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Flight cancelled after parents demand free upgrade for their child

A flight was delayed for hours before being ultimately cancelled after two parents demanded that their child was upgraded to first class for free. A plane in China was grounded for three hours after the parents caused a ruckus with the cabin crew, and were eventually kicked off the aircraft. According to a fellow passenger, the argument kicked off when an unsupervised child began to sob uncontrollably after boarding a flight from Chengdu to Beijing. As it turned out, the inconsolable toddler’s parents were seated in first class but had only bought their child an economy ticket. It was then that the angry dad confronted the staff, demanding that his son be moved to first class at no extra cost. According to the South China Morning Post, the irate dad explained that because he had already paid for two first class tickets, his child’s upgrade should be free. In the clip shot by a fellow passenger, the outraged dad began berating a group of passengers, crew members, and security guards as they repeatedly explained why his child isn’t entitled to an upgrade. “Stop swearing at me,” fumed the father. “You have no right to do that.” When a security guard attempts to de-escalate the situation, the parent lays into him, shouting: “What gives you the right to order me about?” This prompts a woman to retort: “You’ve wasted too much of our time and we won’t tolerate it any longer.” After three hours of back and forth, the couple were eventually kicked off the plane, while the flight was cancelled. The entitled passenger has since been rinsed on social media with one commenter fuming, “This man is so selfish.” Others suggested solutions for the father that didn’t involve the airline giving the man an extra first-class seat. “He can switch seats,” advised one person. “Let him sit in economy class, and have the mum take care of the child in the first-class cabin.” Some on social media were quick to chastise the airline for their handling of the situation, with one person writing, “Keeping the quarrel going for hours? The problem-solving skills of the crew are poor.” Image credits: Twitter

Travel Trouble

Vale ‘sister suffragette’: how Glynis Johns became a pop-culture icon in the story of votes for women

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ana-stevenson-196768">Ana Stevenson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lindsay-helwig-1500979">Lindsay Helwig</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> Glynis Johns, most famous for her role as the suffragette mother Mrs Winifred Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), passed away last week at the age of 100. A fourth-generation performer who made her <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-17-ca-126-story.html">stage debut</a> in London when she was only three weeks old, Johns inherited her Welsh father’s love of acting. She appeared with him in The Halfway House (1944) and The Sundowners (1960) and argued for the establishment of a Welsh National Theatre <a href="https://twitter.com/huwthomas/status/791367871242862592">as early as 1971</a>. Johns’s career spanned eight decades in Hollywood, Broadway and the British stage and screen. As Palm Springs’s Desert Sun <a href="https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19630426.2.50">reported</a> in 1962, her “husky voice and big blue eyes” were her hallmarks. But it was her portrayal of Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins which would make her a pop culture icon. <h2>A childhood inspiration</h2> Feminist activists and scholars often describe the Mrs Banks character as a childhood inspiration. As feminist communications scholar Amanda Firestone <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Resist_and_Persist/s5HiDwAAQBAJ">reflects</a> on the film: "I especially loved […] Mrs Banks (Glynis Johns), who marches around the family home, putting Votes for Women sashes onto the housekeeper, cook, and the (departing) nanny. Of course, as a kid, I had no idea that the people and events embedded in the song’s lyrics were actual parts of history, but I did find a kind of joy in a vague notion of women’s empowerment." Set in 1910, the symbolism associated with Mrs Banks references the history of the British suffragettes. Johns’ musical showstopper, Sister Suffragette, directly refers to <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-pankhursts-politics-protest-and-passion/">Emmeline Pankhurst</a>, who founded the militant Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. In 1906 British newspapers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859007003239">coined</a> the moniker “suffragette” to mock the union. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K0SDECwO54E?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> This ambivalence continued into the 1960s. Historian Laura E. Nym Mayhall <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4316653">argues</a> that American concern over the impact of women’s public roles on their domestic responsibilities influenced the film’s depiction of Mrs Banks, especially her movement from a public suffragette back into an involved mother at the film’s end. For Mayhall, the figure of the suffragette emerges in popular culture as “a symbol of modernity”: a harbinger of democracy and political progress whose characterisation would elide ongoing struggles such as the civil rights movement. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption>This 1909 Dunston Weiler Lithograph Co. anti-suffrage postcard offers resonances of Mrs Banks and her household staff in Mary Poppins. <a class="source" href="https://thesuffragepostcardproject.omeka.net/items/show/44">Catherine H. Palczewski Postcard Archive/The Suffrage Postcard Project</a></figcaption></figure> While some see the character of the suffragette mother as <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Mary_Poppins/BLujEAAAQBAJ">supporting</a> women’s votes during the 1910s and women’s liberation during the 1960s, other readings of the film suggest a more satirical representation of the suffrage movement. Some historians even find <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-6923118">resonances</a> of anti-suffrage propaganda in Mrs Banks, including in her usage of her Votes for Women sash as the tail of a kite in the film’s final scene. Looking back at film reviews offers insight into how audiences received this character – and, by extension, Johns as an actor. American studies scholar Lori Kenschaft <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Girls_Boys_Books_Toys.html?id=Or13vhnA_W4C">suggests</a> that film critics who saw Mrs Banks as a “nutty suffragette mother” reiterated popular stereotypes about suffragettes and feminists being “mentally unbalanced”. Such stereotypes may have been reinforced by the film’s depiction of motherhood and the nuclear family. Involved parenting emerged as the bedrock of the 1960s nuclear family, an idea both supported and actively promoted by Walt Disney in both his films and his theme parks, as <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Children_Childhood_and_Musical_Theater/XHrRDwAAQBAJ">argued</a> by American musicologist William A. Everett. As Mrs Banks, Johns embodied the transition from the distant, uninvolved parenting of the British middle-class in the earlier 20th century to the involved mother who facilitated the stable nuclear family. As women’s studies scholar Anne McLeer <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4316893">argues</a>, Mary Poppins, through Johns’ portrayal of Mrs Banks, demonstrated the liberated woman of the 1960s could be contained within the nuclear family: the bedrock for a Western capitalist economy. <h2>A long career</h2> Beyond Mary Poppins, her most prominent role was in Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical A Little Night Music (1973). Johns originated the character of ageing actress Desiree Armfeldt, becoming the first to sing Send in the Clowns. As she <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-17-ca-126-story.html">reflected</a> of the classic in 1991: "It’s still part of me. And when you’ve got a song like Send in the Clowns, it’s timeless." Sondheim composed this song with Johns’s famously husky voice in mind. Yet some were less enamoured with her performance. One 1973 theatre critic <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3850619">described</a> Johns as “a now somewhat overage tomboy, kittenish and raspy-voiced, precise and amusing in her delivery of lines but utterly, utterly unseductive.” <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OAl-EawVobY?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> A veteran of stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. In 1998, she was honoured with a Disney Legends Award for her role as Mrs Banks. Johns also received critical acclaim throughout her career, including a Laurel Award for Mary Poppins and a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for A Little Night Music. Regardless of how incongruous her status as a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-05/glynis-johns-mary-poppins-send-in-the-clowns/103287036">Disney feminist icon</a>” may be, Johns’s extraordinary influence upon the 20th century’s cultural memory is a remarkable legacy. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220766/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ana-stevenson-196768">Ana Stevenson</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lindsay-helwig-1500979">Lindsay Helwig</a>, Lecturer in Pathways, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> Image credits: Disney This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vale-sister-suffragette-how-glynis-johns-became-a-pop-culture-icon-in-the-story-of-votes-for-women-220766">original article</a>.

Caring

Passengers stranded after three-year cruise abruptly cancelled

When Life At Sea <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/travel/cruising/world-first-three-year-cruise-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> their world-first three-year voyage in early 2023, many were quick to jump at the opportunity to spend the next years of their life onboard. People from around the globe <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/travel/cruising/meet-the-woman-preparing-to-spend-three-years-at-sea#xd_co_f=YTM5MzVmOGQtNTY4My00NWE1LThjNDctMTUxMjJlNjVhMWNj~" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold their homes</a> and belongings to fork out the hefty $180,000 price tag to spend 36 months travelling the world, with their once-in-a-lifetime voyage set to kick off in November. But now, as their departure date loomed, Life At Sea have left passengers stranded after abruptly cancelling the trip in its entirety. Life at Sea Cruises was scheduled to depart from Istanbul, Turkey on November 1st but departure was relocated and delayed twice to November 30th, before passengers were informed on November 17th the cruise was off, according to CNN. The news outlet reported that the ship that was destined to be the vessel of the three-year journey was bought by another company just one day before the voyage was cancelled. The owner of Life at Sea Cruises’ parent company Miray Cruises, then confirmed they couldn’t afford the ship because investors had pulled out “due to unrest in the Middle East” – but suggested they were working on getting another ship and a new departure date. The idea that the vessel would be replaced filled some travellers with hope they would still be embarking on their three-year adventure, before CEO of Miray Cruises was forced to clarify: “In case we weren’t clear, the Life at Sea cruise trip is cancelled.” Passengers were devastated by the news, with those who thought they had locked in the next three years of their lives telling CNN they felt “incredibly sad”, “angry” and “betrayed”. “I had the next three years of my life planned to live an extraordinary life, and now [I have] nothing,” said one cruiser. “I don’t think they will ever understand how much damage they’ve caused us,” said another. The more than $180,000 three-year trip had been celebrated by big cruising fans and called a “nightmare” and “claustrophobic” by critics across social media. The company’s website is still advertising the cruise as normal, with a countdown stating on Monday it was three hours “until we go for an adventure of a lifetime”. Image credits: Life At Sea

Travel Trouble

Flight cancelled after passenger's sickening act

A flight has been cancelled at the last minute after a passenger allegedly defecated on the floor of the airplane bathroom. The EasyJet flight was due to depart from the Spanish island of Tenerife to London’s Gatwick airport, which had already been delayed by several hours when the incident took place. A passenger on board by the name of Aaran Gedhu told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/easyjet-flight-canceled-defecation-incident/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> that the problems began when the scheduled plane was switched out for a smaller aircraft. Passengers were turned away from boarding the plane while the switch took place, which stirred up a frustrated atmosphere amongst passengers. After travellers eventually made it onto the plane two hours after their scheduled departure, they had to wait for their luggage to be transferred to the new plane, which again took several hours. As the delay extended, the atmosphere on the packed flight was characterised by "suspense and anger," Gedhu said. "EasyJet planes, as they are, just aren't very comfortable – it's just a basic seat with okayish legroom room. So everyone was just a bit tense," he said. "Then, the pilot finally gave the all clear, and then he said that it will be about 20 minutes until departure," recalled Gedhu. "And that's when the incident happened with the defecation." Gedhu, who was seated in the middle of the aircraft, saw "two passengers" visit the front airplane bathroom with word quickly spreading that someone had defecated on the bathroom floor. As an unpleasant smell followed, passengers grew more irritated, but Gedhu says most people onboard believed the incident was an "accident". "Everyone was being polite to each other. There was no fighting amongst the passengers," he said. "It was just a very uncomfortable experience. Obviously, the plane was in an unsanitary state. So they had to get external cleaners out from the airport to clean it. So that's when the stairs reconnected, and the cleaners came on to deep clean the flooring." According to Gedhu, passengers remained in their seats during the cleaning process, and after the situation had been resolved, the captain of the aircraft told the plane's occupants they would have to disembark. "It was very frustrating," another passenger, Kitty Streek, told CNN Travel. "We obviously can't prove whether the person simply had an accident or if they had done this out of anger for the delayed flight but it was hard not to be angry either way as nobody wants to be stranded in another country." Image credits: Getty Images

