Silverstreet Everything Human, Social and Political termly.
Second Edition - ‘Journey’
Editors’ note Welcome to Silverstreet, the new student magazine dedicated to exploring and experiencing the human, social and political sciences in all their depth and diversity. Urged onwards by the range of perspectives within the melting pot that is HSPS, we wanted to create a platform that show-cased the resulting research, debates, and ideas from students and academics alike: encouraging a new dialogue across disciplines and indeed the university; beyond the structure of lectures and supervisions. As well as hoping to be informative and an enjoyable read, we are all for fresh interpretations and pushing forward frontiers, something we believe our first issue definitely does. This issue tackles the notion of Journey in every sense. From the emotional, to the physical, to the historical. We bring news on cutting-edge developments in HSPS on your doorstep in Cambridge; This is no elite, we want your ideas, we want your thoughts and opinions on a topic. If you want to join the Silverstreet team or just occasionally write for us, you would be more than welcome in what ever capacity. Enjoy!
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The team Editor in Chief: Roisin Beck Taylor
Editing team: Jessica Farmery Harsha Balasubramanian Lenny Cherry
Writers:
Design:
Jessica Farmery Roisin Beck Taylor Lenny Cherry Dani Islailov Harsha Balasubramanian Roisin Beck Taylor
This issue’s contributors: Cover photograph - Lo Yi Cheng Lily Hosking Lenny Cherry Jiong Tu Harshadha Balasubramanian Jessica Farmery Aashika Suseendran Julie Hutchinson Dani Ismailov Roisin Beck Taylor
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In this issue What Would Hobbes Have Thought of Our Shoes? Harshadha Balasubramanian Page 5 Journey of Reinvention of the CCP - Jiong Tu Page 6 An Exploration of Exploration - Lenny Cherry Page 7 - 8 “Life Is A Journey” - Jessica Farmery Page 9 - 10 The Decline of the Frontier Folk: The Journey of Transylvanian Saxons - Roisin Beck Taylor Page 11 - 12 TransENDing the Status Quo - Aashika Suseendran Page 13 - 14 Recollection. - Anonymous Page 15 - 16 An article on Victim Discrimination; The Stigma of Speaking out in Cambridge - Julie Hutchinson Page 17 - 18 Submission Photo Gallery Page 19 - 20
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4 Photo on the theme of journey by Lily Hosking
What Would Hobbes Have Thought of Our Shoes? Harshadha Balasubramanian Truth be told, Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century English philosopher, is not very well-known for his opinions on footwear. He is, however, renowned for his political ideas, central to which is his support for absolutist, undivided government and his famous conception in Leviathan (1651) of the state as an artificial person1 created by its subjects: the state's sovereignty is the "Artificiall Soul," which supplies "life and motion to the whole body;"; state officials are "artificiall Joynts;"; the "wealth" from the state's subjects provide its "Strength;"; suggestions made to it form its "memory"; and the "Equity and Lawes," make up "an artificiall Reason and Will;". Now in the 21st century, what Hobbes's body politic appears to lack is shoes, namely representation of the technology that is today frequently accused for bearing the state on a journey towards supreme power. Today, the arguably most contentious and widelyimplemented technology for realising absolute sovereignty is mass surveillance. Whether it be through the lens, the wire, or the web, the state monitors our ideas and behavioural patterns; mapping our interactions, practices, and opinions, and using the data to inform its actions. With some recent scientific advances, some states venture further to include the record of subjects' physical characteristics and personal details in their arsenal of information, deploying biometric surveillance, data mining and profiling, satellite imagery, RFID tagging, and GPS. What was private is now made accessible to the sovereign, and individuals are rendered incapable of hindering this move as the state steadily becomes ubiquitous. This is why mass surveillance, particularly among its liberal opponents, is criticised as one of the state's best shoes for carrying it in the direction of augmented power.
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Though nothing like the present surveillance technology littered the 17th century landscape, it could be hypothetically argued that Hobbes would have agreed: mass surveillance does make the state a potent force by allowing it to significantly shape subjects' lives. In 2013, for example, there were found to be approximately 5.9 million surveillance cameras across Britain, scrutinising each individual in the same way. Thanks to this democratisation of surveillance
technology both the personal element of subjecting a particular individual and the inequality this brings are removed; this is replaced with an equality and impersonality that makes it slightly harder for individual identities to be articulated. This subtle yet poignant shaping of society is a clear symptom of extended sovereign power. Here, however, it is worth pausing to remember that, due to constant development and refinement, , this technology is feeding off the burgeoning success of, inter alia, new researchers and innovators. Therefore it relies totally upon their technical expertise. They may belong outside the executive branch of a state, but their input can determine the sovereign's decisions, whilst their absence can undermine its capacity to be decisive. 3 The sovereign must therefore pin its hopes on these experts when utilising these means, hence rendering them a significant source of power in their own right. Given all of technology's potential for technical issues, the state's path becomes further complicated; it appears that it is counting on possibly unreliable means to achieve its objectives. The power wielded by the state is found to be divided between the sovereign, and the technical experts with their machines. For Hobbes, such divided power weakens a state; it becomes vulnerable to conflicts between the different forms of powerexecutive and technical- resulting in a reduction in the efficiency of governance. Sovereignty that is contingent upon technical experts is especially weak, as it can always be undermined by their potential refusal to cooperate, as has been explicitly demonstrated by Edward Snowden exposing NSA to condemnation. So contrary to the contentions of the surveillance-critics, a look at Hobbes reveals that mass surveillance doesn't necessarily indicate a more powerful state. From a Hobbesian perspective, states employing this technology instead seem to take one step forwards and two steps backwards: they may fractionally increase their power by influencing subjects, but eventually decrease their power by dividing it amongst the executive and technical branches. Then, the sole of the shoes seems nearly as robust as the soul of the artificial person; so robust it weighs the state down, making the shoes ultimately inappropriate for bearing the state on its journey towards more power.
