ISSUE1414 ISSUE
THAT’S WHAT THAT’S WHAT SHE SHE SAID SAID
EMILY GODBOLD is pushing Theroux the glass ceiling
MARIA PARADINAS just wants to do hoodrat stuff with her friends
ROSEL JACKSON STERN “rooting for everybody black”
FRAN NEWTON fringe, falafel and feminism
Page 2
RIVKA COCKER enjoy the little things (in this mag, it took 4eva)
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
EDITORS’ LETTER Firsts are always scary and creating a magazine is definitely a first for us. We want this magazine to feel like your feminist best friend, one that both makes you lol and challenges you in all the right ways. With every word you write for us, every illustration you do, every photograph you take, you are helping us to centre feminist voices that would otherwise go unheard amid the shouting sounds of patriarchy. This magazine wouldn’t have been possible without the help of those who donated to our Kickstarter - shout out to those mums and dads! Thank you, your support has been incredibly encouraging. Without further ado, we bring you Issue 14 of That’s What She Said. With love, Rosel Jackson Stern and Emily Godbold
Page 3
“Aren’t you supposed to hate each other?”:
Exploring my friendship with an Indian girl as a Pakistani woman
Neha Maqsood defies expectations and explores her closest friendship. Last year, upon my arrival to Bristol, I was unpacking my suitcases with my parents in my new dorm room. I had left the door ajar to allow any new flatmates to come in and introduce themselves. While conversing with my parents in Urdu, in bounces a short, chubby brown girl with glasses, who confidently introduces herself. We’ll call her ‘N’. She exclaims excitedly: “are you also from India? You were speaking Hindi just now?” I giggled softly alongside my parents and replied: “no - the neighboring country!”. There was slight chuckle on her lips, as she squealed, even more happily: “oh right! Pakistan!” stretching out the last syllable for a full three seconds. From that moment on, a friendship between two brown girls, arriving from two different countries that share a tumultuous history, began.
For those wondering what ‘tumultuous history’ I’m referring to, allow me to give you a short history lesson. I expect it’ll give you more of an insight into the topic than most British history textbooks. The British Empire colonised the subcontinent - now Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. They plundered and looted the place, leaving it to sort out the ensuing mess for itself. Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, decided that Muslims should have a state of their own, separate from the Hindus, resulting in the formation of Pakistan. Mid-1947, ‘Partition’ occurred, during which each Muslim or Hindu travelled to their new chosen homeland, marking the beginning of a long-standing rivalry between Pakistan and India. One Friday night, N and I went out for some much-needed fish and chips. Out of curiosity, our waiter inquired about our respective hometowns. When N politely responded: “I’m from India and she’s from Pakistan”, the waiter’s jaw dropped. He stopped taking our order and started pouring out a stream of questions: “But how can you two be friends? Aren’t your countries in a war? You two must get into fights all the time over who deserves Kashmir the most?” But the truth is, we don’t. Each time political issues peep into our conversation, we choose to discuss them in a civil manner. There are people out there who cannot fathom the idea that a Pakistani and an Indian could be friends, who assume that because of the tense relationship between the two countries, the friendship between two millennials will automatically be tense as well. Unsurprisingly, these ‘people’ tend to be non-Indians and non-Pakistanis.
It has reached the point where even my close relatives have discouraged our friendship, referring to my Indian friends as ‘spies’ or ‘murderers’, who carried out atrocious acts against Muslims and Pakistanis during the Partition. It is an unfortunate truth that for many the past cannot be separated from the future. It is even more imperative, then, for millennials to end the animosity that exists between Indians and Pakistanis, so prejudice will not be ingrained in our own children’s mentality. Despite the tensions and unrest, there have never been two states which both share a border and are practically culturally identical. Hindi and Urdu are remarkably similar languages and the appreciation that each nation has for the other is enormous. I grew up in a family where Bollywood music and movies were never off-limits, and watching the new Hindi blockbuster of Salman Khan became the norm. It was, in fact, Bollywood and Lollywood music and movies that first provided our friendship with some common ground and brought us together. We have allowed the melodies of Indian music to seep into our dance-hangout sessions, and have permitted the critique of newly released Pakistani movies to dominate our discussions at dinner. I often think it’s ironic that an Indian and a Pakistani are now studying in a country whose forefathers once colonised our respective nations. Both of these countries resisted British rule, and were united in their effort to bring an end
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAEGAN FARROW
There are many people, like the waiter at Catch-22, who cannot comprehend the idea of a positive relationship between an Indian and Pakistani. My British classmates inquire with questions like: “How do you two even get along? Aren’t you supposed to hate her?” This is based on the assumption that we would have allowed our country’s rocky history to influence our personal relationships; my peers assume that a Pakistani or an Indian would naturally inherit the prejudices of the generation before us.
to British colonialism. Years of struggle, both pre and post-Partition, have established an unspoken connection between the two nations which were once one; they will always be bound to one another by the mutual struggle and hardship their people faced under the British Raj. Despite the taunts and jeers, the gossip of my family members and people’s constant questioning, race will never determine who I make friends with. The friendship that I share with N is a pure and innocent one. I believe that the strength of our friendship mainly derives from the fact that it has taught us to be accepting of other ethnicities and has allowed us to grow as people. The importance of breaking down barriers and removing prejudices cannot be overstated. I consider myself lucky to have been conversing in Urdu with my parents on the day I moved into my dorm. Had that not been the case, I would never have been mistaken for an Indian, and more importantly, I would never have met the Indian girl who changed how I see the world. I am a Pakistani and my closest friend is an Indian. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
this house needs more women Speak up! Lucy Russell reflects on why there are so few women in debating.