Travel Trouble

"Magical": Ed Sheeran crashes wedding after cancelled Vegas concert

Ed Sheeran, the man of the hour, recently pulled off a surprise move that left a wedding chapel feeling less little and a lot more magical. After recently being forced to <a href="https://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/ed-sheeran-fans-left-devastated-moments-before-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrap his Las Vegas gig</a> due to some venue woes, he stumbled upon a teeny spot he couldn't resist: The Little White Wedding Chapel. In a moment that's now etched in matrimonial history, Sheeran couldn't resist the urge to crash Jordan and Carter Lindenfield's intimate wedding ceremony. And boy, oh boy, was it a surprise! The couple were just about to say their "I dos" when up popped Ed Sheeran like a musical jack-in-the-box. Strolling in with an acoustic guitar and a gang of backup singers, ready to serenade the lovebirds with his upcoming single, "Magical", the jaw-dropping, starstruck expressions from the bride and groom said it all. After Sheeran finished crooning his heart out for the tearful duo, they sealed the deal with a kiss and the all-important certificate-signing ritual. But here's the kicker: Sheeran himself became an official witness to their nuptials, sheepishly admitting: "This is the first time I've been a witness." As if the entire affair wasn't surreal enough, Ed took to Instagram to immortalise the moment, captioning it with the understatement of the century: "Crashed a wedding, this is Magical." The fans, always ready to hop on the Sheeran bandwagon, couldn't contain their excitement in the comments section. Some were so swept away by the thought of Ed showing up at their own weddings that they contemplated tying the knot, fiancé or not. "I never wanted to get married, but if this could happen, I might reconsider," one fan playfully quipped. Another enthusiastic soul chimed in, "You can crash my wedding too! No date set, and I'm still looking for the fiancé, but hey, baby steps." This isn't the first time Sheeran has indulged in his wedding-crashing whims. In 2015, he made headlines by gatecrashing a wedding ceremony in Sydney, courtesy of a local radio station. They had organised the dream wedding for a couple who had faced some serious hardships, so Sheeran decided to sprinkle some stardust on their special day. Fast forward to the present, and Ed's spontaneous wedding performances are still going strong. This latest magical moment came hot on the heels of his Las Vegas concert cancellation. He had to break the news to fans just an hour before showtime. But he then went on to assure everyone that the safety of his fans was his top priority. "I really am gutted," he confessed, but promised that the rescheduled show on October 28 would be nothing short of spectacular.

Music

Bruce Springsteen cancels shows after being "taken ill"

Bruce Springsteen's upcoming performances have been unexpectedly put on hold due to his falling ill, leading to the postponement of his scheduled shows. A sudden announcement, posted on the singer's official X account, has informed fans that the show dates will be rescheduled. "Due to Bruce Springsteen having been taken ill, his concerts with The E Street Band at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on August 16 and 18 have been postponed. We are working on rescheduling the dates so please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled shows." This announcement emerged mere hours before the debut show, just as eager fans were anticipating a memorable experience with Springsteen and his band. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Due to Bruce Springsteen having been taken ill, his concerts with The E Street Band at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on August 16 and 18 have been postponed. We are working on rescheduling the dates so please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled… — Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) <a href="https://twitter.com/springsteen/status/1691872953414115424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2023</a></blockquote> This occurrence isn't the first instance where the music icon had to modify a show at the 11th hour due to health issues. Earlier this year, Springsteen communicated the postponement of his March 9 event at the Nationwide Arena in Ohio, attributing it to "illness." No explicit details about his health condition were disclosed in that instance either, but fans were encouraged to retain their original tickets for the rescheduled shows. Following the Ohio cancellation, two more postponements were subsequently declared. The performance originally slated for March 12 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut has been rescheduled to September, while the March 14 show at the MVP Arena in Albany, upstate New York, was similarly postponed. Both changes were tied to unspecified health concerns. During this period, Steven Van Zandt, a member of the E Street Band, assuaged fans' concerns. He reassured them via Twitter, stating: "No need to be anxious or afraid. Nothing serious. Just a temporary situation. We will all be back in full force very soon." The band embarked on their tour in February, commencing in Tampa and traversing the United States before crossing the Atlantic to Europe in April. Returning to the United States in August, Springsteen and his crew intended to entertain audiences for several more months before culminating the extensive tour on December 10 in San Francisco. With a career spanning over 50 years, the seasoned singer-songwriter shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Caring

Woman divides internet after cancelling her brother's wedding

A woman has divided the internet after admitting to cancelling her brother's wedding without telling him, after consistently being treated poorly by her future sister-in-law. The 27-year-old shared that the "extreme" moment came after countless mean comments, wedding planning gone wrong and a selection of financial problems. Writing on Reddit's "Am I The A**hole?" thread, the woman wanted advice on if she was in the wrong. The woman explained that her brother, 30, and his fiancée Ella, 28, had been together three years but the two women were never particularly close. "Honestly, we never got along but I always tried to put up a peaceful front because my brother seemed blissfully happy with her," the poster explained on the online forum. "Ella was mean to me a lot ... She would make comments about my weight, my makeup, and especially my dog. She hated animals and hated that I would bring my lab, Toast, to my parents or my brothers house." After her brother popped the question, she was shocked when Ella asked her to be her Maid of Honour, given their turbulent relationship. Despite this, she agreed to the role, thinking it was the "sisterly" thing to do. "What I failed to realise when I accepted the role was that to her [Maid Of Honour] meant planning the entire wedding. Like I was booking venues, florists, jazz band, everything," the woman wrote. "Even worse she expected me to put my MY credit card down for all of it... Every time I asked Ella about it, she would say that it would all be paid back by her parents before the wedding." It wasn't until three weeks before the wedding that the relationship between the two women took a turn for the worst. "I asked if she had received the updated receipt of everything owed when she exploded," she said. "She called me a whole line of terrible names but the one that stuck out was her saying 'What do you need the money for anyway? Your sick dog is dead now'." "My beautiful Toasty died about a month before this after he fought the bravest battle with cancer. He was my soul dog and I was devastated." Ella's hurtful comments went a step too far, leading the woman to "immediately called the vendors and cancelled any deposit under my card. Every. Single. One." "After almost 20 calls, all that was left of her wedding was the dress and the flower arch." The woman told her brother what she had done, and said she would no longer be attending their wedding if it still went ahead after her revenge plan. She then ignored calls from her future sister-in-law, forcing her to deal with all the wedding fallout. Most people took to the comments in support of the woman's "revenge", saying she would have been saddled with footing the bill. "MOH duties do NOT include planning the whole wedding and they certainly do NOT put down all the deposits and pay for the wedding," one person wrote. "If you ask me, it sounds 100% like they were going to stiff you for the wedding. I don't believe for a minute her parents were paying for it." Another wrote, "You didn't cancel the wedding. You extricated yourself from an abusive and exploitative situation. They're still free to marry, on their own thin dime." While most people supported the woman's actions, there were a handful of comments that believed the woman had gone too far with her revenge, but also agreed her sister-in-law treated her very poorly. After the original post went viral, the poster shared an update that she is now speaking to her brother again and that the couple didn't make it down the aisle. They are currently on a "break" with Ella no longer in possession of an engagement ring. Image credits: Shutterstock

