Category: Play Hard Work Hard

Until it Happens to You

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The UK was recently rocked when it was announced that the remains of Sarah Everard, who initially went missing on March 3, were found in Ashford, Kent. The 33 year old marketing executive had been walking from a friend’s home in Clapham to her own home in Brixton in South London when she was abducted.

Sarah Everard’s story started a nationwide, and now, global discourse regarding the safety of women. Beginning on Twitter in the UK, millions of women shared their experiences of worrying about their safety while walking home, encouraging a global discussion about the experiences almost every woman has had.

In an article published by The Guardian in the same week, it was found that 97% of young women 18-24 have experienced sexual harassment, with 80% of women of all ages noting they had been sexually harassed in a public space.

A poll by The Tab, which asked 14,000 students in Britain whether or not they had been groped in clubs, with the results showing that 91% of women who answered noting they had experienced sexual harassment and assault.

The issue wasn’t exclusive to women, however. Overall, 82% of University scholars, both male and female, told the Consent and Sexual Assault Survey that they had experienced groping, with 61% of men noting they had experienced groping. In the study, Cardiff University was found to be the second worst university in the UK for experiencing groping on a night out, with 95% of students saying they had experienced some form of sexual harassment.

Discussions around sexual harassment and sexual assault have been circulating for years, but following the case of Sarah Everard, it feels as though there has been a global resignation that it is an issue which can no longer be swept under the carpet.

Baroness Jenny Jones argued in the House of Lords last week that perhaps there should be a 6pm curfew for men. This comment has been heavily debated online, with many noting it would be unfair to stop men from leaving their homes at night. Many women have argued, however, that despite there not being a physical curfew in place for women, women have always been encouraged to stay indoors after dark, so as to not be in any danger.

Baroness Jenny Jones later clarified that her comments were not asking for serious policy proposal, but rather pointing out that London police had advised following the case of Sarah Everard that women “not go out alone”. She told LBC that it was a concern to her as it appeared that no one seemed to “bat an eyelid” at the assumption that women ought to change their actions in order to stay safe.

Of course, walking alone is dangerous for everyone regardless of their gender. However, as we’ve seen from various surveys, women feel they are in significantly more danger when walking home alone than men.

According to data from UN Women’s Sexual Harassment Report 2021, 71% of women of all ages in the UK have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space, with this number rising to 86% among 18-24-year-olds. The MP Jess Phillips last week read the names of the women killed by men in the UK over the past 12 months. compiled by the Femicide Census; in 2020 and 2021, the list amounted to one woman every three days.

The discussion surrounding safety is one everyone should have, regardless of gender. But it’s important that we listen to the women who are expressing their concern, and we begin to change the way we address the safety of women. Men’s stories deserve a platform – but should not be used in order to diminish the stories of women; each story is valid.

Using hashtags such as #NotAllMen not only dismisses the lived experience of women and girls, but also seems as though it is invalidating the stories men have too. Why only bring up the statistics about male rape and harassment in order to counteract the stories being shared by women? Think about it – would you still share those statistics if women weren’t having this discussion? Stories from men who have faced similar experiences need to be addressed, in their own right, not as a way of invalidating stories from women; that isn’t fair to anyone.

Women and most men are aware that not all men are dangerous and not all men would do these horrible things. When we’re walking home (during the day, but especially at night) and the man behind us has been walking in the same direction for a long while, we don’t have the time to make sure he’s one of the good guys – it could cost us our lives.

We know it’s not all men, but the problem is, we don’t know which men.

The world needs to have this discussion. It may feel uncomfortable, but if we don’t have the discussion nothing will change. It’s also vital that men are part of this discussion. Men are able to tell their friends when their behaviour or the things they say are inappropriate and could stop further harassment or assault.

The discourse surrounding the safety of women is underway, and it’s important we all listen. Almost every woman has a story or an experience. A lot of men do, too. So let’s listen to them, and encourage change, so that the next generation don’t have their own stories.

by Tirion Davies

 

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Play Hard Work Hard

La La Land

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ITV recently showed a three-part short series The Pembrokeshire Murders, based on the real-life story behind the conviction of serial killer John Cooper.