It involves teams from different universities coming together to debate a series of random issues, and has a very low participation rate of women, especially at high levels, with most university competitions averaging between 2530% women speakers. These statistics can be attributed partly to a lack of interest on behalf of women students, but remain problematic when considered in relation to how we view women’s voices in general. The kind of skills gained from debating and public speaking are almost identical, and in the halls of the Oxford Union, it takes no time at all to find many male Conservative MPs listed among debating alumni, including the likes of Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg. At Bristol Debating Union, we always recruit fewer women freshers than men, but what is interesting is that those women freshers we do recruit are also more likely to drop out over the course of the year, and less likely to put themselves forward for competitions. In some ways these problems are self-perpetuating; the male-dominated environment means that women often find themselves intimidated
by being the only woman in the room, a situation that can be exacerbated by an all-male judging panel. The social experience within the university debating circle is also problematic, many of the most experienced debaters having already received coaching at their private schools, giving them an unfair advantage. The stereotype of debating being an activity mainly enjoyed by white public school boys is not entirely undeserved, and this in itself can be a huge deterrent for people who don’t fit into this privileged demographic.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY RIVKA COCKER
It’s difficult to discuss the lack of women in debating without first giving a bit of context as to what debating actually is. I’m more than aware it’s a somewhat niche pastime, the kind of hobby that adults tell you sounds ‘very exciting’ and your friends tell you is ‘quite intense’ and/or ‘really weird’. Debating occurs in many different fields, most notoriously in parliament. However, university debating is a kind of competitive ‘sport’, for want of a better word.
Despite these restrictions, I do strongly believe that the debating community, at least at university level, is working very hard to correct these inequalities and make debating more accessible. There have been many initiatives aiming to give women more opportunities, with many universities running women and non-binary competitions, and major international competitions such as the World Universities Debating Competition introducing quotas. I have personally found the debating community to be an incredibly inclusive one, and have found gendered competitions a great way to meet and learn from older, more experienced women debaters. The fact that the community prides itself on being progressive means that on the whole it has very good safeguards in place to protect minorities, and plenty of opportunities for people of all backgrounds and genders. Having said that, I recognise that the fact I started debating at a young age, at an all-girls school, means that I haven’t faced many of the same barriers to entry as others do. A general trend I notice with new women debaters is how much less confident they are than their male counterparts. In early sessions it is much more common for women students to ask to watch rather than speak, apologise during their speech or to their opponents, and predict that they placed lower in the debate than they actually did.
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
Looking at how debating translates to the real world, it is easy to recognise the techniques of physical dominance and intimidation that Trump resorted to in his debates against Clinton, and to see how masculinity is associated with power and authority. In a small community like debating it is much easier for us to identify these existing biases and call them out, but they are present everywhere. As soon as we start to question what we value, things do genuinely start to change. It seems clear to me that the lack of women in debating is very much symptomatic of how society undervalues women’s voices in general. We need to encourage women to take up as much space and time as they need and want, and stop crediting the semblance of power and authority as actual competence.
Doing badly in a debate is something that people often take personally. They view it as an attack on their intelligence, and while lots of beginner debaters have this mindset, it seems that girls tend to be more fearful of being ‘wrong’. The fact that university debating is judged in such a content-focused way has made us, as society leaders, much more aware of our implicit bias, exposing us to how things like style and delivery might skew our perceptions of someone’s speech. In other forms of public speaking, I have heard men told they sound ‘powerful’ and ‘commanding’ simply because of the tone of their voice, their stance or their mannerisms.
Page 7
White Teeth, Zadie Smith (2000) “Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”
Ariel, Sylvia Plath (1965) “If the moon smiled, she would resemble you. / You leave the same impression / Of something beautiful, but annihilating.”
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013) “Racism should never have happened and so you don't get a cookie for reducing it.”
The Power, Naomi Alderman (2016) “It doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. The power to hurt is a kind of wealth.”
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1963) “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1985) “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don't let the bastards grind you down.”
The thing about editing a feminist magazine alongside studying an English degree is that without fail, I always seem to find myself writing about either gender or feminism in my assignments, and not much else. Macbeth? A tale of repressed masculinity and Lady Macbeth’s psychoanalytical mother-wife complex. The Canterbury Tales? A gold mine of gender politics. I guess the lesson to be learned here is that the fascination surrounding women’s writing and feminist interpretation simply can’t be matched.
Emily’s Bookshelf
The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson (2015) “The moment of queer pride is a refusal to be shamed by witnessing the other as being ashamed of you.”
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (1847) “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
The Awakening, Kate Chopin (1899) “She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”
The Color Purple, Alice Walker (1982) “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf (1929) “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (1969) “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”
Luckily, for the sake of my grades, there are an abundance of optional units that cater to the only topic I seem capable of writing about. Now midway through my second year of an English/feminism degree, and having been introduced to many wonderful new texts written by women, I thought I’d share a small selection of my favourite reads of the year. Ranging from 1847 to 2016, poetry to extended essay, dystopian fiction to queer family-making memoir, I present to you my feminist bookshelf.
Page 9
If I didn’t exist I wonder what those In my classroom Would think of black people What stereotypes they would have held onto What myths they would have unconsciously held As true.
