The F Word: Issue 2: Women & Media

THE FWO RD!

WOMEN & MEDIA

Combatting ImageBased Sexual Abuse The Cool Girl Trope The Role of Women in Video Games The Need for Diverse Representation in the Media Women & the Oscars Quiz Nepotism in the Media

The The Cool Cool Girl: Girl:

She’s She’snot notlike likeother other girls, girls,because becauseshe’s she’s not notreal. real.

"Cool girl. Men always use that, don’t they? As their defining compliment. She’s a Cool girl. Cool girl is hot.

Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man. She only smiles in a chagrin loving manner and then presents her mouth for fucking."

- Cool Girl Monologue, Gone Girl

Áine Feeney deconstructs the misogyny of the Cool Girl trope and explores the damaging effect it can have on young girls.

Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) said it best in her Gone Girl (2015, dir. David Fincher) monologue, “Cool girl… men always use that as their defining compliment. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun.”

The ‘cool girl’ trope is a phenomenon that has been widely discussed, revered and, at times, torn down in popular culture. It has several aliases, ranging from the derogatory nickname of ‘pick me girl’ to the more generic ‘not like other girls’ type of girl. Broadly speaking, the ‘cool girl’ character is the embodiment of all things non-feminine.

The cool girl doesn’t indulge in beauty or fashion trends, doesn’t behave in a typically feminine way, nor does she share the interests of her female peers, but rather considers herself ‘one of the boys’. A classic example of this trope is Mikaela Banes in the Transformers (2007, dir. Michael Bay) film. In one memorable scene, Mikaela (Megan Fox) effortlessly analyses the mechanics of a car while Shia LaBeouf’s character stands in awe, ogling her body as the camera pans along it. Despite the cool girl’s disdain for femininity, she is often sexualised with the intent of appearing to a male audience as something different but with that familiarity of conventional attractiveness.

Thus, ‘you’re not like other girls’ becomes a compliment.

The trope of the ‘cool girl’ in popular media trickled its way into the subconscious of a generation of coming-of-age girls, particularly during the golden era of Tumblr where it was almost the opposite of cool to be ‘like other girls’. Uniqueness became the new cool. A typical ‘cool girl’ Tumblr post would read something along the lines of “You wear makeup and short skirts and go out with your friends. I stay in and eat pizza and watch Netflix. We are not the same.”

These posts often veered from tonguein-cheek to downright dangerous, sometimes sounding like “Girls are so much drama. I can’t take the bitchiness.

I much prefer being one of the guys.

Guys are way cooler than girls.”

This is not to say that being unique is a bad thing, but,

the specific type of behaviour that the ‘cool girl’ trope perpetuates is the tearing down of other women in an attempt to appear attractive to a man.

It’s a form of internalised misogyny that is taught to girls from a young age. As Margaret Atwood put it, “You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.” This is known as the internalised male gaze, where women perceive themselves not as they are, but how they would be perceived by men. It seems that the appeal of acting like the ‘cool girl’ is not a sense of liberation or even about being unique on its own, but rather the desire to ‘stand out’ to men amongst other women who enjoy stereotypically feminine things. It’s a dangerous cycle that pits women against each other. All things perceived as feminine are demonised and girls that share an interest in popular trends, fashion, and music are labelled as ‘basic bitches.’

There have been attempts made within social commentary circles to deconstruct this toxic pseudo-persona of the ‘cool girl’ in recent years as

YouTubers like Tiffany Ferguson (@tiffanyferg) delve into the issue in lengthy video essays. Likewise, on TikTok, many creators have recently begun proclaiming themselves ‘anti-pick me girls’ who revel in the idea of shared interests and celebrate being ‘just like every other girl’ because of the enjoyment and sense of community it brings them. This marks a step towards girls being allowed to enjoy themselves without fear of ridicule.

Sharing interests with other people is not a bad thing. It creates a sense of community between people. Personally, I love being like other girls. It means you will always have something to talk about with someone, even if she’s a passing stranger. So, be yourself in your most unique and authentic way, but like what you like, and celebrate the things you have in common with other women.

Then, we can all be cool girls.

21ST CENTURY DIGITAL GIRL:

THE CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN IN GAMES

Matthew Quill tracks the changing state of female representation in video games from the earliest examples to the most recent.

The role of female characters in videogames has always been a fluid one, with some of their earlier incarnations seeming to be mainly marketing tools aimed at prepubescent boys, while nowadays they find themselves occupying a more or less equal role to their male counterparts. As with any gender representation in media however, it is never just a black and white issue, with these characters being able to embody traits of both positive role models and sex symbols, something which modern game publishers still take advantage of.

