Lucky magazine

Y K C U L e u s s i r e d en g e th

JADEN SMITH
 EMMA WATSON LAURA WOLVAARDT Gender in GAMING

Sexualisation of Genders on

Ed it io n

Magazine Covers

m pt e Se

AND MUCH MORE...

be r

Movie Reviews

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to the September edition of LUCKY Magazine, where we will be discussing and focusing on various topics regarding gender identities and how they are constructed in the media. We have many exciting articles and movie reviews for you to enjoy. Don’t miss out on some of our best interviews yet with feminist Emma Watson, gender fluidity spokesperson Jaden Smith and the famous woman’s cricketer Laura Wolvaardt! We, here, at LUCKY Mag hope you enjoy this month’s special edition.

Stay LUCKY. XOXO

From the LUCKY team: Nerisha Vollweiler, Editor-in-Chief Jade Caplan, Art Director Daniel Crowley, Researcher Romy Malamud, Copy Editor

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Movie Review : Diary of a Teenage Girl

3 & 4

Interview with Emma Watson

5 & 6

Gender in the Media BEATY ; A Poem

7 8

Movie Review; Suicide Squad

9 & 10

Sexualisation of Genders in the Media

11 & 12

Movie Review: Easy A

13 & 14

Interview with Jaden Smith

15 & 16

Social Media Stars to Watch

17 & 18

Movie Review: This is Us

19 & 20

Stereotypes in Stories; disney then and now

21 & 22

Short Hair: an A rtwork

23 & 24

Zulu Reed Dance

25 & 26

Interview with Laura Wolvaardt Bibliography

27 28

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MOVIE REVIEW: THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL

The Diary

of a Teenage Girl

is a

coming-of-age film set in San Francisco, in the peak of the 70’s era. The film is an adaptation of the graphic novel, of the same name, by artist and writer Phoebe Gloeckner. The film focuses on the life of the 15 year old main character, Minnie Goetz, when she is stirred by her sexual awakendirector: cast:

Marielle Heller

Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård,

............ Kristen Wiig year:

2015

ing and wants to lose her virginity; this also marks the beginning of her audio diary.

The films discusses many topics such as liberation, discovering one’s self worth, codependency and many more.

Minnie, an aspiring cartoonist, fears she is perceived as unattractive, even though she 3

receives attention from many boys in her school. After a series of events, this leads Minnie to flirt and eventually lose her vir-

about the blogger:

ginity to her mother’s 30 year old boyfriend, Monroe. This action alone leads her on a downward spiral of insecurity and deviousness. Soon Minnie is also engaging in intercourse with a boy her own age from school, but that also ends soon after he expresses that he is intimidated by how she is too passionate and he just can’t seem to keep up. All through these events, Minnie discovers who she really is and that she shouldn't be afraid to express her individuality in a world of judg-

Nerisha

mental people. She also realizes that she

Vollweiler

doesn't need men (represented by sex) to live a happy life.

Compare this realization to the movie Bridget Jones’ Diary, and they seem like polar opposites. The two movies both

Nerisha Vollweiler is a famous South African movie and fashion blogger. She studied at UCT.

start out the same, with the two protagonists in search of the perfect man in order to get their happy ending and finally feel a sense of self-worth. However, in the end Minnie realizes she doesn't need a man to be happy, whereas Bridget reaches her “happy ending” by falling in love. I love this movie because most young females can relate to it; the story empowers and creates independent and happy women.

4

INTERVIEW WITH

EMMA WATSON We question Emma Watson about her HeForShe campaign, 2 years in.

In 2014, you were named the UN Women

tion faced by women and girls on a daily

Goodwill Ambassador; as part of your serv-

basis, by taking our online pledge.

ice to women worldwide, you kick-started the HeForShe campaign. What is the aim

Critics have complained about the cam-

of this campaign?

paign being too one-sided; you ask men to

Emma Watson: Our goal is to engage men

and girls, but you don’t ask women to do

and boys as agents of change in gender

the same for men and boys. This, in and of

equality. Our aim is for all men to acknowl-

itself, is an example of gender discrimina-

edge and condemn the gender discrimina-

tion.

condemn discrimination against women

5

This campaign was meant to unite the gen-

Thank you for your time. I wish you only

ders; in most feminist initiatives, only

success in your selfless quest to gender

women are included in the fight for equal-

equality!

ity. We set out to change the belief that only women can fight for women’s rights.

