Term 2, Issue 7

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International Womens’ Day and feminism today

Should Hollywood consider cis actors for trans* roles?

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16 MARCH 2015, Week 9

NEWS Science

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Celebrating 25review years of SICK! Festival the Hubble Telescope

The Badger brings you a virtual reality special

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A Room with a Stew: Badger Arts Review Stewart Lee Page 14

Sussex students discover dead body at house viewing

Sussex students left shaken after finding body while viewing a student property Mystery surrounds two tragic Brighton University student deaths that occurred last week

Google Earth Louis Patel and Paul Millar Four Sussex students were left shocked after finding a dead body in a house they were viewing in Brighton last week.

Police were called to a house in Vere Road on Friday afternoon shortly after 1pm, after the body of a Brighton University student was discovered by the group of second years and the letting agent.

The Tab first broke the news on Monday, three days after the body was discovered in the four-bedroomed property.

An anonymous source told the paper that the student was found slumped at his desk. Other sources have said that the students could ‘smell something funny’.

Reportedly, the existing tenants said that they had not seen the student for ‘two days’.

Sussex Police have released a statement to The Badger confirming the name of the deceased.

However, the post-mortem results are yet to be released identifying the cause of death.

A spokesperson from the police said: “A post mortem examination has taken

place but further tests are needed in order to establish exact cause of death.

However the death is not being treated as suspicious.”

Trevor Munyanyi, aged 23, was a finalist studying Business and Management who was expected to graduate with a first-class degree.

Munyanyi had, alongside his studies, worked at AllSaints.

One of his colleagues paid tribute to Munyanyi’s memory on social media.

“You truly were the most amazing person I have ever met in my life,” the colleague wrote; many other students from both Sussex and Brighton univer-

sities have also paid tribute.

This is the second death of a Brighton University student in a week; another student, Aaron Dunford, was found dead outside of his house last Monday.

Brighton University released a statement to The Badger: “We have been deeply saddened by the deaths and our thoughts are with Trevor’s and Aaron’s families and friends at this time. We are offering support to their fellow students and to course staff.”

Students affected by this stories have been advised to contact the student life centre.

Welfare officer, Rianna Gargiulo

commented: “At the Students’ Union we have all been very upset to hear about this incident.

“I hope that the students have been made aware of the support services that the University offers, such as use of the counselling service, the student life centre and the mitigating evidence process if they feel as though they have been significantly affected by this.

“Our deepest sympathy also goes out to the deceased student’s family and friends.”

A post mortem result on both deaths is expected later this week.

the badger

16 march 2015

in pictures • 2

IN PICTURES

Light and movement on the beach

Darren Baskill

Sherwin Wong

Sherwin Wong

Sherwin Wong Editor-in-Chief Deborah Batchelor badger@sussexstudent.com News Editor Jack Williams Comment Editor Victoria Farley Tech/Sci/Features Editor Jordan Ellis Arts Editor Tom Powell Head of Publicity Lili Pammer-Zagroczky

Sports Editor Joe Cummins josephcummins.sportseditor@gmail. com News Sub Editors Daniel Green, Zoe Halse, Alex Ferguson, Rosie Dodds,Jess Pitocchi badger-news@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Comment Sub Editors Miriam Steiner, Alice Nettleship badger-opinion@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Letters Sub Editor Louis Patel badger-letters@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Tech Sub Editor Connor Cochrane badger-tech@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Sports Sub Editor Vladislav Hristov Grozev badger-sports@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Features Sub Editor Ryan Bourne badger-features@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Photo Editors Nelly Tookey, Sophie Jones thebadgerphotography@gmail.com

Science Sub Editor Jade Groves badger-science@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Publicity Coordinator Lenart Celar badger-publicity@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Arts Sub Editors Victoria O’Donnell, Ioana Matei, Raymond Jennings, Lily Cooper, Lottie Brazier badger-arts@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Online Editors Steve Barker, Pete Humphreys badger-online@ussu.sussex.ac.uk

Sherwin Wong Media Development Officer Paul Millar mediadevelopment@sussexstudent. com Communications Officer Michael Segalov communications@sussexstudent.com Find us online: www.badgeronline.co.uk @thebadgernews facebook.com/thebadger.ussu Instagram: thebadgernewss

the badger

16 MARCH 2015

NEWS • 3

Undergrads upset by ‘private tuition’ ads Rosanna Dodds and Paul Millar News Sub-Editor Sussex students have claimed that associate tutors in various university departments has been offering extra tuition beyond office hours.

One University head of school said their department does not “encourage or support any private tutor arrangements” with Sussex students.

Meanwhile many associate tutors believe they are underpaid and undervalued.

The Badger received an email from a second year undergraduate, who criticised a tutor for allegedly advertising

the fact she charges for extra support.

“I was struggling with a piece of work and therefore went to my tutor’s office hours for help where I was offered private tuition,” the student said.

“I was personally upset by this offer as I was not able to afford the price that my tutor proposed to me.

“Some other students in my class were able to afford extra support however, and I find this very unfair. Why should a student receive a better mark than their peers simply as they can afford it?”

“Charging for extra tuition, in my opinion, creates a divide in the student

community: those who can afford to pay for support, and those who cannot.

“We are already paying £9000 a year, which is of course an extortionate amount. Shouldn’t our fee therefore include access to extra support? It should be the university that pays for our extra tuition, not us- where is our money going?”

The head of this student’s head of school responded in a statement to this newspaper: “In [our school]we do not encourage or support any private tutoring arrangements.

“However, we are not in a position to prevent students from seeking private

tutoring if they wish for it, or to prevent Associate Tutors from supplementing their income outside the hours of their contract.

“We do not believe there is any justification for seeking private tutoring beyond the teaching provisions already in place.

Indeed, all Associate Tutors in [our school] receive additional payments to run weekly office hours, where students can attend and get 1-to-1 support for their learning and assessment.”

Until only recently have tutors received payment for office hours however. An anonymous associate tutor, in

response to the allegation has said.

The University is currently investigating these claims. For this reason, The Badger has been asked to refrain from naming the school referred to in this article.

The Students’ Union are also looking into the matter with the University of Sussex.

The University were contacted to comment on an update with the situation but said that they couldn’t comment on individual cases.

Anyone who has concerns about the issue are encouraged to contact the Students’ Union.

Sussex ranks 5th in Badger expenses investigation University of Sussex VCEG claim 5th highest expenses per member out of 61 Universities executives Pete Humphrey Digital Sub-Editor The University of Sussex have ranked 5th in a survey conducted by The Badger on university executive team expenses.

Following Freedom of Information requests sent to 90 UK universities out of 162 universities in the UK, of which 61 successfully responded, The Badger discovered that the Vice-Chancellors Executive Group (VCEG) at the University of Sussex claimed £8,562.28 per member of the executive team.

The only four university executive groups to claim more per member than the University of Sussex were Royal Agricultural University (£8,605.73), Royal Holloway University (£9,106.94), Bangor University (£11,424.70), and the University of Nottingham (£27,144.90).

VCEG claimed over £59,000 in expenses from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2015. This makes them

the third highest-claiming executive team overall from The Badger’s study. The University of Nottingham (£325,739.3) and Aston University (£82,654) claimed the highest and second highest expenses overall.

The average Sussex exec member spent more on expenses per member than their counterparts at Russell Group universities, such as University College London (£4,673.75 per member) and the University of St. Andrews (£1,071.14) University of Sussex Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael Farthing, claimed expenses on travelling to Thailand, Malaysia and the USA on recruitment related visits over the past two calender years. He approximately claimed £25,838.08 for travel expenses during this period.

Responding to the statistics, A University of Sussex spokesperson said: “At Sussex, our executive team travel on university business for a range of

activities from student recruitment, raising funds for the University and establishing important academic links with other institutions to keeping in touch with our alumni and progressing vital research projects.

“A key part of the role of senior managers is to maintain the array of our international relationships and to establish new links with universities, businesses and non-governmental organisations around the world.

Inevitably this involves a significant amount of international travel.”

The University also pointed out that each University has different definitions of what constitutes an executive team.

The University of Nottingham’s team spent the highest total on expenses as well as the highest figure per person. They spent over £325,000 between their 12 members, averaging at around £27,000 per person. However, The University of Not-

tingham claim that their campus in Asia means that management figures need to travel on work related business very regularly.

The executive at the University of Bolton spent the least, claiming around £300 per member; a total of under £1,600 split between five.