One of the earliest examples of female representation in gaming is that of Samus Aran, the protagonist of 1986’s side scrolling action game, Metroid. Throughout the game, Samus is depicted as a mysterious figure entirely clad in armour, and it is not until beating the game that her gender is revealed, which was no doubt, a shock to players at the time. Sharing design roots with Alien’s Ellen Ripley, Samus was a strong female role model in a medium that desperately needed one, but her depictions weren’t always so heroic. This can be seen in how beating the original game quickly unlocked progressively skimpier outfits for Samus, or how her modern incarnations see her ditch the armour for a skin-tight bodysuit that accentuates her curves. Nonetheless, much like Ripley, she has remained a strong inspiration as a fearless female protagonist in a genre where a male character was seen to be the norm.

A character with more unambiguous sex appeal in her design would arrive in the form of Lara Croft, the protagonist of 1996’s Tomb Raider, which drew inspiration from adventure movies such as Indiana Jones. Croft was notable for being the first prominent female character in a 3D videogame, and with that came the expectations of more realistic human depictions. Her depiction however, was seen by many as an embodiment of male fantasies, with her scant attire and large bust being her most obvious features. While an argument can be made for her being as equal a role model to Samus, her primarily male-oriented marketing skews this viewpoint somewhat. The Tomb Raider reboot series, developed by Square Enix seem to recognise the flaws made in her original design,

having used motion capture to produce a more realistic character, as well as marketing the games as more gritty, grounded action-adventures.

Looking at more recent depictions of videogame women, the one that springs most to mind is Aloy, protagonist of 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn. Early in the game’s development, Sony conducted market research into how risky a female lead could be for a game's sale. This stems from a perception held by some in the so-called “AAA Gaming Industry”, particularly with companies such as Ubisoft, who have repeatedly attempted to diminish and undermine the roles of female characters in their games, particularly in the Assassin's Creed series.

This issue extends to the office as well, as in recent years there has been a surge in sexual harassment allegations against leadership in these companies.

Fortunately, Sony concluded that Aloy was a risk worth taking, which was supported by the game's explosive popularity among PlayStation gamers of all genders. Aloy has been acclaimed as a strong female protagonist who feels like a realistic character in her world, and not one existing solely for the viewing pleasure of the player. Despite this, some of the more vocally misogynistic among the gaming community have decried her appearance as not being “feminine enough”, a complaint which echoes similar delusions some gamers had about the muscles of the character Abbie in The Last of Us Part II. It’s clear from attitudes both among male players and gaming executives that there’s still a lot of work to be done with inclusive female representation in games. Female characters deserve more realistic depictions in games that allow them to be empowering role models, without unnecessary sexualisation. There is also a huge need for a more diverse range of female forms, whether it be different body sizes, ethnic backgrounds or gender identities, as it is not an accident that the most prominent women in gaming thus far have been Caucasian and cisgender. Subsequently, it is only through giving female developers the chance to create characters that they can relate to that this diversity can be achieved.

SILENCE VINCA ALBERT

There was a silence between them that autumn day. Despite the sound of heavy wind and the noise of a distant road, a compressed silence wanted to suffocate them. In that environment, his wetted cheek and his constant cry were another part of the silence. Next to the old boy, a beautiful and big cat who took her colour from honey was miaowing to keep the silence unbroken. That curious couple were on the top of a mountain from where they could see the sea: enormous, grey, and furious. Among the sounds which maintain the mournful silence, there was a voice singing.

Honey-cat raised her ears while looking at the boy’s wet face and then started her way down the mountain, thinking. The old boy with a blue jumper, black trousers and shoes covered with red and orange leaves made of fire, closed his brown eyes, and allowed himself to feel the sweet voice singing from nowhere and from everywhere. After an instant of eternity, he opened his eyes to see where the cat was and with a last look to the calm sea and the happy fire leaves which were dancing around him, he followed his friend back into the forest with complete and peaceful silence in his ears despite the sound of silence surrounding him.

The green and yellow forest was covered with tears, those tears hidden in her heart but released in every meow she did while she was on the top of the mountain. Honey-cat was thinking about her need for silence to rebuild broken dreams when she felt a touch in her back, a soft and wet touch but a touch covered in fear: the fear of goodbye. She twirled around and found deep and brown eyes covered in crystal tears. Then, the silence started to file the broken glass between their eyes. The wind stopped. The sea was too far to influence them. The road could not touch the forest.

The voice was only in their hearts then.

NEPOTISM IN MEDIA: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE Nepotism is a hot button issue on the Twitter-sphere in the wake of ‘Euphoria’’s latest season; Em Reeve shares their opinion on the phenomenon, particularly how young female actresses

According to Oxford Language, nepotism is “the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.”

are receiving the brunt of the backlash.