Relationships

‘Existential questions’: is this the beginning of the end of the Commonwealth Games?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hunter-fujak-290599">Hunter Fujak</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/damien-whitburn-1455572">Damien Whitburn</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Tuesday that the Victorian government has withdrawn from its commitment to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, citing an anticipated cost blowout from an original estimate of A$2.6 billion to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/18/australia-commonwealth-games-2026-victoria-cancels-event-after-funding-shortfall">over $6-$7 billion</a>. Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips described the decision as “beyond disappointing”. Phillips questions the government’s figures, <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2023/07/18/commonwealth-games-federation/">saying that the</a> cost of running the Gold Coast event in 2018 was $1.2 billion and the 2022 Birmingham Games was $1.8 billion. The government said existing funding set aside for the games will remain invested in regional projects intended to create an event “legacy”. Aside from the viability of the 2026 event, Victoria pulling out of hosting the event raises the broader question of whether the Commonwealth Games will survive. <h2>How has this happened?</h2> Victoria secured the Commonwealth Games in April 2022 with a unique multi-region model that sought to bring the event to regional Victoria. Despite the obvious risks and costs associated with decentralising a major event away from pre-existing infrastructure in Melbourne, Andrews <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-confirms-bid-for-2026-commonwealth-games-20220216-p59wvp.html">noted</a> at bid submission that "Victoria is Australia’s sporting state, and, if awarded the 2026 Commonwealth Games would demonstrate to the world a new way to deliver the competition." Andrews made clear the decision to withdraw was entirely financial, stating that the new estimated cost of potentially over $7 billion “does not represent value for money”. When pressed at his media conference to provide accountability as to how his government’s costing could have been so grossly inaccurate, Andrews said that certain event costs were unforeseeable. "What could not be reasonably foreseen, and was not foreseen, was the costs incurred in terms of services, security, transport […] there were estimates that were made and those estimates are clearly well and truly under the actual cost." The Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Australia dispute these costs estimates. They <a href="https://www.commonwealthsport.com/news/3594069/response-to-victoria-government-2026-commonwealth-game-host-withdrawal">signalled</a> the blame for any cost overruns lies with the Victorian government. "The numbers quoted to us today of $6 billion are 50% more than those advised to the Organising Committee board at its meeting in June." :Since awarding Victoria the Games, the Government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth Games Australia." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Bit of a long one this morning. You might have heard the news this morning that Victoria will no longer be hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games. And I wanted to tell you about the decision. — Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1681087774110384128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <h2>The implications</h2> The decision to withdraw from hosting the event will still incur costs. This includes pre-existing costs related to staffing contracts, renting premises and marketing, as well as to-be-determined contractual break costs as negotiated with the Commonwealth Games Federation. The financial costs of the withdrawal, however, may pale against the longer-term reputational damage done to Victoria and perhaps Australia more broadly. This decision may also damage Andrews’ reputation. In proposing an untested regional games delivery model, it was incumbent on the government to adopt a particularly rigorous process to ensure the the event’s viability, which does not appear to have been done. <h2>Is Victoria still Australia’s ‘sporting capital’?</h2> Victoria has long proclaimed itself Australia’s (and even the world’s) <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.143058285756777">sporting capital</a>. The state has developed an unparalleled portfolio of major sport events since the 1980s, and become a global exemplar in executing major events in the process. But withdrawing from the 2026 Commonwealth Games arguably represents Australia’s most prominent sporting failure of the past half-century, and is a significant reputational blow to Victoria’s sporting pre-eminence. What’s more, in an <a href="https://inqld.com.au/news/2023/07/12/take-that-melbourne-brisbane-now-rated-as-australias-sports-capital/">annual global ranking of sport cities</a> published last month, before the Commonwealth Games decision, Brisbane (15th) leapfrogged Melbourne (23rd) and Sydney (44th) to become Australia’s top ranked. Brisbane’s success isn’t only attributable to its impending hosting of the 2032 Olympics. Its ranking also recognises that the FIFA Women’s World Cup is being played predominantly in the north-east Australian states due to <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/soccer/not-a-realistic-option-why-the-matildas-aren-t-playing-at-the-mcg-20230717-p5doxk.html">stadium challenges</a> associated with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/03/melbourne-falls-short-in-womens-world-cup-venue-allocation">AFL-orientated</a> Victoria. Meanwhile, South Australia’s recent sporting successes include the hosting of <a href="https://www.afl.com.au/news/906620/afl-to-gather-round-again-in-sa-for-next-three-years">AFL Gather Round</a>, LIV Golf and recent procurement of the <a href="https://supernetball.com.au/news/location-2024-ssn-grand-final-revealed#:%7E:text=Adelaide%20will%20host%20the%202024,at%20the%20Adelaide%20Entertainment%20Centre.">2024 Super Netball</a> final from Victoria. Victoria’s grip on the “sports capital” title is increasingly tenuous. <h2>The end of the Commonwealth Games?</h2> Perhaps the most critical question is the viability not only of the 2026 Games, but also the broader Commonwealth Games movement. Victoria’s withdrawal continues a trend of recent instability. In 2017, the South African city of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-games-commonwealth-durban-idUSKBN16K1UN">Durban</a> was stripped of 2022 hosting rights for a failure to meet key obligations around governance, venues and funding. However, whereas the Commonwealth Games Federation had just under 2,000 days to secure a replacement host for 2022, Victoria’s withdrawal has occurred only 973 days prior to the start of the event. The movement’s broader existence is perilous given there’s a shrinking pool of host cities. Victoria was the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/melbourne-set-to-step-into-breach-as-2026-commonwealth-games-host-city-20220118-p59p6r.html">only formal applicant</a> for the 2026 edition. This is a challenge faced by large sporting events more broadly, with potential applicants <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Sport-Management-in-Australia-Organisation-Development-and-Global-Perspectives/Karg-Shilbury-Phillips-Rowe-Fujak/p/book/9781032330242?_ga=1233395845.1684800000">increasingly wary</a> of the significant costs. Even the summer and winter Olympic Games have increasingly struggled to attract applicants. This resulted in the <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/2024-2028-host-city-election">unprecedented</a> move to simultaneously award the 2024 and 2028 summer games to Paris and Los Angeles in 2017 – normally the summer games are awarded to one city at a time. With seemingly little global appetite to host the event, and broader cultural discussions in Australia and abroad surrounding the role of the monarchy, existential questions surround the Commonwealth Games movement.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209961/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hunter-fujak-290599">Hunter Fujak</a>, Lecturer in Sport Management, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/damien-whitburn-1455572">Damien Whitburn</a>, Lecturer, Sport Management, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/existential-questions-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-commonwealth-games-209961">original article</a>.

Travel Trouble

2001: A Space Odyssey still leaves an indelible mark on our culture 55 years on

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-abrams-122305">Nathan Abrams</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bangor-university-1221">Bangor University</a> 2001: A Space Odyssey is a landmark film in the history of cinema. It is a work of extraordinary imagination that has transcended film history to become something of a cultural marker. And since 1968, it has penetrated the psyche of not only other filmmakers but society in general. It is not an exaggeration to say that 2001 single-handedly reinvented the science fiction genre. The visuals, music and themes of 2001 left an inedible mark on subsequent science fiction that is still evident today. When <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Kubrick/Robert-P-Kolker/9781639366248">Stanley Kubrick</a> began work on 2001 in the mid-1960s, he was told by studio executive Lew Wasserman: “Kid, you don’t spend over a million dollars on science fiction movies. You just don’t do that.” By that point, the golden age of science fiction film had run its course. During its heyday, there was a considerable variety of content within the overarching genre. There had been serious attempts to foretell space travel. Destination Moon, directed by Irving Pichel and produced by George Pal in 1950, and, in mid-century, Byron Haskin’s Conquest of Space both fantasised space travel and, in Haskin’s film, a space station, which Kubrick would elaborate on in 2001. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oR_e9y-bka0?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>The trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey.</figcaption></figure> Most 1950s science fiction films, though, were cheap B-movie fare and looked it. They involved alien invasions with an ideological and allegorical subtext. They were cultural, cinematic imaginations of the danger of communism, which in the overheated political atmosphere of the time was seen as an imminent threat to the American way of life. The aliens in most science fiction films were out simply to destroy or take over humanity; they were expressions, to use the title of a Susan Sontag essay, of “<a href="https://americanfuturesiup.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/sontag-the-imagination-of-disaster.pdf">the imagination of disaster</a>”. There were some exceptions, including Byron Haskin’s film version of The War of the Worlds and Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. By 1968, then, as the lights went down, very few people knew what was about to transpire and they certainly were not prepared for what did. The film opened in near darkness as the strains of Thus Spake Zarathustra by Richard Strauss were heard. The cinema was dazzled into light, as if Kubrick had <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/stanley-kubrick/9780813587110">remade Genesis</a>. The subsequent 160 or so minutes (the length of his original cut before he edited 19 minutes out of it) took the viewer on what was marketed as “the ultimate trip”. Kubrick had excised almost every element of explanation leaving an elusive, ambiguous and thoroughly unclear film. His decisions contributed to long silent scenes, offered without elucidation. It contributed to the film’s almost immediate critical failure but its ultimate success. It was practically a silent movie. 2001 was an experiment in film form and content. It exploded the conventional narrative form, restructuring the conventions of the three-act drama. The narrative was linear, but radically, spanning aeons and ending in a timeless realm, all without a conventional movie score. Kubrick used 19th-century and modernist music, such as Strauss, György Ligeti and Aram Khachaturian. <h2>Vietnam</h2> The movie was made during a tumultuous period of American history, which it seemingly ignored. The war in Vietnam was already a highly divisive issue and was spiralling into a crisis. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tet-Offensive">Tet offensive</a>, which began on January 31 1968, had claimed tens of thousands of lives. As US involvement in Vietnam escalated, domestic unrest and violence at home intensified. Increasingly, young Americans expected their artists to address the chaos that roared around them. But in exploring the origins of humanity’s propensity for violence and its future destiny, 2001 dealt with the big questions and ones that were burning at the time of its release. They fuelled what Variety magazine called the “coffee cup debate” over “what the film means”, which is still ongoing today. The design of the film has touched many other films. Silent Running by Douglas Trumbull (who worked on 2001’s special effects) owes the most obvious debt but Star Wars would be also unthinkable without it. Popular culture is full of imagery from the film. The <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stanley-kubrick-2001-a-space-odyssey-music/">music</a> Kubrick used in the film, especially Strauss’s The Blue Danube, is now considered <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/702734/planetarium-brief-history-space-music">“space music”</a>. Images from the movie have appeared <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfK9pEQZyy0">in iPhone adverts</a>, in The Simpsons and even the trailer for the new <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/12/16/trailer-for-greta-gerwigs-barbie-spoofs-classic-film-in-best-way-17951854/">Barbie movie</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8zIf0XvoL9Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>2001: A Space Odyssey’s influence on this Barbie movie trailer couldn’t be more obvious.</figcaption></figure> The warnings of the danger of technology embodied in the film’s murderous supercomputer HAL-9000 can be felt in the “tech noir” films of the late 1970s and 1980s, such as Westworld, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-alien-mutated-from-a-sci-fi-horror-film-into-a-multimedia-universe-204567">Alien</a>, Blade Runner and Terminator. HAL’s single red eye can be seen in the children’s series, Q Pootle 5, and Pixar’s animated feature, Wall-E. HAL has become shorthand for the untrammelled march of artificial intelligence (AI). In the age of ChatGPT and other AI, the metaphor of Kubrick’s computer is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/movies/ai-movies-microsoft-bing-robots.html">frequently evoked</a>. But why when there have been so many other images such as Frankenstein, Prometheus, terminators and other murderous cyborgs? Because there is something so uncanny and human about HAL who was deliberately designed to be more <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01439685.2017.1342328?journalCode=chjf20">empathic and human than the people in the film</a>. In making 2001, Stanley Kubrick created a cultural phenomenon that continues to speak to us eloquently today.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209152/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-abrams-122305">Nathan Abrams</a>, Professor of Film Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/bangor-university-1221">Bangor University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-still-leaves-an-indelible-mark-on-our-culture-55-years-on-209152">original article</a>.