Journey of Reinvention of the CCP Jiong Tu Since its new leadership came to power in 2013, the Chinese state has promoted the slogan ‘China dream’the ‘realization of national prosperity, national rejuvenation and people’s happiness’. This phrase summarises the goals of a renewed and reinvented Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Nevertheless, it still seems to echo slogans used by former leaders. For example, Deng Xiaoping promised material improvements to the lives of the people through his creation of ‘The moderately well-off society’ (xiaokang shehui). Jiang Zemin used ‘The three represents’ (sange daibiao) to call on party members and cadres to ‘represent’ the advanced productive forces, the advanced culture, and people’s fundamental interests. Similarly, ‘The harmonious society’ (hexie shehui) proposed by Hu Jintao aimed to ‘build a socialist harmonious society and promote social equity and justice’. It seems that the recent ‘China dream’ slogan spread by the new leader Xi Jinping is just another example of a self-fashioning endeavour, which compels the state to strive beyond the national limit: improving itself and the lives of its people. The slogans indicate the CCP’s efforts to keep equipping itself with the means to adapt to new situations. Since the market reform and opening up in the late 1970s, the Chinese state has always been trying to find new moral narratives and political legitimacy. In the post-reform era, the socialist ideology could not effectively exert its influence and the state could not put out an alternative core value to replace it. Meanwhile, the leaders are not elected through a recognized procedure, thus the party-state lacks both ideology and procedural legitimacy, and so it must rely mainly, (even solely) on economic performance to achieve this (Zhao, 2012). Yet the economic progress is accompanied, amongst other things, by rising inequality, rampant corruption, and significant environmental costs. Currently, the leadership are trying to find new sources of legitimacy by providing public services and
attempting to support the livelihoods of their citzens. The Chinese government in recent years has embarked on a transformation into a ‘service-oriented government’ (fuwuxing zhengfu) (Yu 2008: 52). Its policies pander to public sentiments, for example the abolition of the agricultural tax, the improvements to infrastructure in the rural areas, and the rebuilding of social safety nets. The government’s claim to legitimacy also relies on the party-state’s commitment to lead China to modernity and global prominence. The dominant discourse of modernity and development (a gradation hierarchy from developed to developing and from advanced to backward countries) continually influence the Chinese government. Officials regard rapid developments in science and technology as part of the solution to the problem of the Chinese state, and crucial to their self-presentation as a modern and moral polity on the global stage. The historian Wasserstrom (2010: 125-6) regards the CCP as an adaptive organization that has consistently demonstrated its readiness for experimentation, both before and after it seized national power. Borrowing ideas from Vivienne Shue, Pieke (2009) regards the Chinese state as being far from a finished product and ‘an ongoing process of becoming; as with the forever incomplete efforts at reinvention and formation both by design and the attribution of countless intentional and unintentional daily actions’ (13). He regards the key to the party’s ability to renew its charisma as not simply being a result of a capacity to modify its policies according to shifting social concerns, but also ‘its skill in redefining its mission to change China, creating a moving target that is always many years away’ (192). The moving target from ‘the moderately well-off society’ to ‘the China dream’ provides a sense of optimism and new hope, which is predicated on the rule of the party - the sole agent capable of stabilising the country and bettering people’s lives. The legitimacy of the party-state has shifted; from being based on ideology, to dependent on a mixture of economic performance, improvement of living standards, moral righteousness, social welfare provision, and the maintenance of political stability. Throughout this process, the state labours hard to modernise and secure a degree of moral authority.