Page 10
When I was at school Blacks were supposed to be ghetto Twerking all the time, in a gang and maybe selling drugs to boot Yet teachers were shocked when they saw There was no cocaine in sight My family a delight Doctors, stethoscope to hand Received pronunciation No slang “You’re so posh” Black people can be wealthy too.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARIA PARADINAS
When I was at school Blacks were supposed to be stupid Yet teachers were shocked when a String of A*s came spinning from my arms Top of my class As I went to further lands Than they thought possible for “someone like” Me. “Wow” Black people can be smart too.
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
When I was at school Blacks were supposed to be at the back Where they slacked, as one classmate put it best “Black people don’t really do anything do they?” Yet teachers were shocked When I rose to the top And ran for every spot Working to improve my lot Until eventually they said “You’re the hardest worker I have ever seen” Black people can be leaders too. So even though it’s not always fun To be the only Black girl in the room I am glad to be the exception to the rule To disprove what all they thought was true To be the test model, the guide The “black friend” they use to say that they aren’t racist Because I dispel the myth of the monolith.
BY OLUWASEUN MATILUKO
OLUWASEUN’S POETRY COLLECTION ‘IDENTITY’IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
Revolution
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
Rouge
RIVKA COCKER TAKES TO THE STREETS OF PARIS TO CAPTURE PROTESTERS DURING THE PARIS CLIMATE CONFERENCE, COP21 GOVERNMENT TALKS IN DECEMBER 2015.
Page 13
The Magical Negro, Lena Dunham and Formative Television Des Ibekwe explores media for and by black women.
I vividly remember my obsession with television in my formative years, and the powerful influence many a pixelated protagonist had on me. The shows I watched straddled the line between aspirational (who didn’t want to be the Vampire Slayer?), and relatable (the storyline of unrequited love in literally every teen drama). There were lessons, good and bad, to be learned from every show I watched. Those hours spent binge-watching One Tree Hill DVD Box sets weren’t wasted; Lucas and Peyton were my first experience of what heartbreak could look like, in what was, little did I know, preparation for the inevitable world of adulthood. Few shows I watched resonated with me as much as Lena Dunham’s Girls did. For all of Dunham’s faults, Girls depicted comingof-age friendship and sex in a raw, brutally honest way. However, the show completely failed to capture diversity in any significant manner; it lacked cast diversity with the exception of a few POC love interests here and there, and these characters could hardly be considered developed. But still, Girls embodied an aggressive honesty that had been missing from my previous experience of television. For example, the main character Hannah’s sexual encounters are uncomfortable, strange and sometimes demeaning. It is clear that in Girls, nudity is not there to satisfy, but rather to affront the male gaze.
Rewatching Girls recently, I laughed and cried, simultaneously frustrated and amused by the selfishness of the characters. What I felt most though was disappointment, not just at the show, but rather at the way in which women who look like me are portrayed consistently in television. I related to characters in Girls because of their imperfections and impropriety. It was a three-dimensional almost anthropological deconstruction of young women, which although exaggerated, offered a much-needed sense of relatability. The creative decisions of the director are evidence of the fact that the show wasn’t created with me, or people who look like me, in mind. Ultimately, Girls failed to fill the void that I needed to be filled; it failed in showing how it really feels to be a millennial black woman. As a young black woman I couldn’t, and still can’t, relate on any real level to the two-dimensional tropes of black women that are commonplace in television: the sassy black friend who simply provides comic relief with no real depth, or the ‘magical negro’: the beacon of knowledge, a creation solely there to aid the white protagonist. Whilst the experiences of different races will in many ways be fundamentally different, and it is, of course, important for those differences to be accounted for, the question I have is: why aren’t I allowed to be a mess? To not always be strong, especially in relationships?
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017 We have, of course, recently been gifted with Issa Rae’s Insecure. It does, in some ways, have clear parallels with Dunham’s Girls; the characters have messy lives, make bad decisions, and they are all just that little bit mean (we all remember when Issa cheated on her boyfriend and Molly dumped a man because he once slept with another man). Comparing the two shows, I could cry for what my former self had been missing out on. Watching Issa was like looking into a mirror. In one episode she is asked by a kid “why do you talk like a white girl?”. The kid’s question exemplifies the bigger issue perfectly: it appears that on television, white women are the only characters granted sole ownership of complexity. As Issa Rae has said:
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY GODBOLD
“so much of the media present blackness as fierce and flawless. I’m not”, and that right there is the beauty of the show. Insecure depicts seamlessly the reality of black millennials. We’re not a monolith. Of course there is wisdom in black people, and of course black women can be loud and crass. However Insecure tells stories of genuine struggle, showing the characters’ blackness in 3D, and that is a latitude we should be allowed. So, thank you Issa Rae, for giving me something that Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, Girls and even Buffy didn’t: someone who I can truly relate to. As a woman who often fails to make adult and sensible decisions, who isn’t perfect, and is not particularly wise, thank God for Issa Rae.
