com

l i ke to ap olog i s e to t he University for t h i s e r ror.

In l ie u of t h i s cont ribut ion, s he wa s p aid a sp e c i al al lowa nce in t he 20 16-17 acade m ic ye ar, but decided to forego t h i s f rom S e pte m b e r 20 17.

The Mancunion a sked t he Un ive rs ity of M anche ster to conf irm

Film Editor: Tobias Soar Deputy Editor: Aisha Al-Janabi film@mancunion.com Fashion and Beauty Editor: Ella Searle fashion@mancunion.com Books Editor: Gurnaik Johal books@mancunion.com Games Editor: Jeremy Bijl games@mancunion.com

Food & Drink Editor: Catrin Stewart food@mancunion.com Arts Editor: Bella Jewell arts@mancunion.com Theatre Editor: Anuli Changa theatre@mancunion.com Lifestyle Editor: Sophia Ashby lifestyle@mancunion.com Sport Editor: James Gill

t he va lue of P rofe s s or Da me Rot hwell’s a llowa nce, a nd to ex pla in t he rea s oning for declining a p ens ion p ay ment (or supplement in lieu of a p ens ion cont ribut ion) f rom S eptem b er 20 17, but t he Univers ity declined to com ment .

Deputy Editor: Sam Honey sports@mancunion.com Chief Sub-editor: Alex Cresswell Sub-editors: Rona McCann, Mia Gair, Alex Ross, Georgia Hickey Design Editors: Alex Singhal, Izzy Oldman, Josie Fowler, Liv Clarke, Anja Samy, Ellis Coopey.

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News

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

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Manchester Students’ Union ‘ready to help’ struggling NUS

The organisation, which represents 7 million students across the country, might now have to borrow money against the building it owns and cut staff to remain financially viable Josh Sandiford News reporter The University of Manchester Students’ Union (SU) has told The Mancunion that it is ‘ready to help’ the National Union of Students (NUS) after after a leaked letter suggests t he orga n i s at ion , wh ich re pre s e nt s 7 m i l l i o n s t u d e n t s a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y, is facing “financial difficulty”.

According to a letter that has been leaked by several news outlets, t he orga n i s at ion face s a p ote nt i a l £3m deficit in its finances and might now have to borrow money against the building it owns and cut staff to remain financially viable.

T h e l e t t e r, w r i t t e n b y N U S N a t i o n a l President Shakira Martin and acting Chief Executive Peter Robertson was s e nt to a f f i l i ate d orga n i s at ion s ac ros s t h e c o u n t r y.

I t b e g i n s : “ We a r e w r i t i n g t o y o u today becaus e as one of our members you f u nd ou r orga n i s at ion , you decide the strategic direction of our movement, and as a collective we share ambitions.”

The letter goe s on to say “the NUS G r o u p i s f a c i n g f i n a n c i a l d i f f i c u l t y.

We a r e p r o j e c t e d t o p o s t a s i g n i f i c a n t deficit this year without enough resource to cover the loss.”

It then sets out some of the measure s the NUS will have to take to remain solvent and addressing “underlying governance issues”. “ We h a v e t a k e n i m m e d i a t e a d v i c e on the options available to us to ensure we remain solvent. It looks likely this will include a combination of borrowing against the building we own, making cuts to staff, and turning

o f f s o m e o f t h e a c t i v i t y w e d e l i v e r. ” The University of Manchester Students’ Union said: “The fact NUS is facing financial difficulties is a concern for the whole student movement.

Students have never needed an effective NUS more than t h e y d o n o w, w i t h u n c e r t a i n t y a r o u n d education funding, the cost of living scandal and the mental health crisis just some of the issues facing us. “ We a r e c o n f i d e n t t h a t w i t h t h e right kind of leadership in place to turn the situation around, they will be back on solid ground soon. This has happened numerous times in its 96-year history and we are ready to help them do it again this time.”

An NUS spokesperson told The M a n c u n i o n : “ We c a n c o n f i r m t h a t NUS is taking measures to address a number of governance-related challenges.

The boards, officers and executive team are agreed that we need to deliver fundamental corporate, democratic, and financial re for m by S u m me r 2 0 19. “ This means there will be a range of proposals brought to a Strategic Conversation meeting in November 2018 for consideration and refinement with the help of our members, and subsequently to National Conference 2019 to be voted on by our members.”

The NUS is a grouping of 600 students unions, making up around 95% of all further and higher e ducat ion u n ion s. T he orga n i s at ion r e c e n t l y l a u n c h e d i t ’ s ‘ To t u m ’ s t u d e n t discount card to replace the NUS E x t r a d i s c o u n t c a r d .

Photo: Vita Student @ Flickr

Photo: Alice Rigby

Report recommends cutting tuition fees to £6,500, but increases for STEM Tuition fees in the UK currently stand at £9,250 per year for home students, but the proposal to cut them divides opinion

Nicole Wootton-Cane Head News Editor U n ive r s i t y t u i t i o n fe e s c o u l d b e c u t t o £ 6 , 5 0 0 u n d e r m e a s u re s p ro p o s e d f ro m a gove r n m e n t re v i e w.

T h e re p o r t co m m i s s i o n e d by P r i m e M i n i s t e r T h e re s a M ay a l s o s u g ge s t e d t h a t fe e s fo r s u b j e c t s t h a t c o u l d l e a d to higher earnings, such as medicine o r s c i e n ce , c o u l d b e ra i s e d t o u p t o £ 1 3 , 5 0 0.

T h e p ro p o s a l h a s d iv i d e d s t u d e n t s , wh o a l l c u r re n t ly p ay t u i t i o n fe e s o f £ 9, 2 5 0 a ye a r, w i t h s o m e d u b b i n g i t “s h o c k i n g ” wh i l s t o t h e r s s ay i t i s “ fa i r ” .

S o m e a rg u e t h a t t u i t i o n fe e s fo r S T E M d e g re e s s h o u l d b e h i g h e r a s t h e y a re m o re e x p e n s ive t o t e a c h a n d

c o u l d l e a d t o h i g h e r- e a r n i n g j o b s a f t e r g ra d u a t i o n .

O t h e r s a re s t ro n g ly a g a i n s t t h e i d e a , s u g ge s t i n g t h a t i t co u l d l e a d t o a l owe r s t a t u s fo r a r t s a n d h u m a n i t i e s d e g re e s a n d c re a t e a t wo - t i e r s ys t e m .

C o n ce r n s h ave a l s o b e e n ra i s e d ove r t h e s o c i a l i m p l i c a t i o n s o f t h e p ro p o s a l s , a rg u i n g t h a t h i g h e r fe e s c o u l d d i s co u ra ge s t u d e n t s f ro m l owe r i n c o m e b a c k g ro u n d s t o p u r s u e S T E M subjects.

S e c o n d -ye a r P hys i c s s t u d e n t O l iv i a M u r ray t o l d T h e M a n c u n i o n : “ Fo rc i n g a fe e g a p b e t we e n t h e a r t s a n d t h e s c i e n c e s w i l l o n ly re i n fo rce t h e f a l s e d i c h o t o my b e t we e n t h e m . B y a d j u s t i n g t h e fe e s , b o t h f i e l d s w i l l s u f fe r ; t h e a r t s w i l l b e p e rc e ive d a s a l e s s e r c l a s s o f d e g re e , a n d s t u d e n t s f ro m l ow- i n co m e

b a c k g ro u n d s w i l l b e d i s c o u ra ge d f ro m a p p ly i n g fo r t h e s c i e n c e s d u e t o t h e ove r wh e l m i n g d e b t . ” A n o t h e r s t u d e n t wh o c h o s e t o s t ay a n o ny m o u s s a i d : “ F ro m my p e r s p e c t ive a s a m e d i c a l s t u d e n t I t h i n k i t ’s re a l ly p ro b l e m a t i c . M e d i c i n e a l re a dy h a s a re p fo r b e i n g a co u r s e t h a t ’s ge n e ra l ly o n ly ava i l a b l e t o yo u i f yo u’ re m i d d l e c l a s s . I t ’s o n e t h a t a l o t o f u n i s t r y t o co m p e n s a t e w i t h fo r h av i n g m e d i c i n e s p e c i f i c w i d e n i n g a cc e s s s c h e m e s . I re a l ly b e l i e ve m e d i c i n e n e e d s p e o p l e f ro m a l l d i f fe re n t s o r t s o f b a c k g ro u n d s a s i t w i l l m a ke u s a l l b e t t e r d o c t o r s . “ I t h i n k i f fe e s we n t u p i t wo u l d re a l ly p u t s o m e re a l ly go o d p e o p l e f ro m l owe r s o c i o e co n o m i c b a c k g ro u n d s o f f medicine.”

H owe ve r, o t h e r s t u d e n t s a re i n

f avo u r o f t h e p ro p o s a l s . S e c o n d -ye a r History and Politics student Sam Honey s a i d : “ T h e p r i n c i p l e i s e n t i re ly f a i r – fe e s s h o u l d re f l e c t t h e p r i c e o f re s o u rc e s a n d o t h e r c o s t s . Q u i t e s i m p ly, s c i e n c e b a s e d s u b j e c t s w i l l t e n d t o b e m o re e x p e n s ive , a n d s t u d e n t s s h o u l d b e p re p a re d t o re s p e c t t h a t . ” S o m e fe l t t h e re p o r t re l i e d o n ge n e ra l i s a t i o n s ; s e c o n d -ye a r Lizzie H a r t re e a s ke d : “ W h a t a b o u t d e g re e s l i ke f i l m wh i c h a re a r t s b u t c o s t a l o t ? I d o n’ t t h i n k i t ’s a go o d i d e a . ” T h e re p o r t c o m e s o n t h e h e e l s o f C h a n c e l l o r P h i l l i p H a m m o n d ’s l a t e s t b u d ge t , wh i c h f a i l e d t o m a ke c h a n ge s t o t h e c u r re n t t u i t i o n fe e o r s t u d e n t f i n a n c e s ys t e m .

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Photo: Duncan Hill @ Flickr

“Your future is f*cked!”: climate change protest causes Oxford Road chaos The protest divided students and passers-by alike, despite lasting for only 15 minutes Ethan Davies Editor-in-Chief A protest against government inaction on climate change by pressure group Extinction Rebellion has caused delays on Oxford Road.

The protest saw members of the group block the road in both at the pedestrian crossing outside the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons (Ali G) and Students’ Union (SU).

Despite announcing their protest would only last 15 minutes, people at

the University were divided on the effectiveness of the method of protest.

Lizzy Haughton, a member of the group and also SU Activities Officer, said: “Conventional approaches, such as petitions, sit-ins, lobbying MPs, [to addressing] the massive climate catastrophe we’re in haven’t worked, and we’re calling for real change, right now. We have no more time left.

“History shows that civil disobedience brings about structural change, and that’s what we need. That’s why we were taking

part in a roadblock for 15 minutes, which obviously caused quite a lot of disruption, but that’s what we need”.

However, some passers-by failed to see the merit in abandoning conventional protest means, with angry shouts being heard during and after the protest. One man argued with protestors that they should have kept their actions to the roadside.

Another member of the campaign during the roadblock shouted through a megaphone that students and passers-by

alike were “f*cked” and that the current protests against the climate crisis are being done “to draw attention to the fact the world is facing the greatest emergency in is history, greater than world war”.

He went on to say that “people cannot solve this on their own. It’s so much bigger than shopping differently, reducing plastics - even though that’s positive. We need enormous systemic change. Imagine you are in a war, you would be talking about it every day. We need to respond to it as if it’s an emergency”.

Parliament calls for re-introduction of means-tested grants The parliamentary select committee recommended reversing the policy that scrapped grants in 2016 Sam Honey Deputy News Editor T h e H o u s e o f C o m m o n’s s e l e c t committee for Education has called for the reinstatement of meanstested grants at UK Universities.

The system was replaced in 2016 with income-related loans, a method widely criticised for disadvantaging poorer students.

Since the change two years ago, it is now impossible for Student Finance E ngland to award fully nonrepayable grants to cover living costs. Although the income-based format can award students from lower-earning households a loan at a higher value, they must begin to reimburs e the company when their p ost-g radu ate wage re ache s £ 2 1 ,0 0 0 p e r y e a r.

I t ’s a rg u e d t h a t s u c h a f i n a n c i a l strain is, h o w e v e r, dissuading students from certain backgrounds f r o m g o i n g t o u n i v e r s i t y, w i t h a n average post-graduation debt of over £ 5 7, 0 0 0 r e p o r t e d f o r t h e p o o r e s t bracket. A decrease in part-time and mature learners has also been attributed to this, as people outside the traditional student age group

struggle to finance a degree.

The committee, headed by Harlow MP and Conservative Robert Halfon, recommended in its final report that, “Based on the overwhelming evidence w e h a v e h e a r d d u r i n g t h e i n q u i r y, we recommend that the government return to the pre-2016 system and reinstate the means-tested system of loans and maintenance grants.’’

The House of Lords sister committee offered similar proposals, describing the structure of the c u r r e n t l o a n s s y s t e m a s ‘ ’ u n f a i r, ’ ’ when publishing its findings in June o f t h i s y e a r. “ The blunt reality is that too many universities are not providing value for money and that students are not getting good outcomes from the degree s for which s o many of them rack up debt,’’ said Halfon.

The debate intensified this week following the revelations of t h e S t u d e n t L o a n C o m p a n y ’ s c h a i r, Christian Bodie, who defended detailed vetting of social media accounts as part of the process for loan applications.

Speaking to the committee in p a rl i a me nt , B o d ie a rg ue d t h at s o c i a l media profiles constituted public

sources of information, and therefore would be inve stigated alongside other sources to determine the level of finance awarded to students.

The former UBS inve stment banker c l a i m e d t h a t t h e c o m p a ny ’s ro l e wa s t o e n s u re t h a t t a x p aye r ’s m o n e y wa s spent correctly in the area, but was rebuffed by a senior MP that labelled t h e f i r m ’ s p r a c t i c e s a s “ s i n i s t e r, KG B knock-on-the-door tactics.’’

Questioning MPs used one particular story to demonstrate their o p p o s i t i o n t o t h e p o l i c y. S a i d s t o r y saw an e stranged student applying for a full maintenance loan denied the top band of funding because of a £ 70 Christmas present received from one of her parents.

Halfon strongly criticised the S L C ’s h a n d l i n g o f t h e c a s e , a rg u i n g that, ‘’a decision was taken, on the basis of that, to withdraw and review t h a t s t u d e n t ’s f i n a n c e . I j u s t t h i n k t h a t ’s u n b e l i e va b l e . ’ ’ The SLC has also been hit by the refusal of new chief executive, Paula S u s s ex to de ny t h at t he orga n i s at ion needed to be humanis ed in the way that it operates.

The a rg u a bly- i nt r u s ive inve stigation process into the

assignment of loans, along with the complete withdrawal of grant awards for the most financially-challenged of students, has now produced serious dissatisfaction in the political arena, stretching beyond those in the higher education field.

Wi t h t h e S L C ’s m e t h o d s b r u t a l ly s t r i p p e d b a re b y H a l fo n’s c o m m i t t e e , many are now pushing for the government to reverse a policy that was widely unpopular when first suggested in 2016.

With a panel set up by the Prime Minister proposing a tuition fee shake-up last week, that could see costs decrease to £6, 500 per year for certain degrees, the climate for wholesale changes in higher education is slowly appearing.

It has already been suggested by the committee that information surrounding vice-chancellors’ pay and benefits should be regularly published.

Whether Universities will choose to adopt these recommendations v o l u n t a r i l y, o r w i l l b e f o r c i b l y m a d e to agree to certain changes, remains to be seen.

News

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

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Northern Rail staff to strike until 2019

Walk-outs are planned every Saturday until the New Year, leaving thousands of students in doubt over how they can get home for the holidays Shivani Kaura Deputy News Editor Staff at Northern Rail will implement strike action for the rest o f t h e y e a r, w i t h w a l k - o u t s p l a n n e d every Saturday from now until 2 9th D e c e m b e r.

RMT members, the union which represents rail workers, are taking action after a two-year debate on the increase of driver-only operated trains, leaving conductors working fewer hours or in some cases without jobs.

It has been claimed that having automatic doors ensures the safety of passengers, whilst rail unions disagree, a rg u i ng that operating services with staff on-board maximises safety levels.

L a s t S a t u r d a y, o n l y a r o u n d 3 0 % of scheduled Northern services ran, mainly before 9am and after 6pm, leaving thousands of people stranded.

Chaos circulated across central M a n c h e s t e r a s t h e c i t y ’s C h r i s t m a s lights switch-on generated huge conge stion, and many were le ft with delays dominating their homeward journeys.

S p e a k i n g t o t h e B B C , N o r t h e r n’s managing d i r e c t o r, David Brown said, “[the Union] have re sponded by cy n ica l ly t a rge t i ng t he we e ke nd s in November and December to hit Christmas markets and important seasonal events. “ R M T ’s s t r i ke s a re c a u s i n g m o re and more unnecessary difficulty and

inconvenience for our customers and a significant loss of earnings for their members.”

With strikes set to disrupt every weekend, students are faced with a challenge in planning journeys home or the Christmas holidays.

Mick Cash, the RMT General S e c r e t a r y, a f t e r c l a i m i n g N o r t h e r n has a ‘pig-headed attitude’, said, “Northern should pull back from its p l a n i m m e d i a t e l y. “ They want to run nearly half a million trains a year without a safety critical guard on board in a move that would wreck both safety and access to services and they should listen to their front-line staff.

“RMT has secured agreements on other English franchises that enshrine the guard guarantee. Arriva Rail North also need to come to an agreement that secures a guard on their trains too.” De spite this, t h e u n i o n h a s c l a i m e d o p e r a t o r, Arriva North, has refused to talk to their workers about the on-board conductor guarantee.

H e a d d e d , “ We t h a n k t h e p u b l i c for their support and understanding throughout this dispute over rail safety and access and the union remains ready for genuine and serious talks.”

Transport for Greater Manchester were contacted about the impact Manche ster stations would have and whether any plans have been put in place, such as rail replacements for customers, but declined to comment.

Photo: Matthew Bailey @Flickr

Scheme launched to provide a bed for every rough sleeper in Greater Manchester The ‘A Bed Every Night’ campaign aims to provide shelter for an estimated 500 rough sleepers across the city Georgia Wiltshire News reporter

Photo: Andy Burgess @Wikimedia Commons

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) have launched ‘A B e d E v e r y N i g h t ’ c a m p a i g n , w i t h hopes of providing shelter for an estimated 500 people in Greater Manchester who frequently sleep rough.

Sugge sted figure s have shown that plans have been s et in place to run the scheme until March 2019 across G r e a t e r M a n c h e s t e r.

Mayor Andy Burnham, when speaking to the BBC said it was a step towards combatting a ‘humanitarian crisis’.

Despite being one of the top priorities on his agenda, homelessness has risen s i n c e M r B u r n h a m b e c a m e m a y o r, nevertheless, the number of beds provided in night shelters has dou ble d i n t he l a st ye a r to 3 5 0.

The scheme will be accessible to people whose previous address

was within the Greater Manchester region, with some shelters being o p e n 2 4 h o u r s a d a y, s i m i l a r t o o n e found in Ardwick run by Riverside Homes. Not only will the scheme p r o v i d e s h e l t e r, i t w i l l a l s o g i v e people the opportunity to register at G P su rge r ie s a nd acce s s j o b ce nt re s, helping to get them back on their feet.

When speaking to the BBC, a r o u g h s l e e p e r, R i c k y, r e c a l l e d b e i n g attacked when sleeping on the streets of Liverpool. His week-long stay in at hospital provided him with a bed for the first time in seven years.

There is a strict no violence and drugs policy within the shelters, claims Mike Wright from GMCA, with the goal of helping rough sleepers beat addiction and keeping them off the streets.

The scheme will be funded by contributions from donors and the public.

6 News

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Leeds chosen for Channel 4’s new HQ over Manchester The broadcaster has also chosen Bristol and Glasgow to house two new creative hubs Photo: Matthew Bailey @Flickr

Josh Sandiford News reporter It was recently revealed that Leeds h a s b e e n c h o s e n a s C h a n n e l 4 ’s n e w headquarters ahead of Manchester and Birmingham. The broadcaster has also chosen Bristol and Glasgow t o h o u s e t wo n ew ‘c re at ive h u b s ’ .