At the moment, when popular media

We, especially those of us from rural Ireland, know that finding your first

is mentioned, my mind immediately

job as a teenager is all about who you

goes to Euphoria. I haven’t even watched most of the second season, but I’ve seen a barrage of tweets

know, who your father is, an extensive list of strange (and usually misogynistic) questions that lead to

about it, which is surely almost the

something

same thing, and a hot topic came about that caught my attention.

minimum wage.

with

bad

hours

and

So, we’ve been dealing with nepotism Nepotism. More specifically, that twenty-four-year-old Maude Apatow (Lexi in Euphoria) is a “nepotism

our whole lives.

baby.” For context, Apatow’s parents are actress Leslie Mann and filmmaker Judd Apatow.

is assumed. People with “successful” parents in a certain industry are more likely to succeed in that industry themselves than someone without relatives or friends in that industry.

For public figures, however, nepotism

I don’t think that nepotism is a good thing by any means, in fact I can think of occasions in the past where I have explicitly expressed negative opinions towards nepotism-like practices, both in my university and in the media.

But what is nepotism?

My issue with the current social media “concern” is that they are targeting young women.

When I twitter search nepotism, a flurry of tweets about Ivanka Trump show up, which I scroll past (the Trump family in general have bigger problems at play). Next, Maya Hawke is mentioned in regards to the occurrence of “nepotism here and there.” Hawke, 23, is the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke and

Finding traces of male “nepotism babies” in the present day is hard. A decade ago, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine would have been two of the obvious choices – but Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Coppola were right there too.

has starred in Stranger Things.

career choices. Think about politics, especially American politics. Nepotism

Zoe Kravitz, 33, is next – “once again proving that nepotism babies need to

is rife in that sphere, and it is mostly men. Men who are senators /

stfu”. Hailey Bieber, 25, follows, with the tweeter saying that she is the “most unsuccessful rich person on

representatives, usually have an older (male) relative who was also heavily involved in politics. This is not always

earth like how you a nepotism baby and nobody knows you”. Willow Smith, 21, is tweeted about a few

the case, but it being a “family business” is honestly, in simple terms, a fact. Yet the younger George Bush

times regarding her clapping at the Grammys “like she isn’t a whole

wasn’t blasted by media outlets for being a nepotism baby.

Realistically, I think it’s to do with

nepotism baby”.

The root is in sexism. We have become so used to seeing “and sons” on the end of signs for solicitors, accountancy firms, any sorts of businesses really. I can’t think of one time where I have seen “and daughters.”

Strange how five women are mentioned before I see any mention of a man – oddly, Bono’s son, Elijah, the vocalist for “inhaler”, which isn’t a band that I would consider to be extremely well known. But it’s not strange at all, really.

I know that those businesses do exist, I’m just saying that they aren’t as commonplace. But either way, this is an example of nepotism.

Nepotism’s influence in today’s capitalist society and political sphere is the problem; a 24-year-old actress is the least of our worries.

Expressions What if I unnamed the world And revealed all the stuck, bleeding gums Shattering with the firmament?

Who are you to compare the rain To a widows’ raw tears?

The lyricism of the other is not Yours for the taking, yet Here you can imagine the seams Where daydreaming during the youthful Night seems as dim as a widower In times of death.

If not even the moon is aware of her beauty How are we meant to be Aware of anything at all?

Why do we compare the moon’s face To a man’s when the moon Has expressions of her own?

Unname the world, Unname the world.

If there is power in knowing maybe I do not wish to know.

But this is a graveyard and this is who I am When world cannot see me And this is why I wish.

Power is the human error and I have no Place in my body for its consequences.

Grief is the whisper of a Wing or a soft paw making a Print in your morning porridge.

It is only the mundane playing Tricks on each other in the night.

How is it the heart becomes settled In static meadows and earnest morgues?

Begin by ingesting the thing that Scares you the most and take it for a twirl Around the dark alleyways Resonating laments through tunneling Visions of being awoken by the flutter of a kiss.

No one is concerned with The uncooked love that exists Within the most indistinguishable spaces.

Is this place quiet enough?

Is this place home?

Tangy words start swelling in the air Swinging against all that I wish for.

I can taste the promises spun in gold From citrus tongues and lips as bright as Red stop lights and as malleable as clouds.

Shall you compare me to a summer’s day?

Unname the world and Do not compare me to anything at all.

I have expressions of my own.

— L.

FIGHTING THE STIGMA OF IMAGE BASED SEXUAL ABUSE Image based sexual abuse is defined as the ‘nonconsensual creation and/or distribution of private, sexual images’ – includes typical revenge porn, as well as consensually taken images that have been hacked or stolen and then shared, but also covers the non-consensual creation of sexual imagery: for example photos and videos created by means of upskirting, forms of voyeurism and sextortion, or recordings of sexual assaults.

claiming to have illicit content of me posted behind the pay wall. Besides this the account also posted nude photos of women, whom I did not know, with their faces cut out claiming those to also be of me. I decided to take it further as it was extremely difficult to get any response from Instagram.