The series, which included a cast led by Luke Evans and Keith Allen, showed the brilliance of Welsh storytelling, and offered ITV its biggest drama launch in five years. It has even led to the reopening of further cases previously deemed unsolved.

The Pembrokeshire Murders was the first time in a while a television drama led by an all-Welsh cast had been so successful; for many it felt like the first time they’d heard so many authentic Welsh accents in a crime drama since BBC One Wales released Keeping Faith in 2017.

Yet, there may be a reason for this. Although an abundance of TV shows and films are filmed in Wales, very few are actually set here and include Welsh characters.

We all want to see iconic Welsh locations shown on our screens, but very few shows filmed in Wales which may be shown worldwide are, in fact, set here. Although there are many brilliant Welsh programmes on our screens, very few will make it to homes outside of Wales.

There has been some change, at least, in the past few years. In 2008, the BBC launched the ‘Beyond the M25’ initiative, to solidify a more sustainable production base across the nation, in an attempt to ‘bring production closer to the audiences they serve’.

Shows like Hinterland, Keeping Faith and The Pembrokeshire Murders have been testament to the telling of incredible, Welsh-centric stories. When The Pembrokeshire Murders launched on January 11, it saw an immense 6.3 million viewers, with a third of people watching television across all channels tuning in to the first episode.

Keeping Faith saw around 9 million BBC iPlayer downloads after its initial Welsh-language release earlier in 2017 and prompted the BBC to show the programme on all BBC One channels across the UK, as opposed to simply BBC One Wales, as was the case when it first aired.

Programmes such as Belonging and Baker Boys have since been forgotten but were further examples of the representation of Welsh communities from a fervently Welsh lens.

Wales does get some representation on our television screens. However, the problem is that it is often kept to one character, or the programmes depicting Welsh life and culture are shown only in Wales.

A lack of representation is an issue for many groups, and so a lack of representation of Welsh life and culture should, of course, not take precedence over more representation for other groups, though it does feel important.

Often, it seems as though we rely on channels like S4C and BBC One Wales alone to provide authentic Welsh representation.

We’ll often see Welsh characters in television and film, but it seems as though the roles go to actors from other countries, leading to dodgy accents and a personality filled with stereotypes.

Sometimes, even within shows written by Welsh writers, such as Russel T. Davies’ Years and Years on BBC One, and his upcoming Channel 4 drama It’s a Sin, only one Welsh character is shown in each. It’s better than nothing, and at least the actors in both shows truly are Welsh, but it feels slightly as though this was a battle Russell T. Davies had to fight.

Even without talking about dramas, Wales can often feel like the butt of the joke for showrunners eager to get ratings. ITV’s most recent series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! was filmed in Gwrych Castle in North Wales, and ahead of its release ITV were warned of the impact of using cheap Welsh stereotypes to fuel its script.

Thankfully, the public were listened to and ITV were sure to give Ant & Dec Welsh lessons and stereotyping was rare. There were, of course, the odd annoyances, such as the Joker’s poor attempt at a generic Welsh accent and the whole ‘Tecwyn’ fiasco, but on the whole it was respectable.

Although Wales is the smallest of the four nations, with only 3.1 million residents, it can still seem unfair to limit our screen time. For a nation which is used as the backdrop for hundreds of stories, it seems unfair we don’t often get to use those backdrops for stories of our own. Have you seen the quality of the Mabinogi? A series on them alone could gain you millions of viewers, I’m telling you.

Perhaps the success of The Pembrokeshire Murders could indicate to TV bosses that Welsh storytelling is just as valuable as any other nation. If a show set in Wales with a Welsh-led cast can attract such a large viewership, there’s incentive there to commission more programmes; I’m sure Michael Sheen would be happy to be part of a show if the problem was a famous lead!