Although Channel 4 will still maintain a headquarters in London, it is believed that around 300 of the estimated 800 staff will be relocated t o L e e d s , B r i s t o l a n d G l a s g o w.

It was revealed in July that a new HQ would be based in either M a n c h e s t e r, Birmingham or Leeds. Since then, each city has

campaigned passionately to house t h e b r o a d c a s t e r.

Manchester was often seen as having an advantage over its rivals d u e t o S a l f o r d ’ s M e d i a C i t y, w h i c h a c c o m m o d a t e s t h e B B C a n d I T V. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater M a n c h e s t e r, tweeted: “Congratulations to Leeds on b e c o m i n g t h e h o m e o f C h a n n e l 4 ’s new National HQ , and to Glasgow and Bristol on their success. “ We a r e , o f c o u r s e , d i s a p p o i n t e d that Greater Manchester will not be the new home of Channel 4 but we are proud of the bid process we ran.”

Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council, also said: “Greater Manchester is already an

established national broadcasting centre with a huge talent pool and f lourishing creative industries. “ We f i r m l y b e l i e v e t h a t r e l o c a t i o n here would have strengthened both C h a n n e l Fo u r a n d t h i s e x i s t i n g creative ecosystem and are disappointed that they have not chosen to come here. “ H o w e v e r, our ambitions are undiminished and we will continue to pursue opportunities to further grow jobs, opportunity and creativity i n t h e c i t y. ” B i r m i ng h a m ra n a l a rge ca mp a ig n attempting to bring Channel 4 to the We s t M i d l a n d s w h i c h w a s b a c k e d b y celebrities, such as Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders. The

M a y o r o f t h e We s t M i d l a n d s , A n d y Street, als o played an active role.

Andy Street stated: “While the news is a huge disappointment, the work that has gone into the bid has not been wasted.

“A s w e p r o g r e s s e d t h r o u g h t h e bid proce ss we saw a growing s ens e of collaboration and commitment across the region between local aut hor it ie s, orga n i s at ion s a nd ou r creative industries.”

C h a n n e l 4 ’s C E O, A l e x M a h o n , h a s said that she expects to be moving staff into the Leeds HQ towards the end of 2019 but a building is yet to be found.

Cost of new arts venue, Head of Office for Students rules out The Factory, rises by saving universities almost £20m The cost of construction for the new arts centre will rise from financial difficulty by almost £20m, taking the budget to a total of £130m Nicole Wootton-Cane Head News Editor Manchester City C o u n c i l ’s expected contribution to the new a r t s v e n u e , T h e F a c t o r y, i s e x p e c t e d to rise to an extra £18.87m, bringing i t ’s t o t a l i nve s t m e n t u p t o £ 4 0. 5 7 m .

The Council, who will be providing a ro u n d a t h i rd o f T h e Fa c t o r y ’s total construction price, have attributed the increased cost to rising construction inflation rates, accounting for £ 5. 5m of the increase.

Despite the soaring costs, Sir Richard Leese, the Leader of Manchester City Council, stressed the importance of the buildings’ cultural aspects “playing a crucial role in the economy and wider life of the city”, adding that The Factory w i l l b e “g a m e - c h a n g i n g ” .

Although the City revised their contribution to the construction o f T h e F a c t o r y, t h e m a j o r i t y o f i t s funding will still come from national s o u r c e s . Fo r e x a m p l e , t h e T r e a s u r y have agreed to an inve stment of £ 78 .0 5 m . I n add it ion , a f u r t he r £ 7 m from the Arts Council will take ce nt ra l f u nd i ng u p to £ 8 5.0 5 m i f approve d i n Ja nu a r y 2 0 19.

The Factory will take on the role of an all-encompassing creative space in the city centre, and provide an adequate environment for a divers e range of creative and performing arts genres.

The 5000 capacity venue will have room for major concerts and art installations, as well as more intimate performances and immersive theatre. The Factory will als o play a significant role in the 2021 Manchester International Fe s t iva l , wh o s e C E O a n d a r t i s t i c d i r e c t o r, J o h n M c G r a t h , b e l i e v e s w i l l “s t re n g t h e n M a n c h e s t e r ’s g l o b a l reputation as a world class centre for culture.”

T h a n ks to t he ex p e c te d 8 5 0,0 0 0 v i s i t o r s a y e a r, t h e n e w b u i l d w i l l not only be a positive development fo r t h e c i t y ’s c re a t ive s . I t i s a l s o set to deliver a £1.1 billion increase t o M a n c h e s t e r ’s e c o n o my ove r a decade as well as creating 1, 500 jobs over the same period, adding to an estimated 6000 jobs in the wider S t Jo h n’s c re a t ive n e i g h b o u rh o o d , f o r m a l l y k n o w n a s t o G r a n d a T V. Construction for The Factory is due to come to a n e nd i n l ate 2 02 0.

Nicole Wootton-Cane Head News Editor

The head of the Office for Students (OfS) has warned that they will not bail out universities from financial crises.

S p e a k i n g a t t h e Wo n k f e s t h i g h e r education festival in London, Sir Michael Barber said that universities should not assume that the OfS will relieve them and that such thinking “is not in students’ longer-term interests”.

The comments follow reports that some institutions are facing financial difficulty due to falling student numbers. There has been no information regarding which universities are struggling.

H e w e n t o n t o s a y : “ We e x p e c t universities to develop realistic plans for the future which ref lect likely student demand for their courses and how best they can meet that demand.”

“Should a university or other higher education provider find themselves at risk of closure, our role will be to protect students’ interests, and we will not hesitate to intervene t o d o s o . We w i l l n o t s t e p i n t o p r o p u p a f a i l i n g p r o v i d e r. ” H o w e v e r, s o m e r e m a i n s k e p t i c a l that the OfS would stick to this

rhetoric in practice. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute told The Guardian: “If a big institution that employs and educates tens of thousands of people w e r e t o t o p p l e o v e r, t h e r e w i l l b e a m a j o r r o w. W h e n R o v e r c o l l a p s e d , t h e politicians had to get stuck in and it w o u l d b e t h e s a m e w i t h a u n i v e r s i t y. ” Unions shared similar concerns, with the Universities and College Union (UCU) saying: “Michael B a r b e r ’s c o m m e n t s d e m o n s t ra t e j u s t how out of touch t hos e i n ch a rge o f o u r u n i v e r s i t i e s r e a l l y a r e . Yo u don’t protect students’ intere sts by bringing about the demise of their l o c a l u n i v e r s i t y. ” “ The regulator and government should be supporting universities to excel, not washing their hands when things don’t go to plan.”

The OfS currently do not have any financial concerns about the 182 higher education institutions it has registered.

The Office for Students took over as the regulator for higher education earlier this y e a r, replacing the Higher Education Funding Council for England. It has the power to e n force closu re s a nd me rge rs, but h a s limited financial power to support universities.

Investigations 7

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

9/10 Students think Greater Manchester Police don’t do enough to prevent hate crimes against women

This comes as the government launches a review of whether to include misogyny as a hate crime in UK legislation. Hannah Vallance gets your thoughts

Hannah Vallance Contributor 9/1 0 students th in k Gre ate r M a nche ste r Police do not do enough to preve nt m is og yn istic h ate c rime s aga i nst women , a su rvey conduc te d by The Mancunion ha s fou nd .

This is in add ition to ne a rly 70% of re sponde nt s cl a i mi ng th at they h ad be e n a vic tim of pu bl ic ha ra ss ment in Manche ste r, includ ing inc ide nts of gropi ng, u sing explic it la ng u age, ta k ing u nwa nte d photograph s, wolf-wh istling , a nd more s e riou s offe nce s, such as assau lt.

13 % of the s e re sp onde nts s a id the offe nce h ad be e n committed by a fellow stude nt.

C ur rently, mis ogyny is not re cog n is e d a s a h ate cri me in British legis lation or the m aj ority of pol ice pre ci ncts, including Gre ate r M a nche ste r. T h is is de spite exte nsive lobby ing f rom g rou ps such a s M is og y ny Is Hate, wh ich rally for the offic ia l re cog n ition of mi s ogy ny as a h ate cr ime category in the U K . “ I feel as though pe ople do not ta ke the is sue s e riously,” one stude nt, who wis he d to re m ai n a nonymou s, told The Mancunion . “ I had an incident whe re I wa s stood outs ide a pub, fully clothed ( not th at it s hou ld m atte r) m ind i ng my own bu sine ss, and ye t got s lappe d on the bu m by a complete strange r. Nobody the re - not eve n t he bouncers - batted an eye lid . T he re is a s e r iou s is sue of ignorance.”

Two month s ago, the gove rn me nt a n nou nce d a comprehen sive rev iew of h ate c r ime leg is lation i n t he UK. Th is follows a fte r the L a bou r M P Stel l a

Cre asy put for ward an ame nd me nt to t he u p s k i r t i ng bi l l , wh ich was or ig i n al ly blo cke d by Con s e r vat ive b ack b e nche r Ch r i stophe r Chop e, cal l i ng for m i s og y ny to b e re cog n i s e d as an ag g ravat i ng fac tor i n t he of fe nce.

T h i s wou ld e n able cou r t s to of f ic i al ly con s ide r m i s og y ny, de f i ne d as t he h at re d of and ac t ive pre jud ice agai n st wome n or g i rl s, whe n s e nte nc i ng t he of fe nde r. As a re su lt , of fe nce s mot ivate d by m i s og y ny wou ld b e t re ate d t he s ame as t hos e mot ivate d by host i l ity b as e d on re l ig ion , race, s ex u al or ie nt at ion , t ran s ide nt ity and d i s abi l ity c u r re nt ly are.

To d ay, 4 5 % of wome n h ave b e e n s ex u al ly h aras s e d i n a pu bl ic pl ace, wh i l st 63 % h ave ch ange d t he i r b e h av iou r as a re su lt of st re e t h aras s me nt .

A su r vey car r ie d out by t he camp aig n g rou p Revolt S ex u al As s au lt in M arch sug ge ste d t h at eve n u n ive rs it ie s are u n s afe e nv i ron me nt s, w it h more t h an 3 i n 5 st ude nt s h ave b e e n s ex u al ly as s au lte d or h aras s e d on campu s.

In Not t i ng h am , t h i s d ark re al ity mot ivate d a two -ye ar pi lot s che me, i n wh ich t he p ol ice b e came t he f i rst force i n t he UK to re cord t he pu bl ic h aras s me nt of wome n as an of f ic i al h ate c r i me. T h i s fol lows af ter re s e arche rs f rom Not t i ng h am and Not t i ng h am Tre nt

universit ie s found t he ha ra s sment of women a nd girls in public sp ace s to b e endem ic, w it h 93.7 % re sp ondent s say ing t hey had eit her w it ne ss ed or ex p erienced it .

Howeve r, not everyone feels of f icia l recognit ion of m is ogy ny b ot h in t he court ro om a nd on t he st reet s would m a ke a dif ference.

O ne st udent told The Mancunion , “I don’t t hink m a king it a hate crime would rea lly m a ke a dif ference - it would st ill happ en, w it h few p eople rep ort ing it .”

Anot her com mented, “Unfort unately, I pro b a bly wouldn’t feel sa fer s ince I t hink my fea r is ingra ined into me.

However, I would st ill like to s ee it b e m ade a n of f icia l hate crime.

This deb ate m a rks 10 0 yea rs s ince t he Ma nche sterb orn Suf f raget te movement won women t he right to vote.

A cent ury on, when a s ked if m is ogy ny s hould b ecome recognis ed a s a n of f icia l hate crime, one st udent told The Mancunion , “It ’s 20 18 . Surely t his is a no bra iner.”

If you wa nt to get involved in t he ca mp a ign to m a ke m is ogy ny a hate crime recognis ed by G reater Ma nche ster Police, Mis ogy ny Is Hate a re holding a ‘ 10 0 0 Vo ice s’ ra lly on t he 5t h D ecem b er. You ca n f ind f urt her inform at ion here.

“Currently, misogyny

is not recognised as a hate crime in British leglisation or the majority of police precincts, including Greater Manchester”

Nottingham maintains support for misogyny as a hate crime We trace the origins of the misogyny is hate campaign, and look at how public support in Nottingham hasn’t translated into concrete results Felix Hanif-Banks Investigations Editor With Manchester’s own MisogynyIsHate movement sparking widespread discussion from all sides, assessing the impact of the now two-year-old policy in Nottinghamshire, where it was first implemented, is key to understanding how it could affect Manchester.

In July 2016, when the policy was implemented in Nottinghamshire, 87% of the public supported the change, which was defined by the police force as combating: “Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman.”

Martha Jephcott, national Misogyny Is Hate Crime trainer and campaigner, said: “The camapaign started in Nottingham after me and some friends had some horrific experiences of assault and harassment. We originally assumed it would be a campaign made of students but we quickly realised that women of all backgrounds experience this.

“Mum’s on the school run, Muslim women, black women, school girls etc. All of us experience misogyny hate crime but the abuse can get worse depending on our identity. That’s why it’s so important these campaigns continue to come from the communities themselves”.

Despite public support and positive feedback from women who had reported incidents, officers from the Nottinghamshire police have voiced concerns over the

policy as only one arrest has been made in the over twoyear period since the policy’s introduction.

Research by Professor Louise Mullany, of the University of Nottingham, and Dr Loretta Trickett, of Notting-

Photo: DavidNewton@WikimediaCommons

ham Trent University’s Law School found police were “dismissive” and “not in favour of the introduction of the policy” Officers have described it as “a vanity project” and “a waste of resources without being backed by a mandate

from the public”.

While the figures from the 2016 survey, which was commissioned by Nottingham Women’s Centre and funded by the Office for Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner, shows the public are behind the change, Police remain unaffected and have also described their training on the policy changes as “poor”.

Both the Chief Executive of the Nottingham Women’s Centre, Helen Voce, and a spokeswoman for the Nottinghamshire police have since clarified that the primary aim of the policy was not to see masses of convictions, but encourage more women to come forward and speak about potential incidents of harassment Of 174 cases reported between April 2016 and March 2018, 73 were recorded as crimes and 101 as incidents.

In either case, police can open an investigation. In some cases, action can then be taken such as meetings with building site managers after builders have been reported as harassing local women.

Prof Louise Mullany, of the University of Nottingham’s School of English claims “the public are supportive of the policy that was implemented two years ago”. She describes it as a “postivive change” and believes that the progression of this policy can help reduce the “shocking” regularity of these incidents.

Two years on from the policy, Mullany adds that there are “easily addressed” issues with the policy, noting that they had been delivered to police. She, as well as a number of people from within the police force, remains confident that the policy can bring about a real shift in the attitudes of people across Nottinghamshire.

8 Science & Tech

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Misogyny in STEM: the evidence and the future

Jacklin Kwan explores how sexism is perpetuated in STEM and results in disparity in gender representation Photo: GrrlScientist @ Flickr

Jacklin Kwan Contributor Different STEM fields face vastly different degrees of gender representation. In the US, over 50% of bioscience undergraduate degree recipients are women. This number drops significantly to fields like engineering, physics, and computer science where the percentage is closer to 20%. This is despite similarities in early academic performance between boys and girls – PISA scores are near identical for boys and girls in mathematics and science.

Deficits in gender representation become more glaring as you go down the ‘STEM pipeline’. All STEM fields show consistent trends of more women ‘leaking’ out of the system on the road to becoming fully tenured professors or high-ranking academic administrators/researchers.

Why are things like this? There is inexhaustible supply of research that have studied numerous factors that contribute to the negative external backlash women receive in STEM, as well as the internalized perceptions women have.

One barrier is whether women believe science is a ‘relevant’ profession for them. Rational questions shape women’s early interest, such as: would pursuing STEM guarantee a safe work environment? Would it allow for career progression and benefits such as maternity leave? Have there been other examples in history of successful women in STEM? All of these questions are shaped by softer cultural

influences that frame science and technology as exclusive. Only 13% of occupations classified as STEM are women. The lack of a female prescience in STEM means that young girls find it more difficult to envision themselves as leaders in their fields.

Cultural beliefs surrounding STEM as inherently gendered not only shape how women shape their future aspirations, but also the reactions of the people around them. Research reveals that males under-estimate the performance of their female peers.

Similarly, evidence shows that readers perceive research to be lower quality when it is a female author, as opposed to a male author. One early study that looked at the peer-review process in biomedicine concluded, “Our study strongly suggests that peer reviewers cannot judge scientific merit independent of gender. The peer reviewers over-estimated male achievements and/or underestimated female performance”. Biases against minorities as well as the need to confirm one’s own prejudices about what an ‘ideal’ scientist looks like are common theories to explain such results. These hostile environments also shape the pathways and opportunities made available to women. A study showed that STEM faculty at research-intensive universities were more likely to hire and mentor a male lab manager, as well as pay and rate him higher than an equally competent female candidate.

Skewed perceptions of job performance also prevent women from being promoted to higher positions. A study shows

that students rate female lecturers, especially junior ones, 37 slots below male ones. The study controlled for course materials, the final grades of the students, as well as the number of contact hours. Disturbingly, this effect is reproduced when the course is online. When online course instructors are given a male identity, evaluations are far more positive.

Strides have been made at improving gender equality.

However, there are still huge challenges to come. Acknowledging that there is a sexism issue in STEM is surprisingly difficult.

A paper published in 2015 revealed that male STEM faculty preferred research that disproved the existence of a gender bias in science, despite it being fabricated for the purposes of the experiment.

Continuing to raise awareness around the issue, and taking pragmatic action such as anonymising peer-review and application processes may help improve gender representation.

Providing student and professional networks for women in STEM, like WISE, is also invaluable.

To conclude, we asked the University’s WISE Committee for their thoughts: “To help benefit our society and its future development, we should encourage and promote science and engineering. Especially, we should try to minimise the prejudice that still emerges against women pursuing a career in STEM related fields. This will ultimately allow us to work better in unison, enabling technical and scientific challenges to be overcome”.

North South divide in early deaths linked to poverty Research at the University of Manchester has linked socioeconomic deprivation to the divide in early deaths between the North and South of England Shivani Kaura and Issy Bolitho Deputy News Editor and Contributor A recent study conducted by data scientists at the University of Manchester highlights socioeconomic deprivation as a central factor in the widening of the north-south divide in mortality rates of young adults.

The study suggested that Northerners aged between 25-44 are more likely to die from accidents, suicides, alcohol misuse, cardiovascular complications, and drug poisoning than Southerners.

The results from this research show the appearance of a North-South divide in mortality rate throughout the mid1990s, with a deepening of this continuing up until 2016. After adjusting for sex, age, and socioeconomic deprivation, the north-east has the highest mortality rates. London has the lowest.

This divide has shown a rapid expansion in deaths linked to accidents, and drug and alcohol misuse, with the gap for suicide rates in men emerging more recently.

This data shows a higher mortality risk for men than for women. The paper attributes this to socioeconomic deprivation putting higher pressure on men.

Photo © Matt Harrop (cc-by-sa/2.0) Professor Kontopantelis commented on this, suggesting deprivation “is felt by both sexes, but maybe it is more damaging for men.”

Mortality rates for cancer are higher in lower-income backgrounds due to worse living conditions, where smoking and alcohol abuse is common. Also strongly associated with deprivation was drug abuse, mainly heroin and crack addiction, leading to overdoses.

Previous research has highlighted the connection between low socioeconomic status, unemployment and risk of suicide, with the risk of suicide being twice as likely for men and one and a half times more likely for women.

The disparity between male and female mortality is also seen in alcohol-related deaths. In the most deprived areas, men show a five times higher risk of alcohol-related death. Women, however, show a four times higher risk.

Unskilled men are 10-20 times more likely to die from alcohol-related causes than those in the professional class.

Fatal work-related accidents had higher rates in the north, often related to variations in regional industries.

Manchester, historically the world’s first industrialised city, has a large proportion of industries and occupations that show a higher risk of work-related mortality. This is due to associated risks within industrial companies and factory work, a more common job for those in less deprived regions.

However, women in the north are more likely to die young from cancers, particularly those linked to “risky behaviours” such as smoking and drinking.