Page
15
Carina Murphy looks at our favourite Essex gal/meme queen through a feminist lens. Allow me to introduce Gemma Collins, the 36 year old ex-car sales woman from Brentwood, Essex. You probably know her from everywhere on the internet. While she’s always been a stand out on the reality show that made her name, Gemma’s fame has exploded over the last six months; from blessing our feeds with innumerable and fantastically quotable clips to being crowned Queen of the ‘memay’, ‘GC’’s social media presence of late has been nothing short of sensational. The Twitter account ‘Gemma Reacts’ gained 24,000 followers in less than four days, and it’s not alone; new accounts devoted to her antics seem to pop up every five minutes. Perhaps most fanatic is one fan’s transposition of her into the Lord’s Prayer; ‘Our Gemma’ it goes, ‘who art in Brentwood, Hunni be thy name...’. Gemma Collins is more than just a bit of Facebook buzz – the mania surrounding her larger than life personality is starting to look almost like a cult. Given the cultural phenomenon that is her rise to stardom, and the iconic stature which she is fast assuming for thousands of people, it’s worth considering whether Gemma’s earnt her podium (like she earnt her divaship), whether she’s a positive role model to look up to, and whether or not we, in choosing to do so, have in fact gone mad. As loved as she is, Gemma is certainly not without her critics. It’s easy to accuse her of lacking substance, of not having a proper job, and of generally being ridiculous. To all of the above I would respond as I do when people try and drag Kim Kardashian – she’s obviously doing something right. A talentless woman with no real job and half a brain cell couldn’t build herself a net worth of almost 3 million pounds, run a successful boutique, and be dubbed the seventh most influential person in Essex (above Russell Brand, Dermot O’Leary, Dame Maggie Smith, and the multi-millionaire businesswoman Deborah Meaden). While she may not have taken the traditional route, Gemma has still made it. Regardless of whether she’s deliberately exploiting a gap in the market for a more relatable brand of woman celebrity or simply doing it subconsciously, Gemma is a fine example of an extremely successful woman who has become both rich and influential by utilising the talents she’s got. However, ‘success’ does not always equal ‘progress’: there are some aspects of Gemma’s persona which are troubling from a feminist point of view. The majority of her fan base is made up of impressionable young women and girls. Her appeal rests largely on the fact that, as a self-styled ‘Bridget Jones’ who does not conform to the stereotypical stick-thin woman celebrity, is not afraid of slipping up here and there, and is more than capable of laughing at her own blunders, Gemma is a figure to whom the majority of women can relate – as demonstrated by the popularity of ‘Gemma Reacts’ et al.
More to the point, her no-nonsense, body-confident attitude is one that many who watch her will feel inspired to emulate. While this is all very empowering, what is not is her almost all-consuming obsession with finding a man. I refer you here to the recent episode in which her Instagram became a shrine to fellow TOWIE cast member and ex-boyfriend James ‘Arg’ Argent in a desperate bid to get him back. Such dependent behaviour played out in so public a sphere is worrying because impressionable fans may come to consider it healthy and normal. Even more damaging was her behaviour on Celebrity Big Brother, where she kicked fellow housemate Darren Day out of the kitchen and refused to let him wash up, claiming ‘it’s not a man’s job’. It seems almost unnecessary to point out how such reinforcement of archaic gender distinctions doesn’t make Gemma a brilliant feminist role model. Yet it does well to remember that this incident not only got Gemma evicted from the house, but also got her booed off stage. Arguably any anti-feminist behaviour she may exhibit is harmless because no-one, not even Gemma Collins, seems to take Gemma Collins particularly seriously. Internet jokes about her are, while always affectionate, gentle mockery. Being ridiculous is an integral part of her Bridget Jones persona – no-one is expecting the woman who insists on being ‘a massive fan of the dictionary’ to start offering accurate political commentary. Instead it seems that the spotlight is fixed on her unapologetic authenticity, positive message of self-love, infectious bodily confidence and championing of everyone who has ever wanted to wear a mesh swimsuit but felt too insecure to try it. As she says: “I am as I am, and I ain’t gonna apologise for it”. In a world where girls grow up surrounded by plastic celebs who flaunt an unattainable image of inhumane perfection, Gemma is not only wonderfully refreshing but an incredibly healthy dose of reality. And while she may be a little crazy in love sometimes, at least she doesn’t let men mess her around like so many of her women castmates. Nothing demonstrates Gemma’s indomitable womanhood and her genuine, warm hearted desire to help all girls feel fab than the iconic poolside moment when she told Arg to take a good final look at her swimsuit-clad body, scolded him with ‘don’t you ever disrespect a girl’, and strutted off stage to the cheers of her TOWIE sisters - “I may not be a size ten but I know I’ve got a good heart. So take that, and kiss that!”.
ILLUSTRATION BY RUBY ROWAN GLEESON
Page 17
was a chemist, as well as the first woman and the first African American to graduate from the University of Hawaii with a master’s degree, which she did in 1915. There, she started investigating chaulmoogra oil and its chemical properties. Chaulmoogra oil, extracted from the chaulmoogra tree, had been used to treat leprosy in the past, though with mixed results. Through her research, Ball managed to isolate the effective ingredients of the oil and subsequently created a medicine that became the default treatment for leprosy for over twenty years. However, despite the supreme importance of her research, she wasn’t given any credit for her work. Shortly after her death at the tragically young age of 24, her treatment, known as the ‘Ball method’, was renamed the ‘Dean method’ after the then-president of the university. Dean had hardly been involved in developing the cure, but completely eclipsed Ball in her work. Nearly 90 years later, the University of Hawaii finally honoured her with a plaque on the school’s only chaulmoogra tree. February 29th is now celebrated as ‘Alice Ball Day’ in Hawaii.
