Motley - Volume XV - Issue #1 - Gender

VOLUME 15, ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 2021 GROWING INCEL COMMUNITY

EXPLORING GENDER IN LATIN VOCABULARY

DISCUSSING THE GENDER HEALTH GAP

GENDER

Hello everyone!

My name is Mair Kelly (She/Her) and I’m the Vice-President and PR and Media Officer for UCC Societies Executive this year. My role involves highlighting all the different events and opportunities Societies offer so people can get involved!

What is a Society?

What’s On?

Societies are groups run by students for students that look at di erent areas of interest and are focused on creating a sense of community and friendship in UCC! We have over 100 societies in UCC that come under di erent grouping; Political and Activism, Social, Creative, Cultural and Debating, Business, Law, Medical and Health, Science, Engineering and Food Science and Charitable and Religious. There’s a huge range of topics and areas and it’s a great way to nd people who share similar interests, or learn something new! Any student can get involved in the Societies community, rst year or nal year, it’s welcome to all As we come back to campus we understand how challenging it can be to nd a group or friends that you click with, especially if you’ve been online for the past year, and the whole realm of college and societies can be a bit overwhelming.

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To help with this, we’re holding the Give it A Go Festival from the 13th-1st October! During this time Societies will be holding introductory events that give students a chance to test out di erent societies and nd one’s they like.

There is a whole range of in-person, blended and online events that are open to any student who wishes to get involved! If you’re unsure who you’d like to get to know, we’ll also be running the Socs Sampler on Wednesdays the 22nd and 29th of September where students will be assigned a random Society for an activity, If you aren’t feeling up for events just yet, Societies will also be on campus on the 25th and 29th of September for people to go along, have a chat and get to know each other

If you’d like to get more involved, check out our website at societies.ucc.ie or check out our socials @uccsocieties!

Inside Motley September 2021

Current Affairs

Features

Entertainment

Fashion

Motley’s Conor Daly shines a light on the sinister relationship between Euro 2020 and Genderbased Violence

Law student Roisin Dunlea offers a powerful argument in favour of repealing what many call our Constitution’s most outdated law

Motley’s James Kemmy provides a captivating critique of the role of gender in Sally Rooney’s latest best-selling novel, Beautiful World, Where are you?

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Fashion Editor Sarah Collins and Photographer Alana Daly Mulligan take us on a journey across Cork City in a shoot encapsulating the reliance found in the clothes that we wear.

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Motley.ie

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Meet the Motley Editorial Staff Stephen Moynihan

Hannah Emerson

Stephen is an award-winning journalist with a keen interest in current affairs. He is currently in his nal year of a BA in philosophy and politics.

Hannah is a third year medical and health science student who feels that this section of motley is tting for her due to an over abundance of opinions she feels af icted with since birth.

Maxwell Callanan

James Kemmy

Max is a second year digital humanities student. He spends most of his spare time writing, drawing and making funky little board games.

James is in his third year of government and political science in UCC. He is interested in a wide variety of musical genres and the power of contemporary lm and ction to highlight pressing social issues

Conor Daly

Sarah Collins

Conor is nal year Arts student and was a member of the current affairs team last year as a staff writer. He is an almost award winning poet and journalist with hopes of removing the almost in the near future.

Sarah is a third year Government and Political Science student. Along with having her own graphic design business, Sarah also runs a fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog and she is a huge lover of all things fashion related.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Features & Opinion Editor

Graphic Designer

Entertainment Editor

Fashion Editor

Current Affairs Editor

Online Team Online Edito Social Medi

Deputy Editors

Kevin Quan Erica Shell

Current Affair Features & Opinion Entertainmen

Photographers

Natalia Gawla John Hunte Shruti Rajagopa

Alana Daly Mulligan

Contributors Adam Tang, Amano Miura, Baneen Talpur, Ciara Murphy, Emer O’Sullivan, Emily Whitaker, Kate O’Riordan, May Weber, Niamh Browne, Roisin Dunlea, Ronan Keohane, Sarah O’ Mahony

This publication is made from 100% recycled paper. Motley welcomes letters from from readers, emailed to editor@motley.ie.

Motley is published by Motley magazine, The Hub UCC, Western Road, Cork. Printed by City Print Limited, Victoria Cross, Cork.

Copyright 2021 Motley Magazine. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. All efforts have been made to ensure that details and pricing are correct at time of print. Motley magazine does not take responsibility for any errors incurred.

This magazine can be recycled either in your green bin kerbside collection or at a local recycling point. Images provided by Unsplash.com, Pexels.com, Pixabay.com. Vectors provided by Vecteezy.com and Freepic.com.

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From the Editors Desk Emer Walsh Editor-in-Chief

editor@motley.ie

While initially lled with excitement at the prospect of returning to campus, I found it hard to plan for college this year. In an era governed by constant uncertainty, I had little idea of what to expect. But I’m surprised, and pleasantly so.

It has paved the way for a new social era that further enables more uid expression, allowing those who fell outside the traditional binary of man and woman to nally enjoy comfort in themselves and their selfhood.

I’m hesitant to term this period as the ‘post-Covid’ era because if the last eighteen months have proven anything, it’s that we don’t know what lies ahead. For now, however, we should be kind to ourselves and take pride in our resilience. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy this time we have together again.

In this issue, you will nd among other sensational reads, a rst-hand account of both the pleasures and complexities of solo female travel, harrowing reports of the harm caused at the hands of those perpetrating gender-based violence both near and far, a captivating analysis of the role of gender in Sally Rooney’s latest best-selling novel, and a stunning photoshoot conveying the resilience found in one’s style and identity.

The pandemic for me, like I imagine it did for many others, consisted of both immense highs and boundless lows, most of which took place within a four-wall con nement otherwise known as my bedroom. For an unde ned myriad of reasons, the pandemic caused immeasurable pain and hurt for all of us, with some losing others and others losing themselves along the way.

Many of us will be crawling out from the pandemic’s rubble as different people than we were before.

What’s important is that among these changes comes a collective acknowledgement of the hardships we faced and an appreciation of the sacri ces we have made to get to where we are today. Better days await us all, and they start now.

With that said, I am overwhelmed with pride to present to you Volume XV: Issue 1 (Gender).

Initially conceptualised as synonymous to de ned biological traits, gender has since evolved to encompass far more than generations before us could ever fathom.

I also could not end this rst editorial without expressing how truly grateful I am to be appointed to this position. I say this while conscious of the high standard set by those who stood here before me, many of whom I owe for sharing with me their invaluable wisdom and counsel. I can only hope to repay you all for your untold kindness by ensuring this volume is one you can be proud of.

It is my hope that the pages of Motley can act as a solace for those of you settling back into a once familiar reality. As your solace, you’re entitled to have your say in what you read. The inboxes of our team are always open and your thoughts and ideas are invariably welcome.

The dawn of a new academic year has arrived, let’s make it a good one.

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When England lost the Euros, so did women and people of colour The a ermath of this Summer’s European Championships points to wider societal issues in relation to gender based violence and racism. Current A airs Editor Conor Daly discusses.

The European Championships this Summer were strange from the beginning.

Retaining the nametag of Euro 2020 but taking place in 2021, with the pandemic that delayed it still ongoing, as well as an apparent reckless abandonment by Boris Johnson.

Lockdown restrictions in Ireland were still in place and yet there were upwards of 60,000 people packed into Wembley to watch England go all the way to the nal. Here are two facts from that tournament decider against Italy.

That night in London, there were three missed penalties. All three of the players who missed were young black men.

No w, t h e s e t w o p i e c e s o f information are in no way related, a concept that many footbal l “fans” apparently struggled to wrap their head around in the immediate fallout from the nal. This is what wa s, and is, so frustrating for these players and many other athletes who have a stor y of immigration somewhere in their family history. When you’re performing and succeeding, it’s like you can do no wrong; but when you make a mistake, it’s instant alienation.

When you’re playing well, you’re English. When you’re not, you’re an immigrant. That was one of the worst parts of this whole scenario.

The players themselves as well as the general public knew what was going to happen as soon as those penalties were missed. It’s a damning indictment on how complacent so many people have been in terms of race relations in Britain and Ireland. Looking at issues in the United States often gave a false sense of security that racism wasn’t that big of a deal on this side of the Atlantic. Three kicks of a ball have proven otherwise.

Football didn’t come home. Instead, thousands of people on social media told 19 year old Bukayo Saka, among several other black players, that he was at fault.

His skin colour and the fact that his parents were immigrants singled him out.

All this despite the fact that Saka was born and raised in England and spent his entire youth career playing international football for England.

Disappointment is completely understandable. Potential anger towards the manager for picking the wrong penalty takers; also understandable.

Berating young black men on social media despite calling them heroes in the weeks leading up to this?

Unfathomable.

Marcus Rashford has been so prominent with his philanthropy and has even been granted an MBE for his e orts to end child hunger in the UK Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka have also given back to their communities, but all of this was forgotten when people were plastering their social media pages with foul abuse. A person's right to avoid racial abuse should not be based on their achievements, it should be an inherent human right. The pro le of professional athletes often makes people forget that behind their physical attributes, they are also people with emotions Unfortunately England’s black players were not the only group who were subjected to disproportionately negative consequences after the match.

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Current Affairs

Something similarly incredulous is the link between English football matches and domestic violence, a trend which has been proven over past major championships and held true in this tournament as well.

There were statistics ying around social media in the run up to one of the biggest sporting occasions of the year and, ironically, they had nothing to do with football.

They were gures which estimated the increase in domestic violence based on the outcome of the match.

According to the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV), it was projected that if England lost, domestic violence would increase by 38% and that England playing, regardless of the result, would also cause an increase, just by a slightly lower margin of 26%.

These numbers are ba ing in so many ways. Why do women (speaking of the majority of victims) always have to be in the crossfire? It would appear, especially if you reference any number of violent videos that circulated on the day of the match, that some spectators use sporting events as an unconventional mode of therapy. Angry individuals using sport as a free pass to get rid of all their frustrations at the expense of other fans, their partners and also black players on social media.