As a country part of the four nations, with so much history and culture, Wales is bursting at the seams with stories to share. It’s time we started seeing more of them.

Tirion Davies

 

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PLAY HARD, WORK HARD

A Change In The Law

Justice

At the beginning of July, the Government announced a change in the law to ban men from claiming that fatal injuries inflicted on women were at her request during intercourse.

Following the death of 26-year-old Natalie Connolly at the hands of her boyfriend in 2016, a campaign to ban the ‘rough sex defence’ began. Connolly was reported to have suffered more than 40 injuries and was left bleeding before she was found in their Staffordshire home.

John Broadhurst claimed that Connolly, a mother of one, was injured during sexual activity which was consensual but fuelled by alcohol and drugs. Although the pathologist’s report had described bruises littering Connolly’s body, Broadhurst had claimed it was what she had requested, and that she liked being beaten. She, of course, was unable to defend whether this was true or not.

The murder charge was dropped, and despite pleading guilty on accounts of manslaughter, Broadhurst managed to persuade the prosecution that the beating Connolly had received was what she had wanted and requested. Instead of a life sentence, Broadhurst got only three years and eight months.

Although the ‘rough sex defence’ was formerly a provocation defence, it quickly became one exploited and used by many. Men who had killed women in this way continuously sought to blame the victim, using the provocation defence to lessen their charge from murder to manslaughter, claiming he was always the “victim” of their partner’s behaviour.

After Natalie Connolly’s death made national headlines, many began an online campaign, identifying at least 60 British women who had been killed in episodes of “consensual” sexual violence since 1972, and at least 18 women dying in the last five years.

The campaign, called “We Can’t Consent to This” found that 45% of these killings saw a claim that the woman’s injuries were sustained during a sex game “gone wrong”, which either resulted in a lesser charge, a lighter sentence, an acquittal, or the death not being investigated.

Defendants are not only using the defence more often, but before the law was changed, courts were becoming increasingly likely to believe this defence.

It’s a simple defence, of course. How can it be argued when the only other person who knew what had happened in detail is no longer able to give their account?

Natalie Connolly’s case wasn’t the first time the defence has been used in a high-profile case. The murder of 22-year-old Grace Millane, a young woman who was killed on a Tinder date in New Zealand in December of 2018, has also received much attention in the media.

Thankfully, the jury in Millane’s case didn’t buy the ‘rough sex defence’ and her murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment. Her family had to listen to intimate details of her private life read to the courtroom, details she was unable to refute.

The amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill are vital. Amendments to the Bill included making it clear that consent can no longer be used as a defence – especially in cases of serious violence and murder.

Thankfully, these amendments were accepted by the Government and will soon come into effect. No longer will families have to listen to the defence ‘it’s what she wanted’ when attempting to explain serious bodily harm. No longer will parents have to watch their child’s murderer walk away free-of-charge after having their child’s intimate private life spread across the papers and used as a weapon which they were unable to refute.

It could be argued by some that these instances were a number of ‘accidents’ when things have gone wrong. This may be the case for some of these murders, but many of these killers have a long history of perpetrating violence against women. For others, it had been a culmination of years of domestic abuse.

It’s hardly surprising that this defence has been used so often. Unfortunately, cases of non-consensual intercourse are difficult to prove – especially when non-consensual acts (such as violence, like choking or slapping) occur during otherwise consensual intercourse.

Under Chapter 3, Section 74 of the CPS Rape and Sexual Offences guidance, ‘Conditional Consent’ was the closest legal clause before the ‘rough sex defence’ was abolished. Chapter 3, Section 74 includes instances where consent was revoked when agreements were broken, but there is no clear ramification in this section of non-consensual acts of violence during otherwise consensual intercourse.

Which is why amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill and revoking the ‘rough sex defence’ is so important. Without these changes, many people would lose justice to these defences, which allow for no dispute, as the victim is no longer able to give their account.