The University and College Union (UCU) recently carried out a study Name of University

looking at the expenses of senior vice-chancellors at universities in the UK. They claim that the University of Sussex refused to disclose information about Michael Farthing’s expenses, citing appropriate time limits. The University disputes this.

View the full results at www.badgeronline.co.uk.

Expenses claimed per member £27,144.90

Total expenses claimed £325,739.30

2 Bangor University

£11,424.70

£57,123.63

3 Royal Holloway University

£9,106.94

£45,534.70

4 Royal Agricultural University

£8,605.73

£25,817.20

5 University of Sussex

£8,562.28

£59,935.97

6 University of Wales (TSD)

£7,842.85

£23,528.55

7 University of Creative Arts

£6,765.23

£47,356.61

8 Imperial College London

£6,383.55

£38,301.31

1 University of Nottingham

Union’s ‘I <3 Consent’ event cancelled Steve Barker Digital Editor

A Sussex Students’ Union event organised by the ‘I heart consent campaign’ was cancelled last week following pressure from Facebook comments.

A number of people criticised the event, entitled ‘I Heart Consent v Mrs Carter’, on the events Facebook page.

The event was posted on Tuesday morning and originally claimed to be a discussion of the question: is Beyoncé a feminist?

However a number of commenters took to Facebook to express serious concerns about the description of the event, which read: “Does her [Beyoncé’s] ownership of her sexuality and her body promote equality, or does it perpetuate the objectification of women and thus enforce rape culture in society?”

Like many commenters, Emily Pinto took issue with the idea that the Beyoncé might ‘enforce rape culture’ though her ‘ownership’ of her body, saying: “I

don’t think it’s up to any of us to decide for another woman if she is a feminist? I don’t think it’s up to us to decide whether another woman’s body ‘enforces rape culture. I am actually fuming.”

Another commenter posted: ‘The organisers better hope that she doesn’t enforce rape culture ‘cos a night packed full of Beyoncé songs is asking for trouble that no amount of ‘consent themed cocktails’ (w.t.f) can prevent! Seriously though, of all the ways to excuse listening to pop while drinking cocktails... this is hysterically misjudged. Go ‘facilitate discussions’ at Oceana.”

The event was marketed as a means to “come along and think about the answers to these questions’, and also boasted the inclusion of ‘Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child playing all night’; ‘badges, stickers and sweets’ and ‘consent themed cocktails.”

The Students’ Union later cancelled the event on Tuesday evening, saying in a statement: “We understand and accept that the initial wording of the event

was unclear, leading to interpretations that were entirely unintended; under no circumstances does the Students’ Union hold the opinion that the way women dress should determine how they are treated.’

Welfare Officer Rianna commented that: “The original wording of the event was severely wrong and that was poor oversight on behalf of the I Heart Consent campaign team. The very issues with the wording were things we would have wanted to challenge at the night itself; to celebrate Beyoncé’s sexuality and to condemn and challenge misconceptions about consent and feminism. It was not made clear enough at all in the event description that these were not ideas that the campaign team strongly disagree with and wanted to challenge.

“We also never intended any racial discrimination; we chose Beyoncé because we all respect and admire her and love her music. This was perhaps also bad oversight in not thinking of the event in the context of racist-sexism and mi-

blog.fixyourmix.com sogynoir, and the fact that it could be perceived that she has been criticised because of her race. There was absolutely no malice in the making of this event on behalf of the I Heart Consent campaign team, and we are all sorry for the incredibly poor wording that caused such offence.

“We have cancelled the event and issued a sincere apology for any offence caused, the page however has since been deleted as a lot of the arguments had escalated and became threatening.

I also apologise for any abuse that was incorrectly directed at other groups not involved with the making of this event.”

the badger

16 March 2015

NEWS • 4

Anti-racism event held at Sussex George Leith Hundreds of students gathered in a packed Fulton A lecture theatre last Tuesday evening for the ‘Sussex Uni Stands Up To Racism’ Event.

The event – organized by a collaboration of various Sussex groups and societies – was described by one of the speakers, Aaron Kiely of the National Union of Students Executive Board, as the “biggest meeting on a campus” he has seen so far.

Over 200 people, mostly Sussex students, attended the talk for a discussion of how to counter the growing tide of anti-immigration parties in Europe such as UKIP and Pegida, ingrained racism in institutions such as the Met and growing Islamophobia. Along with Kiely, speakers such as Carol Duggan, the aunt of unarmed Mark Duggan who was shot dead by a police officer in 2011 and Zach Cochrane from the ‘Stand Up to UKIP’ campaign, called for students to attend the UN AntiRacism Day March in London, this Saturday.

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, who was scheduled to speak, was unable to attend due to a Parliamentary vote. However, a student representative from the Green Party

read out a speech on Lucas’ behalf, pledging her solidarity in fighting against racism and the anti-immigrant rhetoric in mainstream British politics, in what could be one of the most racially loaded elections in British history.

Duggan and Maz Saleem, daughter of Mohammed Saleem who was brutally murdered in an anti-Muslim attack whilst he walked home from prayers at his local mosque in Birmingham, delivered highly emotive and rousing speeches.

Both women received standing ovations. A second year International Relations student remarked on how it was “truly inspirational” to hear from people whose lives have been “upturned by racism and police brutality” but continue to fight against forces of bigotry in spite of their grief.

Zach Cochrane and NHS nurse and activist Steve Maclean spoke about the immigrant scapegoating that is taking place in mainstream British politics, with Maclean explaining first hand the imperative role immigrant’s play in keeping the NHS afloat.

Following the talks, the floor opened for discussion, in which issues from how to deal with racism on a daily basis to the growth of UKIP

Andy Bukswarn in Worthing were discussed. One student described how the event “debunks the myth that young people in UK don’t care about politics”

and that he left with “a feeling of hope that I couldn’t shake”.

In a brief conversation with Carol Duggan and Maz Saleem after the

meeting in Falmer Bar, Duggan told The Badger: “we’ve started something, now we finish it.”

MP calls for injunction Sussex Professor appointed to against travellers in city Scotland’s Economy advice council Jessica Pitocchi News Sub-Editor

A Brighton MP wants to ban travellers from camping illegally in the city.

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown, has called upon Brighton and Hove city council to seek a High Court injunction which would protect certain areas from being parked and camped upon illegally by travellers.

The call comes after Essex county council and Harlow council were both successfully given interim High Court injunctions for the same reason.

Harlow’s injunction applies to 35 named travellers and protects 454 plots of land.

Mr Kirby told the Argus: “It is clear that options are available to councils if they choose to pursue them and I would urge ours to follow this example and seek an injunction for sensitive sites in our area.”

He presented his Unauthorised Traveller Encampment petition, which gained thousands of signatures, to the House of Commons earlier this year on Monday 26 January 2015.

At the time, he wrote on his website: “Unauthorised Traveller encampments remain a major issue in my constituency and across the wider city area of Brighton and Hove.

“Many constituents feel that the city council does not have a robust plan in place to move on travellers on unauthorised sites quickly, and that too often the needs and wishes of the ex-

isting settled community appear to be ignored.”

But MPs from other parties are opposed to his plans. Conservative Mike Weatherley said travelling communities should be encouraged to buy and manage sites themselves, calling the current approach ‘unhelpful.’

Gypsy council spokesperson Joseph Jones compared the successful Harlow injunction to a “police state.”

He said to the Argus: “What’s to stop the government from applying for an injunction for the whole country and managing to totally wipe out a way of life and a last resort for local people?”

Last year, a total of 17 possessions orders were served on traveller groups across Brighton who were camped at Stanmer Park, Preston Park, Sheepcote Valley, Black Rock and Waterhall. The clear-up costs, legal fees, repairments and staff to deal with unauthorised encampments cost the council an estimated £246,000 so far this financial year.

Chairman of the council’s environment committee, councillor Pete West, told the Argus: “We do not tolerate unauthorised traveller encampments and continue to take into account all legal options open to us in dealing with them.

“However, we do not feel that citywide bans on travellers acknowledge their legal right to their way of life.”

Both East and West Sussex County Councils told the Argus they felt they were able to manage the issue with the arrangements already in place.

Jack Williams News Editor

An economics professor at the University of Sussex has been appointed to Scotland’s Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) by the country’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Mariana Mazzucato, RM Phillips Professor in the Economics of Innovation at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University, will be one of five new appointments to the council and will take her seat with immediate effect.

Scotland’s Council of Economic Advisors primary role is to assist in steering the Scottish government’s economic policy, including boosting the competitiveness of Scotland’s economy and tackling inequality.