In hindsight, we can understand why the campaign could be seen as “one-sided”,

Thanks you so much for having me; I’ll personally let you know if there are any major developments in the campaign.

but this was never our intention.

This week marks the 2-year anniversary since the start of the campaign; can you say that your goal has been achieved?

Since 2014, more than a million men, globally, have signed our online pledge and our message has become widespread on social media through a number of celebrity endorsements. However, gender discrimination still exists in society and in the media. Our goal is long-term; we understand that age-old discriminatory practices cannot simply disappear after just 2 years of campaigning. Unfortunately, our cause has been hindered by the fact that fighting for women’s rights has become synonymous with man-hating.

BY ROMY MALAMUD ps: this is a fictional interview

6

GENDER IN GAMING In the past, games were predominately dominated by male characters. A good example of this is the game Mafia II (2010) made by 2K Czech, in this game most of the main character other than family are all male characters, the only female representation is in various scenes of strippers and the main character, Vito Scaletta’s, mother and sister. Even with such a small representation of female characters, they still emphasise that Vito’s sister, Francesca, is incapable of caring for herself and in one of the first “fight” scenes of the game is Vito fighting off a man who was harassing his sister outside their house and she seemed extremely defenceless.

One of the most highly anticipated games of 2016, is that of Forza Horizon 3, which is set to be released on September 27th with a demo version on consoles at the moment. At the beginning of the demo, it allows you to choose a character that you will see driving “your” cars throughout the duration of the game. At the beginning, you can choose between 7 male characters and 6 female characters, so this game has shown the equality of men and women in video games. As well as having a good female representation in the character choices, the game incorporates various female narrators with the main narrator being a female voice named Keira.

Other games such as Call of Duty has in previous years, only included male soldiers. But since the release of Call of Duty Ghosts (2013), which was the first game of the franchise which included the option of playing the role of a female soldier. This was a major selling point for the game and it got various good reviews and good opinions from a lot of people for showing the importance of including female soldiers as they are appearing more and more in the real life armies of today.

As you can see from the article, although there are games that do still have a massive male character count, but slowly games have started to incorporate more and more female character into their games which is of course an incredibly good thing.

BY Daniel C rowley

7

BEAUTY Beauty, is perceived as thin but by this, society commits a sin Beauty, is seen as a good jawline this is emphasised by Calvin Klein.

Victoria Secret, L’O réreal and Garnier standards begin to bare.

“Extravagant”, Glamorous”, “Sophisticated” are words that are used.

With this, models become bruised.

Who doesn't want to eat just to have fans bow at your feet.

Eat fast food and don't starve Because stressing about beauty will make your life halve.

- DANIEL CROWLEY 8

MOVIE REVIEW: SUICIDE SQUAD

Type to enter text

Suicide

Squad

has gotten very

mixed reviews from many sources such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. The movie is mainly led by strong male characters.

There are only three female characters: Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), the Enchantdirector: cast:

David Ayer

Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared

.............Leto

ress (Cara Delevingne) and Katana (Karen Fukuhara) although these are some of the main characters in the movie and comic books, they’re drowned out in a sea of male characters, six male characters to be

year:

2016

exact.

9

Although the movie had to go according to plots and characters that were first created in the comic book, the movie largely repre-

about the blogger:

sents male characters.

There are 10 producers, 9 are male, both the director and the editor are males, the writers of the film as well as of the comic book are both males. The movie is based on special eects that create most of the action scenes; out of 25 special eects engineers, 6 are female.

So along with the overwhelming amount of male characters, most of the crew who make the movie are also males.

Daniel C rowley

The movie is dominated by male influence

A world-renowned maga-

which isn't what the population of people

zine researcher. He enjoys

want to see, especially with new movies of

cricket and rugby. He

the same time coming out with a lot of fe-

studied at Stellenbosch

male characters.

university and majored in English Literature.