1 in 8 social media users will become the victims of image-based sexual assault, and 90% of these victims are women.

After being told what happened to me was not illegal and the difficulties in finding the culprit were thoroughly explained, I left frustrated, angry and feeling worthless.

Despite these harrowing statistics, image based sexual abuse did not become a criminal offence in Ireland until December 2020.

Alicia O'Sullivan started Safety Over Stigma to campaign on behalf of people who are victims of image based sexual abuse, identity theft, and other forms of online harassment. She has written about why she set up the campaign, what they have achieved, and where they will go in the future.

Safety over Stigma (SOS) is a campaign that was set up last year, as a grassroots campaign to combat Image Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA), online identity theft, and online abuse.

It started when I woke up to messages from friends and family about a fake Instagram account replicating my own public Instagram. The perpetrator had taken my own photos and reposted them; some as they were and some edited with messages directing people to click the link in the bio. Once you clicked that link you were taken to a pornographic subscription based website, similar to OnlyFans, with an account set up in my name

I went to An Garda Síochána, but unfortunately left without any report or statement being taken.

I felt that something needed to be done. That there was a certain stigma towards crimes of a sexual nature and also online crimes and when you get a situation of the two coming together like Image Based Sexual Abuse, then you can be met with all sorts of deterrence.

This led a group of us to start Safety Over Stigma.

The first accomplishment we achieved was a national roll out of sensitivity training for An Garda Síochána, confirmed by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. We helped the Department of Justice with their national IBSA campaign. Myself and Professor Louise Crowley also presented to the Oireachtas Committee on ideas on the new Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill, one of our ideas has now come to fruition and allows individuals to report illegal harmful content at hotline.ie.

Myself, Bailey Lane, Dave Lawlor, Professor Louise Crowley, and Emer Clifford are continuing the SOS campaign in UCC and aim to focus on the education side of the campaign going forward.

Why Representation Matters Ciara Corbett, one of our Deputy Editors,

While creative industries are inundated

examines the stereotypes that have plagued

with straight, white and cisgender men,

entertainment media for decades and

that is not to say that women creators

argues for greater representation across the

cannot also be problematic; spewing

board.

hateful rhetoric disguised as being a feminist (looking at you J.K) and tearing

Have

you

ever

been

watching

a

down other women. Given the wider

movie/show, reading a book, or listening

discussion

today

around

feminism,

to a song and been struck with the

LGBTQIA+

rights,

and

thought ‘this was definitely written by a

minority issues – why is there still such

man’? Given the lack of intersectional

poor representation in our media?

spotlighting

representation in most artistic mediums, more than likely, it was indeed written by

Growing up, as a white, cisgendered

a man! And even more, a cisgender,

young girl, I did not have to look far to

straight, white man.

find characters who looked like or had similar experiences to me. I had a vast character

array of idols to look up to and see myself

written by a man is model looking,

in. The greatest trouble I had was a

sexually liberal, intellectually deep,

female character taking her glasses off

complicated and into some mediocre,

and suddenly being deemed beautiful by

nerdy, and boring male character.

her peers! As I grew older and went

Oftentimes,

a

female

through puberty, I began to struggle to She is smart AND beautiful! Think the

find representation in terms of my body

likes of John Green and Haruki Murakami

type and appearance. It wasn’t until I got

and the female characters they create.

older and began to watch shows where

This type of character can often be

representation issues were a part

connotated to the ‘Male Gaze’. This lens is

of a key plot that I started to notice a lack

engrained from a young age, impacting

of diversity in the media I was consuming.

how we view women, female-presenting

Shows like Orange is the New Black broke

people and how we interact with men in

the norm of previously white-centred

day-to-day life. As for queer or BIPOC

narrative. However, as these new shows,

characters, they are almost always side

books and characters came into being,

liners who exist to offer the straight and

the question of representation was now

white main character life-changing advice

not just a matter of being present and

and/or die tragically. Disabled characters

represented, but also as to HOW these

exist to illustrate how lucky or privileged

lives, experiences and cultures were

an able-bodied character is.

being represented.

Black or Latina characters were angry,

In this capitalistic system, demand drives

loud and fiery. Asian characters were

production. Prior success and wins act as

nerdy and loved maths. Gay characters

the basis for what gets made. To add to

were flamboyant while lesbian characters

this, in continuing to consume said media,

were grouchy. Disabled characters always

we learn nothing about the experiences

wanted to end their life or ‘be cured’. Fat

of others. Thus, when going to create, all

characters wanted to lose weight and

we have to go off previously told stories

snag

jock

of what we have read or watched before.

stereotypes

How is it possible then to make sure that

the

good-looking

character.