Professor Mazzucato will be joining a council comprised on world renowned economists, including two former Nobel Prize winners, Professor Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Sir James Mirrlees.

On being appointed to the CEA, Professor Mazzucato said: “I look forward to working alongside the other members of the Council of Economic Advisers to advise on how to deliver growth that is both ’smart’ and ‘inclusive’ - the key challenge facing governments around the world today.

“This requires some hard choices and some myth-busting as many policies that have recently been justified in the name of ‘innovation’ have actually only increased inequality.”

As well as Professor Mazzucato having

University of Sussex a role on Scotland’s economic policy advisory council, she also regularly advises the UK government and the European Commission on innovation-led growth.

The Council of Economic advisors was established by the Scottish government in 2007 in order to enhance Scotland’s economic credibility around the world.

In October 2014, The Badger reported that Professor Mazzucato’s book ‘The En-

trepreneurial State: Debunking Private vs Public Sector Myths, won the 2014 New Statesman SPERI Prize in Political Economy.

Her book was also shortlisted for the best book of the year accolade in the Financial Times and Ford magazine.

The ten members of the Council of Economic advisors meet formally twice each year.

the badger

16 march 2015

The Badger looks at the week in Politics

Election 2015: The Guardian poll projection

Projected number of seats in Parliament:

Projected percentage of the vote:

The above charts present data taken from The Guardian; data which has been compiled by taking the average of all major current polls on both a nation-wide level and a constituency level.

We can see that the current public mood puts the Conservatives and Labour neckand-neck, with no Parliamentary majority on either side when votes are translated into seats in the House of Commons (as shown by the bar graph).

Though some might see the inevitability of another hung parliament as the onset of a boring period in British politics, the role of kingmaker that the SNP will undoubtedly play in Westminster will be sure to invigorate the political scene.

Election Debates: After much discussion and heated debate on all sides of the political spectrum, it has been decided that the national debates prior to the General Election in May will in fact go ahead.

The current schedule, as organised by the broadcaster, is as follows: 2 April: Seven-way debate featuring David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, Nigel Farage, Nicola Sturgeon, Natalie Bennett and Leanne Wood (ITV broadcast).

16 April: Seven-way debate featuring David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, Nigel Farage, Nicola Sturgeon, Natalie Bennett and Leanne Wood (BBC broadcast).

30 April: Head-to-head debate featuring David Cameron and Ed Miliband (Channel 4 and Sky News broadcast).

However, despite criticism from the broadcasters and Ed Miliband, David Cameron has said that he would not attend the second two debates.

UK Migration Research: According to recent research published by academics at the University of Oxford, the migrant population in England has increased by 565,000 in the last three years.

The greatest increase in the number of foreign born residents has been in London with around 200,000 more migrants living in the capital in 2014 than in 2011.

This study comes at a time when the question of immigration is at the very forefront of political discussion.

The director of the Migration Observatory, Madeleine Sumption, said the study was conducted in order to provide the public with more insight ahead of the general election. Despite it’s impartiality, there is little doubt that the results of the research will play into the hands of those parties wishing to curb the flow of immigration.

The Threat of the SNP: With the growing realisation that the SNP may in fact be the kingmakers of the May general election, the Prime Minister has called on Ed Miliband to rule out a post

NEWS • 5

election deal with the Scottish Nationalists.

The SNP has already rejected the possibility of a deal with the Conservatives and while Labour has said that a pact with the SNP is not currently in the party’s interest, Miliband is yet to formally reject the possibility.

Farage on race discrimination laws: Nigel Farage has recently said that UKIP would scrap “much of” the legislation designed to prevent racial discrimination in the workplace.

Farage said that employers should have the right to prioritise British workers and that the current legislation was outdated.

Paxman cleared of University Challenge “bias” Alexander Ferguson News Sub-Editor Jeremy Paxman has been cleared by the BBC of accusations of bias in favour of the St. Peters College Oxford University challenge team while playing the University of Sussex.

The University Challenge episode, aired last August, saw the team from the University of Sussex facing a team from St Peter's College, Oxford. Paxman, the host of the popular quiz show, and alumnus of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, was accused of favouring the St Peter's team after awarding them points for responding to a question with an answer that was

not completely correct.

The question asked: "What links Winston Smith’s residence in 1984, May 8th 1945, and Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar?", to which St Peter's answered “The letter ‘V’”.

Prior to awarding the points, Paxman responded: “Yeah, we were looking for the word but you’re quite right V does link them all, V for victory, well done.”

One viewer contacted the BBC after the programme to complain that, by awarding the points, Paxman had shown favouritism towards the Oxford college team.

However, after reviewing the complaint, the BBC's audience services

News in Brief Student changes sexual preference after tinder prank

A friendly prank turned into a sexual discovery for one Cardiff Metropolitan student recently.

Syra Johal, who originally self-defined as straight, told the Sun how she thought there was a problem with her Tinder account when women began appearing on the app.

Her friend later confessed she had changed her preferences as a joke but by that point, Syra had already began forming a bond with Grace Goddard.

Syra said: “I admit I was surprised at how excited I was when Grace first messaged me.

“I’d never thought of girls that way before. I’d always had boyfriends so didn’t expect to feel the way I did when chatting to her.

“Once we met and realised how much we fancied each other, we’d got over the whole girl-lesbian-bisexual thing and realised that you like who you like, regardless of gender.

“I’m glad I got a push to explore that side of my sexuality - even if it was meant as a joke.”

Jessica Pitocchi

US University expel students after racist video Two students have been expelled from the University of Oklahoma after a ten-second video emerged online on Tuesday of them singing a racist song on a bus.

The two men were members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and were identified by the school’s president David Boren as leaders in the chanting which used offensive language referring to blacks and how they would never be admitted to the fraternity.

One of the students later issued an apology for this behaviour, saying in a statement that it was a “horrible mistake” and a “devastating lesson”.

The University ordered all fraternity members to move out of the house and is now investigating all the students in the video, as well as a sorority that may have

department responded saying: “We should stress that Jeremy didn’t say he was looking for the whole word until after the answer was given, so the answer was acceptable. We don’t agree that this was a display of bias as you suggest."

Despite the complaint then progressing to the BBC Trust level, the accusation was viewed to be baseless with the Trust stating that there was “no likelihood there had been a breach of the editorial guidelines on impartiality” and that the complaint did not need further discussion.

Despite this suggested bias, The University of Sussex was beaten with 150 points against St Peter's 205 points.

Manchester Evening News

been involved.

Piers Morgan took to Twitter to comment on the case, calling them: “rich, privileged, spoiled white racist brats.”

Plutonium used to poison former spy came from Russia, says Sussex scientist

UK Universities “punch above their weight”, THE report declares

Jessica Pitocchi

A University of Sussex physicist has asserted that the rare plutonium used to poison former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London could only have come from Russia.

Giving evidence at the inquiry into the death of Mr Litvinenko, who died from drinking a cup of tea laced with 26.5 micrograms of radioactive plutonium, Norman Dombey, emeritus professor of theoretical physics at the University, told the inquiry: “In my opinion, the Russian state, or its agents, was responsible for the poisoning”. He continued: “This poisoning was not meant to be discovered. It was meant to be a mysterious poisoning because polonium is an alpha-emitter which a Geiger counter doesn’t pick up.”

Two Russian citizens - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun - have been charged with his death. Russia denies any involvement in the former spy’s death.

Dombey claimed at the inquiry that the plutonium that is suspected to have killed Mr Litvinenko was produced at a soviet era nuclear facility in the Russian city of Sarov, 450 miles southeast of Moscow.

12 UK universities have made it into the 2015 Time Higher Education (THE) world reputation rankings.

THE rankings editor Phil Batty said of the table: “It is clear from this latest research that the UK is punching well above its weight in higher education globally.”

University to adopt Miscrosoft emailing system The University of Sussex is to drop the Roundcube email system and adopt Microsoft Office for the 2015/2016 academic year.

The current email system has reportedly caused numerous problems for students, such as having bad interface and having continuous error messages.

Abraham Baldry, the Students’ Union President, who has meet with the University’s Director of IT Services numerous times over the past few months, commented: “I have pushed for improvements to Sussex emails since my first meeting with the Director of IT Services when I first started the job.

“These meetings have been productive, and there are several other announcements that I’m looking forward to talking about later this month”.