10

SEXUALISATION OF GENDERS ON MAGAZINE COVERS. Magazine covers have always been an ef-

sexualised, and that men were only some-

fective way for the targeted buyer or cus-

times shown in a sexual manner but never

tomer to pay attention to the brand being

hyper-sexualised. In contrast, women are

promoted. In most magazines, this atten-

almost always sexualised to some extent.

tion is achieved through the sexualisation

By the 2000’s, 61% of women were hyper

of the cover model, to attract a certain

sexualised and another 22% were sexual-

type of target market. The Rolling Stones

ised. So it is more likely to see a woman

magazine is a great example of this type of

portrayed in a sexual manner on a Rolling

marketing strategy, as they often utilize

Stones magazine than it is to see a man in

sexualized images of famous actresses

the same manner. There are many hypothe-

and singers, but nonetheless mainly hyper-

sis for why women are so hyper-sexualised

sexualised females.

in the magazine media, and in media in

An analysis of Rolling Stone magazine cov-

general.

ers was conducted by The Society Pages

Part of the increase in hyper-sexualisation

website, and the question they wanted to

is a blow-back to the successes of the

know was “if men and women are equally

woman’s movement. Deepening the mes-

sexualised, and if they have become either

sage of 'women as sex objects' to an im-

more frequently or more intensely sexual-

practical standard reinforces the percep-

ised over time.” In the results of this analy-

tion that no matter what women do (engi-

sis we see that the majority of male covers

neer, doctor, astronaut - or any once male-

from the 1960’s to the 2000’s were non-

dominated activity) women will repeatedly

11

be seen as more of a sex object. Women

these women, who try to fit their bodies

are turned into objects to be looked at and

and their sexualities into this hollowly con-

drooled over more than before they were

structed notion of what it means to be

further equalized. While women are objecti-

sexy, sexual and appealing women.

fied and play centre-stage on the covers of Rolling Stone, the entire magazine - texts, ads, everything - is targeted at men. Instead of expanding their audience, the magazine owners cater to men by showing women practically naked on the covers, all for a boost in their profit margins.

There are many negative eects and consequences that these images can have on gender norms and stereotypes. The media in this generation is saturated with this imbalance of male and female sexualisation on magazine covers. Many magazine companies don't take the time to appeal to every type of consumer group and sometimes this can be viewed as biased. These magazines often have a skewed gender representation, but luckily this gives rise to many female empowerment campaigns and causes to address the gender inequality in these media outlets. Causes like these eectively help to put a stop to inequality and gender discrimination and balance out the playing field once and for all.

Often these half-naked images of women can also negatively aect other women who are seeing the magazine. Reactions to the hyper-sexualised female covers are often those of the women comparing their own bodies to the undoubtedly photoshopped bodies of the female cover star.

This can lead to a downward spiral of eating disorders and body-negativity cases in

By Nerisha Vollweiler

12

MOVIE REVIEW: EASY A

Easy A is a film telling the story of Olive Penderghast, an intelligent yet unnoticed high school student, who becomes the center of school gossip after telling a white lie that soon spirals out of control.

The drama starts after Olive tells her best friend, Rhiannon, that she slept with somedirector: cast:

Will Gluck

Emma Stone, Penn Badgley,

.............Amanda Bynes year:

2010

one from her brother’s college. The rumour soon spreads and Olive’s false sexual activities are broadcasted to the school. Olive tells her gay friend, Brandon, that what people are saying isn’t true, he later asks her to pretend that they ‘hooked up’ as a

13

way to stop his constant bullying for being

may lose her virginity sometime but it’s no-

gay. Their plan works, people believe it,

body’s business when she does.

Brandon is now seen as a ‘stud’ while Olive is seen as a ‘slut’ and the double stan-

As Olive tries to fight off the stereotypes

dards of men and woman are introduced.

she is ultimately trapped because she is a

As the story goes on, other social outcasts

low people to see her as anything other

seek out improving their reputation with

than a ‘slut’. Stereotypes of men are also

the help of Olive lying for them, she apa-

shown within the movie, Brandon and the

thetically agrees and they pay her with gift

other boys who Olive has helped deem it

cards. We see that even the guys that she

necessary to lose their virginity, or at least

helps out do not respect her, with one

pretend they did, in order to be accepted

even saying he can tell people they slept

and seen as a ‘man’. Overall the movie of-

together without her permission. As the ru-

fers a great insight into the stereotypes and

mours continue to circulate, the slut-

double standards of both men and

shaming carries on and Olive adapts a

women.

new wardrobe, pinning a red ‘A’ onto all

woman and the double standards don’t al-

about the blogger:

her clothes, for ‘adulterer’, like in the Scarlett Letter, the book they happen to be reading in class. Olive’s reputation progresses into a downward spiral and she is treated as less of a human and more of a sex object. This also results in her friendship with Rhiannon ending. After a peer attempts to pay her for actual sex, Olive realizes just how out of control the lie has become.

