I'm a London born, Holland living Journalist and English teacher. I'm in love with Prince, into origami, and believe Louis Theroux is my spirit animal.
I was fortunate enough to stumble across this brief interview with Dustin Hoffman regarding his role in Tootsie – if you haven’t seen the film, you must.
Mr Hoffman feels genuinely emotional when reminiscing over the process of turning himself into a woman for his character in the film. He outlines how many men view women; the idea that a woman isn’t given half a chance romantically if her appearance doesn’t fit the ideals set out by a man. Regardless of her other incredible qualities; her intelligence, humour, determination, compassion…
It’s a case that is all too familiar and all too common. I believe I’m neither attractive nor unattractive, somewhere in between. But if I was to be competing for attention against a very attractive woman I’d bow out almost immediately. Asking myself well, there’s no contest is there? I mean, look at her.
There is a disheartening truth. Change needs to come from men and women alike; Men: please don’t limit yourself and us by only looking skin deep. Women: don’t allow yourself to be looked over.
The video: http://www.upworthy.com/dustin-hoffman-breaks-down-crying-explaining-something-that-every-woman-sadly-already-experienced-3
Rainy sundays lead to a lack of interest in being in anything other than pyjamas, a dubious attitude to healthy eating and many trivial and unproductive tabs open on the laptop.
Amidst this menagerie of the mundane I happened upon a video which, ironically, reflects the nature of the (teenage) mind’s flitting attention span extorted by the Internet.
This short, by Joe Berkowitz, debuted at Toronto’s International Film Festival, and is filmed almost entirely on one computer screen.
It’s surprisingly engrossing despite its professedly pedestrian ‘plot’… and I think you should watch it: NOAH
I’d scrolled over this piece a lot when it was conveyor-belting all over my Facebook news feed, but amidst banal posts about hangovers, dinners and Buzzfeed questionnaires I deduced that it might be worth clicking on…
It turns out it was from Time magazine, which has released an article declaring that it’s been scientifically proven men categorically prefer women to not wear a lot of make up. At first glance, are you thinking what I was thinking?…
What useless and vapid information. Moreover, why was this research even conducted?
Additionally, and more disturbingly, after I returned to my Facebook tab I noticed that all the ‘friends’ who were posting the article were accompanying the link with some erroneously penned drivel loaded with the intention of encouraging women to feel better about themselves. Or, at least, ascertaining that the angle of the piece was to promote a positive message. Like a kind of ‘Hey, girls don’t feel you have to slap on the make up, because, actually we can be free from the powdered shackles that once suppressed us! Wahoo!’
Er no. This isn’t a liberating article. Quite the opposite
This article, and the comments and opinions that have befallen it, completely harnesses the apparently accepted – but offensive, foolish, belittling and archaic notion that women wear make up exclusively for men… and, they should stop because, well, men have decided they don’t like it as much.
Girls, ultimately, the message should always be: wear whatever makes you happy.
Slap it on, go au naturale, get your tits out, keep them covered, wear skirts as short as Each choice we make in front of the mirror every day are our choices.
Clowns are known in one of two ways; as the playful circus entertainers pursuing laughs from little kids or – more accurately – the colourfully dressed scaremongers hellbent on creeping you the fuck out.
If, like me, you’re more inclined to define these wacky characters as the latter then you’re far from alone and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
The Circus is in town and it’s now offering ‘clown celling’ courses, whereby audiences can tackle their phobias head on; meet clowns, get a rare look at their make up process and their pre-performance preparations.
The idea behind it is to allow those suffering from Coulrophobia – the fear of clowns – to humanise their zany antagonists.
In July 2006 Bestival even had to withdraw a request to festival goers to come dressed as clowns due to the unexpectedly high amount of prospective attendees claiming they had coulrophobia.
A friend of mine, Kiki, a 25 year old clown hating Communications Assistant from Hull said: I watched IT as a child and started getting awful night terrors almost every time I slept until I was quite old. As a result I have to completely avoid horror film aisles, any events where a clown may be, and most definitely have to steer clear of McDonalds. Now even face paint really freaks me out. My family and friends have learnt to warn me immediately if they know of a film, a programme or an advert that has a clown in it.”
Personally I’d also like to see some form of program in which I can overcome my pupaphobia (fear of puppets). They are messed up, seriously.
The hilarious and politically incorrect Team America was showing on TV the other night, and although I own it on DVD and there was a time I watched it so often I could quote chunks of script on demand, I simply couldn’t watch it, I got about 27 seconds in.