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An Exploration of Exploration Lenny Cherry
Mario Erdheim describes our innate captivation with the alien and unknown as the impetus of our cultural development. Indeed, by stepping out of Africa to colonise the planet on what was one of our most iconic journeys, we showcased our innate desire to explore and push the bounds of our knowledge, making our lust for travel a human trait of evolutionary significance and antiquity. Yet why are we so curious and willing to leave the comforting security that the familiar offers, to embark on quests to unknown lands? Essentially, to travel is to learn. And learning, although associated with experiences of the foreign, requires us to have a degree of foreknowledge so that the new experience can be of any meaning to us. Thus travelling becomes both a physical bridging between the familiar home and the foreign land, and a conceptual one. Annette Scheunpflug, exemplifies this when she points out in her report ‘Cross-Cultural Encounters as a way of overcoming Xenophobia’ that the perceptual realm of our journeys is characterised by the delicate balance between the anticipated and the unexpected. Too many surprises and a journey becomes excessively demanding and exacting, too much of the ordinary and a journey is rendered boring. Therefore our desire to travel arises when we become aware of, and so gain knowledge of, tantalising snippets of foreignness within our familiar environs, be these snippets as superficial as the smudge of a distant land mass on the horizon beyond vast expanses of water. Indeed, despite the seemingly ephemeral nature of such snippets, the pull they generate is remarkably powerful. David Dobbs highlights how, in his article ‘Restless Genes’, we need only look back at the colonisation of the Pacific by Polynesians to appreciate how the presence and absence of ‘tantalisers’ affects our curiosity and subsequent desire to journey. Despite this dispersal of Homo sapiens initially being one of the fastest, once people reached the Solomon Islands they ground to a halt. Ana Duggan of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology favours a simple, ‘Occhams Razor’ explanation, remarking that “the islands they moved among were generally intervisible”, except-crucially- when one sails beyond the Solomon Islands at which point no land is visible in any direction. Hence, we are driven to travel when in the presence of triggers for our curiosity.
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But in order to explain why we travel we must explain why we are innately curious- a fiendishly difficult task. Indeed curiosity
is a multifaceted characteristic with many likely interlinked causes. Nevertheless if we are to assume our curiosity is innate and not learned, looking at our genome is always a good place to start. And it seems scientists have had some success in isolating ‘curious genes’. Indeed, scientists have now discovered a variant of the DRD4 gene which is responsible for the control of dopamine, a chemical messenger associated with learning and reward. Carried by 20% of the population, this DRD4 variant gene is said to make people more inclined to take risks and discover new concepts, places and experiences. Could this gene thus be responsible for the unmatched curiosity humans possess? The mounting evidence suggests quite possibly. For example a study undertaken by the University of California in 1999 by Chaunsheng Chen found that the variant gene was in fact more common amongst modern migrant populations that in settled ones. Other studies have also yielded striking results. In 2011 a further study showed that two relevant variants of the DRD4 gene were found in a significantly higher level in populations whose ancestors travelled further afield on leaving Africa. Therefore this gene helps to shed light on why humans, unlike any other animals, are willing to explore and travel even when they have sufficient resources in their locale. We do have to remember however, that as Kenneth Kidd of Yale University points out “you can’t reduce something as complex as human exploration to a single gene”. There are more undiscovered genetic and non-genetic factors which feed into our innate desire to explore. Unfortunately however, it seems to me that our curiosity about the unfamiliar is ironically self-destructive. With globalisation and mass tourism making people ever more connected, have we allowed our curiosity to exhaust any future prospects of exploration by turning everything into a homogenous known? Indeed in their book ‘TourismBetween Place and Performance’, Coleman and Crang describe mass tourism as constructing “the non places of hypermodernity”. In addition to this, lies another layer of irony. Indeed in some tourist destinations, tourist-onlyspace is created which hides tourists from the unfamiliar by creating a ‘home from home’. The ability to expand on one’s experience of the unknown and satisfy one’s curiosity is thus greatly hindered by our contemporary approach to travel. And so it seems that modernity has generated a set up in which our curious nature will no longer be fulfilled. This is perhaps a cynical approach but it is nevertheless food for thought- Have we explored all of the explorable?
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“Life Is A Journey” Jessica Farmery In their classic text, Metaphors We Live By (1980), George Lakoff and Mark Johnson claim that ‘the essence of metaphors is understanding and
that our conceptual system is fundamentally structured in terms of metaphors, as they act as building blocks of cognitive concepts. For example,
experiencing one thing in terms of another’. We use metaphorical expressions to comprehend abstract
our exercise of metaphors may influence our perceptions and inferences, and thus our decisions
concepts such as feelings, moral practices, or spiritual awareness, and therefore they enable us to structure our experiences in a ‘rational’ way. They are
and actions (Rossow, 2009).
key components of our speech and though patterns; indeed we use them so frequently that we rarely stop to think about their multi-dimensional functions, let alone question the ways in which humans use metaphors as a linguistic and cognitive tool to help us make sense of the world. In The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936), I. A. Richards describes a metaphor as having two parts: the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The vehicle is the object
‘Members of a language group will use
whose attributes are borrowed. For example, in the well-known metaphor of ANGER IS FIRE (she was
which fit with conveniently established
burning with rage, he smouldered, her fury ignited) the tenor is the emotion of anger, and the vehicle is the element ‘fire’. The metaphor stems from the physiological symptoms of anger, such as a feeling of increased body temperature, and allows the concrete conceptualisation of an intangible emotional experience. In general, the vehicle used is likely to highlight and make coherent a specific aspect of the tenor in order to serve the purpose of the speaker.