She decides to finally set the record

Jade Caplan

straight with a live webcast where she tells her side of the story. The movie ends with

I live in Cape Town, South Af-

her leaving the webcast accompanied by

rica and enjoys reading, watch-

her love interest, Todd, stating that she

ing movies, cooking and making Pinterest DIYs. 14

INTERVIEW WITH

JADEN SMITH We interview Jaden Smith, 17 year-old famous actor, rapper and spokesperson for a new frontier in gender fluidity.

Jaden, you’ve given rise to a significant amount of heat this year for the way you've expressed your gender both on social platforms like Instagram and by modelling womenswear in a campaign for Louis Vuitton.

How would you describe and reflect on your choices when it comes to this controversial subject?

In my head what I am reflecting in my recent bold choices is a non-acceptance to be branded or combined in one stereotype or another, in terms of who I am and how I dress.

Whether I’m wearing a skirt or simply a flower behind my ear, I want to make it very clear and public the issues I stand by and what I’m protesting about, which is gender fluidity.

15

Can you please define the term ‘gender fluidity’ for me? I would like to give our readers a more introspective view on what gender fluidity really means.

No problem: “It’s a movement that regards gender as a spectrum of positions rather than a set identity, and there are a number of positions available on that spectrum for people to express who they are”, according to Jack Halberstam, gender studies professor at the University of Southern California. Also said by Mr Halberstam is the fact that “masculinity is a much more flexible commodity than it was 10 years ago”, and this is another belief that I firmly stand by.

This is so accurate for a lot of young individuals and gender as they aren't the classes they were in previous years. These days it seems that they have a more exploratory vibe and you seem to be on the cutting edge of this social revolutionary adventure. Please give us more details about how you have been campaigning and promoting these ideas.

Last month I was involved in Louis Vuitton’s spring-summer women’s fashion line, where I rocked a pleated skirt-suit, a mesh fringed tank and posed with a series of handbags from the Nicolas Ghesquière-designed campaign, titled “The Heroine.“ Louis is marketing a flexible masculinity that doesn't have to obey an ancient customs of suit-and-tie, but convey more softness. I wear skirts in order to continue to fight gender stereotypes in the hopes that it will one day mean children can

wear anything they want without being bullied.

Where do you get the confidence to keep pushing these societal boundaries? Aren't you ever afraid of what others might think and say about you?

You just have to believe in yourself, you know. The world is going to keep bashing me for whatever I do and I’m going to keep not caring. I’m going to take most of the blows for my fellow MSFTS [his brand]. So you know, in five years when a kid goes to school wearing a skirt, he won’t get beat up and kids won’t get mad at him. It just doesn’t matter.

I’m taking the brunt for rejecting gender conventions so that later on, my kids and the next generations of kids will all think that certain things are normal that weren’t expected before my time.

Wow, you truly are an inspiration to our generation as well as older generations out there.

I honestly believe that you have inspired a change in the world of gender stereotypes and identities. I hope to hear more about your positive influence over issues like these in the future.

Thank you so much, and I will definitely keep you posted. Thank you for having me.

By Nerisha Vollweiler

ps: this is a fictional interview

16

SOCIAL MEDIA S

These inspiring women sho

dia feminists taking

@is

abe

lla

am ent

e

@ca

rtia

17

STARS TO WATCH

ow a new form of social me-

g the world by storm

n o s i d yma

ey l y a @h

mal

lan

18

MOVIE REVIEW: ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US

One Direction: This Is Us

director:

Morgan Spurlock

cast: Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam

............ Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik year:

(2013) pro-

vides an introspective look into the One Direction’s meteoric rise to fame. It features each member’s humble beginnings, a live concert experience as well as behind the scenes footage of what goes into maintaining superstardom. The film is directed by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), produced by Simon Cowell (X Factor) and is about as staged as the boys’ choreographed dance moves. Each scene has been tirelessly edited to show the best, most boyish traits of each member, as well as their deep appreciation for their female fans.

2013

19

What they didn’t anticipate was the inherent sexism in portraying One Direction fangirls (“directioners”). At the beginning of the documentary, these directioners are filmed screaming at concerts and discussing their intense love for the band at random gatherings. Simon Cowell even calls them “crazy”; soon a neuroscientist is called in to explain “One Direction Infection”: “As soon as directioners listen to One Direction’s music, dopamine is released in the brain; this causes feelings of joy, happiness and strong pleasure”. This introduces the idea that these young women and girls are held captive by any chemical pleasure; they do not choose to be “crazy”, it is their primitive, hedonistic brains that force them into a frenzy of hysteria.