Jack Williams

Jack Williams

Jack Williams

Correction The Article on the front page of last weeks Badger (9 March) entitled ‘60K atop bosses’ pay’ reported that Pro Vice Chancellor for Research Michael Davies spent almost £450 on work related calls and that Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Clare Mackie, claimed £80 for training. This was incorrect. It was actually Michael Davies that claimed £80 for training and Clare Mackie that claimed £450 on work related calls. The Badger would like to apologies for this mistake and the confusion it caused to our readers.

the badger

16 March 2015

FEATURE • 8

FEATURE

International Womens’ Day and Feminism Today

Vicky Grantham discusses the prevalence of Feminism in light of International Women’s Day, especially through social media.

Vicky Grantham Hundreds marched in support of International Women’s Day in London with many donning Edwardian clothes and purple, white and green sashes, (the colour of the suffragettes) over the weekend. Among the supporters was Emmeline Pankhurst’s great granddaughter.

Women’s Day in Brighton was organised by Brighton Women’s Centre with a theme of ‘Make It Happen’ to encourage effective action for advancing and recognising women around the world.

The event has been held across the globe for more than a hundred years to recognise past struggles but also achievements of women everywhere.

Women’s Day is still necessary as feminism is still relevant today, 97 years since women in the UK got the vote.

In 2015 the feminist movement looks set to be more prominent than ever as feminists continue to go online using social media to tackle issues in the UK and across the globe.

Robyn Minshall, Comms Officer and Ellie Priest, Welfare Officer, both for FemSoc, said: “Feminism is, by definition, still relevant in 2015 while women still face ingrained and institutionalised inequality in innumerable forms throughout the world.”

By using social media causes are promoted quickly, meaning the word can get out there and the movement can generate more supporters.

Nadiah Jamaa, a University of Sussex alumni, said: “[Social media] can do

good. There’s a lot of lad culture on social media but then you also have huge campaigns like No More Page 3.”

Coming over into 2015 from the 2014 campaign is #AskHerMore. This initiative strives to get red carpet reporters to ask female celebrities more than the standard “Who are you wearing?”

Female celebs get asked about babies, boyfriends and beauty whereas male celebs are asked about first jobs in Hollywood, their aspirations and contemporaries.

The campaign hopes that these reporters will dig deeper into the achievements of women in showbiz, similar to how they approach their male counterparts.

While social media can generate a lot of positive comments it also gives way to a counterculture allowing it to build momentum.

Pippa Adler, a second year film student, said: “I think social media can be both a force of good and bad. Good in that it spreads information to people who previously might not have an opportunity to obtain it (because of financial or physical issues for example), but bad in that it is also very quick in spreading lies and misconceptions.”

At the time of writing, #ActYourGenitals was trending on Twitter. The hashtag brought a slew of tweets in support of women and men ‘knowing their places’ in society.

The controversial hashtag generated supporters and opposition. One user @ImAGoodYute tweeted: “Girls

with no back and no breast…

Are you really girls? #ActYourGenitals”.

While another @AmeliaaaaLubna tweeted: “When girls expect guys to cook for them #ActYourGenitals and get back in the kitchen.” And, @RumBegum tweeted: “Males who get their eyebrows done #ActYourGenitals”.

These tweeters were not alone with their comments, which stir up a host of feminist and LGBTQ+ issues, proving the movement still has its work cut out for it in 2015.

There were, however, users denouncing the hashtag. @pandorasinbox spoke out, saying: “The #Ac-

tYourGenitals hashtag is 1 of the most disgusting trending topics I’ve ever seen on Twitter. Your genitals are not your gender.”

Pippa Adler, added: “[Social media] tends to make people reckless, like there are a lot of people who are very quick to support a hashtag or share a viral video, only to later find out that they don’t agree with the maker of these thing.”

Feminism recently took a knock when Page Three came back into The Sun following a brief reprieve.

Rupert Murdock’s sister paper The Times announced that the feature would be pulled to the applause of feminist campaign groups, including No More Page 3 who have consistently used social media to bolster their activities.

The Sun announced Page Three’s return with the words “We’ve had a mammary lapse,” which appeared to mock those who had hoped to see its demise.

On the day, @NoMorePage3 tweeted: “Thank you so much

for all the messages of support and solidarity. Together we are strong”.

Not only are feminists still fighting for equality in terms of anti-Page Three campaigns, equal pay and slut-shaming along with a host of other issues, but now they also have to work to derail the ‘man-hating feminazi’ stigma associated with the movement.

Nadiah Jamaa, added: “It’s something I feel is still really important in today’s society, where women still face inequality or discrimination.

Some people do say that feminism is a ‘loaded’ term, which I understand, but I think part of this idea of it being loaded comes from stereotypes and unconscious discrimination.”

The primary focus of feminism is equality across the all genders including cis, trans, male, female and gender fluid. Not only is the cause about women’s rights, but also the rights of all individuals.

Robyn Minshall and Ellie Priest noted: “It is essential in feminism to recognise that women themselves are not exempt from being oppressors. White, heterosexual, middle-class, cisgender women must recognise their inherently privileged status, which benefits from the social institutions of racism, classism, cissexism and heteronormativity.”

On campus the feminist conversation is ongoing with FemSoc regularly meeting.

Robyn Minshall and Ellie Priest added: “Throughout the year FemSoc will continue to host our ‘feminism and in-

tersectionality panels’ in order to shed light on the experiences of different women. These panels centre around subjects such as the experiences of LGBTQ+ women, women of colour, trans women and religious women.”

Meanwhile, an app has been developed to highlight the pay gap that is still prevalent.

‘Toothpick’ was developed by a man called Whaley and his four person team in America. The provocative app calculates the appropriate tip to give your waiter or waitress, deducting 22% for female servers.

This is to demonstrate the difference in pay between the genders in the USA. Whaley told Buzzfeed he wants Toothpick to “make people angry.” Here in the UK the difference in pay is closer to 18%, highlighting the still prevalent gap between the genders and how much ground still needs to be covered.

Abraham Baldry, President of the Student Union, said: “Clearly, social media has changed the feminist movement, making it easier to join the dots between incidents which might previously have seemed isolated, and vastly facilitating the spread of feminist ideas, even if the intersection of social media and feminism has sometimes provoked new issues.”

The team behind Brighton’s International Women’s Day posted “What a wonderful day with lots of positive vibes” on Facebook following their activities.

The day is a celebration of women but there are still many issues that need to be addressed and 2015 looks set to be another powerful year for feminism.

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the badger

16 March 2015

SCIENCE • 12

SCIENCE

Celebrating 25 years of the Hubble Telescope Jade Groves Science Sub Editor

The Discovery space shuttle lifted off from Earth on the 24th April 1990, with its precious cargo safely secured in its bay; the Hubble Space Telescope. 24 hours later, Hubble was released into space, ready for its journey to look where no-one had looked before. The final frontier for human beings; space.

Hubble weighing 24,500 pounds (two fully grown elephants), captures images of planets, stars and

galaxies from its low orbit of 350 miles altitude around Earth moving at 17,500 mph.

After the deployment of the telescope, Hubble ran into some minor problems that affected the clarity of the images being taken; and in 1993, astronauts serviced the telescope to repair the problem. Since 1990, Hubble has in fact been visited 5 times for servicing to maintain the quality of images beamed back down to Earth.

Nearly 25 years later, NASA have been looking back at some of the

incredible contributions that this world famous telescope has given to the to the scientific community and the statistics behind it.

Not only has Hubble reshaped our perception of space, but it has uncovered parts of the universe that 25 years ago we could only imagine through the scope of science fiction or in the great minds of scientists and philosophers.

Even today, the telescope still provides use with incredible views of the cosmic universe that surrounds our tiny planet, whilst remaining at

NASA

NASA the cutting edge of new discoveries.

Since Hubble’s deployment in 1990, it has made more than 1 million observations and 38,000 celestial targets.

Among many famous images taken from the Hubble telescope, this image above shows a spiral galaxy called NGC 4424, located in the constellation of Virgo. Invisible to the naked eye, but easily captured through the lens of Hubble.

Hubble allows the shape of the galaxy to be analysed in more detail.

This image is taken from the a side angle, allowing us to see the ‘arms’ of the galaxy wrapping around its centre giving it a characteristic spiral form.

To the left of the galaxy, there are

two bright objects, which are other stars and galaxies. The brightest is another galaxy, smaller in size, known as LEDA 213994 and the object closer to NGC 4424 is an anonymous star in our Milky Way. Back in 2012, astronomers witnessed a supernova in this galaxy; an explosion marking the end of a stars life.

During this process, a single star can outshine an entire galaxy. Unfortunately, this explosion cannot be seen here as it was taken 10 years prior to the explosion.

Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than 11,000 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built.

Full body transplants: What are the ethical concerns?

Yim Hoi Heng Dorothy You would feel uncomfortable if your face is ‘photoshopped’ onto someone else’s body. How about if you wake up one day and found your head stuck onto a body from unknown origin?

While advancing medical technologies introduce the possibility of life prolongation, it also implies that doctors are more likely to face controversial issues on a daily basis. In Italy, doctor Sergio Canavero’s idea of full body transplant - grafting a living person’s head onto a donor body ethical and psychological issues have arise.

Firstly, it often violates the principle in medical ethics of caring for the patient as an individual. Not only should a professional physician care for patients’ health, their psychological well-being should also be safeguarded.

Unlike specimens, human beings have cognitive faculties. Therefore, they should be given informed consent. However, given the time-critical nature of surgeries, and the unconsciousness of patients, informed consent and consultation is often neglected. A physician’s role is to be supportive, not judgemental towards patients’ decisions.

According to Dr Katerina Deligiorgi, Reader of Philosophy in University

of Sussex, “Transplantations are not in obvious ways connected to our ordinary moral lives, unlike cheating or being cruel. Even though we all have immediate reactions for or against such radical transplant operations, I do not think these are either decisive or particularly informative about the ethics of the case”.

Dr Deligiorgi highlights the possible result of significant alienation - that the operation brings about conflicting self-identity. Throughout history, many patients were confused about their new appendages and had them removed, because of the unbearable psychological burden.

While some scientists believe brains are the most important body part which holds all mental faculties together, philosophers consider psychological continuity essential to personal identity. This is shaped by “memories, beliefs and desires”, Dr Deligiorgi says. A heartbeat or rumbling stomach can also influence our will power, emotions and language.

French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, in his book L’intrus (The Intruder) published in 2000, referred to his own experience of heart transplant as a surgery that turns a body into a “montage, an assembly of functions”.

To have a body that looks visually different and feels alien must be harder to accept.

Nancy points out that the influence

of viruses and bacteria exacerbate as the body gets imposed to and invaded by the strangeness of a transplant because the immune system needs to be artificially weakened to allow the intrusion of the alien organ.

To become available for this operation, the age of the donated body must be sufficient - an adult brain cannot fit into a skull which has not reached its full growth, which occurs at age 9–12 years.

In the UK, joining the organ donation register would not automatically allow your body to be used. “If a person needs something not specified on our forms, we would ask a potential donor’s family to consent,” says an NHS spokesperson. “We would only approach a family if the planned procedure had ethical approval.”

Given the ethical difficulty of the demand of bodies, Dr Tanja Staehler, Head of Department of Philosophy in University of Sussex, raises the following questions: “Who decides, and according to what criteria? If the experience is potentially so alienating that they might not want to keep living afterwards, was it the waste of a body?”

Concerns are raised regarding resource allocation and the use of people for their organs either for profit or to save a siblings.

According to Dr Deligiorgi, “our minds are not just in our skull”. All

the material we use to extend our cognitive capacities, from jotting down shopping lists, as support for our memory, to using a calculator, count as part of our mind. If you add to this embedded view of cognition to the view that our experience are directly related to the bodies we have, it explains that the self of the transplanted person would be irrecoverably lost or severely disturbed.

Another challenge is that human beings are not just passive recipients of our experience, we are actively organising them. Our sense of self is inextricably linked with this active

self-awareness. If something were to damage this ability to order our experiences it would damage our sense of self. This might stem from a drastic neurological procedure like body transplantation.

As the society evolves, doctors’ role has also changed to fit its members’ needs. But they should always uphold the principle of doing no harm to patients. In order for this to endure, doctors should utilize their professional judgement to treat their patients as individuals, considering not only their physical needs, but psychological concerns.

ellajphillips via Flickr

the badger

16 march 2015 ARTS • 14

ARTS Review: Stewart Lee - A Room with a Stew Paul Millar gives us the lowdown on this comedian’s most recent standup, showcased last week at The Brighton Dome in advance of his new series of Comedy Vehicle.

Stewart Lee stands alone as an establishment figure who has nothing in common with any of his contemporaries.

“You have to laugh at everything these days”.

Lee cites Ricky Gervais’s Derek, Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Browns’ Boys and Russell Howard’s Good News as examples of the forced fun us Brits are being subjected to by our publicly-funded broadcasters.

There’s no better time for one of the most imaginative comedians in the country to have a BBC TV series, the fourth series of which his routines in this live show teased.

The Comedy Vehicle star, who looks every bit of his 46 years, presents himself in the most tragic way since ‘90s Comedian, his gig in 2005, a year in which a court case accusing him of blasphemy sparked by an angry mob of evangelical Christians who misunderstood his theatre production Jerry Springer: The Opera left him financially and emotionally crippled.

Here’s a comedian who likes to convince us he’d happily deliver a stand-up routine in which nobody laughed.

His raison d’être and genius is to lay bare the intricate literary devices in his routine, before turning

on the audience by disagreeing with their reactions to certain jokes.

Not only does he manage to get away with it, but he uses such situations to come up with some quite stonking improvisational material.

His scorn for the audience also allows him to deliver bits which appeal to the ‘Alan and Jean’ of the audience – the friends who’ve come but know nothing about a comedian who has now regrettably entered the mainstream.

“Have a go at the f**king Muslims”, his regular impersonations of members of the audience who’d come accidentally reached a new extreme.

Seasoned veterans laugh in the pauses, for this is where Lee reveals the hidden meanings of his stories.

In this set, Lee continued to philosophise and show off his knowledge about ‘closed belief systems’.

Any loyal Lee fan will have witnessed that terminology being used time after time, year after year.

Nostalgia and topical events are interwoven and include references to Isis the dog on Downton Abbey, Orvill the bird from the ‘80s, whistled the theme tune of gentle ‘70s sitcom Some Mothers Do ‘Ave Em and played upon the theme of nostalgia throughout the evening –

thinking these references would go over this young person’s head.

Sadly, nostalgia is in the eyes of the beholder, and being urinated on by a swarm of school bullies leaves him strangely misty-eyed.

Such is Stew’s recent realisation that a career in comedy has been a subconscious quest to recapture the thrill of that moment when a class of fellow 6 year olds laughed at his face, wet with urine, after he’d been thrown into a urine trough.

Some of Lee’s stories, his real strength, have never been more absurd.

Like Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, he buys an England flag for 25p minutes after the national football team were knocked out of the World Cup. This flag was then covered in excrement by his cat, ‘Paul Nuttals of UKIP’, meaning he had to hang the flag out to dry.

A Guardian reviewer would, at this point of the review, explain how Lee’s stories are “peppered with satire”.

They’re beyond satire; by parodying the amateur satirists, Lee is pointing out the ills of mocking UKIP. There’s always something to learn in a Stewart Lee gig, and by Jove, he

drums that fact into every member of the audience on multiple occasions.

For years, the on-stage Stewart Lee has battled with himself, experienced meltdowns on stage.

Tonight was no different.

Members of the audience in The Dome decided they needed to relieve themselves, or in Stew’s mind couldn’t stand any more, in a bit where the comic chastised the crowd over the depression, deaths and suicides of his fellow comedians.

Part of the intellectual nourishment for Lee fans is the pondering of what’s reality and what’s fiction in his stand-up set, as he tends to mix the two – perhaps his loyal fans were heading to the toilets to also do a quick Google search so they could tweet about it.

Two birds with one stone, as they say.

I don’t want to give away too much from the gig, as it included fresh material from his new series of Comedy Vehicle which he’s filming later this year.

But, it included a sad, orchestral version of Three Lions being played while Stew presented a ritual of flushing urine poured from a saucer down his toilet.

Meanwhile, Jack Whitehall and

Lee Mack were given the length of his tongue as he took the usual pot shots at the rivals he’s constructed in his head, and his critics.

Much of the material wasn’t fresh, the ‘Letters from Norris McWhirter’ jokes might get some guffaws from the Guardian readers, his core fanbase.

Thankfully for this reviewer, the routine wasn’t overwhelmed with improv.

As much as he may admire the art form, it’s not something I believe he tends to thrive on.

The Brighton Dome is the ultimate venue to experience Lee – he revels in the liberal and diverse nature of a city which houses the Green Party’s only MP. “I want to die here,” he says sincerely near the end.

With on-stage Stew more depressed, frustrated, paranoid and judgemental than ever, one feels like the on-stage character is reaching a crescendo – Lee was more acerbic and appeared more confident than ever.