‘Birth is the start point, death is the finish line' The locus of the metaphor is in the way we conceptualise one categorised phenomena in terms of another, and so perform a cognitive ‘cross-domain mapping’. Lakoff and Johnson go as far as to propose
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expressions, even novel expressions, frames’ Most people are familiar with the overused and somewhat clichéd metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY. It relies upon the fact that we have coherently organised knowledge about undertaking physical journeys which we can successfully apply and make use of in order to understand life. In Western EuroAmerican ontology, life becomes a ‘journey’ when it is conceptualised via the typical ‘Event Structure Metaphor’ (Lakoff). Birth is the start point, death is the finish line. Individuals are expected to have purposes and goals (‘destinations’), and action to achieve such goals become steps or self-propelled forwards motion. Difficulties in life are impediments to said motion- they may be ‘blocking your path’ or ‘mountains to climb’ or ‘obstacles along the way’. We attribute the role of traveller to ourselves, and those who help us in life might be ‘guides’ who ‘point us in the right direction’ or ‘lead us along the correct path’.
Furthermore, the idea of moving towards a destination can be used to represent the abstract construct of ‘time’, enabling us to readily understand the past as behind us and the future as ahead of us. For example, a teenager may perceive old age to be ‘a long way away’ or ‘in the distant future’. The LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor can be extended to create numerous additional metaphoric expressions, including: “I’m feeling lost” “Give yourself a head start in life” “Which path will you choose?” “She’s at a crossroads” Therefore it could be described as a frame that encloses a further set of secondary metaphorical expressions that rely on and are consistent with the framing conceptualisation. Members of a language group will use expressions, even novel expressions, which fit within conventionally established frames. If they do stray from the unspoken boundaries of the frame, they intend to communicate a special significance. Similarly, speakers may use a variety of different kinds of journeys, but interpreters will still understand these utterances in terms of the basic conceptual metaphor. For example: - Boat trips (experiencing stormy seas or smooth sailing, missing the boat, sinking).
- Train trips (going off the rails). - Walking (stumbling, getting side-tracked, walking the extra mile, getting left behind). The use of metaphors to understand and conceptualise abstract concepts is not only common amongst English speakers, but across a multitude of languages. Cristina Psomadakis has researched the usage of metaphorical expressions in Modern Greek, and found that the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor is as significant in Greek as it is in English. The terms προσανατολισμός ‘orientation’ and πορεία ‘progress, course or fortune’ are rarely are used in their literal sense, but rather as means of foregrounding journey imagery. The ancient Greeks had a very strong conceptualisation of humans’ journey through life towards death, and an afterlife underpinned by the idea of a geographic location (Hades). Perhaps the reason why we see so many similarities in the realisation of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor across European languages and cultures is because ancient Greece was so influential in structuring Western thought (Psomadakis). So next time you rely on a metaphorical expression, spare a moment to consider the complex array of mental mappings and cognitive constructs underpinning your speech, and appreciate the complexities and significance of human language.
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The Decline of the Frontier Folk: The Journey of Transylvanian Saxons Roisin Beck Taylor
Romania is a country enveloped in a dark and murky past. With the collapse of the Soviet power in 1989, and the consequent execution of Ceausescu (Romanian leader) on Christmas day the same year, Western media flooded Eastern Europe to prize open the dark secrets of the reign of the communism. British media was assaulted with images of naked, malnourished and disabled children crammed into small rooms of 700 orphanages across Romania. Outrage and hatred bred from the news of sexual and physical abuse, an image which Romania have struggled to detach themselves from in recent years in spite of positive changes made country-wide. But Romania is a diamond still being formed. Transylvania in particular has such pure beauty, from its tiny rustic villages in the rolling hills to towns filled with exquisite Slavic architecture, if Thompson doesn’t have this country in their catalogue, they should do. On a brief visit to Romania my family and I travelled out for the day with a Dutch anthropologist to visit some Saxon churches, a trip that I wasn’t that enthralled about at first. But alas, my parents had been right, it was pretty close to transformative. In the car, driving along what could only be described as a dusty track, the remnants of collective farms stood silent and abandoned and our guide told us of the petrol shortages in ’89 in which Westerners would be driven to the front of the queue for gas, with Romanians waiting for days to get an overly priced fuel to power their houses or vehicles. The cement hollows and overgrown fields presented the past unlike anything written in the textbooks.
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The village roads were no more than dust and straw in many places, bridges made from slats of wood and
wells to pull up water for the surrounding houses. It is quiet and calm and feels tentative and apprehensive. This is a country with a countryside that fears for its future. With the young men and women leaving their village homes for the city in search of work, there seems very little hope that they will in fact return. The Saxon churches we visited told a story of similar change and heart ache. The Saxon colony came over from Germany to cultivate and defend what was a part of Hungary in 1224, and were consumed by Romania in 1918 when Transylvania was taken from Hungary. They called themselves the Grenzevolk (Border/Frontier people) trying to protect both their German culture and their land. Marilyn McArthur talks of the values which Saxon’s held dear, the two most prominent being the sense of ‘sticking together’ and ‘keeping the peace’. Looking at the religious murals in the 14th century Saxon church it is not hard to see these characteristics pervading the architecture. The USSR’s involvement in Romania had a hugely detrimental effect upon the Saxon population due to their country of ethnic origin; Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century there were roughly 250,000 Saxons, compared to January 1945 in which around 75,000 young Saxons between the ages of 17 and 45 had been deported for up to five years into the Soviet Union to carry out ‘reconstruction work’. This left Saxon Romanians at one half of its prewar level in 1950. These changes had a vast effect on the ages of ethnic Saxons living in Romania post WWII, leaving a predominantly aging population in village areas. This inevitably caused problems for rural populations because they were limited in their scope of occupational choice.