Movies

Everything A-OK? New history shows the way to Sesame Street wasn’t always easy outside US

Associate Professor Helle Strandgaard Jensen based at Denmark’s Aarhus University, says while Sesame Street producers presented their content as both diverse and universal, the underpinning US values and assumptions about children often led to cultural clashes in other countries. <div class="copy"> With children’s culture again at the centre of debates about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/26/censorship-or-context-australian-book-industry-wrestles-with-how-to-refresh-outdated-classics" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banning or re-writing books</a> and what makes for <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/abc-accused-of-grooming-kids-after-drag-queen-appeared-on-play-school/news-story/efc1dd82aa4fb6b01a4c575e2f40e589" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appropriate children’s television</a>, Jensen says a historical approach can provide the opportunity for more informed discussions. Sesame Street debuted on television in the US in 1969 (it came to Australia in 1971) and according to its US website: “…has made a positive impact in children’s lives ever since.” The show says: “Sesame Street brings critical early education to children in 150+ countries”. While Sesame Street’s universality was marketed to international audiences, Jensen says the show is shaped by US assumptions about children’s role in society, cognitive psychology and the role of media in education. In European countries like the UK, Germany and Scandinavia there was a more progressive view about children, she says. As a result, the program was sometimes met with hostility by foreign television producers and broadcasters. In Jensen’s home of Denmark, Danish broadcasters rejected the show outright. Instead adapting their own children’s program Legestue to <a href="https://www.shcy.org/features/commentaries/helle-strandgaard-jensen-on-kermits-chubby-danish-cousin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">incorporate a frog</a> named Kaj inspired by Kermit, but one that “loves jazz and talks back to adult authority”, she says. In Germany, where <a href="https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Sesamstrasse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Sesamestraße’</a> is celebrating its 50th anniversary, local co-producers made their own content spliced together with US content, and added their own puppets including a piglet Purk, a snail Finchen and Leniemienie the mouse. German produced content portrays the child at the centre, encouraging them to question authority, and often revealing the hypocrisy or flaws of adults, Jensen says. It was an approach that sometimes resulted in pushback from the US based Childrens Television Workshop, she says. For instance, in one local clip, an adult is attending to some flowers in their garden, mowing an area of grass containing different flowers. The children ask, ‘which flowers are the good flowers?’ In another, a woman walks past a child having to do an emergency wee in public. ‘That’s disgusting!’ the woman says. But as she walks further, her dog relieves itself on the pavement, and the woman doesn’t pick it up the waste. German Ministry of Education guides to accompany the show rejected traditional gender roles, taught children about the body and emphasised society based on collaboration, including unions. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"> <div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 500px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" data-spai-bg-prepared="1"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" class="" style="display: block; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 400px; height: 656px; flex-grow: 1;" title="Twitter Tweet" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=cosmosmagazine&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1612139711304273922&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fcosmosmagazine.com%2Fpeople%2Fhistory-sesame-street%2F&sessionId=6d9a2d118b670e8e312cee283ceca4c065b3acf7&siteScreenName=cosmosmagazine&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=500px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-spai-bg-prepared="1" data-tweet-id="1612139711304273922"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> In Europe, children’s television was seen as offering something separate to school, a way to empower children and support their own understanding of the world. The European view was more based in sociology and journalism – asking children directly about what they wanted – rather than cognitive psychology, Jensen says. For example in the UK, television producers would survey children about what they were interested in, their views, and make content based on that. Another key difference was the highly commercial landscape of television in the US, Jensen says. This was different to Europe and places like Australia where public broadcasters could afford to produce content for children that was more experimental. She says reflecting on the past is important as children’s viewing is increasingly dominated by streaming platforms, many of which are based in the US and dominated by American programming. The ABC began broadcasting Sesame Street twice-daily in 1971. While Jensen’s book doesn’t specifically address the response to the show in Australia, she says a lot of her archival research included information shared between the public broadcasters the ABC and BBC, which had a strong co-production tradition. “One of the ways the BBC learned about what happened in the Children’s Television Workshop and making Sesame Street was via their Australian friends in the ABC,” she says. Jensen says as early as 1970 an Australian journalist at The Bulletin was questioning whether the show imposed American culture on children in other countries. In the article, ‘Entertaining Australians to be Americans’, Sesame Street founder Joan Ganz Cooney says she had few reservations about imposing US culture on Australian audiences. “For good or ill the whole world is being Americanised,” she says. Children’s Television Workshop describes the sale of Sesame Street to 26 foreign countries, including Australia, as an opportunity to study the universality of the program, according to The Bulletin. Sesame Street: A Transnational History is set for <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/45872/chapter-abstract/400828941?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">release in Australia in May</a>. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="SESAMSTRASSE Folge 1 (Teil 1)" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6-sJKRPuaiM?feature=oembed" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </figure> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=245054&title=Everything+A-OK%3F+New+history+shows+the+way+to+Sesame+Street+wasn%26%238217%3Bt+always+easy+outside+US" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /> <div class="in-content-area more-on"> </div> </div> <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/history-sesame-street/">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/petra-stock">Petra Stock</a>. Petra Stock has a degree in environmental engineering and a Masters in Journalism from University of Melbourne. She has previously worked as a climate and energy analyst. </div>

Why why WHYYYY Tom Jones' biggest hit is ‘cancelled’

Choirs have been informed that they are no longer allowed to perform Welsh singer Tom Jones’ classic “Delilah” during international rugby matches at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. The announcement, made on Wednesday, came after allegations of misogyny, sexism, racism, and homophobia within the Welsh Rugby Union. Prior to banning the song, claims of a toxic culture within the WRU’s governing body were made public during a TV documentary, and chief executive Steve Phillips issued his resignation. Previously in 2015, the WRU had removed “Delilah” from its Test match playlists and half-time entertainment, but now guest choirs have been asked not to perform it. “‘Delilah’ will not feature on the playlist for choirs for rugby internationals at Principality Stadium,” a spokesperson for the stadium confirmed. “Guest choirs have also more recently been requested not to feature the song during their pre-match performances and throughout games,” he continued, “the WRU condemns domestic violence of any kind. "We have previously sought advice from subject matter experts on the issue of censoring the song and we are respectfully aware that it is problematic and upsetting to some supporters because of its subject matter." The lyrics of concern, written in the 1960s, reference a woman’s murder at the hands of her jealous partner. “I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door. She stood there laughing,” the song goes, “I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more.” The decision to ban the song has been met with mixed response, with many unsure that it was the right step towards tackling the WRU’s issues - or if it was even a step at all. “All the things they need to do,” tweeted WRU wing Louis Rees-Zammit, in what is believed to be a comment on the situation, “and they do that first…” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> All the things they need to do and they do that first….😶 — Louis Rees-Zammit ⚡️ (@LouisReesZammit) <a href="https://twitter.com/LouisReesZammit/status/1620804107392155654?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2023</a></blockquote> “Wrongheaded,” was what Welsh Conservative shadow sport minister Tom Giffard said of the decision. “One that amounts to simple virtue signalling, designed to ease the pressure the WRU are currently under. Calls to ban the song span at least the last decade, yet the WRU have chosen now to act.” He went on to state that people would rather see “institutional change” within the WRU, with better working practices and a refined complaint process. But, as he put it, “instead they are choosing to ban a much loved Tom Jones song. This action will solve nothing." Images: Getty

Music

Female artists earn less than men. Coming from a diverse cultural background incurs even more of a penalty – but there is good news, too

Artists all over the world, regardless of their gender, earn <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/handbook-of-the-economics-of-art-and-culture">considerably less</a> than professionals in occupations requiring similar levels of education and qualifications. But there’s an additional income penalty for artists who are female. In an analysis of gender differences in the incomes of professional artists in Australia that <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/the-gender-pay-gap-among-australian-artists/">we undertook in 2020</a>, we found the creative incomes of women were 30% less than those of men. This is true even after allowing for differences in such things as hours worked, education and training, time spent in childcare and so on. This income penalty on women artists was greater than the gender pay gap of 16% experienced in the overall Australian workforce at the time. <a href="https://theconversation.com/screen-australia-celebrates-its-work-in-gender-equality-but-things-are-far-from-equal-122266">Some sectors</a> of the arts have tried to redress this problem. However, women continue to suffer serious and unexplained gender-based discrimination in the artistic workplace. Cultural differences are <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w27725">also known</a> to influence pay gaps in many countries. In new research <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/culture-and-the-gender-pay-gap-for-australian-artists">out today</a>, we considered whether cultural factors might also affect the gender pay gap of artists in Australia. In addition, we analysed the gender pay gap for remote Indigenous artists for the first time. <h2>A larger gap for women from a non-English speaking background</h2> In our <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/making-art-work/">2016 survey of 826 professional artists</a> working in metropolitan, regional and rural Australia, we asked participants if they came from a non-English speaking background. Only a relatively small proportion of artists – 10% – came from a non-English-speaking background, compared to 18% for the Australian labour force as a whole. A non-English-speaking background appears to carry an income penalty only for women artists, not for men. We found the annual creative earnings of female artists from a non-English-speaking background are about 71% of the creative incomes of female artists whose first language is English. But there is little difference between the corresponding incomes of male artists. Within the group of artists from language backgrounds other than English, the annual creative earnings of female artists are about half (53%) those of their male counterparts. By contrast, the ratio of female to male creative earnings among English-speaking background artists is 73%. These results suggest that women artists from a non-English-speaking background suffer a triple earnings penalty – from being an artist (and hence as a group earning less than comparable professionals), from their gender, and from their cultural background. Despite this earnings disadvantage, 63% of artists who identified as having a first language other than English thought their background had a positive impact on their artistic practice. Only 16% thought it had a negative impact. When artists were asked whether being from a non-English speaking background was a restricting factor in their professional artistic development, 17% of women answered “yes”, compared to only 5% of men from a similar background. Nevertheless, like their male colleagues, these women artists continue to celebrate their cultural background in their art. They contribute to the increasingly multicultural content of the arts in Australia, holding up a mirror to trends in Australian society at large. <h2>No gender gap in remote Indigenous communities</h2> For First Nations artists working in remote communities, a different picture emerges. For this research, we used results for remote communities in three regions of northern Australia drawn from our <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/257301">National Survey of Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists</a>. The gender gap is not replicated among remotely practising First Nations artists. There are some minor variations in this finding for subgroups in different regions, depending in part on differences in the mix of visual and performing artists in the population. But whatever other differentials may exist between female and male earnings, they do not appear to be attributable to the sorts of systemic gender-based discrimination that affects the residual gender gap for other Australian artists. A possible reason relates to fundamental differences between the cultural norms, values and inherited traditions that apply in remote and very remote First Nations communities. Gender roles in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/can.1992.7.2.02a00020">described</a> by researchers as distinctively different, rather than superior or inferior. The importance of both women and men as bearers of culture has been clearly articulated. The unique cultural content of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, dance, visual art and literature is an essential feature of the work of these artists. These characteristics pass through to the marketplace, and there does not appear to be any obvious gender gap in the way the art from these remote communities is received. There is always differentiation between the art produced in different remote regions of Australia which varies depending on the complexities of different inherited cultural traditions. But there is no indication of any gender-based discrimination associated with these regional differences. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/female-artists-earn-less-than-men-coming-from-a-diverse-cultural-background-incurs-even-more-of-a-penalty-but-there-is-good-news-too-195646" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Art