So enjoy the ride while it’s still there, folks.

Stewart Lee is one of the most creative, satirical, truly observational, self-aware and self-deprecating comedians on the British circuit.

the badger

16 MARCH 2015 ARTS • 16

LIFESTYLE

Why we need more women to propose to men Sasha Khan “No woman should ever propose to a man.”

That was Katie Hopkins’ controversial declaration on Twitter last week, as a response to Eastenders actor Danny Dyer being proposed to by his long-term partner, Joanne Mas. Hopkins continued, explaining how women proposing to men was an act of ‘emasculation’ and desperation, and suggested that women who propose are just scared to be alone, whereas men who say yes are too scared to say no.

Dyer responded, branding her a ‘sexist’.

Yet, Hopkins’ approach is revealing, as it is not only sexist towards women and men, but I also because it is based on the outdated idea of ‘emasculation’ and false gender constructs.

Our idea of emasculation is grounded in the belief that men need to adhere to the traditional male stereotypes, roles and expectations that gender constructs dictate.

These include men being the decisionmakers, breadwinners and the ones in control, with women being subservient.

However, we can see today that these ‘masculine’ characteristics can be found in both men and women.

So why is it that when a woman takes

Wenn control and proposes, it generates such a reaction?

To deem this act as ‘emasculating’ as Hopkins suggests reinforces the idea that women should not make their own choices or be in control, and that male autonomy will always be valued over female autonomy.

It also suggests that men should be in charge, and for a woman to be in control is wrong.

Yet can’t we say that today we are seeing that in many other areas, the borders of gender expectations are slowly coming down, particularly within the bounds of marriage?

Within the last two centuries in Britain,

women are no longer expected to have a dowry before marriage.

It is almost self-evident in 21st-century terms that our attitude towards marriage in Britain is no longer about investment but about choice for both woman and man, as are our attitudes towards divorce and even the idea of women not wanting to be married at all.

From being something viewed as a symptom of madness and illness, the decision not to marry has become a commonplace, respected lifestyle choice.

These changes and adaptations to traditions surrounding marriage all aid to promote the idea of women having as much power and control as men do, as well as having the power to control their own lives.

So why is the idea of women proposing treated differently from these other changes from tradition?

Why has it generated the response that it has?

Feminist writer and critic Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche explains in her essay, We Should All Be Feminists, “if we see the same thing over and over again, it becomes normal.”

However, things being normal and things being right do not always coincide.

If society has decided that it is right

that a woman can get a divorce, not marry, get contraception, be the breadwinner, than can we really also say that ‘no woman should ever propose to a man’?

Every step towards gender equality seems strange and out of the norm at the time.

When women first began to get the vote in 1918, the Suffragettes were branded ‘hysterical’ and mad.

Yet how many today would go back on this step towards equality?

Would Katie Hopkins ?

The idea of a woman not being able to vote seems so archaic that in itself, that it silently acknowledges that the ‘norm’ is sometimes incorrect and needs to be challenged to allow society to progress.

While women proposing is not illegal in any way, don’t the opinions sparked by this debate suggest that perhaps some have become too comfortable in the outdated gender constructs, and obsession with men being ‘masculine’ and dominant and females being secondary?

In 2015, I would say to Katie that it’s time to accept that for both men and women, gender should no longer be a limitation or a stereotype that we should have to fit.

Gender should never limit the control you have over your own life and the choices you make.

Molly’s Recipe of the week Delicious, simple and good value student recipes by Molly French Gerrard

Pearl Barley Risotto Ingredients For two people: 300g pearl barley 1 cube vegetable or chicken stock in boiling water 1 onion 2 garlic cloves 2 bell peppers 2 courgettes A small bunch of parsley A handful of spinach/ rocket A small handful of crumbled feta cheese A splash of white wine (optional) A tin of chopped tomatoes

Method

Although it takes slightly longer to cook, I love using pearl barley as an alternative to traditional risotto.

It has a delicious nutty taste and beautifully absorbs the flavours of what it’s cooked in. Although I chose to do a pearl barley risotto this week, vorce, ne pas se marier, obtenir des it is also a great ingredient to use to moyens de contraception, subvenir aux thicken soups and stews with.

Demandez-le en mariage ! Les fiancailles au femminin Lily Cooper (French translation) Arts Sub-Editor “Une femme ne devrait jamais demander un homme en mariage”.

C’était la declaration controversielle de Katie Hopkins, faite sur Twitter la semaine derniers en réponse aux fiançailles de Danny Dyer, l’acteur de Eastenders, lequel a été demandé en mariage la semaine derniere par sa partenaire Joanne Mas. Selon Hopkins, une femme qui demande un homme en mariage commet un acte d’emasculation, un acte de désespoir, car, encore selon elle, les femmes qui demandent en mariage ont simplement peur de finir seules, tandis que les hommes qui disent oui le font par peur de dire non.

Dyer a répondu à cette declaration en qualifiant Hopkins de ‘sexiste’.

Cependant, l’attitude d’Hopkins est révélatrice, car elle n’est pas simplement sexiste, que ce soit envers les hommes ou les femmes, elle est aussi basée sur l’idée franchement ringarde d’une ‘emasculation’, des fausses constructions de ‘roles’ assumes par chaque sexe.

L’idée d’emasculation est centrée autour de l’idée que les hommes ont besoin d’adherer aux stereotypes masculins traditionnels, des roles et des attentes dictes par ces fausses constructions: l’homme devant assumer toutes les decisions, subvenir aux besoins de la famille, et être en position de force de manière plus géné-

rale, tandis que la femme demeure subalterne.

Cependant, dans le monde d’aujourd’hui, nous pouvons trouver ces caractéristiques ‘masculines’ autant parmi les femmes que les hommes.

Alors pourquoi une demande en mariage venant de la part d’une femme génère-t-elle autant de reactions ?

Qualifier cet acte d’émasculant, comme le suggère Hopkins renforce l’idée que les femmes ne devraient pas choisir pour elles-mêmes ou prendre le contrôle de leur destinée, et que l’autonomie masculine aura toujours plus de valeur que l’autonomie feminine.

Elle suggère aussi que les hommes devraient toujours être en position de contrôle, car l’inverse serait mal.

Pourtant, ne pouvons-nous pas dire que dans plusieurs domaines, les limites des attentes, basées sur les sexes, sont entrain de tomber, particulièrement en ce qui concerne le mariage?

En Angleterre, depuis maintenant deux siècles, ce n’est plus la norme pour une femme d’avoir un dot avant son mariage.

Il parait evident au 21eme siècle, que notre attitude envers le mariage en Angleterre n’est plus celle d’un investisse-

ment, mais celle d’un choix, pour les hommes et les femmes, comme le sont nos attitudes envers le divorce, ou le fait qu’une femme ne voudrait pas se marier du tout.

Avant un symptôme de folie, ou de maladie, la décision de ne pas se marier est maintenant un choix commun, respecté.

Ces changements des traditions autour du mariage aident tous a promouvoir l’idée d’une femme comme pouvant avoir autant de pouvoir et de contrôle sur sa destinée qu’un homme, le pouvoir de contrôler seule leur propres vies.

Alors pourquoi l’idée d’une femme demandant un homme en mariage estelle traitée différemment que ces autres changements?

Pourquoi cette demande a-t-elle générée une telle réponse?

L’écrivaine féministe Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche explique dans son essai Nous Devrions Tous Etre Feministes, “si nous voyons la meme chose encore et encore, elle devient normale.”

Mais le fait d’être normal ne coincide pas toujours avec le fait d’être juste.

Si la société a décidé qu’il est juste qu’une femme peut demander le di-

“Les opinion articulées depuis ce débat suggèrent que peut-être certains sont devenus trop confortables dans ces faux roles des sexes.”

besoins de sa famille, pouvons-nous vraiment dire que ‘aucune femme ne devrait demander un homme en mariage”?

Chaque pas vers l’égalité des sexes semble toujours étrange, anormale, a son époque.

Quand les femmes ont commencé a obtenir le vote en 1918, les Suffragettes ont été qualifiées comme étant ’hystériques’ et ‘folles’.

Mais qui aujourd’hui voudrait revenir sur ce pas vers l’égalité?

Katie Hopkins le voudrait-elle ? L’idée qu’une femme puisse ne pas voter semble tellement archaïque q’en elle-même, elle acquiesce que des fois, la norme peut être incorrecte, et doit être changer pour permettre le progrès.