Ynes Mexia
was a Mexican-American botanist, who didn’t start her career in collecting and identifying plants until she was 50 years old. This was also the age at which she enrolled at UC Berkeley as a special student, though she never earned a degree. She was an active part of her local environmental organisation, the Sierra Club, and through them was given the opportunity to undertake many, sometimes grueling botanical collecting trips throughout the United States and South America in the 1920s and 30s. She was passionate about these trips and the collecting work, as she felt it was important to identify and catalogue the plants at each location. She collected over 150,000 specimens on these trips, including many completely new plant types. Her findings completed previous botanical records, and many of the plants she discovered were named in her honour, such as the Mexianthus genus. Mexia proves that there is no set age in life for discovering your passion.
Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal is a well respected mo-
lecular biologist and virologist, who made groundbreaking advances in HIV and AIDS research in the 1980s. In 1985, she was a key figure in recognizing the virus that causes AIDS. Wong-Staal’s family lived in Hong Kong for most of her childhood, and she was the first woman in her family to attend university. She completed both her bachelor’s degree and doctorate at UCLA, and after earning her doctorate, went on to do research work at the National Cancer Institute, where she became the first person to successfully clone HIV. She also managed to genetically map the virus, which was a significant advancement in terms of screening donated blood and testing patients for HIV. Her publications were the most cited of all women researchers in the 1980s, a tribute to her importance and status within the scientific community.
Vilhelmiina Haavisto details what we all should’ve been taught in school, but weren’t.
STEM edition
Hidden Figures:
It’s been quite the journey for women in science, technology, engineering and maths, to say the least. Though we’ve come far in conversations surrounding women in STEM, white, cis women still almost invariably take centre stage. Marginalized groups of women and non-binary people tend to get little to no representation in these fields, and in related discussions about inclusivity and equality. This problem can only be solved if those with a platform to create change, work to amplify the voices and recognize the achievements of these women. So, join me in celebrating just a few such women in STEM and their amazing accomplishments.
Alice Augusta Ball
Lynn Conway
is an American computer scientist whose career path has been anything but straightforward. In the 1960s while working at IBM, she produced pioneering research, however records of this were buried when she was fired for being transgender in 1968. After her transition, she began rebuilding her career from scratch. She soon landed a job in computer architecture at Memorex, and just ten years after her transition she had achieved great recognition in the field thanks to her groundbreaking research into chip design. She joined the University of Michigan in 1985, where she served as both a professor and associate dean. Conway is also a passionate LGBT+ rights activist. Thanks to her persistent lobbying, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) changed their ethics code to include transgender people in 2013. She was also selected as one of TIME magazine’s ‘21 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture’ in 2014.
ILLUSTRATION BY AMY KNOX
Dr. Mae Jemison is a former NASA astronaut, and was the first African American
woman in space. She has a background in both engineering and medical research, and was the first African American women to even be selected for NASA’s astronaut program in 1987, out of around 2,000 applicants. In September 1992, she spent eight days in space aboard the Endeavour shuttle, where she served as the science mission specialist, meaning that she carried out crew-related experiments on board. Since leaving NASA in 1993, Jemison uses her experience to encourage and empower young people to pursue STEM subjects, with her slogan ‘Daring Makes a Difference’. She has also pointed out that we tend to systematically undervalue the contributions of women and other minority groups to science, and has voiced how much more we could achieve if we gave these groups the opportunity to get involved. Clearly, it is vital for people such as Dr. Jemison to use their platform to highlight issues regarding inclusivity and diversity in STEM.
Fran Newton’s
guide to True Love™
What are you eating right now? Is it a microwave lasagne? Does it say ‘FOR ONE’ in big letters? Are you under the dangerous illusion that having that nice big lasagne to yourself, and being able to watch whatever trashy TV you like, in your PJs, is actually ‘kind of nice’? Oh dear - looks like you need a big dose of Love™! Luckily, this handy guide is here to help you make all your stereotypical and vaguely insulting romantic fantasies come true.
1 – Time spent alone is time wasted. That restaurant table is meant for TWO people. That’s why it has TWO chairs. I don’t care if you find time alone ‘therapeutic’ or ‘calming’ – look, you’re ruining the whole aesthetic of the place by being alone. If you must venture outdoors solo, make sure you refer to the experience as ‘taking yourself on a date’, so that everyone knows it’s just a poor and temporary substitute for a romantic relationship. This will help minimise confusion. Also ideally wear a hood and dark glasses.
2 – Value the judgement and interest of others above your own personal growth. What other aspects of life are more important than being a Couple™? Rachel from Friends could have flown off to Paris, but thankfully she knew that a volatile relationship with a mediocre human being was more worth her time and effort than personal career success. Aw. True Love™. Luckily, if you don’t yet have a mediocre human being of your own, there are plenty of other sources of self-abasement readily available to you. For a fun new idea, thank your street harassers every time you get catcalled. A stranger’s sexual interest in you is, of course, much more important than your personal sense of safety or comfort.
Page 20
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
3 – Only celebrate collective achievements – or others’. Look at all these presents that the Couples™ get. They have housewarmings and engagements and weddings and anniversaries and baby showers. You have a birthday. Just the one. Remember that celebrating your own personal achievements – unless your partner has organised it as a surprise, and dragged you out the front door while you scream “no, really, you shouldn’t have!” – is a big no-no. No-one likes people who are proud of their individual successes. If you want a party, better make sure it’s about someone else. BONUS POINTS if you’re a fictional character who only exists as plot-thickener or yes-man for someone else’s archaic form of heroism.
