Features – Page 8 of 26

23Mar

By Jack ChellmanNo Comments

Features, Opinion

3 Ways to Think like an Ally

Activism depends on allies. As we search for broader coalitions against social injustice, the importance of minority “allyship” has become more and more apparent. Though allyship can mean many different things, most definitions center on combatting systems of oppression that target bodies other than your own. But if we’re to truly adopt allyship as a way of life, we must look beyond our actions and begin thinking like better allies as well. Fighting for others’ equality—not just your own—demands a rigorous reevaluation of our perspectives on empathy and identity. Inherent to the theory of allyship is the idea that apathy plays a central role in preserving established systems of power. Social progress slows when outright hostility to advocacy lands on communities left isolated by the ind...

20Mar

By Samantha DavisNo Comments

Features

Pride Is For Everyone

The icon rainbow flag, also known as the Pride flag, has been used as a symbol of pride and solidarity amongst the LGBTQ+ community since 1978. First designed by openly gay activist Gilbert Baker, the flag first flew on 25 June 1978 at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade, although it looked a little different to the flag you might recognise from today. The original pride flag contained eight different coloured stripes which all carried a specific meaning: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for serenity, and purple for spirit. The hot pink was removed in 1978 due to a lack of fabric when attempting to replicate and distribute the flag. The turquoise soon followed and was later removed in 1979 to modify the f...

24Feb

By Noelle SpillmannNo Comments

Features

The Psychology of Sexual Assault

A year after the #MeToo movement the question, ‘Why do people sexually harass people?’ is still ever present and just as complex as when the stories first hit. The movement shed light on sexual harassment in Hollywood – a realm that was formerly perhaps less of a consideration when examining sexual harassment by virtue of being overshadowed by celebrity culture and the ‘open secret’ dimension - and thus provided insight into the abuse of positions of power to coerce sexual relations. As the movement demonstrated, the power dimension of sexual harassment is by no means as unidimensional as it may seem. The relationship between power and sexual harassment is multi-facetted: lack or absence of power can lead to individuals being sexually aggressive, as can being in a position of power or do...

24Feb

By Francesca TyerNo Comments

Features

Women or womxn?

At the beginning of October, the BBC published an article titled ‘Should women be spelt womxn?’ This piece discussed the recent backlash directed towards the spelling of 'women' with either an x or y. The comeback was particularly prevalent on Twitter, following the use of the altered word by a London museum and library. Following this news piece, I decided to ask other students for their opinions on the matter. The quotations used below are comments from students whose names have been excluded. “Changing the spelling is completely unnecessary. This is a completely redundant move solely destined as some power play on the part of the feminist movement. It will in no way affect or help women around the world suffering from actual issues such as sexual assault.” The idea has been p...

21Feb

By Amal AbdiNo Comments

Features

Trans-exclusionary Laws

On October 21 The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had drawn up a policy paper to define gender as strictly male or female. The administration further instructed the Department of Health and Human Services to consider ‘sex’ as an unchangeable condition that is determined by a person’s genitals at birth, despite the American Medical Association ruling last year that gender and sexual identities are not always binary. The proposed reforms have apparently been influenced by recent meetings of the UN’s Third Committee concerned with social, humanitarian and cultural rights, in which US officials have pushed for general assembly policy statements to remove what the administration sees as vague and politically correct language — an ‘ideology’ of treating gender as an indivi...

Bright Idea – University Guarantor Service

19Feb

By Abby KingNo Comments

Features

Bright Idea – University Guarantor Service

It’s been a week since third year student, Jake Shepherd’s, Bright Idea took off. He wants the university to introduce a ‘Guarantor Service for Students from Non-Home Owning Backgrounds’. I caught up with Jake, who studies Geography, Politics and International Relations to chat about his idea. What are the motivations behind your Bright Idea? As a disadvantaged student and the first in my family to go to university, there wasn’t really anyone to warm me about the potential difficulties in finding a UK guarantor. What are these ‘potential difficulties’? Often your guarantor needs to be a UK homeowner who can satisfy a credit reference agency check (up to 9 linked addresses, no County Court Judgements (CCJs), Electoral Roll data and Credit Score). Whilst house hunting with friend...

18Dec

By Mollie CarlyleNo Comments

Features

In Conversation With: Charlie Higson

Hello Charlie. First of all, thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak to us. Christ! If I’d known there were so many questions I wouldn’t have agreed. Being a Norfolk girl myself, I was very happy to read that you went to the University of East Anglia, which became a very unlikely hotspot for up and coming comedians (with connections to Jim Moir, Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Dave Cummings etc.). What was university life like on the seventies Norwich scene? I started there in 1977 – which seems about a hundred years ago. So much has changed since then it’s hard to get across to people how different things were in the 70s. Norwich was quite isolated – although the university connected it to a wider world. There was a professional ENTS officer at...

5Dec

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Features

RHUL Donate and Reuse

Donate and Reuse is one of many volunteering programmes offered at Royal Holloway. The project is currently in need of new volunteers to help run the programme and promote the reuse and recycling of clothing. Taking part is a great way to meet new people whilst also gaining experience as an individual. What is the Donate and Reuse volunteering project about? This is a campus project associated with the British Heart Foundation. It encourages students to donate their unwanted clothing, therefore promoting the reuse and recycling of these items. What kind of tasks are volunteers given? Through working as a volunteer, students would be promoting end of term collections, helping with the coordination of these collections, and distributing them to the Egham branch of the British...

Do you know the true origins of Halloween?

31Oct

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Features

Do you know the true origins of Halloween?

Halloween takes place on October 31st each year and is a time associated with trick-or-treating, ghosts, and scary costumes. This celebration has become a huge part of culture, but how many people know its true origins? The traditions we celebrate today have their roots in both Christian and Pagan festivals. Halloween rests on the eve of All Saints Day or All Hallows Day, a time many church practises used to celebrate the saints. The eve of this day became known as All Hallows Eve and which eventually merged to become Halloween. Traditionally, worshippers would go to church on All Hallows Eve to pray and fast before a day of feasting and celebration. All Souls Day, a day set on November 2nd to honour the dead, is also part of Christian tradition. The horror films, zombies, ghosts, ...

30Oct

By Emily BradburyNo Comments

Features

Meet Emily: Photography Editor

"Where are you from?” – I have been asked this question many, many times throughout my life. Every new school, new city, new country, everyone always wanted to know where I was from. To many people, it’s as simple as placing a pin on the map, but for me this is something that was never straightforward. Moving from place to place from a young age gave me the opportunity to grow up in many different cultures and experience a variety of lifestyles. Like many people on their travels, I captured iPhone snapshot images to try to preserve the memory of that moment but to me this has never been enough. My love for photography started in high school when I went on a volunteer service trip to Peru. The raw nature of the rural landscape was something I had never previously experienced and I found my...