Tandis que les demandes en mariage au féminin ne sont pas illégales, les opinions articulées depuis ce débat suggèrent que peut-être certains sont devenus trop confortables dans ces faux roles des sexes, et cette obsession pour des hommes ‘masculins’ et dominants, et les femmes secondaires.

En 2015, je réponds a Katie Hopkins qu’il est temps qu’elle accepte que pour ni homme ni femme, le sexe doit être une limite ou un stéréotype dans lequel chacun devrait rentrer. Votre sexe ne devrait jamais limiter le contrôle que vous exercez sur votre propre vie et les choix que vous faites.

Start off by simmering the pearl barley with half the stock, adding more in as it absorbs the liquid.

At this stage, feel free to add the white wine or the chopped, tinned tomatoes, depending on what you fancy. The pearl barley should take about 40 minutes to cook. Keep an eye on it, adding more stock if it needs it. The barley should soften, but still be slightly chewy.

Meanwhile, slice the onion, the peppers and the courgette, and finely chop the garlic. First, fry the onions and the garlic on a mediumlow heat. Once they have softened add the peppers, fry them for a couple of minutes, and then add the courgettes. Then, mix in the barley and season. Add the handful of spinach, parsley and crumble in the feta.

To this, you can then make it your own. I often like to add some chorizo, which works well with the peppers, or make a spring vegetable version, with broad beans, tender stemmed broccoli and kale.

However, pearl barley is a versatile thing to cook with, so feel free to experiment with different meats and vegetables.

the badger

16 march 2015 ARTS • 17

PAGE 17

Luaka Bop and Western Appropriation of International Music

This One World Week special features Arts Editor Lottie Brazier’s exploration of David Byrne’s label, Luaka Bop, in the context of western appropriation of ‘World’ music.

Finding out about music in the past involved taking a risk with your wallet.

This is not so anymore, with the Internet being a great source for obscurity without your bank account taking such a hit.

Blogs and Spotify being among its useful tools, it can be the perfect aide to finding those records that time forgot.

Especially in finding those international artists that found no foothold in the indifferent and culturally self-absorbed western world.

It is the project of David Byrne, ex-member of Talking Heads and now owner of label Luaka Bop, to create a retrospective visibility

for such artists.

One such artist that has seen a fresh surge in popularity last year was the Nigerian William Onyeabor.

Completely unknown until Luaka Bop’s reissuing of his music, Onyeabor produced music during the ‘70s before rejecting the whole pursuit to become a devout Christian.

It took over 40 years, then, for his work to gain any respect through a collective recognition of his art.

The reissue sparked an interest in his work in the UK and US, with the Vice offshoot Noisey releasing a documentary to accompany the revival entitled Fantastic Man. Of course, this was all down to the efforts of Luaka Bop, a western, predominantly white label.

Whilst any visibility is good visibility, one can’t help but be cynical of how David Byrne, a

white male artist has taken it upon himself to bring light to these forgotten records.

This isn’t the first time that such an issue over visibility has arisen.

1950s rock and roll (think Elvis Presley and the like) has been notorious as taking from AfroAmerican blues and appropriating this style for a predominantly white audience.

There is a historical trend, therefore, whereby music created by black artists is only taken seriously if a white one is touting it.

There is evidence for a decline in this trend – with Kanye West being probably one of the most famous men in the western world.

But there is still a devaluation of music produced by musicians outside of Europe and the US. After all, Kanye is western himself.

Unlike those such as William Onyeabor, who needed to be westernised before they were taken seriously (through support and funding from Noisey and Luaka Bop respectively).

You may still be thinking by this point - someone like Onyeabor has gained visibility; this success is progress in the making.

Of course, you might say, Onyeabor didn’t gain any success in the ‘70s in the west, because the west still held racist attitudes towards pop then.

Even the ‘70s origins of the genre name ‘Krautrock’ are racist – any music made by German musicians was ultimately caricatured as such, marked by its own section at record shops.

This genre name still remains, seemingly as an artefact.

You could think the opposite of Onyeabor’s recent success, it being resultant of the music industry no longer shepherding international artists into alienating categories.

The truth is not so rose-tinted.

Luaka Bop have released compilations as part of a ‘World Psychedelic Classics’ series.

Thus, holding on to that out-

dated genre of ‘world music’.

Despite their best efforts, by categorising this music as World Psychedelic music, they are pandering to a western ethnocentric distinction between the assumed western listener and a rather generalised ‘rest of the world’.

This is further supported by a quote from Byrne, who said that the logo design purposefully was steered away from folk designs, in order to be ‘less of a fringe thing’ and rather, ‘relevant to your life’.

And whose life might this be?

This is an attempt to reframe the music in a more western conception of it, to integrate it into the western ‘experience’ of other cultures.

The compilations purposefully lump together anything that might be deemed ‘psychedelic’ by western standards.

In its defence, there is an acknowledgement of cultural difference between each compilation – with one focusing strictly on West African pop, another Brazilian Tropicalia.

Both compilations hold a lot of great music. David Byrne himself produces them, so as a result they are of great quality for recordings so old.

I own ‘World Psychedelic Classics 3’, which is a great compilation of ‘70s Western African music.

I find myself playing it regularly.

However, the label ‘World’ still is very much part of the series title, and so remains a problem

for me.

Luaka Bop is, in many ways a positive project.

I want to, in writing this, give it some credit for its attitudes towards exposing unknown international artists.

This much should be acknowledged of it.

However, the label’s aesthetic still very much portrays a label that does not seek to fully bridge the gulf between western music and the music of other cultures and societies.

It is a textbook example of the philosophical concept of ‘Othering’.

The fact that this label is run by a white musician, creates a dynamic of dominance and subordination between the label itself and the artists that it supports.

It also does this through reinforcing the novelty of listening to something that is not ‘mainstream’; it has an image to sell to people which is one that of pretentious open-mindedness, and ultimately one of ‘taste’.

That is not to say that being open-minded is pretentious at all, but rather, it aestheticises and turns into spectacle the act of being an open-minded listener.

Obviously this happens all the time in music; but in this case, this is not a marketing pitch to be taken quite as lightly.

It is here exemplary of how the label does not seek to wholly integrate, despite vague claims of making it ‘more relevant to your life’, in maintaining unnecessary boundaries through its restrictive genre labelling and aversion to ‘folk’ aesthetic.

I hope that this piece has not put anyone off listening to and supporting the acts associated with Luaka Bop. But things must change in the way we talk about artists outside of the US and European community.

The discourse around the marketing of international artists in western countries has to be opened up for greater self-consciousness and criticism.

the badger

16 March 2015 Arts •18

Arts

Editor’s Picks

Arts Editor Raymond Jennings shares his tips on the week ahead in culture

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WORKSHOP Soulful Singing Founders Room, Brighton Dome Saturday 21st March, 11AM £5 Have you ever wanted to give singing a go, but been too afraid of failure to try? Well, this is for you. Group singing tutor Mahasuhka leads this group harmony workshop, which aims to help you not only find your voice but learn how to use it with others. Why not give it a go?

GIGS The Alchemists Latest Music Bar Tuesday 17th March, 7.30pm £3 Sussex Live Music and Sussex Records societies present a night of experimental and psychedelic music. The Alchemists headline, with support from The Manhattan Project, Noodlehaus, Ivy J, and Jay Chalmers, this is not to be missed.

Film Heaven Adores You Duke of York Cinema Saturday 21st March 9pm £9/10 By telling the story of Elliott Smith’s life through an examination of the three cities in which he lived - Portland, New York, and Los Angeles - this film provides a touching tribute to the late musician. With support from local musicians (artists TBA), this promises to be a very special evening, whether you’re a life-long fan of Smith or if you’re just looking for a way in to his world.

GIGS Jean Paul Samputu Komedia Friday, 20th March 7:30 PM £8/10

Jean Paul Samputu is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalists from Rwanda. His music, which blurs the lines between genres as seemingly disparate as afrobeat, reggae, and gospel, has won him the Kora Award - one of the highest honours in the African music industry. With proceeds going to Rwandan youth charity rYico, this is guaranteed to be a very fun evening that serves a very good cause.

Jean Paul Samputu Press

STUDENT’S UNION One World Week Campus Wide Monday 16th March - Saturday 21st March FREE

Next week is One World Week here at the Student’s Union, and we’ll be celebrating it with a week of events that aim to expose students to, and celebrate, a wide variety of different cultures and global perspectives. With events ranging from African dance workshops to political talks and roundtables, there is an event on offer for any and all students. Highlights for me include a roundtable discussion on Republic politics in France post-Charlie Hebdo, held in Fulton 214 between 4-6 PM on Wednesday, and the Discover Kazakhstan concert at Falmer Bar on Monday, 5-6 PM. For a full list of events during One World Week, head over to the Student Union’s website.