The fact that a national football t e a m c a n’t p l a y a m a t c h w i t h o u t inadvertently putting a considerable proportion of women in danger is worrying.

Reports from the Daily Mail immediately after the nal showed that some people were even posting on social media o ering up spare rooms to anyone who needed a safe place to stay that night.

While this display of community is enlightening, it is also rather disturbing because it should never be necessary.

O ering asylum to women who need a safe place to stay sounds like something from a war-torn region, not London after a football match The Stack published a story about the correlation between matches and domestic violence around the time of the Euro nal, with the jarring title;

Sport and violence towards women have unfortunately become far too closely related.

The con ation of masculinity with misogyny is exacerbated in these hypermasculine environments. In recent months, Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy was suspended by his employers amidst an ongoing investigation into four allegations of rape and one allegation of sexual assault between October 2020 and August 2021.

There are three plainti s involved in the case with one of them said to be under the age of 18.

Of course he is not the rst footballer to be investigated or tried for such offences. Former Manchester United player Ryan Giggs has been accused of assaulting multiple women, including his wife.

While former Brazilian international Robinho was convicted of rape in Ital y in 2017. There are a smattering of others in recent years including Adam Johnson, who received a jail sentence for sexual activity involving an underage girl.

Unfortunately these crimes occur in all aspects of life, it is not just exclusive to athletes.

However the correlation between sport and gender based violence is one which keeps rearing its head.

People using their power and status in order to get away with minor and major indiscretions is sadly an old tale.

Sport, in general, is a way of bringing people together. It unites populations and can improve international relations.

There is however a darker side, as with anything, which appears to be particularly evident among football supporters.

Truthfully, there are so many questions to be asked; of ourselves, others and society as a whole. The fallout from the Euro 2020 nal is but one signi er of this. The media does tend to blow things out of proportion from time to time, giving people the impression that the state of the world is far more dire than it actually is. In this case, it would be a stretch to use that excuse.

There are very few ways to interpret clear racial abuse and domestic violence as anything other than totally unacceptable and, in a word, despicable.

If three missed penalties are all it takes for a unifying tournament to highlight everything that is wrong with our society, how fragile is the societal progress that we have made in the last 50 years and, where do we go from here

“If England Gets Beaten, So Will She”.

This was in reference to a campaign by the aforementioned NCDV during the 2018 World Cup which was accompanied by the picture of a woman’s nose bleeding to form the St. George’s Cross on her face.

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It's an image that stops you in your tracks, but, as of yet, hasn't stopped the increase in domestic violence on such occasions

It seems there is a deep cultural issue at play, one which is in dire need of an overhaul.

THE FALL OF KABUL; REPERCUSSIONS CONCERNING WOMEN AND THEIR RIGHTS Natalia Karolina Gawlas - Deputy Editor Current A air Natalia Gawlas shines light on the oppression of women which, for decades, has been a topic avoided by many.

Right now, women in the West are rightly ghting to prohibit the gender pay gap and workplace sexism, in addition to ensuring bodily autonomy and reproductive health rights. However, the story for the women of Afghanistan is much starker. Here, women are faced with the much more rudimentary battles of ghting for their right to an education, their right to work, their right to move freely within their communities, and their right to wear less than a burqa All the (apparent) privileges of women living in the West are l i ke l y to b e co m e e v e n f u r t h e r impaired and condensed in the Is l a m i c r e g i o n o f A f g h a n i s t a n following the recent takeover by the Taliban.

As you most likel y ha ve already seen on television and social media, pictures, advertisements and window paintings of women are being erased across the country, as it becomes clear that

women shall be treated as lesser beings under the rule of the Taliban.

Senseless talk on the news by a Taliban spokesman announcing that women will have access to education and employment, is, quite frankly, not only extremely vague, but insulting to the women of the country.

It wilfully avoids salient topics of concern to Afghan women. Attire choices, marriage rights, freedom of movement, gender-based violence, and basics of livelihood for any woman are likely to be curtailed under the rule of the Taliban. Despite their best e orts, the Taliban’s recent media blitz also fails to explain the panic and uproar seen at Kabul airport, with videos of thousands of citizens desperately eeing the country the day Taliban took over going viral all across the world.

The talk of peaceful rule is dissonant with the actions of the regime, with images of Taliban soldiers holding guns only further stoking fears of unrest and violence.

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Current Affairs

Meagre suggestions of upholding the rights of women in a somewhat liberalised regime are also unlikely to convince the women of Afghanistan that the Taliban is their friend, especially with their track record of sexism, which include actions as radical as the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in 2012 for the “crime” of being a women’s education campaigner.

One ought not to forget that under the Taliban’s last period of rule during the 1990s, freedom of movement for women, something taken for granted in the West, was strictly curtailed.

Women were forcefully con ned to their homes and their input and presence in public life was eliminated. They could not leave their home without a male companion, who e ectively acted as their chaperone. As such, fear is only a reasonable response to their recent resurgence, especially for the women of the country.

Not only was the movement of women targeted during the previous Taliban period of rule, but a strict dress code was also enforced, with women obliged to wear the burqa. The Taliban also barred women from working or receiving an education during this period, meaning they were completely dependent on their male counterparts for provision of life’s necessities

Current Affairs All of these restrictions were justi ed within the framework of the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law, and sadly had been deemed acceptable within the c o u n t r y, w i t h i n t e r n a t i o n a l condemnation simply disregarded.

If this tale sounds familiar, that’s b e c a u s e i t i s . It a p p e a r s increasingly evident that history is tragically repeating itself for the women of Afghanistan.

D e s p i te t h e Ta l i b a n’s recent assurances that such discrimination will not be occurring again, it will not come as a surprise to hear that no women have lled any positions since the Taliban reclaimed the country.

This fact illustrates the plight of the women of Afghanistan in a microcosm; the Taliban views women’s role in society as essentially powerless, ideally voiceless, and completely subordinate to their male compatriots. The women of Afghanistan are su ering.

Despite their suggestions to the contrary, the writing is on the wall

- women’s rights don’t matter to the Taliban.

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Photoshop & Mental Health: The Effects of Altering Reality to Fit Unrealistic Beauty Standards.

In light of changes to current advertising legislation, May Weber talks to Motley about the impact of photoshop on the mental health of individuals, particularly young women.

Please note that the following article makes reference to mental illness, eating d i s o rd e rs , s e l f - h a r m a n d suicide.

A recent ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in England may signal a change in the social media culture that pervades the lives of most people on this planet. In the case, the ASA concluded that using lters when advertising a tanning product “misleadingly exaggerated the e ect the product was capable of achieving”.

According to the ASA, merely stating that a lter was used will not necessarily be enough to avoid falling foul of new rules.

This decision is a welcome rst step in today’s in uencer age since digitisation may have adverse health e ects on people,

including psychological harm.

Though some doubt remains as to whether or not social media use is linked to increased unhappiness, the following research would suggest that photoaltering technology has a negative impact on self-esteem as a result of repeated exposure to manipulated images

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The Specific technologies discussed are Photoshop and inbuilt filters on sites such a s Snapchat and Instagram.

These allow tweaks to be made before a picture is uploaded and features often include the removal of perceived skin imperfections and slimming of body shape. A study by The Economist reported that Instagram had a negative

impact on body image according to the 14 to 24-year-olds sur veyed. In the social media context, photo-altering technology can have positive e ects such as freedom of self-expression or creative expression. However, it would appear that the overall impact is a negative one Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, found an increase in mental health problems in teenagers starting in 2011 to 2013.

He found that the number of girls per 100,000 that were admitted to hospital for self-harm was stable until 2011. It then increased by 189% in young teen girls (aged 10-14.)

Suicide rates followed the same trend. The gure for older teen girls (aged 15-19) increased by 70% and for younger teen girls (10-14) by 151% compared to the gures from 2000 to 2010. Haidt nds that this turning point correlates with social media becoming widely available on mobile devices.

This generation was the rst that started to use social media in middle school (11-13 year olds), with the full rami cations of this still yet to be seen. Dr Richard Kreipe, a specialist in adolescent medicine, says that the number of patients with EDNOS (Eating D i s o r d e r No t O t h e r w i s e Speci ed) has almost doubled nationally (in the US). EDNOS, as de ned by the NHS, is when an individual “meets many, but not all, of the criteria for anorexia or bulimia” In 2 0 1 6 In s t a g r a m described itself as “a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your mobile phone, then choose a lter to transform the image.”

This ability to

“distort the reality depicted in the photos with options to manipulate photos via editing and lters” becomes problematic in trends such as “thinspiration” or “thinspo” and “pro-ana” (promoting anorexia).

These trends encourage the idea that being thin is best and much of the content uses Photoshop to ‘inspire’ people, primarily young girls, to lose weight and achieve the standard of beauty they idealise.

Additionally, it may not be obvious to users that many of the images endorsed on such pages are unrealistic.

A cursory glance at the subreddit ‘r/Instagramreality’ shows that many people are not aware of how a picture has been edited until it is pointed out. This is the true danger of photo-altering. When done on the scale that it is today, it changes people’s perception of what the real human body looks like.

When photoshop is used to blur out skin texture, exaggerate cur ves or pinch waists, it

“normalises inhuman standards of beauty.”

Such practices are “warping people's perspective of reality, whether that's slimming down for women or bulking up for men.” This is incredibl y harmful a s it “means that people will damage their bodies and their minds'' in the pursuit of an image that is unattainable and/or unhealthy.

A Dutch study found that compared to exposure to original, unedited photos, exposure to edited photos of other people leads to lower “body satisfaction in adolescent girls…”.

It i s t r o u b l i n g t h a t “e v e n s h o r t e x p o s u r e t o unfamiliar peers in a research setting can lead to direct changes in body image”, and the cumulative psychological e ect of seeing altered photos regularly cannot be underestimated.

It w a s a l s o f o u n d t h a t t h e participants in that study were generally unaware that a photo had been edited.This issue is particularly pronounced on social media where people interact with and compare themselves to their peers rather than famous models or actors.