The

popular

same

disguised as characteristic experiences

stories are told accurately and truthfully?

appeared again and again for different characters in different shows, movies and

That leads onto the second point I would

books. These characters were nothing like

like to make; we need to make sure that

the

their

people with those lived experiences who

experiences. They were one-dimensional,

have the knowledge to tell this story are

flat, and faded into the background once

the ones who get to tell it in whatever way

the white character stepped onto the

they wish to do so. It is important to

screen. These stereotypes are harmful as

platform these voices and not let them be

they reduce real life people to mere

drowned out. Support the work of queer

caricatures. Stereotypes can cause us to

actors and authors, read about characters

brush

of different races and ethnicities written

people

in

someone

real

life

off,

nor

make

snap

judgements and engage in actions that

by authors who have those experiences,

continue to be detrimental to those

and make sure that whatever it is you are

affected.

consuming is intersectional and diverse. It is no longer just about mere present

People are complex with different

representation, but as to how we can

feelings, emotions, reactions, and

strive to ensure that real life is reflected in

experiences.

the

our pages and on our screens. The whole

realms of what we know discourages

point of reading and watching TV shows is

us

to experience worlds and stories outside

from

Existing

going

within

beyond,

thinking

outwards and questioning the norm.

of

what

we

may

know.

Doesn’t

it

completely miss the point if that media is Going back to the question posed earlier

the same boring old story told again and

in this article, why is there such poor

again? It's time for new stories to be in

representation in media; we can answer

the spotlight to reflect the actual way of

this by first looking at ourselves. By

life and how we should exist.

consuming

non-diverse

media

and

continuing to engage in white saviour platforms, directors, producers, authors, artists and society continue to think that this is what is wanted and is the norm.

The heart crackles in the lead of a quarrel. There where the grasses roar against the fury of a thousand maned horses, lies the girl from who’s eyes the harem of virgin veins gaze. The scream is a feminine cacophony, prediction is a hope, Rome burned by witches. I beget a knotted and bleeding abyss in my belly, my hunger bites with my hands. There is a pleasurable craving in my thirst. Milky, I spread myself over the earth, from my body will be born the glaciers of plants, Shiva from the worms of my mouth. My hair will be a field with no swains.

But,

wet

and

pale,

I

dig

into

the

placenta,

slowly

and

fearfully I gobble myself as a mother’s breast is devoured. I rummage in the verbal viscera, afraid to recognise myself, I grope for my daughter. My daughter has no name. My mammalian daughter takes refuge in the darkness of the egg yolk. My daughter is a ram slaughtered by Adam. But I feel the burrow.

I teach my fingers the taste of metallic braille, I seduce the silhouette of organs. Inside the darkness is white. A white cliff where whales sing. My daughter is the fury of waves ramming me. Modesty conceives berries taped in gauze. Nails rooted

in

thighs

and

their

flesh.

Agony.

Tenderness.

Harshness. A dead woman in the deep. My daughter Alexandria.

Itziar De Llanos

THE EDITORS OF THE EXPRESS AND MOTLEY Gloria Cardozo, one of our Deputy Editors, sat down with the Editors-in-Chief of the Motley, Emer Walsh, and the UCC Express, Imasha Costa, to discuss how the year has gone for them and the issues facing journalists today.

Congratulations to the both of you on a successful term. How has your experience been as Editorin-Chief?

Emer: Really amazing. Like, prior to becoming editor everything I ever knew through Motley was online.

So, coming into the role of editor-in-chief with college going back in person was amazing. We got to go back in print as well. I had no idea what I was doing and the previous editor-in-chief had not a lot of experience printing themselves either.

Overall, I think it's been incredible.

Imasha: It's been such an incredible year. There have been really good times and then there have been really challenging times as well, like us going off offprint for.

It was a decision that I had to make and it became really good in terms of the paper

and the direction it's going to be taking in the next few years, the foundation we’re kind of setting up for the incoming team. Literally, I'm just doing grunt work making sure that everyone is going to be able to function on this in the next coming years. It's still in the works. I can't say much about it at the moment but it's going to be interesting to see what's going to happen in the next year for the paper.

I also got to write amazing pieces and I've been able to hold on to that integrity that a journalist needs. I’ve had amazing students and people come up to me and tell me their stories. They come to me, and they’re like “Can you please write or please share my story...”

Sometimes I write them, sometimes my team writes them, but it's just the fact that students have been able to feel like they can come to

us and talk to us and be like, “we trust you.” That is what I really enjoyed this year.