Although no one in the film is brave enough to explicitly state that all of One Direction’s fans ARE girls, it is implied by the actual footage. Every screaming voice is attached to a feminine face and every homemade concert poster is held in the small hands of young girls. So when band members say something like “fans got the entire planet to support one direction” it enforces the concept of the zombie-fangirl; in her docile, mindless state, she spreads the epidemic of the “One Direction Infection”. At the tweet of any 140 character command, these zombie-fangirls are mobilized to fulfill whatever desire these bandmates possess.

While the movie portrays young women as variables to the decisions of men, the bandmates are presented as manly men, doing

manly things, e.g. skateboarding, fishing, playing soccer and even being “slightly anarchic” - making their own rules. This movie unintentionally perpetuates the belief that women and men are binary and unequal opposites.

This narrative demeans women’s decadeslong struggles for equal rights and fair treatment. Predictably, the movie has been marketed as a tribute to the impressionable, young fans and all they have allowed the boys to achieve. about the blogger:

Romy Malamud Romy Malamud is a respected film critic, living in Cape Town, South Africa. She graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Journalism and earned a Masters degree in Film Studies from Stanford University.

20

STEREOTYPES IN STORIES disney then and now

Disney Princesses are undeniably one of

prince’s kiss is needed to wake her from

the most popular and recognisable anima-

an otherwise permanent slumber. Sleeping

tions around. These fairytales have enter-

Beauty is another tale where the woman’s

tained people for decades, even when

life is controlled by a man. After being

they portray stereotypical depictions of

pricked on the spinning wheel, the prince’s

women. This sends the wrong message to

kiss is needed to wake Aurora up. Cinder-

young, impressionable viewers. In more

ella is another classic movie with stereo-

recent years, we have seen changes in

typical themes. For the Prince’s Ball, Cin-

the portrayal of women (not just with

derella is transformed into a beautiful prin-

stereotypes but also in culture e.g Jas-

cess. She is then sent off to the Ball to

mine, Tiana)

‘woo’ the Prince and eventually marry him.

The first animations depicted the princesses as helpless, weak women who depended on men as a means of survival,

This story fails to break through clichéd gender barriers set by the stories that came before it.

e.g. Snow White, who needed the dwarves to provide for her. She is also portrayed as the ‘perfect’ woman of the 1930s, a wellmannered, domesticated housewife. When she is poisoned by her evil stepmother, the

The release of The Little Mermaid in 1989 marked a transition period in Disney’s representation of women. The movie shows a

21

young, inquisitive and adventurous Ariel

Movies like Brave (2012) and Frozen (2013)

wanting to learn more about the world

are the first of their kind to truly show

above the sea. Although these characteristics build up to Disney’s first attempt at feminism, Disney ultimately fails by falling back on the reliance of Prince Eric. Beauty and the Beast is another tale like Ariel’s.

Belle’s character tries to break away from the stereotypes by being brave and outspoken she later takes the back seat when the Beast takes charge of the story. Movies like Aladdin (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Tangled (2010) all have strong female leads, but they too end up relying on men to survive.

strong and independent female leads. Merida (Brave) takes her future into her own hands and is not reliant on a man. She goes on a journey of self-discovery to find out who she truly is. Elsa and Ana (Frozen) ,also show determination and independence. When Elsa disappears into isolation, Ana sets out on a quest to find her. This is done with the accompaniment of male characters Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, however, Ana still takes charge of the situation.

When Elsa returns, she is crowned queen and rules independently, without the help of man. It has even been rumoured that Elsa could be the first Disney princess with a girlfriend…

Over many years of films, Disney has finally begun its transition to more symmetrical gender roles. Woman once displayed as naïve and hopeless without a man have been replaced with characters that are strong and independent. This leads hope that they can, one day fully revolve to equal characters and storylines along with setting an example of equality to the younger generation.

By Jade Caplan

22

SHORT HAIR

Since the dawn of time men and women have always been treated as separate and individual from each other. Men had their customs, traditions, styles and mannerisms, and women had their own as well.

One thing that has always set males and females apart from each other is our hair and the way we cut or style it. The common stereotype for men has always been short hair, kept neat and pristine, most commonly always gelled back and out of their faces. For women it has always been long hair that serves as a mask to shield us from the world. Long hair has always been considered a mark of femininity. But this has not always been the case.

23

When I think of Audrey Hepburn I think of big bold eyebrows and beautiful brown eyes.

When I think of the British model Twiggy, I think of those long bold lower lid eyelashes.