The e ect of comparing oneself to those one considers a peer, is much stronger than when comparing oneself to someone famous. Left unchecked, “more and more girls will think that being thin, with bones protruding in places they should not, is the healthiest alternative” It should now be clear that the culture of eliminating socalled undesirable parts of a photo in order to achieve a certain standard of beauty is harmful to those exposed to such content, especially younger girls.

While the ASA’s ruling may seem like a small step, it is a crucial one. It will apply to all social media influencers, celebrities and UK brands and when advertisements are required to disclose photo editing, it disrupts the idea that awless, ltered skin and unrealistic gures are the norm. Hopefully this decision will be followed in Ireland and that further measures will be implemented S t r i c te r l e g i s l a t i o n i s already in place in France where “any commercial image that has been enhanced must feature a label of ‘edited photograph’, or companies face a ne.” Not only is this an achievable goal, but with the advent of new technology it is also a necessary one. Some lters now enable the editing of live footage via lters that slim and perfect your body on camera.

Such technology is only going to become more sophisticated and, in turn, less detectable.

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The incel community and the importance of tackling extremism In light of recent tragic events in Plymouth where a gunman opened re on innocent people in the name of the incel “community”, Current A airs Editor Conor Daly looks at the importance of being an active bystander

The use of quotation marks in the above introduction is merely to highlight the irony of the word community for a group which embodies few to none of the traits of what the word actually means.

Yes, the sharing of an opinion or ideology might satisfy the classi cation of such, but in terms of the shared understanding we have of a community looking out for one another and providing a bene t to wider society, it falls undeniably and quite spectacularly short The ideologies of involuntary celibates have become more widespread in the la st number of years, with public displays of violence in the name of this group also increasing. There have been numerous mass killing incidents in North America, with a string of these coming in the US last year (2020). Alex DiBranco, who is the executive director of the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism, has spoken publicly about this increase and has said that

“It’s still not being taken as seriously as it needs to be”.

One could use this argument in relation to the attack in Plymouth, as the perpetrator made YouTube videos prior to killing ve people, which may have pointed to his affiliation with these extreme views.

The aforementioned Alex DiBranco believes that there is often a degree of leniency given to incels who carr y out violent attacks on the basis that there is associated mental illness. This was the case with the Plymouth g u n m a n w h o w a s r e p o r te d l y depressed prior to the attack.

However DiBranco deems this to be too simplistic, remarking that “This is an ideology. It’s not a psychological disorder,” and also that “There’s a lot of undue sympathy”. Such words are strong, maybe even harsh, but it does perhaps give an indication of how researchers of the topic view the issue The basic description of what this group stands for is that they are celibate but involuntarily s o , p r e t t y s e l f - e x p l a n a t o r y.

However the reasons behind the ‘involuntary’ aspect of this title is where things get slightly more complicated.

They, generally speaking, believe that women are to blame for their inability to attract a partner or find meaningful connections with women. They believe that modern-day promiscuity leads to impossibly high standards for men to live up to and that a more monogamous society would be more desirable.

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As is the case with any group of people, there are varying degrees of extremism within this community.

Some go as far as to hate women, as seen with the shooting in Plymouth earlier this Summer.

Some also hate men who are in relationships, being of the view that these men are abandoning their sense of masculinity and cowering to the unrealistic standards set by modern women.

The Plymouth gunman was among that group. A video he made, among other things, referenced the “Chads” of the world, which is the name the incel community gives to attractive men who don’t have the same issues with nding love. The female version of this is referred to as a “Stacey”, who represents attractive women who are shallow gold diggers

Current Affairs In c e l g r o u p s o f t e n d e f i n e themselves based on a categorisation of three pills, which essentially denote how extreme their beliefs are. The blue pill represents everyday people who are apparently ignorant and believe in feminism. The red pill relates to people who have ‘woken up’ to the fact that men are in fact the group that is oppressed.

Finally, the black pill group, of which the Plymouth gunman was a member, believe that society favours attractive people and that everyone else is left to accept that or else take action.

Another one of the aspects of this ideology is the question of what masculinity is and, by extension, gender roles.

Within the incel community, there is a belief that women, while not necessarily inferior to men, are nonetheless unequal due to inherent biological di erences.

This is based on the idea that women are more suited to being in the role of the carer while men are better at hard work and manual labour. While yes, there are inherent biological di erences between the sexes, these di erences do not necessarily outline how people ought to behave in relationships or within society in general, at least not in the 21st century Some men who may not necessarily be incels but do hold conservative views on the topic, see women as akin to children, in the sense that they need to be protected by men.

Ironic seems like the wrong word in this scenario given the subject matter, however it would seem that this way of thinking is in need of a thesaurus more than anything else. Women, especially in the context of the incel community,

do not need to be protected by men, they need to be protected from men The phrase “call me when you get there” or something to that e ect, is one which most men will probably recall saying to a woman in their life on countless occasions. While this is an inherently protective action, the root of it stems from the fact that men are, in some scenarios, unable to trust the fact that other men will behave in a way that allows the aforementioned woman to get where she needs to be safely. So really, how can you expect women to trust men when men don’t even have that trust?

This is where the role of the bystander comes into play.

Giving as many students as possible the tools to identify harmful behaviours even before they are given the opportunity to do that harm is invaluable.

Invaluable not only in the sense that it gives people more knowledge and awareness on the topic, but also in terms of giving all students the comfort of walking around a safe campus Tackling extremism starts with the awkward conversations w h e n s o m e o n e m a ke s a n unnecessary comment or does something inappropriate. Laura Bates comments on this in The Gu a r d i a n , s t a t i n g t h a t “ T h e normalisation of low-level sexism and sexual harassment makes extremist misogyny seem more acceptable to young people when they happen across it online”. This can be said with any ideology and sexism is no di erent. The old adage of

If you don’t counteract the small, but not insigni cant, instances of misogyny, it has the potential to manifest into something more harmful.

Stepping in and taking action is important, all the while acknowledging the golden rule of being a bystander which is to not p u t y o u r s e l f i n h a r m's w a y.

Granted, some people are on a path and nothing anyone does can change that. But in the majority of cases, there are small a rmative actions we can take to make the world a more inhabitable place for most people, starting with university campuses.

The result of this will be that those graduates will carry those beliefs into their future places of work, communities and family environments. In the short-term, it will hopefully help to eradicate gender based violence and extreme belief systems.

In the long - term, the positive impact could spread far w i d e r t h a n t h e g a te s o f t h e university, in the hopes that an incident such as the one in Plymouth would become part of our history and not our present

“if you give someone an inch, they’ll take a mile.”

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Repeal the Place How a controversial Constitutional article could be amended for a better cause In this powerfully argued piece, law student Roisin Dunlea explores the ‘woman’s place’ in the Irish Constitution and the action that’s being taken to change it.

Deep in the heart of the document that serves as the foundation of our country’s governance, a dusty and dated reminder of ‘Old Ireland’ remains; Article 41.2 of the Irish Constitution is commonly known as

the “woman’s place” clause.

It insists that a woman’s presence and duties in the home are necessary to maintain the common good, and that the State shoulders the responsibility to ensure that she is not required to neglect this life for reasons of economic necessity (i.e. to abandon her wifely and/or motherly “duties” in favour of the workplace).

As the more conservative divisions of the Irish population continue to lick their wounds following the repeal of the 8th Amendment, a new quest for constitutional rejuvenation has appeared on the horizon since the Citizens’ Assembly voted this year in favour of holding a referendum proposing changes to Article 41.2.

However, the article at play here is by no means as controversial as the 8th Amendment, and so it doesn’t seem to receive as much publicity. In the present day, the clause can actually come across as insignificant and practically dormant, albeit sexist and outdated. By all accounts it has never been referenced by the government or the courts and it could even have been considered a somewhat progressive aspect of the Constitution at the time of its ratification in 1937, when women in general weren’t acknowledged much at all in such instruments.

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That being said, it is widely acknowledged that the status of women within our society is evolving at a rapid pace and that the law governing said

society must evolve with it.

For this reason, among others, the Citizens’ Assembly proposed that the article be amended and put to better use.

The Assembly suggested adjusting the wording of the article to abandon any reference to gender or parental roles, thereby constitutionalising the importance of caregivers of all descriptions.

This would be an incredibly valuable change for family carers, whose job can be lonely and thankless; family members sacrifice hours of their time -or even their entire personal lives -- to provide constant support for loved ones who may have disabilities or long-term illnesses.

They simultaneously fill the roles of chef, cleaner, accountant, counsellor, teacher, trainer, nurse, and more, all within a domestic setting and often with limited resources. They work long hours with little reward of any kind, and they usually do it out of love and an eagerness to help.

They are the unsung heroes of every community and almost every family in t h e c o u n t r y, a n d t h e y d e s e r v e recognition and a constitutional article that will place an obligation on the government to simply do more to allow them to avail of adequate support and rest.

If the Assembly’s proposals are followed, we could soon be voting for higher allowances, increased respite hours, and even State pensions for full-time family carers. This translates to improved assistance for elderly people who care for ill spouses, parents who care for disabled children, and countless other categories of caregiver in Ireland. It may not appear to be as widely influential or as generally applicable as previous constitutional changes; but if this particular amendment goes to referendum and is passed, it would have profoundly positive effects for women and families across the country. A constitutional obligation which binds the government is a big deal, to put it lightly.

CSO estimates show that there are over half a million full-time, unpaid family carers in Ireland today. Although the proposed amendment would apply to carers of all genders, statistics in the Assembly report tell us that 98% of fulltime carers are female, and twice as many unpaid female carers provide over 43 hours care per week in comparison to their male counterparts.

An opportunity has arisen here for an archaic and sexist provision to be recycled in order to bring about groundbreaking improvements for a femaledominated sector, while removing traces of outdated generalist attitudes towards women. It’s difficult to imagine a better way to convert the “woman’s place” article into something helpful and meaningful for a subsection of the female population that is so often forgotten and under appreciated.