It’s surprising that there has been a defence which was so widely used, where the victim was unable to dispute the lurid details about their private lives which would have been widely read to the jury. It’s strange that it’s taken so long for this defence to be reviewed; it’s a defence which allows for people to blame their victim for their own violence.

I’m glad the defence has received review and that the law has changed. But I can’t help but feel it’s come too late, with over 60 perpetrators in the UK having benefited from the ‘rough sex defence’.

By Tirion Davies

 

 

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PLAY HARD, WORK HARD

This is America

Thousands of people across the world have gathered to protest the killing of unarmed African American George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Floyd was killed on 25 May, as four officers detained him, with one officer – Derek Chauvin – kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, despite Floyd calling out repeatedly that he could not breathe.

It’s definitely not the first time black Americans have been killed in police custody, and it’s unfortunate that it’s unlikely George Floyd will be the last.

The protesting which has taken place across the world has made some significant changes – it’s hard to deny that. Derek Chauvin’s charges have been elevated to second-degree murder, and all officers involved in George Floyd’s death have now been charged, following pleas from protestors worldwide.

Six police officers in Atlanta have been charged, after a video went viral showing the officers using a stun gun and dragging two young Black students, Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim, from a car following protests.

Miami police have banned officers from using a “carotid restraint”, otherwise known as a chokehold. San Francisco’s city supervisors have introduced a resolution to prevent the police department from hiring officers with records of serious misconduct.

Cities across America, including Minneapolis, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Texas have begun the process of redirecting part of the budget of each of their police departments to serve Black communities and communities of colour.

But there is still work which needs to be done.

Breonna Taylor was shot eight times by Louisville police after officers forced their way inside her home; the officers had a no-knock warrant. The Louisville metro council unanimously voted to pass an ordinance called “Breonna’s Law”, banning no-knock search warrants. But the officers who killed Taylor have not been arrested nor charged.

Police officers have ‘qualified immunity’ (or legal immunity as it’s called in Britain). Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine which makes it difficult for people whose civil rights are violated by police officers (such as in cases of police brutality) to obtain money damages in lawsuits.

Essentially, it’s impossible to sue police officers unless the victim can show that the officer violated a right explicitly recognised by a prior court ruling. Even if the exact same incident that happened to George Floyd happened to another, unless it happened in exactly the same place, even if the difference is a matter of metres, it is not possible to find officers liable.

I know that many of us will be looking at what happened in America as a matter of ‘us versus them’.

I’m not saying racism in the UK is in any way the same as it is in America, but it is naïve to think racism does not exist in Britain.

As Martin Luther King Jr once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”.

Mark Duggan was shot by Metropolitan police in London in 2011; he was unarmed when facing police officers before he was shot and his death sparked riots across London. Black people account for 8% of deaths in police custody in the UK, despite the black community accounting for only 3% of the British population (as reported by the Guardian).

Jimmy Mubenga’s death on a plane on a Heathrow runway in 2010, while being restrained by three immigration officers, saw the immigration officers later acquitted of manslaughter, despite Mubenga’s death counted as unlawful.

Rashan Charles’ death in 2017 in Hackney, after being restrained by a police officer, and Edson Da Costa’s death under similar circumstances in the same year saw all officers from both cases cleared.

Of course, Britain is nowhere near as bad as America when it comes to the issue of police brutality. But it is impossible to deny there is no reason for the Black Lives Matter Movement in Britain.

For many, the conversations about race which have been sparked by recent events may be uncomfortable. But these conversations need to be had, because if it is uncomfortable for you to talk about, imagine living the uncomfortable reality. We need to have these uncomfortable discussions about race so that five-year-olds no longer need to be informed that a police officer may treat them badly because of the colour of their skin.

Black Lives Matter as a movement was founded in 2013, in response to the acquittal of the police officer who killed Trayvon Martin.

The movement is seen by many as controversial, as putting the importance of black lives above the importance of every other life. As Barack Obama once said, “‘Black Lives Matter’ simply refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It’s not meant to suggest that other lives don’t matter. It’s to suggest that other folks aren’t experiencing this particular vulnerability”.