When you initially started as Editor-in-Chief, did you have a vision of how you would like to approach your term?

Emer: I definitely wanted to increase engagement in readership coming out of Covid because I knew a lot of people felt isolated and anxious about building up the social circle they anticipated having in college. I was just really keen to ensure that Motley was there for everyone. The graphic designer and I made sure that every edition was spread through all areas of campus. We went to Main Campus, Brookfield, Western Gateway Building, all the satellite campuses in Cork City – basically anywhere we felt that they could be reached by students who may not walk

by Main Campus. We have seen this pay off that through our social media engagement and just the sheer volume of copies that have been picked up.

Especially the last few issues – 4, 5 and 6 – they were

gone in record time. I'm talking the first week, maybe two weeks, no print issues left! And we print 500 a month. That was really encouraging. We obviously had themes last year which was something I wanted to keep. The themes were not too restrictive but gave people a guide or motivation to write if they were particularly interested. I think that was it really, my two focuses which we achieved, to some extent at least.

Imasha: One of my main visions was to make sure that the paper was accessible. This came with design, with making sure the paper was available online.

Another was that I wanted to talk about consent within the paper and within our team as well, as it’s a very important topic. This lead to the Bystander Intervention column in the paper. It was run by my Features Editor, Maeve O'Keeffe, an absolutely amazing human being. It kind of helped bridge that conversation consent with the University as well because people are more likely to read and be like “This is information I can understand.”

Also just highlighting the minority groups within our editorial team. There are a bunch of people of colour, non-binary people, and queer people on our team.

Like, I believe I'm the first openly queer person of colour as Editor-in-Chief. I wanted to highlight the fact that there are so many different people with so many voices.

What was your most memorable moment as Editor-in-Chief? And what did you find particularly challenging?

Emer: The best moment was obviously getting nominated for Best Journalist of the Year at the Student Media Awards which, to be honest, was not something I was expecting. I suppose this year I was really focused on editing, so I wrote a lot less pieces myself but the pieces that I did write, I submitted, and I ended up getting nominated with another journalist on Motley, Conor Daly.

I suppose the most challenging aspect of it was probably dealing with deadlines, dealing with printers. Printers were one thing I found very interesting because it takes so long. I had to allocate four days a month to printing, which meant everything had to be four days back. So if we wanted something published on the last Thursday of the month, that means in the second week of that run we needed to have everything in order. Dealing with time issues while also being

considerate was a challengeWe have 14 people on the team, they all have different schedules and different things going on in their lives and the vast majority of them aren’t in paid positions. It’s really important to strike a balance between adhering to deadlines and respecting the fact that people are doing this voluntarily and they deserve a bit of compassion, a bit of empathy and appreciation for what they're doing. So just trying to find a balance between that was challenging, but we definitely got there in the end.

Imasha: I think my most memorable moments have been bonding with my team when we go on socials.

Those are the best moments. Those are the moments that I get to chat with them outside of work because when I am doing my meetings online it is strictly professional. It's a good one, just getting along with your team members and getting to know them better outside of the workplace environment.

I've been on the University Express team for two years. I was the Arts and Lit Editor last year, and we didn't really have socials because that was the year of covid and lockdowns.

Having those this year really allowed me to connect with my team in a way that I can't explain. I really love the sense of community and connection I've built with the team.

Did you feel constant pressure as a journalist to say the right thing or the popular opinion for fear of being cancelled?

Emer: I suppose I don't have any opinions that would get me cancelled or that I would need to hide. I do write the monthly editorial, in which I make my feelings on the happenings of that month abundantly clear. I don't shy away from things, but I suppose there are topics I haven't spoken about like my economic viewpoints; I do study finance but I have a very left-wing economical ideology otherwise.

I think that it's also very important to stand up for what you believe in. But then, obviously, we are

struggling student journalists. We all want jobs and careers in this industry.

Sometimes being outspoken in what you believe in can be an issue because you are meant to approach a career like this objectively. I do think you are allowed to have your own opinions and stand up for them as long as you don't bring those biases into your career.

"You have to make sure you are treating everyone with the same respect no matter whether you agree with them or not."

Imasha: I don't write pieces unless I am 100% certain that I want to write them.

There are so many pieces in my head that I want to write but I also want to make sure I have the correct facts for it, and that those facts are coming from credible sources, before I write it. You can’t be writing a piece off purely Twitter information, you can’t. One thing this job has taught me is that anyone can sue for defamation if you outwardly name them.

So, it's important to make sure you use credible sources.

I am not afraid of getting cancelled. Cancel culture shouldn’t exist. It's the worst thing to exist. I don't believe in cancel culture, but people love cancelling people just for no apparent reasons.

