Opinion – Page 15 of 31

Is It Time To Wave Good-Bi To Stereotypes?

15Mar

By Rachel HainsNo Comments

Opinion

Is It Time To Wave Good-Bi To Stereotypes?

Bisexual. It is a word like any other. However, it is astounding that such a simple word can still inspire such curiosity, misconceptions, and disapproval from both heterosexual, and homosexual people alike. Why should Bisexuality be treated differently to any other orientation? If people wish for acceptance, should they not offer the same in return? In the year 2019 - or twenty Bi-teen according to the internet - you would think outdated discriminatory ideas would be a thing of the past. Nevertheless, despite the current visibility and acknowledgment being afforded to the LGBTQ+ community, it is odd that only the beginning of the acronym is often acknowledged. No wonder many of us Bisexuals consider ourselves invisible mythical creatures that do not exist and feel the need to have to j...

Financial Privilege: Academia’s Worst Kept Secret

23Feb

By Maliha RezaNo Comments

Opinion

Financial Privilege: Academia’s Worst Kept Secret

Academia is limited to a privileged few, and there needs to be a more significant push to create a space for those lacking such privilege. The means test is a critical part of the university admissions process but, regardless of the support systems fashioned by some institutions, many students from low-income backgrounds fall at the first financial hurdle. Universities, or more specifically the makeup of the university; its staff and students, need to acknowledge that this is a systematic failure that they are all too complicit within. Some students are unable to wage a space in the academic world as it becomes a commodity that is afforded by a few. This embrace of commodification favours those with an element of financial privilege. However, the growing marketisation of academic institut...

Academic Twitter: the Good, the Bad and the Unwarranted Twitter Review

8Jan

By Maliha RezaNo Comments

Opinion

Academic Twitter: the Good, the Bad and the Unwarranted Twitter Review

A simple tweet with the right hashtags will result in students and academics providing answers to the most obscure of questions. For the most part, academic Twitter serves its purpose of connecting people with similar research interests. It has, in many instances, resulted in collaborations between academic Tweeters on articles and books. Nonetheless, disseminating research through the medium of Twitter has its downfalls, namely due to the culture of destructive criticism and satire. People on Twitter have the incessant ability to dissect and ridicule work, revealing the darker side of academic social media: unwarranted criticism. Reviewer two tends to be considered the harsher critic during peer reviews of academic articles, journals and books; however, in recent times, the Twitter re...

2Jan

By Amal AbdiNo Comments

Opinion

Anger in the Supreme Court

For as long as feminism has been around, the angry feminist has been a stereotype used to dismiss the claims of women. Calling a woman angry is the best way to ignore what she is saying, after all, who would listen to a screaming woman who cannot control her emotions. In the Supreme Court hearing last month, Brett Kavanaugh revealed himself to be an angry man. Throughout American history white men’s rage has been seen as righteous. An angry man is a hero, he is a revolutionist, maybe he is an American Founding Father, a symbol of patriotism to be loved and his angry fetishized. But why is it that every women who is enraged is immediately dismissed? In 1991, Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court by George H.W. Bush. After his nomination, Anita Hill, a law professor who had p...

17Dec

By Rachel HainsNo Comments

Opinion

Student Safety On Campus

On the 13th of December, at 4:30 am, Surrey Police were called to campus, here at Royal Holloway, to attend to what has now been revealed as a stabbing. The incident occurred outside the SU shop, and whilst the victim is not in a life-threatening condition, nor a student here, it is enough to make some students question the safety of our campus. Is there more that the university could be doing to prevent incidents like this one? Shortly after the incident was reported, the staff at the university issued a statement claiming we are “still one of the safest universities in the UK”. However, currently, the Times Higher Education survey 2018 has placed Royal Holloway as only joint 49th for being ranked as the ‘safest’ university in the UK. Clearly, students do not agree. Having spoken to nu...

28Nov

By Becca BashfordNo Comments

Opinion

Free Speech?

‘Millennials’, ‘snowflakes’, ‘triggered’, ‘lefties’, ‘vegan hippies’; without a doubt, there is a fiery debate taking place about Generation Z and our ability to debate without getting offended. Usually, these criticisms come from the older generation - those who cry: “I miss the good old days when no-one complained about Yorkies not being for girls, and now Greggs are changing their name to be more gender neutral! The world has gone mad!”. We all know that person. They’re the kind of people who read the Daily Mail, love Piers Morgan, or think Tommy Robinson is a top bloke. However, beneath the surface of this Gen Z vs. Baby Boomer war, there is something darker. Underneath all of the insults is the idea that people are somehow entitled to offend others. Why? Because we’re all entitled to ...

Why are the women of Brazil so divided on Bolsonaro?

23Nov

By Jasmine CoxNo Comments

Opinion

Why are the women of Brazil so divided on Bolsonaro?

Jair Bolsonaro, nicknamed ‘Trump of the Tropics’, was newly elected as President of Brazil on the 28 October, with 55.1% of voters in support of the far-right politician, eclipsing his rival Fernando Haddad. Bolsonaro, a man of high military profile, has pitched himself as the iron fisted hero who will bring down the soaring crime rates across Brazil. Supporters voted for Bolsonaro on the basis of his pro-gun and nationalist ideals, his defense being the right to self-defense and protection of the much-treasured ‘family’ home. However, when taking a closer look at his aggressive agenda, Bolsonaro is creating more of a heightened sense of tension than ever, especially seen through how he is exploiting women’s fears of crime. Bolsonaro’s popularity amongst women started to grow after the ...

22Nov

By Amaan RamzanNo Comments

Opinion

Trapped Youth

At this moment, our youth is more ideologically and socially tangled then it has ever been before. The glamourisation of drugs and gang activity in the mainstream is slowly ruining our mentalities. Instead of thinking for the long-term, we are obsessed with grabbing short-term gains, such as conditional acceptance and temporary self-fulfilment. We are not stowing money away to pay for a mortgage or worthy future investment because systemic class and racial oppression has made it impossible for us to do so. Unfortunately, the enormous property price rise in London and surrounding areas doesn’t enable many people our age to buy their own houses, but there’s still a lack of knowledge on how to finance ourselves sensibly as well as a lack of opportunity for us to get into a better position ove...

28Oct

By Amal AbdiNo Comments

Opinion

Love Island and Racial Diversity

This year, Love Island saw its first black woman, Samira Mighty, entering the villa and the show failed her. From the moment Samira was not chosen by any of the Love Island men in the first episode, I knew that she would be facing this kind of rejection for the rest of the series. Throughout the show, she was either seen as a second choice by the men or served her role as an asexual agony aunt there to save the relationships of her white friends. Unfortunately, Samira’s experience on the show is simply representative of black women’s experience in the real world. Misogynoir is a portmanteau that combines ‘misogyny’ with the French word for black, ‘noir’. The term, coined by the black feminist Moya Bailey, is often overlooked by mainstream feminist discourse as it describes the racialise...

RuPaul, transphobia, and remembering your Herstory

26Oct

By Becca BashfordNo Comments

Opinion

RuPaul, transphobia, and remembering your Herstory

“If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”, “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag” … we’re all familiar with RuPaul’s famous one-liners, which are often expressions of self-love; defending our right to be authentically and unapologetically ourselves. RuPaul’s status within the LGBTQ+ community cannot be understated. Bringing drag into mainstream culture is no small feat, but being the most famous drag queen in the world also comes at a price. So when RuPaul recently sparked a debate about who can or can’t be a drag queen, it made me wonder how valuable RuPaul’s opinions still are when he’s clearly forgotten his Herstory. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Ru shocked us all when he said he wouldn’t accept a transgender contestant on his...