Journals (Nottingham Trent University)
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Diaspora and its effects on marginalised characters\u27 identities in Lainy Malkani\u27s Sugar, Sugar and the works of Milton Murayama.
No full textThis article combines the ideas of Lainy Malkani’s Sugar, Sugar (2017) with those of Nisei author Milton Muruyama. Using Muruyama’s celebrated All I Asking For Is My Body (1975) as a touchstone, the article presents ideas related to the economic and political impact of diaspora and its existence within colonial infrastructures. The article uses examples from both texts to forge links between colonialism, diaspora and the individual, concluding on the effects of these overarching power structures on identity. 
Sexual Orientation and Identity in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Get PDFThis article examines identity through a psychoanalytical reading of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, to examine the effects of an individual’s sexual orientation on their self-identity. The article considers factors both internal and external as I seek to provide insight into society’s often oppressive relationship with sexuality, providing contrasts between biological and psychological approaches to the subject
A, Response to MeToo: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
No full textA Response to MeToo
‘Sexual violence holds no race, no colour or class, but the response to sexual violence does.’[1] These words of Tarana Burke, the founder of MeToo back in 2007, exemplifies the movement as an outlet for women of colour, to change the culture of silence after sexual assault. Now taking their lead from women of Hollywood, women all over the world have taken to #MeToo to share their experiences of sexual violence and assault, in an effort to change laws and combat abuses of power. However, there has been a backlash. Women who consider Western law and culture to be supportive of victims of such crimes, and appropriately harsh on perpetrators, have spoken out against a movement they consider ‘infantilized women and denied them their sexual power.’[2] From the woman whose boss made an inappropriate comment, to the one brutally assaulted, dissenters feel that MeToo is felt to have denigrated the experience of real rape victims while simultaneously victimising womankind.
‘Rape is a crime’ is among the opening lines of the open letter to Hollywood sent by a collective of 100 prominent French women who feel the MeToo movement has gone too far. With a President that declared the country ‘sick with sexism,’[3] France has seen a simultaneous clamp down on male behaviour and an outpouring of scorn against the MeToo movement by French celebrities, who declare that it ‘goes beyond denouncing abuse of power.’ Marlène Schiappa (French politician serving as the Secretary of State in charge of Equality between Women and Men) explains:
“It’s a cultural problem. Some things have been accepted for years, for generations. People have thought, ‘Oh well, that’s just the way it is, boys will be boys.”
But the reaction of French women suggests they enjoy French culture and see no need for the changes they have been witnessing. Such changes include anti-harassment laws which allow police to register on-the-spot fines for perpetrators of verbal harassment. This include cat-calling and whistling, which while unpleasant, are considered by many, to be unworthy of an up to €750 fine. While on-the-spot fines do exist in other countries such as Finland, the law applies only to physical, and not verbal harassment. A law in Sweden proposes that people should seek agreement to sexual encounters ahead of time via an app, to be sure of consent. They appear not to have considered the fact that, not only does this prevent either party from changing their mind at the last minute, but it labels the man as the aggressor and the woman the victim, while ignoring the larger issue surrounding the 10% rise in rape cases across the country in the last year.[4] Vilified by the media and forced to apologise to sexual assault victims, Catherine Deneuve addresses real concerns for French women within the open letter, who are experiencing a cultural change, alongside changes to their laws. Deneuve says the implementation of MeToo in France has caused a new sexual Puritanism in which women are considered delicate and unapproachable, easily offended and most likely to fear the man that propositions them, whatever his manner.
The implications of MeToo also go beyond addressing abuses of power. Michelle Cottle writes ‘public shaming has eclipsed due process,’ referring to the fact that accusations against men are being immediately taken up by the media with only the word of the other party as evidence. This new age of ‘guilty until proven innocent’ has been damning and even fatal for some men who have been wrongly accused of these crimes. Others have had their name dragged through the mud, to be later cleared, having had their lives published for the world to read. Described as a ‘witch hunt and a threat to sexual freedom’[5] this new wave of media accusations supports a woman’s right to speak up, yet fails to support a man’s right to a fair trial. Although many celebrity cases have yet to see the inside of a courtroom, they have suffered the loss of their income due their employers wishing to distance themselves from the accused. According to Hillary Clinton, ‘sexual assault victims should be heard and believed;’ but at what cost for the men they accuse?