The Right to Choose in the State of Texas With humour and outrage in equal measure, Deputy Features and Opinions Editor John Hunter looks at the recent attack on abortion rights in Texas.

whilst still reeling from the horrific and costly end to the war in Afghanistan, the subsequent overthrowing of the Afghan government by the Taliban and the devastating loss of the rights of Afghan women we naively thought things had reached their lowest point.

Alas, we realised we were wrong as we watched the conservative government of the Lone Star State rear its head and get in on the fun.

Yes that gigantic former republic which I’m informed by knowledgeable sources is best not to ‘mess with’, known for soaring temperatures, the Alamo, and the blight on human society known as Ted Cruz, has decided to severely restrict access to abortion.

On the 19th of May 2021, Gov. Greg Abbot enacted the Heartbeat Act – introduced as Senate Bill 8 and House Bill 1515 – which would make abortions carried out after a heartbeat has been detected (which could be as early as six weeks gestation) illegal in Texas. While the act made exceptions for ‘medical emergencies’ (though the law does not define what that means, instead leaving the decision up to the physician), there was no such exceptions made where a pregnancy was brought about by rape or incest, or in the case of a ‘nonviable pregnancy’, or where the fetus has developed a condition which would be fatal. The act came into effect on the 1st of September.

The act is a seemingly blatant attempt to end the protections afforded by the Supreme Court’s decision on the Roe v. Wade case, with its biggest – and most obvious – consequence being that abortion in Texas becomes incredibly difficult, if not

But when women want that same personal freedom and right to choose extended to their reproductive systems… well that doesn’t count.

impossible, as the short period of time that the act allows for an abortion to take place is a period where many aren’t even aware that they are pregnant.

The law also allows for

No, much better to impose your own moral standards and ideas on the sanctity of life (though many seemingly have no issue with the death penalty, which is alive and well in Texas) on others rather than sticking to their supposed principles of personal freedom and individual choice, even when they personally disagree with how people choose to use that freedom.

citizens to sue abortion providers, as well as individuals who assists someone getting an abortion, even if they have no connection to that person. Meaning that if you, the reader, should find yourself in Texas, simply offering to give a person on their way to get an abortion a lift to the clinic, you could potentially find yourself before a judge pleading your case because some dopey prick (likely the bible readings and cross burning type), whom you’ve never met and has seemingly nothing better to do than enact petty vengeance, decided to sue you.

In any case, it looks like this fight is far from over, with the Biden administration suing Texas in an attempt to stop the law, with a hearing date set for October 1st.

With the recent decision in the Supreme Court that saw a tight 5-4 majority support the Texas law,

the future doesn’t look bright for abortion rights in Texas or Row v.

Wade in the United States.

But taking a step back from the act itself and viewing it in its wider context, we see the old Republican hypocrisy looming over the entire affair.

How many times conservatives in the United States sang that old number from their hymn sheet about the importance of personal freedom and the right of individuals to choose, as well as the dangers of state and federal regulations that supposedly infringe upon this freedom.

Even in the face of a deadly pandemic, many Republicans, including Texas Senator and aforementioned blight Ted Cruz have been vocal opponents of Government imposed mask and vaccine mandates, making similar arguments to support their position.

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Oh christ,

A State of Hypocrisy

The Old Man and the Woman; Analysing Ernest Hemingway’s relationship with gender In this revealing and thoughtful assessment of an iconic (and problematic) author’s work, Niamh Browne looks at the work of Ernest Hemingway and its relationship with ideas of gender.

It’s almost laughable

The Garden of Eden

- yes Hemingway. The embodiment of toxic masculinity. The guy who writes books almost exclusively about drinking too much, hunting innocent animals, getting into fights and sleeping with heaps of adoring women. Yes, that cishet man. I want to talk about what this man has to say on gender, which is surprisingly a lot.

follows David and Catherine Bourne who honeymoon on the French Riviera.

Catherine decides to crop her hair and bleach it blonde, she then tells her husband ‘I'm a girl. But now I'm a boy too and I can do anything and anything and anything’. The couple then begin to change positions and experiment in bed with Catherine as the ‘man’ and David as the ‘woman’.

One thing we often forget when we think about the past is they didn’t have gender or queer concepts in the way we do now, and often it’s reductive to say someone was queer or experienced gender dysmorphia because people weren’t aware that these concepts existed. They were simply existing.

On top of that, a lot of gender norms we now have are incredibly modern. Blue was a girl’s colour and pink a boy’s colour until the mid-twentieth century.

Boys, like Hemingway, were often dressed in dresses until they were in their early teens. In the late Victorian era, it was normal for actresses to play the role of men in pantomimes. The gender spectrum is ever-evolving and our concepts of what is masculine and feminine are too.

I want to make the argument that Hemingway, through his insane hyper-

masculine overcompensation, expressed some of the most searing truths on the human experience of gender.

There’s a fascinating and almost entirely forgotten Hemingway novel which he spent 15 years of his life writing. This novel is about a newly married couple grappling with issues of gender identity and sexual dynamics.

David also crops his hair ultra-short and bleaches it blonde so they can look the same. The androgyny and sexual exploration is enough to make Sally Rooney blush. They soon fall in love with a young Spanish woman; Marita.

David and Catherine both sleep with Marita but on different occasions. This, along with all the gender-bending, ultimately leads to the deterioration of their marriage.

Hemingway nursed this manuscript for many years but considered it to be ‘too sexually adventurous’ to be released in his lifetime. The protagonist, like the author, was a novelist and WWI veteran and Hemingway may have felt he would have been too emotionally exposed by the gender dysmorphia in the novel.

This gender theory also wasn’t an entirely academic exercise for Hemingway, he had personal experience with gender identity issues. Gloria Hemingway was his third child, born Gregory.

She struggled in and out of gender dysmorphia issues her whole life. As a child, Gloria longed to be the Hemingway archetypal hero:

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she was a doctor, who trained to be a professional hunter but her alcoholism meant she lost her medical license and failed to obtain her hunting one.

She was estranged from the family due to her “unsuitable marriage” and excessive drug-taking. It’s not complete conjecture to say that this was possibly a by-product of her gender dysmorphia.

In her book, “Papa, a Memoir”, she writes about her own struggles and experimentation with women’s clothing.

She had four marriages and 8 children.

When Hemingway won the Nobel prize in 1954, Gloria got back in touch with her father to congratulate him. He wrote her back and thanked her, and sent her a check for 5 thousand dollars. They maintained contact for the rest of Ernest’s days. At the time of Gloria’s death, she was in the process of incomplete gender reassignment surgery but presented publicly as Gregory in interviews.

Hemingway cultivated this persona of bravado and masculinity. He struggled with reckless alcoholism and remains one of the most conflicting and intriguing literary figures in history.

His novels carry with them kernels of truth. The more I read his novels, the more I see the fingerprints of gender dysmorphia all over them.

Contraception; a female issue or global crisis?

The answer’s pretty obvious.

With free contraception potentially on the agenda for Budget 2022, Deputy Current Affairs Editor Natalia Karolina Gawlas looks at why this is an important reform

Following the French in their revolutionary [and far too late] steps of making contraception free to women under the age of 25 (a great step, but not great enough), there has been increased talk of introducing an allowance that would make contraception free within the 2022 Budget by Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly.

Naturally, very little detail has followed the announcement. This was, of course, influenced by our neighbours, the UK and their prescription-free contraceptive pill available across pharmacies. Hopefully the Irish Healthcare system makes a rightful decision regarding this [often] onesided emotional and financial issue.

Women worldwide understand that the fear of sex and the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy often supersede the pleasure gained from the act. A ritual of GP appointments to find contraception is a common occurrence for most women before they can even allow themselves to be sexually active.

The pressure of finding suitable contraception is installed within women from a young age as we are constantly reminded of the untrustworthiness of condoms. After all, 97% effectiveness does not equate to 100%, with that being just the risk of pregnancy, never mind other factors.

The process of considering contraception is not only time consuming but filled with both health risks and leaflets the size of bed sheets in addition to it being costly and quite frankly, anxietyfilling. A hormonal balancing act occurs with most choices when choosing contraception, and sometimes, it may not even suit you.

Then the process starts all over again.

Wonderful life, isn’t it ladies?

Did you know that the bar costs around €400? That is not including countless consultations that come with it. The coil could end up costing anywhere between €300 to €500 before considering the consultation process and STI tests required beforehand. The pill, being the most commonly used, is the cheapest at around €10 a month, adding up to approximately €120 a year, again, not including at least two consultations per year for one’s own safety. With all of this in mind, you can see how it calls into question any counter arguments posed, often arising from the male rebuttal around the steep price or the apparently claimed discomfort of condoms.

When E.W. Scripps remarked, “a man can do anything he wants to do in this world, at least if he wants to do it badly enough”, this certainly wasn’t what he meant. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius, or any genius in fact, to question whether we are distributing methods of birth control to the right sex.

The possibility of male birth control looks like it’ll be a long time away before it is introduced. However we should not shrug it off as too idealistic or something akin to the plot of a sci-fi blockbuster.

The creation of a male pill or the equivalent of male contraception might not be as alien or as unattainable as we think. Until then,

let’s increase the conversation around contraception between both men and women, and strive to fairly divy out the responsibility, both financially and emotionally. After-all, tackling an issue at its source tickles some logic.

Let’s also not forget the cost of pregnancy tests, and emergency contraception. That’s not to mention the accompanying stress and anxiety of pregnancy scares, which if were to be converted to monetary value, would amount to a steep price. The real question becomes, who pays the price of that? Seems quite evident.

Biologically speaking, cisgender women can only get pregnant once every nine months, which doesn’t sound so bad. On the other hand, if a man wished to, he could theoretically impregnate 9 women every day for 9 months. That’s 2,430 pregnancies in that same length of time.

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Please note, as this article dissects and discusses the discrepancies in responsibilities put on men and women in terms of contraception, it focuses mainly on, but not limited to, the experience of heterosexual couples.