All lives do matter. But currently, black lives and the lives of people of colour are the lives we need to concentrate on. Imagine if you broke your leg and went to the doctor. Whilst all your bones matter, right now, your broken leg is the priority for treatment.

“There are very few hardships out there that hit only people of colour and not white people, but there are a lot of hardships that hit people of colour a lot more than white people” – Ijeoma Olua, ‘So You Want to Talk About Race’.

By Tirion Davies

 

 

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PLAY HARD, WORK HARD

Twenty Years

2020 has been bizarre. From wildfires destroying much of Australia’s landscape, to floods which devastated much of South Wales to these unprecedented times – all within a handful of months.

It’s impossible to forget the pain and suffering so many have unfortunately had to face this year alone, with barely five months under our belts.

I can’t help, however, but contemplate the last twenty years of my life and hope for better days ahead. As dramatic as it seems, I think we’d all like for this year to be done with.

Twenty years ago, the world was celebrating a new Millennium. The world entered the twenty-first century, and within ten years, leapt to heights not many could predict.

I was born in May of 2000. Which means I’ll be twenty this month. But what a weird twenty years of life to have lived. Countless events shocking the world, to now, living through a global pandemic.

People my age have seen so much, and yet our lives are barely even beginning yet. We’ve seen war and terror attacks on our screens; we’ve seen political upheaval (and countless arguments over such upheaval); we’ve seen technological advancements so vast it’s often seen as surprising that I lived through a period of life where I didn’t have an iPhone.

Twenty years is a long time – but it’s also not. Not really. My life is only now really beginning, but I still don’t have many life experiences. Twenty seems so old, but also so young all in one go.

A few weeks ago. I was announced as the new Editor in Chief of my university’s newspaper. And yet in that same week I was hoping my Mam could ring the doctor for me. It seems so mind-boggling to me that I am gaining these opportunities to advance my career, but I still feel like a child.

There’s an expectation that by twenty years old you should have your life in order. That being in University or having a job or a family should mean that you’re an adult. But it doesn’t feel that way, really.

It feels a little as though I’m playing House. I know what I’m doing when it comes to Uni and the newspaper, but then, somehow, I still feel as though everything else is a big guessing game.

I’ve seen so much change in twenty years. Enough change that my ancestors would likely feel my twenty years was more than three lifetimes. Twenty years which feel like centuries, but also like no time at all.

I mean this generally of course – my lifetime is only so different to that of any other twenty-year-old. But these past twenty years have been rough, no?

It’s not all bad, of course. Although we’ve had some terrible times, we’ve had some advancements, too.

Opinions are evolving, and acceptance is more readily available. It would be naïve of me to say there is no evil in the world, or that prejudice is non-existent; but it is possible to say that the world has changed for the better and more people are having open discussions and checking their own prejudices.

Hard topics are being discussed, and topics such as women’s rights and reproductive health; mental health; racial stereotyping; gender norms; LGBTQIA+ rights, and the mental wellbeing of men are reaching new audiences.

Twenty years ago, it seems unlikely a popular television programme on a big American network, such as ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, would have such open discussion about sexuality, racial prejudice, sexual harassment and even male mental health. The show takes place in a New York police department – an unlikely background for such open discussions to be had twenty years ago.

Twenty years ago, the world was a different place. It’s not the first time this has been the case, and it won’t be the last. But it has been remarkable to see. The world still isn’t a great place, but by some means it’s a better place than it was twenty years ago.

I don’t know what the next twenty years may bring. I don’t know whether the world will have bettered itself or deteriorated. Honestly, I don’t know if the world will still be here, given the threat of World War III at the beginning of this year.

Twenty years is a long time in the grand scheme of things.