4 – Avoid spending pressure-free time with people whose company you actually enjoy.
5 – Finally,
Only the most naïve of people think that Love™ is about feeling good or have fun. If you and your partner don’t instantly start planning the matching tartan rugs you’ll have over your legs in your future shared retirement accommodation, they’re not right for you. Even if you enjoy their company. Even if you’re only 19. It’s never too early to put meaningless and socially-enforced pressure on choose your pop culture wisely. yourself.
This isn’t difficult. The music industry is addicted to Love™. Literature too. Hollywood seems incapable of going more than about an hour in a film featuring post-pubescent characters without two people sucking face, regardless of how irrelevant it might be to the rest of the plot. Films like Moana, which, rather than portraying a female character embracing or rebelling against Love™, simply exclude it altogether as a plot trope, are committing a serious trespass. What message does this send? That Love™ doesn’t have to be an all-consuming feature of your life? That focusing on your own individual development is okay – that, maybe, the obsession of our capitalist culture with peddling a fanatical form of Love™ is unhealthy, or even dangerous, because it teaches us that we are incomplete or lacking in and of ourselves? Hippie claptrap. Hopefully, this guide to finding Love™ has inspired you to glam up, go out, and find that special someone! If not, hopefully it’s inspired you to glam up, go forth, and find a really good microwave lasagne. Extra gooey. For one.
Page 21
Colour
Aniqah Rawat considers the intricacies of race and identity. It’s wet and cold and I can barely feel my fingers as I fumble around, trying to open my umbrella for the short walk home. Home. That’s what the weather reminds me of: cold, rainy days in Preston where the warmth is found in the people who make up its community. I’m midway through a conversation with a friend from Dramsoc, who, out of all the possibilities, is also from Preston, when we’re interrupted by a third year leaving the Wickham Theatre. “Excuse me, are you guys theatre students?” “Yeah, I am.” “Are you first year?” “Yeah…” “Oh my god. I’ve found my people. I’m sorry, I saw you and I just had to stop you. It’s so rare to see a person of colour around here.” A person of colour. That’s what I am, but I’ve never given it a second thought, never really labelled myself with the idea that I am a minority, especially considering the community I have grown up in. But I am a minority. I’m a combination of a clashing of cultures, from Islamic values, to Asian stereotypes to the social life of a Western girl - clubbing until 6am, crashing at mates’ houses, and still getting top grades on the assignments due the following morning. I’m a person of colour who doesn’t see colour, didn’t see colour until this guy brought it to the forefront of my mind.
And now, in every performance in which I participate, be it as an actor, a designer or an audience member, I am very much aware of how white everything is within the student performing arts community. Of course, it would be unfair for me to expect an equal balance when approximately 22% of the student population identify as BME, and roughly 10% of undergraduates within the Department of Theatre identify as BME. However, when I look at student shows I’ve been cast in, or watched as an audience member, and I can count on one hand the individuals who aren’t white, in casts as big as 60-80 people, it makes me wonder whether or not I have a place here in this community. There are many theatre-based societies, and I feel lucky to have such a vast selection to choose from; but at the end of the day, having a choice is different to being accepted. It’s not special treatment that I seek, but an understanding as to why, in such a culturally diverse city, am I underrepresented? BME or BAME are all considered minority groups, but in the decision to use BME, I feel like I am lost. ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicities’ - they are each an umbrella term for a larger range of ethnicities. ‘Asian’ alone covers a good percentage of the global population, and yet for some reason it is still considered a ‘Minority Ethnicity’. In the past I have witnessed directors of the attitude that in casting one black person, diversity and representation is thought to have been achieved. And it makes me angry. It makes me want to scream and break down walls, but it feels like whenever I bring
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
ILLUSTRATION BY MAEGAN FARROW
to see colour as a boundary or at all. But after encountering this third year, and delving into topics of culture and diversity in my studies, I realise colour is something that cannot be ignored. By refusing to see colour, I am refusing to see my own Asian-ness and in turn ignoring the history of my family, the history of one of the many cultures I am a part of and the history of ‘my people’. I’m ignoring a part of who I am, and if I don’t acknowledge it, how can I ask someone else to? How can I ‘find my people’ when I ignore the fact that I am one of them?
this topic up, I’m screaming into a vacuum. I’m constantly toeing a line between truth and passion, and at what point can I stop being paranoid that these issues seem like pointless complaints to my friends, who are harmlessly unaware of the privilege they have? And when they can respond to my ‘complaints’ with the fact that I’m already taking part in my fourth show here as a first year, am I truly part of this minority? I do too much. I say too much. But is my voice ever truly heard? I may be part of a minority, but I don’t feel like I am. And maybe that has something to do with my own attitude, my own stubbornness and refusal
I’ve only been at university for ten weeks now, but it already feels like a lifetime. Beyond learning how to function on an average of three hours sleep a night, and how to make a £10 food shop last two weeks, I’ve perhaps most importantly learnt that the only person who should care about who you are is yourself. When you start to become more open, more accepting of the different facets that make you your own person, you don’t need to worry about finding your people. In finding yourself you find others along the way, and those interactions and relationships become a part of who you are. You begin to paint the world in your own colours, but to do that, you first of all need to see colour and acknowledge what that means.