‘Sexual behaviour risk factors’ have also meant that more northern women suffer from cervical cancer due to poor pastoral education. This included a lower age at first intercourse and a failure to use a condom with, on average, a greater number of sexual partners.

Socioeconomic depravation in the north of England tends to be higher and more well-spread. The study attributes twothirds of the excess of deaths in the north to this deprivation.

The remaining deaths are linked to other factors such as environmental and genetic influences.

Concentrations of wealth, opportunity, and power in the south, specifically in London, are “having a malign effect on the rest of the country.”

The risk of fragmentation within the country increases as long-term imbalances in resources and investments within the NHS, local government and city infrastructure continue to exist.

Kontopantelis recommends that the government grant more money to the North, particularly to the NHS-funded organisations.

He believes that “the North has been left behind by investment.”

Features 9

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

An interview with activist Gina Martin Catrin Stewart interviews Gina Martin: the 27-year-old victim-turned-activist who is campaigning to make upskirting illegal Catrin Stewart Food & Drink Editor Strolling down the street as she picks up the phone, swearing, laughing, and most probably dressed in an array of bright colours (evidence for which I’m gathering from her Instagram), Gina Martin is not who you would expect to see in Parliament. But that’s where she’s just come from: “I’m in the weirdest political mode, I’ve just been speaking to politicians so it’s definitely nice not to speak to politicians,” she begins before our interview.

Martin, 27, has been campaigning to make ‘upskirting’ a sexual offence in England and Wales under the voyeurism section of the sexual offences act; this follows her having had pictures taken up her skirt, and sent to multiple people, at a festival back in July 2017. After taking the offender’s phone and presenting the photos to the police, she was informed four days later that there was nothing they could do and the case was closed.

I ask her how she deals with this; after diving head first into her campaign, has she spent any time acknowledging that she is a victim of sexual harassment and confronting her own trauma? “I haven’t dealt with it properly,” she admits. “I started the campaign and thrust all my energy into changing the law as a very elaborate way of getting closure.” But for Gina Martin, the most important part of her campaign was how she felt as though she was gaining some sense of power back. However, she admits that more people still want to speak about her as a victim than an activist. “What more can I do to not be a victim anymore?”

Despite this, many people would say that Martin is doing more than enough. Her feminism does not stop at the upskirting bill. She works hard to promote intersectionality, awareness of ‘white feminism’ and the importance of fashion in self-expression and how this shouldn’t negate feminism. Beyond this, she is also an avid campaigner for sustainability; on the reduction of single-use plastics and fast fashion, she says, “there’s no equality without ecology.

Everything else feels futile if I’m not helping [the environment].”

Her youth and appearance have got in the way of her campaign, perhaps, but it’s also where her strength comes from. People “don’t take you seriously if you don’t look like you belong somewhere” and she admits that she “definitely had to work three times as hard” but that for her, “fashion is a way of ‘creative expression’.”

“I went into parliament once dressed in a white shirt and a black suit but when I was in there I just didn’t feel like myself,” she notes. “I didn’t feel bold, I didn’t feel comfortable, I didn’t feel like me.”

But it is difficult to juggle everything. Martin admits it can be overwhelming giving so much of herself away and puts a huge emphasis on prioritising interests and choosing where to give her time. Her attitude is that if you can’t make a change everywhere, help other people make that change. There is no use in feeling guilty about everything else, but connecting with people who are doing valuable work can help you see that other people are making the change you want to see. “The point is that your work is never done — no one is a perfect feminist,” she says.

Martin has received some backlash from second-wave feminists who believe that her work is trivial. Whilst this is difficult, Martin still believes in the value of defining feminism in waves, as it helps her to “differentiate her work from other people’s, and see where the previous weaknesses were.” Looking forward to fourth wave feminism, Martin says that to her, “it means it’s not about me anymore”. It means platforming other issues, being inclusive towards all women, and acknowledging her privilege as a white woman.

We speak about anger — female anger, specifically. In a world where female anger is diminished, reductive and dismissed as being “over-emotional”, Martin endorses it.

The most important thing is to channel it into productivity, just as she has; “don’t become [your anger] but remember not to be ashamed of it... I can’t believe it’s 2018 and we’re still gendering emotions.”

This is what I hope readers can gain from hearing Gina Martin’s story. Anger is within us all and is valuable — and anyone can use it. Martin gives some advice to young

Photo: Gina Martin

people who want to take a more active role in feminism: “educate yourself, read, watch documentaries... above all, remember feminism isn’t about women enjoying the same privileges as men, it’s about realising that the current system is built to only benefit men and we need to rebuild this system for everyone.

“Literally anyone can do it. You don’t have to be a 40-year-old to understand and believe in basic human rights.”

The private member’s bill for upskirting got knocked down by MP Christopher Chope back in June, but half an hour before our interview, Martin had cleared the 7th stage, out of ten, for her Government bill. This means we are one step closer to making upskirting a criminal offence, which Martin predicts will be “usable” by next year.

Gina Martin is on Instagram and Twitter as beaniegigi.

She also recommends following florencegiven, rachel.cargle, carolinecalloway, and munroebergdorf to help you in your feminism journey — see, it’s as easy as a follow on Instagram.

With One Voice: bringing arts and homelessness together Photo: Simon Buckley @ Press Shot

Liv Clarke spoke with Lora Krasteva about the With One Voice Arts and Homelessness festival which will take place from the 12th -18th of November Liv Clarke Features Editor Tucked out of sight away from the throngs of commuters walking from Piccadilly Station is a colourful mural on Ducie Street, recently commissioned by the organisation With One Voice for their International Arts and Homelessness Festival and Summit, which will take place from the 12th until the 18th of November here in Manchester. The mural was created by New York artist Joel Bergner with the help of 33 artist who are or have been homeless, and sets the tone for an event which seeks to start a positive conversation about homelessness by uniting arts with discussion.

I had the opportunity to speak with Lora Krasteva, who is one of the International Producers of the festival about the With One Voice organisation and what to expect from the event.

With One Voice is more than just a charity, it’s a worldwide movement promoting the combination of arts and homelessness, “[it was] founded by Streetwise Opera… [which was created by] Mark Peacock in 2002…[and] works with people who have been homeless in England. [It was founded on the] belief that… art elevates people. Art is a human right, everyone should be able to access that,” Lora explained.

Using the arts allows the homeless and those who have

been homeless to break out of the stereotypes and to take a step away from their situation, as Lora told me: “Art is one part of a solution, [it] builds connections, [it] builds relationships… be looked at for your talent rather than your situation.”

The seven day event is split between the Summit and the Festival, “[The] festival is a week-long, all events are free, some are produced by With Once Voice, others are put together by our partners… putting things out there”. Lora explained the difference between the Festival and the Summit, “the Summit is part of the festival, from Thursday to Sunday, on top of the regular programme, ticketed, in the style of a conference”.

The Summit will take place at The Whitworth and features panels and workshops uniting artists and activists alike, from all over the world, Lora said: “[There will ] 40 people who work with homelessness and the arts in other countries… one example is Rico from Brazil, who leads a homeless choir called Umo So Vos (with one voice in Portuguese)… he helped homeless people but is also a musician, he founded 5 choirs in Rio.” Its clear that the international aspect is a vital part of the Festival and Summit, but the location of Manchester was also an important factor, as Lora explained: “Manchester is quite unique in terms of arts and homelessness… [there are] quite a lot of projects and programmes who integrate the arts with homelessness.”

The festival is composed of events happening throughout the week, across the city in various locations, including Nexus Art Café in the Northern Quarter and the Manchester Art Gallery. The events range from photography exhibitions to performances. The Festival will be highly interactive, inviting people to be part of the discussion and is a city wide event.

You can even look out for limited editions prints by the artist Mancy posted around the city.

Lora told me that students are welcomed to the all of the events, for both the creative aspects and the political ones, “There are over 50 events so you can find something you… you might want to visit a photography exhibition if that’s what you’re into…you may want to ask questions which you can do at ‘Are You Sitting Comfortably’… it’s for the curious, for the brave.”

However, the events explore the serious side of the topic as well, “[its] Also for students who are socially and politically engaged, even showing up for the festival is already an act of support… You can pick and choose… the Saturday is an open day, so the centres will be opening their doors, and you can see how these spaces work so if you want to work in this sector [it’s a great opportunity]”.

Tickets to the Festival are free, those for the Summit need to be bought in advance, however 50% of those tickets are free for people who are or have been homeless. You can find out more on their website .

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

10 Opinion

Photo: OpenClipart-Vectors / 27434 images

Let’s talk about Everyday Sexism

Hana Kelly describes her own experiences with everyday sexism to argue why making misogyny a hate crime is essential for improving women’s dayto-day experiences Hana Kelly Contributer Sexism happens everyday. People, of all genders, are discriminated against because of their gender. This happens on the street, at work, online, and in their own homes. Everyday sexism is so internalised that you probably aren’t aware of how often it occurs. Discrimination happens in all aspects of society, but gender-based crimes are still not taken seriously. There are, as senior Police Chief Sara Thornton said, more important and, bigger crimes to be prosecuted.

If you’re a young woman, like me, living in a city, then it’s almost certain you will have experienced misogyny. This could be in the form of cat-calling, unwanted attention, harassment, assault, or other more violent offences.

In these situations, it often feels like you cannot do anything.

Even if you report this behaviour, the offender would likely get off. This is because misogyny is not recognised as a hate crime.

Hate based on gender is not serious enough. No matter how minor some offences may appear, the fact that someone thinks that they can treat you that way is scary enough to demand change.

My own personal experiences have taught me how everyday sexism exists everywhere, even those places you’d expect to be safe. I used to work in a bar — a small pub that serves masses of men who ranged from 40 to 70. Men who thought it was appropriate to tell me I’m the age of their youngest and then discuss my bum and my boobs in full earshot and harass me for my phone number. It’s a place where saying “because I don’t want to” is an invalid reason for not flirting back. Yet, I couldn’t talk to my

boss. These customers were his friends, and sometimes he’d join in with the misogynistic behaviour.

These shifts would make me feel powerless. A gentleman, sorry, not-so-gentle-man, once decided to refer to me as “old number seven”, as that was what was printed on the chest of my shirt. When I asked him to call me by my name, he told me it wasn’t his fault that my chest was in front of him and that was all he could see. Or rather, all he wanted to see.

I ignored him whenever he shouted at me throughout the night, then he got angry and slightly aggressive until I Photo: EvaBergschneider @ Pixabay served him — he won.

It’s a game. If I turn these men down, then I’m a b*tch who is only worthy of pouring a pint. But if I go along with the crass comments, then I’m easy and reduced to nothing more than a pair of breasts that can pull a pint. Which would you prefer?

Is that fair? Would you like that happening to someone you knew? My shared experiences aren’t that scary, it can be so much worse, and has been for many others. This is everyday sexism.

And it has come to be expected as normal behaviour.

But I don’t want to accept that anymore. As Laura Bates’ light-giving project has shown, misogyny and gender-based hate crimes are common place.

Whilst Sara Thornton might think there are bigger crimes to deal with, misogynistic crimes are huge to the people who are affected. I believe it’s time to make misogyny a hate crime.

Guys, look out for us girls Rona McCann explores unsettling phenomenons that women and girls face every day and why we should all doing more to eradicate them Rona McCann Sub-Editor The other night I was on a tremendously overcapacity Magic Bus. Stood in front of me was a man quietly minding his own business. To my immediate right was another who was so drunk that he was wailing non-stop about that day’s major football match. He would flit between doing this and picking out individuals to loudly converse with, or rather, at.

It was here that I noticed the stark difference between what men and women experience even during something so mundane and everyday as travelling on public transport.

Whilst the young man in front of me and other men nearby were humouring this drunk man, laughing at his incoherent jokes and answering his almost senseless questions, I found myself paralysed with fear. I’m not saying that I had already assumed that this man was a sexual predator. Instead my fear was the unknown. For all I knew, he could next turn to me, one of the only women in the vicinity, and steer his subject very far from football.

When we as women are forced to be within close proximity to men who have had their confidence heightened and Photo: pxhere https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1114048 We are objects that they have invited themselves to leer at. their lips unrestricted — loosened from a brush with a few too Previous experience has shown me that many drunk men many beers — our first instinct is to fear the worst. And we are not fail to see women as people, in the form of a rather different yet worrying unnecessarily. equally upsetting phenomenon: When a male stranger We have developed this instinct from years of first-hand experiapproaches a heterosexual couple for whatever reason, they will ence of gender-specific harassment and the vicarious exclusively talk to the male. You, the woman, are an afterthought, experience of similar women’s struggles from throughout not worthy of being looked at in the eyes or receiving more than history. To the men who we fear daily, we are no longer people.

three words. You’re referred to as ‘her’ or, much more uncomfortably, ‘your bird’ You become an accessory to the men you accompany in the eyes of other men.

Of course, in the case of the stranger being intoxicated we women might actually appreciate not being talked to directly. These men are scary and, as degrading as it is to feel it, your male companion’s presence makes you feel safe.

However, this isn’t because you believe the man you are with is so strong and burly that they will protect you. It’s because you know men respect what they perceive to be another man’s property more than they respect an individual woman’s body, so they will never need to try.

In the case of an approaching stranger instead being quite sober, the prolonged focus on only the man as if you are not there is just insulting.

If you’re a man and upon reading this it strikes you that you would never act like the above, then you have managed to abide by obligations of morality and sense so basic that it is not even worth congratulating.

But to you, I will say this: watch out for your mates, whether it be making sure your female friends are safe or making sure your males friends aren’t the thing they need to be made safe from.

Opinion 11

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Hate All Hate crime

Cachella Smith, in light of the potential changes to the Gender Recognition Act, argues that in order to fully combat misogyny, hate crime against any gender is necessary, including radical feminist groups pitted against men and trans women Cachella Smith Deputy Opinion Editor The UK government has recently launched a consultation on the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which aims to facilitate people changing their legal gender on birth certificates. Changing gender legally does not have a biological change as a pre-requisite.According to an LGBT survey carried out by the government of over 108,000 participants, a majority felt that requirements for applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate are confusing. The process was termed “bureaucratic and expensive”.

The proposition therefore is to enable people to change their legal gender without the need for medical consultation or proof.

There has been a subsequent backlash to this movement.

Feminist groups have suggested that this would enable predatory non-trans men to gain access to spaces where females are vulnerable, from female prisons, to changing rooms and toilets, and even Girlguiding communities.A few weeks ago, a protest took place in Deansgate, Manchester, attacking the government’s proposition for these very reasons. Women came dressed in costumes representing both the suffragette movement and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, protesting against the rights of transgender people due to a supposed threat to female safety.

Whilst we would all tend to say that the security of other human beings must be a priority, equating such a positive movement within the transgender community to a threat to the female sex gives rise to some incredibly negative outcomes.

Suggesting a need for those who apply for a new birth certificate to undergo rigorous checks because they potentially pose a threat to females in vulnerable spaces, spreads a dangerous and blatantly false message about transgender people, to the detriment

of gender equality.

This kind of argument is radically exclusive, and works to promote fear through exaggerating a potential but very minimal and unlikely risk If the Government were to pass such a movement, it would be a hugely positive step for the recognition and equality of all genders. It would make an already difficult process slightly easier, and prove that the government and those in power recognise the plight of those in that situation.

What protests like those mentioned above serve to do however is the opposite to the proposed new regulation. They are literally arguing for the continued segregation of genders, posing them as threats against each other.

Radical feminists like these present a need to protect females and to collate this group as an exclusionary gender. They reiterate the concept of gender as binary and biological, denying a trans woman the status of a woman and suggesting they, as a biological man, still pose a threatThere are two messages given here. Firstly, denying or complicating the right of belonging on the part of trans people. Secondly, aligning all men with a potential threat. it is not just misogyny and hate crime against women that

Photo: Eric Parker @Flickr

we need to fight against, but hate crime gender in particular.

associated with any

From inside the Misogyny Is Hate campaign From inside the Misogyny is Hate campaign, Joe Penny, argues that men need to be more involved in the campaign for gender equality.

Joe Penny Contributor As a man I have been spared the harassment and sexism faced by women daily. Men in my experience tend to have little knowledge of how common sexism is. Whilst many of my female friends and partners have been victims — being followed home, groped on nights out, or worse. And through my experience with the Misogyny Is Hate campaign I have learnt just how scarily common these stories are.

The obvious impact of misogyny is the mental and physical effect it has had and continues to have on women. But a lot of men don’t realise that misogyny also hurts them as well.

Since my childhood I have been told not to cry, to “man up” and not be such a “big girl”. I was discouraged from showing emotions or talking about things personal to me as they weren’t macho enough, or were deemed girly or cowardly simply because they encouraged men to talk about deeper issues than football or ‘shagging’.

Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged under 45 in the UK. I can’t help but feel that this is in part due to the culture of ‘toxic masculinity’. Men are taught not to open up or talk about their feelings like girls are. There is a massive difference in how men and women handle mental health problems.

While female friends have encouraged me to talk about how I feel and learn more about myself, male friends have often suggested going out for drinks or other drugs to numb the pains I feel. Females have shown me how to help others going through tough times, whereas males, including some as close as my own father have gone to great effort to avoid any closure.

What some men don’t realise is that true feminism is about all genders being equal. It’s not about men being ‘overthrown’. Women face sexism and misogyny. It is behaviour that needs to be talked about and ended, but it doesn’t have to be a one-sided affair.

Men can benefit from the knowledge and behaviour women have to offer: how to form closer relationships; how to open up to others and talk about issues and tough times to help recovery, rather than just getting inebriated; to not be afraid to do something they enjoy because its not a typical manly thing to do, as opposed to trying to be someone they are not, just to fit in.

Half the battle is just changing the minds of these men as they are often exhibiting sexist behaviour because they learnt it in youth or from people they idolise. Often these men have their own battles going on that they refuse to let anyone see because it will make them appear weak.

Feminism is about empowering women. But it can also empower men in a different way, helping their mental health and encouraging them to grow into themselves, rather than rigid and tired gender roles. I encourage every man to explore feminism and see the benefits it can have for themselves as well as women, so that we can finally put an end to toxic masculinity and let boys be boys in their own individual way rather than trying to match the archaic ‘macho man’ mould.

Photo: Greater Manchester Citizens

12 Societies ILTHY UR F ILKY O Y P YS KEE OFF M LAWS DRAWS!

all en wom

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

equal rights & nothing less!

my body my business!

tr u wo st me n

In conversation with:

The Feminist Collective

Photo: PoseMuse @ PixaBay

Chloe Hatton talks to Safiyya El Diwany about all things feminism with the student-led Feminist Collective Chloe Hatton Societies Editor This week we’re supporting the Misogyny Is Hate campaign, which aims to make misogyny recognisable as a hate crime in Manchester – meaning that rape, domestic violence, aggressive stalking, and groping could all be treated as hate crimes.

So, who better to speak to about the campaign and all things feminism than a feminist society? I spoke to Safiyya El Diwany, a third year Pharmacy student and the chair of the Feminist Collective, about the work that the Collective are doing this year.

They’re an intersectional society who campaign for an inclusive campus for self-defining women, holding socials and running campaigns to better the lives of students. When I ask Safiyya why students should get involved she laughs a little.

“It’s my duty to make sure society is a safe place for trans women, lesbian women, women of colour, Muslim women, non-binary people, and everyone else” “I always find this question really difficult to answer. It’s more a question of ‘why wouldn’t you get involved?’ Feminism is such a hot topic in the media at the moment, especially with the rise of #MeToo and with the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. I think people are really starting to realise just how necessary feminism is.

“It’s my duty not only as a woman, but as a human being, to make sure society is a safe place for trans women, lesbian women, women of colour, Muslim women, non-binary people, and everyone else”.

However, it’s not just women that will feel the effects of feminism. Safiyya says that men will also feel the benefits. Feminism is a tool for dismantling the patriarchy, and whilst this undoubtedly has benefits for women, men will also be able to reap the rewards.

In a feminist society, she explains, many of the issues that face men, including things like toxic masculinity, will begin to

disappear.

As for the Misogyny Is Hate campaign, Safiyya thinks it’s a brilliant idea.