When it comes to music, not all cultures share the same emotional associations

<div class="copy"> Most of us have deep emotional reactions to <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/physics/recent-musical-research-of-note/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/physics/recent-musical-research-of-note/">music</a>, which is <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/culture/music-really-is-a-universal-language/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/culture/music-really-is-a-universal-language/">a central part of human cultures</a> around the world. But our ideas about what makes music sound happy or sad are not universal, suggests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269597" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new research</a> published today in PLoS One. The Australian-led study mainly focused on differences in people’s emotional perceptions of music in major and minor keys. In Western cultures, music in a major key is almost universally perceived as happy, and music in a minor key as sad. Transposing a melody from major to minor seems to instantly introduce a mournful or ominous feel, as demonstrated by this rendition of the “Happy birthday” song. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="Happy Birthday in C Minor" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ipyVmkcUXPM?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> However, the study found that these emotional associations were not shared by some remote communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) who had little exposure to Western music. “The most important finding of the study is that the degree of familiarity with major and minor music plays a large role in people attributing happiness to major and sadness to minor,” says Eline Smit, who led the study as part of her PhD at Western Sydney University. For the new study, Smit and her colleagues investigated emotional associations of major and minor keys in people living in Sydney and in several villages in Uruwa River Valley in PNG. The valley is only accessible via small plane or multi-day hike, and the villages have similar musical traditions but varying levels of exposure to Western-style music. The researchers played various recordings pairing one major and one minor melody or cadence (a series of chords) to the participants, who were asked to indicate which tune made them feel happy. <div style="position: relative; display: block; max-width: 100%;"> <div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://players.brightcove.net/5483960636001/HJH3i8Guf_default/index.html?videoId=6308675222112" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> An example of a recording played to research participants in the study. The musical samples are preceded by the word “ingguk” (one) or “yoi” (two). In this example, the first music sample is in a major key and the second in a minor key. <a href="https://osf.io/c3e9y/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://osf.io/c3e9y/">Media courtesy Eline Smit</a>. “Western listeners and the PNG groups exposed to Western music were more likely to say the major cadence or melody was the happy one,” Smit explains. That is, these groups were likely to say that the first melody in the example above sounded happy. “However, the PNG group with minimal exposure to Western music showed no preference for choosing major as the happy cadence or melody,” Smit continues. “They were just as likely to choose the minor version.” <div style="position: relative; display: block; max-width: 100%;"> <div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://players.brightcove.net/5483960636001/HJH3i8Guf_default/index.html?videoId=6308677000112" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> Another example of a recording from the study. In this example, the first music sample is in a minor key and the second in a major key. <a href="https://osf.io/c3e9y/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://osf.io/c3e9y/">Media courtesy Eline Smit</a>. Smit, who is also a trained classical pianist, became interested in <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/social-sciences/musical-instruments-can-mimic-speech/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/social-sciences/musical-instruments-can-mimic-speech/">the relationship between music and emotions</a> during her PhD. Her research focuses on people’s emotional responses to unfamiliar musical systems. “This study has shown some more insight into the role of the degree of familiarity on having particular emotional responses to music, but this does not mean that there are not any universal responses,” she says. “For the future, it would be interesting to further disentangle the impact of prior exposure and familiarity on responses to music.” Image credits: Getty Images  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=196349&title=When+it+comes+to+music%2C+not+all+cultures+share+the+same+emotional+associations" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /> </div> <div id="contributors"> This article was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/emotional-reactions-to-music-cultural/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Matilda Handsley-Davis. </div>

Music

Why people are calling for Nicole Kidman to be "cancelled"

Nicole Kidman has come under fire for failing to speak out against luxury fashion brand Balenciaga, with many calling for the actress to be "cancelled" over her silence. The big-name brand is under intense scrutiny after releasing a series of photographs showing children holding stuffed animals dressed in bondage gear to promote their new collection. Another image shows a hidden document referencing a real-life court case about child pornography. As the images began to go viral on social media, Balenciaga was accused of promoting the sexualisation of children and “child abuse”. Nicole Kidman has a long history of working with the brand, and stars in the luxury Spring 2023 fashion campaign. Other celebrities associated with the brand, such as Kim Kardashian, have spoken out in protest against Balenciaga, expressing their "disgust and outrage" over the campaign images. Kidman posted images of her Spring ‘23 campaign with Balenciaga to her Instagram account on November 22, around the time the controversial promo pictures were released, and has provided no comment on the controversy. That silence has registered with her fans, many of whom took to the comments section beneath her post. “Shame on you,” one user wrote. “Silence is deafening. So disappointed,” wrote another. <div> Another fan wrote, “Oh, sweet Nicole, you best remove this and cut ties with this company! Going to lose many fans.” “Um – have always loved you Nicole but I’m shocked you haven’t said anything about the horrendous photos that this brand you’re representing posted,” one follower said. Following the public outcry surrounding the images, Balenciaga deleted all its Instagram posts of the campaign and shared a statement of apology on the social media platform. <div> “We sincerely apologise for any offence our holiday campaign may have caused,” read the statement, which was shared last week. “Our plush bear bag should not have been featured with children in this campaign." “We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.” Image credits: Getty Images </div> </div>

Beauty & Style

10 of the world’s strangest food museums

Le Musée Art du Chocolat de Lisle sur Tarn, Lisle-sur-Tarn, France A weird and wonderful tribute to the sweet stuff, the Le Musée Art du Chocolat de Lisle sur Tarn is dedicated to the world of chocolate art. Chocolate elephants? Check. Chocolate candle holders? Check. There’s even a chocolate fountain – and by that, we mean one made entirely from chocolate. The sculptures, some of which weigh around 100 kilograms, are displayed in three halls. Must-sees include the life-sized chocolate woman and the huge white chocolate of the main character of the comic series The Adventures of Tintin. We’re getting a sugar rush just thinking about it. Dutch Cheese Museum, Alkmaar, Netherlands Thought tulips were the Netherlands’ biggest export? Think again, it’s cheese, more specifically, Edam and Gouda. Learn more at this brilliant Dutch Cheese Museum, which explores the history of the cheeses and how they’re made. It’s tucked inside one of Alkmaar’s oldest buildings, the 16th century Cheese Weigh House in Waagplein Square. Our favourite bit? The bright yellow, cheese-inspired decor and the super-sized model cow, designed to provide visitors with an insight into the milking process. Cup Noodle Museum, Yokohama, Japan Amazingly, the Cup Noodle Museum is one of several museums in Japan dedicated to instant noodles, otherwise known as ramen. The sheer size of this museum is a reminder of the nation’s love of the foodstuff – there are several enormous halls, including one containing a replica of the shed in which the first type of ramen was invented (it was chicken-based if you were wondering). There’s plenty for younger visitors, who can whiz down slides in a noodle-themed playground and swim through a ball pool resembling a cup of ramen soup. Don’t forget to check the noodle-themed marble run, either, it features 4,000 marbles and represents the various stages of ramen production. Friet Museum, Bruges, Belgium The Friet Museum is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the world’s only museum dedicated to what is widely known as French fries, but which are known as Belgian friet in this part of the world. Visit this Bruges attraction and you’ll learn all about the humble potato (first grown in Peru 10,000 years ago) and can admire various friet-related masterpieces, including drawings of the city’s famous Frituur chip stalls. The strangest exhibit? The enormous – but weirdly beautiful – display of friet fryers. Carpigiani Gelato Museum, Carpigiani, Italy The Italians are serious about how they make their ice cream, proof of which is the Carpigiani Gelato Museum in Bologna. You’ll find it inside what was once a factory owned by Carpigiani, the manufacturer of the world’s first ice cream-making machine. Exhibits include the ornate tin-plated boxes used by Italy’s first gelato sellers, along with a huge selection of gelato-related gadgets. There’s also a large workshop where you can sign up for lessons in gelatology, possibly the world’s coolest subject. The Herring Era Museum, Siglufjörður, Iceland Herrings might not sound like a very exciting item of food, but visitors to The Herring Era Museum will certainly leave with a new appreciation of the small, oily fish. The museum, inside a former salting station, looks at how, in the 20th century, the herring industry transformed this tiny village into a thriving town, with 23 herring salting stations and five herring processing plants. Sadly, over-exploitation of stocks meant the industry ground to a halt, but the tiny museum is a reminder of a period of time referred to by locals as the Atlantic Klondike. Pizza Hut Museum, Kansas, USA The Pizza Hut Museum opened in Wichita, Kansas in 2017, on the very same site of the first Pizza Hut restaurant. It’s packed full of pizza-related memorabilia, including the first Pizza Hut pizza pan used in 1958, when the restaurant opened. Other rare items include Pizza Hut Barbie dolls, menus, staff lists from the 1950s, and signage from the first restaurant. You’ll also be able to admire the original recipe for the brand’s famous sauce, scrawled on a napkin by the employee who perfected it. Poli Grappa Museum, Bassano del Grappa, Italy It’s probably a good idea to leave the car at home before a visit to the Poli Grappa Museum because samples of Italy’s famous liquor certainly aren’t in short supply. The museum is small but well laid out, with three rooms filled with exhibits relating to the famous Italian grape-based brandy. One notable highlight is the beautiful collection of antique stills, although many visitors make a beeline for the third room in order to sample some of the varieties produced by the nearby Poli Distillery. The Idaho Potato Museum, Idaho, USA America’s favourite tuber is the star of the show at The Idaho Potato Museum, which is home to both the world’s largest potato and the world’s largest potato chip, along with a wealth of potato-related facts. There are entire sections dedicated to tools used to harvest potatoes in the early 1900s, along with the world’s largest collection of mashers. And don’t forget to visit the café, where you can indulge in a chocolate-dipped potato. The Spam Museum, Minnesota, USA Learn about the world’s most divisive processed meat with a visit to The Spam Museum, a huge attraction examining the food’s rise to global domination. Not convinced? Check out the exhibit relating to its role in WWII, when Spam became a staple for servicemen and women. Then there’s the display of 15 varieties of Spam sold around the world. There are plenty of opportunities for taste tests, just look for one of the museum’s guides known as Spambassadors. Written by Tamara Hinson. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/10-of-the-worlds-strangest-food-museums" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA87V" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here’s our best subscription offer.</a> Image: Courtesy Friet Museum