Page
23
MY
DISPLAYING GREAT
MARIA PARADINAS
GIRLSPREADING
IS ELEGANT AND IMPERATIVE
DEXTERITY
WORDS AND ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE HSU
Page 1
You disabled cunt, you’re thick as shit / He boasts with teeth and roasts me
down / Flaky burned, trashed worm, / Greased from sweat, he’s big in debt / This slipping presence amputates my malleable posture with no shape. // I’m 8 years old, or so I’ve been told / I have no name but am used for games / Because guys love to play Exaggerate / I’m a hyperbole they get to throw / Whilst pushing my self-esteem way down low / My pulse wants to keep up but it can’t catch the ball / What an honour it is not to be excluded from a man’s world!!! // He is the one who dares to curse the worst, to spit the harshest words forwards / He has the audacity of a tragic comedy, awkward thus humorous / It aches but everything is meaningless / Or irony is used as an excuse to abuse / To condition the way I self-efface / They know I’ll comply to serve their precious race / To condescend my occupation of both time and space. // Yet knowledge of him means immunity: that’s
just the way he is, don’t let
those words get to you / As if language is powerless when it’s not truth-apt / For
me it’s basically a result of everything I lack / As if his phrasing’s my fault cos I ask for it / I know I’m too slow and always out of it / As if my being requires patience I don’t deserve / I need to practise being on their level first / Or maybe I just take it all far too seriously / Should I calm the fuck down because it’s only a joke? / But if it’s only a joke then the problem is that: I. Am. The. Joke. / How can you see it’s not true when you separate the two / When he steals a part of me and shreds it to bits / You are on his side when you tell me to stop fretting / And attempt to parent me into not causing a scene / Simplifying me for the sake of your comfort / Pinning me down for his so-called experiment / How big of a bite from my ego can he take / I’d rather be nothing than be threatened by him / Set the timer on go and turn me invisible / Since I’m clearly too much when I make myself accessible / In silence I’m begging, please and honestly, / I think I’m growing loyal to my incapability / Of doing anything right / I half-believe him. // R
u fuckin insane, ‘cos no normal person could be THAT stupid, / I swear, you have mental problems / He denounces me
whilst crowning himself the anti hero / Reckless enough to be so crude, brave enough to cause discomfort / Since politeness is a social barrier I think he’d like to break, / At least from himself, he’s exceptional, smarter than the rest / Superiority complex, he’s totally wrecked / Don’t know the details of his context / To protect, he absorbs me in only myself / No need to scream for any kind of help / My intimidated heart expends shame to its delicate frame / I’m an object of his sadistic pleasures / It’s disturbing my nerves but I must stay alert / Act indifferent or laugh along, let him casually rip into my dignity, / Which could break if I tell him to fuck off / Whilst I trip over my words and burst into tears / So shut up, a change of subject is near / This assumed lack of severity twists my gut so heavily, / A giant knot of their mind control perverting my chest / I want to breathe steady but my body won’t rest. Page 27
Nic Hamer discusses capitalism and why it screws us all over.
Even the word is kind of gross. It makes me think of a marketing guy called Corey bobbing about in front of a flipchart in a brightly coloured office. ‘Advertising… Feminism… Feminist advertising! What do we call it guys?’ he shouts at a room of fashionable twenty-somethings sat on bean bags. After six hours of brainstorming they just stick the two words together, as if feminism and advertising go together as well as Kim and Kanye (Kimye) or motors and hotels (motels). The result is ‘femvertising’, a word that is almost onomatopoeic in the way that it describes something that is as gross as it sounds. Corey would be horrified to hear me say this of course. He thinks that it’s a great idea to give feminism a platform in adverts that present women in an ‘empowering’ way. And for once, I don’t entirely disagree with him. Sport England’s
#ThisGirlCan campaign is a brilliant example of femvertising done right. It addresses a genuine feminist issue: the fact that women are much less likely than men to take part in sport in the UK because they fear judgement about their appearance or ability. It also makes some effort to respond to intersectional feminist discourse. We see women of all ages, body types and races participating in sport, including women of colour with natural hair, though the underrepresentation of women with disabilities in the campaign is disappointing. Most significantly, it isn’t trying to appear progressive in order to sell us something. There’s no secret ulterior motive. The end goal of Sport England’s advert is to encourage more women to take part in sport. That is all. The same cannot be said for many of the brands making use of femvertising: their end goal is not to spread a feminist message, but rather to make a massive pile
ILLUSTRATION BY ISABEL KILBORN
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017 of money for the company. The most obvious instance of this that we’ve seen recently might be Kendall Jenner’s star turn in a Pepsi advert, which infamously used the imagery of the Black Lives Matter movement to try and sell everyone’s second favourite brand of cola. Of course, this isn’t really an example of femvertising as much as an example of civil-rights-vertising. What it shows is that advertisers think it’s acceptable to co-opt our social movements without exploring their complexities, or in this case even their simplicities, in order to sell us stuff we don’t need. A more controversial example of this phenomenon at its worst might be L’Oréal’s advertising campaign for True Match foundation, released last August. The point of this product was that it was available in a wide range of skin tones, meaning that people of colour could finally buy a foundation that matched the colour of their skin. Because makeup is most often worn by those that identify as women, L’Oréal were essentially addressing an intersectional feminist issue by selling this product. They played this up significantly in their marketing strategy by hiring Munroe Bergdorf – a black, transgender, feminist activist – as an ambassador for their brand. L’Oréal’s treatment of this woman demonstrated how little interest they actually had in promoting intersectional feminism. On the 31st of August this year, Bergdorf was dropped from the campaign for being ‘racist against white people’. Her transgression? She posted a response to the Charlottesville protests on Facebook about how ‘the existence, privilege
and success [of white people] is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour’. ‘Once white people begin to admit their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth’, she wrote, ‘we can talk.’ As uncomfortable as this kind of thing is to read if you’re white, it’s the kind of conversation starter that we all need if we want to become better feminists and better people. The true irony of this case is that Bergdorf was fired by L’Oréal for the same reason that she was hired: she’s an inspirational, fearless activist. If L’Oréal were genuinely interested in intersectional feminism, as the marketing for their True Match collection implied, then they should have stood by Bergdorf or at least engaged with her piece in a meaningful way. They should have accepted the resulting fall in sales. I am struggling to think of something more cringe-inducing than watching a group of white people tell a black woman that she’s racist. L’Oréal’s conduct towards Bergdorf shows that they only participate in activism that is conservative enough to avoid controversy. Their feminist branding is about PR, profit and nothing more. Unfortunately, these accusations could be levelled at most companies that use femvertising. A need to make money and maintain a good public image can only be in conflict with the kind of conversation or actions that are required to shake society into changing. Advertisers need to stop claiming to be activists. If they want feminists to buy their products, then they should focus on presenting marginalised genders in a respectful and representative way.