“It’s about time. There have been lots of misconceptions about the campaign, but men won’t go to prison for things like complimenting a woman. However, misogyny is an act of aggression, and making it a hate crime will put more weight behind convictions.

It’ll also empower more women to stand up for themselves and report things if they know it will also be treated as such. Women tend to minimise their experiences; being groped on buses at the age of 14, saying ‘this is just what happens to all women, it’s normal.’ It’s not – it is a hate crime. We absolutely do not want to negate the suffering of men who have also experienced sexual abuse, but women are more likely to be harassed than boys, and this is happening because we are women.”

Men can also help the feminist cause and help to empower women. The Feminist Collective is open to all genders and anyone can join. However, Safiyya says that sometimes men need to allow spaces for women to speak and put forward their experiences.

“We held a documentary screening recently about labiaplasty in the UK, with a discussion afterwards. There was one man there, and whilst we are open to everyone joining us, men also need to recognise that they need to allow women to speak rather than directing the conversation towards them. There were women in this screening who didn’t feel comfortable enough to speak up, and so it’s so important for men to understand Photo: @hawwaetc that some spaces are for women to speak, and not for men to monopolise the conversation.”

When I ask Safiyya about the need for women-only spaces on campus, such as the Women’s Theatre Society, she says that it really depends on the space. There definitely is a place for women-only spaces, but that the Collective themselves really want to try and engage with more men and work together in tackling the patriarchy.

The Feminist Collective have a whole host of events coming

up you can get involved in. On the 12th of November, they’ll be hosting an Angry Feminist event session, which is a space for women to come together and express their frustrations without judgement. Each session is themed, and this time round, the theme is body hair. This theme also stands for an exhibition that the Collective are doing in the Students’ Union on the 28th of November, so if you need a place to express your anxieties and grievances with the support of other women, head on down.

November is also Islamophobia Awareness Month, and so the Collective want to look at how feminism can sometimes be weaponised as a tool of Islamophobia, and look beyond a good/bad binary. They’re running a workshop on decolonising feminism on 29th November, led by the spoken word poet Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan, which will look at feminism through a different lens.

As well as all this, they’re also partnering up with various campaigns to work together on issues that face Manchester. One of these is the Speak Up Stand Up campaign, running a workshop on being an active bystander, giving you the opportunity to learn how to help in situations involving harassment. You will learn how to recognise the warning signs, how to intervene, and how to support any victims.

They’re also teaming up with Sister Supporter – a group of people who are a counter presence to anti-abortion protesters. When protesters gather outside clinics and try to harass staff or women who are attending these clinics, Sister Supporter are on hand to take evidence and support patients if this is needed or wanted. They’re currently trying to lobby Manchester City Council to create buffer zones around abortion clinics. If you want to support this cause, there will be a stall outside the SU where you can sign the petition to make this a reality.

“If you want to join the Feminist Collective, please do! You can be involved as much or as little as you want, there’s no joining fee, and all of our events are free. We’ve also got a Facebook page that you can like to keep up-to-date with all of our news and events”.

“We’re just trying to make society a better place for everyone.”

How can your society get involved in Misogyny Is Hate?

A vicious cycle

Want your society to get involved with the Greater Manchester Misogyny Is Hate campaign? Rosie Johnson outlines how you can support the student-led movement Rosie Johnson Contributor You may have seen Misogyny Is Hate outside the SU on one of our Drive Days, or you may have come to one of our events such as our Pizza and Prosecco networking evening.

The cause may have caught your interest and now you might be wondering... what can I do? If you are a member of a society, or even run your own, here are some of the ways you can get involved in Misogyny Is Hate.

Our campaign events, in particular, are essential for both networking and raising awareness for the campaign. Your involvement, or even just your attendance, could dictate the final success of the Misogyny Is Hate campaign.

On 15th November, we will be holding a ‘Blanket’ Night where we will be covering the streets of Manchester with Misogyny Is Hate posters. Here, we will need as many volunteers as we can find to get involved so that we are successful in covering Manchester from Fallowfield, through both UoM and MMU, to the city centre. Following this, we will be holding a demonstration in the city centre on the 28th November. This will involve a short performance art piece about misogyny. Your society may want to be involved in the performance or the direction of this piece.

Finally, our ‘1000 Voices’ Rally on the 5th

December. This is the most important event for our campaign and is where your help is most needed. This may be your opportunity to stand up and speak out for Misogyny Is Hate. In particular, performance-based societies might be interested in showcasing their work by performing at the rally. This may be anything from a music piece performed by a small singing group to a short spoken word piece.

Alongside this, if you are passionate about making misogyny a hate crime in any capacity, and have something you want to say about the cause or anything related, then you may wish to be a speaker at the rally.

The main purpose of the campaign is to fight the acts of crime that the women of Manchester are subjected to every day. We want to hear from you: what are your own experiences which make our campaign as important as it is?

If you wish to share your own story you may want to speak at our rally or, alternatively, you may wish to write for us and have you work published on our blog (either anonymously or not). If you or your society want to get involved in our Misogyny Is Hate campaign, please contact us on our Facebook page, Instagram (@misogynyishate), or Twitter (@ MisogynyIsHate).

This post was a guest submission from the student-led Misogyny is hate campaign.

The UOM Cycling Club took on a mammoth 24 hour cycle – all for charity Photo: UOM Cycling Club

Chloe Hatton Societies Editor On Tuesday, 6th November, The University of Manchester Cycling Club began an epic challenge – a 24 hour static bike ride. Taking on the worst of Manchester’s rain and cold, the club braved the elements all in the name of charity.

Around 20 members of the cycling club cycled in shifts. There were two people at any one time on two bikes outside the Students’ Union. These shifts meant the team was continuously cycling for 24 hours, beginning at 10am on Tuesday and finishing 10am Wednesday.

So why do it? The club wants to raise a grand total of £2,500 this year for Maggie’s Centres.

They are welcoming spaces that work alongside the NHS to provide emotional, practical, and social support to those with cancer and their loved ones. It costs £2,500 to run a centre for a day.

They’ve run the event for a number of

years now, but want this year to be their most successful yet. They’re hoping to raise a total of £800 from the 24 hour cycle alone. If you’d like to contribute to this total, their JustGiving page is still accepting donations.

Rebecca Maynard, the club’s Race and Track Captain, said “It was a super hard ride. The hardest part, for me at least, was about 2am-4am where we saw very few people so it was hard to convince myself to keep it going. But it’s an amazing cause, and one that’s become closer to my heart in the last year and a half with my grandma having breast cancer.”

If this sounds like something you’d like to get involved in next year, why not join the Cycling Club? They welcome anybody, regardless of experience or ability. The club offers the chance to get involved in weekly mountain biking trips to Wales or the Peak District, weekly road biking sessions, and even opportunities for European training camps or weekend trips within the UK. Membership costs £40, and if you do want to join, check out their Facebook page.

2018 Gen Sec at the Students’ Union, Fatima Abid, has questions… and you have the answers.

What is the best and worst aspect of your student experience?

What do you want to change about the University and Students’ Union?

Do you think we need a Postgraduate Officer at the Students' Union?

GEN SEC ON TOUR…

…coming to a campus location near you throughout November and December.

08 November - 13:00 - 15:00 Main Library 22 November - 12:00 - 14:00 North Campus 06 December - 12:00 - 14:00 Ali G

PUT YOURSELF FIRST This Wellbeing Week, try to forget about assignment deadlines and reading lists.

Put yourself first (for once) with pop-up events and activities at the Students’ Union.

Line-up: Rescue puppy visit . Meditation . Massages Nail painting . Workshops . Yoga . & more...

19th NOVEMBER to 24th NOVEMBER

Misogyny in Fallowfield It’s Sexist, Linder In Inside Performing Rights Our Fav Females: 19 Horror:20 Profile: 25 at Night: 22 But...: 23 Culture Society: 18

CULTURE Photo: Andy Witchger @ Flickr

THE

Live Reviews.

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Music

Dream Wife Dream Wife LIVE Lois Chandler

9/10

Photo: Lois Chandler @ Mancunion

London-based girl band Dream Wife transform a sold-out Gorilla into a convent of followers worshipping at the altar of riot grrrl punk and euphoric guitar riffs, writes Lois Chandler

As the first entrancing riffs filled a packed-out Gorilla on the 26th October, it was clear that the audience was in for something special.

The energy of the three women, who met at art school in Brighton, radiated from the stage and instantly whipped the audience into a frenzy of mosh pits and movement. However, these were no ordinary mosh pits – the crowd didn’t contain an ounce of aggression, something which is all too present in many gig settings. The same cannot be said, however, for the band who aggressively roared lyrics such as “I am not my body I am somebody” whilst towering over the audience.

The sight of young girls screaming the band’s feminist orientated lyrics back at lead singer Rakel Mjöll was nothing short of cathartic.

Feminism is a key part of the band and their sentiments on the issue were made crystal clear in songs such as ‘Somebody’, which tells the story of sexual assault on females from a male perspective. The band made it apparent they’re aware of their influence, with Rakel proclaiming, “if you have a platform, no mater how small, use it”. They proved that they’re not all talk, calling halfway through the performance for all the “bad bitches” to come to the front – therefore making sure all the shorter members of the audience could see. The band clearly made the effort to create an inclusive environment, demonstrated in the diversity and drive of the crowd. A band so aware of their position of authority and influence is

Black Honey Black Honey present the ultimate image of a polished indie-rock quartet with a healthy mix of shimmering guitar, power ballad efficiency and Americana style radiating from their self-titled album that arrived just this September.

This Brighton four-piece have slowly enraptured the minds and hearts of their fan base in true David Lynch style: a softly focused world of drama and sonic visualisation, backlit by a stunning neon scatter of dancing lights and decals. Their latest offerings have been described by Ben Kitto from publication The Edge as “a carefully and cleverly cultivated sound” which is, without doubt, an impressive and vital feat for a first album release.

I was intrigued to explore the live performance of a band that had up to this point portrayed a mysterious semi-realism that had surprised and captivated me during their performance on The Library Stage at Tramlines 2018.

Lead vocalist Izzy B. Phillips has a dream-like, soft quality to her voice that draws you in, particularly towards the delicately imploring track ‘Corrine’ that invited the audience to fall into a gentle wave about halfway through their set. This moment was my highlight of an otherwise

highly disappointing gig that missed the mark in performance and distinctive delivery. It was a shame to see the set reduced by poor sound and performance when being initially enticed by the pure joy and excitement that the brightly, glamorous neon eyes of the stage backdrop brought.

Put simply, it lacked the character and promise that had been fore-promised in the elegant portrayals across the band’s music videos and indie-rock clarity. Popular tracks that should’ve flown with ease such as ‘Crowded city’ seemed to fall flat amongst a myriad of issues such as a broken guitar, low-level live vocals from the entire band and a heavily used backing track that detracted from the beautiful simplicity of Izzy’s live vocals.

One thing that remains to their credit is their incredibly impassioned and dedicated fan base that keenly crowd surfed and formed dance pits to almost every track. If nothing else it was heartening and a delight to watch these tracks come to life within the eyes of an eagerly awaiting crowd who were undoubtedly invested.

Unfortunately, Black Honey have yet to prove their status as a great live indie-rock powerhouse at this time but who knows what the future holds for such a highly destined band.

invigorating in an industry where so many avoid using it.

Melodic, classic indie guitar riffs in songs such as ‘Fire’ blended seamlessly into pure punk hits, demonstrating the ability and diversity of the bands repertoire. The lights and staging were kept minimal, with lead singer Rakel’s stage presence stealing the show. She moved across the stage with mesmerising effortlessness, oozing confidence more commonly found in the likes of Mick Jagger.

She somehow manages to combine dazzling harmonies with almost spoken word-like aggression on songs such as ‘FUU’, all delivered with true anger and sass, the likes of which haven’t been heard since 90s Riot Grrrl.

The band appeared to be having almost as much fun as the audience – leading them to emotionally declare that they “wished they had more songs to play”. Indeed, watching them it was easy to forget that they’d only released their debut album, as they played with the confidence of a band with decades of experience. Their debut absolutely comes to life in a live setting, the band very much relying on the their relationship with the audience in order to perform to the best of their ability.

The bands mixture of simplistic indie riffs and raw energy combine to form something that’s nothing short of revolutionary. Dream Wife won over every member of the audience, making sure they had not only the time of their lives but also left with something to think about.

Insecure Men LIVE Georgina Davidson

4/10

Black Honey take to the stage at Manchester’s Academy 2 to deliver a disappointing set that didn’t quite live up to expectations, writes Georgina Davidson

Photo: Paul Hudson @ Flickr

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Poison Ivy Jasmine Bennett

Music

8/10

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Album review: Yung Lean - Poison Ivy

Jasmine Bennett reviews Yung Lean’s latest EP, Poison Ivy, which offers up eight-tracks of melancholic vocals and rhythmic beats

Photo: Max Ronnersjö @ Creative Commons

40 years ago, the world was blessed with one of the weirdest and most wonderful artists it has ever seen. The world was blessed with a frizzy haired 19 year old singing about Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights whilst dancing in a forest wearing fantastically bold red lipstick and green eyeshadow. The world was blessed with Kate Bush.

With five albums worth of material to work with, The Whole Story sees Kate take the best of her brilliant early catalogue and assemble it into one amazing compilation. 32 years on, this record has not aged a day, with every track still proving timeless, fuelling its listeners with all of Bush’s raw emotions.

The Whole Story takes the listener away on a musical ride through some of Bush’s most iconic moments from the beginning of her career. Hearing Bush’s early work in particular showcases the evolution of her wonderfully wavy vocals and wild imagination. From her softly sung piano ballad ‘The Man With The Child In His Eyes’, written at the age of just fourteen, to her spacey-orchestral experiment track ‘Wow’, taken from her second album Lionheart.

Bush uses The Whole Story to really showcase the formation of her now trademark quirkiness. With tracks like ‘Babushka’, (about a woman romantically fooling her husband) and the iconic pop anthem ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’, being flawless demonstrations of her ability to continually surprise listeners and

Yung Lean’s latest release, Poison Ivy, is a dive into an exquisitely curated selection of synths, beats and his trademark monotone vocals. The mixtape is an apparent development of the more personal and melancholic tones seen in the likes of its predecessor Stranger.

The careful mixing and production by Whitearmor is full of deep layering and echoes of specific sounds. The duo have collaborated on almost all of Lean’s releases and Poison Ivy shows just why the combination has lasted.

Whitearmor’s production combined with Lean’s vocals create something that feels hypnotic and entrancing.

Lean’s trademark vocals kick off the EP in the form of leading single ‘happy feet’. The rhythmic quality to his voice is composed over low keys and synths before the chorus sets in with its repetitive but catchy lyric “Diamonds dance like Happy Feet but happy ain’t my set” – a reference to his rap crew Sad Boys and their increasing wealth, injecting energy into the record.

In a continuation of this strong opening is ‘friday the 13th’, which forms a tribute to Lean’s late manager Barron Machat who died in a car accident three years ago. The melancholic rhymes are set over fast-paced trap beats before launching into the hook. While the EP features little difference in terms of individual track style (each songs sound

push boundaries. Every track on The Whole Story shows the pure creativity and song-writing talent possessed by Bush - a skill heard in every one of her song’s piano notes and every drum beat.

Opening this compilation is the genius ‘Wuthering Heights’, which Bush remixed and rerecorded herself for this project. This remixing was done purely with the intent on giving the song a more mature sound, replacing Bush’s original vocals for the track when it was released in 1978, when Bush was just 19. This minor alteration in sound really does highlight the subtle change in vocal depth and resonance Bush developed in the eight years between the original track release to the polished and perfected iteration heard on The Whole Story.

Kate Bush creates magical worlds through her music, vocals and lyrics that has the fantastic ability to transport you away to a wondrous place where anything could happen. A place where Catherine and Heathcliff are together; a place where God will let you be another person to escape from the excruciating feeling of loving someone too much. The Whole Story is a vessel that ultimately transports the listener to the depths of Kate Bush’s imagination.

Kate Bush is not a singer, she is an artist. In fact, she is one of the most important artists of our time, and one that will continue to shape the music industry forever. Listening to The Whole Story is all the proof you need.

relatively similar), the record is still a cohesive development in Lean’s career.

Another standout is ‘silicon wings’, which features a further intensely catchy hook – Lean’s self-admitted specialty. The Swedish singer recites “Two hundred stacks before the day begins”, set to a combination of thrumming beats and synths that allow the listener to once more relish in Whitearmor’s production talents.

Lean finishes the slick EP with my personal favourite, ‘bender++girlfriend’. With refreshing honesty, Lean mixes classic rap references to drugs and money with lyrics that are a just a bit heart-wrenching. The loveliness of “We all get lost sometimes but I surrender” is followed by the somewhat intimate, all too personal repetition of “I’m scared when you fall, we cannot fall, she fell asleep on my arm”. This vulnerability draws to mind previous works from the rapper such as ‘Agony’ and ‘Yellowman’. The track is an excellent finisher that allows us to hear a more personal and developed side to the young artist.

More talented and emotionally poignant than his 22 years might suggest, the new more melancholic angle is an interesting change of direction from the rapper. The beat-drenched vocals, smooth lyrics and incredible production from Whitearmor leave you just wishing the 23-minute record was longer.

Rec rd Reappraisal: Kate Bush The Whole Story

Photo: Daniel Rehn @ Flickr

The Whole Story Bella Fleming

10/10

Bella Fleming takes a look back in time at Kate Bush’s album The Whole Story, arguably one of music’s most influential and important releases to date

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Music

Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation:

fighting the good fight Photo: Graham Crumb @ Creative Commons

Ellis Coopey sheds light on the important, but slow, work PRS are doing for female musicians in the current industry If you’ve been anywhere that plays music publicly (live or piped through speakers) then you’ve probably seen that red sticker on the doors or windows, with the letters ‘PRS’ in white. Well, PRS stands for Performing Rights Society. Essentially what this means is that the venue is supporting the growth of artists, protecting their rights (copyright, royalties, etc.) and licensing the use of their members’ music. Pretty cool right?

This means the bar you’re in, and I’m paraphrasing, submits a playlist to PRS, registering a list of tracks they desire to play within the establishment and then are charged a fee. On PRS’s end, this is distributed to the musicians as royalties and a slice is also put into a pot to support artists who need additional financial support to get their projects off the ground. This separate pot is a charity called ‘PRS for Music Foundation’ and these guys are doing some pretty amazing things.

The charity is leading the charge in the UK on the gender imbalance issue running rife in the music industries.

This is no mean feat. PRS are in a fortunate position in that their financial support is at the centre of so much music-making nationwide. This means that they’re able to collect statistics about who exactly is doing the music-making in the UK, according to their books, and put in place strategies to address issues that arise.

For example, when in 2011 they noted that only 13% of PRS for Music members were women and 16% of applications for commissions received by PRS Foundation featured female composers and songwriters, they launched their ‘Women Make Music’ initiative. The aim is to ‘Raise awareness of the gender gap amongst songwriters and composers; encourage more female music creators to come forward for funding and increase the profile of women who are creating new music in the UK and support role models for future generations’.

Has it helped? In 2016, PRS for Music Foundation released a 5-year report on the scheme, here’s what they found.

In the first year of running, Women Make Music, 86% of applicants had not applied before, demonstrating the increased reach of targeted initiatives. The de-

mand was high, and they were only able to support 12% of the 1,300 applications received and 38% were not PRS for Music Members. This is suggesting that women are less likely to register as professional songwriters than their male counterparts (16% of the UK’s registered songwriters and composers are women) and for those reporting on business development, seed funding from Women Make Music generated 100% return on investment and a 27% increase in overall income.

The proof is in the pudding, don’t you think?

CEO Vanessa Reed stands by this initiative and claims: “At the foundation we are setting ourselves the target achieving a 50-50 balance of male-female music creator applicants by 2022.

“This report calls on government, fellow funding agencies and other industry partners to work with us on this goal by endorsing and investing in good practice, and positive action, like our ‘Women Make Music’ fund, promoting role models for the next generation and improving working conditions for women in music. Only then can we be sure that a broader range of talent will be empowered to develop a career in writing music and that the music industry will better reflect the world around us.”