The MeToo movement and the rise in fear of a ‘rape culture’ in the West (a culture that supports or ignores rape or assault) has led to a further widening of the gap between the sexes. However, with an active condemnation for sexual assault and appropriately harsh sentences for offenders, the West does support those who speak out. While MeToo was originally conceived for those who feel unable to speak out, the worldwide nature of the movement has caused many to consider it not just unnecessary, but blatantly man-hating. Its collectivist nature ‘demonises an entire gender for the actions of a relative few’[6] and is a threat to a fair system of justice.
[1] Tarana Burke speaks to CNN, 11th January 2018
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/france-me-too/550124/
[3] http://www.france24.com/en/20180310-france-gets-serious-laws-sexual-harassment-transport-metoo-gender-pay-gap-fines
[4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5283339/Number-rapes-Sweden-10-year-figures-reveal.html >Accessed 14/ 04/ 18<
[5] Michelle Cottle
[6] Paul Joseph Watson speaking on Sexual Puritanis
The Red-Headed League
No full text‘Yes, it would be as well.’
‘And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This business at Coburg Square is serious.’
‘Why serious?’
‘A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to-night.
The Gig Economy: How Uber impacted the London taxi industry
Get PDFThis research project assesses the impact that the gig economy (specifically Uber) has had on the London taxi industry. This is a highly contentious and current problem that is affecting various stakeholders in the market. Uber has generated various controversies, with workers’ rights, regulation, unfair competition and their pricing strategy being key issues that are investigated in this project. This research project will focus on how the London Black Cab and consumers have been effected by Uber. Through the use of interviews and questionnaires the key issues that these stakeholders face are addressed.
Research found that the entrance of Uber has significantly increased the overall number of taxis in the market, causing a reduction in the market price. The impact on consumers is that there is now more choice when requiring a taxi, as well as cheaper fares for journeys. Black Cab drivers, on the other hand are incredibly frustrated by the introduction of Uber that has eroded the amount of business that is available and has increased congestion in parts of London
An evaluative comparison of the effectiveness between water-based and ethanol-based Basic Yellow 40 staining as a post ‘Super-Glue’ fingerprint enhancement technique
Get PDFFinger marks have often been considered to be one of the most valuable types of evidence that can be found at crime scenes. Cyanoacrylate fuming or “Super-glue” fuming is the most widely used chemical technique for latent finger mark enhancement on non-porous surfaces. There has been extensive research regarding the comparison of various enhancement techniques following cyanoacrylate fuming. However, it seems little research has been conducted regarding the differences between water-based and alcohol-based fluorescent dyes. This project assessed the effectiveness of water-based Basic Yellow 40 (BY40) against the conventionally used ethanol-based Basic Yellow 40 in terms of its ability to enhance finger marks to produce clear friction ridge detail. Both non-porous and semi-porous substrates were used, all of which are frequently submitted to operational forensic laboratories for finger mark enhancement. All substrates underwent cyanoacrylate fuming followed by the application of dyes under equal conditions, along with an equal time between processes. The results indicate that water based BY40 is a suitable enhancement technique for plastic substrates such as freezer bags and self-seal bags, and appears equivalent to ethanol based BY40 for metal substrates. As a conclusion, water-based fluorescent dyes have the potential to be introduced in order to reduce the health and safety risks associated with the flammability of ethanol, as well as being more cost-effective
Creating and Maintaining Identities in Political Discourse: A Corpus Driven Analysis
Get PDFCombining qualitative and quantitative approaches, campaign speeches, UN Addresses and State of the Union Addresses given by Barack Obama were analysed. Using the Brown corpus and LOB corpus as reference corpora, the top 50 keywords in each sub-corpus and their collocation and colligation patterns were identified and used as points of entry for a further qualitative analysis. The semantic implications of the lexical items in the key word list suggested that prevalent themes throughout all of the speeches were conflict and the economy. A collocation and concordance analysis of the salient grammatical patterns determined through the key word lists yielded results which exposed a prevalent pattern of the key lexical items being ideologically manipulated to enhance Obama’s political identity and to create and maintain a relationship with his audience. This was primarily achieved through the rhetorical strategies of predication and parallelism. Through qualitative analysis, the key linguistic and rhetorical patterns were cross- referenced with the topic under discussion to reveal that they were primarily being utilised to discuss the salient discourse themes and predominant social issues of the economy and conflict
Rupi Kaur, Giving the voice back to the voiceless
Get PDFAn article looking at the effect on Kaur\u27s milk and honey, in regards to domestic abus
An Introduction to Queer Theory: And its application to \u27The Prussian Officer\u27
No full textFirst full draft of \u27An Introduction to Queer Theory\u27