International Travel

Airlines to cough up millions in refunds and fines over delays and cancellations

Frustrated travellers subject to major delays or cancellations to their US flights could be entitled to a portion of $US 600 million ($NZ 978 million) in refunds from six airlines forced to refund their customers. The airlines have been ordered to pay back customers by the US Department of Transport as part of “historic enforcement actions”. Under US law, customers must be refunded by airlines or ticket agents if the airline cancels or significantly changes a flight to, from or within the US and they don’t want to accept the alternate offer. The department also ordered the airlines to pay a total of $US 7.25 million ($NZ 11.83 millIon) in fines for “extreme delays in providing refunds”. “When a flight gets cancelled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly. Whenever that doesn’t happen, we will act to hold airlines accountable on behalf of American travellers and get passengers their money back.” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/more-600-million-refunds-returned-airline-passengers-under-dot-rules-backed-new" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a> shared on Monday. “A flight cancellation is frustrating enough, and you shouldn’t also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund.” According to 7News.com.au, the refunds apply to both US and international travellers. The fines and refunds vary from airline to airline, with the affected airlines including: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Frontier Airlines - ordered to refund $US 222 million ($NZ 362.2 million) and pay $US 2.2 million ($NZ 3.6 million) in fines </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Air India - to pay back $US 121.5 million ($NZ million) and fined $US 1.4 ($NZ 2.3 million) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> TAP Portugal - with refunds totalling $US 126.5 million ($NZ 206.3 million) and fines of $US 1.1 million ($NZ 1.8 million) </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Aeromexico - to refund $US 13.6 million ($NZ 22.1 million) and pay $900,000 ($NZ 1.4 million) in fines </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> El Al - due to pay $US 61.9 million ($NZ 100 million) in refunds and $900,000 ($$NZ 1.4 million) in fines </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Avianca - with total refunds of $US 76.8 million ($NZ 125.2 million) and a fine of $US 750,000 ($NZ 1.2 million) </li> </ul> Most of the fines will be paid to the Treasury Department, with the remainder to be credited based on airlines paying customers beyond the legal requirement. According to Blane Workie, the assistant general counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection DOT, the refunds have either already been made or customers should have been informed of them. Image: Getty Images

International Travel

Democracy spreads in waves – but shared cultural history might matter more than geography

Recent events like the war in Ukraine, conflicts over Taiwan and the rise of authoritarian ideology have renewed interest in the foundations of modern democracy. They have raised questions about why some nations are more democratic than others, and how democratic institutions, freedoms and values are spread or lost. We tend to think of this variation in terms of geography – democratic Western Europe or autocratic Middle East. But in a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/shared-cultural-ancestry-predicts-the-global-diffusion-of-democracy/90C7A170B924FC305DD66FF8853799FC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new analysis of 220 years of political data</a>, we show that deep cultural connections between countries such as shared linguistic or religious ancestry matter more than geography. <h2>Waves of democratisation</h2> The emergence of modern democracy coincides with the rise of nation states in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Democracy spread across European nations and their colonies, over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave:_Democratization_in_the_Late_Twentieth_Century" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three waves</a>. The first wave lasted about a century, from 1828 to 1926, halting after the first world war. A second, rapid wave (1945-1962) followed the second world war and decolonisation. The third wave began in 1974 and continues today. It encompassed political transitions and new countries in Europe, Latin America and the Pacific. Each wave was followed by a period of reversals when nations turned to autocratic regimes, junta or fascism. Indeed, some researchers speculate we are heading into <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1582029" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another period of reversal</a>. <h2>What drives modern democracy?</h2> Scholars traditionally considered factors internal to a country – economic growth, rates of education or the natural environment – as the drivers of these waves. However, the geographic clustering of democracy and the wave-like pattern of expansion suggest the process may also involve a kind of contagion where democracy passes from one nation to another. One explanation for this is that democratic change spreads across borders, so that neighbouring countries end up with similar levels of democracy. Culture provides another explanation. Neighbouring countries tend to share a common cultural heritage, such as related languages or religions. This shapes national institutions, norms and values. In our research, we tested the idea that common cultural ancestry explains variation and change in democracy around the globe. We brought together 220 years of democracy data with information on the cultural relationships between nations. The cultural relationships we examined were based on languages and religious beliefs. For example, Portugal is linguistically closer to Spanish-speaking Argentina and Spain than to England and Germany (which speak Germanic languages). Likewise, Myanmar, a Theravada Buddhist country, is religiously closer to Mongolia (where Vajrayana Buddhism is predominant) than to Muslim Malaysia. <h2>Culture is more important than geography</h2> The democracy data we studied cover 269 modern and historical nations and three widely-used democracy indicators, measuring democratic and autocratic authority in governing institutions (<a href="https://www.systemicpeace.org/polityproject.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Polity 5</a>), electoral participation and competition (<a href="https://www.prio.org/data/20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vanhanen Index</a>) and individual rights and freedoms (<a href="https://freedomhouse.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Freedom House</a>). Across all three indicators of democracy, we found countries that share linguistic or religious ancestry tend to have more similar democracy scores. These shared cultural ties were better predictors of democracy than geography, especially during the third wave of democratisation. Knowing the democratic status of a country’s linguistic or religious relatives helps predict that country’s future level of democracy five, ten or even 20 years later. These effects were not just due to countries sharing a language (for example, the English-speaking world) or religion (such as the Sunni Islam majority countries). This suggests deeper cultural connections between countries are important. <h2>What this means for the spread of democracy</h2> These effects could be the result of a number of processes. One possibility is that countries directly inherited institutions along the same pathways they inherited cultural features like language. For instance, Aotearoa New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries inherited the British legal system along with the English language. Another possibility is that cultural similarities might make countries more likely to maintain ongoing social connections, including foreign relations, which then aid the spread of institutions. For example, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-arab-spring-changed-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-forever-161394" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arab Spring</a> spread among a set of countries with common linguistic and religious heritage. A third possibility is that inherited cultural values could steer countries towards similar institutions. For example, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0769-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in previous research</a> we found that tolerance of diversity (cosmopolitan values) promotes a shift to more democratic institutions, but the reverse is not true. Democratic institutions do not shift tolerance. Countries that have inherited cosmopolitan values as part of their shared cultural ancestry may be more likely to shift towards democracy. If this theory is correct, it calls into question the assumption that democratic institutions can endure without sustained efforts to promote the cultural values that support them. The US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq may be tragic examples of this. Our findings indicate cultural history matters for understanding the spread of democracy around the globe. This does not mean culture is the only factor at play (our analyses still leave a lot of variation unexplained). Neither do our findings speak to a population’s ultimate potential to achieve democratic outcomes, but we see this as within the reach of all populations. This means those wishing to support democracy at home or abroad should take cultural barriers seriously. We cannot assume that institutions that work well in one cultural setting can be easily transplanted to another, very different setting, with different values, norms and traditions. We should pay more attention to culturally closely related countries that have succeeded at merging local norms and values with democratic institutions. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/democracy-spreads-in-waves-but-shared-cultural-history-might-matter-more-than-geography-189959" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Legal

14 mind-blowing facts about selfies

They’re a window into your personality It turns out that your favourite selfie pose can say a lot about your personality. In a study published in Computers in Human Behaviour, researchers connected self-portrait styles to specific character traits. For example, conscientious people tend to hide the location of their selfies, showing that they’re concerned with maintaining privacy. Those who appear positive and look directly into the camera tend to be more agreeable. Incidentally, those who have a go-to “duck face” pose are more likely to be emotionally unstable. They can be a red flag Psychologists believe that taking selfies can become a dangerous addiction. More often than not, those addicted to taking and posting selfies are suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, or depression, all of which can significantly interfere with your daily functioning. British psychologist Dr David Veal, says selfie-addiction is a “mental health issue with an extremely high suicide rate.” Seek help if you feel yourself needing to snap selfies compulsively. They date back to the 16th century You might think selfies started with smartphones, but they have a much longer history. The first-ever selfie was painted in 1524 using oil on wood. In “Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror,” 21-year-old artist Parmigianino depicted his own reflection. This young artist had no idea he was 500 years ahead of a booming trend! They weren’t always easy to take Parmigianino’s oil painting self-portrait aside, the first photographic selfie as we know it today was taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as tapping his thumb on an iPhone’s front-facing lens. Cornelius had to set up the camera on a stand, remove the lens cap, run into the frame, sit for five minutes, then sprint back and replace the cap. In this exhausting process, he took what is believed to be the first photographic self-portrait. Some cities take more selfies than others Though selfies are a global phenomenon, it turns out that some cities produce more than others. Time investigated the geography of selfie-snapping by building a database of more than 400,000 digital self-portraits with the caption, “#selfie.” They then mapped out the photos’ geographic coordinates and managed to rank 459 cities based on the number of selfies they generated. The study concluded that Makati City in the Philippines is the ‘Selfie Capital of the World,’ followed closely by Manhattan and Miami in the US. They’re not only taken here on Earth Everyone loves an exotic selfie, including NASA’s astronauts. Believe it or not, multiple selfies have been taken in outer space. Buzz Aldrin proudly took the first space selfie during the Gemini 12 mission in 1966. That’s one small step for man, one giant step for self-portraits. Women take more than men In every city analysed, women take more cities than men – but the differences greatly vary by area. In Bangkok, women take 55.2 per cent of all selfies, which isn’t that much more than men. In New York, however, women take 61.6 per cent of selfie snaps, which is considerable. Moscow, by contrast, has the greatest disparity, with women taking a whopping 82 per cent of all selfies! It seems Russian men simply aren’t that interested in documenting their own reflection. They can make great book material If you’ve been suffering with writer’s block, perhaps you should follow Kim Kardashian’s example and just fill your novel with selfies. In May of 2015, Kardashian published a book called Selfish, which is 448 pages long and comprised entirely of her favourite selfies. Sound absurd? Apparently not. Selfish quickly became a New York Times bestseller. It’s a young person’s sport As one might expect, selfies are especially favoured by millennials. The average age of selfie-takers is 23.6. However, this average may soon take a dip, as preteens are gaining momentum, snapping more digital self-portraits every year. They’re all about the hashtag As selfies have grown in popularity over the last few years, the corresponding hashtag has remained their official label and link. According to Instagram, the first ever photo captioned with “#selfie” was uploaded by a Jennifer Lee on January 16, 2011. Since then, Instagram has had over 227 million self-portraits posted with the same hashtag – and that number grows by the minute. It’s been the word of the year In 2013, “selfie” was named The Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year. Most years, there will be some disagreement or debate over which word should receive the honour, but in 2013, ‘selfie’ was chosen almost unanimously and expected from the start. And how could they not choose it? Selfie’s usage in the English language had increased by 17,000 per cent that year alone. They aren’t always welcome There has been a growing ban on selfie-taking, specifically when using selfie-sticks as tools. Disneyland’s Paris, Hong Kong, and American theme parks have forbidden the use of selfie sticks on their premises. The Palace Museum in Beijing and the Sistine Chapel in Italy have done the same. Even festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago and Coachella in California have called for a halt. It looks like visitors will have to document their fun the old fashioned way: by extending their arms. They aren’t always what they seem The purpose of a self-portrait is to reflect your true self in a moment worth capturing. Sadly, it seems online selfies, more often than not, don’t actually portray reality. According to a recent survey, 68 per cent of selfie-takers admitted to editing their photos before sharing online. This number is up from 48 per cent of people who admitted to doctoring their selfies in 2014, suggesting that the pressure to appear perfect has only increased. They’re not the majority Although selfies may seem to be every other picture you encounter online, they fortunately aren’t the majority of all photos taken. In fact, people take selfies far less than we assume. Only 4 per cent of all images are actually selfies (depending on the city). The other 96 per cent of photos feature monuments, food, pets, shoes, friends, family, and more. Written by Aubrey Almanza. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/culture/14-mind-blowing-facts-about-selfies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA87V" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here’s our best subscription offer.</a> Image: Getty Images