There are obviously still problems let’s not pretend there isn’t. History has a lot to answer for, but perhaps we should take a moment to recognise those taking positive action to turn these things around. Personally, I hope this kind of positive action is one day, a consideration of the past.

I’d like to be able to tell stories around the fire to my grandchildren about fighting the good fight. “Come on Grandad, that didn’t really happen,” they’d refute, and perhaps their generation will be fighting for the rights of Artificial Intelligence instead, and I’ll have strong-minded opinions about ‘the way things used to be’. In the words of Kaija Saariaho, who in 2016, was the second female composer to ever have an opera mounted at the New York Met, “It just shows how slowly these things evolve, but they are evolving – in all fields and also in music.”

PRS for Music Foundations’ Women Make Music 5-year report can be found on the PRS website.

Caroline Rose

Caroline Rose in snowballing into fame after her spectacular 2018 album, but her main concern is still having a good time, writes Jack Burnett

Breakthrough artist seems like an appropriate description for Vermont songwriter and producer Caroline Rose, due less to her sudden rise in popularity but more to her explosive take on sarcasm and pop that shot her there.

The four-year hiatus after her Americana folk debut gave her time to totally re-brand and her 2018 album LONER is a punchy eclectic record that feels downplayed if described just as pop. One of LONER’s main strengths is its fun, sarcastic realism toward the dizzying reality of being a woman today; from irritating “straight white teeth” of friend’s friends to the realities of cat-calling, queerness and a looming spectre of real-life of adulthood.

Rose’s music is far from a just a joke though, as gleaming reviews across the world testify to the intelligence of “LONER”. Beyond its expert production from Paul Butler (who has worked on the last Micheal Kiwanuka record), the lyrics are where it really peaks. Specifically, in relation to misogyny, Rose devotes a third of the album from ‘Soul No. 5’ to ‘Bikini’ explicitly to a few of the shitty ways to be spoken down to by men. “You looking good, mama, how you doin’?” shouts one from a car.

“Put on this Bikini and dance, dance, dance” suggests another. The interlude between the two tracks is just under a minute of warped cacophonous demands to “SMILE BABY”!

Caroline Rose is the definition of hot right now and she knows it. It is also a credit to her that one of the smartest albums of this year is also such a blast. In her own words: “Sometimes sad songs just need a cocktail”, and I’ll have what she’s having.

Hot Right Now Photo: GoGoAckman @ Creative Commons, Flames Photo: XoMEoX @ Flickr

Follow our Spotify Playlist Scan the code and follow ‘The Mancunion’ for more!

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Games

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The Mancunion’s favourite female video game characters there is a significant lack of female characters in the male dominated world of gaming, our contributors discuss their favourites, and why we need to see more representation With the Misogyny Is Hate movement in full swing, The Mancunion’s game section has decided to take a look back at our favourite female video game characters from across the ages. With gender representation a big issue in games right now, and the conversation over positive discrimination louder than ever, we remind ourselves of why we want to see more women in prominent roles in video games.

Carmelita Fox ( Sly Cooper series) – Robert Pate, Contributor A character who had the potential to be nothing but a love interest, and gets involved with plenty of romantic clichés, was so badass they came out of it a crucial part of the franchise. Carmelita Fox, an Inspector for INTERPOL, took absolutely no nonsense. While you skulked around, Carmelita was dispatching crooks like someone out of Road House . While often being the damsel in distress herself, she gave as good as she took – coming to aid Sly and the gang in the most pivotal moments of the story.

She never strayed too far from her principles, and was fi rmly grounded in what was right and wrong. Even when she was framed, arrested, and fi red from INTERPOL she was strong enough to stick to her guns and clear her name.

Meve ( Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales ) – David Uncle, Contributor The Witcher franchise is full of strong female leads, many of whom are vital characters. Yennefer of Vengerberg, Triss Merigold, and Ciri are as important to the course of events in the games as the male lead, Geralt of Rivia. Yet in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt , the game is as much about Ciri as it is Geralt. Ciri isn’t Photo: Meve, SteamXO @ Flickr my favourite female character, though. That goes to a hidden gem who, apart from in the books, has only just appeared in the latest title, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.

Queen Meve of Lyria and Rivia is a strong, wise and independent character.

Her husband’s death left her the unexpectWhile not a player character, one of the ed monarch of the country, as well as the strongest characters in 2012’s Bruce Leemother of two children. Yet when the Nilstyle Hong Kong action game Sleeping Dogs fgaardian invader threatened her nation, is that of Mrs. Chu. Mother to gang leadinstead of surrendering or sending her vas- er Winston Chu and owner of the Golden Koi sals to die for her while she remains safe restaurant, the hangout for the gang the in a palace, she led her forces herself un- player infi ltrates, Mrs. Chu is shown to be like several of the kings of The Continent. a force to be reckoned with; brutal and Lara Croft ( Tomb Raider series) – uncompromising, and intensely loyal to her family.

Danny Jones, Contributor While her actions may not exMy favourite female actly be that of a role model, character is an easy it’s refreshing to see a role one: Lara Croft. Whilst that may have been traditionthe conception of this ally associated with a father character undoubtedly (that is, the one who passed has roots in some undown the gangster nature to fortunate and unsavoury their offspring) being played female stereotypes – the by a woman. rich, overly-sexualGLADOS ( Portal series) – ised ‘cyber-babe’, dual-wielding smoking Jeremy Bijl, Games Editor pistols and perpetually For me, casting female charpouting at the camera – acters as villains is just as studying this video game important as casting them as heroine’s evolution cuts heroes, and GLADOS is a great Photo: GLADOS, PlayStation Europe @ Flickr much closer to the root example of when that’s been of the adversity that we done effectively. Okay, so are examining this week.

GLADOS is an android, technically, but her Since the 2013 reboot of the voice – which is distinctly feminine – is Tomb Raider franchise, this her strongest weapon. undisputable gaming icon has As players, we are used to hearing the continued to develop and overfemale voice as something calming and, in come struggles of sexism and many entries, little more than an obligatoarchaic, archetypal representa- ry romance option. GLADOS completely subtions of women, transcending verts this, lulling in the player with her boundaries through reclaiming seductive tone before revealing herself to her sexuality and encouraging be the villain of the piece, and one of the female empowerment each time greatest video game villains of all time. she snuffs out her chauvinistic I’m also really excited to see what in-game oppressors.

Darksiders III’s Fury has in store. To my As Vox’s Aja Romano posed in memory, we haven’t seen any female anti-heroes, so Fury could be a massive hit if the her piece earlier this year, writers who scripted Death and War so well Lara Croft’s evolution from “fembot” to the feminist fi gure- can make it three out of three.

Honorable mentions: Ciri ( The Witcher head of videogames is promising thus far and shows no signs 3) , Emily Baldwin (Dishonored) , Clementine of slowing down – or, put in a (TellTale’s The Walking Dead) , Jean Thomplanguage we might better understand: whilst son (Ether One) , Bayonetta, Rose of Shashe might not have maxed out just yet, she ron Cassidy (Fallout:NV) , Mazoga the Orc keeps on levelling up. Happy 20th anniver(Oblivion) , Ellen (I Have No Mouth But I sary, Lara!

Must Scream).

DS, GameCube, Ps2 and XBox 1: Evan-Amos @ Creative Commons, GameBoy: Colin Woodcock @ Mrs Chu (Sleeping Dogs) – Public DOmain Pictures Callum Lunn, Contributor

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds coming to PS4

Mounting evidence suggests Bluehole’s battle royale sensation could finally be on its way to the PlayStation, writes Jeremy Bijl ly access programme, may be interested looking games than PC players, voicing It appears that PlayerUnknown’s Batin selling the game on their PlayStation concerns over the games bugginess, bland tlegrounds , widely known as PUBG , will be coming to the PS4 in December after the game image and content-I.D. were found on Sony servers.

Whilst neither Sony nor Bluehole has confi rmed the veracity of this, U.K. based games media outlet Eurogamer claim they “understand this to be true.”

This newest piece of evidence follows a leak on the Korean Game Rating Board which gave the PS4 version a rating.

Further credence is added to this by the fact that PUBG is fast approaching the end of its one year exclusivity deal with Microsoft, and also by the fact that it is now offi cially out of early access/ beta, meaning Sony, who have no ear-

platform.

Furthermore, Microsoft have made the game free on the Xbox One, suggesting some willingness to compete with their enduring rivals on the PUBG front.

Whilst the few fans of PUBG who have been dissatisfi ed with the other battle royale offering on the PS4 will no doubt be delighted, it may already be too late for PUBG , with Fortnite and even Call of Duty’s Blackout mode having a stranglehold on the genre, as demonstrated by the lack of long-term interest in H1Z1 .

Concerns have also been voiced about the quality of PUBG , with console players who are perhaps less used to rougher

aesthetic, and server capabilities. Bluehole will no doubt be looking to have rectifi ed this situation by launch day.

Indeed, despite the initial hype around PUBG, which saw the game break multiple records and catapulted it into the mainstream, its stock has been on a downward trajectory, with a high profi le lawsuit fi led against Epic Games, developers of Fortnite , proving particularly ill-advised.

Nevertheless, in an industry in which competition is generally healthy, the option to play another battle royale game on the PS4 appears a good move for Bluehole, Sony, and players alike.

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Film

Review:Widows

Four women must take over a heist after their husbands die on the job, yet seemingly Widows still focuses on the men, inexplicably

Izzy Sharp Contributor

2/5

I first encountered Widows in book form in a train station bookshop. I picked it up, read the blurb, observed that the plot seemed better than your average train station novel, and forgot about it — I had a train to catch.

When I saw the film adaptation advertised, I thought I’d go.

The plot of Widows concerns the wives of a heist team left rudderless when their husbands die on the job, and who take on an unfinished job to support themselves. The team comprises of Veronica (Viola Davis), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), and Belle (Cynthia Erivo).

Yet for a film that tries to give over a strong feminist message, quite a large proportion of the run time concerns itself with men in whom I wasn’t particularly interested.

Daniel Kaluuya was wonderfully nefarious as Jatemme, the rival politician’s aide who does his dirty work for him. But I found the man himself, Jamal Manning, boring — which was at least a relief from Liam Neeson’s performance.

The filming of Widows is sharp enough to cut itself. Its styling is slick — almost too slick to hold on to. The interiors all resemble some sort of expensive coffee advert, or an IKEA showroom, which left me more bemused than impressed. The cold, Glade-scented at-

mosphere soon became more interesting. There are spots of brilliance in the cinematography, such as the fluorescent light of a bus glinting off Belle’s hoop earrings, and turning her white buzz cut green.

The violence in this film is deft and genuinely surprising. Jatemme interrogates two subordinates who have made a critical error, sharply commanding them to rap as a distraction, lulling them into a false sense of security before abruptly shooting one in the head. If the violence was surprising, though, the plot wasn’t.

The script backs out of the women’s heist for the majority of the film, which is the most interesting part to begin with, and unloads the contents of a particularly trashy airport novel.

Alice is a Polish immigrant with an overbearing mother, a history of being abused, and a newfound career as a sugar baby. All on top of a completely non-existent accent. This would have been fine if she hadn’t referenced it herself in the film. Veronica is a woman whose husband cheats on her with a white woman, getting her pregnant after the loss of their son.

The film is at its best when it concerns itself with the women and the heist, but by god, it doesn’t half faff around getting there.

Concerning the heist itself, there are some intelligent moments. It seemed real-

Photos: Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Rhododendrites @Wikimedia Commons

istic, with the women training to run with the heavy bags of cash, and one of the women being unable to turn up at a certain time because of her children. And an earlier shot of a kid playing with a voice distorter re-emerges in the voice-disguising masks used by the team during the heist.

However, there are also some phenomenally stupid moments. They begin physical training a day or so before the actual heist, or so they seemed to from the pacing. One of them pops into an architect’s office in broad daylight, hands over a screamingly conspicuous blueprint down on the receptionist’s table, and asks to speak to the designer.

One of my favourite terms in film analysis has to be ‘The Idiot Plot’, wherein a film’s conflict could be solved very swiftly if the characters were not all idiots. I propose ‘The Liam Neeson Plot’ wherein a film could be vastly improved if his character was not present.

Women along the red carpet The difference in words to describe actor and actress should have no consequence on the prestige of the word, but it appears to, says aisha aljanabi Photo: Sravvya @wikimedia commons, Clker-Free-Vector-Images

The English language generally doesn’t distinguish between male, female, or neutral nouns. The endings of words don’t change depending on what is being described. There are exceptions, one of which includes job titles: waiter and waitress, air-host and hostess, actor and actress.

The addition of these extra letters to “actor” should have no consequence on the prestige of the reality it describes, but it appears to. The most obvious, and prominent display of this is when watching red carpet interviews. On numerous occasions, female actors have been praised for their quick-witted response to questions like “what are you looking for in your next man?” Whilst I am glad that actors are able to navigate these boring and irrelevant questions, they shouldn’t be required to do so as men glide across the red carpet answering “real” questions that are actually about the films.

Yearly, we see “Best Actor” and “Best Actress” awards being celebrated, but I wonder if we will eventually be in a position where these two can be merged to create a

non-binary “Best Actor” award. Surely these awards are to recognise the actor’s ability to embody and portray a character and tell a story — something that is not affected by the gender of either the character or the actor. Last year, MTV awarded its first gender-neutral “Best Actor” award to Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast and was presented by Asia Kate Dillon, a non-binary actor who plays Brandy Epps in Orange is the New Black, amongst other roles.

Whilst this was welcomed progress, I fear, as many others do, that the removal of the two categories would make awards another male-dominated event. This is probable as gender-stereotyping continues to leak into characterisation within films. The Bechdel Test is all you need to think about to realise that whilst more films now include ‘strong-independent’ female characters (something never used to describe men, because it is the norm for them and supposedly not for us) these are still few and far between.

The Bechdel Test was inspired by a comic strip created in 1985 by Alison Bechdel. A

film must fulfil three requirements to pass: -Have at least two female characters (who must have names) -Who talk to each other -About something other than a man Given that films tend to be around 90 minutes long, this doesn’t feel like a big ask of creators to fulfil, but you’d be surprised how many recent films continue to fail this test. Recently, Bohemian Rhapsody, Early Man - a children’s film, and Deadpool 2 have all failed this. So naturally, if male and female actors were pitted against each other, male actors would have a significant head start even before the film is shot.

Whilst I feel that the distinction between the two words is unnecessary and futile, having separate awards does ensure that women are still recognised for their work. For gender-neutral awards to become common, those who create stories and characters will need to venture out of their comfort zone and diversify female characters — because, believe it or not, women talk about more than just men.

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Film

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: a female protagonist and still not feminist

there is no doubt that her character speaks to the anger of modern day feminism in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

The film’s proposed ‘feminist’ voice begins and ends with McDormand’s character as the film disregards every other female character.

Indeed, Mildred’s ex-husband’s new girlfriend is simply a vehicle for asinine humour, a classic cookie-cutter stock female character who’s thrown in to provide brief Photo: BagoGames Georgia Church questions the award-winning film’s claim to comic relief. Even Angela, Mildred’s supporting the feminism movement in the face of its murdered daughstarkly flawed characterisations ter and heart of the Upon its release, Three Billboards Outstory itself, is side Ebbing, Missouri blew audiences away, played off with a transient and unremarkable swept up award after award and was lauded by flashback in which she fights with her mother. many critics. What emerged from reviews was With unbrushed hair and dark makeup, Angela is the ostensible ‘feminist triumph’ of the film, a predictable trope straight from the reel of commending the empowered female protagonist any teenage movie and is deserving of a much and praising the way in which it broaches more interesting characterisation. Various such relevant issues as sexual abuse, domesother female characters follow similarly fortic violence, and the female voice. Telling mulaic and unimaginative arcs; we have wives, the story of a bereaved mother (portrayed by mothers, daughters who never stray from their the spectacular Frances McDormand) who erects stock traits. Surely we know by now that women three billboards calling the police to act on are complex, individual and multi-faceted; her daughter’s brutal death, Three Billboards having one developed female character does not Outside Ebbing, Missouri is certainly an inexcuse the hypocritical confinement of every cendiary film. Under the surface, however, it other woman to stereotypical tropes such as is problematic. the bimbo girlfriend or angsty teenager.

The complex character of McDormand’s MilWhile female characters are pigeonholed dred Hayes reminds us of the importance of into their stereotypes, shallow male charmulti-faceted female characters in film and acters who are abusers, racists and misogy-

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nists are given undeserved redemption arcs.

Their brutality is continually excused, firmly disputing the presentation of the film as inherently feminist. Mildred’s ex-husband’s domestic violence is brushed off, providing a supposedly ‘comic’ moment, Chief Willoughby never holds his police officers accountable for their abhorrent behaviour but is redeemed by his death, and a rapist/murderer is never brought to justice.

Best epitomising this, however, is the character of Jason Dixon, a police officer known for abusing his position of power who, despite the power of Frances McDormand’s character, muscles in as second protagonist. Instead of condemning Dixon for his actions, McDonagh manipulates the audience into sympathising with Dixon, never truly addressing his dire racism and misogyny. Dixon is instead given a seal of approval, a slightly turbulent family dynamic and a redeeming ‘heroic’ moment in order to humanise him. Indeed, it seems that his one moment of selflessness is supposed to excuse the entirety of his abhorrent character. In this way we see that McDonagh favours the narratives of male characters, ultimately focalising his story through them, not Mildred.

It would not be true to say that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is not a good film. In fact, it is an excellent one. The film as a whole is urgent and engaging, populated by exceptional performances, and beautifully shot. What would be a lie, however, is to claim that this is some beacon of sociopolitical evolution, an icon of modern feminism.

What this film does do is to bring these issues of sexual abuse, female empowerment and the patriarchal structure of authority into public discourse and that is to be commended.

Potentially, McDonagh is using his outraged female protagonist to simply hop on the bandwagon of the current feminist movement, but that would be cynical. McDonagh’s film is among those contributing to the tentative but vital first steps of a world trying its best to overcome misogyny. In the words of Mildred Hayes; this is just the f*cking start.

Jason Blum and the horrors of misogynistic gatekeeping The highly successful producer blames female invisibility behind the camera on lack of participation. But, is he right? (Spoiler alert: no, he isn’t), says Carl Fitzgerald The position of women within horror movies has historically been controversial at best.

Debates have ranged across a wide variety of feminist topics observing the fetishisation of women’s bodies and their dismemberment – whether or not it’s justified to refer to such scenes as ‘fetishisation’ and if the final girl survivor trope makes it all okay. Recently the conversation turned to behind the camera, when producer Jason Blum gave an interview with Polygon defending his studio’s lack of a female-directed horror film, by stating that “there are not a lot of female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror”.

Blum later apologised, pointing to efforts he had made to connect with directors such as Jennifer Kent and Leigh Janiak. However, it still begs the question of what propelled this to be his go-to response. Especially, when any horror fan worth their salt should see red flags upon reading it, given the number of great horror films helmed by female directors, from classics like American Psycho and the Hitch-Hiker, to more contemporary masterpiec-

es like Raw and American Mary. It’s not like women are scared out of doing horror, although it’s interesting that the conversation specifies the genre, given that the industry’s lack of gender diversity doesn’t.

In fact, a Directors UK study from 2016 discovered that, despite making up 50.1% of film students and 49.4% of new entrants into the industry, women only go on to direct 27.2% of shorts, 21.7% of publicly funded films, 16.1% of low budget projects, and 3.3% of big budget features. And further reading shows little disparity between the sexes over the course of film education, suggesting that an explanation for the lack of female directors leans towards the unconscious biases amongst those with hiring power within the industry.

At the same time, it’s still easy to see why this studio bias may be applied to horror given that it’s generally seen as a boy’s club. Not helping matters is the aforementioned final girl survivor, commonly used to combat such accusations, often being a virgin whose primary survival tool is not having a pesky sex drive. And while there’s nothing

inherently wrong with enjoying formulaic scary movies, it’s troubling when film circles don’t recognise how things they love can be problematic, and don’t promote a more diverse range of artists.

It is true that there has been some progress, given that many successful horror films this year such as Hereditary, A Quiet Place, The Nun, and Halloween feature strong and un-objectified female characters battling a range of dark adversities. However, the problem still stands that all of these examples were directed by men.