The fall of communism in 1989 enabled another wave of change for the Saxons in Transylvania, opening up further borders into Germany for ethnic Germans to return home after ostracism during the Soviet era, forcing many into areas such as rural Romania. This mass exodus clouded the future for the continued existence of Saxons in such areas, as many returned to their ethnic homes from all areas of Eastern Europe, that which had been named their ‘external homeland’ for centuries. The issue, as is the case with many ethnic groups integrating into nationalistic societies, is cultural conflict. Post WWII, the Saxons were expected to integrate further into Romanian society, which inevitably led to inter-group marriages. With an increased dilution at a much more rapid pace, the Saxons quickly began to lose the battle for cultural purity. In fact, the village we visited briefly, which used to be a locus for Saxon families near the main town in Transylvania - Sighisoura recently saw the death of the last Saxon in the immediate area. The Saxon journey isn’t an unfamiliar one. For many Eastern European countries in particular we are seeing the rapid movement of youth to urban areas, and with it the loss of staple traditions and culture. While important work from unlikely sources such as The Princes Trust goes on in regions such as Transylvania to maintain certain cultural specialities, it is hard to be optimistic when the disillusioned youth face a combination of financial crises and failing job prospects. So what is the future for similar small ethnic groups? Is it positive, hopeful or just inevitable? If we take anything from the Saxon story, it is not a particularly pleasant picture. But if we keep our past in mind, maybe we can take lessons from such occurrences and strive to maintain heterogeneity of culture as opposed to falling into the easy trap of becoming bland and unidentifiable. 12
TransENDing the Status Quo Aashika Suseendran
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The current state of occupational discrimination projects the image that men will always dominate fields such as engineering, mathematics, and science—a view quite popular among entity theorists. Entity theorists are those who see groups as internally homogenous, and would likely be a d vo c a t e s o f t h e s t a t u s q u o ; m e a n w h i l e, incrementalists would more likely be proponents of change, because they view environment and experience as playing a bigger role in group differences (Morton, Postmes, Haslam, & Hornsey, 2009). Well, what exactly is the status quo? A Latin term literally translating to "the existing state of affairs," the status quo is basically society's acceptance and justification of things as they are. Let us consider the status quo on a university level. As students of Cambridge University, many of us have been conditioned to obey certain customs and social norms; indeed, "keeping off the grass" and "waiting for the fellows to dine first" are timeless university-wide traditions that are essentially harmless to follow. Yet, on a global scale, justifying inequity and adhering to the status quo for tradition's sake can have dire consequences—such as perpetuating the occupational sex segregation evident today in many countries around the world. Cross-cultural gender analyses have shown that "in societies that are characterized by sex segregation in occupations, males dominate the occupations that have higher prestige, power, and income, although the exact nature of these occupations differs from one society to another" (Hines, 2004, p. 223). At least in the Western world, occupations in the math and science realms are attributed to a majority of males and a minority of females. Presently, the status quo favors more men than women as engineers, mathematicians, and physical scientists—yet many psychologists would argue that this trend is far from inevitable. Although much is made of gendered differences between adult males and females, the sources of these differences are a matter of controversy (The Economist, 2008). Regarding men's control over certain fields, the debate continues to pit biology against culture. However, evidence for the idea that men dominate certain occupations due to biological, hormonal "advantages" is seriously lacking—especially when compared to the large bodies of research arguing that
gender differences are socialized cross-culturally as a result of economic and political influences. Indeed, psychologists have put forward convincing cultural explanations and have discovered, for example, that "when girls are taught separately from boys they often do better in subjects such as mathematics than if classes are mixed" (The Economist, 2008, p. 1; Hyde & Mertz, 2009). In addition, cross-cultural analysis of male and female performance on mathematics tests suggests that the gender gap in math scores disappears in countries with a more gender-equal culture (Guiso, Monte, Sapienza, & Zingales, 2008). These findings suggest that social pressures may inhibit female performance in fields such as mathematics and science, allowing for the accumulation of male advantage. Furthermore, Blackwell, Dweck, and Trzesniewski (2007) studied children's academic performance and found that the ones who viewed achievement as something gained through hard work fared better in the rough transition from elementary to junior high, more so than those who viewed "intelligence as a gift." The researchers also found that the female students who saw math ability as a gift were more likely to succumb to stereotypes. If female students no longer felt comfortable in their mathematics curricula (such as in a calculus classroom), many would decide not to continue. Blackwell et al. (2007) argued that praising women's math performance (and therefore promoting the idea that math is a gift) is unproductive. To counteract this, they held interventions of eight sessions that addressed the nature of ability.. The interventions directly countered entity theory, instead promoting incrementalist ideology in that working hard changes your brain and can make you improve. As a result, females in the intervention group showed markedly higher math grades than females in the control group (Blackwell et al., 2007). If women can succeed in mathematics and science, why the discrepancy in the work force? The most likely explanations for the dearth of eminent women in the aforementioned fields are the manifestations of gender schemas and the accumulation of male advantage. Schemas are mental scripts or hypotheses we use on a daily basis, in order to interpret social events.