Technology

Romance fiction rewrites the rulebook

Romance fiction has one of the most recognisable brands in book culture. It is known for a handful of attributes: its happy-ever-after endings, the pocket Mills & Boon and Harlequin editions, the covers featuring Fabio (in the 1990s) or naked male torsos (the hot trend in the 21st century). It is known for being overwhelmingly written and read by women, and for being mass-produced. But romance fiction is also the most innovative and uncontrollable of all genres. It is the genre least able to be contained by established models of how the publishing industry works, or how readers and writers behave. Contemporary romance fiction is challenging the prevailing wisdom about how books come into being and find their readers. For our book <a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781625346612/genre-worlds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction and Twenty-First Century Book Culture</a>, coauthored with Lisa Fletcher, we conducted nearly 100 interviews with contemporary authors and publishing professionals. Our research shows that fiction genres are not static. They do not constrain artistic originality, but provide the kind of structure that sparks creativity and passion. Genre fiction can be understood as having three dimensions. The textual dimension is what happens on the page. The industrial dimension is how the books are produced. And the social dimension is the people who write, read and talk about genre fiction. These three dimensions interact to create what we have called a “genre world”. Each distinct genre world (such as fantasy or crime) combines textual conventions, social communities and industry expectations in its own way. And romance is the most fast-paced, rapidly changing genre world of them all. When it comes to genres of articles, we have a soft spot for the listicle. So, here are five things you may not know about contemporary romance fiction – five things that show the dynamism at the heart of book culture. <h2>1. Romance is at the forefront of digital innovation</h2> Twenty-first century publishing has seen fundamental shifts in the way books are produced, distributed and consumed, largely thanks to digital technology. The romance genre is notable historically for its rapid production and consumption cycle. As a result, it has been well placed to adapt to the widespread uptake of digital publishing, which also moves rapidly. Romance writers and publishers are entrepreneurial and comfortable taking risks. The moment constraints are released, romance writers rush in. This is exactly what has happened with self-publishing. Since the advent of <a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kindle Direct Publishing</a> in 2007, hundreds of thousands of romance books have been self-published there. Other opportunities have blossomed on sites such as <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wattpad</a> or through print-on-demand services such as <a href="https://www.ingramspark.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IngramSpark</a>. In Australia, for example, there was a 1,000% increase in the number of self-published romance novels between 2010 and 2016. Some self-published romance novels have achieved mind-boggling success. Anna Todd’s 2014 romance novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_(Todd_novel)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After</a>, originally fan fiction based on the band One Direction, drew more than 1.5 billion reads on Wattpad. It was subsequently acquired by Simon & Schuster and has spawned a movie series. In other cases, romance authors have formed co-ops to publish work together. <a href="https://tulepublishing.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tule Publishing</a> is a small, largely digital publisher with a limited print-on-demand service that produces multi-author continuity series as part of its publishing model. The Tule authors we interviewed spoke of their strong community and creative connections. The self-publishing of genre fiction has blurred the lines between author, agent, editor, cover designer, typesetter, publisher and bookseller. <a href="http://www.stephanielaurens.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephanie Laurens</a>, one of the world’s most successful romance novelists, began writing with Mills & Boon before moving to HarperCollins. In 2012, she gave a keynote address to the <a href="https://www.rwa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romance Writers of America</a> convention. She used the opportunity to reflect on industry change. Soon after, she began reconfiguring her own publishing arrangements. Now Harlequin publishes her print novels, while she self-publishes the e-book versions. She also self-publishes novellas that are prequels to, or that sit between, the novels in her traditionally published series. Laurens is a prolific author with loyal fans, an author who can afford to take risks. She realises that self-publishing potentially offers her a better deal and has been able to pursue that while retaining ties to a traditional publisher. Her career complicates any view of self-publishing as second best. Her example has been much emulated among romance writers. Such a career move challenges how we might typically theorise the power relations of literary culture. <h2>2. Romance readers are active and engaged</h2> The dynamism of romance fiction is intimately linked with its engaged readers. Unlike other kinds of publishing, where the fate of each book is relatively unpredictable, romance has historically had many loyal readers who subscribe through mail-order systems to receive books regularly – a model that has not worked successfully at scale for any other genre. In the 21st century, many of these loyal romance readers are online. They tweet about their favourite authors, write Goodreads reviews, and run blogs and podcasts. People read romance fiction for different reasons. They might be drawn to its focus on the emotional nuances of relationships, its escape into various times and places (romance subgenres really do cover the gamut), or its gold-plated promise of happy endings and pleasure. They might read casually or intensely, with curiosity, scepticism or devotion. All of these are active modes; they can’t be reduced to consumerism. There is an element of feeling to the involvement. The shared pleasure and sense of belonging that comes with being in the genre world came up regularly in our interviews. Author <a href="https://www.rachaeljohns.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachael Johns</a>, speaking of romance fiction, said “this is my passion, I fell in love with the romance genre”. Agent Amy Tannenbaum described the romance community as “tight-knit”. Harlequin marketing specialist Adam Van Roojen suggested the romance community’s supportive nature makes it “so distinctive I think from other genres”. People say the same thing about other genres, of course, but these claims show how people imagine genre worlds as a kind of community. Communities have boundaries and can be exclusionary. <a href="https://kristinabusse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristina Busse</a> has written about the impulse to police borders in fan-fiction communities, and of how ascribing positive values to some members of a community may exclude other people. This dynamic is at work in genre worlds, even if it is low-key or not openly acknowledged. What’s more, the inside world of romance fiction has an inside of its own. This is evident in the way readers relate to one another (there is an implicit hierarchy of fans) and in the industrial underpinnings of the genre. For example, there is a distinction between a writer’s core audience and fringe audience that affects sales formats and international editions. Core romance readers tend to read digitally, and therefore can often access US editions of a book. Casual romance readers are more likely to pick up a print book from a store like Big W or Target and are therefore more likely to be the target audience for local editions. In general, though, both core and fringe romance readers know how to read romance fiction. They are attuned to the codes that run through the novels. Back in 1992, <a href="http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl618/readings/theory/Krentz&BarlowRomanceCodes.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jayne Ann Krentz and Linda Barlow</a> argued that certain words and phrases in romance fiction act as a hidden code “opaque to others”. Committed romance readers have a deep knowledge that makes them experts in their genre. When these readers express their views online, authors and publishers take note. One recent example involves a tweet from romance fiction author, podcaster and blogger <a href="https://www.sarahmaclean.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah McLean</a>. She asked her nearly 40,000 Twitter followers to “Tell me the best romance you’ve read in the last week. Bonus points for it being 🔥🔥🔥.” The tweet was directed at the hardcore readers of the romance genre world. It assumed an audience that reads more than one romance novel per week. The 300 or so replies constitute a mega-thread of recommendations. Romance readers are generous to one another this way, as the sheer abundance of commercially and self-published romance fiction makes it hard to sort and choose. The replies also offer an up-to-the-minute map of the subgenres and tropes to which readers are responding. These include shape-shifters, second-chance love stories, queer romance, and dukes and duchesses (possibly a Bridgerton effect). <h2>3. Romance fiction is global</h2> Far from being circumscribed by small horizons, romance fiction is globally connected and inflected. This is amply demonstrated by the example of Australian romance fiction, which is formed and sustained across international literary markets and creative communities. Pascale Casanova’s theory of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Republic_of_Letters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world republic of letters</a> notes the cultural force of London and New York as anglophone publishing centres. This mitigates against the inclusion of Australian content in popular fiction. Stories set in New York or London seem to have no limits in terms of international portability. But stories set in Australia, or another peripheral market, can be harder to pitch. Australian writers are conscious of this, as it directly affects the viability of their careers. But export success is possible for Australian work. The subgenre of Australian rural romance or “RuRo” is the best-known example. Authors like Rachel Johns are bestsellers in other territories. Romance novels set in Australia are popular in Germany – the Germans even have a name for them, the “Australien-Roman”. Romance fiction is energised by transnational communities of readers and writers, often mediated online. Australian romance author <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/author/kylie-scott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kylie Scott</a>, for instance, credits American romance bloggers with driving the popularity of her books, and thanks book bloggers in the acknowledgements of her books. These cultural mediators assist the transnational movement of books in genre worlds. The development of digital-first genre fiction publishers and imprints also supports such movement, not least through promoting global release dates and world rights, so that genre books can be simultaneously accessible to readers worldwide. But nothing comes close to the romance fiction convention, or “con”, in demonstrating the international cooperative links of the romance community. Cons, such as Romance Writers of America, support romance writers by providing professional development opportunities; they offer structure to participants’ professional lives. For example, Regency romance writer <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/anna-campbell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anna Campbell</a> has oriented her career towards the United States. Campbell began to professionalise by joining the <a href="https://romanceaustralia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romance Writers of Australia</a>, but then entered professional prizes run through US networks, and it was these that gained attention for her writing and enabled her to get an agent. American success followed: <blockquote> My agent ended up setting up an auction in New York, and three of the big houses wanted to buy it. The auction went for a week, and at the end of Good Friday 2006, I was a published author and they paid me enough money to become a full-time writer. </blockquote> Campbell went on to write five books with Avon, then moved to Hachette for a number of books. She has now moved to self-publishing. The majority of her readership remains in the US. Romance’s capacity to reflect the local concerns of writers and readers, coupled with its responsiveness to global industrial processes, makes it one of the most intriguing genres for considering what “Australian books” might look like in the 21st century. <figure></figure> <h2>4. Romance can be socially progressive</h2> It has been more than 50 years since Germaine Greer, in The Female Eunuch, dismissed romance fiction as women “cherishing the chains of their bondage”. The perception that the genre is conservative persists. But romance writers and readers are more and more concerned with inequality across gender, race and sexuality. They are pushing back against old conventions. In 2018, Kate Cuthbert, then managing editor of Harlequin’s Escape imprint, gave a speech that revealed romance’s internal debates. She addressed the responsibilities of romance fiction writers and publishers in the #MeToo era, arguing that <blockquote> if we want to call ourselves a feminist genre, if we want to hold ourselves up as an example of women being centred, of representing the female gaze, of creating women heroes who not only survive but thrive, then we have to lead. </blockquote> For Cuthbert, this means “breaking up” with some familiar romance fiction tropes, such as the coercion of women: <blockquote> many of the behaviors that are now being called out – sexual innuendo, workplace advances, stolen kisses because the kisser couldn’t resist – feel in many ways like an old friend. They exist in the romance bubble […] and they readily tap into that shared emotional history over and over again in a way that feels familiar and safe. </blockquote> Cuthbert’s compassionate acknowledgement of readers’ and writers’ attachment to established genre norms sits alongside her call for evolution, for renewed attention to “recognising the heroine’s bodily autonomy, her right to decide what happens to it at every point”. Structural hostility in the publishing industry towards people of colour has also become a cause romance writers and readers rally behind. In 2018, <a href="http://blackmagicblues.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cole McCade</a>, a queer romance writer with a multiracial background, revealed that his editor at Riptide had written to him: <blockquote> We don’t mind POC But I will warn you – and you have NO idea how much I hate having to say this – we won’t put them on the cover, because we like the book to, you know, sell :-(. </blockquote> In the wake of this revelation, multiple authors pulled their books from Riptide, as a further series of revelations about the publisher’s bad behaviour emerged. The following year, the Romance Writers of America examined the past 18 years of its <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/RITA/RITA_Award.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RITA Awards</a> finalists and published the results: no black author had ever won a RITA, and the percentage of black authors represented on shortlists was less than half a per cent. In response, the board published a “Commitment to RITAs and Inclusivity”, in which it called the shocking results a “systemic issue” that “needs to be addressed”. In 2020, they announced they were employing diversity and inclusion experts to help diversify their board, train staff, and help “design and structure” more inclusive membership programs and events, including the annual conference. The Romance Writers of America’s intentions have not always been successful. The ongoing visibility of marginalised groups in the genre continues nonetheless, in part driven by romance’s rapid and robust uptake of digital publishing. Access to publishing platforms has allowed micro-niche genres to proliferate. LGBTQIA+ romance subgenres have become particularly visible: from lesbian military romance to gay alien romance to realist asexual love stories. Sometimes these stories go spectacularly mainstream, as with C.S. Pacat’s <a href="https://cspacat.com/books/captive-prince/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Captive Prince</a>, a gay erotic fantasy about a prince who is given to the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom as a pleasure slave. Originally self-published, The Captive Prince started as a web serial that gathered 30,000 signed-up fans and spawned Tumblrs dedicated to fan fiction and speculation about where the series would go. The book was rejected by major publishers, so Pacat self-published to Amazon and within 24 hours it had reached number 1 in LGBTQIA+ fiction. A New York agent approached Pacat and secured her a seven-figure publication deal with Penguin. The queer fantasy or paranormal romance has continued to thrive in Pacat’s wake. In our interviews with romance authors, questions of diversity, inclusion, representation and inequity arose again and again. In representation and amplifying marginalised voices, romance has enormous potential to lead the way. <h2>5. Romance has gates that are kept</h2> Romance fiction is more progressive than some stereotypes might suggest, but it is not free from exclusion or discrimination. The genre is influenced by its gatekeepers – human and digital. One form of gatekeeping takes place through the same voluntary associations that nurture community. In late 2019, the board of the Romance Writers of America censured prominent writer of colour, <a href="https://www.courtneymilan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtney Milan</a>, suspending her from the organisation for a year and banning her from leadership positions for life. The decision was made following complaints by two white women, author Katherine Lynn Davis and publisher Suzan Tisdale, about statements Milan had made on Twitter, including calling a specific book a “fucking racist mess”. This use of the organisation’s formal mechanisms to condemn a woman of colour and support white women was controversial, provoking widespread debate across social media and email lists. Milan had long been an advocate for greater inclusion and diversity within Romance Writers of America and the romance genre. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/31/romance-novel-industry-uproar-discipline-author-racist-courtney-milan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Guardian reported</a>, the choice not to discipline anyone for “actually racist speech” made punishing someone for “calling something racist” seem like a particularly troubling double standard. “People saw it as an attempt to silence marginalised people,” observed Milan. The board retracted its decision about Milan. It is difficult, however, to calculate the damage that may have been done to readers and writers of colour in the romance genre world. Conversely, the use of Twitter to extend debate and eventually correct the Romance Writers of America shows change happening, in real time. Another form of gatekeeping in romance fiction happens through the same digital platforms that put the genre at the forefront of industry change. Safiya Umoja Noble’s book <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Algorithms of Oppression</a> demonstrates how apparently neutral automated processes can work against women of colour — for example, the different results that come up from a Google search of “black girls” compared with “white girls.” In the world of romance fiction, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Parnell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claire Parnell’s research</a> has shown the multiple ways in which the algorithms, moderation processes and site designs of Amazon and Wattpad work against writers of colour. For example, they make use of image-recognition systems that flag romance covers with dark-skinned models as “adult content” and remove them from search results. They can also override the author’s chosen metadata to move books into niche categories where fewer readers will find them, such as “African American romance” rather than the general “romance fiction”. Concerted activism and attention is needed to work against this kind of digital discrimination, which risks replicating the discrimination in traditional publishing. There is no simple way to account for the dynamics of contemporary romance fiction. It is inclusive and policed; it is public and intimate. Its industrial, social and textual dimensions are not static, but interact dynamically, incorporating the possibility of change. Only by understanding these interactions can we gain a complete picture of the work of popular fiction. Contemporary romance fiction is formally tight, emotionally intense and digitally advanced. It’s where the heartbeat of change and action is in book culture. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-romance-fiction-rewrites-the-rulebook-183136" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