We can create a bigger impact simply by choosing to buy and promote more films helmed by women. It’s the only way to propel studios to pull out the director’s chair for more women, which they’re unjustly refusing to do right now. Because if Rosemary’s Baby is the most appraised horror film directly centred around women’s issues, when it’s directed by Roman ‘can’t return to the U.S without facing sentencing for statutory rape’ Polanski, that is not a good sign.

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The photo essay

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

The photo essay:

Fallowfield at Night All photos courtesy of The Mancunion

‘Fallowfield at night’ is a series of photos taken by The Mancunion’s design team.

These photos refect an eerie emptiness of the usually bustling student suburb. Empty seats in the Krunchy Fried Chicken shop; silent halls in owens park; a standstill of faceless cars at the traffic lights.

Perhaps in daylight these streets aren’t quite as intimidating, but vacant inky nights holds a lot of secrets, and silence, sometimes, is deafening.

Many women keep silent about the things that happen to them. but misogyny is hate: under the cover of darkness, and in the cold light of day.

Contact the Student’s Union advice service for support: 0161 275 2952 You are not alone.

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Books

Opinion: “It’s sexist but…”

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Books Editor, Gurnaik Johal, discusses the misogyny at the heart of the work of critically acclaimed writers like Hemingway, Nabokov and Naipaul

In the Western Literary Canon, misogyny is a given. Writers like Hemingway, Nabokov, and Naipaul are staples of university reading lists, of bookshop bestselling charts. The offensiveness of their misogyny always comes secondary to supposed brilliance of their art. “It’s sexist but…”

When a celebrated author dies, their status in the canon is solidified. This year, V. S. Naipaul, a prolific racist and sexist, passed away, and there was no end to the amount of praise his work received.

To give a sense of the kind of man Naipaul was, he once said “Africans need to be kicked. That’s the only thing they understand.” He is open with his misogyny, saying once that he beat his wife for two days straight so that “she couldn’t really appear in public.” Famously, he told his wife he was having affair a year into their marriage, saying “I was liberated.

She was destroyed. It was inevitable.”

That’s the sort of line that gained Naipaul a Nobel Prize and a Knighthood. But many people don’t care about Naipaul as a man, they care only about him as a writer. To give an idea of the kind of writer that Naipaul was, he was once asked whether he considered any women writers to be his equal. “I don’t think so,” he replied. He went on to say that maybe Jane Austen could rival him, but he “couldn’t possible share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world”.

Yes, women writers are reduced to being “sentimental”. Naipaul clearly hasn’t seen the fierce social criticism and philosophical brilliance in Austen’s work.

When male writers discuss female writers, they often describe them as sentimental , emotional, as if these were bad things. To be sentimental is to be in touch with your feelings. To be sentimental is to be able to correctly process emotional data and respond accordingly. As a man, the constant belittling of sentimentality and sensitivity is upsetting. Men are extremely sensitive to being seen as sensitive and this anxiety is seen clearly in masculine literary fiction. We praise prose that is stripped bare of feeling as “cutting”, as “raw”, as though the only acceptable thing for a man to feel is the sting of a wound.

Don’t run like a girl, don’t cry like a girl — for goodness sake, don’t write like a girl. Cut out the sentimentality, anything “flowery”, cut anything unnecessary (including female characters). Start over.

One more time, without feeling.

The ‘masculine’ writers that so many people adore replace feeling with thought.

But the great power of literature is its ability to create empathy. Through stories we can experience life as someone else. We can be in a different body, a different mind and look at the world anew. Reading a book should be a learning experience, we should come away changed. But what happens if the only books we read are by straight white men? How can we feel changed if we’re given the same stories again and again?

To me, there are two types of writers.

Those that “write what they know” and those

that imagine new worlds. It’s a little disconcerting, then, to read male writers whose whole oeuvres are filled with misogynist men and lacking in three-dimensional women. Either this means that misogyny is all “they know” or that the only kinds of worlds that these writers can imagine are ones where women are sub-human, sub-plot.

But isn’t it important that we read stories about misogynist men so that we can really understand them? We can’t just ignore our past. Curious readers seem obsessed with sympathising with the perverse. Thinking that they are original, they ask: but how do the misogynists feel?

How do the paedophiles feel? How do the rapists feel? We couldn’t possibly not hear their side of the story.

Their side of the story dominates the Western Canon. In Nabokov’s Lolita, a so-called masterpiece, we follow Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged academic as he obsesses over and eventually rapes twelve-year old Lolita. Critics praise how well Nabokov writes from the perspective of

Photo: Ernest Hemingway a the Finca Vigia, Cuba @ Wikimedia Commons

a paedophile, serial-rapist. Simply put, Humbert’s character is seen as more interesting, of more literary worth than that of Lolita. As Rebecca Solnit writes, “the omnipresence of men raping female children as a literary subject […] can have the cumulative effect of reminding women that we spend a lot of our lives quietly, strategically trying not to get raped”.

As Azar Nafisi writes in Reading Lolita in Tehran, “Lolita belongs to a category of victims who have no defence and are never given a chance to articulate their own story. As such she becomes a double victim — not only her life but also her life story is taken from her.”

It’s one thing to argue that we should be able to read the rapist’s perspective, but it’s clear something is not quite right when we realise that more space is given to the rapist’s viewpoint than to the abused child’s. The sick depraved man is a literary subject, the women they abuse apparently just aren’t as interesting.

Almost every conversation I’ve had about these issues ends with people accusing me of artistic censorship. “You have to separate the art from the artist,” they say. “You need to be less sensitive.”

To separate the art from the artist is to

imply that art is made in a vacuum. It suggests that art somehow transcends the world we live in, that it is more important than our real lives. I’m sorry, but it’s just a book at the end of the day. No book is more important than a life. If any work of art deeply offends one member of its audience, I think it’s a failure.

“That’s censorship,” some people might think. To that, I’ll quote Solnit again: “censorship is when the authorities repress a work of art, not when someone dislikes it.” I’m free to dislike what I like, for example: I don’t like Hemingway, Nabokov or Naipaul. I don’t like Norman Mailer, William Burroughs or Jack Kerouac.

I don’t like Charles Bukowski, I don’t like David Foster Wallace.

I dislike them because they are misogynists, but I didn’t always realise this. Believe it or not, I used to love reading writers like Wallace, Hemingway and Kerouac. As a teenager, books like Infinite Jest and On The Road blew me away. But I grew up and had to start caveating their brilliance: “they’re sexist but…”

I soon stopped trying to defend them. I dropped the “but”. You can only go so far to defend misogynist art before you become a misogynist yourself.

To be a male feminist is to spend your life unlearning a way of seeing, a way of thinking. As boys, we are taught to be the main character, we grow up learning that women are sub-plot. Or worse, we grow up reading in a way that means we don’t even notice a book lacking in female characters, because a novel about men is art and a novel about women is women’s fiction.

I can no longer enjoy works by misogynist writers. No great writer can be a misogynist. Writing is about empathy, about depth of character and feeling; to create two-dimensional women is just bad writing.

And bad writing can be dangerous. We process the world through stories. By creating narratives, we order the chaos that is our lives. We therefore look to stories to understand the world. Story-tellers have the power to shape our opinions, to manipulate our feelings. This is not a power that should go unchecked.

To keep our writers in check is not censorship. As Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize said, “There is censorship, and there is challenging someone’s access to making money. This is not the same thing.”

This to me, is crucial. As readers, we must think of ourselves as consumers. We pay for the books we read and therefore pay authors to write them. When we buy a misogynist book, we pay a misogynist; we endorse misogyny, proving that it is financially viable. Every time you read a misogynist book you are telling publishers that “this is what we want”. They then feel more secure publishing similar titles, written in similar ways by similar authors, and start to see feminist texts as radical and financially risky.

We have the power to change this. Your money is your ballot. Cast your votes carefully, because the books we read today could go on to be the classics of tomorrow.

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Theatre

Burlesque: an interview with Cherie Bebe Jay Darcy interviews burlesque performer Cherie Bebe about performance, objectification, and inclusion Cherie Bebe is a renowned burlesque performer and actor from Manchester. She has appeared on TV, most recently in Hollyoaks, and has also appeared in the acclaimed ‘Kunst Kabaret’ at German-themed bar, Albert’s Schloss. Needless to say, she is well-respected in the cabaret and burlesque community.

Burlesque is more than just a dance or a striptease to Cherie; she points out that it is a “literary, dramatic, or musical work that comes from the Italian word ‘burla,’ which means to joke or mock”. She explains that she loves to create a fantasy for her audience.

Burlesque differs from performer to performer, and Cherie’s revues showcase a wide variety of different styles. She channels the Golden Age of Hollywood “glamour” with big feather fans and gowns, and as a trained theatre performer, she takes further inspiration from films, literature, and music.

It is important that people recognise the difference between ‘stripping’ and ‘striptease’; the former is arguably objectification, whilst the latter is indisputably about empowerment, glamour, and art. Cherie herself states she feels incredibly empowered as a burlesque performer, and in her 10 years as a performer and 7 years as a producer, has never once felt degraded whilst onstage. If a burlesque performer is an object, that object is a star, and nobody Photo: Belle Privé Photography owns the stars — they shine themselves.

Cherie is from a mixed-race background and when she first started performing, there were no other dancers that “looked” like her. She states that the performers she admired were mostly white, and whenever she attended burlesque shows, the audiences were mainly “retro” and “vintage”. She believes that the growing popularity of

Devi Joshi reviews the Women’s Theatre Society’s ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’

Photo: Hawwa Alam

Photo: Clker-Free-Vector-Images / 29595 images

burlesque has led to its increasing inclusivity and cosmopolitanism. One just needs to attend a burlesque or cabaret show to appreciate the incredible mix of people, and Cherie loves the diversity of her audiences. She explained that burlesque caters to anyone and everyone.

Indeed, burlesque has become much more diverse in recent years; it is not just about glitter, feathers and tassels, or pin-up posters coming to life onstage.

Burlesque is an art, a social commentary, a refusal to be objectified, and a mission to take control of one’s own body.

‘Hot Brown Honey’ are an Australian cabaret group who performed at HOME theatre in Manchester last year. Cherie admires the way in which they “smashed stereotypes with an eclectic mix of music, cabaret, and burlesque.” Her biggest idols, of course, include Dita Von Teese, the indisputable Queen of Burlesque. Cherie says that she “oozes glamour and is a fantastic businesswoman too.” She also admires Angelina Jolie, and her performance in ‘Girl, Interrupted’ contributed to her desire to be an actress. Her humanitarian work is something Cherie loves about her too.

Outside of the arts, Jane Goodall is one of her idols; she is fascinated with her work as a primatologist and anthropologist and finds it incredible that she is still working at 84. Who knows, perhaps Cherie will be too; she certainly has the talent and determination to go on forever.

Cherie is performing in Manchester throughout November and December, follow her here.

Review: ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’ Hate crime in the UK has risen by almost 50% in the last year. Overwhelmingly, Muslim women have been targeted. The narrative surrounding Muslim women is polarised. Either they are oppressed and need saving, or they are radicalised and dangerous. There is little room for nuance in media representations of Muslim women in the UK. With the #MisogynyIsHate campaign picking up steam, ideas surrounding intersectionality within the female community are of vital importance in understanding and sympathising with the experiences of women with regards to their faith, sexuality, and class.

These nuances were touchingly and sensitively explored in ‘Uncovered: Monologues by Muslim Women’, put on by the Women’s Theatre Society.

The performance was made up of eight monologues written by women of the Islamic faith, and performed through a diverse range of experiences, performance styles, and forms. The show offered an intersectional perspective, with religion, queerness, tradition, and womanhood explored in all their multi-faceted complexities. It was truly refreshing.

Hana Jafar was a standout performer, especially in her delivery and in the humour, of her retelling of three scenarios where she was made to feel uncomfortable for her choices. From being called “strict” after politely declining an invitation to the pub, to being told by a counselor who recently went to Morocco that she had thought of Hana — why? “Because there were so many people

wearing headscarves there!” Her response: “Yes, and every time I see a middle-aged white woman, I think specifically of you!”

Being singled out or made to feel different is never a nice feeling. But Hana’s story, however hilariously delivered, highlights a major issue in the UK. When we only see Muslim women through their hijabs, we begin to group all women who wear a hijab into one monolithic group. That’s why performances that explore the individual stories of women, who are often regarded as one group, are so important in confronting misplaced stereotypes.

I was also touched by Urussa Malik’s performance. This was a stream-of-consciousness piece, which explored ideas surrounding death, loneliness, and tense parent-child relationships. Malik was able to tap into the universal experience, whilst remaining deeply personal.

The final speaker, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, highlighted the fact that throughout her career in the media, people have always referred to her as “brave” or “outspoken”. At first, she thought that this was a compliment — she was a vocal Muslim, addressing issues within her community.

However, throughout the arc of her piece, she came to the realisation that an “outspoken Muslim woman” is at odds with the “submissive, repressed Muslim woman”, a figure too often seen in media representations. In breaking stereotypes, we can inadvertently reinforce them.

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Arts

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Radical Feminist, Punk Rocker, Anti-Establishment Artist Bella Jewell reflects on the powerful work of the radical feminist, punk rocker and conceptual artist who continues to push the boundaries: Linder Photo: Mark Hillary @Flickr

Linder was born in Liverpool and studied Art at Manchester Polytechnic in the 1970s. It was there in 1976 that she started to create her conceptual and gleefully provocative photomontage works that challenged the contemporary presentations of women in the public eye.

In a video interview with the Tate, Linder described the process behind the creation of her trademark style. Linder recounts how “[she] began to look at magazines that were around [her], at print media and advertising.”

She went on to describe how she perceived a stark gender divide in magazine content: “for men it was sport, DIY, cars, and pornography”, whereas “for women it was fashion, household…”

The explicit gendering of the mass media, and implications it had on society’s perception of ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, was a concept that Linder sought to challenge with her work.

“I began to cut out from the men’s magazines and the women’s magazines” she said, and began to fit the images together as a kind of “jigsaw”.

Linder described how she payed particular attention to the portrayal of the female form as presented in men’s pornographic magazines.

The surreal works which followed this moment of experimentation are deeply intriguing. Bodies are deconstructed and recomposed to create photomontages that are both disconcerting and striking. A standout example of this is her untitled 1977 work which became the basis for the cover of the (tastefully-named) single ‘Orgasm Addict’, which was released in 1977 by the Manchester punk band, Buzzcocks.

Linder described the composition of the collage as “a really female tor

This is the Female Gaze: Challenging the artist and subject

so with the addition of a Morphy Richards iron and two mouths.” The ironic sense of dehumanisation that the replacement of the body’s head with a heavy metal iron conveys, is blatant.

Linder has combined the two representations of women in the 1970s: the body to serve men’s sexual interests, and the housewife to serve men’s domestic interests. This torso has no identity other than that of a sexual object.

Linder’s involvement with punk rock began at the first Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, where she met the band, Buzzcocks, who asked her to create some covers upon finding out that she was an Art student. But Linder’s musical involvement didn’t end there. As well as being a good friend with Morrissey she formed her postpunk band, Ludus, in 1977 alongside guitarist Arthur Kadmon.

Her anti-establishment radicalism was demonstrated with a memorable act of performance art at the Hacienda in Manchester in 1982. In pre-Gaga fashion, the vegetarian rocker performed in a dress made of scraps of raw chicken, which she went on to rip off to reveal a surprising undergarment: a glossy black strap-on dildo.

Linder’s work, despite being a remnant of a different era, continues to shock and challenge societal concepts of ‘femininity’.

Her Frankenstein-esque creations are an important part of Manchester’s rich history of radical activism and provocative art forms, a legacy which continues today.

You can see more of Linder’s works on the Tate website.

Sophie Marriott interviews student photographer Maisie Lee about the upcoming ‘Female Gaze’ exhibition and the how to challenge the frequently gendered relationship between artists and subject.

The ubiquity of the patriarchy prevails in art and culture throughout history in the form of the so-called ‘male gaze’. Turning this concept on its head, however, are the curators of the upcoming exhibition: ‘The Female Gaze’, Photo: Zoe Barry organised by Manchester student Lara Dixon.

Featuring artworks by female students from across Manchester, this exhibition hopes to challenge the mainstream, masculinised perception of the female subject.

We are all far too familiar with the concept of the ‘male gaze’. Coined by film critic Laura Mulvey in the 1970s to describe how cinema and media are produced for the pleasure of the straight male viewer.

The curators of this exhibition, however, aim to give a platform to the perspectives of female-identifying individuals. One of the exhibitors, Maisie Lee, explained this saying, “The male gaze, historically, has tended to disregard the female experience, treating female subjects as little more than objects of male desire.”

Philosophy student at Manchester University, Maisie is exhibiting a number of photographs at the Female Gaze exhibition

on the 20th of November. She sees it as an opportunity to give “a sense of autonomy to a traditionally passive subject.” Although she feels this does not have to be an inherently gendered notion, it is within the context of a historical tradition of male photographers seeing female subjects from the position of a voyeur; the woman’s role solely to remain the muse.The aim of this reimagining is not to discredit the men’s art, Maisie goes on to say that the male gaze has “evolved in recent times and does hold great potential for shedding light on the male experience”, however, as yet “it still proliferates in mainstream culture in this normatively masculine sense.” In art, cinema, and popular culture, female subjects are often hypersexualised and created with little concern for the individuality and feelings of the model Considering the artist’s relationship with the subject and their voice as “paramount to the force and importance of their work,” Maisie sees her photographic subjects in an entirely different light to that of artists like Andy Warhol. “He treated actually interesting women like blank canvases on which to project his own ideals, not long before chucking them and moving onto the next.”

This kind of attitude towards women demonstrates that male dominance is not just exerted through violent acts of hate, but it can direct our eyes and dictate how all of us see the world. To see the world through female eyes, and indeed of all minority or oppressed groups, is to throw off the shackles of the patriarchal tradition and to carve out a new way of the seeing the world.

The exhibition has been funded by Bumble and features photos engaging with a range of themes such as portraits, femininity, travel photojournalism, and much more.

‘This is the Female Gaze’ will be at Goodstock charity shop on the 20th of November from 5 pm.

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Fashion & Beauty

Coco Chanel: the ultimate feminist fashion icon

Liv Clarke looks at the life and work of one of the world’s most famous designer and how she revolutionised thw world of women’s fashion.

Chanel is one of the most recognisable fashion brands in the world; its logo is iconic, its handbags sought after, and its muses include the likes of Claudia Schiffer and Keira Knightley. But the story of the woman behind the name should never be overlooked.

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel (1883-1971) lived the ultimate rags to riches story, yet a Cinderella in a corseted dress she was not.

Coco not only pioneered clothing for the modern woman, enabling them to break out of stereotypes, but she also overcame her own struggles to run one of the most celebrated fashion houses of all time.

Chanel grew up in an orphanage following the death of her mother, and at 18 began working as a seamstress, performing in a cabaret on the side, where she earned the nickname Coco. Her foray into fashion began with millinery, and she opened up her first boutique in Paris in 1910, selling hats which she designed. Chanel opened up more boutiques in Deauville and Biarritz in the following years and expanded her range to include leisure clothing, which became popular among the wealthy holidaying in these resorts.

In 1918 she bought 31, Rue de Cambon, Paris, opening up her flagship store there in 1921, which still remains at the address today. In the same year the perfume Chanel No. 5 was launched, which Marilyn Monroe infamously wore by itself in bed. Her career went from strength to strength, with her designs being worn by famous film stars at the time.

World War II resulted in the closure of her shops and Chanel slipped away from the fashion world. But a new movement in women’s clothing emerged after the war: Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’, which featured hourglass forms and feminine dresses all designed by a man. However, Chanel believed that a woman’s clothing needed to be created by someone who wore it themselves. She returned to the fashion stage in 1954, aged 70, and produced a revolutionary collection with functional suits in comfortable fabrics at its heart, ideal for the (albeit wealthy) working woman of the modern age.

Every aspect of Chanel’s clothing was considered with the wearer in mind: soft fabrics were used, corsets and shoulder pads were avoided and practicality was key. A Chanel woman was not just a mannequin, she was someone who moved and worked in the modern world. Even her handbag enabled her to be hands-free.