CINEMA/THEATRE Royal Opera House Live: Swan Lake Duke of York Cinema Tuesday 17th March 7:15PM £20/15 What better way to celebrate One World Week than with one of the world’s greatest and most influential ballets? Perhaps the ballet isn’t for everyone, but I certainly think that those who give it a go will be pleasantly surprised. Swan Lake is a

beautiful, tragic story, told through both dance and the wonderful, iconic music of Tchaikovsky. Performed by the resident cast of the Royal Opera House and broadcast into the Duke Of York cinema screens, this is an affordable way to see perhaps the most widely celebrated ballet of all time. With outstanding reviews this season, and a run of sold-out shows leading up until April, this is not a performance you’re going to want to miss.

Elliott Smith Press

watch, write, review Get involved in the Arts team by joining us at our writers meetings or searching on Facebook for

Badger Writers

THE

BADGER

Thursday Evenings from 5pm in Room 76.

(Falmer Back Bar).

Sit : Down Listen : to live music Talk : to your friends Drink : Craft beer, Coffee, Cocktails

NEW

Relax.

the badger

16 March 2015

Societies - 21

SOCIETIES SPOTLIGHT ADVERTISE YOUR SOCIETY

On this page you can find out about what our societies have been up to and what their plans are for the coming weeks! You can view and join all of our 150 + societies online at www.sussexstudent. com/societies. If you’d like to advertise your society on this page, send your articles to societies@sussexstudent.com by 12pm on Wednesdays.

ACS On Wednesday 18th March, The Grad Group in partnership with Sussex ACS, are hosting an event called ‘Rising Potential’.

This is an enlightening and inspirational project focusing on raising the aspirations of talented students between the ages of 18 and 24 primarily from BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds.

Tickets for this event are free, but you must get one!

And secondly, surely it can’t be that time again already?!

Sussex ACS’ annual showcase, CultureFest, is just around the corner!

If you thought last year’s show was amazing, you’ll be in for a real treat this year.

CultureFest 2015 is going to be an event like no other, and we can promise you that you don’t want to miss it!

Look out for flyers and posters in the upcoming weeks and follow us on Twitter and Instagram (both @SussexACS), add us on Facebook (SussexAcs) and Snapchat (sussexacs) for more info, or email us at sussexacs14@ gmail.com.

ELSA

I know what you’re thinking.­ Elsa, the blonde one with the big voice from Disney’s Frozen r­ ight? Wrong! But please, ‘let it go’ and read on.

We are the European Law Students’ Association, an international, non-political, non­profit­making organisation run by and for students.

ELSA Sussex forms part of the largest independent and student led society network in the world ­with over 40,000 members in 41 countries across Europe and Asia.

ELSA offers some wonderful opportunities to its members ­from institutional visits both at home and abroad, academic events, socials, seminars and foreign exchanges, through to delegation opportunities for international conferences (such as at the UN in Geneva or New York) and valuable traineeships.

There really is so much to get involved with on a local, national, and international level.

Our motto is “all different, all together”, and our society isn't just for lawyers, so if you’d like to know more please drop by our Facebook page ­(ELSA.Sussex).

SUSSEX DANCE The University of Sussex’s annual Got to Dance competition is back!

On Thursday 26th March, Sussex Dance is hosting the University’s third dance competition at the Sallis Benney Theatre on Grand Parade from 7pm.

Come along to watch societies and individuals showcase their talents in a fun and friendly competition judged by local dancers and staff members of the Students’ Union.

Expect performances from PoleSoc, Sussex Dance Society, Sussex Cuban Salsa Society, Ballroom & Latin Society and Sussex Swing as well as several performances from sololists and groups from a wide variety of genres!

This is a great opportunity to come and support several Sussex societies and view the huge amount of talent on offer from University of Sussex students.

There will also be a raffle in support of Les Enfants de Dieu, a centre for street children in Rwanda.

Bring your friends/housemates & family and come along to enjoy an evening of dance!

Tickets cost £3 and can be bought from the Students’ Union website.

zakhstan society!

Our society aims to promote Kazakhstan and Kazakh culture at Sussex and we warmly welcome everyone who wishes to find out more about Kazakhstan.

Our first big event is during One World Week, on Monday 16th March from 5­ pm in Falmer back bar, where we will be holding a ‘Discover Kazakhstan’ concert.

Join us for traditional music performances, songs and dances including music from the traditional musical instrument, the dombra!

The art of Dombra Kui refers to a short solo composition performed on a traditional pear­shaped, long necked, two stringed, plucked musical instrument known as a dombra.

The music aims to connect people to their historic roots and traditions through classical and improvised pieces The Life Science Society are that engage the audience at a putting on a Spring Ball at spiritual and emotional level. the Thistle Hotel on ThursEntry is free! day 26th March 2015 to celebrate the end of a successful term before exam period sets in!

Tickets cost £28 for a two course meal with wine, DJ We are a new society set up and unlimited photo booth by a group of passionate Game of Thrones fans. use.

We aim not only to proGet your black ties out and vide a space for appreciation party like a scientist!

This event is not just for and discussion of the HBO Life Science students-­bring drama series and the A Song your housemates, friends, of Ice and Fire novels, but also boyfriends, girlfriends to hold socials for students along! Everyone is welcome. to bond over the BEST TV This event has very kindly SHOW AND BOOK SERIES been part funded by the Uni- EVER and to make great new versity of Sussex Students’ friends.

All levels of fandom are welUnion in order to make the come; whether you've seen price as low as possible and tickets can be purchased every episode and read every from the Students’ Union book or simply just fancy a bit of Kit Harrington - we are website. here for you!

At the University of Sussex we believe that when you play the game of thrones, you We are the newly formed Ka- win or you WIN.

LIFE SCIENCE

GAME OF THRONES

KAZAKHSTAN

EVENTS THIS WEEK Monday 16th March •Italian ­ ‘National identity and Italian literature’ talk by Dr Stefano Jossa from Royal Holloway University.

Jubilee 144, 4­pm.

Tuesday 17th March •Foodies ­ ‘Food: where are we now?

Where are we going?’ discussion. Join a range of speakers who will be discussing the relationship between food and technology.

Fulton 103, 5­pm.

•International Students Society ­ ‘International Food Party’come along to try dishes from all over the world!

Entry is free, however please bring a dish of your own from your home country.

Meeting House, 6­pm.

Wednesday 18th March •German Language Society­ ‘Germany: 1989 and Beyond’ talk. Students of Germany from the Sussex Centre of Language Studies present their very own idea of Germany to you, a modern, vibrant hub of diversity.

Fulton 104, 11­am •GeogSoc GeogSoc’s global experience quiz has been put together in collaboration with other societies, covering a diverse range of topics to test your knowledge of global current affairs.

Room 76, 6­pm.

Thursday 19th March •FemSoc ­ ‘Women Around The World’ display showing how in many different countries, women are busy changing the world for the better.

Jubilee 144, 1­pm

THE INTERGALACTIC SHUFFLE PSYCHEDELIC INFLUENCED BANGERS FROM ACROSS THE GENRES FROM THE SPACE CADET DJ FUZZ ALDRIN Every Friday At The Globe, Middle Street, Brighton.

Drinks deals for students all night, open till 3am, free entry.

INTERESTED IN WORKING OR STUDYING ABROAD?

International Work & Volunteering Fair Thurs 19 March 12—3pm, G30 Jubilee Building Foyer

Come and meet organisations offering overseas work experience, internship and volunteering opportunities. Find out how you can internationalise your career today!

Exhibitors include:  British Council - introducing a wide range of international jobs/study  Projects Abroad  Mountbatten—internships in New York  BUNAC  Concordia  Real Gap  Sussex international summer school  TESOL Sussex centre for language studies PLUS: hear more from people who have developed an international career or studied abroad at these events:

▪ Working Internationally (Jubilee G30)

Tues 17 March, 12—2pm: refreshments provided and an opportunity to network afterwards

▪ Studying Internationally (Jubilee Room 144)

Thurs 19 March 1—2 pm: find out what you can do and where you can do it!

Full events lists and sign up: www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/events These events are part One World Week, our annual celebration of the diversity of nationalities and cultures present at Sussex.

www.sussexstudent.com/events/one-world-sussex/

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