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The Gender Health Gap Despite our standard of healthcare constantly evolving and improving, Sarah O’Mahony shines a light on the knowledge deficits suffered by women at the hands of the medical world.

Inequality across borders When you think of gender inequality in healthcare, your mind may land on images of women and girls in poorer countries. You see emotive imagery. They might be experiencing limited access to general healthcare, period poverty, lack of family planning support and more.

It’s easier for governments, corporations and society as a whole to place the blame on the lack of resources.

This way they can throw money at the problem hoping it will disappear. Instead, they should focus on the stigma and taboo that is at the root. This stigma is not unique to developing countries but rather, crosses all borders.

It’s also important to note that we, those of us living in richer countries, cannot solve these systemic issues abroad by merely sending money their way. Ireland has a long history of donating money to religious missionaries in Africa. Donating to Trocaire during Lent has become an integral part of Irish culture.

Approaching the issue with a fix-all mentality is a nonsolution, falling within the same ballpark as voluntourism, a common example of which is customary visit to India organised by the HOPE Foundation for secondary-level students. Although I am a simp for digression, I won’t dive too deeply into the coloniser mentality underpinning this custom and the endless list of its repercussions. A whole other article could be written on this - stay tuned.

My point is this; social stigma and bias exist at home and abroad and is the main cause of the healthcare gap. However, this is not communicated in mainstream media. I believe we are too distracted by surface level charity. Rather than searching for the most run-down hospital in West Africa for the snappiest sound bite, how about tackling the problem at its root? Improving educational resources, research and tackling the stigmas attached to women’s health could provoke real and substantial change.

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Ireland’s relationship with women’s health Reading Irish history is akin to counting how many ways we can control women’s bodies. From the mother and baby homes to abortion to the cervical cancer scandal, Ireland has a tainted past of how it views women’s bodies.

Beneath the supposed calm there is an underbelly of negligence. The HSE, for one, have thrown around non-disclosure agreements and even after making various financial settlements,

they have failed to admit to wrongdoing; The most notable of which being Vicky Phelan’s 2.5 million settlement from the state. Currently, Phelan seeks treatment in the United States.

Rather than a hiccup in Irish society, to me, this appears to be a trend. In 2017, I was in UCC’s Kane building toilets during a taster physics week. As I looked in front of me, I noticed that the door of the toilet was covered in writing about the then upcoming abortion referendum. A student had written about their abortion experience. Sadly, their only option was to travel overseas to receive it in England.

It seems Ireland’s attitude to women's health has always been that you are better off abroad. Every year, women travel to countries like England and Romania because they cannot access vital surgery here. It’s clear that even now, Irish society demonstrates an overwhelming lack of understanding and empathy for the female experience.

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The Pill Discussing the pill, its side effects and the implications involved may be the first big decision one is faced with on their reproductive health journey. The hormonal contraceptive pill is marketed as a ‘lifestyle’ drug so it often features very early on in women’s lives. It may be hard to voice your concerns and preferences at a young age; especially if your GP is male and a parent or guardian is present. I for one have only recently found my voice when speaking up with my doctor.

Some may even question if the system is set up to encourage one to make informed decisions about their reproductive health?

Judging from the experience of my friends and wider circle of peers, it is more common for the pill to not agree with you than the other way around.

While some can try a non-hormonal IUD or investigate other options, this is often not a viable option for people.

Instead, many stay on the pill despite debilitating side effects. It is also common knowledge that doctors fail to listen to concerns about the pill's effects. Bit of a shitshow if you ask me.

Nausea, fatigue and spotting are just a few examples of the experiences that are regularly dismissed. Not to mention anxiety and depression which can be devastating in all respects. ‘A fog lifting’ was described to me by someone who came off the pill due to personal concerns. It appears you must be threatening dangerous action before your mental health concerns are taken seriously. Either way, the theme is abundantly clear.

Doctors will make no pains about brushing you off.

I almost feel like a bad feminist speaking negatively of the pill; something that allowed women to greatly advance in society. Yet the flashing red lights are becoming harder to ignore.

Menopause We know medical science understands more about the male body than the female. This means that one woman's singular experience often does not carry enough weight in the medical world. This theme carries on throughout our lives. Hormone replacement therapy is a medication often prescribed to women going through menopause. However, women who have had breast cancer cannot take it. This is the experience of one in nine women in Ireland. Also, these women often struggle with menopause more than others as cancer therapies can worsen the symptoms. Again, what a shitshow.

The figures speak for themselves, we are not taken seriously enough.

The word hysteria comes from the Greek word meaning uterus. It is hard to imagine that this culture of dismissal can be traced back 2,400 years to Ancient Greece.

Often, doctors are faster to label women as hypochondriacs and are more likely to refer them to a counsellor than a specialist for pain management. There are health struggles that can occur at any point in our lives where we as women too often meet incredible resistance. An example of this is endometriosis.

Endometriosis occurs when tissue similar to endometrium grows outside of the womb. It is a chronic illness that can take on average nine years to even diagnose in Ireland. The symptoms of intense pain, nausea and fatigue can be dismissed as ‘normal period symptoms’ by doctors and are often similar to an abundance of other health conditions. It affects 10 percent of women globally with celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Daisy Ridley and Molly Mae also diagnosed with it.

Two months ago, I had to Google its definition. I see now that this is due to the lack of awareness surrounding the condition. There is an extreme deficit of research into treatments and solutions to many chronic illnesses that affect women, another example of this being PCOS. It worries me that the number of women who suffer from these conditions are so high in Ireland, yet many do not even know they have it. I fear that if it was an issue that affected men, we would have a greater understanding of it and be closer to a solution.

There is still hope Don’t be overwhelmed or pessimistic on what this means for you. Although the healthcare gap is a prominent and multi-faceted issue in our society, education and awareness is the way forward. Doctors cannot know everything and along with society, they will change given compassion and resources. The main goal is to encourage engagement in this topic so we improve our communities.

No one should suffer at the hands of a system that can be improved. Future developments in research, greater priorisation in healthcare and the ever maturing view of women in society will one day help to bridge the gap dividing health across genders.

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Solo Female Travel Globe-trotter, Amano Miura, takes readers on an engaging journey in this piece exploring her time travelling the world alone as a woman and the unique challenges that presents.

Since 2016 I’ve visited 26 different countries.

My travels began after I dropped out of my first degree and found a full time job. At that point, most of my classmates were off on Erasmus and I had an unstoppable urge to get out of town. I didn’t dive right in at the deep end of adventuring. In the early days I would depart Ireland alone but connect with friends on arrival in culturally familiar countries like Spain and Germany. EU citizenship enabled me to move freely from Scotland to Portugal and from Poland to Slovenia.

With each member state I visited, my confidence quietly grew. However, for many years my approach to “exploring” was highly controlled and conservative. I didn’t stay in hostels, go to bars, or make friends.

I tip-toed through the world in the knowledge that the woman’s body I occupied was never a neutral thing – it required me to always think ahead, to remain on high alert and to treat others with both politeness and suspicion.

Over the years I grew more willing to take risks and began to let go of those well-founded anxieties. As I moved into the hostel circuit and learned how to socialise in destinations from Canada to Vietnam, I found myself surrounded by a cohort of spectacular strangers whom I have learned to love and admire. These fellow travellers are, however, a notably homogenous group. A quick Google search of “solo female travel” redirects to hundreds of blogs. Though helpful and inspiring, many of the writers share a vital common thread: they are white, non-disabled, cis-women [Adventurous Kate, The Blonde Abroad, High Heels & a Backpack] who don’t encounter the same set of challenges as others. My “ethnic background”, for example, tends to fascinate people.

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My name and face lead to a line of invasive personal questioning.

These questions can be disarming and can leave me feeling vulnerable. On occasion I have given away too much information about myself, and I have even been physically followed and harassed. Still, I don’t interpret these experiences as characteristic of a different culture.

They are symptoms of a global patriarchal monoculture.

Women everywhere can tell such tales.

The solo-travel lifestyle is one of privilege. It implies that you hold a passport that is acceptable in a world of borders. It also suggests that you have a support network to bail you out if it all goes wrong. Finally, it implies that you are a citizen of a country that will care to look for you if you go missing. Yet, even when in possession of all these privileges, women are not safe.

I moved to New Zealand alone in September 2018. Three months later I was mourning the loss of a fellow solo female traveller Grace Millane, who just like me had come to “live the dream” on a working holiday visa in one of the safest countries in the world. But when women want that same Family and friends at home in Ireland tell me I’m “stone mad” each time I head off alone to another place I know very little about.

I want to prove them wrong about the dangers of the world and my perceived fragility in it and to tear apart their bias and preconceived ideas about certain cultures, religions and political regimes.

Sometimes I even want to tell them that the world can’t possibly scare me because enduring racism and misogyny in the country you call home hurts more than any bad experience abroad ever will. Travelling alone has shaped my identity. I have become more wise, compassionate and open, and learned how to feel grounded wherever my feet happen to be. It is never a fairy-tale, but it is always worth it.

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‘The Radical Filmmaking of Gregg Araki; Kate O’Riordan provides an overview of the offbeat director’s work which deals with sexual fluidity and gender expression through absurdism From fever dream-like visuals to hardcore scenes of violence, Gregg Araki’s radical and subversive style of lmaking is undoubtedly distinct. As an independent writer and director who began his career in the late 1980s, he was ahead of his time in many regards. In the early 1990s, Araki pioneered in directing lms centred around identity, sexuality and gender expression.

It was a controversial period for queer media in the shadow of the HIV/Aids epidemic which had severely impacted the LGBTQ+ community and fuelled harmful homophobic rhetoric in mainstream media and society. At a time when AIDS was the biggest killer of young men aged between 25 and 44 in 1990s California, “being gay felt like a political act in itself ”, according to Araki. His lms have strong themes of alienation, destruction and needless death, re ecting the mood of the time in the LGBTQ+ world.