Child marriage comes with a heavy cost for young girls in Africa – but there’s one clear way out

650 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday. That’s one of the startling figures contained in a <a href="https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Towards-Ending-Child-Marriage-report-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 UNICEF report</a> about child marriage. Africa’s sub-Saharan region is home to <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nine of the ten countries</a> with the highest rates of child marriage in the world. Ingrained traditions and cultural practices typically entrench such early marriages. State or customary laws in <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf#page=12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">146 countries</a> allow girls younger than 18 to marry with the consent of their parents or other authorities. In <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf#page=12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 nations</a>, girls under 15 can marry with parental consent. Early marriage among boys is <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/115-million-boys-and-men-around-world-married-children-unicef" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also widespread</a>, though the numbers are far lower than they are for girls and young women. And it is girls and young women who pay the heaviest costs for early marriage. Girls who marry before 18 are <a href="https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Towards-Ending-Child-Marriage-report-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more likely</a> to be subjected to domestic violence and less likely to continue schooling than their peers. They have worse economic and health outcomes, a burden they almost inevitably pass on to their children. Early marriage has been linked to poorer <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Events/PDF/Slides/1_khatoon.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cognitive development</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953617303283" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stunting</a> among the children of such women. Today, the practice is declining thanks to national and international policies, global treaties and, since 2016, the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage. But gains have been slow in sub-Saharan Africa. What is it that drives the practice in the region? That’s what we examined in a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021909620966778" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent study</a>. Using statistical analysis, we looked at the socio-economic and demographic determinants of early marriage among young women the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mali and Niger. Each of the four countries has sought to introduce measures to discourage early marriage, but their challenges remain formidable. We explored several possible explanations and variables: age at first intercourse, education and literacy, women’s current age, region and type of place of residence, family wealth index, ethnicity, employment status, and even mass media exposure. One factor stands out across the four countries in our study: education. Women without formal education are more likely to marry early than those who completed secondary or higher education. <h2>Four study countries</h2> The four countries have a great deal in common, including high poverty levels and substantial under-15 and rural populations. In each country, around 50% of people are younger than 15, and around half of the countries’ respective populations live in rural areas (a full 84% in the case of <a href="https://malawi.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/2018%20Malawi%20Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%20Main%20Report%20%281%29.pdf#page=23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Malawi</a>). Among the four countries in our study, Niger has the highest child marriage prevalence worldwide – 76% of girls are married before the age of 18. The rates stand at 52% in Mali, 42% in Malawi, and 37% in the DRC. For our analysis, we turned to the most recently available demographic and health surveys from each of the four countries. We then applied a framework that seeks to describe the important social-cultural and cognitive variables and their interrelationships that underlie behaviours and decisions around reproductive health. <h2>Statistical variables</h2> The answers we found as to why early marriage is so commonplace in these countries were not always clear-cut. What’s more, there were lots of statistical variations across the four countries and contradictions, as was to be expected. For example, the average age of first marriage ranged from 15.3 in Niger to 17.1 in Malawi. There was also a range in the percentage of women from the poorest wealth category in the countries who had been married by 18: Niger (90.9%), Mali (80%), DRC (70.3%), Malawi (63.1%). Rates of early marriage dropped among women from richer categories, but were still high: Niger (72.7%), Mali (65.4%), DRC (60.3%) and Malawi (42.5%). The study also showed that young women living in rural areas were likely to marry earlier than those from urban areas. These variations’ social, economic, and cultural underpinnings are likely complex and would need some unpacking. In some cultures, for example, girls are married off young as they are considered to be more likely to be virgins still and can thus fetch a higher payment of what’s known as the <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/child-marriage-brides-india-niger-syria/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bride price</a>. Amid the many statistical variables that emerged, we were especially struck by the relationship between educational levels and average age at first marriage. <h2>The role of education</h2> We found that the average age at first marriage in Niger, Mali, DRC, and Malawi increased from young people with no education (15.1, 15.4, 16.2, and 16.4, respectively) to those with secondary and higher education (17.0, 16.6, 17.1 and 18.5 in that order). In addition, we saw that the highest prevalence of early marriage (by 18 years) was found among young women with no education (90.6%, 80.3%, 70.9%, and 70.3%). It was lowest among women with secondary and higher education (64.2%, 62.9%, 58.9%, and 30.2%). Malawi is the only one of the four countries where school education is universal, accessible and compulsory. Education offers young women opportunities in life. In some African cultures, however, allowing girls to finish or even attend school <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/child-marriage-and-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is discouraged</a> as it is feared that an educated girl is less likely to get a husband or be a good wife. <a href="https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/child-marriage-atlas/atlas/malawi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In Malawi</a>, less than 15% of women have any secondary school education, and 42% of girls are married before the age of 18 – the twelfth highest rate of child marriage in the world. <h2>Next steps</h2> There is an urgent need for governments in these countries to introduce programmes that promote delaying the age at which girls first have sex and to equip adolescents with knowledge about responsible and safer sex. Policymakers should also work to promote prolonged enrolment in school for adolescent girls. And, crucially, laws are needed – and must be enforced – that criminalise child marriages. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-marriage-comes-with-a-heavy-cost-for-young-girls-in-africa-but-theres-one-clear-way-out-190924" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

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