You can't blame the world

for following the norms of society, therefore, cancel culture exists.

"I am not afraid to write what I want to write. As long as I have the facts to back it up, I will write it."

Following on from that, Imasha do you think cancel-culture and the way it is built into society prevents minority groups from speaking out?

Imasha: It does 100%.

People are afraid to come to talk to people who have a medium to share. They are afraid that if they say something that will result in them getting cancelled.

"Cancel culture makes a lot of minority groups afraid to say what is really going on."

What many people don't know is that you can remain completely anonymous with the journalist you are talking to. A journalist never breaks that anonymity.

People often choose anonymity because it's a safer option.

As for Motley, it clearly states what it won't publish. Do you think that controls the narrative in a particular direction?

Emer: There is definitely a balance to be struck. You may have to face an opinion or a story that makes you

feel uncomfortable. It may be something you don’t inherently agree with.I suppose you have to look at the question like are you censoring something that shouldn’t be censored? Last year I was on the features team, and we were usually dealing with opinion pieces.

For a while were getting extremely similar pieces, all from the same political viewpoint, which would be a left-wing ideology. Now, there is nothing wrong with that but to suggest that nobody in UCC has a conflicting opinion would be, I think, a bit unsuitable. We sought out people who had different opinion. We did get them to write, but we made sure that whatever they wrote was respectable and it was within some sort of realm which was acceptable.

But, at the end of the day, some things just shouldn't be published. Anything that has to do with hate wish, inherent bigotry, and anything just not rooted in facts.

I have got submissions from people who, for lack of a better word, did not know what they were talking about. Those pieces were inaccurate and completely offensive to the people they were talking about. Pieces like that are extremely unprofessional and also extremely damaging. They can also ruin the reputation of any publication that

they're published in.

"It is important to have a diverse range of opinions, but at the same time there is a responsibility to ensure that people feel safe and don't feel victimized or discriminated against, in what they read."

Imasha, do you think the role of women in media in Ireland or Europe is different when compared to South Asia?

Imasha: 100%. How do I explain this lightly? I will not explain this lightly. In my experience, I remember reading newspapers and magazines in Sri Lanka, and the dedicated fashion and beauty section is always written by a woman. Other sections? No women writers.

News, features even sports, are all written by men. When it could be written by women or women presenting people. This was now 201012, 14-15 maybe.

A person that I knew, whom I grew up with is now actually

a features journalist in Sri Lanka, which I love to see because you don't see that often. Here in Ireland, you see so many more women and women presenting people doing those sections.

Doing all of that and just enjoying it. In Sri Lanka or South Asia, it's different. You don't see a woman or a woman presenting person doing the sections that the boys do. I hope that changes though, I think it is.

In a similar vein, Emer, how do you think the scope of journalism and the role of women changed since you were a kid?

Emer: Well, I think there are two aspects to it. There's how women are reported in the media and how women are treated as journalists.

So, I think we see a massive improvement looking at pop culture, like, the way that women are treated. That's really coming to the forefront now looking back on the way Britney Spears was treated in the early 2000s, Pamela Anderson in the 90s, as well as Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes; all of these child stars who were completely ridiculed and nobody ever considered that there would be ramifications of how they were treated. But now, I suppose since 2020 with the ‘Me Too’ movement, the Britney Spears documentary

and the Pam & Tommy series, all sort of looking at the damage caused has really brought it into the spotlight. It is promising but there is still a lot of work to be done.

I am yet to see an example of that in national media. If there ever is a sexual assault or a brutal rape case, the headlines are absolutely dodgy.

"There is still an element of sexism in the national media. I don't think it's intentional, but it's ingrained into the media system itself and it's also there as clickbait."

They know that people are going to click on that, and at the end of the day, that's what they want.

Also, I have worked with national media. When I worked with the Irish Examiner, I was working under the news editor Deirdre O’Shaughnessy. She ran the Irish Examiner news, and she was in a really high position. I've met with Susan Daly who is the managing editor of The Journal. You see journalists like Aoife Byrnes. All these women are really amazing and the best in their fields and it’s really promising to see for women and young. It is really promising. Even looking at the Student Media Awards now, Journalist of the Year,

four of the nominations were women and one of them was a man. I think we are definitely making strides.

Now, is the way that women are portrayed in media perfect? Absolutely not! But I do think it's getting better.

Is there a particular change that you are hopeful for or would like to see happen in the field of journalism?