For instance, people who view women as higher in empathy and verbal abilities may be inclined to develop mental schemas that place women in motherly roles and occupations. One should note that these schematic biases are by no means held only by men. Similar gender schemas have been found to be held by both men and women, regardless of whether they advocate those views or not (Hines, 2004). The dramatic implications of gender schemas become appreciable when they are shown to inhibit gender equity in the workplace. For instance, Norton and colleagues (2004) asked the question of what was more important in recruitment: education or experience? Participants were male undergraduate students asked to select a candidate for a job requiring strong engineering background and experience in the construction industry. The experimenters created five resumes, of which only two candidates were competitive. One was superior in degree of education, while the other had more years of experience. In the control condition, candidates were identified by their initials only. As it turned out, participants in the control condition preferred the candidate more education 75% of the time, and "typically said education was the most important factor in deciding" (Norton, Vandello, & Darley, 2004, p. 820). In the two experimental conditions, a male name was attached to the education candidate while a female name was attached to the experience candidate—and vice versa for counterbalancing purposes. The results were startling. When the female candidate had an educational advantage, less than half of the participants picked the candidate with more education, and less than one fourth said education was the most important factor in deciding. Ultimately, Norton et al. (2004) found that men appeared more "appropriate" for the job of construction engineer, whether they have more education or experience. Their research suggests that schemas can influence achievement, because people shift their standards to justify their schemas. In closing, intelligence and talent—specifically in mathematics, engineering, and science—are multidimensional and hard to define. Also, talent is not fixed, as opposed to popular belief. Entity theorists tend to view these aspects of personality as predetermined and unchanging, but on the contrary, skill and talent can be developed and changed. Unfortunately, the United States acts as an entity
theorist, in thinking that some students innately have math talent; meanwhile, East Asian countries like Japan seem to think that effort is what counts—an incrementalist approach. These ideologies, in themselves, have allowed for females to shine, in the math and science fields, in some countries more so than others (Spelke, 2005). Granted, men are successfully spearheading mathematics and science at this point in time, but change is not inevitable. Interventions and overall social change are among us, and have been a long time coming. If anything is inevitable, it is the fact that women are rapidly ascending into fields of mathematics, science, and engineering—and the tides may shift in the years to come.
Do you want to get involved with creating the Silverstreet magazine? We are looking for general contributors, photographers, reviewers and anyone interested in writing articles. If you want to opportunity to work with a tight knit team and taking your subject further, then email us at silverstreetcambridge@gmail .com
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Recollection.
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I would eat little more than fruit, salad and vegetables. Fat became something to be feared. I ran everyday; though it became an obsession, it was an important de-stressor. I Anonymous dropped from a healthy size 10 to a size 6. My periods stopped. My ribs stuck out. I retreated from the social Aged sixteen and not being able to look in the mirror at sphere and the social sphere begun to reject me. yourself without feeling sick at the sight of your face, despising yourself so much that you wish the world Besides the strict control of my eating and exercise could just swallow you up, getting one of your only habits, academic work was the only other thing I could pleasures from running your long fingers over your exert some control over in my life, though exams were bones that are more visible than you think on your slim definitely stressors in themselves. I found some solace in frame. my academic work because it gave me back what I put into it. However, being an overachiever I worked much too I looked into the camera on my phone from which I was hard on my work. I was surviving on little more than four recording with eyes so vulnerable and breaths so hours sleep a night: I felt constantly on edge, my irregular from hyperventilating. I’d decided to film the thoughts kept me awake at night, and my coffee panic attack to shame myself, to make myself watch addiction was giving me insomnia. I felt like I was never how, as my dad said, ‘stupid’ I was being. ‘Stop crying, present, and every day was a struggle. My favourite you stupid girl’, he would say, over and over again. So subject was Art, and in many senses it was a therapy for painful it was to hear those words, which, piercing me me. I felt that it allowed me to create the beauty that I like daggers, fuelled, if not created, the panic attacks. He didn’t have myself. However, being the perfectionist that I was the ultimate judge. I will admit that I was scared of am, it took up a disproportionate amount of my time him, but it wasn’t fear that he’d hurt me, but rather fear (probably four hours of each day), which exacerbated my that he wouldn’t approve of me. It’s not that my dad is, lack-of-time issue. In some senses I felt that academia or was, a horrible person: he was dealing with issues was the only way out of where I was, and I feared failing with his business and, being as out-of-touch with his more than anything, which is why I pushed myself so emotions as he is, he misattributed the cause of his much. anger to me, rather than his work. I see that now, but I didn’t see that at the time. I saw myself as the problem. I don’t know how I found my way out of that deep abyss At the same time, my mum, suffering silently with the but somehow I did. With the help of Art, and listening to burden that her sister had cancer, was equally as tense music and running, somehow I did. My dad’s business as my father. The atmosphere in my house was improved; my aunt recovered from cancer; I moved unpleasant and I felt like I was an unwanted guest, schools and in finding other friends, reestablished the ties someone with whom to be dealt. with my old friends. My acne improved (it comes and goes with stress) and I regained a healthy weight. I had School was no sanctuary either. When I was fifteen several revelations. One day I realised that my dad, like almost overnight I broke out in acne. Previously I had anyone, isn’t always right. Simply, once, when we were been a happy, fairly popular, quite academic and arguing, I said to him, ‘Well, I don’t agree with you’. ‘Okay,’ reasonable sporty girl. As the acne got worse my self- he said, and that was it. I felt empowered and respected. confidence crumbled. I became ashamed of the way I I begun to realise that I didn’t have to think the same as looked and begun to avoid eye contact, not wanting everyone else, and that I was equally important. I learned people to look at my face; I thought I didn’t deserve my not to care what others thought. The day I sat down and friends, that they were too pretty for me. Every time I realised that I had had a problem marked a point in that I looked in the mirror I felt sick, at the sight of my face, could only say that from being on the other side, having and the monster that I thought I was inside. I was being walked along the path of mental health issues. bullied. I lost my appetite. Several of my friends also had eating disorders. Dieting not only became a competition Though it was the worst time of my life, I feel like I grew with them but also a way to recapture some sense of along the way and am a better, stronger, and more attractiveness, to make myself suffer, most importantly, independent person now that I was before my mental and to regain control of my life. health issues. My journey has taught be several things along the way.