Today Chanel clothing may be worn exclusively by the rich and famous, however the influence of its designs is evident everywhere, from little black dresses to handbags with shoulder straps.

Chanel liberated women from their corsets – and made a business out of it too.

H&M and Moschino’s coveted collaboration launches this week – and it’s coming to Manchester A line of fantastic, fun and maverick pieces are landing courtesy of the high street and high-end fashion favourites Want designer clothes on a student budget?

Well, it gives us great pleasure to tell you that you’re in luck. Luxury Italian fashion house Moschino has teamed up with global brand H&M for what is already being dubbed the collection of the season.

It is no exaggeration to say that the line is a big deal. A star-studded catwalk show debuted the pieces in New York last week and had us drooling with fashion envy. Clad in the collection were the hottest models around, including Gigi and Bella Hadid, Winnie Harlow, and Joan Smalls. Also joining in the fun and showing them all how it’s done was the legendary Naomi Campbell.

A further factor that makes this collaboration so great is its ideology. “I hate the idea of exclusivity in fashion,” said Moschino’s creative director Jeremy Scott before his art graced the runway. “I’m all about the democratisation, about reaching people who can’t normally afford this stuff.”

Scott is confident in the launch and has commented on its necessity in these troubling times. “I want to be a bright light in the midst of so much darkness; people need a moment, a break from it.”

He’s not wrong about him bringing the brightness. The collection is bold – think hot pink and cartoons and glam galore. T-shirts bearing a streetwear-clad Mickey Mouse, glimmering gold combat trousers, and vibrant faux furs, to name just a few, make up the impressive and lively range. The accessories are worth looking out for too; padded hats, foil bags, and heavy-duty chains are ready to be added to your wardrobe. The line even allows you to keep looking Fallow cool – a choice of puffa jackets will be on sale too.

The collection includes men’s, women’s and even – wait for it – dogs’ pieces to get your whole gang looking as stylish as ever.

“So how much am I needing to spend to get my hands on all this?” we hear you ask. Well, the

answer really depends on how you’re feeling.

Prices start at just £7.99 for accessories and £17.99 for clothing. However, if you fancy a bit of a spontaneous mid-semester, stressinduced splurge, some of the limited edition pieces will set you back by a whopping £299.99.

As we all know, living in the jam-packed, culturally-thriving city of Manchester is a daily gift, but this week sees it get even better. You have been blessed with being a mere walk away from one of only five stores in the UK that will stock pieces from the range. H&M’s Market Street branch is already preparing its Moschino stock for the big launch.

The Moschino x H&M range will go live online and in selected stores this Thursday (8th November). But make sure you’re hasty – these pieces won’t be around for long. both affordability and fashionability. Happy Shopping!

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

A defence of the cupcake feminist

Food & Drink 27

Contributor Helena Young writes in defence of the cupcake feminist: bake away, ladies If you’ve attended a feminist branded event in the last five years, whether a bake sale, art show, or your classic witchcraft ritual, you’ll definitely have seen a polka dotted table with trays of colourful, homemade cupcakes.

With its heap of sugary pink icing, nowadays often used to craft edible vulvas and areolas, the cupcake has become a staple choice within any feminist space, as unequivocally and unapologetically female.

Photo: Stocksnap @ Pixabay Photo of baker: OpenClipart-Vectors@Pixabay

This however, has faced a growing number of critics.

Allow me to introduce you to the Cupcake Feminist. Coined by Meryl Trussler in 2012, the term refers to the recent return in trend of ‘twee’ 1950s homelife. Big bows, crocheting, and Rosie the Riveter; all of these are said to be seeping back into feminism in an attempt to emulate the domesticated role of women.

To its critics, the cupcake is now a vanilla cream travesty. It represents not womanhood and sorority, but vilification of the leather-clad, punk feminists of the eighties, intent on rebranding femininity back to its girlish, Cath Kidston roots.

Trussler’s argument has support. To a modern audience, the 1950s housewife is seen to many as a pie-baking, infantilised blonde (think Mad Men’s Betty Draper). But what is the solution? To replace iced gems with a bite of sausage roll and a manly swig of John Smith’s?

The problem with the cupcake appears to be that it’s

a sugary, sweet treat, exclusively marketed to women. And anything a woman is seen to enjoy will be labeled as frivolous.

It’s a ridiculous attitude that holds women to a higher standard than men. One that says Susie from down the road can’t care about both FGM and getting her nails done.

But Susie isn’t claiming to be a UN representative, so why is it that we applaud men simply for ‘coming out’ as feminists, whilst constantly analysing and belittling women for their commitment to the cause?

We must accept that in a feminist’s daily activities, not all will be a Pankhurst-esque rebellion of the patriarchy. Women can decorate cupcakes in lacy sugar hearts half an hour before rallying outside the White House, just as we can eat a Yorkie without imploding.

Yes, the world needs more high-powered female chefs working in industrial-sized kitchens, but this doesn’t have to mean the home kitchen is a step back.

The Cupcake Feminist is not a 1950s housewife. She is a 1950s housewife, reimagined. She might bake for herself, her friends, her family or her husband. She might do so dressed impeccably in seven-inch heels, or whilst hungover in a ketchup-stained jumper. It is her choice in the matter that we should be most concerned about, and not her apron.

Gendered Eating: nothing but celery is safe Contributor Elena Bradley explores gendered eating as a concept. Is it a fad or is there stock in it as a social issue?

Food and eating is gendered in so many ways. There’s no denying it. I began to draft a piece on my experiences as a girl working around male derogatory chefs (cue ignorance and tea-towel whipping), but then settled on the phenomenon of ‘gendered eating’.

At first glance, you may be thinking that ‘gendered eating’ is the latest, wrongly picked fight by the social justice warriors.

However, I promise this has some stock in it (pardon the pun). As I thought of all the times my ‘femininity’ had encouraged me to change my food choices, the list grew. I’m sure we’ve all had the advice of what foods to avoid on a date; spaghetti, curry, and big slabs of meat to name a few.

That’s essentially anything flavourful and substantial because, God forbid, your date sees you enjoy your pasta a bit too much and thinks you’re an animal. I also recalled the time I ordered a practically blue steak at a high-end restaurant and was greeted – with concern – by a male waiter who asked whether ‘madam realised that a blue steak was “very bloody” (yes, that did happen).

Whilst narrow-minded assumptions don’t threaten my being, the female food fads that populate Instagram and poison the minds of impressionable young girls are increasingly

threatening. The fads I’m referring to are those circulated by the ‘icons’ of our generation namely; weight-loss lollipops and ‘clean’ eating to the point of only celery being safe. The premise of ‘clean eating’ is positive. Mindful over what you’re putting

Photo: OpenClipart-Vectors@Pixabay

into your body and the encouragement to re-insert greens into a generation hooked on McDonalds and the teddy-bear fishcakes Jamie Oliver took from our primary schools is a bipartisan, positive move for diets

everywhere. However, this is not what Instagram is selling to me and many other young women.

We are being sold a gendered myth. A myth that if I deprive myself of everything I love, i.e. fillet steaks, creme brûlée, seafood linguine, and pork scratchings (much to my boyfriend’s horror), I will be better off. Even though I may be thoroughly sad and hungry at least I will be deemed “sexy”. Whilst malnourished, I’ll also be confused as to why I haven’t transformed into the perfect hourglass like Kim K. This is the poisonous message.

I am personally sick of being sold the lie that deprivation is happiness. That ‘self-control’ to a woman is pushing away the cheese sandwich and choosing the green juice, stomach rumbling. This is not self-control, this is a society obsessed with achieving unattainable plasticity: in body and in concept. This is a society that is still calculating the worth of women by their appearance – this is something food fuelled.

Return to love of food, return to everything in moderation and return from the plastic to the real! Choose the salad because you want it, not because Kim K said it’s how she shed her cellulite.

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ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Reporting hate crimes: what you need to know

Union udents’ Photo: St

rvices

Se Advice

Su Barton Guest contributor Emmeline Pankhurst, Ellen Wilkinson, Elizabeth Gaskell, Marie Stopes, Carol Ann Duffy, Maxine Peake: Manchester is shaped by women.

As a city that claims“things are done differently here”, Manchester has a long and proud history of women working for equality and recognition. Nationally, there is renewed debate over another chink in the armour protecting inequality in society – specifically, how society deals with hate and how women experience misogyny. It is important to note that currently hate based on gender (other than transgender identity) is not considered a crime. Currently hate crimes and incidents cover

“You can report a hate crime / incident if you are the victim, a witness or on behalf of someone else. The easiest way to report is online” those motivated by disability, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and subculture identity.

The current debate is about whether misogyny or hate based on gender should be adopted under the conditions of

The Student Union’s Advice Services share how to report a hate crime and where to find support for victims other recognised hate crimes. Chief Constable Sara Thornton, commenting in the Metro and The Independent, questioned “whether a criminal offence is the best way of dealing with what is essentially an issue about how we all treat each other” and that police should “bear down on violence before [they] make more records of incidents that are not crimes”. This sentiment has been echoed by other senior police, noting that recording hate incidents may be desirable but there are not the resources to support this. These are concerning arguments as they ignore the escalation of hate.

Online abuse, verbal abuse, and slurs build to physical violence, arson and other serious crimes as perpetrators become more confident through committing acts. Conversely, witnesses or victims of hate are made increasingly vulnerable if they are unable to get help early making them more susceptible to further attack.

If you believe that you have been the victim of a hate crime or incident (under the current definition), you can report it.

The Students’ Union Advice Service can help you with this. We understand that reporting can be intimidating, especially if you are the target of the abuse. However, we would encourage students to report because this helps to understand the extent of hate crimes and incidents. Reporting can lessen the likelihood of others also experiencing similar incidents.

You can report a hate crime/incident if you are the victim, a witness or on behalf of someone else. The easiest way to report is online. Just go to the information website Report It and click the red ‘Report Hate Crime’ button. Alternatively, you can use the Students’ Union Advice Service, which is a Third Party Reporting Centre.

The Students’ Union Advice Service is here to: 1. Assist in reporting hate crime/incident.

2. Support you by reflecting or discussing what you have witnessed or been a victim of, regardless of whether you want to report what happened.

3. Support victims of bullying, harassment or discrimination, whether from staff or another student. This includes making a formal complaint through the University system. If you feel that you have been subjected to bullying, harassment or discrimination, you can make a complaint. Indeed, The University recognises harassment, discrimination or victimisation because of your gender as grounds for a formal complaint. Contact the Advice Service to find out how we can support you.

4. Provide support in applying for Mitigating Circumstances if, as a result of abuse due to your gender or identity, your academic performance has been affected.

5. Direct you to and talk through other support services that can continue support.

6. Talk through the various support options with you if you are not sure which is best for your needs Currently the law does not recognise gender-based hate as a hate crime, and therefore it cannot be reported as such.

Manchester already has a good record of acknowledging hate in society. Greater Manchester Police were the first force in the country to start recording hate based on subculture membership. This example should continue for gendered hate. The Students’ Union Advice Service recognises the prevalence and seriousness of this issue.

You can contact the Advice Service on advice.su@manchester.ac.uk or call 0161 275 2952.

The faces behind the Misogyny Is Hate campaign Sophia Ashby spoke to three students behind Misogyny Is Hate to understand their involvement and the challenges they have faced Photo: Misogyny Is Hate @ Facebook

Sophia Ashby Lifestyle Editor Misogyny Is Hate is a rapidly growing campaign run by an admin team of over 20 students. I spoke to three of the students involved, and asked what the campaign means to them.

First up is Sylvie Pope, the movement’s Campaign Leader. “I oversee the organisation of the Misogyny Is Hate student team,” she says. “I also work in conjunction with Greater Manchester Citizens and Citizens UK, to ensure the campaign is first and foremost community-focused.”

When Sylvie first heard about the proposed Greater Manchester Citizens campaign to make misogyny a hate crime, she leapt at the chance to get involved. “GMC held their first meeting around this issue around April 2018 and I was invited to a subsequent meeting with Greater Manchester Citizens Community Organiser Furqan Naeem, who asked me to lead on the campaign. After meeting with Mayor Andy Burnham to explain the campaign, we held our launch event at Levenshulme High School for Girls.

“In the wake of #MeToo, the campaign continues both the cultural conversation that misogyny is a deep-seated issue that affects the lives of millions of women and men” “Our campaign reached national coverage in relation to Stella Creasy MP’s proposed amendment to the upskirting bill to make misogyny a hate crime, and I was invited to speak on BBC Breakfast and ITV News. Finally towards the end of the summer, we had our meeting with Bev Hughes, who showed great support for the campaign. She informed us that it was Ian Hopkins, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, who has the operational

power to recognise Misogyny as a hate crime. From this point I built up the student-led team and together we branded and began to market Misogyny Is Hate.

“In the wake of #MeToo, the campaign continues both the cultural conversation that misogyny is a deep-seated issue that affects the lives of millions of women and men. It sends the message that misogyny will not be mitigated, and protest will continue until our institutions recognise the struggle faced by women and girls.

“Acts of everyday misogyny, intimidation, and harassment begin when we are children. When our society normalises the harassment of girls and women, everyday misogyny permeates into more serious cases. These include sexual and physical assault, violence and even murder. We are spreading awareness, raising the voices of women in our communities, and highlighting that a cultural change can only be predicated upon institutional acknowledgment and reform”.

Joe Penny acts as Misogyny Is Hate’s head of Social Media and shares with me why it is so important for men to get involved.

“A lot of my female friends have experienced misogyny, such as sexual assault and being stalked. It’s also a very personal issue for me as my mother was in an abusive relationship. I’m also aware of how misogyny affects men,” he says. “It’s responsible for a lot of toxic masculinity in our society. Misogyny is a hatred of women, meaning that stereotypically feminine traits like showing emotion are seen as weak. This means that men can never show emotion, which is ultimately damaging to their mental health.

“A lot of guys don’t seem to be aware of how common misogyny is. Their viewpoints aren’t often challenged because of group mentality. Also, they have never experienced it themselves, so find it difficult to recognise the scale of the problem. It’s about getting past group mentalities and changing the way people think about misogyny.”

Of course, there are challenges faced in getting people involved in the campaign. Joe admits that it can be hard engaging with people online and even in person. “Engaging with people in person and online. The people that come to us are very divided in opinion, either they’re like ‘yes, this is wonderful, this is a great cause’, but equally we have the opposite response from trolls

telling us that we’re ‘thought police in skirts’.” The key, he says, is getting people to listen, then empathise and understand why we’re doing this. “We’re not trying to demean men or outlaw wolf-whistling; we’re just trying to empower women.”

So how does he think making misogyny a hate crime will benefit men and women? “It’s helping women come forward and talk more about sexism in general,” he says. “It has led to the first conviction of misogyny as a hate crime. Also it’s getting the message across that misogyny needs to be talked about, at the moment it is also a taboo, especially with men. Making it a hate crime will increase awareness and highlight the issue.”

Next I spoke to blog writer and curator, Rosie Johnson, whose interest in joining the campaign was rooted in her at first not understanding it. “I was intrigued as to how making misogyny a hate crime was feasible. At the beginning I just wanted to help out, but as I started going to more meetings, I became increasingly passionate about the cause. Now I am in the process of setting up an official blog page and we are hoping to receive contributions from the public about their experiences of misogyny”.

During her time working for the campaign, Rosie has learnt that a reason for its importance is that it is relatable. “The things we’re trying to target are understandable for men and women, so it makes feminism accessible. Rather than push people away, we are trying to open up conversations surrounding misogyny. I think this is an important aim for feminism as a whole”. The campaign hopes to clear up misconceptions surrounding feminism. “At the moment, there are a lot of huge feminist campaigns circulating, all of which are important. But it does mean that words are being thrown around like ‘feminazi’. This campaign deals with everyday issues, ones that are visible in our city and society.”

Tackling these misconceptions has been one of the toughest elements of campaign. “Lots of people think we are trying to make wolf-whistling a hate crime. They don’t understand why we are spending time on this when it would be difficult to monitor, and is perhaps a minor issue compared to other forms of harassment.

The truth is we are not dealing with wolf-whistling; we are only dealing with crimes that are already considered illegal”.

30 Sport

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Simone Biles wins record 14th world title at World Gymnastics Championships The American took her fourth gold of the event in the Photo: Fernando Frazão @ Wikimedia individual floor exercise in Doha, Qatar Commons

UoM Sport tackles the gender participation gap

Mia Gair explores the gap in sport participation between women and men, and what the UoM Athletics Union is doing to bridge it.

Mia Gair Sub-Editor

James Gill Head Sport Editor American gy mna st Simone Bi le s h as won a re cord 14 th world title as she took gold in the i ndividu al f loor exerc is e at the World Gy mn astics Ch a mpion s h ips i n Doh a.

That gold was he r fou r th of t he comp etition and he r s ixth meda l overall. She be ca me the fi rst g y mn ast in thre e de cade s to w i n a med al in eve r y atte mpt i n wh ich she p artic ipate d . T he si x- medal h au l in Qata r puts he r level with legend a r y Ru s s ia n gymnast Svetlan a K hork in a but w it h Bile s aged ju st 21, it is ve r y l i kely th at she will be come the most decorated wome n in a World Ch ampion sh ip Gym n a stics hi stor y.

The s e World Cha mpion s h ips

we re he r first comp e t it ive eve nt in ove r 18 mont h s and i f he r ach ieve me nts we re n’ t i nc re d i ble e noug h s he was al s o su f fe r i ng from a k id ney stone du r i ng he r eve nt s.

De spite her g re at succe s s, B ile s wa s fr u st rate d at t he re ac tion s her p e r for m ance s ga rne re d on s o c i al me d i a. A f te r succ u m bing to Lu i T i ng t i ng on the ba la nce be am , t ak i ng a bron ze me d a l, s he wrote on Tw it te r: “ju st s aying , I ge t to de c ide whe n I h ave a d is appointing p e r for m ance. Not y’a ll. Ove r a year out of t he sp or t .

B a re ly a ye a r b ack i n and my f i rst big compe tition . I’ m proud of mys e lf !”

She late r adde d : “It is u ps e tting for me whe n I s e e twe e ts a fte r my p e r for m ance s of how d is app o i nte d p e ople are of me, be cau s e t hey can’ t s e t t he expe c tation s - t h at i s dow n to me. ”

Manchester City Women cruise past Liverpool to close gap on WSL leaders

The Citizens extended their unbeaten record this season with a dominant second-half display.

Sam Honey Deputy Sports Editor Manchester City Women remain unbeaten in this season’s Super League. They cruised to a 3-0 victory over Liverpool at Tranmere Rover’s Prenton Park.

Nick Cushing’s side have now closed the gap on this season’s pacesetters, Arsenal, to just three points. Although the Gunners have a game in hand, and will remain top if they avoid defeat in that fixture.

The citizens knew that an away visit to face the Reds, who have already picked up three wins this season, presented a stern challenge. The sky blues came into the match in form however, having scored 13 goals in their previous two league games, against Brighton and West Ham, conceding just 2.

It was a frustrating first half for the visitors. They didn’t manage to break through despite causing Liverpool goalkeeper Anke Preuss significant trouble. The German was forced into action inside the first 10 minutes, punching away Jennifer Beattie’s powerful header.

Jill Scott quickly produced another chance for her side.

Although the 31-year old volleyed narrowly over the bar, after good work from Claire Emslie.

City began the second half with intensity, and quickly seized their opportunity against a fragile Liverpool side.

The opener came just five minutes into the second

half. Emslie picked out fellow Scotswoman Caroline Weir with a pinpoint cross, with Niamh Fahey turning into her own net in an attempt to clear the ex-Gooner’s shot.

Taking control of the match, the away side doubled their lead just before the hour mark. Nikita Parris equalled Eni Aluko’s record of 36 WSL goals as she delightfully chipped the oncoming Parris after weaving her way through the Reds’s backline.

Parris was then handed the chance to surpass Aluko’s record from the spot, after Georgia Stanway was brought down. The 24year old stepped up, and converted the penalty, ensuring a seventh win of the season. Also guaranteeing her status as the league’s all-time top scorer, an achievement surely sweetened by the opposition, for the ex-Evertonian.