In portraying youth culture’s anxiety throughout the ‘90s, most of his earlier lms are set in chaotic and hostile settings. Araki has compared his surreal lm style to “a Beverly Hills 90210 episode on acid”. The almost apocalyptic worldbuilding in his lms proves extremely di cult for the characters to have any direction, and leaves them disenfranchised with the world around them - an idea highly apparent in ‘Nowhere’ (1997).

The violent and brutal environments depicted here represent a more sinister idea that the LGBTQ+ characters, who are unapologetic in e x p r e s s i n g t h e i r i d e n t i t y, f a c e r e a l challenges to their lives for simply existing.

Satirizing and addressing toxic masculinity is another feature prevalent across Araki’s lms, with exaggerated hypermasculine characters as antagonists.

In T h e D o o m G e n e r a t i o n (1993), a cowboy refuses to believe that the protagonist is not who he thinks she is, spurring him into a murderous rampage when he doesn’t get his way, and not taking no for an answer. This seems like an obvious and horrifying manifestation of rape culture in society.

Araki also created interesting characters that turned traditional gendered stereotypes and tropes upside down. This includes a macho reclusive character called Luke, in The Living End (1992), who ironicall y becomes ver y emotionall y vulnerable whilst on the run as a fugitive.

Subverting typical motifs creates more complex and realistic yet human characters, even if they are occasionally nonsensical and absurd.

One interesting observation on his work made by critic Kylo Patrick Hart, is that his earlier lms mirror punk music and the punk movement in general. This is characterized by the aggressive (borderline violent) energy, nihilistic existential themes, and the general lack of commercial appeal.

In comparison to traditional Hollywood productions at the time, Araki’s movies instil detachment and confusion upon the audience to a degree, as there is a general lack of direction as to “what will happen next”.

However, behind these seemingly bizarre shoegaze angst lms there’s a strong political conviction, reactionary to the political climate and in the way that LGBTQ+ characters are unapologetically depicted Upon rst watch, Araki’s lms may lea ve viewers over whelmed and confused, but there are multiple layers to his style. Arguably the dominant takeaway is the odd satisfaction from seeing angst and bizarre existentialism accurately depicted against soundtracks of shoegaze and hard rock.

Gregg Araki’s lmography is not for everyone, however he excels at deconstructing and subverting heterosexual norms and gender stereotypes in teen movies. If you’ve never seen any of his movies, I would highly recommend you watch The Doom Generation as a rst step of descent into the surreal and sinister world of Gregg Araki.

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‘Woman on the Internet’; Orla Gartland Album Review James Kemmy discusses the promising and versatile debut from a rising Irish star

Twenty-six year old Dubliner, Orla Gartland has been on the periphery of a musical breakthrough for the last number of years. With two EPs released in 2015 and 2019 respectively, along with a soundtrack feature in the ‘Normal People’ television series, the London-based musician has undoubtedly garnered a notable degree of hype in recent times.

With her childhood roots in traditional folk music and subsequent inspiration by artists ranging from Joni Mitchell to Avril Lavigne,

Gartland’s full-length debut is refreshingly eclectic.

Written and co-produced by Gartland herself on her independent label, Woman on the Internet is a purposeful and emotionally diverse account of modern life as a twenty something year old woman.

With themes of identity, loneliness, gender and family interlaced throughout, Gartland uses uctuating confessionalism to her strength. On the con dent opening track Things That I’ve Learned, the Dubliner o ers both a diaristic and universal life-mantra - “don’t compare your face to the other faces it’s not worth it / take up all the space even when you think you don’t deserve it'', Gartland instructs. She continues in similar fashion on the cleverly deceptive You’re Not Special, Babe, a brilliantlywritten earworm which provides heartfelt reassurances as antidotes to feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy.

D e s p i te t h i s e n e r g e t i c o p t i m i s m , Gartland is unafraid to deal with more introspective and vulnerable subject matter - showcased through the tender m i d te m p o o f Mo r e L i ke Yo u , c o produced by Tommy King (HAIM, Vampire Weekend), where she admits to relatable instances of petty jealousy.

Similarly, the dejected melancholia of Left Behind illustrates the pain and humiliation of unreciprocated romance.

Perhaps Gartland’s greatest asset on this record is her ability to jump from o n e s o u n d to a n o t h e r w h i l s t a l s o maintaining a sense of skilful cohesion.

Transitions in style f rom punk to bedroom-pop to acoustic to electronica never seem awkward or out of place but instead feel uniquely fresh and leave the listener with a growing curiosity as to what will happen next.

Fu r t h e r m o r e , Gartland impressively incorporates big societal themes into private anecdotes, striking a profound lyrical balance. For instance, the frenetic and chant-like Zombie! (no, not a Cranberries cover) uses a personal experience of Gartland’s to illustrate societal pressures that often force men to repress their emotions. Speaking to RTÉ, s h e c o m m e n t e d o n t h e s o n g ’s backstory:

“It’s about a very common, very male kind of repression I witnessed in a boy I loved once” - I could see that he felt things but there was a barrier stopping him from expressing them… I hated that for him”.

On a similar note, Gartland has previously discussed troubling experiences she has had as a young woman in the music industry, and the instances of casual, everyday sexism that she has witnessed.

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Speaking to NME earlier this year in relation to their Girls to the Front initiative (an online event series promoting and celebrating female and nonbinar y musical talent), Gartland called out the gender disparity seen in many music festival line-ups and headline choices. She further commented on the alienation that female musicians can feel even within their own touring environments due to the male-dominated elds of sound engineering, tour management and session musicianship.

Despite these setbacks, Gartland remains optimistic about the future of gender equality in music and hopes that the pause in production brought about by Covid will allow festival organisers and industry management to reconsider their approach to this issue.

Wo m a n o n t h e In t e r n e t concludes on an intriguing and wellrounded note with the two-part Bloodline / Di cult Things where Gartland re ects on her childhood in Dublin and the subsequent guilt of leaving home to pursue her musical career. Overall, this is a highly impressive and emotionally complex LP debut from the Dubliner.

Gartland’s ultimate musical strength lies in just how multi-faceted she is, coming across as strong, vulnerable, genuine, witty, profound, and relatable all at once.

While this release is worthy of major praise and entitles Gartland to a period of rest and creative hiatus, she is far from resting on her laurels and is currently touring with English artist Dodie, playing guitar in her band. The future is undoubtedly bright for this remarkably self-assured young musician, and I look forward to hearing her future output

Listen to You’re Not Special, Babe, More Like You, Zombie! and Madison.

Entertainment

Gender and signposts

by Shruti Rajgopal

Robin wondered which one was the women’s room, while the signages used were meatballs and spaghetti, in How I Met Your Mother, in the episode where she meets her father to discuss her wedding to Barney. While she thought that meatballs represented men, she only stood corrected when she entered the space. This made me wonder both about the creativity of such designs, and how it represented gender, in all its glory and form. As humans we have the tendency of associating objects all around us with a certain gender; sometimes it’s based on colours, while at others it could be the activity for which the said object is used.

In fact, historically speaking, even nations are associated with a gender, mostly feminine, similar in the sense to the idea of Mother Earth. Some of these associations make sense, whereas some just make us feel more comfortable while in a given space. Signposts fall under the latter category.

Signposts have grown extremely creative in their appearance and aesthetics in the recent past.

Signages are not only more colourful but in some ways more random.

With interior spaces growing more and more eclectic, not only are spaces becoming more ambiguous in their utility, but the signages are also vague and unclear for users and not as friendly as they were once upon a time. I remember how one of my lecturers narrated that one could not identify the men’s room, as the signposts used were a dot and a line – how does one know what each of these symbols stand for? It has become harder to navigate through spaces due to the lack of clarity in such designs. In some ways these designs are imaginative and are giving di erent methods for expressing gender identity, but they are also not designs one is familiar with.

This poses an interesting question regarding whether gender identity requires more creative designs or whether they should just be neutral, making it easier and allowing one to use a space with more comfort and disregarding the need to choose and associate oneself with a certain category As we know signages in public spaces are usually posted to recognize gender-speci c zones. It is not restricted to bathrooms, but also includes changing rooms, trial rooms, feeding rooms, and newer additions made to the list based on the growing requirements. In the past, a simple vector of a human cutout was used to di erentiate between male and female spaces. However, these cutouts are now rendered as mundane and boring.

Architects and interior designers, in addition to set designers, are now coming up with modern and minimalistic ideas for such spaces. A common but simple one is the use of King and Queen from the deck of cards, which is still easy to spot and makes the space more userfriendly.

However, in a world where we are encouraging universal designs and spaces for all, debarring di erences between what one needs and wants, should these signages not be rather simple, and even

One would not feel the pressure to acknowledge whether they go to the space allotted for queens or kings, they can just make use of the space without having to make a choice publicly that they are not comfortable with.

As long as it avoids the use of cocks-hens or spaghetti-meatballs, gender neutral signages o er the stage for creativity and the freedom to follow your heart, no matter where you go

include the notion of genderneutrality?

Gender-neutral signages could be both harder and easier to design. While it reduces the signages, and even the spaces consumed for the said activity, it allows the user to not feel awkward in a given place

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The staggering success of Irish literary sensation Sally Rooney in recent years has already secured her place among the finest contemporary writers of our time.

Since the release of her sophomore novel Normal People and its subsequent small-screen adaptation by director Lenny Abrahamson (Room, What Richard Did), the thirty-year-old has amassed both international recognition and a cult following of devotees. Consequently, the hy pe around her newest novel, Beautiful World, W h e r e A r e Yo u , released on September 7th, has been enormous and has undoubtedly marked it as the most anticipated literary ction release of the year. This, therefore, seems a suitable time to more closely examine certain distinctive elements of the Castlebar-born writer’s stylistic approach which make her prose so compelling.