Firstly, it taught me the importance of supporting those around you as the smallest things can make a massive difference in someone’s life. Help and be kind to those around you, even those who you don’t think need it, for we all feel scared and alone at times, and sometimes these people that seem strong need your help most. What you say and do to others does matter, so use your power for the positive good and pick people up rather than put them down. Secondly, I learned that you shouldn’t blame everything on yourself. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you are the problem. Equally, don’t let anyone else feel that they’re the problem – no one should be make to feel ashamed of the person they are. Respect yourself and those around you. Lastly, you need to accept yourself for who you are: you, whatever you may think, are a beautiful human being, inside and out. Surround yourself with others that you care about and admired, that you trust and feel comfortable around, and that make you feel good and respected. By providing each other with the support we need, we will stop so many of us falling through the cracks.
was the problem. Even when I came out the other side, I didn’t think what I’d had was depression and the issue, particularly by my family and friends was brushed under the carpet. When I brought it up with my mother recently the reply I got was ‘don’t be silly’ and when I brought it up with my friends I was told ‘not to bring the mood down’. As a society, we do not address the issues of mental health. We ignore them yet they are so common! According to the Mental Health Foundation, in the United Kingdom, one in four people experience some kind of mental health problem during the course of the year and, even more alarmingly, about ten percent of children have a mental health problem at any one time. Yet I thought that I was unusual in having mental health issues. This is why it’s so important to spread the message that depression can occur among people at any age, even at, as I was, fifteen years of age, so that they can seek help and realise that they are not alone. At the recent Student Minds conference I was overwhelmed at the number of people that have suffered from or are suffering from mental health issues. Some of these people I know very well and they are some of the most caring and brilliant For a long time I felt like I was struggling alone. I didn’t people I know. There is nothing wrong with having a know that what I had was depression. I thought that only mental illness. What’s wrong is the stigma surrounding it. mature adults could get depression, not teenagers and Break the silence and stop the stigma. children. I never imagined that I had a problem, I thought I
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An article on Victim Discrimination - The Stigma of Speaking out in Cambridge Julie Hutchinson The way our society has developed has made it difficult for victims to speak out: rape is the only crime in which the victim may share the blame. While sexual assault remains a stressful social fact, especially in developing countries, stories have become alarming even in quaint towns like Cambridge. This article will explore how misconceptions of what constitutes rape and how the lack of action taken against even the most minor sexual assaults are fundamentally hindering the progress of female rights and safety. It is hard to believe the horrors that have taken place in this dynamic, vibrant student-filled town; a town in which the educational elite flocks and historical figures roam the streets around you. You may bike alongside Mary Beard, casually cross paths with Stephen Hawking or, up until recently, been to a Formal with Ol’ Prince Wills (every Johnsonian’s favourite story). However, behind the glossy prospectuses of day-long punt sessions, students frolicking on the grass amidst world-famous monuments and smiling as they read Marx and Cicero in timeless libraries, Cambridge conceals another myth: that of student safety. This town is simply not safe for women.