Emer: I think clickbait needs to be deprioritized and I hope in the future, some way or another, the growing issue of fake news would be addressed. I think the sooner that Big Tech gets behind the issue and stops profiting off fake news and clickbait there will be a brighter world for journalism. It is an absolute plague on journalism at the moment. Media sites and newspapers are having to educate readers on how to identify misinformation in the media. That's something we didn't always have to deal with. It’s a new issue, it's a growing issue; the sooner it can be rectified the better. I do think journalism will be a better place once it is. I personally do not how it's going to happen, but I know that it needs to.

Imasha: I guess I want to see more people of colour and more queer people in journalism. Every person that I see is either white, cis,

or straight. Medium places have a good amount of diversity. I want to see more of that in smaller papers because "if you only have that one white, cis heteronormative voice, you’re not getting the whole story, you’re not getting everyone else's voice in it."

I want to see that more and hope that it will happen sooner rather than later.

To Be Happy Don’t you want to feel good about yourself What about that love did you tell them you loved them?

Not your problems not your torments But the reason you get up in the morning Do you know the reason you get up in the morning?

Maybe you don’t reason the get up in the morning See reason to feel good Some add up the gains at the end of the day You multiply out the joy at the end of the day She watches his catching smile that subtracts the wild at the end of the day Over there though Over there they can live in the moment, enjoy every minute of our earthly existence Not thinking about the one that comes after There’s no torment over there No dependencies or insecurities Did you see how close they all are Did you see what clothes they all wear Did you see how they all lack to care But what screeches and roars inside Maybe I hold out for their minds struggle makes mine less violent Doesn’t shake me inside out Or over there it crashes and burns inside Over there they’ve learned to smile See I don’t pretend I shout it across the moors of my device I don’t mend I roar and roar Or My struggle is not like over there Over there can smile, nod and take it No I’m crashing and burning Who’s the winner I or over there I, surely I’m living the torment I feel the crash as the wave hits Or over there can breathe, dress, function Over there can reason the rise in the morning To feel good Maybe it’s not I or over there But did we tell that love we loved them this morning - Sarah O'Mahony

WOMEN & THE OSCARS

With the slap heard around the world, the 2021/2022 film award season comes to an end. It was another milestone year for the Academy Awards with Jane Campion winning Best Director, and both Troy Kotsur and Ariana DeBose achieving firsts in Oscar history — first male deaf actor and first openly queer actress, respectively, to win an Oscar.

However, female representation at the Oscars took a dip this year, despite being on an upward swing recently. Only 23.2% of all the nominees were women, a decrease from the record 32.3% of the previous year.

With that statistic in mind, it's time to test yourself on the achievements women have made in the 94 year history of the Academy Awards.

Lights, camera, action!

1: WHO IS THE ACTRESS WITH THE MOST ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS?

2: HOW MANY NOMINATIONS DOES THIS ACTRESS HAVE?

[A] Glenn Close

[B] 18

[B] Frances McDormand

[C] 12

[C] Meryl Streep

[D] 15

[A] 21

[D] Katherine Hepburn

3: TRUE OR FALSE: ONLY ONE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN HAS WON BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

4: HOW MANY FEMALE DIRECTORS HAVE WON BEST DIRECTOR?

[A] True

[B] Two

[B] False

[C] Three

[A] One

[D] Four

5: WHO WAS THE FIRST LATIN AMERICAN WOMAN TO WIN AN ACTING OSCAR?

6: WHO IS THE ONLY PERSON TO WIN AN OSCAR FOR BOTH ACTING AND WRITING?

[A] Salma Hayek

[A] Reese Witherspoon

[B] Rita Moreno

[B] Barbra Streisand

[C] Ariana DeBose

[C] Greta Gerwig

[D] Penélope Cruz

[D] Emma Thompson

7: WHICH FILM STARRED THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN ACTRESS TO WIN AN ACADEMY AWARD?

8: JANE CAMPION IS THE FIRST WOMAN TO DO WHAT? [A] Win Best Director

[A] Gone with the Wind (1939)

[B] Be nominated for both directing and writing

[B] The Colour Purple (1984)

[C] Direct a Best Picture Winner

[C] Ghost (1990)

[D] Be nominated for Best Director twice

[D] Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

9: WHAT WAS NOTABLE ABOUT MARLEE MATLIN'S 1986 BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE WIN FOR CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD? [A] She was the oldest Best Actress winner [B] She was the first deaf person to win an Oscar [C] She only had 12 minutes of screen time in the entire film

10: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST PICTURE WINNERS WAS NOT WRITTEN, FULLY OR PARTIALLY, BY A WOMAN? [A] Shakespeare in Love (1998) [B] CODA (2021) [C] Nomadland (2020) [D] The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

ANSWERS: 1. [ C ]; 2. [ A ]; 3. True; 4. [ C ]; 5. [ B ]; 6. [ D ]; 7. [ A ]; 8. [ D ]; 9. [ B ]; 10.[ A ]

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