Essentially, Sally Rooney’s novels are contemporar y romantic dramas, interweaved subtly by pressing social issues and political themes. A selfproclaimed Marxist, the former Trinity s c h o l a r i n co r p o r a te s i n te l l e c t u a l meditations into her writing on issues s u c h a s c l a s s , p o w e r, a n d t h e increasingly prevalent social precarity caused by modern capitalism. With a sharp and observational eye, Rooney demonstrates these issues by placing her characters at the centre of intimately complex situations such as friendships, relationships and sex, and comments upon the emerging disparities and anxieties that take place as a result of such social connections

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The Use of Gender in Sally Rooney’s Novels; a critical analysis

A crucial dimension to her literary brand is the striking of a unique tonal balance between the intellectual and the accessible, cultivated by illustrating both the public and private lives of her characters.

Alongside the aforementioned motifs present within her writing, Rooney makes interesting use of gender and the underlying complexity behind such a structure in twenty- rst century s o c i e t y. W h i l e h e r n o v e l s a r e unmistakably contemporary in setting and style, illustrated through the perspectives of young protagonists in a present-day and relatively progressive Ireland, Rooney provides an interesting social commentary on both traditional and modern attitudes towards gender.

Speaking to Esquire Magazine in 2018, the author commented that she ultimately sees gender as a social system or “a set of rules and expectations you learn to comply with in childhood, whether you personally feel any affinity with them or not”.

By taking a look at certain examples and stylistic techniques employed in her prose, we see Rooney’s fresh take on the issue of gender and the surprisingly signi cant role it plays in her characters’ personal lives.

By rstly looking at the female perspective in Rooney’s writing, a thought-provoking analysis of both contemporar y relationships and individual personhood is provided.

Notably, almost all of the female protagonists in the Irishwoman’s novels are intelligent, cerebral and independent-minded young women.

However, Rooney puts these characters through a complex set of emotionally challenging events which seriously shake their principles and ultimately alter their perceptions of themselves and the outside world.

For instance, Frances, the central character and narrator in Rooney’s debut Conversations With Friends (2017) is a detached and erudite twenty-one year old who is determined to live an ideologically pure life of emotional autonomy at the outset of the novel.

However, as the story develops and a s she becomes romantical l y involved with an older married man, Frances calls into question just how sustainable these notions of individual independence and ethical rigidity really are. Rooney, a self-described feminist, has discussed this topic in various interviews, claiming she no longer sees individual autonomy as the pinnacle of female liberation, but has come to nd the interdependence of relationships and wider society more interesting and perhaps more realistic.

These philosophical and intellectual points add a profound depth to the use of gender in Rooney’s novels.

F u r t h e r m o re , R o o n e y m a s t e r f u l l y examines the concept of gender through the microscopic prism of a novel, in a way that is shrewdly subtle yet powerfully relatable. Throughout the c o u r s e o f h e r s to r i e s , h e r f e m a l e characters experience violence, emotional abuse and deep-rooted familial con icts.

In one passage of dialogue in Normal People for instance, protagonist Marianne reveals a history of domestic violence in her family and later goes on to su er similar violence from her own brother and various other male c h a r a c te r s . W h i l e o n l y i m p l i c i t l y suggested, it seems that it is this deeprooted psychological trauma that leads Marianne to enter into a series of selfdestructive and debasing relationships.

The key to Rooney’s approach here is to incorporate the weighty and complex issue of gender disparity into her characters’ everyday lives in a way that is meaningful, yet still socially accurate.

Essentially, she carries these social structures and large, abstract ideas into the very private and intimate lives of ordinar y people by obser ving the underlying role they play.

Despite such subject matter however, the tone and delivery of Rooney’s writing is never preachy or dogmatic but fresh and nuanced.

The depiction of male gures in Rooney’s novels is also socially conscious and emotionally captivating, but for di erent reasons

The subjects of mental health and selfidentity are dealt with profoundly by the Irish writer, primarily through the way in which her male characters often su er in silence when experiencing existential struggles related to these issues.

Connell in Normal People for instance, a bright yet troubled aspiring writer navigates a series of heavy and con icting emotions throughout his adolescence, often on his own due to an inability to su ciently articulate himself and open up to others.

These di culties eventually lead to a chronic and alienating downward trajectory whereby he must seek clinical help. Similarly, Nick in Conversations, experiences fluctuating depressive periods and nds it very di cult to communicate his emotions to Frances, a younger woman, out of his repressive fear of seeming pathetic and weak.

Both of these cases see central characters experience turmoil which is ultimately damaging to their relationships and friendships with others. However, Rooney a voids sensationalism and stereotyping in her writing and discusses these major issues with sensitivity and striking authenticity.

A further use of gender in the novels of Sally Rooney is the curiosity that di erent characters harbour towards each other which can either be satis ed through communication, or frustrated by a lack of it.

More specifically, the romantic relationships between her protagonists are often forged out of an intrigue in the other due to their differing gender-related social expectations.

Rooney’s newest novel Beautiful World, is a prime example of this. The main female and male characters here come from entirely di erent social scenes and elds of work, with Alice being a wealthy and acclaimed young writer who lives a glamorous yet lonely life while Felix is a warehouse worker who leads a much more modest and ordinary existence.

Furthermore, the stereotypical image of the male as rugged and inexpressive is assumed at the outset of the story, yet later challenged by his developing interest in, and glimpse of, a di erent lifestyle.

Likewise, Connell in Normal People has an instinctive passion for writing and literature, yet he initially feels uneasy about expressing this as he is fearful of being seen as whimsical and soft in his social circle of hypermasculine acquaintances. Despite the examination of these di cult and constraining features of gender, other signi cant social issues such as sexual consent and sel essness are used progressively by the author with gender at the forefront Overall, Sally Rooney excellently interweaves tropes of gender among other social and political themes into her novels.

Through her incisive and observant writing style, complex subject matter is tackled in an accessible and relatable fashion.

Whether examining the negative aspects of a rigid gender binary or exploring more progressive and modern attitudes towards the issue, the reader comes away with a well-rounded literary experience of emotional depth and profound societal rumination

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by Shruti Rajgopal

Asterix and Obelix come to the rescue of every individual or territory terrorized by the Roman camps. While Asterix glugs some of the magic potion brewed by the druid, Geta x, Vitalstatix, the chief of the Gauls, orders them on di erent missions throughout Europe to battle a gainst the tyranny of the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar.

What is interesting are the names of the characters in this series created by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny and how it treats the language of Latin: whether it follows the gender rules established or goes beyond the norms. All character-names in the Asterix series end with an ‘x’. Going by the rules of the Latin language, nouns ending with an ‘x’ are general l y categorized a s feminine. There are exceptions to this rule, and the natural order determines whether the noun would be masculine, feminine or neutral.

The reason the naming system in this comic series is appealing is because while the Gauls constantly waged against the trickery of the Roman camps, the latter were busy propagating the language across geographical and political boundaries. Romans conquered lands far and wide. All these e orts were carried out for one speci c purpose – to establish the Roman identity. While there were various factors that accounted for this identity, knowledge in Latin was a

signi cant one. Even after the fall of the empire, this language survived through the Dark Ages, although mangled in its syntax and style.

Hence, the comic series of Asterix have used a very powerful tool that belonged to the Romans, but have instead focused on the Gauls, with Latin names with a feminine ending for all masculine characters. In a way, not only was the language way ahead of its time, but the comic series has proven the same by acknowledging and creating names in such a way that describe powerful characters standing up against their enemies.

Was this one of the reasons that the Romans disliked the Gauls, as they misused their language?

Thinking about the language itself, Latin is extremely organized. There is an accurate way of translating anything from this language, every minute feature is taken into consideration, be it the subject, object, or demonstrative adjectives. Moreover, the endings help the reader to validate whether the context refers to a masculine, feminine or a neutral one.

While the Latin word for king is Rex and a pirate is pirata, both these words are categorized as feminine, due to their endings. However, it’s the natural order that dominates the gender for these words, as opposed to the endings for these words.

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Gender in Latin vocabulary

Most places have a feminine ending, whereas words associated with order and discipline have a masculine ending, such as imperator (imperator) and custos (guardian).

Ironically, both pax (peace) and calamitas (calamity) are categorized as feminine. Another interesting example is that of the word virtue (virtus) and of chastity (pudicitia), both these words have a feminine ending and are used in this sense.

These words were more or less associated with a woman’s role in the society and the manner in which she must portray herself. The vocabulary not only exhibited the role of each being in the society and the empire built by the Romans, but also explained their outlook towards changing times. Whereas words such as bellum (war) is neutral, the word o ers a sense of irony; it literally provides a neutral ground on which the parties can decide whether to ght or call it quits.

Asterix and Obelix made sure that the Romans ran for their lives instead of battling the Gauls in the series!

While the language is quite strict regarding terms of the gender and the vocabulary, the comic series used it in a manner that gave it a di erent identity. It makes one think about how such stereotypes are abolished by various modes of mass media today

These words were more or less associated with a woman’s role in the society and the manner in which she must portray herself.

The vocabular y not only exhibited the role of each being in the society and the empire built by the Romans, but also explained their outlook towards changing times. Whereas words such as bellum (war) is neutral, the word o ers a sense of irony; it literally provides a neutral ground on which the parties can decide whether to ght or call it quits.

Asterix and Obelix made sure that the Romans ran for their lives instead of battling the Gauls in the series! While the language is quite strict regarding terms of the gender and the vocabulary, the comic series used it in a manner that gave it a di erent identity. It makes one think about how such stereoty pes are abolished by various modes of mass media today.

In a way, these terms broke gender stereotypes and laid the way for a more contemporary society, where everyone is treated equally.

Indeed, a Rex ruled over a civitas (state) or an urbs (city) or a terra (land), which were all feminine in nature. Hence, the king is a caretaker of a much larger and significant entity that was bestowed upon them by their gods (both deus and dea).

Although the Gauls and t h e Ro m a n s w e r e a l w a y s a t log gerheads, the two groups assured the progressive use of Latin, thinking beyond their time, and walking beyond the gender stereoty pes that we are accustomed to.