I was also – to put it lightly – not enamoured with Swiftcover’s choice to use a gangly, aggressive and creepy Iggy Pop puppet in their adverts and on their billboards; it genuinely makes me feel nauseous.
As I thought about it, and how pathetic I felt addressing such a fear, I was fully aware that it was irrational but that still didn’t mean I could sit through an episode of Thunderbirds. Which, by the way is a sick, sick programme.
But what really can a clown do to me? Or a puppet? Or a moth? (another fear of mine – but one associated with a traumatising childhood experience. I thought we had a burglar, turned out to be a moth. Long story.)
A cross-section of people I know – of all ages, backgrounds, jobs and genders – revealed that their phobias include:
Oranges and orange peelHandling and/or wearing wet clothesBalloonsHands (when you can’t see the rest of the body – i.e on adverts and posters)ClownsFurFlowersBirdsVomit
If you could face your fear in a workshop environment which would it be? Or are you one of those members of society who has mastered the ability to generally man-up? How I envy you.
I returned last summer from teaching in Slovenia and across Italy for the best part of a month. During my journey spreading and schooling the English word to young minds I was asked to pen my musings on Slovenian education for IN education magazine.
I walked into the classroom with no expectations or assumptions but a pack of teaching essentials; lesson plans, workbooks and flashcards.
I immediately noticed a good grasp of the language from the students, demonstrated in their ability to comprehend instructions, their ability to express themselves in English and their vocabulary. I was surprised at their level of knowledge considering their age, and moreover was very impressed with their competency – a direct product of the country’s emphasis on the importance of the English language, and the success of its tutoring and promotion.
Mobile phones appear to be a gadget that needs to be prised from a lot of the boys’ hands and a constant threat of distraction. To be expected for their age; 12 to 14, but any teacher will tell you that any distraction is a nemesis.
The students in both of the levels I taught were spirited and at times very boisterous; requiring reigning in as opposed to drawing out. Often a blessing, sometimes a curse.
The school as a building was less modern than I’d experienced in England; chalkboards were a new practice for me, as was not having computers available. But it wasn’t evident that this was detrimental to their learning or classroom experience.
Having been educated entirely in England I am only well versed in their school system and Slovenia’s differs greatly. The days are far shorter – English schools won’t finish until sometime after 3pm. The earlier finishing hours were a godsend for me, as a teacher, so I could prepare for the next day, have an opportunity to socialise in the afternoon or enjoy wandering the streets of Ljubljana’s city centre. However, I wondered whether the students were being too intensely flooded with a lot of information in a short space of time with not a lot of breaks in between to re-energise, absorb and release.
After talking to a fellow teacher and native Slovenian I was left confused about what was compulsory education and what wasn’t as it seemed there are few similarities to the British structure.
The greatest difference I learnt of was within University education. Most courses in England are three or four years, whereas Slovenian graduates could study for a number of years with the option of pausing and resuming their course. I’m unsure as to whether this is conducive to obtaining your degree, but having a free University education is an excellently non-elitist opportunity and defines tertiary schooling as an entitlement as opposed to a privilege.
Another contrast I discovered was the difference in where the pressure is placed. In my experience of England it’s the parents that come under harsher scrutiny of their child’s achievements and behaviour and they’re the ones who await a teacher’s verdict and report. In Slovenia the weight is shifted to the teachers; parents are more demanding of them and place a heavier responsibility on their role.
This is reflected in the amount of meetings conducted between teacher and parent per academic term and the earnest, during these meetings, on how the teachers are delivering.
I was saddened to hear that teachers were one of the first groups to be made redundant as a result of the recession. I thought, in Slovenia as a whole, that the job of a teacher would be more highly regarded and protected. I wonder how much this will affect the teacher to student ratio in the classroom and, in turn, over time how this will affect the pupil’s level of education.
My opinion on animal testing – for medical research, not for cosmetics.
In my experience everyone thinks that to ensure you come across possessing every moral fibre that you should it’s important you are anti-fur, pro-euthanasia, free-range, say no to Nestle… and are against animal testing.
Animal testing is bad, right? These poor animals are cooped up in tiny cages, injected, gassed and discarded… that’s what we’re lead to believe. And, of course, within some corrupt organisations unfortunately that is reality. But I urge people to set these rotten apples apart from every animal testing and research establishment before they make their minds up on the level of evil being inflicted on said animals.
After attending talks from both scientists and anti-animal testing representatives, and after visiting an animal testing research unit in London’s Imperial College, I’m more inclined to say that I support animal testing. A bold statement perhaps?
