LIFE & STYLE// 25
Just a Little Respect Please
physically coerce me to engage in sexual activity with him when I didn’t want to. The first time, I had my drink spiked and found myself in a state of undress in an alley way with a guy I didn’t know. The second time, I was dating a guy who, almost immediately after we started spending time with each other, would quite aggressively try to emotionally and verbally force me to have sex with him. Once when we were both drinking at a party he actually tried to drag me to his bedroom when I was clearly resisting and didn’t want to go. On a third occasion, I took a guy home with me who actually tried to trick me into doing things despite my being explicitly clear I did not want to and was not going to have sex with him. These are the three stand-out instances, but there were plenty of other times, particularly when alcohol was involved, when perfectly ‘normal’ guys would not treat me respectfully, to say the least. None of them seemed to comprehend that they did not have the right to have sex with me, even if I did show interest in them or wanted to engage in any form of relationship with them; that my own desires and comfort were equal to
their own. After each occasion, I did not feel like a victim, nor particularly scarred or damaged. Instead all I felt was anger towards the male population or indeed society that allowed this lack of respect to exist and thrive. After the third occasion, I actually began to pursue women, mainly due to the fact that I felt less threatened by sexual relationships with the same gender. But that’s a story for a different time. Let’s go back to that word “respect” though. Some of you might feel that my experiences are unfortunate, but extreme. On the other end of the spectrum, some of you might feel I’m making a fuss out of nothing, that these things happen all the time, particularly when there has been drinking and maybe a lack of communication. Some of you might even suggest that I had only myself to blame, choosing the ‘wrong’ guys and getting myself into bad situations. Whatever you’re thinking, I want you to disregard it for now and only think about respect. Can you honestly say that you have treated every human
If I’m all dressed up, if I flirt with you, even if I go home with you, you have no right to my body.
RECKLESS ROSIE This article discusses issues to do with sexual consent and may be distressing for some readers. WHILE I was in second and third year of university I was, as you might say, harassed or assaulted by some men in my life on a number of occasions. I was fortunate enough to avoid rape; however, I found myself in at least three scary and uncomfortable situations where the man I was with either tried to emotionally, verbally or
being you have been romantically and/or physically involved with with respect? I’m not trying to make this an issue about gender, or say that sex is bad; on the contrary, sex can be fantastic. What I am saying is that every person should be experiencing it in a healthy way, where they can feel safe, comfortable and respected. Here is what I wish someone had taught all those boys along the way, whose thoughtlessness and lack of understanding left me that tiny bit more broken, bitter and scared each time. If I smile at you, if I engage in conversation, even if I accept that drink you buy for me, you have no right to my body. If I’m all dressed up, if I flirt with you, even if I go home with you, you have no right to my body. If we’ve been dating a night, a week, a month, six months, a year, at no point are you due, nor do you have the right to my body. Believe it or not, even if we are married, you have no right to my body at any point in time. I am another human being, who may be perfectly willing and happy to have sex with you, but deserving of the respect and consideration to not have sex with you at any point in time. Who knows what might happen if we all started respecting each other a little more The Canberra Rape Crisis Centre can be contacted on 02 6247 2525 or online at www.crcc.org.au/.
Studying for the Love of Money
DAVID WRIGHT
“WHAT degree will you do?” It is the question that you were probably asked a thousand times during O-Week. You are probably sick of hearing it already. I have asked or answered this question 100+ times recently and have come to realise that the answer is nearly always the same. Almost unfailingly, the ANU student studies Law, Commerce or Science. Philosophy, History, English Literature students…where are you? It seems The ANU students have not the time for disciplines such as these. Except, perhaps, as a side dish to their Law degrees. This impression is confirmed by the stats. According to The ANU Planning and Statistical Services, Commerce is the most popular undergraduate degree at The ANU, followed very closely by Law and Science. Everyone knows why study is so heavily concentrated in these three fields: students want jobs after leaving University. They figure, not unreasonably, that studying Law, or whatever, will chart a vector clear of Centrelink. It is not just the ANU of course. The other major Australian universities are very similar, if not the same. The flight to studying Law and Commerce etc. is just part of the broader flight to vocational study. It is not new either. The Australian educa-
tion system has been transforming along these lines for decades. Nevertheless, this should give us cause for a pause. A deep pause. For where does this leave Australian education? Ever since the enlightenment it has been understood that an education should be more than a means to some economic end. An education should be more than a credential. What we study here at the ANU should be for a greater purpose than the job it lands us and for more people than just ourselves. Echoing the enlightenment tradition, the Nobel Laureate Bertrand Russell compared educating a person to a gardener attending a great tree. A gardener nurtures and feeds the tree only to help it grow in it’s own way. An education requires treating people as “something with an intrinsic nature” who will “develop into an admirable form”, he said. The celebrated American philosopher John Dewey thought something similar. For Dewey, the purpose of an education was for the betterment of freedom and democracy. Education was
an important stepping-stone to a society where “free human beings associated with one another on terms of equality.” However the enlightenment conception of education seems to be melting into air. In Australia, those who get the school grades to study Law, almost inevitably go on to study Law. Those who do not get the grades to do Law, do Commerce or something similar. There is a sad kind of determinism to it. There aren’t just economic forces guiding the mass of students towards vocational degrees. There are social factors too: the expectations of peer group or class or pressures from family. Confronting these pressures is never easy. Other parts of the world do things differently. For example, it is very common for top academic achievers in the United Kingdom who get the grades to study Law to choose not to. In England, the education system is a lot freer of the pressure to study something with the inten-
Ever since the enlightenment it has been understood that an education should be more than a means to some economic end.
tion of gaining the relevant job. One of the most competitive undergraduate degrees in Britain is PPE: a combined degree of Politics, Philosophy and Economics. The most competitive is plain old mathematics. Not Law or Medicine. Those who graduate in the UK with degrees such as PPE go on to get jobs. It is very common for British graduates in Philosophy and the like, to go on and work in financial institutions in London. Including this article’s author. This cultural difference is most stark in the case of Law. A lawyer without a Law degree is almost inconceivable in Australia. This is not so in the UK. Back in 2008, the highest paid British lawyer had a history degree. Indeed, some high profile British lawyers even speak out against studying Law. For instance, Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption QC, once warned against studying Law because it “narrows the mind and blunts curiosity”. There is nothing wrong with studying Law, Commerce or Science and there is nothing wrong with wanting a job or wanting your degree to help you get there. The problem comes when we all start treating degrees as job certificates. When we do this, we are left with an impoverished understanding of what education actually is. We are all the worse off for it.