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Entertainment

In light of changes to current advertising legislation, May Weber talks to Motley about RonanofKeohane take on the “POV I’m a woman _____young written the impact photoshopo onersthehismental health of individuals, particularly women.

by a man” trend

fetishized and romanticised depictions of women in everyday situations,

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women within di erent cultural contexts, and women within certain time periods It’s interesting to note that these inaccurate and sexualised representations of women are based on what is now considered to be the roots of Western literary traditions and the so-called cradle of Western civilisation.

Greece is widely regarded as being the foundation of Western culture since it strongly influenced the later developments of the Western world.

The writers regarded as being the most important and in uential during the Ancient Greek era are almost always men. Contributions by female writers were largely unpreserved with many more left damaged.

In a d d i t i o n t o t h i s , t h e representation of women in

Ancient Greece’s most highly influential works of literature was very skewed.

While I could choose from quite a vast multitude of works from Ancient Greece, I will mostly discuss Homer’s The Odyssey due to its major in uence and notability as a masterpiece of Greek literature. Throughout this epic poem, women are underrepresented making up only seven of the nineteen main characters.

We see women depicted as being inferior to men and their roles are limited; their value throughout the poem lies in how much they serve the male protagonist, Odysseus.

The only women who are independent of this were a nymph and a witch (non-human embodiments of women) and in addition to this, their actions turn out to be almost entirely greedy and selfserving, implying that a woman free of a man’s dominance or in uence will act entirely in selfinterest.

Athena was a warrior goddess which merited huge respect in Ancient Greek s o c i e t y, h o w e v e r s h e w a s depicted as being cruel, lacking intelligence and being emotionally unstable. She was also con ned entirely to her husband Zeus’s wishes - it’s very telling that even goddesses are limited by the will of other men and exist in plays to serve mortal m e n . Pe n e l o p e , w h o i s Odysseus" long-estranged wife, lacks agency and is remarkably unassertive.

She takes no initiative and makes no e ort or journey of her own to nd Odysseus.

This echoes similar tropes of the vapid and fragile woman waiting for her male saviour seen throughout al l branches of Western literature including myths, fairy tales, plays, novels, and even extending into modern lm.

POV or Point of View is an abbreviated slang term and modern internet trend where video footage shows a situation through the v i e w e r 's perspective.

The "written by a man" trend has recently surfaced on the video-sharing social media platform TikTok. This trend usually involves women either doing mundane and everyday things or wearing traditional clothing of di erent cultures in a seductive way with Portishead’s song Glory Box playing in the background ultimately highlighting how limiting the sexualized depictions of women are as well as their Orientalist perspectives on women from other cultures.

This trend ty picall y pokes fun at male writers’

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Photoshop & Mental Health: The Effects of Altering RootsBeauty of Gender Reality The to FitAncient Unrealistic Standards.

Misrepresentation in Western literature;

Orientalism as a broad concept also shares a similar deep-rooted history in Western literature - studying the so-called exotic and mysterious other, which historically tended to be Middle Ea ster n, howe ver this also extends to most regions throughout the so-called "Orient’.

This is a theme also played with in this new online trend where women poke fun at We s te r n m e n’s O r i e n t a l i s t depictions of East Asian women, namely the "dragon lady" stereotype of the alluring, snide, assertive and seductive East Asian female.

While the term Orientalism now has troublesome connotations, I still believe it to be the most appropriate term when discussing Western literature depicting Eastern people and cultures, even though the literature might not have identical characteristics to colonialist literature or may not have been written during colonial times.

It is quite intriguing that the most notable early victims of these Orientalist sexualizations and stereotypes were the ethnic group called the Circassians, despite many of them looking quite similar to Europeans. Circassians were part of a nation named Circassia which nowadays no longer exists, having suffered a genocide by the Russian Empire which resulted in their exile into the lands of the Ottoman Empire where many became slaves.

In O r i e n t a l i s t l i t e r a t u r e , Circassian women were sexualized due to their pale white skin and noted for having “pure European” features with many extremely in uential Western writers and academics from various European and North American countries such as Voltaire, Lord Byron, Mark Twain, Harriet Ma r t i n e a u a n d F l o r e n c e Nightingale (to name just a few!) remarking on their physical characteristics. It is notable that

stereotypes about the women that are rooted in their fetishization are much more emphasised and have become more of their claim to fame instead of their identity as a Caucasian ethnic group and their long history of oppression.

The reduction of Circassians into merely “sensual slaves of the Sultan’s Haram” is limiting and erases their history as a nation and the su ering their people underwent living between two expansive and massively powerful empires

This example of fetishization is eerily similar to the reduction of the East Asian woman into the "mysterious" and "alluring" dragon lady.

It also has the same negative e ect on how these p e o p l e a r e v i e we d s i n ce i t implements both Orientalism as well as sexism. The Asian cultures depicted are also quite misrepresented, overshadowed by this fetishization by the Western viewer. That sexualized depiction becomes the representation of the Asian woman in the US and ultimately the Western world at large due to the majorly influential American media.

In c o n c l u s i o n , t h i s h i g h l y popular trend, while seeming quite trivial on the surface, is actually ver y culturally signi cant. It highlights aws in the perception of women, both Western and Eastern, from famous writers as well as their misrepresentation in the media.

Not only that but the issues are addressed in a light-hearted and humorous way through the videos which are publicised to quite a large audience with many young and impressionable viewers

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Fashion

As the legendary Rachel Zoe once remarked,

“Style is a way of saying who you are without having to speak”.

Clothing is a critical asset to all of us as it re ects our culture, personality and preferences. It is the armor we use to survive everyday life.

Unfortunately, for far too many, the clothing we decide to put on our bodies has been used to excuse instances of sexual violence and gender based harassment. It doesn't matter who you are, what you wear or how you present yourself, nobody should be subjugated to unsolicited or disrespectful attention from another.

This shoot was highly inspired by the incredible work undertaken by UCC’s Bystander Intervention programme on a day-today basis. What makes this shoot even more special you may ask?

The models who took part ver y bravely a greed to wear the clothes that they were disrespected in when they were out and about living their day to day lives.

That is what makes these photos even more powerful and impactful to observe.

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The goal of these photographs is to depict individuals celebrating their uniqueness, being strong in who they a r e a n d w h a t t h e y w e a r, a n d confronting the cityscape as well as the often harmful backlash people can receive once

they decide to just be themselves and wear what they feel comfortable and confident in.

Fashion

I wanted these images to serve as an important reminder that beauty is never deserving of vulgar or cruel remarks.

We must remember that these candid photographs of ordinary individuals being themselves could very well be one of us at any given moment . I would like you to look at these images through a lens and transport yourself to the popular locations featured in this shoot.

Locations spread across the energetic streets of Cork City, the grounds of our own UCC and the banks of the river one sees while out strolling with their nearest and dearest.

The point I am making here is this;

Clothing in no way excuses unsought and inappropriate behaviour.

I would like to take a moment to thank our wonderful models who very kindly agreed to participate in this shoot, and also our incredible

photographer Alana Daly Mulligan who captured these raw, beautiful images

Watch also as our beautiful city streets start to settle down and become unpleasantly calm as day fades into a menacing dusk .

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By Stephen Moynihan

On behalf of the Motley team, it is my delight to bring you the rst article in our collaboration with UCC’s Bystander Inter vention Programme.

It is the hope of both parties that this partnership will raise the pro le of the Bystander Intervention Programme within the student body, lead to a greater number of student participating in the programme, and encourage each and every one of us to become active bystanders and help to reduce and eradicate the issue of sexual harassment and violence on campus and in wider society With these goals in mind, several members of the Motley e d i to r i a l te a m u n d e r to o k t h e Bystander Intervention training before the beginning of this academic year. The training consists of four online training modules, which one can complete on Canvas in their own time.

The training modules covered issues ranging from problematic social norms such as “lad culture”; the importance of consent; and the various forms of domestic/ relationship violence.

Following the completion of these modules, Bystanders take part in an interactive workshop conducted remotely with a member of the Bystander Intervention team via Google Meet. Finally, following the completion of this workshop,

Bystanders complete a short re ective piece before receiving their well-earned Bystander Intervention Digital Badge.

The most important and enlightening topic covered, in this writer’s humble opinion, was that of intervention techniques. Here, the power of the active bystander to prevent instances of sexual assault and sexual harassment was emphasised.

It w a s o u t l i n e d t h a t intervention can either be indirect, by going to the Gardaí for example, or directly, by confronting the o ender or distracting them. Either way, the importance of intervening when safe to do so is highlighted, and its capacity for creating a safer e n v i r o n m e n t i s d e m o n s t r a te d through the use of videos and infographics.

Motley’s experience of the Bystander Intervention Programme was strongly positive and a valuable undertaking. We would strongly encourage all students to partake in t h e B y s t a n d e r In t e r v e n t i o n programme if at all possible On a personal note, as an amba ssador for the Bystander In te r v e n t i o n p r o g r a m m e w h o identi es as a cisgender man, I would like to reach out to those who self-identify in the same way and emphasise the importance of giving strong consideration to conducting the training and receiving their Digital Badge. An increased level of participation from men is one of the many goals of the Bystander Inter vention Programme going forward.

During UCC’s Sophomore Week, Motley spoke to Meig, from UCC’s Sexual Violence Framework, and Martha, a second year Social Work student, who were promoting the Bystander Intervention Programme at a stand near the Student Centre.

M e i g praised the increased amount of engagement evident in the UCC community relevant to previous years, especially among males, whilst Martha stated that “a lot of people are coming o ver, more than I thought they would”. “ It ’s g r e a t t o b e o n campus, it’s good to interact with students, and they’re excited to hear and talk about the programme”, she added In highlighting the importance of the programme, Martha stated that “Bystander shows you that you are not alone, that

you are in the majority of people who think something is wrong,.. you just feel like you’re alone. This shows that you are not, and how you can do something that is safe for you and safe for other people” “It gives you the tools for all di erent types of discrimination, harrassment and bullying throughout your course, as well as in the workforce and throughout society. It gives you the tools so you are way more equipped to deal with those situations”, Meig concluded

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Being an Active Bystander A Male Perspective

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