Page 29
Aunty Anjum’s Horoscopes of Resilience, Growth & Kindness
Aries (March 21 - April 19): Confrontational and stubborn, it’s no secret that you love a little bit of antagonism. Use your argumentative skills by sticking up for someone who’s struggling to get their voice heard. Become an ally for someone who needs you in 2018. Taurus (April 21 - May 21): As an Earth sign, why not focus your energy this year into doing something good for the environment? You could volunteer for an environmental charity or become a more ethical consumer by reducing the amount of plastic you buy. Gemini (May 22 - June 21): Geminis are great at putting smiles on people’s faces. Use your good sense of humour to your advantage and make some feminist memes. Cancer (June 22 - July 23): 2018 is the year for you to channel your inner artist. Take up a new creative hobby like life-drawing or photography. You never know, your work might end up in the next instalment of TWSS magazine! Leo (July 24 - August 23): Confident and energetic, a Leo is great at talking about subjects that they are passionate about. It’s crazy that 2017 is ending and people still have so many misconceptions about feminism but a Leo could be the perfect person to challenge all the ‘fake news’ going about. Virgo (August 24 - September 23): Unfortunately, a Virgo can be overly critical of themselves and others. A good new year’s resolution for a Virgo would be to become more self-accepting and to stop worrying about what others think. Libra (September 24 - October 23): Libras have all the wisdom. The upcoming year is the perfect time to share your knowledge and advice. Become a teacher by coaching a friend in a new skill or by starting an informative blog (brownie points if it’s a feminist blog). Scorpio (October 24 - November 22): As a very dedicated person, you might have already had lots of projects on the go this year. Persistence is key, keep doing your thing and the rewards will be great. Sagittarius (November 24 - December 21): Sagittarius is one of the most generous of the signs. Put your generosity to a good cause and use 2018 to start campaigning for a charity close to your heart. Capricorn (December 22 - January 20): The music-loving Capricorn is likely to discover a whole range of female artists over the next year. It’s time for you to get on Spotify and share your findings so that other people can enjoy your great music taste. Aquarius (January 21 - February 19): The intellectual Aquarius should aim to widen their horizons by delving into lots of feminist literature in 2018. It’s time to pick up a copy of Simone De Beauvoir or browse some Mary Wollstonecraft. Pisces (February 20 - March 20): As a Pisces you probably love some quality time with yourself. Pisces love quiet places and beautiful surroundings so your ideal study space in 2018 is likely to be Wills Memorial Library.
ISSUE 14 // WINTER 2017
Newton’s Good News Saudi women gain the right to drive –
Australia votes
yes on gay marriage – Barbie releases the first doll with a hijab – sexual assault perpetrators in positions of power are starting to be held to account –
Danica Roem, a trans woman, beats the candidate who authored the transphobic bathroom bill in the Virginia State election and unseats him – Northern Ireland announc-
es referendum on legalisation of abortion
– Scotland trials free sanitary products for women and girls on lower incomes – Jo
Brand shuts down male comedians’ dismissal of sexual assault – Beyoncé is cast as Nala in Lion King Remake – The New York Times hires first ‘gender editor’ – women in Liberia send a clear message to male presidential candidates to keep the peace – Jodie Whittaker is named as the first woman Doctor Who – Kathy Tran is elected as first Asian American woman in Virginia House of Delegates – NFL players ‘take a knee’ during the US national anthem in support of Black Lives Matter
ILLUSTRATION BY RACHAEL LISHMAN
COVER BY MARIA PARADINAS
CONTRIBUTORS: RIVKA COCKER, EMILY GODBOLD, ROSEL JACKSON STERN, FRAN NEWTON, MARIA PARADINAS, LUCY RUSSELL, VILHELMIINA HAAVISTO, CARINA MURPHY, NEHA MAQSOOD, NIC HAMER, ALICE HSU, DES IBEKWE, OLUWASEUN MATILUKO, ANIQAH RAWAT, AMY KNOX, RUBY ROWAN GLEESON, MAEGAN FARROW, ISABEL KILBORN, RACHAEL LISHMAN, ANJUM YASMIN NAHAR,