I think there is a blanket misunderstanding about animal testing; how the animals are treated, the procedures they endure, the relevance of the research and the comprehensiveness of the employees.
Campaigning videos have a massive influence on people and definitely tug on the public’s heartstrings but they’re exemplifying a minority of cases.
Vigilant procedures are implemented by the establishments themselves and by the Home Office. To be able to work with animals you need a project licence and personal licenses. The operating rooms in the research unit were cleaner than hospitals. No MRSA there. There’s a vet that checks up on the facility once a month and stringent revisions are regularly undertaken by a panel (someone from the RSPCA is a seat on this panel by the way).
…This is all without even mentioning the benefits of animal testing. As of yet there have been no feasible alternatives available so if we’re to move medicine forward it’s essential we continue to test on animals.
Following my piece on Hollaback's viral video I sought out relevant, and - in my view- accurate, opinions penned elsewhere on the internet and luckily found this
"...And with the release of Hollaback’s video, some men are already arguing that what Roberts experienced wasn’t really harassment - just run-of-the-mill, friendly come-ons. (Others reportedly issued rape threats, once again proving Lewis’s Law.) Even this widely-shared videotaped day of harassment isn’t actually enough to generate the consensus that this behaviour is wrong.
In reality, anything that women say or show will never be enough – there will always be someone nattering on about “innocent until proven guilty” as though life is a courtroom. And until men just believe women from the get-go – until our stories are believed as automatically as men’s are – we’ll be stuck in the same place."
Donate to Hollaback! https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/hollaback Creator/Director/Producer: Rob Bliss Creative - http://robblisscreative.com/ Media Contac...
This is not about pigeonholing all men, it is not about stereotyping and it is not a demonstration of oversensitivity.
Yes the video is doing the rounds but numerous guys will continue to degrade and hassle women in this way, and numerous guys will also watch this and a) see not a lot wrong with it, b) see it as complimentary, or c) roll their eyes and curse their (delusional) view of 'feminism'
It's offensive, degrading, unsettling, sometimes scary... and often gross.
Since putting this status on Facebook I’ve had close to 150 responses from both men and women - and I’ve been altogether shocked at the defensive attitude of the majority of those guys.
They’ve admitted that men pass comments - akin to those featured in the video - because they're (sexually) attracted to that girl - which is exactly the point I’d been making.
These comments, as 'harmless' as they might *seem* are directed at a complete stranger who is completely minding her own business.
You think we're attractive? Heads up to y'all who find certain members of the fairer sex attractive: we don't give a fuck or need to hear about it. Your passing “hello pretty lady” crack doesn't necessarily brighten up our day.
However, it is fair to claim that simply saying "hello" isn’t disgustingly inappropriate but it's the smallest drop in the ocean of this issue in its entirety.
Cat-calling, whistling out of the window of your van, asking women to smile etc etc. these are not welcomed interactions, they're wholly one-sided... and a woman shouldn't feel grateful or surprised if a man doesn't pass a comment as they walk past. Evading your evaluation is as little of a privilege as it is to be the target of your sleazy declarations.
A guy I knew from school, who is also 25 years old, retorted on the Facebook thread: "If someone more attractive than you starts up a conversation it makes you feel good about yourself".
To say ‘I completely disagree’ is a feeble understatement. These uninvited quips do not make a woman feel good - and to make such a statement puts a woman's confidence and validation at the mercy of a random male pedestrian.
So, on the contrary to this aforementioned guys belief; a lot of women would like to walk to their office or to the bus stop without any comment being passed or any move being made on her based on her appearance, As far as I'm aware, a woman's ego has rarely been boosted by a man (who she has shown no interest in whatsoever) kissing the air and gawping at her female form.
Oooh you think I’m “damn sexy” do you? You'd "tap that" would you? Well, in that case, do come over here and continue to woo me fine gentleman!
It is a mere smattering of remarks in the pool of bullshit which wholeheartedly comes from a place of a genuine polite and cheery demeanour. So do women have to sieve through this bullshit whispered/shouted/whistled at them to find possibly one simple (and yet not welcomed) "Hello" to justify or cancel out the rest?
Men: how would you feel if your girlfriend was walking down the street and a complete stranger said "Hey beautiful, how's it going?" Would your instant reaction honestly be *Aww that was sweet of him, and how nice of him to ask how you are!'*
I find it hard to believe that it would be a man’s genuine reaction, so why should it be a woman's?
I refuse to justify, defend or accept the 99% of attention that makes me feel like a victim of objectification in case I'm not being fair to that 1% of benevolence. That's just poor mathematics.