I wonder what the children born in 2020 will have experienced by the time they reach twenty years old

 

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It’s not news that I’m hoping to follow a career in the media. Although I currently work for Cardiff University’s newspaper, Gair Rhydd, I don’t think I will pursue a career in newspapers.
But despite my aspirations to become a journalist, it doesn’t mean I can’t hold the media accountable. Recently, more so than ever, I’ve been more aware of the media’s perception of certain celebrities. The way some are attacked and vilified. How some media outlets will do everything in their power to gain a story.
With Taylor Swift’s tell-all documentary hitting Netflix at the end of January and with the recent and sudden death of television presenter Caroline Flack, it’s time we realise that targeting certain celebrities creates a mob mentality – and can often cause serious harm.
Most people by now will likely know I’m a big fan of Taylor Swift. Since her Fearless album, I’ve followed her career and enjoyed her music. I feel I’ve grown up with her and her music and getting more of an inside look into her private life in her documentary has been fascinating. I feel I relate inherently with the way she reacts to how others perceive her. She mentioned how she’d built her entire belief system on being liked. But when the world turned against her, she had to rebuild.
Taylor Swift has been criticised her entire career. Either because of who she’s dating or how she reacts to situations. She’s been scrutinised and clearly it meant she had to think about everything she did in her life. Which seems normal – to a point. It seems she put so much pressure on herself to be ‘perfect’ that she even considers her album Reputation a failure because of its lack of Grammy nominations – despite many, myself included, counting the album as one of her best.
The media has spent many of Swift’s years creating her as a ‘love to hate’ personality. During 2016, following Kanye West’s Famous song debacle, and Kim Kardashian West’s recording, the world quite literally turned on Swift. The media seemed to join in on this mass hatred of Swift, to a point where, when she was dealing with a sexual assault case, numerous media outlets were continuing to criticise her. Even as Taylor Swift was going through one of the hardest things anyone might have to go through, many media outlets were capitalising on her hardship.
I understand that the world has an obsession with celebrity culture, and that celebrities are seen as the ‘elite’. However, to an extent, the media can be perceived to be out for blood. I recently saw a viral video of Selena Gomez leaving a restaurant where she said, ever so timidly, ‘do you mind leaving me alone, please?’ to paparazzi. Their response was simply ‘we got here first, there’ll be more in a second’, but Gomez even mentioned how they were scaring her.
Of course, celebrities put themselves in a position where the world scrutinises them. It’s, unfortunately, part of the deal. However, there is certainly a point where things can go too far. And it often does.
Caroline Flack was charged last December with assaulting her boyfriend. Overnight, her life was upended. I sincerely believe that an abuser should be punished for their actions. However, the vindication Flack received during her assault trial was not the first time Flack was targeted by some media outlets.
As with many female celebrities, everything Caroline Flack did was scrutinised. It feels as though the media were thrilled when her assault charges hit the headlines in December.
Flack’s boyfriend dropped the charges against her, and yet the trial continued on (Flack was meant to stand trial next month). Although I believe assault trials should be carried through even despite charges being dropped – it’s notable that Flack’s trial was not dropped, when sadly, in most cases, the charges being dropped would mean the trial would be over. It seems like Flack’s trial not being dropped is in part due to the fact she was famous.
It seemed unlikely, due to her persona on ITV’s Love Island and BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, that she could be an abuser. And in part, I think the media loved that. It was a story which seemed so unlikely – which meant it would sell.
Again, I’m not saying Caroline Flack’s abuse of her boyfriend ought to be excused. I am however saying that the way her trial and the allegations were handled seemed targeted in a way which was different from how abusers are often perceived by the media.
Of course, it is not entirely the media’s fault. In order to sell papers and gain more clicks to websites, you must make sure your content is what the public will want. If the world is hating a certain celebrity, the media will capitalise on this. It is both the media buying into this mob mentality which is harmful, but also the public’s creation of the mob mentality which can cause severe damage.
Everyone should be accountable for their actions. However, if these celebrities are being held accountable, then so should everyone else, and that includes the media, too.
No one else should feel like ending their life is the only way out of the hounding from social media trolls and the media.

By Tirion Davies

 

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