Although producing yet another convincing performance, City remain under scrutiny for not being clinical enough. They have already racked up three draws so far this campaign.

The sky blues know that they must improve if they are to have any chance of ending title rival’s Arsenal 100% record, with Joe Montemurro’s side visiting City on December 2nd.

Ahead of that clash, Cushing’s team travel to Yeovil Town on November 25th. They are hoping to bank three points before facing the greatest test of the season so far.

T he b e ne f it s of sp or t and phys ical act iv ity s e e a con s e n su s ac ros s s o c ie ty; w it h m a ny p ar t ic ip at i ng to bu i ld con f ide nce, promote phys ical and me nt al he alt h , and e n rich t heir t i me at u n ive rs ity. Howeve r, t he re re ma ins t he p e rce pt ion i n s o c ie ty t h at me n are more likely to acce s s and e njoy t he s e b e ne f it s t h an women; le ad i ng to ye t anot he r ge nde r gap i n s ociety.

T he 2 016/1 8 S p or t E ng l and Ac tive L ive s S u r vey ( re pl ace d t he Ac t ive Pe ople Survey) fou nd t h at me n (age d 16+) we re 1 2% more l i ke ly to t ake p ar t i n sp or t i ng ac t iv it ie s t ha n wome n . O pt i ng for more casu al ac t ivit ie s such as wal k i ng , d ance and f it ne s s cl as s e s. It revea ls t h at wh i l st wome n are not ne ce s s ar ily b eing le s s ac t ive t h an me n , t hey are m i s s i ng out on t he b e ne f it s te am sp or t s and comp e t itive sp ort s can br i ng .

To t ack le t h i s, t he B r it i s h Un ive rsit ie s a nd Col lege S p or t ( BUCS ) h ave ch al le nged a ll of t he u n ive rs it ie s and col lege s it re pre s ent s to promote t he T h i s G i rl Can camp aig n f rom t he 19t hto t he 2 6t h Nove m b e r. It ai m s at h ighlight ing t he sp or t i ng ac t iv it ie s avai l able to women at u n ive rs ity and col lege. As we l l as s howca s ing t he sp or t i ng succe s s of fe m ale at h le te s.

T he Un ive rs ity of M anche ste r At hlet ics Un ion ( AU) i s e m brac i ng t h i s f u l ly – a s king a ll of it s 4 2 S p or t s clu b s to promote t heir fem a le ac t iv it ie s and fe m ale at h le te s ac ros s t heir s o cia l me d i a. T he AU w i l l al s o hold a s e r ie s of event s ju st for wome n , de s ig ne d to k ick- st art higher rate s of p ar t ic ip at ion .

Howeve r, t he move h as b e e n c r it icis ed for b e i ng a PR st u nt ; and not re al ly t ackling t he re al i s sue s re duc i ng t he nu m b e r of women reg u l arly pl ay i ng sp or t or ke e pi ng ac t ive. The BUCS i mp ac t re p or t f rom t he 2 017/1 8 ca mp a ign reve al s t h at 2 00 fe m ale p ar t ic ip ant s to ok p a rt i n sp or t i ng ac t iv it ie s du r i ng t he we e k t hat had neve r done sp or t b e fore, or who h ad t a ken a s ig n i f icant bre ak . W h i l st t h i s i s a w i n for t he camp aig n , it do e s n’ t sug ge st t h at any long-term d i f fe re nce was m ade – no f ig u re s we re recorded to sug ge st t h at t he camp aig n le d to long-term i nc re as e i n fe m ale p ar t ic ip at ion .

A re ce nt su r vey conduc te d by t he Yout h Sp ort Tr u st reve ale d t h at 72 % of b oys age d 11-16, a nd 64 % of g i rl s s ay i ng t h at t he i r s cho ol s encourage

t hem to t a ke p a rt in sp ort a nd physica l act iv ity.

As well a s 76% of b oys a nd 67 % of girls s ay ing t hat t heir p a rent s encourage t hem . Sugge st ing t hat for t he most p a rt , encouragement isn’t t he m a in b a rrier prevent ing girls f rom get t ing more involved in orga nis ed sp ort . It a ls o sugge st s t hat more encouragement (such a s t he This G irl C a n Ads a nd Inst agra m p ost s) won’t m a ke a ny longterm cha nge.

Instead, Yout h Sp ort Trust highlight “pract ica l, p ers ona l a nd s o cia l a nd cult ura l” b a rriers which if overcome, a re t hought to increa s e fem a le p a rt icip at ion in sp ort . O ne of t he s e b a rriers is f ina ncia l cost s ; t his is p a rt icula rly a n issue for st udent s on a budget , who m ay not feel sp ort is imp ort a nt enough to priorit is e sp ending.

S o Uo M ha s re sp onded to t his by put t ing on a s erie s of f ree sp ort s club s a nd cla ss e s t hroughout term t ime. In 20 17/18 a lone, 24 0 5 fem a le st udent s registered, comp a red to j ust 17 78 m a le st udent s. D e spite 66% of t he regist rat ions b eing fem a le, Recreat iona l Sp ort C o ordinator Andy E llis on ex pla ined t hat m a ny have a higher m a le t urnout t ha n fem a le.

The Univers ity ha s a ls o app o inted, for t he s econd yea r running, a fem a le Rugby D evelopment Intern, Lucy Simp er. Lucy works to build women’s development sq uads across b ot h Uo M a nd MMU to engage more fem a le st udent s in f riendly, yet comp et it ive, tea m sp ort s. She added t hat “women’s rugby is one of t he count ry’s fa ste st-grow ing fem a le sp ort s... [yet ] a lot of women a ren’t autom at ica lly at t racted to t he sp ort , however what [we] a re do ing is working.”

The role help s to t ackle one of t he key b a rriers ident if ied by t he Yout h Sp ort Trust – t hat women a re lim ited due to t he p ercept ion t hat sp ort s a re “m a le sp ort s”. Rugby is a prime exa mple of t his, m a king t he work Lucy do e s crucia l. The pro of of t his is in t he pudding; w it h 52 fem a le st udent s at tending t he t a ster s e s sions, a nd 4 8 go ing on to p ay f ull mem b ership. G et t ing more women into sp ort long-term a nd cha nging p ercept ions of sp ort s a s ‘m a le’ is s low ing shif t ing t he b a la nce s to a more eq ua l fo ot ing.

Whilst disp a rit ie s rem a in b etween men a nd women, it is clea r t hat in term s of sp ort ing p a rt icip at ion, t hings a re mov ing in t he right direct ion. Victorie s a re b eing won, however sm a ll or big, a nd t he t a lent a mongst young women at Uo M is b eing rea lis ed a nd celebrated.

Photo: Mike Peel @ Wikimedia Commons

ISSUE 8 / 12th November 2018 WWW. MANCUNION.COM

Sport 31 Champions League Round-up

Ronaldo 65’ Juventus 1-2 Manchester Utd Cristiano Juan Mata 86’ , Leonardo Bonucci (og) 89’ Wednesday 7th November, Allianz Arena, Turin Manchester United stunned Juventus in Turin with two goals in the closing stages to win the game and put themselves in a good position to qualify out of their group.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opener against his former club with an outstanding volley from an equally outstanding through ball by Leonardo Bonucci. It was Ronaldo’s first goal in the Champions League wearing the iconic black and white striped kit of Juventus.

His side should have put the game to bed and left United without a chance. Sami Khedira struck the post from a chance which looked impossible to miss, Paulo Dybala hit the bar with a curling effort from outside the box early in the second half.

If those chances weren’t enough Cuadrado and Pjanic both stumbled with their big chances and despite not challenging Szczesny in the Juventus goal, United still had a chance.

In the 86th minute, Manchester United got a free kick on the edge of the area. Juan Mata stepped up and placed the ball sweetly into the top corner. Szczesny took a small step to his left leaving him flatfooted and unable to reach the Spaniard’s effort.

Three minutes later United got another free kick, this one near the touchline on the left-hand side. Ashley Young fired a cross into a dangerous area which Juventus were unable to deal with. The ball bounced off multiple players before ending up in the back of the net. The Red Devil’s came back from one goal down to beat Juventus in their own ground.

The game was the first loss for Juventus in a Champions League

group stage home game since December 2009, an incredible record spanning 19 games since they lost to Bayern Munich.

Munich appears in another interesting stat emerging from this game. Manchester United came back to win a Champions League game with two late goals for the first time since 1999. The match in question was the Champions League final and will forever be remembered for Sir Alex Ferguson’s now iconic double substitution of Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Both players scored to complete United’s treble (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League), the first of it’s kind. It was widely regarded as the most successful in the clubs history and Jose Mourinho will be looking to emulate that this season.

After the match, Mourinho said: “A point or three would have changed little for Juventus, but three points makes a big difference to us. It is a big victory for us, not just because we needed the points but because it was away from home against an amazing team.”

The result leaves United second in Group H, only two ahead of third-place Valencia. With two games left to play, one against Valencia, the other against Young Boys, Mourinho’s side cannot afford to drop any points if they want to progress to the knockout stages.

Their next game is against Young Boys on the 27th November at Old Trafford but next for United is the Manchester derby where the team will be looking to keep the momentum going and give City their first defeat of the season.

Photo: Lineup Builder @ Chosen 11

Photo: Brad Tuttorow @Flickr

Silva 13’, Gabriel Jesus 24’ (P), Manchester City 6-0 Shakhtar Donetsk David 72’ (P), 90+2’, Raheem Sterling 48’,

Wednesday 7th November, Etihad Stadium, Manchester Manchester City cruised to a third-straight champions league victory with an emphatic defeat of Ukranian side Shakhtar at the Etihad.

Pep Guardiola’s side secured a sixth straight win in all competitions, keeping their fifth clean sheet of the run in what is fast becoming an irresistible vein of form.

The sky blues headed into the fixture with the Manchester derby in mind, resting Vincent Kompany and Benjamin Mendy completely, while Leroy Sané and Sergio Agüero were benched.

21-year old Oleksandr Zinchenko was handed a start against his old club, having been left out of the 18-man matchday squad in the reverse fixture, despite speaking at the pre-match press conference.

Gabriel Jesus was given the nod upfront, despite having struck just twice this season, going into the game.

City started slowly, as Shakhtar looked to sit deep and contain the hosts, but were ahead with their first clear-cut opportunity on 13 minutes.

Riyad Mahrez dribbled his way through the Ukranian side’s backline before his low cross was turned in by David Silva, who became City’s all-time top scorer in European competition in the process.

The Citizens’ second came in highlycontraversial circumstances, as a scandalous penalty was awarded to the home side, with Raheem Sterling clearly going down in the box untouched. Referee Viktor Kassai awarded the spot-kick however, and Jesus duly stepped up and converted it.

The Brazillian nearly scored the third moments later after being put through by Sterling but saw his effort smothered by keeper Andriy Pyatov.

Riyad Mahrez 84’

The Ukranian side looked to get back into the match after the break, with captain Taison providing a respectable performance on a miserable night. City put pay to any hopes of a comeback just three minutes into the second half, as Sterling brilliantly evaded two challenges before curling home from outside the box.

On 72 minutes, Guardiola’s team were given another penalty, this time correctly, after goalscorer Silva was hauled over

by Taras Stepanenko, Gabriel Jesus slotting home for his second of the evening.

Yaroslav Rakitskiy forced a save from Ederson in the hunt for a consolation, but the next goal would be a fifth for the sky blues, as Riyad Mahrez brilliantly controlled İlkay Gündoğan’s lofted pass before slotting in.

There was a sixth to come, with just seconds left as Gabriel Jesus raced through on goal, before executing a perfectly-time chip to seal his hat-trick, and round off a top-class performance from City.

The result looked to be enough to confirm the sky blues’ place in the knockout stages of the competition, but a Hoffenheim equaliser deep into injury time against Lyon meant that despite a six-point advantage over the Germans in third place, the Citizens’ will only have their place in the round of 16 mathematically assured with a point in their next fixture against Lyon, and can confirm top spot in the group with a win.

But all in all, it was an excellent night for City, whose performance oozed quality going forward, treating fans to the kind of glorious attacking football that has dominated this side’s display in recent weeks. With Juventus defeated at home to United on the same night, the win re-affirmed the Champions credentials to challenge for a first ever Champions League title.

Photo: Lineup Builder @ Chosen 11

Photo: Wikimedia Commons @Oldelpaso

Oil or Nothing: Lies and Deception Leaked documents supposedly reveal the truth behind Manchester City’s incredible wealth James Gill Head Sports Editor It h as been ju st over te n ye a rs s ince M a nche ste r City were bought by Sheik h M a n s ou r. Since the n C ity h ave ri s e n from mediocrity into one of the be st te a m s in t he world with a squ ad p acke d with su pe rsta rs. Unde r one of the b e st man agers in the world , Pe p Gu a rd iola , t hey have b ecome the pride of A bu Dh a bi.

City’s story wou ld h ave be e n laug he d off a s fa rc ical i f s omeone pred icted it back on th at d ay in S e pte m b e r 2 0 08 . It s ou nd s u n believa ble, pe rh aps impos s ible.

Now, the G erman newspape r De r Spiege l s ays it ’s s e e n docu ments from the wh istle blowe r platfor m Football L eaks wh ich a llege the clu b a nd its spon s ors ma nipu lated commerc ia l contrac ts to ge t a rou nd U E FA’s F i na nc ial Fair Play ru le s.

City say they will not be com me nting on the clai m s which follow last year’s ca lls by Spa in’s L a L iga for a f u l l UEFA i nve stigation .

U EFA h as previous ly looke d into C ity a nd fou nd it broke the fin ancia l ru le s in 20 14 . T he clu b was fi ne d £49m.

I n his f irst fou r ye a rs of owne rs h ip M a n s ou r h ad guided h is clu b to the ir first P re m ie r L e ag ue title i n the 2 0 11/ 12 s eas on . Ag ue ro’s inj u r y-time win ne r, M a r t i n Tyle r’s in famou s s cream , the mome nt is now e tche d i nto fo ot ba lling h istory, thoug h it took a the n extor tionate a mount of money to ach ieve th is.

I n the f irst tran sfer window C ity broke the B r it i s h tra nsfer record buy ing B ra z ilia n inte r n ation a l Robi n ho from Real Mad rid for £ 32. 5 m . W he n the improve me nt that s eas on was deeme d in ade q u ate, a fu rthe r £ 100m wa s i nve sted in the S u m me r of 20 09. T h is inc re di ble leve l of sp end ing continue d e ach ye a r, but whe re was t he money com ing f rom?

E ng lish footb all, world footba ll eve n , h ad neve r s e e n i nve st ment on th is s ca le. Accord ing to De r Spiege l one do cument shows Abu Dh a bi h ad a lre ady inve ste d £ 1 . 1 bn

by 2 01 2 . £ 1 .1 bn i n fou r s e as on s.

Eve r y whe re you lo ok arou nd M anche ste r City, you’ ll sp ot A bu Dh abi . W he t he r it ’s t he st ad iu m , sp on s ore d by E t i h ad A i r ways, t he i r k it , al s o sp on s ore d by E t i h ad , or t he f lu r r y of ot he r sp on s ors t hey p os s e s s, A bu Dh abi is t he re. Cr it ics of City h ave s aid t h at t he s e sp on s ors h ip s are s i mply ways for t he st ate to f u n ne l money i nto t he clu b, cl ai m s t h at M anche ste r City h as re je c te d Der Spiegel sug ge st s t h at City u s e d t he i r sp on s ors to move cas h i nto t he clu b to f u nd new t ran s fe rs. T hey als o sug ge st t h at City u s e d t he s e sp on s ors to cove r t he £ 9.9 m s hor t fal l t hey h ad af te r s ack i ng Ro b e r to M anc i n i .

UE FA i mple me nte d t he F i n anc i al Fai r Pl ay ( F F P) r u le s s hor t ly af te r City got r id of M anc i n i for fai l ing to re t ai n t he t it le. T he r u le s we re me ant to stop club s sp e nd i ng b eyond t he i r me an s and go i ng b an k r u pt . T hey al s o ai me d to stop clu b s f rom sp e nd i ng more t h an t hey broug ht i n .

Der Spiegel w r ite s t h at City’s Ch ie f F i n anc i al O f f icer Jorge Chu m i l l as an nou nce d i n i nte r n al me s s age s ab out how t he i r sp on s ors h ip de al s w it h t he E t i h ad ai rl i ne, i nve st me nt f i r m Aab ar and t he A bu Dh abi tou r ist aut hor ity wou ld b e ch ange d to br i ng i n t he f u nds ne ce s s ar y to avo id fal l i ng fou l of F F P. T he i mpl icat ion s of t h i s cl ai m are t h at City was k now i ng ly and i nte nt ion ally m an ipu l at i ng t he i r cont rac t s.

Fu r t he r i nte r n al me s s age s sug ge st t h at Chu m i l l a s as ke d h i s col le ag ue S i mon Pe arce i f it wou ld b e p os s i ble to ch ange t he p ay me nt s d ate s f rom A bu Dh abi . Pe arce al lege d ly re sp onde d : “O f cou rs e, we can do wh at we want ”.

If t h i s i s t r ue, it wou ld rai s e dou bt s ove r whe t her t he s e comp an ie s are re al ly t he i nde p e nde nt sp on s ors we are le ad to b e l ieve.

Der Spiegel q uote d anot he r e m ai l al lege d ly s e nt by S i mon Pe arce i n 2 01 0 regard i ng a £ 1 5 m an nu al de al w it h Aab e r.

It re ad : “As we d i s c u s s e d t he an nu al d i re c t o bl igat ion for Aab ar i s £ 3 m , t he re m ai n i ng £ 1 2 m re q u i re me nt will

come f rom a lternat ive s ource s prov ide by His Highne s s.”

Aga in, if t his is t rue, t he Sheikh him s elf wa s f unding 8 0% of t his sp ons orship dea l. For t he dea l w it h E t ihad Airline s, t he Sheikh wa s supp os edly p ay ing 7 7 % of t he £35m a nnua l o bligat ion in 20 13, a nd 8 8% of t he £67. 5m a nnua l o bligat ions in 20 15.

Relat ing t his to t he F ina ncia l Fa ir Play rule s, if t he Sheikh a nd Abu Dha bi ca n a rt if icia lly inf late t he va lue of t heir sp ons ors hip dea ls a nd p ay t he ext ra t hem s elve s, t hey ca n sp end fa r greater a mount s in t he t ra nsfer w indows w it hout ever go ing into t he red. In 20 15’s E t ihad p ay ment a lone, t hat is a n ext ra £60 m , enough for a couple of world-cla s s players.

In t he 20 16 sum mer t ra nsfer w indow, C ity put t heir ext ra money to go o d us e f unding s evera l acq uisit ions.

Ilkay G undoga n ca me to C ity for a rep orted £ 20 m f rom B orus sia D ort mund, John Stone s for £4 7. 5m f rom Everton, G a briel Je sus for £ 2 7m f rom Pa lmeira s, L eroy Sa ne for £37m f rom S cha lke. The list go e s on a nd on.

The s e t ra nsfers would not b e p os sible w it hout m a ss ive inf luxe s of money a nd it is t he s e “supplement to Abu Dha bi p a rt ners hip dea ls” t hat a re t he a lleged s ource. There is no ot her P rem ier L eague club t hat ca n keep up w it h t he sp ending of Ma nche ster C ity.

No Rus sia n Oliga rch or C hine s e billiona ire ca n hold a ca ndle to a whole nat ion, to t he United Ara b E m irate s.

There s eem s to b e no end in sight for t he sp ending spree s eit her, w it h a f urt her £64 m sp ent in t he sum mer.

Most of t hat went on t he s igning of Riyad Ma hrez f rom L eice ster C ity. A right w inger, Ma hrez j o ined t he q ueue in t hird for his p osit ion, b ehind Ra heem Sterling a nd B erna rdo Silva .

When Der Spiegel a nd t he Europ ea n Inve st igat ive C olla b orat ions re s ea rch network a s ked Ma nche ster C ity for a com ment on t he s e lea ked do cument s a nd t he f ina ncia l doping it supp os edly revea led, t hey st ated t hat t hey would not re sp ond. “ The at tempt to da m age t he C lub’s reput at ion is orga nized a nd clea r,” w rote a sp oke sp ers on.

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