But also what comes to mind when I think of both of these famous female icons: Short hair. Not only did these two women make a major fashion statement, they also leaped

When I think back to when I started my

outside of their gender norms and what was creative drawing piece, I told myself that expected of them at the time. In their day, I would do a piece inspired by old Hollymost women had long luscious locks (picture wood actresses and models and the porold Hollywood black and white photos) and traiture style that was common in those their appearances were always glam. They

days. I chose the first two women that

challenged society’s ideals of what women

came to mind when I thought of that

were supposed to look like and in turn be-

style, and Audrey Hepburn and Twiggy

came super idols for women all over the

immediately were my ultimate choices.

world for decades. I can definitely say that

Even with so many other beautiful

they inspired many, both men and women to women to choose from such as Elisastep outside of their comfort zone and do beth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Sophia the unexpected.

Loren, I still think that the women I chose are the best fit. They are such strong and influential women that always took a stand for what they believed in , and its no coincidence that they were the first to come to mind. Audrey Hepburn and Twiggy were on the forefront of starting a major social revolution.

By Nerisha Vollweiler

24

ZULU REED DANCE

Blatant Discrimination or Cultural T radition?

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of

the hymen of the maidens; if it appears to

maidens (aged 12 and up) from across

be torn, the woman is not a virgin her fam-

South Africa gathered at the Enyokeni

ily will have to pay one cow to the king for

Royal Palace in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal

shaming the community.

for Umkhosi woMhlanga (the annual Reed Dance Ceremony); a 4-day event hosted by the Zulu King. The main objectives of the ceremony are to preserve chastity, promote unity and provide the King with a vari-

Modern medical research has revealed that virginity testing is unreliable. A hymen may be torn for many different reasons other than consensual sex. Another sign of

ety of women to select and wed.

virginity is to have “firm breasts and but-

The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, reintro-

dren. Virginity testing has formed a “purity

duced the historic event in 1991, to encour-

hierarchy” and in turn has stigmatized vic-

age abstinence and prevent the transmis-

tims of rape as well as “promiscuous”

sion of HIV. The ceremony culminates in a

women for making their own choices and

Royal Dance in front of the King and all his

defying traditional rules. Virginity testing

guests. Before they are allowed to partici-

has been branded as “unethical” and dis-

pate in the event, Zulu maidens must un-

criminatory. As a result, the Reed Dance

dergo “virginity testing”. It’s fair to say that

ceremony has received criticism from femi-

although virginity testing is sacred, it’s not

nists; the Zulu King has since hit back at

tocks”, i.e. the woman hasn’t had any chil-

a science. An older woman will examine

25

“democrats” for placing “African culture and religion under siege”.

During the last few days of the ceremony, the women must prepare their traditional attire and dance routine. They then walk to reed beds near the King’s palace and each collect the longest, strongest reeds they can find. They present these reeds to the King on the last day, as they perform the Royal Dance, bare-breasted. If the reed breaks, they are proven to have been sexually active during the 4-day event and are humiliated in front of the King and his guests. During the event, the King is allowed to select a virgin wife from the maidens presented to him. Often, these women come from rural, impoverished villages and marrying a King would significantly uplift their lifestyles. This has led many to question whether participation in this event is really voluntary.

Traditionalists claim that this ceremony prepares women for womanhood, just as men are prepared for manhood through Zulu initiation. However, feminists have criticized the virginity testing for essentially ranking women according to the state of their hymens as well as making women vulnerable to rape and abuse by marrying the King. Is the Reed Dance an integral part of African

By Romy Malamud

culture or blatant discrimination?

26

INTERVIEW WITH

LAURA WOLVAARDT Laura is a South African female cricketer who is playing for the senior team at the age of 17.

You used to play in a boys cricket team at

Do you think that male and female sports

school, do you think this benefited you

people are being represented at the same

when it comes to where you are now as a

calibre in the sports of today?

cricketer?

I think that woman’s sports are nowhere

I think is did a bit of both to be honest, obvi-

close to the representation of male sports

ously playing with boys, they are stronger in

and I feel like that isn't a good thing, women

a physical sense so that was a challenge for

and men have the same skill set to be where

me that I had to overcome, but I feel that

they are in international sport and i think

has made me a stronger cricketer, but at the

that female sports should be more repre-

same time, being the only girl in an all boys

sented in todays media.

team, I never felt as though I was truly part of the team as I had to change somewhere

BY Daniel C rowley

else and never had the all-round spirit that the boys had together.

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