Two students have exclusively shared their experiences with Silverstreet. These experiences are far more prevalent than one would think: A Homerton fresher, who preferred to remain anonymous, recalls: “I thought I would be safe here – Cambridge definitely felt much more secure than a big city like London – but I was wrong […] If you’re not safe here, you’re not safe anywhere.” The ‘naïve freshers’ are not the only ones susceptible to these assaults: a second year Churchill Bio Natsci shares her experience of a brutal rape post-Cindies; an assault whose psychological as well as physical post injuries have led her to intermission. She will return to repeat second year the following October. When asking about the experience of her report, she reluctantly replies: “I felt alone. I didn’t know where to go or who to trust.” I was surprised when she told me she kept the reason for her intermission secret. “Who would believe me when I said I was assaulted in the world’s most prestigious institution and not one thing was done about it?” A Homerton fresher, who preferred to remain anonymous, recalls: “I thought I would be safe here – Cambridge definitely felt much more secure than a big city like London – but I was wrong […] If you’re not safe here, you’re not safe anywhere.” The ‘naïve freshers’ are not the only ones susceptible to these assaults: a second year Churchill Bio Natsci shares her experience of a brutal rape post-Cindies; an assault whose psychological as well as physical post injuries have led her to intermission. She will return to repeat second year the following October. When asking about the experience of her report, she reluctantly replies: “I felt alone. I didn’t know where to go or who to
The truth of women’s safety is revealed by a recent CUSU Women’s campaign and Varsity survey, which received over 2,100 responses of their Cambridge experience: • Over 46% have been groped • 8.4% of women suffered attempted penetration, “orally, vaginally or anally” • 4.4% of women have been seriously sexually assaulted • 1.5% of men have been seriously sexually assaulted • 88% of victims did not report the assault • Only 2 victims went to the police - The most common reason for students not reporting sexual assault was doubting that anyone one would believe them or feeling ashamed. • 91% of perpetrators were male • 50% of perpetrators were known to the victim • 10 were members of academic staff. • 78% of perpetrators had been drinking • 50% of incidents happened in clubs • 35% within colleges
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trust.” I was surprised when she told me she kept the reason for her intermission secret. “Who would believe me when I said I was assaulted in the world’s most prestigious institution and not one thing was done about it?” Of the few assaults reported, most were met with indifference and even criticism. A pertinent example is that of Eleanor Costello’s Tab Article ‘Cambridge just isn’t safe for women’ in which she described her experience of a stranger kissing her while she was inebriated and completely without her consent. Costello disclosed that her strong emotional reaction was linked to a previous rape prior to attending Cambridge. Instead of being met with understanding for her valid argument that it is unacceptable for women to be taken advantage of when drunk, the article sparked widespread debate that not only trivialised, but justified, Costello’s assault. More than the article itself, student responses shed light on what we call ‘the world’s one percent’ truly believe and demonstrates just how underdeveloped women’s rights actually are. When asked his opinion on Costello’s article, a Trinity second-year male states: “Calling her assault a rape is an insult to real rape victims.” When asked what he believed ‘a rape victim’ was, he responds: “it is much more devastating than being kissed without consent. Being taken advantage of when drunk does not constitute as rape.” It is exactly such opinions that cause assault to be even more problematic: while Costello’s experience was indeed not rape, it was still a form of abuse and it was met with even more disrespect. The perception that rape is a far-off reality or an unspeakable taboo is detrimental to women’s progress: contrary to popular belief, abuse is not a clear-cut antagonistic duality, but instead mostly constitutes the grey area of the spectrum: was she too drunk to say no? Was she too scared to voice her lack of consent? Is touching her without her permission acceptable if there is no penetration? If it is just a kiss or a grope, can she eve n c o m p l a i n? F u r t h e r m o r e, t h ey a r e a l l interconnected and small actions are symptomatic of a bigger and darker picture. No matter how small or minor the incident is, whether it is a sneaky grope or an unwanted kiss, preventing them helps prevent far more severe incidents. A notable case is that of Monique Henville, 19, who had a bottle of champagne smashed into her face, shattering her jaw and teeth,
when she refused to dance with a man. "He kept coming after me, and then he poured champagne over me. When I asked him to go away, he did it again.” Henville explains. "The next thing I knew, he'd come back with the bottle and hit me in the face with it, and it smashed as he did that." Our sibling rival Oxford experienced a similar confrontation, when Oxford student Jeanne-Marie posted a selfie of her broken nose and bruised face. These were injuries that she had received after confronting someone for groping and touching her in a nightclub. It is possible to believe that had the minor assaults been considered more seriously than just a standard nuisance, these two tragedies could have been prevented. Considering the hostility and indifference that both students and the institution have had concerning abuse, it is of little wonder that women are afraid of speaking out. We are afraid of humiliation, afraid of being branded or judged, afraid of being shunned. We fear that our peers will dismiss us as overdramatic and of being deceived by those we thought would protect us. Ultimately, we are afraid that if we speak out because it will, somehow, be our fault: we are to blame for being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, wearing the wrong things or in the wrong state of mind. Even if the law declares you innocent of committing the crime, you are still blamed for the irresponsibility that caused it. There is only one thing we can do to help resolve this situation – and that is to actually address it. Even in Cambridge, women’s voices cannot be heard if they are too afraid to speak. Silverstreet is openly welcomes opinions, discussions, thoughts and experiences, even anonymously if it should be wished. Our termly magazine is open to contributions and columnists as well.
Jeanne Marie Ryan’s selfie, which went viral after being posted on Facebook.
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Submission Photo Gallery Thanks to all our entries for this edition’s photo competition, as you can see the photo gracing our cover this term is exquisite, and taken by Lo Yi Cheng. Congrats! Thanks to all other entries sent in via our email, all entries were worthy! Clockwise from right corner: Lo Yi Cheng Aashika Suseendran Julie Hutchinson
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Above - Sophie Alexander Buck Below - Julie Hutchinson
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Silverstreet was created by students for students, for the faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences.