Lot's Wife Edition 4 2016

LOT’S WIFE
— EDITION FOUR —

SHOULD I HELP?
Everyone is a bystander at some point. Being a bystander is simply
when you witness behaviour that is inapropriate or harmful. In
these sitautions, it's easy to ignore it, and assume that someone
else will help or step in, but a lot of the time everyone else will be
thinking that as well. Even if you're not sure how to help, a ot of the
time, trying to do something is better than doing nothing.
MONASH
SAFER COMMUNITY UNIT
T: +61 3 9905 1599
E: safercommunity@monash.edu
monash.edu
If you witness harmful or inapropriate behaviour, :
'Is it safe for me to stop in myself or should I call security?
Remember, it's important to do the right thing, but your safety is paramount.
'What kind of negative behaviour am I seeing?' discrimnatory?
yelling abuse? Is someone being physically violent? Different
situations require different intervention.
'What can I do?' Should you calmly confront the person andexplain why it's wrong?
Should you ? Should you call someone else in?
'Can I support anyone else who is helping?' If someone has already stepped in,
what can you do to back them up?
For information, advice and support in a safe environment, please contact the Monash University Safer Community Unit on 9905 1599 or
just dial 51599 from a Monash phone.The Safer Community Unit website also lists resources and links to external agencies
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/safercommunity/
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CONTENTS
Lot’s Wife is entirely
written, illustrated, edited and
distributed by students,
just like yourself!
If you would like to be
involved, we are always always
always looking for new
contributors and volunteers.
Say hi anytime:
Lot’s Wife Office
1st Floor, Campus Centre,
turn right at the MSA desk.
Or drop us a line at
lotswife2016@gmail.com
Advertising inquiries:
E: msa-lotswife@monash.edu
P: 03 9905 8174
About the cover artist
When she’s not pulling her
hair out over university induced
stress or lazily perusing
the internet, Olivia Rossi is
probably eating. Oh, and she
loves to draw too! People are
her most favourite subject to
draw, usually in a somewhat
photorealistic style.
STUDENT
07
08
10
12
14
16
Lode of crap: internship scams
In conversation with Anna Poletti
Delivering the junk
What we’re wearing: winter
Sharehouse lyfe
MSA office bearer reports
SCIENCE
CREATIVE
SOCIETY
19 It’s time for a treaty
20 Why identity matters in politics
21 Misogyny in philosophy
22 Veganism is not compassionate
24 The case for drug reform
26 Heteronormativity
CULTURE
35 The witch’s role in health care 45 Why watch foreign films?
37
39
41
42
43
53
55
57
58
Science journalism
Borderline personality disorder
Humanitarian technology
Where do our pizza boxes come
from?
Science crossword: environment
Poem: Parlour Games
Poem: Sirens
Short fiction: Funding
Poem: In search of lost time
28 Wot’s Life with Clippy the MS
Word Assistant
47
48
49
51
Getaway Victoria
TED: Ideas worth shredding
Is pop music losing its intelligence?
La Tomatina
BONUS
30 Centrefold: Pull-out
calendar and poster
Pattern by Rachael Park
Lot’s Wife | 3

EDITORS
DESIGN
Timothy Newport
Carina Florea
Lisa Healy
Natalie Ng
SUB-EDITORS
STUDENT
SOCIETY
SCIENCE
Tricia Ong
Jermaine Doh
Rajat Lal
Matthew Edwards
Ishana Srivastava-Khan
Maddy Luke
Kinto Behr
Kathy Zhang
Mevani Amarasinghe
LISA HEALY
Hello! Welcome back to the second half of the year where we
are all welcomed back with a deluge of rain and shitty, shitty
weather.
CULTURE
CREATIVE
Lot’s Wife Edition Four
July-August 2016
© Lot’s Wife Magazine
Level 1, Campus Centre
Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3800
Lachlan Liesfield
Layla Homewood
Melissa Fernando
Amber Davis
Audrey El-Osta
Sarah Kay
Published by Mary Giblin, Printgraphics, Mount Waverley
As you read this paper you are on Aboriginal land. We at Lot’s
Wife recognise the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of
the Kulin Nations as the historical and rightful owners and custodians
of the lands and waters on which this newspaper is produced.
The land was stolen and sovereignty was never ceded.
Hopefully your winter break was as **RIVETING** and
~STIMULATING~ as mine. A few of my highlights included:
- Discovering the many beneficial healing properties of nasal
spray. It was definitely written in the stars to have it bless me
with its presence
- Encountering a teenager who managed to polish off a bottle(s)
of red wine by himself at 2am and who tried to philosophise
with me about how oxygen, water, and pomegranates
must all be drugs. I almost had an aneurysm
- Only just now stumbling across Arrested Development. It
appears I am a bonafide late bloomer
Don’t feel too bad if yours wasn’t as exciting as mine; you
still have the mid-sem break to catch up and possibly surpass it.
I imagine it’ll be pretty difficult to do so but I’m sure y’all could
manage.
Lot’s Wife condemns and will not publish any material that
is racist, sexist, queerphobic, ableist or discriminatory in any
nature. The views expressed herein are those of the attributed
writers and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the editors
or the MSA. All writing and artwork remains the property of the
producers and must not be reproduced without their written
consent.
4 | Lot’s Wife

TIMOTHY NEWPORT
CARINA FLOREA
Well, crap.
It’s Semester 2, the election is over, and can you believe that
[insert current event here] happened? Me neither, my friends.
Through the magic of timetravel and print deadlines, I’m
actually writing to you from the far-off land of June. It’s raining
terribly, US politics is fukt, and my internet is slow. I think it’s
safe to say that it hasn’t changed much.
It’s at times like these that we often reflect on our progress
so far, and look to the future to see what struggles lie ahead.
Looking back, I see four issues of a stellar magazine (thanks,
team), and looking forward, I see another two issues, as well as
the summer break, and the sweet embrace of bed.
So keep your chin up, your back straight, and your Netflix
paid. It’s been a rollercoaster year so far, but the struggles of
the ascent are behind us, and we’re holding our breath.
Get ready. It’s time for the dive.
Hey there!
The special furry guest featured in my editorial photo is my
lovey cat Pepper. I’d like to think that we’re friends because we
share a mutual interest in lying next to warm things, meat and
shedding hair everywhere.
However, we both lead vastly different lives. While Pepper is
alternating between sleeping and attacking rouge socks on the
ground, I am attempting to finish a uni degree while also editing
this lovely magazine. Attempting to juggle all these things
at once has proven to be a really challenging task but with the
help of my fellow editors, writers, sub-eds, illustrators (and
everyone in between) and all those sweet sweet spiderman
memes/simpsons quotes have gotten me through.
So with one semester down and another one about to begin,
we are all getting scarily close to the end of another year and
possibly one step closer to getting out of uni into the scary as
fuck ~realworld~ that no one prepared us for. So brace yourself
and remember that if some gangsta is dissin’ your fly girl, just
give em one of these.
Lot’s Wife | 5

STUDENT
LODE of crap
By Ruby Muller
Illustration by Elizabeth Bridges
et Job Ready with an Internship Today from LODE!”
“G No doubt you’ve seen these bad boys plastered
all over your Facebook page. Maybe you’ve even been tagged in
one by a mate or an over zealous parent. I was, which is why I
filled out an an application.
Silly, silly me.
These things always come at a price, something I wish I had
remembered as I started giving them my personal details and
wasting time thinking up a witty 100 character response to
“How will your colleagues remember you after you have completed
your internship?”.
The real answer is they won’t, because I won’t be doing one.
At least not through a third party company. Which is exactly
what those ads are for.
So I got a call at 11:00 in the morning, bleary eyed and
non-functioning until I got put on hold long enough to pour
myself a coffee. It was from the internship people—hurrah! I
had succeeded! Or not. But kind of.
They loved me. They loved me so much they wanted me to
do a Business Administration and Management double diploma
on top of my Science and Journalism double degree (yay!). All
so I could get a 3 month unpaid internship. It’s all going on
my HECS anyway, right? So I persisted with almost an hour of
questions and career coaching, which was all very helpful. But
then the wonderful lady on the other side of the receiver said
those magical words (or rather, numbers).
“Fourteen thousand dollars.”
$14k. On HECS, but—geez! Fourteen thousand dollars.
For a 12-month online course. Through a college called “Ivy”?
Sounds super legit.
So I hopped on Google and found some alternatives that are
all less than $3000 for almost the same thing. While the lady
over the phone seemed to think that the extra $11k was well
worth it just for the coaching and the internship, I’m not going
to pay that much so I can not get paid for three months.
According to LODE’s Facebook reviews, I’m not the only one
either. Their single star reviews cite a myriad of false advertising,
misleading sales tactics and unsolicited calls in order to get
people to pay up to $16000.
But it gets worse. It turns out their “winners” don’t even get
an internship.
One of these winners, who would rather remain anonymous,
said that they only received a referral to another company,
Navitas. Though they weren’t talked into paying for a diploma
they didn’t need, the company was so hopeless at placing
them into an internship, the entrant took another one in the
meantime.
So if you’re looking for an internship, or to improve your
employability by completing a short course, do yourself a
favour and shop around. Do your research and know your
consumer rights.
For instance, if you have just read this and are now amidst
a panic attack because you yourself have accepted a course
through one of these organisations, know that you are entitled
to a 10-day cooling off period. At any time during this period
you may cancel your purchase with a full-refund, even if it was
loaned against your HECS. And if the business mislead you
about their services, or coerced you into signing a contract, that
contract is void.
See? Research is your friend.
And if you can’t be bothered doing the research yourself,
here’s some I whipped up earlier.
Certificate III in Business Administration at Monash.
Government Funded
Full: $1600
Concession: $320
While it’s not online, a bonus is that it involves real actual
human beings teaching you. Neato! There are even courses specific
to education and medical admin which are cheaper.
Diploma of Leadership and Management at Monash.
Government Funded
Full: $2300
Concession: $2100
That’s right, this two day a week course is still a seventh of the
cost of Ivy’s online option. And again, there are flesh and bone
people involved. And if that’s too much of a commitment for
you, how about a measly $600 for the Certificate IV?
Dual Diploma of Business Administration + Diploma of
Leadership & Management at the CAE
12-16 month course.
Full fee of $2995
Payment plan of $44/week available, although total course fees
increase due to banking charges.
If you want the full package but don’t want to be an extra $14k
in debt, how about the exact same thing for less than a third of
the price? While it is upfront, it’s nothing a part-time gig over
the summer holidays can’t pay for. Plus, it’s online if you decide
to complete it while also working or studying full time.
Career Connect at Monash
Offered across all campuses, Career Connect assists students
with career planning, course advice and practicing interview
skills. While there’s no promise of an internship, they do
provide free help to both current Monash students and recent
graduates by polishing the skills required to get one.
Individual Faculty Programs
If you’re feeling really lost, contact your faculty. Most Monash
faculties offer subjects or help services based around locating
and completing industry experience. So call them up and discuss
your options!
Now you have no excuse—so get searching!
Lot’s Wife | 7

INTERVIEW
Writing the lived experience:
in conversation with Anna Poletti
8 | Lot’s Wife

STUDENT
Anyone who has recently taken first year literature would
know Anna Poletti; a funny, authentic, and bright
star radiating an energetic brilliance, not only into Monash’s
literary department but into the contemporary literary scene
at large. Ruby Kammoora was lucky enough to interview this
much beloved lecturer before she jets off to her next academic
adventure in Utrecht, Netherlands.
What differentiates good writing from exceptional writing?
I guess it depends on whether you are asking about intellectual
writing or creative writing. There are things we say in
the discipline that we generally agree upon; literature that is
complex, evocative, and that can have more than one meaning.
But good writing can also be interested in how language itself
can shape - but also sometimes split open - active communication
in really interesting ways.
When really good creative writers are at the peak of their
powers, they seem to be creating works that strike you with
their clarity, and thus seem very singular because of their
sensibility, and the topic and way they are doing what they are
doing. So they feel very particular, but then when you try and
focus in on what makes it specific, it shatters into all these
different pieces. And you think, actually, this could mean all
kinds of things!
But I recognise that there is also a subjective element there.
I don’t think everyone responds to great writing in the same
way. And some people don’t get it. And they might not get it
at that point in their life. So it is also a question of: is this the
right time for someone to read this book? And I think that is
one of the real challenges of teaching literature.
Why do you study literature?
The particular kind of literature I study is essentially nonfictional
writing about lived experience. So life writing and
zine culture was my PHD project. In particular, life writing in
non-professional spaces, so youth life writing and self-published
life writing.
I think people read these kinds of writing for very particular
reasons, and they read them differently to the way they read
fiction. There are things people feel that they can do with nonfictional
writing about their lives that they can’t do in the novel
or they don’t want to do in the novel. I think writing in this way
explores the larger role that all literature has in the social and
cultural dynamic of a given time and place in history. Literature
is one of the key places where we can have a conversation about
what it means to be a human, what matters to humans, what
particular experiences of being human are like.
But I also like the way that theorists in the post-humanist
tradition are also pushing back against that human-centred
way of thinking about literature. So literature can also be about
things that aren’t human. I am interested in that, and how that
could disrupt some of the assumptions that we make about
what culture does and what culture can teach us about.
expectations that come with publishing, and that are free from
the kinds of influence that editors can have over the decisions
people make artistically around their work. I’m interested in
the sociological questions that come from these areas, but a lot
of DIY culture is studied in a sociological vein and I don’t find
that satisfactory.
So, and I feel like I should say that something like “some of
my best friends are sociologists,” often sociologists will read
these texts as evidence of social trends and social experiences.
Or for insight into, for example, ‘what it means to be a young
person these days.’ But they’ll already have in their mind a set
of ideas about what that is.
Where I feel that the ‘close reading’ literary studies approach
is more open to letting the text (or group of texts) tell you
what they are about, which produces a different perspective
on why people might be writing in these spaces. So I guess my
contribution to the study of DIY culture is to provide that more
textual and narrative focus.
With such an interest in DIY spaces, how do you find working
in an institution like Monash University?
Well I feel like I’ve been very lucky, in the sense that most
people take what I do seriously – at least to my face. And I feel
very lucky that doing a PHD on something as obscure as zines
hasn’t gone against me. But if I am honest, I think like most
people, I have a little bit of an ambivalent relationship with the
institution. And women in academia are often plagued by imposter
syndrome, where you spend most of your time waiting
for someone to discover that you are not supposed to be there
and tell you to leave. It is a very common experience, because of
the history - you know, because of patriarchy.
But the flipside of that, is that I really enjoy being in a
university. I really enjoy teaching. It is challenging and tiring.
At least the way I do it, I feel like I have to be very present. I
used to make theatre, and I feel like there is a little bit of the
improvising attention required when you are teaching. You
need to be reading how the room is working and listening to
what people are saying to you but also listening to what they
are trying to say to you. And I really enjoy that. I really enjoy
working with students. It is not quite playing - it is too serious
for playing – but being in the room with people and listening to
their perspective on what we are doing and listening to them
trying to nut out for themselves what that actually means… I
find that intensely interesting, rewarding, and enjoyable.
Is there any advice you wish you were given as a budding
scholar?
I think what I could have done, earlier than I did, was identify
that people want to mentor you and want to be generous
with their time. But you have to ask them for it. If you are
asking questions that are directly related to what someone does
or what they are good at, they love it if you want to pick their
brain!
Why do you study life writing?
So life writing outside of the book and outside the professional
publishing industry is my thing. I’m interested in DIY
cultural spaces, where people are making culture and making
stories about their experiences that are not structured by the
Lot’s Wife | 9

Junk in the trunk:
a day in the life of a junk mail deliverer
By Jessica Suares
Illustration by Angus Marian
So I’m broke, as I’m sure a lot of you reading this are.
Previously I was just regular poor…. but then I spent $244
on musical tickets… and splashed out on concert tickets… and
the comedy festival was in town (I couldn’t not go!).... Also, the
superman costume for my cat was really necessary.
Like a true uni student, I searched long and hard for the
easiest possible solution to my money crisis. Long hours slaving
away in retail just did not appeal to me – I wanted easy money
and I wanted it very soon. Something with flexible hours and
minimal brain power involved. This was the motivation that
lead me to apply for a job as a junk mail deliverer.
This is my story.
SATURDAY 12TH MARCH
4:30pm
See an ad for a catalogue distribution company. Realise I have
found my calling.
TUESDAY 15TH MARCH
6:30pm
Arrive at non-descript, if a little ominous, warehouse out the
back of Monash University. Put my massive guns to the test by
shunting 5 piles of 581 catalogues each, and 550 copies of the
local Leader newspaper from the warehouse to my car. Praise
the heavens above that I bought a car with collapsible back
seats.
8:00pm
Set up my work station on the deck facing the backyard, so
that as I sort my precious catalogues into neat piles, I can enjoy
the sight of the trampoline slowly swaying in the wind. My cat
approves of the Target catalogues, but refuses to accept the
K-Mart ones as friends.
8:30pm
Left shoulder is cramping… but I struggle on.
Newspaper – open to centre – insert Kmart – Target – then
Barry Plant – Homewares centre goes in horizontally – close
paper – move to “completed” pile – rinse and repeat.
9:30pm
My mother takes pity on me and helps sort. She even seems to
be enjoying this… but is in bed by 10:30.
11:00pm
Why the hell am I still here? Please let this end!
10 | Lot’s Wife

STUDENT
11:27pm
FINALLY DONE!
WEDNESDAY 16TH MARCH
7:30pm
Uni finishes at 6:00pm today, which means I have been forced
into an evening delivery shift. Time for the easy part of the job
– simply slotting catalogues in mailboxes.
I park my car at the far end of a street, assemble my over-60sonly
trolley and realise the papers are too big to fit inside.
7:32pm
I make them fit regardless.
8:00pm
Get to the other end of the largest street in this area (so I’m
as far away from my car as physically possible) and run out of
newspapers. Jog back to my car with my trolley, restock with
difficulty and then run back to the other end of the street, so I
can continue delivery.
8:15pm
Wow…. it got dark very quickly.
10:00pm
Walked face-first into my second mailbox (quite an achievement
considering the height difference). Definitely too dark to
continue - time to call it a night.
THURSDAY, 17TH MARCH
8:00am
Wake up in the morning, only to discover I sneakily received 22
mosquito bites during my delivery round last night.
17 of them are on my left calf.
8:25am
Update: It’s 24… I forgot to check my arms.
8:30am
Need to finish delivery round by 3:00 today, but class starts at
1pm. Decide to leave for a super early delivery round.
9:30am
The wind has really picked up and half my newspapers fly out
of my trolley. I abandon my trolley in a driveway as I frantically
chase after these drunken newspaper birds. Arms stuffed full
of runaway newspapers, I return to find my trolley has rolled
down the driveway and onto the road.
9:45am
Use my Linear Algebra textbook as a paperweight – finally it’s
been useful for something.
10:10am
32 degrees outside. A black t-shirt was a bad idea. Grime on my
hands means I can’t even wipe the sweat from my eyes. Help
meh.
10:15am
This mailbox is tiny. Nothing fits… I don’t understand, WHERE
DO YOU WANT ME TO PUT THIS NEWSPAPER!?!
10:40am
I see you haven’t taken your paper from last week, number 22.
Well then…you don’t deserve my love. No paper for you.
God how many more houses can there be?
11:00am
Why do I have 6 Target catalogues leftover…? I was not trained
for this. I’m sure number 34 wouldn’t mind if I put all 6 in their
mailbox.
11:35am
Oh hi, old man standing on the porch watching me struggle.
How’s your day been? I really appreciate the moral support
you’re giving me right now. Your condescending leer and the
offensive stance you’re adopting really makes me feel like you
value me.
11:40am
How. Many. More. Streets. Are there?!?!?!
It’s. Been. Three. Hours!
11:45am
So… I give up. Wait let me just check my map, how many more
streets do I have to – hahahahahaha yeah nah fuck it. They’ll
live without their junk mail for a week. I’m sure people’s lives
will go on
11:46am
Hops in car and legs it back home.
12:01pm
Considers the possibility that one of the skipped houses could
be the house of the council mayor. They would realise for sure
that the council newspaper was not delivered. Can I be sued for
this?
12:15 pm
What do I do with all the leftover catalogues…
12:19pm
Have just snuck into the local retirement home. Going round
the back to find a dumpster.
12:20pm
Dumpster found next to a gate about 40 metres away. All
I have to do is get from here to there without anyone see-
EMPLOYEES. FUCK. WHAT DO I DO? Act natural? Act natural.
Walk like I’m meant to be here. No one will suspect me.
12:21 pm
The retirement home employees totally suspect me. I reek of
dodgy.
12:22pm
Could only discard 50 or so catalogues. Can’t risk the retirement
home again. Need to look for another dumpster. Coles
will have one, for sure.
12:32pm
Park the car to scout the Coles dumpster situation…. the
same two employees from the retirement village walk past me
“not-judging” me. I may actually have the cops called on me
very soon.
12:46pm
I have 14 mins left to get to uni. I get home. Dump all catalogues
I have left into my recycling bin, and cover it up with
some miscellaneous refuse so that no one suspects I missed any
houses. #nailedit
FRIDAY, 18TH MARCH
Quit my job at Junk Mail Incorporated
Still poor as fuck.
Lot’s Wife | 11

CLUBS AND SOCIETY
What we’re wearing: winter edition
Presented by FABSOC
Fashion Focus:
Ethical and Sustainable
Clothing
Ethical fashion is currently a hot
topic, with celebrities like Emma
Watson, Lupita Nyong’o and Margot
Robbie, recently wearing gowns made
from recycled materials on the red carpet.
It is fashion houses that will be the
drivers of green fashion, where designers
are able to collaborate with brands to
create a sustainable vision for the future.
The iconic denim brand Levi’s has
collaborated with Seattle-based start-up
Evrnu on creating the first pair of 100%
recycled jeans from five used t-shirts.
The process uses 98% less water than
growing virgin cotton, thereby reducing
the overall carbon footprint. This is the
first of many that is driving Levi’s to perfect
this process and to accomplish their
mission of making a pair of recycled
jeans that feels identical to their current
line of products.
As tonnes of textiles end up in
landfills every year, these brands are
starting to recognise this problem and
are trying to create innovative solutions
to satisfy the continual consumer demand.
So, look up your favourite brand
at www.behindthebarcode.org.au and
see what they’re doing to keep fashion
sustainable!
1. Where do you find your style inspiration from?
2. Where do you shop?
3. What do you know about ethical fashion?
Andrew Longo
1. I haven’t really caught onto any fashion inspirations unfortunately! I see a lot of
bloggers pop up on Instagram, but I usually just see stuff my friends are wearing
and get ideas from them.
2. I’ve never actually bought anything online, always preferred going into the
store. Should probably get onto that though.
3. To be honest I don’t really know much about it but I think that it’s really important
for company management to start prioritising ethical issues like these in
their global strategy. I think it’s also clear from past cases of sweatshop usage in
companies such as GAP that investors and consumers don’t react well to hearing
that unethical practices are being used. I don’t know much about fashion
but I’m sure this will be a really important issue in the years to come.
12 | Lot’s Wife

CLUBS AND SOCIETY
About FABSOC
FABSOC is the Fashion and Beauty
(Appreciation) Society at Monash
University. We host careers and social
events on campus. You can also find us
on Facebook and Instagram, where we
hold giveaways, competitions and post
our weekly street style photos. Through
the society, we hope to promote more
self-confidence, celebrate diversity and
support ethical causes within the fashion
industry.
Michelle Freilich
1. Just from around the streets and what people are currently wearing. I don’t particularly
have anyone that I follow for style inspiration. I feel that I tend to wear
what I think looks nice and interesting and not care too much about the fashion
rules. Whatever that’s most comfortable and that I feel good in.
2. I shop at a lot of op shops. I’ve sort of got a combination of op shops and then
Gorman. Most recently I was studying in England and I shopped at Urban
Outfitters.
3. I know little about ethical fashion, but I would definitely want to know more. I
think Gorman use to be ethical and now it’s not really, because of the factory exports.
I think it’s quite hard to have ethical shopping on a budget, not that it’s a
good excuse. But I feel like a lot of the time people forget about the people that
make it, like they’ll be focused on having vegan clothing instead of having nonchild
labour made clothing. That’s why I like op shopping because at least I’m
buying something second-hand, or even through buy/swap groups on Facebook.
Lot’s Wife | 13

STUDENT
What’s mine
is mine,
what’s ours is
broken
By Writey McWriteface
Illustration by Karla Engdahl
You’re woken up in the early hours of the morning to a loud
thumping outside your room. After a few more seconds, you
hear the voices of your housemate and his friends next door.
Checking your phone, your confusion grows when you see
that it’s 4am, and a Monday morning. Then again, this is the
housemate that you haven’t seen go to uni since you moved in,
so you’re pretty sure his status as a student is just a cover for
something.
Managing to get back to sleep, you’re again woken too early
because some asshole has decided to turn on the central heating,
when the sun’s already warming up the house. Cheers for
that. You try to sleep for a little longer, but your room is slowly
becoming an oven, and the amount of work you’ve got to get
done propels you out of bed.
As you get dressed, the floordrobe well and truly in action,
you think about what you’ll have for breakfast. You’d prefer
eggs, but somebody stole your carton the other day, so that
plan’s out the window. You instead decide to continue demolishing
your huge box of cheap cereal. In order do that, you
need a bowl, all of which are on your desk. Stacking them atop
each other, you know that your future self would love it if you
washed them all now, but when the time comes to head out to
the kitchen, you only take one. It’s okay, you’ll clean the others
later.
In the kitchen, you’re irritated to find that your full bottle of
washing up liquid, instead of residing on your shelf, is now next
to the sink and half empty. When you put it back in its rightful
place, you throw a tea towel over it so nobody can ever find it
again. Fool-proof plan.
Not long after breakfast, you make your way over to uni,
where you’re thrilled to find not just one free sausage BBQ,
but two. That’s lunch sorted, and thank fuck, because rent’s
due later this week. After your classes are over, you head back
home, vowing to get some study done before work.
But, as it turns out, that was a little bit too idealistic, because
your housemate next door is watching Game of Thrones.
To cancel out the (admittedly epic) noises, you put on some of
your own tunes. Unfortunately, your ace taste in music makes
this more of a distraction than a solution. But never mind,
there isn’t a lot of time between uni and work, so you weren’t
going to get much study done anyway.
When you leave for work, there is only one other car parked
in the driveway. When you return, there are three more, none
of them belonging to other housemates. The house is silent
when you come inside. There are some things you just shouldn’t
question.
It’s past dinner time, and, feeling like a treat, you heat up
one of the frozen meals your mum gave you last time you
were home. With your food, laptop and discarded plates all
positioned intricately on your desk, you kick back and relax
with your favourite reality TV show. Except, you don’t actually
have a TV, so you’re live streaming it on your laptop, which is
rubbish quality. But hey, it’s better than nothing. All the while,
you can hear your housemate’s music next door, and despite
yourself, you actually enjoy listening to it. It makes your current
situation seem a little less depressing.
You feel the guilt creep up on you when you think about all
the readings and other work you haven’t done, but it’s way too
late to start studying now, you wouldn’t have gotten anything
out of it. Besides, you deserve a break every now and then. For
this incredible epiphany, you reward yourself with some ALDI
ice-cream, because even the fifty-cent cones from Maccas are a
bit steep these days.
A noise sounds from somewhere in the house. Jesus, what
now? You come out to find a splintered floorboard and a guilty
housemate. Not to worry, everybody in the house decides, we’ll
just pull the rug over this one, in the literal sense. Now you’re
all trapped playing your two favourite games; ‘Don’t Tell the
Landlord’ and ‘Don’t Stand on That Part of the Floor’.
Still, the incident causes the night to spiral, and you find
yourself sitting with three other housemates as they share stories
about everything that’s happened in this house, or rather,
to this house. You feel like you’re learning about an ancient and
precious history, one that few have the privilege of knowing.
You’d rather keep it that way; tell the wrong people, and you
might end up getting a knock on your door from the police, or
worse yet, the landlord.
And, as weird as it sounds, you’re all in this together. You
hold this strange bond that you believe can only be forged by
uni students in a dodgy sharehouse, a bond that vows protection
as you all hurtle towards a certain death.
After a shower, you head to bed. The last thing you see before
you turn out the light is the steadily-growing pile of plates,
bowls, mugs and cutlery on your desk. You don’t worry about
them too much, though. You know you’ll clean them tomorrow.
14 | Lot’s Wife

AUGUST 8 - 12
#winterfest
Lot’s Wife | 15

OFFICE BEARER REPORTS
MSA PRESIDENT ABBY STAPLETON
Helloooo Monash folks! Welcome back for another fab semester! Hope you’ve had a refreshing break over
the past few weeks and have recovered from the exam period. If you had a night exam you might have seen an
orange van hanging around the Caulfield campus talking to students about night exams and giving out free
food. If you didn’t, let us know what you think about night exams by sending us an email. We’re excited to
announce the introduction of the Tax Advice Service! We are running this in partnership with the ATO, with
the help of the Monash Business School. These budding tax enthusiasts would relish the chance to help you
with your tax return, so be sure to hit them up, the service is completely free!
The holidays have kept us all pretty busy, we’ve spent most of our time organizing conferences and planning
for the enrollment and orientation period in semester two. One of the biggest campaigns we ran towards
the end of last semester was the National Union of Students’ ‘Enroll to Vote Campaign’, which nationally saw
a 20% increase to the number of young Australians who could have their say at the ballot box on July 2nd.
While not everyone might get as excited about election stuff as us, we think that’s a pretty great achievement!
We hope you have a great start to the semester!
TREASURER MATILDA GREY
Welcome to semester 2, gang!
I hope y’all had a magnificent break full of really great and exciting times. To any new students joining us this
semester, I hope you find it easy enough to settle in to the uni life! Please don’t hesitate to come and visit us if there’s
anything we can do to help facilitate a smooth start to your time here.
Since we saw you last, we’ve made it through another federal election! At the end of last semester we worked to
ensure those who were eligible to vote were enrolled. Stress Less Week took place in week 12, and while the puppies
arrived unexpectedly a few days earlier than expected, they and the petting zoo were definitely the highlight of the
week. Everything else ran smoothly, with some successful free food and relaxation events, face painting, films and info
stalls taking place. I held a finance subcommittee meeting, and have commenced research into options for the divestment
of the MSA reserve funds into a fossil free bank. I am now helping to plan for 2nd semester orientation and to
organise around some educational conferences that students will have attended during the break!
Happy studies :)
SECRETARY GLENN DONAHOO
Welcome back for Semester 2, or if you have just started then welcome to Monash! We have been busy
planning for the semester to come, so be on the watch out for some new services we will be providing! Every
Friday morning we will have free coffee from our food van, Vancora, along with our free BBQs on Tuesday and
Wednesday and free breakfast every Wednesday. So make sure you come by and wake up before that Friday
morning class.
I have recently returned from the National Union of Student’s Education Conference held at the
University of Sydney, where I met with students from around Australia to discuss how the student experience
can be improved at universities. I have also been busy looking at proposed changes to our constitution, which
will be brought to a referendum at our annual elections in September.
As always, if you have an suggestions on services or campaigns we could run, please send me an email at
glenn.donahoo@monash.edu
EDUCATION (ACADEMIC AFFAIRS)
The end of the year’s first exam period means the end of night exams for now. As far as we’re aware,
students struggled but made it through mostly unscathed. We really want to what your experience was like
if you sat a night exam, so if you can take a few moments to let us know everything good and/or bad about it
please email us.
This semester we will continue to work on the night exams issue as well as looking towards, amongst
many things, working around textbook policy and planning the MSA Teaching Awards night. At the Teaching
Awards, standout academic staff are recognised for their work. Students will have a chance to nominate their
favourite lecturers or tutors for awards over the next semester, so keep an eye on the MSA Education page for
the nomination form.
DISABILITIES & CARERS
EDUCATION (PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
Hello once again Monash peeps, your Education Public Affairs officers have been working very hard and
have had awesome results. We have just had our second nation-wide student protest against the cuts to
higher education proposed by the Turnbull Government on the 11th of May, and there was a great Monash
turnout! I’d like to thank all of the students who did attend the protest, as they are pivotal in showing the
government and the public that students are heavily against any changes that endanger our right to a fair
higher education. Furthermore, with the federal election coming up we had been working hard to ensure that
as many students are enrolled to vote as possible, and we successfully enrolled many students to vote up until
the last day possible to enrol. Finally, we will be continuing the campaign for a People of Colour department
within the MSA, as it is necessary to have a space in the student organisation where the voices of ethnic
students are heard. If you’d like to become a part of a team advocating for student issues than you can come
to our offices located in the MSA, or you can join the Monash Education Action Group on Facebook and come
along to our meetings. We look forward to seeing you around campus.
Sumudu Setunge: sumudu.setunge@monash.edu Sulaiman Enayatzada: sulaiman.enayatzada@monash.edu
Hi everyone - welcome/welcome back! I’m Denise, the plucky new co-office bearer (...at the time of
writing. Once this is published I will be decidedly less new but hopefully will have managed to maintain
comparable levels of pluck).
The Disabilities and Carers Department is currently in the process of planning a few events to help
ease everyone into the new semester and to introduce the department to new students. Our autonomous
Collective has grown and we’re hoping to facilitate more meet-ups throughout the upcoming months. We
have many exciting projects in the works - Viv and I are particularly looking forward to D&C week, which will
take place later on in the term - stay tuned!
Please feel free to pop in if you would like to get involved, seek support or have a friendly chat.
If you would like to be added to the autonomous (and now secret) Facebook group, please email either
myself at denise.atzinger@monash.edu or Viv at viv.stewart@monash.edu
16 | Lot’s Wife

OFFICE BEARER REPORTS
WELFARE
QUEER
Hi everyone and welcome back!! I hope everyone had as fantastic a semester and break as we have!
Hopefully some of you made it to our semester one events: Trivia Night in week 2, weekly morning tea,
queer beers and movie screenings throughout semester, our wonderful Queer Week in week 5 with tons of
workshops and events, including our Comics & Cartoons themed Queer Ball, our IDAHoBiT stall with the
Ally Network, and our super chill SWOTVAC “ignore your responsibilities” event. During break we’ve had the
huge Marriage Equality rally, and our annual Queer Collaborations conference over in Perth.
But don’t worry if you missed out, we’ve got lots planned for you this semester as well, with more
Morning Teas and Queers Beers & Movie. Screenings for you, an evening event in Wholefoods in week 2 (you
should check out our facebook page MSA Queer for details), our 2nd Queer Week in Week 6 (check out our
page & timetable closer to the date), as well as probably little impromptu events throughout the month to
keep an eye out for! Hope to see you!
All is going well in the Welfare Department. Book Fair sales have finally all been processes (apologies for the
delay), Free Food Monday’s is stronger than ever although number have been marginally less over the past few
weeks
Last Tuesday Tim met with Jane Dancey who has been hired by the University to conduct research into the
nutritional value of all the food outlets on Campus. Lowen Sist advised her to speak with the Welfare Department
in relation to the work we do with FFM. She was very impressed by the initiative and has offered her support and
help to create meals within the ethos of the service. Furthermore, her and the Masters students she co-ordinates
have offered to also assist in the creation of a student cook book (which we have been planning to do) that will be
released for the beginning of next semester.
We have also begun working on a campaign to get Centrelink representatives on Campus on a regular basis in
order to offer advice and support on Univeristy Student specific areas. Contact has been made with Janet White,
Senior Adviser to the Pro-Vice- Chancellor, who has been very supportive and helpful with the campaign.
If you like the sound of this and would like to send through a statement of support to aid in the strength of the
movement please feel free to send a letter through to one of our emails.
Other than that the Survival Centre remains fairly well stocked, we have included some sanitary items and
food in there which has been taken very quickly so we hope that these things are helping the students in need.
Peace and Love from T&B.
ACTIVITIES
MSA Activities is getting ready for an exciting semester two! After the great success of AXP and semester
one, the Activities department is ready to bring you a bunch of new events! Week 8 will be completely dedicated
to events and providing the best social student experience. Grab your lederhosen and wench outfits for
Oktoberfest! Jam out with Monash’s best DJs and student bands at the brand new student band competition!
And of course, we will be delivering AXP II to help settle those exams blues!
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Over the break there were some really important rallies. We brought contingents of monash students to
World Refugee Day on June 18 and to the rally for marriage equality on June 25. On top of that, we took
a stand against open neo-nazis marching through the streets of Melbourne, trying to celebrate the racist
Australian flag.
This report was written before the federal election. We sure hope you’re reading this is a Liberal-Partyfree
future, but even if Turnbull is kicked out,we still have a fight on our hands. Both major parties have
announced serious cuts to higher education, both commit to offshore mandatory detention for refugees,
and tighter ‘national security’ (aka demonising Muslims). If you want to be part of the fight back against the
government, if you want to find out more about radical left wing politics, drop by one of our stalls outside
the campus centre. Our department will also be hosting regular political meetings, lectures, and forums on a
range of topics so don’t forget to check the notice boards around campus.
WOMEN’S
Hello everyone! We would like to welcome new students and those that are returning to us this semester.
Its semester two and we’re really excited for a busy and fun semester ahead! We will be continuing with our
weekly discussion groups in the women’s room, so keep a watch on our Facebook page for the day and time.
During Week 3 we will have a week dedicated to women in higher education, including our own screening of
‘The Hunting Ground’ documentary. We will also be continuing working the University, Residential services
and other relevant groups in our endeavour to develop and improve the existing consent campaign.
INDIGENOUS
The Indigenous department of the MSA has worked hard this semester in running events and engaging
with Indigenous and non-Indigenous students across Monash. We have successfully run barbeques, social
events and other initiatives that have helped foster a sense of community for Indigenous students across
campus. With MSA Indigenous Week having being in week 11, we have been able to showcase the importance
of Indigenous culture and engage students in the wider community. This has been the first year where MSA
Indigenous Week has been extended to include Monash University Halls of Residence. As a whole, this semester
has been fruitful in allowing our department to grow and further engage with students in a productive
way.
Lot’s Wife | 17

SOCIETY

SOCIETY
Too late now to say sorry:
it’s past time for a treaty
By Dan Carter
Illustration by Grace Fraraccio
It’s been 228 years since Europeans arrived in our country
without signing a treaty. The three forms of legal occupation
at the time of European arrival were an empty land,
negotiated land and invaded land. The British settlers (and politicians
today) say an empty land was settled, the High Court
says ‘Terra Nullius’ was invalid, the wise sages of talk-back radio
say it’s in the past, and Indigenous people say Australia remains
a crime scene – so who’s right and who’s wrong? Can we just
patch this one up with another apology, without any legal ramifications
in the true spirit of reconciliation?
This year the Daniel Andrews government continued its social
justice rampage from refugees and safe schools, to genuine
engagement with Indigenous people, but is all this too good to
be true? Or are they just sick of losing seats to the Greens? At
this rate, he’ll be pouring the sand through the traditional owner’s
hands whilst Bob Hawke packs his beer bong for finishing
the legacy he was ousted for.
It started February 3rd when State Indigenous Affairs
Minister Natalie Hutchins called an open meeting with the
Indigenous community to discuss self-determination and
constitutional recognition. A meeting of this kind hadn’t
occurred in over 20 years; 200 hundred people attended and
200 others streamed online. In brief, the Indigenous community
made it very clear they unanimously rejected the notion of
Constitutional Recognition, seeing it as a government distraction
and wished to establish the framework to engage in treaty
conversations.
Over the next month, this momentous occasion received
only a blip of mainstream media attention and a Dandrews
tweet telling us it was on the table. The State government waited
a month for the press release, playing down any Recognise
rejection as “unconvinced”, but most importantly following up
on the Treaty debate, announcing state wide forums to shape
the conversation starting in May, 2016.
Treaty is an incredibly touchy subject for any government
to chase. If you can remember the 1980s land rights scare campaigns,
they claimed a small percentage of ‘Aborigines’ would
be given ownership of the majority of this prosperous country.
Middle class Aussies were coerced into believing some kind of
Indigenous 1% would conspire to unfairly distribute Australia’s
wealth. The iron ore irony, that these campaigns were funded
by the mining industry, is not lost on Indigenous people today.
In the state of Victoria there aren’t big business party donors
looking to derail talks, so we may just see further discussion.
It’s hard to look past treaty as some kind of costly reparation
power move from a right wing perspective, but the symbolic
side of this negotiation for Indigenous people to set the agenda
is the crux of self-determination. I say symbolic because almost
every existing treaty around the world has been broken in some
form. The real goal here is bringing Indigenous people to the
table in genuinely shaping our country. This isn’t a new concept
either: politicians love the inside/outside tent metaphor almost
as much as they love paying the black representative (that they
invite inside the tent) a government salary.
Problematic to all of this is that a treaty is not simply
government vs. ‘Aborigines’, but a sovereign leader and 300+
nations negotiating. As prominent activist Robbie Thorpe
said, “Take me to your leader” – who is the sovereign signatory?
Dandrews will be taking a bold step looking to bridge
this unknown. How do you unify 300+ nations so they are
they all on the same page? The alternative solution is a federal
government offering recognition that Indigenous people are in
fact … Indigenous people. This is a poor consolation prize for
the rights that many have fought so hard for. I personally have
followed the campaign for many years and agree with the intent
and scope of what it hopes to achieve, but it cannot come
before or detract from what is required.
20 years from now we could celebrate the day a treaty
was signed as the foundation of this country. The generic
word ‘Aborigine’ would barely be used because people would
understand the names of the lands, nations, and people whose
history they were now a part of. Indigenous people would be
empowered to engage in a society that was shaped by their culture.
Nobody would turn up to your Sunday BBQ in blackface,
because people would understand the invasion, discrimination,
massacre and genocide of history. If the federal government
still had a spare $150 million for a referendum to recognise
after all that was achieved, we could change the constitution’s
wording to state our country didn’t just have an Indigenous
history, but that it was written into our future too.
Lot’s Wife | 19

SOCIETY
I am no-one: why identity
matters in politics
By Ovindu Rajasinghe
Growing up as a person of colour in Australia is a bit
like Arya Stark doing her assassin training in Game of
Thrones (but with more character development):
“Who are you?”
“No-one.”
You are constantly forced to erase your identity. You push
your cultural heritage to the background so as not to stand out,
so as not to be marked as different to everyone else. You might
adopt a more ocker accent to seem like you’re just another
normal person, or you might speak in more refined tones to
subvert the implicit assumption that people of colour are somehow
uncultured or uneducated.
You blend into the background to survive.
I speak from my own lived experience, but I imagine other
oppressed groups might feel similar. Part of the problem is the
dire level of representation of people of colour in Parliament
and public life. If you can’t identify with the people who are
representing you, then you’re going to be less likely to engage
with politics, and this means your life is less likely to change for
the better.
Take the Greens. I broadly support their platform. However,
when I look at their federal parliamentarians, I see a sea of
white faces. I see a group of people who, by and large, come
from privileged backgrounds.
The composition of the Greens, and the way they sometimes
behave, perpetuates the stereotype that they are rich inner-city
wankers. I don’t think this stereotype is wholly accurate, but
it exists, and it deters many voters. When the ordinary punter
looks at Greens leader Richard Di Natale paying his au pairs a
pittance on the farm that he owns but didn’t properly declare,
or starring in that bizarre GQ turtleneck fashion-shoot that he
did, they will often struggle to identify.
The Labor Party appears (superficially, at least) to have a
more diverse array of representatives, drawn from a wider array
of racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
Stefanie Perri, the Labor candidate for the federal division
of Chisholm (encompassing the Clayton campus) believes that
“the Labor party does quite well in its cross-section of candidates,”
citing several women of colour such as Sophie Ismail
(candidate for Melbourne), Jennifer Yang (5th position on the
Victorian Senate ticket), and herself, a Clayton local from a low
socio-economic Italian background.
Even though I disagree with many Labor policies, I seem
to intuitively identify with the party. I honestly don’t know
whether this is because Labor is actually more representative
and diverse, or because the Labor meme game is too strong and
I’ve been brainwashed.
It is also important to ensure intersectionality in pre-selecting
candidates. As Perri put it, “it’s got to be more than a
tick-the-box” system. Having a person of colour, or a woman,
or a Queer person who is from an otherwise privileged background
might not necessarily be the best person to represent
that group.
For example, compare Waleed Aly and Sam Dastyari, the
Labor Senator for NSW. They are both Muslim men, prominent
public figures, and important voices in progressive politics.
Aly attended an elite inner-city private school before practicing
law and becoming an academic. Dastyari attended public
and selective schools in the north-western suburbs of Sydney,
and dropped out of law school. He has retained his working
class identity, and as a result, he’s become a borderline folk
hero. While much of what Aly says might be extremely valuable
- I think he’s great - he is dismissed as an ‘out-of-touch flog’ by
a lot of the population.
It is important that oppressed groups are properly represented,
instead of a PR ‘tick the box’ smokescreen.
But why is proper representation of these groups so
important?
The most obvious reason is that this representation gives
oppressed groups the agency to make decisions in relation to
their future. They have the experience to actually understand
what problems face them, and how best to resolve them.
Oppressed groups can also have their identity affirmed, because
they see people like them in visible positions of power.
But what this means for political engagement is that when
parties do not appropriately reflect the identity of their constituents,
this drives voter apathy. This is particularly the case
with the Greens. It means that people who might otherwise
have engaged with them, based on their policy convictions, will
never do so.
Australia has not been a white nation for several decades, so
why are our public figures so monocultural?
Now, more than ever, we need people to be engaged with
politics. If it is seen as the domain of elite and out-of-touch
upper-middle class white people, then we are shutting out
swathes of important views. It means that people of colour do
not engage in a political system, or a society, that they feel they
have no place in, seriously undermining our democracy.
20 | Lot’s Wife

W
hat
Brocrates: misogyny in philosophy
is a philosophy bro (also known as a ‘philosobro’)?
A philosophy bro is a man who thinks he knows a
lot about philosophy, or perhaps even does know a lot about
philosophy, and he definitely thinks he knows more than you
(unless you’re Peter Singer, whom philosobros tend to admire).
They are usually found in the undergraduate philosophy
classroom, Monash Philosophy Society, and sometimes in
Wholefoods. You might be able to spot them by keeping an eye
(or ear) out for men speaking loudly, name-dropping philosophers,
and using overly complicated vocabulary and philosophy
jargon. In class, or group discussions, they might repeat
everything you’ve just said as if it were an entirely new and
original point, speak over you, not listen to you, or mansplain
something to you that you definitely already know.
Philosobros prize rationality and reason, and are seemingly
still influenced by the stereotype that women are irrational
and emotional, which may be why they love to talk down to
us, or assume we don’t know what we’re talking about. It’s not
uncommon for women to not have their points taken up by
philosobros until they’ve been repeated by other men. They
seriously just don’t listen. On the occasion that they do listen
to you, they’ll probably try pretty hard to derail the conversation.
“I see your point but your argument is not clear. Where
are the premises? What is your conclusion?” and “Have you
got anything more than anecdotal evidence to back that up?”
are common expressions you may hear philosobros spouting.
Anecdotal evidence is absolutely not acceptable, and if you do
have empirical evidence to back up your premises, it had better
be of statistical significance, otherwise it won’t be regarded
worthy of their consideration.
All of this points to philosophy’s problem with women. It’s
not very well known, in fact I didn’t realise until I was in the
third year of my philosophy major, that philosophy is male
dominated. It’s like the STEM of Arts. The main authors in almost
all subsets of philosophy are predominantly male, philosophy
departments tend to average 30% female staff (it’s worse
in the UK and North America), and top philosophy journals
publish way more men than women. Monash has never had
a female professor in philosophy, women hit the glass ceiling
by Lauren Karas
Illustration by Angus Marian
when they reach the level of associate professor. While many
Arts disciplines were similarly male dominated a few decades
ago, most of them have remedied their problems and now have
a decent gender balance. Philosophy lags behind, and philosophy
bros are a contributing factor.
When you’re frequently disrespected, not listened to, repeated,
and spoken over, it’s pretty easy to become disenchanted
with a discipline. Combine that with the combative style of
argument philosophy often requires and underrepresentation
of women at senior levels, and you have a pretty unwelcoming
environment for women. So, philosobros, and other men studying
philosophy who don’t consider themselves philosobros,
here are some things to consider when you’re philosophising:
How much are you speaking? Are you taking up the whole
conversation?
Are you listening carefully to what other people, especially
women, are saying?
Is it your turn to speak? Have you raised your hand? Did
someone else in your class raise their hand before you?
Don’t depend on your tutor to moderate class discussions,
we’re all adults at university, and you should really know
how to respectfully engage in a discussion by now.
And, to the women interested in philosophy but deterred
by those pesky philosobros, don’t let them stop you! There are
loads of amazing women philosophers to look up to, and things
are slowly changing in the discipline. You’re just as capable as
that guy in your tute who can’t shut up about Kant or Žižek.
While it’s understandable, it’s an awful shame to see brilliant
women dropping out of philosophy.
Finally, it’s very important to note that philosophy has a
problem with diversity generally. It’s not just women who are
excluded and underrepresented, but pretty much all marginalised
groups. Philosophy has a long way to go before it becomes
a truly diverse discipline, and defeating the philosobros is only
one step of the process.
Lot’s Wife | 21

OPINION
Veganism is not
compassionate
By Dilan Fernando
Illustration by Harmony Wong
“I
’m a vegetarian for ethical reasons, buuuut I think
veganism is a little extreme.”
I literally said these words during an interview at an accounting
firm after being asked about my passions. (Plot twist:
I didn’t get the job.)
Two weeks later, I found myself at a seminar on nonhuman
animal rights law. Truth bombs were dropped, and before I
knew it, I associated myself with something I had loathed
throughout all my adolescent life: the dreaded V-word.
The ensuing months were… interesting. My dad labelled
me an “extremist.” I was called “militant” more than once,
even though I never used violence in my vegan advocacy. One
particularly wise Facebook warrior (bless their soul) even compared
me to Hitler.
It’s been a year now, and I’ve learned a lot. Not just about
nonhuman animals, but about human animals as well. Prior to
joining the nonhuman animal rights movement, I had never
studied privilege, institutional sexism, or even systemic racism,
despite being a person of colour. But the single most surprising
thing I discovered was this: at its core, being vegan is not in
itself a compassionate act.
Confused? I hope so. Let’s take our minds for a spin.
If we look to mainstream capitalistic vegan marketing, we’ll
find that organisations usually appeal to people’s sense of compassion.
The front-page of a VeganEasy booklet reads, “Your
free guide to living a kinder, healthier, and more earth-friendly
life”. Animals Australia sells veganism as “healthier, kinder, and
better for the planet”. The Vegan Society explicitly claims that
being vegan “demonstrates true compassion for animals”.
These campaigns reinforce the idea that vegans go the
extra mile for animals; that being vegan is akin to an act of
charity reserved for the privileged. They paint veganism as a
faddish, vaguely positive lifestyle choice like a juice cleanse or a
KeepCup. More importantly however, the campaigns imply that
to not be vegan is to be neutral.
This has some worrying implications about how veganism is
perceived in society, and especially within social justice spaces.
A few weeks ago, I sat in a room with several social justice
advocates discussing issues surrounding anti-racism and anti-sexism.
In the middle of the table, there sat a bowl of nachos
laden with dairy cheese. I found myself a touch perplexed by
this, and I’ll explain why.
Dairy farming is among the most widely misunderstood
practices in modern history. Contrary to popular belief, it is
not a harmless industry. Just like with any other mammal, for
us to take milk from a cow, we must forcibly impregnate her –
usually via artificial insemination using a steel rod. She bears
young about four times in her lifespan, and afterwards is killed
because it becomes too costly to take milk from her exhausted
body. Meanwhile, all her children are taken from her against
their will, normally within 24 hours of birth. Female calves go
on to enter the same cycle as their mothers. Male calves, on
the other hand, are generally classified as “waste” and killed as
infants. These practices are essential and normal in even the
most free-range, organic farms.
Even at its best, there is nothing neutral about dairy. In fact,
we could argue that its products are derived from exploitation
and violence.
22 | Lot’s Wife

OPINION
So how did a bowl of dairy cheese exist so peacefully in that
room of social justice advocates, students who usually unabashedly
speak out against violent systems?
The answer can be found in the marketing. The marketing
that told us that veganism is positive, while non-veganism
is neutral. The marketing that failed to help those advocates
understand a crucial, hard-to-stomach truth:
Non-veganism is not a neutral position. Non-veganism
supports systems that deliberately go out of their way to breed
animals into existence, then confine and kill them.
In other words, non-veganism is a continued pattern of
aggression towards animals.
Hold on, non-vegans. Stay with me. I promise it gets better.
Let’s look at this way: I, Dilan Fernando, am currently sitting
here, writing this article in John Medley Library. I am refraining
from punching anyone in the face. Does that make me a
compassionate human rights activist? Obviously not – I’m just
respecting students’ basic right to be safe from unprovoked
bodily harm. In a similar sense, being vegan isn’t necessarily
about compassion. Rather, it’s simply about no longer supporting
a system that kills animals for taste and convenience. On
the other hand, non-veganism continues to promote a system
of deliberate violence.
Chill. I promise you’ll feel better by the end of this.
I’m not saying that all non-vegans are aggressive people for
supporting animal industries. In fact, I’m convinced that most
of us believe we’re all making humane choices.
Few of us are told about how these products – meat, dairy
and eggs, for instance – involve inescapable violence. Instead,
from childhood we are entertained with fairy tales of green
fields, cows who beg to be milked, and “humane slaughter”.
Even fewer of us are told that animal products are, for most of
us, unnecessary for human wellbeing. Instead we are spoon-fed
stories that milk builds strong bones and that we need meat
for protein. None of us chose to be told these stories. Therefore
there is no reason to feel attacked when it turns out those
stories aren’t true.
I’m not out to attack your diet, because as intersectional
activist Javed Deck states:
“It’s stupid, disrespectful, and ineffective to tell people what
they should eat. But it can be necessary and constructive to
have conversations about the systems we are complicit in and
how we feel about them.”
Our society has built a system that normalises and encourages
violence against nonhuman animals. It’s important
to understand that this system perpetuates fiction and hides
reality in surprisingly obvious ways. Our primary school teachers
tell us that red meat is essential for iron, when the truth
is dark leafy greens will do just fine. In 2015, Liberal senator
Chris Back introduced laws to prevent activists from taking
undercover video footage at farms and slaughterhouses. Just
last January, Meat and Livestock Australia went so far as to
cast left-wing heartthrob Lee Lin Chin in a TV ad to convince
us that people who don’t eat lamb are un-Australian.
Non-veganism
supports systems that
deliberately go out
of their way to breed
animals into existence,
then confine and kill
them.
They tried to tell us that people who don’t eat the flesh of
slaughtered baby sheep are un-Australian. Let that sink in for a
moment.
Most of us believe we are basically good people – and I think
most of us actually are. Sometimes, though, it turns out that
our seemingly innocent daily habits are anything but neutral.
In those situations, we have a choice to make. On one hand, we
could interpret the information as a personal attack and shut it
out. Alternatively, we can ask productive questions to unravel
these systems of violence and challenge how we participate in
them.
Questions such as:
Why are we comfortable with eating a cow, but not a dog we
have known and loved?
When hens lay as many eggs as they do, what kind of effect
does this have on their body?
Why is meat considered “manly”?
Challenging questions can yield challenging answers, presenting
us with a dozen doors without telling us which to open
first. But they can also help us understand the nature of the
systems we participate in, and how our individual actions really
can change the world.
Lot’s Wife | 23

Losing the war:
the case for drug reform
Recently, an Auckland lawyer named Marc Cropper was
convicted of three charges of possessing methamphetamine
after being tried in Auckland District Court. The ex-senior
associate at Simpson Grierson, one of New Zealand’s most
prestigious major law firms, admitted to having 2.5 grams of
ice over a significant period of stress in his life last year. He was
a successful specialist in IT law, but his conviction means that
he will never be able to work in the legal field again, and will
undoubtedly have significant trouble finding a job elsewhere.
The consequences of drug use and its significance for those
in certain professions are very similar on both sides of the
Tasman. Enormous, life long commitments are made to being
in the legal profession. Just like a doctor, a teacher or a politician;
a lawyer will almost always be unable to work in the legal
profession with any sort of criminal conviction. Anything that
could compromise your position as a ‘fit and proper’ person will
need to be scrutinised. Almost all convictions will stop lawyers,
doctors and teachers from beginning or continuing to practice.
While I don’t condone Cropper’s actions, I couldn’t help but
sympathise. What would it feel like to have spent your entire
life working extremely hard and making enormous sacrifices,
only to be convicted of drug use and lose everything you have
worked so hard for since you were a teenager? This man has
By Sophia McNamara
Illustration by Ceitidh Hopper
gone from earning an extremely high income to now receiving
sickness benefit payments. He will never be a lawyer again
and will probably never find a well-paying job ever again. Like
anyone else who utilises social welfare, he’ll undoubtedly get
labelled a ‘lazy dole bludger’. But instead of criticising anyone
who dares to receive social welfare, perhaps we should look at
reforming the system that put them there in the first place.
Stories like this are why I support the idea of decriminalising
personal drug use. Decriminalisation refers to a reduction of
legal penalties, and it can be done by either changing them to
civil penalties, such as fines, or by diverting drug use offenders
away from a criminal conviction and into education or
treatment options. It largely applies to drug use and possession
offences, such as Cropper’s case, but not to the sale or supply
of drugs. The idea behind decriminalisation is to provide users
with a more humane and sensible response to their drug use
that does not damage their ability to rehabilitate. When a court
decides to put a drug-user behind bars, my question is: what
incentive does the defendant now have to give up their addiction?
Drugs are a coping mechanism for many people in times
of distress. If someone has lost everything and is now facing jail
time, the dismal reality of the situation will simply fuel his or
her addiction.
24 | Lot’s Wife

SOCIETY
My views on it have always been simple: treat drug
addiction more as a mental health issue and less as a
crime by changing the focus of sentencing from punitive
to rehabilitative. Casual drug users are only hurting themselves,
whereas creators and distributors are harming
the wider society. Personally I believe only one of those
groups deserve criminal penalties. I believe in ‘upstream
thinking’: we should focus on eliminating factors that lead
young people into illicit drug use, such as poverty, poor
education and poor mental health services, rather than
how we should punish them. Convicting a young person
for drug use will send them down a completely different
path for the rest of their life.
There’s a big difference between legalisation and
decriminalisation. While drugs remain illegal, decriminalisation
simply focuses on the penalties that drug
users receive. It means that people, like Cropper, won’t
necessarily have their entire life ruined by a sheet of paper
saying ‘conviction’ after they turn to ice to cope with their
precarious mental health. It would mean that people in
his position could receive help, rehabilitate, and one day
continue to work and be a functioning member of society.
With my own eyes, I’ve seen a family member go from
ice addiction to complete rehabilitation where she now
thrives under a successful career. She was never given a
conviction and things would have turned out completely
differently if that had been the case. It’s important to
remember that full rehabilitation is a very real and very
possible prospect for a lot of drug addicts, yet a conviction
will permanently inhibit any prospects for the future.
As radical as it seems, a world where drugs are decriminalised
is not entirely fictional. In 2001, the Portuguese
government completely decriminalised drug use. If
someone in Portugal is found to be in the possession of
recreational supply for any illegal drug, they are given
treatment, a minor fine, or most commonly, no penalty
at all. Fifteen years since decriminalisation, drug use has
been in steady decline, especially for those among the 15
to 24 year old population who are most at risk of initiating
drug use. Drug-induced deaths have also decreased
significantly.
Around the same time, Portugal shifted drug control
from the Justice Department to the Ministry of Health
and instituted a strong public health model for treating
hard drug addiction. They also expanded the welfare
system in the form of a guaranteed minimum income.
Changes in the material and health resources for atrisk
populations over the past decade are a key part of
Portugal’s evolution and success. Drug related offences
also take up a huge share of the work of police, the judiciary,
and prisons. A lesson to be learned from Portugal
is that decriminalising drugs doesn’t necessarily lead to
disaster as many may think. It frees up resources for more
effective responses to drug problems and it stops people
with potential to be a great contributor to society from
having that potential stripped away from them.
In recent years, Australia has taken a few progressive
steps in regards to drug use. In the Northern Territory,
adults found in possession of up to 50 grams of marijuana
are likely to be fined $200 and given 28 days to pay the
fine before being faced with a criminal charge. Since 1987,
South Australia has also decriminalised minor cannabis
offences. There hasn’t been a rise in cannabis use
rates despite certain states and territories introducing
civil penalties for users. Research on diverting
drug use offenders into treatment rather than a
conviction has shown that these individuals are just
as likely to succeed in treatment as those who attend
voluntarily.
Issues such as the ice epidemic are making the
discussion on drug reform increasingly urgent. The
number of Australians using ice at least once a month
has tripled to 270,000 in the last five years. As methamphetamine
use becomes increasingly stigmatised,
fewer people are admitting to having used the drug,
and these statistics are likely to underestimate the
level of use. When the use of an extremely dangerous
and potentially lethal drug is increasing at such a rate
and destroying communities in the process, sweeping
the issue under the rug simply isn’t good enough.
With all this positive evidence on the table, it begs
the question: why is Australia so reluctant to take
progressive drug policy reform further? Public opinion
may play a huge part as politicians largely regard
decriminalisation as an unpopular policy choice.
While national surveys prove that decriminalisation
of cannabis is popular amongst the Australian public,
decriminalisation of other drugs simply is not. Lack
of education and clarity on the issues may contribute
to this.
‘Decriminalisation’ is a word that gets misinterpreted
often. It is often inaccurately confused with
legalisation, or harm reduction services, such as
prescribed heroin programs. Stimulating informed
public debate is an important step forward. In order
for this debate to make meaningful progress, we need
to clarify terms and impartially present all evidence
that currently exists. This includes current models
of decriminalisation like Portugal, the Netherlands,
Spain, Switzerland, and to a far lesser extent but
much closer to home - Northern Territory and South
Australia.
The decriminalisation policy reform in Northern
Territory was a step in the right direction, and for
that, I can acknowledge Australia is slowly moving
forward. But in a nation where ice is killing off more
people each year and where recent drug reform
policies have made little to no difference – something
needs to be changed. Cropper’s case reminds us that
drug decriminalisation could save our most valued
members of society – our doctors, our teachers,
our lawyers – from having one mistake send them
down a completely unredeemable path. Moreover,
the discussion on decriminalisation and reforming
drug sentencing is almost non-existent in Parliament
at the moment. However, there will be a day where
Australia’s problem with drugs reaches a tipping
point. When we get there, perhaps our politicians will
realise that just because they can’t see the gruesome
realities of addiction and poverty from their bedroom
window in Toorak, it doesn’t mean that it is not happening
right in front of us.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
www.druginfo.adf.org.au
Lot’s Wife | 25

ESSAY
His and hers:
can we quit it already?
By Tara Hellwege
Illustration by Ceitidh Hopper
Let’s imagine a couple. Sam and Taylor. They do all those
couple-ish things together, like watching Game of Thrones
every Monday. Trying to study but distracting each other most
of the time. Sam picks Taylor up from work on Friday nights.
Let’s say their first date was at the zoo. Alright, now in your
mind, is this couple a man and a woman? If so, ever question
why we generally default to heterosexual pairings like this?
Well the sociologists that coined the term ‘heteronormativity’
certainly did.
Sociology aside, if you don’t identify as Queer or somewhere
on the rainbow side of the spectrum, you’ve probably heard
this word around Uni, but perhaps haven’t given it much more
thought.
What are its implications then, beyond the deliberations of
an Arts tute? Theory aside (because I promise this isn’t a lecture),
I’ll give you some lived experiences of heteronormativity,
from the perspective of a Queer, feminine-presenting woman,
which will hopefully show to you just how pervasive and, well,
shitty it is.
I can only speak for myself, but to me, heteronormativity is
sheathed in the phrase, “But you don’t look gay”.
Which brings me to my second point: if someone comes out
to you, and their appearance is not congruent with whatever
idea you have in your mind of how a ‘gay’ person looks, please,
do not follow up this moment by telling them that they “don’t
look gay”. Or worse, that they are “too pretty to be a lesbian”.
26 | Lot’s Wife

SOCIETY
These are not compliments. Among other issues, it elicits the
bizarre notion that there is a certain way to look gay.
Although you might think you’re being complementary by
pointing out a person’s similarities to the norm, comments like
this can be really harmful to LGBTQIA folks.
When I first ‘came out’ my next worry was how to become
visible within the community. I soon learnt that if you’re a
Queer woman presenting on the more feminine side, you can
often find yourself quite invisible in a lot of community spaces,
especially if you don’t have a network of friends. Being told
that I didn’t look gay enough added to the apprehension I was
already feeling about wanting to fit into this new community I
identified with.
Such issues of visibility and belonging manifest in a heteronormative
system, where the default is heterosexual, and
so everyone is presumed to be straight until they ‘come out’
or prove otherwise. Hence the dilemma for some of how to
become visible.
Why the focus on heteronormativity? Acknowledging
heterosexuality as the norm allows for us to see it as a political
institution that first and foremost privileges heterosexuality.
Your gender studies lecturer will probably term this a ‘hierarchy
of sexualities’, because they see sexualities and the labels we
use as inextricably bound to systems of power and privilege.
By making assumptions of a person’s sexuality based on
their appearance and the way they dress, you are reinforcing
heteronormativity. We all do it. I make these presumptions
all the time, but I do try to make a conscious effort to unlearn
these ways of thinking, and question its origins.
Many see heteronormativity as a product of a heterosexist
society. And what is a heterosexist society? Well, heterosexism
is simply this normative bias in favour of heterosexual relationships
that permeates the attitudes and cultures of our society.
Having to reiterate to some people that, yes, despite my
appearance I am indeed gay, becomes tiring. These appearance-based
assumptions are unavoidably gendered as well, as
much of these sceptical attitudes manifest in the idea that an
overly feminine woman must be heterosexual. The comment
that someone is ‘too pretty to be a lesbian’ also represents this
common assumption that conflates appearance with sexuality,
whereby lesbians are assumed to only date women if they are
physically undesirable to men.
I have noticed that when I out myself to straight men I tend
to label myself as ‘gay’ rather than ‘lesbian’. I find myself disassociating
with the label lesbian because of the sexual connotations
attached to it that indulge the male gaze. Queer sexual
identities are so commonly sexualised, and as much as I take
pride in identifying as a lesbian, sometimes it’s easier to use
the label ‘gay’ for this reason. In my experience ‘gay’ seems to
warrant less speculation, scepticism, or creepy interest. When I
term myself as a lesbian, I have experienced that some straight
men commonly see this as an invitation (“That’s hot”) – or
alternatively think I’m an angry radical feminist that will spit
on him and throw my burning bra in his direction. Don’t get me
wrong though, I am angry :)
This may all sound a little embellished, but it does indeed
happen. I was recently at a bar with some friends, and we were
approached by two men who struck up conversation. Their way
I soon learnt that if
you’re a Queer woman
presenting on the more
feminine side, you can
often find yourself
quite invisible in a lot of
community spaces.
of deciphering which of us were potentially interested in them
was to individually ask each of us, “You got a boyfriend?”
(Clearly they respected the idea of us being another man’s
property more so than our own individual agency.) When the
index finder swung in my direction, one of my friends proposed
that I would actually have a girlfriend, which elicited raised
eyebrows along with the trying-to-play-accepting-but-reallyjust-creepy
comments of, “Really? That’s cool, I like that.” (To
which I responded, “I’m sure you do” *eye-roll*.)
All in all, it would be nice if I didn’t find myself in these
awkward encounters where I feel pressured to out myself to
strangers. Most of the time, I choose not to. And for any peeved
dudes reading this and thinking ‘not all men’, yes, I know not
all of you are that appalling at talking to women in bars. Sadly
I have also had other Queer people, including queer women,
question my sexual identity based on my appearance. To me,
these experiences are embedded in heteronormativity. I am
presumed straight until I prove otherwise, based largely on my
feminine or ‘lipstick’ appearance.
Thankfully I am now at a place where questions like “who
pays on the dates?” just entertain me (with disdain). While the
language you use and comments you make may seem benign to
you, to some they can be really harmful.
At the very least, if you give no fucks for anyone but
yourself, then be aware of the political power relations you are
regurgitating. And at best, I have found that it’s important
to be mindful of the troublesome norms we are perpetuating
with what may seem like throwaway comments or harmless
questions.
Rather than try to find ways in which my relationships
mirror your own, or compliment me on how my appearance
assimilates with your idea of femininity, allow me my differences.
It’s time to understand that we are different, and accept us
anyway.
Lot’s Wife | 27

Wot’s Life
with Clippy the Microsoft Word Assistant
Illustration by Christina Dodds
Q: “How can I get myself in a good routine for the semester so I don’t
crash and burn and fail every unit under the sun?”
Answer: It looks like you’re trying to get your life on track.
Would you like help?
• Stop binge-watching entire shows on Netflix during exam
period (Daredevil will still be there when exams are over!)
• Actually attend all of the lectures and tutorials. Yes, every
week.
• Drown your sorrows with a bottle of vodka. May God
have mercy on your soul.
Q: “Clippy, next to Internet Explorer, you may be the most hated
computer program in existence. Seriously, you suck. How can we
learn from your mistakes and improve on current technology?”
A: It looks like you’re trying to replace Clippy. Would you like
help?`
• Step 1: Study IT at university, then fall into a cycle of
despair as you fail assignment after assignment because
you didn’t take Clippy’s above advice.
• Step 2: Realise that you will never replace Clippy. You are
only temporary. Clippy’s wisdom is forever.
Q: Hey Clippy, are you a Turnbull fan, or is Shorten more your type?
Q: Dear Lot’s, I--
A: Don’t show me this question again.
A: It looks like you’re trying to write a letter. Would you like
help?
• Write to a better magazine.
• Text your mum back instead.
• Fine, write your shitty letter by yourself. Clippy doesn’t
give a shit.
28 | Lot’s Wife

Lot’s Wife | 29

1 2 3 4
Coursework scholarship
applications: open for 2017
8 9 10 11
Allocate+ adjustment
closes for Education and
Science students
11am - 1pm
Queer Morning Tea @
Queer lounge
15 16 17 18
Allocate+ adjustment closes
for Arts, Engineering, IT,
Medicine, Nursing and
Health Sciences, Pharmacy
and Pharmaceutical Sciences
students
22 23 24 25
Last day to discontinue S2
units without ‘withdrawn’
showing on academic record
11am - 1pm
Queer Morning Tea @
Wholefoods
Allocate+ adjustment
closes for Art, Design
and Architecture and
Business and Economic
students
11am - 1pm
Queer Morning Tea @
Queer lounge
11am - 1pm
Queer Morning Tea @
Queer lounge
4pm-6pm
Queer Beers @ St John’s
every Tuesday
6:30pm
Queers on Screen @ Queer
lounge
6:30pm
Queers on Screen @ Queer
lounge
29 30 31 1
QUEER WEEK
11am - 1pm
Queer Morning Tea-
Pancakes & BBQ on the
lawn
6:30pm
Queers on Screen @ Queer
lounge
designed by Christina Dodds

TEAR ME
OUT!
5 6 7
Queer Event @
Wholefoods
12
13 14
19
Alocate+ adjustment closes
for Law students
20 21
26
27 28
2
3 4
Want your event featured in next month’s calendar? Email us at msa-lostswife@monash.edu
September already? Turn over for an
illustration by Christina Dodds!

SCIENCE
Boils and trouble:
the witch’s role in health care
By Alisoun Townsend
Illustration by Emily Dang
To quote Lisa Simpson, “Why is it when a woman is
confident and powerful, they call her a witch?”
The witch hunts that occurred in Medieval Western Europe
were an enormous waste of talent and knowledge. In a time we
associate with the Renaissance and discovery, the witch hunts
were a sign of the misogyny that continues to plague human
society. In addition to the individual lives lost, understanding
of healing and midwifery was lost as these people were executed.
Traditional healing skills were discredited and lost.
Western European women have been associated with sin
since Christianity was established in Western Europe around
the 1st century. All women were viewed as being the daughters
of Eve, and were in a permanent state of punishment for the
first sin. This cloud of punishment and sin that was settled
above women resulted in an uneven power balance between
men and women. The burden of the loss of paradise was placed
on the shoulders of women.
Women were also associated with the legend Lilith, who is
considered either the first man’s wife before Eve or a demon. As
Adam’s first wife, Lilith viewed herself as equal to man, as she
and Adam were made of the same Earth. Lilith rejects paradise,
Adam, wifely duties and God. Other texts suggest Lilith is a
lusty demon that haunted men over many lands, from ancient
Babylon to Egypt, causing destruction and chaos wherever she
flew. Witches, and women who were seen as witches, were automatically
associated with the sin of Eve as women and then the
demonic myth of Lilith was added to their burden. The legend
of Lilith permeated and tainted the presence of independent
women in medieval societies.
Prior to the 13th century of medieval Western Europe, female
healers supplied the health care of lower classes. Midwives
in particular were allowed great freedom in their work, as all
medical thought was generally based on the Greek or Roman
understanding of medicine: one that did not include women’s
bodies, and generally thought that women could look after
themselves – which they did, with the help of female midwives
and healers.
Female healers, witches and midwives were likely to have
been similar to empirical scientists of contemporary times.
To keep their patients as alive as possible, they would have to
know what they were doing through experience and by spreading
information, just as nurses and doctors in contemporary
times are reminded to never stop learning and studying.
Women healers came under suspicion on the possibility of
witchcraft after the 13th century. Midwives were not particularly
targeted as witches, but the Catholic and Protestant
churches both regarded them suspiciously, as the pain of
childbirth (and any possible complications) were considered
punishment for the original sin of Adam and Eve. The practise
of medicine, abortions and healing was seen as a power over life
and death, a power meant for God alone.
The witch hunts became more obviously misogynistic in
the late 15th century with the publication of the lovely light
read “Malleus Maleficarum”. Called “The Hammer of Witches”
in English, the word Maleficarum is actually a feminine word.
The book includes the description of how a witch made a man’s
penis fall off, which I’m just going to diagnose from the 21st
century as a pretty nasty STI. The Malleus Malificarum also
proclaimed “No one does more harm to the Catholic Faith than
midwives”. The book had many print runs in Germany and
France, becoming the equivalent of a modern day best seller.
It is unknown how many people died during the witch
hunts that lasted over four centuries. The estimates of the
deaths are widely disputed. These estimates range from 60 000
between the 13th and 17th centuries to a few million people.
The first estimate seems quite moderate, as that only allows
around 200 people per year to be killed over the entirety of
Europe. It seems an even more conservative number when you
consider between 1626 and 1631, 157 people were executed
just in the city of Würzburg.
Regardless of the number of people killed, the loss of knowledge
from these people must have been huge. Although not all
people killed would have been healers, at least some of them
were.
Lot’s Wife | 35

SCIENCE
People have lived for millennia with issues such as endometriosis,
PCOS and a range of other debilitating, but not generally
killer diseases. The wealthy royals of Western Europe were
not the only people to leave descendants into the 21st century.
Did any of the people killed as witches hold the knowledge of
how to help anyone suffering with these diseases?
When the Library of Alexandria burnt and the House of
Wisdom destroyed, humanity lost vast amounts of knowledge.
Perhaps if all these great libraries hadn’t been destroyed, then
we would be living on Mars right now! Okay so that’s just
speculation, but humanity did have to catch up on the lost
information. Could it be that the witch hunts were a similar
loss of knowledge?
Witches and women healers cared for the peasant population
with simple herbal remedies like willow bark and honey.
The church condemned the healing of the peasant population
– sin was the cause of illness. Witches were a threat to the
establishment by helping keep the enormously populated lower
classes alive and helping ease women’s pain in childbirth.
When female healers were charged with witchcraft, it was
because they were undermining men’s position as medical
‘professionals’. In England in the 15th century, these medical
professionals were all men and schooled in Galen’s theory
of humours. These men were generally only approved by the
church for use by the wealthy. Accessing schooling was an issue
for lower classes and all women as it was very difficult, if not
impossible to gain admittance to education as a woman in
Medieval Europe.
Male medical professionals most likely did not have a high
success rate of healing patients, as the humours method of
healing involved a lot of bleeding and leeches. They likely cost
more for patients compared to lower class female healers.
Seeing the local healer woman would appear to have a higher
success rate and be cheaper for the ill of the lower classes. To
medical professionals, these women were seen as encroaching
on customers and possible income.
Witches may have been empirical scientists, as traditional
herbal remedies must have been tested through trial and error.
Honey and garlic are both anti-bacterials and willow bark has
salicylic acid, a part of the active ingredient in aspirin. The
lower class healers would have passed information along to one
another. I hope that some women once talked about allergies,
or complications in childbirth – “Mistress Baker’s little knave
wast large, the birthing tooketh days and wast hard worketh!”
they might have said.
After the medieval period, at the end of the witch hunts in
the 16th century, women had roles as palliative nurses as nuns
in convents. Women’s roles in medicine became more regulated
and downplayed. Nurses as we know it in contemporary times
came around with Florence Nightingale’s teachings, with nurses
being trained to be subservient to doctors and to act as maids
and active carers. Doctors were not meant to have time for patients
– they instructed what needed to happen, and the nurses
acted upon the instructions.
Today there is little acknowledgement of the loss of healing
knowledge that may have occurred in Western Europe during
the centuries of witch hunts.
Witches and women
healers cared for the
peasant population
with simple herbal
remedies like willow
bark and honey. The
church condemned the
healing of the peasant
population – sin was the
cause of illness.
Since this period of time in European history, women, especially
independent women, have been associated with witches,
evil and demons. Women that subverted the norm by applying
knowledge, and being independent in their work, were targeted
as witches as they undermined the patriarchal power of the
Church and State. Across the ages, any woman who could possibly
cause threat to systems of power were subdued or removed.
The witch hunts were a part in a continued trend in society of
misogyny and an imbalance of power, where men hold onto
the majority. Women should celebrate being called witches. It
seems to refer to all wonderful things - we are independent,
intelligent and causing change.
36 | Lot’s Wife

INTERVIEW
A study has shown
By Ruby Muller
Illustration by Sigrid Lange
Did you know that the number of people who have
drowned by falling into swimming pools has a moderate
correlation with the number of Nicolas Cage films released that
year?
I know, it’s absurd. But it does work. The thing is, when we
know the link is implausible, we assume that the correlation is
by chance.
But what if I told you that moderate wine consumption correlates
with longevity? Of all the health stories that recur in the
media, this one is definitely up there in the pop-science charts.
But it is also false.
While it has not been conclusively decided that it is detrimental
to your health to have a few glasses a night, the evidence
supporting the original hypothesis that moderate wine
consumption increased longevity was questioned last year. A
meta analysis in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
suggested that there was no obvious benefit to moderate drinking.
The study explored the quality of the research that followed
the mortality rates of people who abstained from drinking,
people who drank moderately and those who consumed several
standard drinks every day.
The data was adjusted to account for the individual characteristics
of each study and the reasons for abstinence of each
participant, such as reformed alcoholism or pre-existing health
risks. The analysis then found that “low-volume alcohol consumption
has no net mortality benefit compared with lifetime
abstention or occasional drinking,” and that excess drinking
correlates with an increase in mortality rates.
So why isn’t this in the headlines? Perhaps it’s just not as
appealing to viewers as “GO DRINK MORE WINE!”
But the media’s tendency to hyperbolise scientific research
can be seriously detrimental to those conducting it.
Lot’s Wife | 37

SCIENCE
Because most of these
journalists don’t
come from science
backgrounds, they
rely on the word
of these scientists
without actually
understanding it.
Misrepresentation of serious research as “pop-science” even has
the reputation of ruining careers. Still, it is essential to report
on science and its impacts. Good science journalism has proven
capable of filling some of the most widely read magazines on
the planet.
There is more to bad reporting than it simply being false.
Even if science has a reputation for being a bit scary and hard
to understand, journalists have an obligation to check their
facts.
In the increasingly demanding news cycle, a lack of scrutiny
on the part of the media puts the democratic power of journalism
at risk. Being told a lie about something as serious as your
health or environmental issues is worse than never being told
anything in the first place. As any science student would know,
it takes a trained eye to know what is solid research and what
is not.
But the real danger to science as a profession is when the
reported facts are almost true. Misleading coverage of research
that is well conducted, peer-reviewed, and repeated with
supportive results can end up with good scientists losing a
hard-earned reputation. Perhaps the worst part is that these
cases of journalistic inaccuracy often cluster around big topics
like cancer, heart disease or climate change, global issues that
end up being misunderstood by millions because of a poorly
worded headline.
Part of the problem is the complexity of the research.
Because most of these journalists don’t come from science
backgrounds, they rely on the word of these scientists without
actually understanding it. And if the teams doing the research
can’t coordinate a simple enough summary, they risk leaving
the journalist to cut out the parts they don’t understand.
But good science journalism is out there.
New Scientist, Cosmos, and National Geographic are always
filled with interesting and accurate depictions of modern science.
And then there’s The Conversation, where award winning
journalists give brilliant names in science the opportunity to
share their story first hand through interviews as opposed
to press-releases. But the problem remains that these quality
publications mainly attract academics and other scientists;
people who are equipped with the knowledge to interpret the
original work.
Science journalism can’t always be written by those completing
the research. While it may be more factual to have
these articles written by the scientists conducting the experiments,
a fresh set of eyes ensures that someone with virtually
no understanding can still wrap their head around it. Though
most people wouldn’t, there are those few who seek to further
themselves by muddying the waters with fiction. The world of
science is under the same fiscal pressures as the news industry,
and privatised research has been known to skew press releases
for financial gain.
So it seems that there is more than just one problem with
science writing. The journalists writing it need the guts and the
training to try and understand something they don’t have a degree
in, and the researchers behind the findings need the tools
to explain the intricacies of their experiments to us common
folk.
While there are some resources availble once you’re in the
field, it seems nonsensical not to have this issue addressed earlier
considering it’s near inevitability. At some point, whether
to a journalist or a company or a consumer, these ideas need to
be communicated simply and effectively. And until science and
journalism students are being taught these skills as a necessity,
it is up to the brave few to dedicate their time and efforts to a
cause often overlooked.
38 | Lot’s Wife

SCIENCE
Borderline
Personality
Disorder
By Sarah-Grace Chedra
This article contains discussion of suicide.
A
second goes past, and instead of feeling focused in your
studies, you feel a rush of playfully happy feelings flood
your mind, making the world seem like a childish place, one of
little consequence. You try to suppress this spontaneous burst
of emotion so that you can continue studying. Perhaps you
succeed, but then - a moment later - it feels like an enormous
weight has been laid over you, leaving you with a body that has
little to no energy, and your thoughts begin to replicate these
feelings.
What you just read is an example of an experience some
with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) may go through in
their lives. Dealing with these mood swings can be a difficult
task, and they aren’t the only thing those living with BPD have
to cope with .
The fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) defines BPD as consisting of a
“pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self image
and affects, and marked impulsivity” (American Psychiatric
Association, 2013).
Unless a therapist has sufficient experience with this
condition, they generally don't feel comfortable managing a
person with BPD. Those who suffer from this condition lack the
support and understanding from the wider community. Pair
this with the fact that these individuals have a heightened fear
of abandonment, and chronic feelings of emptiness. To make
things even worse, people who live with this condition are at a
higher risk of depression and suicidal thoughts. This is the life
that a person who lives with BPD faces.
Those statistics are confronting, and in all honesty there
aren’t many people that acknowledge the struggles of those
with this this condition without being patronising. There needs
to be more awareness, especially within the mental health community,
of how to treat people with this condition.
What people don’t appreciate is that those with BPD are
highly sensitive and require patience to understand where
they’re coming from, and there are simple things that you can
do that can dramatically help someone who may have BPD and
these things aren’t difficult.
If someone discloses to you that they have this condition,
try to understand they aren’t trying to overwhelm you, but
rather trying to inform you. Like a stop sign at an intersection,
you can definitely pass on through, but you should be wary that
there may be other cars crossing. In other words, be mindful
that they are fundamentally a decent human being, but they
do have unpredictable emotions that can come up at random
points in their life.
This is known as being emotionally vulnerable, and it is part
of the reason that people who have BPD generally have mood
swings. The biggest thing you can do to help someone who
suffers from emotional vulnerability is to listen to them, talk to
them about the world around you, and engage with them on a
sincere level.
Another symptom of BPD is when a person swings into an
irrepressible high, known as a manic state. It’s a hard state
to notice, but for many people who suffer BPD, it can be the
hardest mood they face. It can draw them out into being more
impulsive, and when in this state, they can lose sight of consequences:
this can leave them extremely vulnerable. If you notice
the person’s voice beginning to rise, or they begin to act silly,
and say really inappropriate comments, these are signs that
they may have gone into a manic state. If this occurs, try to get
them to breathe and calm down.
On the other end of the mood swing, if someone looks like
they are going to have a meltdown, or are having one, the main
thing for you to do is to be kind. Be gentle in your words, be
sincere, and reinforce that they are a good person. Those who
suffer this condition have a hard time understanding reason
why they begin to get emotional, and they are generally more
sensitive to hearing criticism from someone they care about.
When a serious issue arises, it is best to avoid overwhelming
the person. Instead, break it down into the steps that you need
to take in order to resolve it, and help them focus on those.
This condition is a serious impairment on the individual’s
life. It isn’t easy to get over it, or to stop thinking in a particular
way: it doesn’t work like that. Those who suffer from this
disorder can face serious disadvantages in daily life, especially
in work or study environments.
To be frank, people seem to ignore the fact that it isn’t a
choice to have a mental illness. Although it isn’t your job to care
for these people, you should at least try to appreciate where
they are coming from. It’s understandable that people aren’t
always able to support those who are in need, but maybe if
people made an effort to accommodate those who are suffering,
the world would be a nicer place.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
www.lifeline.org.au
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au
beyondblue: 1300 22 4636
www.beyondblue.org.au
For more information about BPD, visit
SANE Australia:
www.sane.org/mental-health-and-illness/
facts-and-guides/borderline-personality-disorder
Lot’s Wife | 39

SCIENCE

SCIENCE
Serving the
people
By Abdul Marian
Illustration by Angus Marian
In a society that is so connected, with integrated technology
and a constant need for 24 hours updates, we find ourselves
more knowledgeable of what is going on around us. There is
much greater potential for somebody in Australia to know
about the humanitarian plight of others somewhere else in the
world, and this has seen a consciousness of different societal
problems integrate within our common mindset, as well as an
increase in humanitarian work and projects.
No doubt this is a good thing, yet now there is an emerging
body of research that examines just how humanitarian
‘humanitarian work’ is. It has been found that often, projects
are ineffective, or not sustainable, or waste valuable resources.
Furthermore, different humanitarian organisations have been
known to compete for limited government funding, as well as
the media spotlight, rather than work together and spread their
energy over multiple areas. It becomes easy to view ourselves
as the heroes helping out one single collective of people, often
with a plan that hasn’t had any contribution from the local population.
This kind of attitude ignores the individual needs of
people within a population, as well as the needs of one community
compared to another. The old saying “Give a man a fish and
you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him
for a lifetime,” is relevant when we consider long-term, user
specific solutions to problems. Once you begin to scratch the
surface, you will see the complexity in providing humanitarian
assistance; political context, climate, local resources, funding
and sustainability are all issues that do not have one-answerfits-all
solutions.
“Appropriate technology” is a way of thinking about
humanitarian engineering problems that gained traction
in the 1970s. Spurred by a disappointment in the effects of
humanitarian efforts, scholars and engineers tried to come up
with a different way of solving the problem. Particular areas to
target with appropriate technology are the longevity of their
projects, as well as the empowerment of local people. Over
the years it has moved from simply being a vision for a better
place to a tangible methodology that seeks to achieve specific
goals. Practitioners have also begun introspectively looking at
engineering failures to see where further improvements can
be made. Perhaps we find a lack of these ideas in humanitarian
work due to negligence on behalf of certain organisations,
but more likely they are a result of improper planning and
treating the symptoms of problems, rather than the problems
themselves.
In a recent introductory workshop, Monash students were
asked to design a system to provide clean water to a school.
They were encouraged to examine the real constraints that such
a project would have on the school and its community. Students
had to consider: an already limited supply of water, the cost of
materials in a place where the average income is $2.5 a day, a
design that was easy to replicate, easy to teach and would not
be easily broken by inquisitive kids. Physical considerations like
these often get overlooked, but so do less tangible concepts;
like how can we convince a community that the water they
have used for generations is actually not good for consumption?
Probably the most foreign concept to students is that
the answers for these real world solutions are neither always
clear, nor ascertainable. Unlike classroom problems, there isn’t
a solution at the back of the book or a tutor to guide you to the
correct, concrete answer. Exposure to these kinds of situations
is important, as students may not necessarily encounter problems
like these within ideal situations in the labs or tute rooms.
Unlike classroom
problems, there isn’t a
solution at the back of
the book or a tutor to
guide you to the correct,
concrete answer.
Engineers Without Borders is an organisation that has been
running summits and tours that help engineering students
achieve the flexible life skills mentioned above. There are 2
summits being organised in 2016: one from the 25th of June
until the 8th of July and another in between July 11-26th,
both of which will be hosted in Cambodia. The purpose of
these events is to acquaint engineering students with a local
community and get them to see first hand how the community
functions day-by-day. Then groups of students must work on
projects that they feel address various humanitarian aspects of
engineering.
Engineering students will be able to apply their knowledge
in real-life situations, and will see the crossroads of theoretical
and practical knowledge necessary to tackle such problems.
Actually knowing how to use and apply the knowledge you have
studied so hard for is essential for any graduating student. It is
great to see a push from the university to equip their students
with not only the tools to take on the plethora of challenges
that await them, but also the knowledge and understanding of
which tools to use in a given circumstance.
Lot’s Wife | 41

Where do our
pizza boxes
come from?
SCIENCE
By Brittany Wetherspoon
Illustration by Lily Greenwood
We use cardboard and paper-based packaging so often
in our daily lives, but many people do not know where
it all comes from. Why should you care? It is okay if you recycle
right? What if I were to tell you that your Friday night pizza
box was actually the product of the process that was killing
thousands?
In the beginning, it just started with the universally known
fact; that cardboard is a product of trees. I interviewed several
customers and workers at the local pizza shop, in hopes that
the consumers and workers of pizza would know which trees
those were. However, not a single person was able to clarify
further than “it just comes from trees.”
Many people believe that manufacturers of paper and
paper-based products are sourcing their trees from plantation
farms, trees specifically grown for the purpose of cutting
down. Whilst most international companies do abide by laws
set by councils, such as the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and
the Forest Stewardship Council (F.S.C), many of them do not.
Consequently, this means that many of your favourite internationally
packaged brands may actually be packaged in the skin
of native forests around the world, forests that thousands are
fighting governments to protect.
The deforestation of tropical rainforests, such as the
Amazon, is contributing to global warming which is increasing
at a dangerous rate. It is also the cause for much loss of
livelihoods for thousands, and death of thousands more native
animals. This is what volunteers from the World Wildlife
Foundation (WWF) are dedicated to stopping.
There was an undercurrent of mystery when I was investigating
the origins of cardboard. I called multiple companies
with no answer, and received only one reply to all my emails
sent. The reply was from an art branded paper company that
shall remain nameless, who stated to believe in my mission to
encourage readers to question the norm but politely refused
to, as doing so “would reveal our recipe to competitors”. Why
should it be so hard, as a consumer in Australian society which
claims to be greener than most, to be able to find out where my
packaging is sourced from? It made me question what they had
to hide?
The answer was the Amazon.
The South American rainforest, that is widely known to be
the largest source of the world’s oxygen, is in your pizza box.
One of my only successful interviews was with the local
pizza shop owner. Monash students have been coming to his
shops for years, so he jumped on board with the investigation
when I came to him. Within 2 weeks, he called me with his
results.
His supplier ships from Egypt, but according to the supplier,
the wood is cut, pulped and shaped in Brazil in three forms.
The first, pine wood from their plantation, is Australian Pine.
Secondly, all that recycled cardboard you and the rest of the
world recycle is rotated through the packaging system, being
pulped down again but at a lower quality than the original pine.
And finally, thousands of pizza boxes are being made with the
logs of the Amazonian Rain Forest.
Are we really okay with not knowing, with accepting what
has been our everyday normal without questioning the origins?
I don’t think so. We are university students, and learning
about and investigating our world is what we are here to do.
We can protect the future of our Earth, just by starting small
with pizza boxes.
But we can’t do it whilst being in the dark.
It all starts with a simple question.
42 | Lot’s Wife

PUZZLES
1 2 3
6
4 5
7
8
9 10
11 12
13 14
15
16
by Rajat Lal
ANSWERS AT LOTSWIFE.COM.AU
Lot’s Wife | 43

Beijing
Farewell My Concubine
01 January 1949

This is what we watch,
this is who we are.
By Sachetha Bamunusinghe
Illustration by Natalie Ng
Having spent my break in the middle of nowhere in Sri
Lanka, I felt truly blessed to have an actual television
that worked. Away from ‘becoming one’ with the monkeys, I
ended up spending a lot of time watching foreign films. From
Bollywood movies to modern Spanish short films, it made me
realize the numerous benefits foreign films can offer to an
audience.
A cultural experience in language learning
Firstly, films provide the key expressions and sounds
acoustics that are significant in in the everyday-day usage of a
language. When watching a foreign film, do you ever think “Oh!
That word is used so much” or “Wow, they speak so passionately”?
If you’re learning another language, watching foreign films
is a great way of assimilating these phrases and speech style
into your own learning experience. I find learning languages at
university helps to consistently enhance students’ grammatical
practices, however lacks usage of the common expressions. This
could be the difference between a student speaking eloquently
and a student who can speak eloquently and be easily connected
to a foreign society. Imagine going to Spain and being able to
explain in Spanish the Franco dictatorship and its oppressions
to society, but not being able to ask a local how much coffee is?
Being able to communicate with locals, on top of knowing the
culture, is an overall rewarding language speaking experience.
Highlights the social norms and behavior
One of the most important benefits for an audience is
being able to learn the societal values that are integrated in a
foreign community. For first-timers to a country without any
prior cultural knowledge, these norms may seem interesting or
even unusual at first. However by watching foreign films, the
audience is illustrated how these ‘different’ norms are indeed
normal in the particular society. For example, I’ve watched
Japanese anime and film, which is also highly popular for comic
fans in Western societies. I learnt important concepts before
visiting Japan such as the concept of Senpai and Kohai, where
those who are older or of a ‘higher’ role than yourself, must be
greatly respected. This includes using formal language unlike
casual styles, and even changing your behavior. Foreign films
assist in bridging this cultural knowledge gap of a foreign society,
and to broaden the understanding of foreign societal norms
for an audience.
Hopefully next time you’re at a film festival or movie
night, these benefits will convince you that foreign films are a
must-try!
It opens up a world of imagination
There are many American films made by Hollywood that
will remain iconic for years to come, but often same generic
storyline repeats itself. Foreign films on the other hand provide
unique tales, as the audience cannot predict the endings of
films, as everything to begin with is new and surprising. For example,
I watched the German film “Der Räuber” or “The Robber”
which is based upon a marathon runner who also successfully
robs banks as a hobby. BAM! This film not only encompasses
the suspense of an awesome thriller, but also provides a story
that differs from the generic style. Additionally, the remakes
of foreign films into English films are disappointing: it is more
appealing to an English speaking audience, but is it really better?
Like a foreign language itself, converting everything into
English eliminates the tradition, lust and originality of a film
that we otherwise could have encountered. Whether foreign
films are wonderful or confronting, they delve into depths of
imagination we infrequently see.
Lot’s Wife | 45

CULTURE
The uncommon cold:
what to do this winter
By Melissa Fernando
Illustration by Lucie Cester
“H
ow cold is it right now?!”- Pretty much every
Victorian, every winter.
So it’s June, when we Melbournians start to envy our northern
brethren who continue enjoy 30-degree sunshine during
the following few months. Or maybe you are one of those
strange people that like the cold. Either way, the following
activities will help you to either unleash your inner ice warrior
out in the snow, or help you weather the winter weather from
the safe haven of the indoors.
Mount Buller
Mount Buller lies in the Alpine region of Victoria, about
3 hours’ drive from Melbourne. A popular site for sporting
enthusiasts as well as first-time snow visitors, Mount Buller
is a must for this winter. With opportunities to ski, toboggan,
snowboard and mountain bike. Depending on accommodation
requirements, things can get a bit pricey, so try to book as early
as possible.
Mount Stirling
Mount Stirling is a mountain range that is about 30 minutes
away from Mount Buller, and provides a more student friendly
option as events and activities are cheaper than the other snow
mountains in the area. Mount Stirling is a quieter option than
its bigger brother Mount Buller, and offers the chance not only
snowboard and ski but also to recharge and camp under the
stars in refuge huts.
Queen Victoria Night Market
Every Wednesday night from 5-10pm, the Queen Victoria
Market turns into a bustling hub of people, food and drink.
Some stalls also have vintage knick-knacks and hand-crafted
ornaments. Punters can choose from over 30 stalls of delicious,
great and comforting winter foods from all kinds of cultures,
accompanied with delicious mulled wine or hot apple cider!
Cost depends on how much you like to eat!
Royal Botanic Gardens Greenhouses
Want a taste of the tropics during the Melbourne winter
for free? Go visit the hot houses in the Royal Botanic Gardens.
According to the website, winter is the best time to explore the
steamy houses. Aside from its breathtaking landscapes and
Australian plant life and variety of birds, turtles and other little
creatures that call the area home, the Royal Botanic Gardens
also have super warm greenhouses! Perfect cost-free way to
beat the winter chill right? Filled with exotic plants that are
native to tropical climates, these greenhouses will warm you up
and give you something to look at!
High Tea
Tea will always be a comforting hug in a mug, and winter
is the perfect time to get fancy and enjoy some warm drinks
and delectable treats in good company! Considering how the
average cost of high tea in Melbourne is around the $50-$60
mark, High Tea in Paris offers a great deal with tea for two for
only $20 on weekdays. The Parisian styled tearoom is located in
Mornington, about 45 minutes from Clayton campus. Opening
hours are Wednesday - Friday from 10:30am – 3:30pm and
Saturday-Sunday from 10:30am – 5:00pm.
Readings Bookshop – Carlton
There’s nothing better than being in a warm bookshop
browsing the walls for the perfect book while it’s pouring
outside and Readings in Carlton should be your go-to bookshop
this winter. But wait, this isn’t just any other bookshop… This
Melbourne bookshop won the London Book fairs award for best
bookshop… IN THE WORLD. So as Melbournians, we have a
duty to pay a visit and take pride in this amazing achievement.
Cat Café
It’s no surprise that Australia’s first cat café opened up in
Melbourne! Hipsters, cat lovers and crazy cat ladies unite! Cat
café Melbourne is a tranquil space designed to let you unwind
in a kitty-filled environment. From $10, you will be able to pet,
play and chill out with 14 playful and cheeky cats. The website
claims that interacting with cats is proven to reduce stress and
anxiety – something us university students can really make use
of. If you’d like to make some feline friends, you’ll find them at
375 Queen Street, but make sure to book through the website
fi r s t .
Lot’s Wife | 47

CULTURE
Ideas worth shredding
By Jasmine Walter
Illustration by Elizabeth Bridges
In retrospect, the incredible success of the online venture
that is TED talks does not seem surprising. TED, which
stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” was initially
a platform for tech-based startups to pitch their ideas to
investors. Founded in 1990, it has grew to such a phenomenon
that by January 2007, tickets were $6000 and invite-only. The
Silicon Valley roots of TED have stuck even as its market has
broadened, and “Ideas Worth Spreading” have become the new
commodity of choice.
The marketplace for these ideas grew as the internet
evolved. The popularity of Alain de Botton’s The Consolations of
Philosophy (2000) was an early symptom of the appetite that
existed for this genre of self-improvement literature. Online
platforms, such as Brain Pickings and The School of Life, now
package the wisdom of the greats in a format that is convenient
for our consumption. An interesting shift in tone has accompanied
the popularization of this niche of self-help. Continual
adjustment and betterment of the self is seen as paramount to
happiness, and naturally it is not hard to find an audience that
is willing to be convinced that self-improvement via philosophical
reflection is an easy way to change ourselves for the better.
This is why, often enough, just reading these articles is invigorating,
because the belief in the possibility of such a transformation
is already gratifying.
TED encourages speakers to stifle their appetite for nuance,
and to package problems and their innovative solutions as
being beneficial on a global scale. But their videos are perhaps
equally as masturbatory as the mantra that living the good
life is a matter of adjusting our mindset. Each speech creates a
warm glow of inspiration, because it turns out that the social,
economic and environmental problems of global importance
could be solved, if we were only to tweak our thinking. What
is even less surprising than the success of this format is that
this new industry of ideas tends towards banality. The formula
of the TED talk all but mandates a satisfying conclusion, and
allows the speaker to go largely unquestioned by the audience.
TED’s virality is no more a mystery than why each talk, with its
18-minute time limit, still feels like a sales pitch (a format that
admittedly does a disservice to some of the conference’s most
reputable contributors).
Philosopher Slavoj Žižek quipped that the cost set by
Starbucks of being more than just a consumer is built into
the price of a Grande Latte whose profits support fair-trade
Ethiopian coffee farmers. The ultimate consumerism allows us
to be self-congratulatory; and perhaps succeeds at countering a
deeper discomfort with being born onto the luckier side of social
inequality - as the main demographic for self-improvement
porn and TED seems to be. The temptation that TED feeds is a
desire to succumb to belief that the world is better for our individual
exposure to these life and world-changing ideas. Brian
Cooke’s recent podcast Philosophy can Ruin Your Life, in which
he discusses with philosophers the true impact of a life spent
with ideas, is more aptly titled. It is an appetite that delays
our mustering the courage to admit that only knowledge in the
service of the collective is worth it, and that individual comfort
may be the last thing it brings.
48 | Lot’s Wife

CULTURE
Kids these days:
is pop music losing
its intelligence?
By Matthew Edwards
Illustration by Elizabeth Bridges
Engaging with music is a time-tested human tradition,
that crosses all cultures and backgrounds. Thanks to the
internet, we now have access to broader samples of musical
genres, and it's now easier than ever to listen to what you like.
Yet there is still one genre of music that is ubiquitous in the
disdain it inspires: pop music. While travelling in the car, bus,
or taxi, you might have listened to the radio, and you may have
said to yourself, "Is this what's popular these days?" Or, perhaps,
"This song is pure garbage!" You may have then plugged in
the AUX cord or put on your headphones and listened to your
own tunes. But not all is lost – there has been something of a
resurgence in pop music in the last two years. Some pop songs
are becoming more lyrically complex and thematically sophisticated,
and most have been gaining traction on the charts.
I think it’s worth taking a look at some of them, to see what
works and what doesn’t.
It's no secret that pop music can sometimes be pure garbage.
In 2014, data blog SeatSmart conducted an analysis of lyrical
intelligence, or the graded reading level of a song’s lyrics, over
ten years of music. No musical genre or artist was safe: the
study showed that lyrical intelligence in popular music has been
on a downward trend since 2005. Artists like Maroon 5 and
T-Pain scored particularly low on the scale, with lyrics rating
lower than a second-grade reading level. Let's look at a sample
from T-Pain's entry, the 6th lowest song on the list, Buy U A
Drank (Shawty Snappin') from 2010:
I'mma buy you a drank
I'mma take you home with me
I got money in the bank
Shawty what you think 'bout that?
Find me in the grey Cadillac
We in the bed like ooh, ooh, ooh
We in the bed like ooh, ooh, ooh
It reads less like a song, and more like a message from a
horny 40-something man on OkCupid desperate to impress a
member of the desired sex. He’s just going to buy her a drink
and take her home in his nice car to have casual, non-committed
sexual intercourse, which according to Mr. Pain, will sound
like “ooh, ooh, ooh” …? Not a lot of room for interpretation
there.
But I think it’s important to make some distinctions. A “low”
song does not necessarily equate to a bad song. Many songs
that scored low on the SeatSmart list – Hey Ya by Outkast and
Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry just to name a couple – are songs
that have some lyrical complexity to them. Hey Ya is about a
relationship being dysfunctional, despite things looking fine on
the surface. This superficiality is reflected in the upbeat mood
of the track, and something the song actually acknowledges in
the lyrics. Take the last part of the second verse:
… If what they say is “Nothing is forever”
Then what makes (then what makes)
Love the exception?
So why, oh why
Are we so in denial
When we know we’re not happy here?
(Y’all don’t want to hear me, you just want to dance)
That last line is drowned out by the hook (the “hey ya”
part) coming back in, and it marks a shift in tone for the rest
of the song. Singer Andre 3000 goes into “denial” too, and
famously tells us to let go of our emotions and “shake it like a
Polaroid picture”. This entire song exemplifies the deeper lyrical
complexity hidden within pop music that I think a few other
popular songs share at the moment.
Mike Posner is no stranger to criticising popularity. His
2010 track Cooler Than Me was a massive hit, and describes a
girl Posner was supposedly interested in and rejected by, who
he describes as rich and stuck-up. According to him, she “needs
everyone’s eyes just to feel seen” and acts like a wannabe celebrity.
Since then, Posner has remained in the strange shadow
of the formerly famous. He disappeared from radio while he
fought the depression that came with his sudden notoriety.
That’s where I Took a Pill in Ibiza comes in.
Ibiza was recorded in 2015 as an acoustic track, before it
got picked up and remixed by Norwegian EDM duo SeeB a year
later. It deals with Posner’s complicated feelings towards his
own fame, and the new lifestyle that it brought him. The song
is straight-forward and blunt in its message, describing the
Lot’s Wife | 49

CULTURE
“rollercoaster” of his popularity that left him feeling “all alone”.
In the third verse, which doesn’t feature in the remixed version,
Posner warns his fans about his journey:
…I walked around downtown
I met some fans on Lafayette
They said tell us how to make it ‘cause we’re getting
real impatient
So I looked ‘em in the eye and said
[Chorus] You don’t wanna be high like me…
The song has since charted on the Billboard Top 10, and
Posner is aware of the irony: a song about the dangers of fame
has made him famous once again, thanks to no particular effort
on his part. But it is an important message, and one that is
shared with another song that deals with the loneliness that
comes with modern life.
UK duo Snakehips’ All My Friends is that song. It’s about the
negative effects of the millennial party lifestyle: alcohol, drugs
and incessant clubbing are turning people into “vultures” and
“cannibals”. Singer Tinashe’s memorable chorus describes that
maybe all-too-familiar feeling of being in a club you hate surrounded
by people that couldn’t care less about your wellbeing
while being wasted out of your mind. It’s a sad fact of modern
society, but it’s not all a negative song. Chance the Rapper
hopes, in his verse, that “the sand will leave a tan” and people
will realise the dangerous results that this lifestyle can have.
The songs that we’ve looked at so far have explored lyrical
complexity in their own right; they deal with complex themes
and emotions while still being ‘trendy’ songs. But I think there
is more complexity to be found by analysing some of these
trends, as they are an important part of pop music. They are
just as eclectic as society itself, and they have varied over time,
but the dominant trend that has pervaded through popular
music of the last year and a half can be traced back to Jamaican
music and its many subgenres. After Bob Marley made reggae
a worldwide phenomenon in the 1970s and 1980s, musicians
back in Jamaica began to turn to up-tempo sounds again. The
release of B-side albums (that is, instrumental tracks of songs
on the other side of the record) allowed Jamaican DJs to sing,
and essentially rap, over these versions. This is the precursor
to American hip-hop, but it also spawned another genre in
Jamaica: dancehall. DJs were able to electronically distort these
B-side tracks, or riddims, and perform over them.
No artist better represents this cultural phenomenon than
Rihanna; particularly in the lead single from her latest album,
Work. The lyrics incorporate aspects of Jamaican patois and
Creole, in an obvious nod to her Caribbean heritage, and the
song is one of the first dancehall songs to chart since Sean
Paul’s Temperature in 2006. Lyrically, Rihanna sings about fragile
relationships, and working hard no matter what’s happening
in your life:
Work, work, work, work, work, work
He said me haffi (He said I have to)
Work, work, work, work, work, work
He see me do mi (He saw me do my)
Dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt
So me put in (So I put in)
We’re getting a
broader range of
experiences from
the representation
of different cultures
and the sounds they
produce.
Work, work, work, work, work, work
When you ah guh (When are you going to)
Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn
Me nuh cyar if him (I don’t care if he’s)
Hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurting
In a time where politics is dominated by movements like
#BlackLivesMatter and tirades of racism and xenophobia, it’s
refreshing to see Rihanna proudly showing her cultural roots
in the pop music scene. You can’t help but imagine being on
a tropical island when you listen to this track, and a verse
featuring Drake only sweetens the deal. Similar to Hey Ya, the
mood and beat mask a frustrated undertone that speaks to the
reality of a difficult situation, and how people deal with those
situations.
I’m all about giving credit where credit is due, and I feel like
the songs I’ve mentioned deserve some credit in regards to
what we refer to as “pop music”. We’re certainly getting more
interesting songs in contemporary pop, both production-wise
and lyrically, and we’re getting a broader range of experiences
from the representation of different cultures and the sounds
they produce. I like where today’s music is headed, and I’d like
to see more of this complexity going forward. It’s opened my
eyes to a range of genres I’ve never listened to before, or genres
that I never thought I’d like until I heard what they had to offer,
and that’s what I think music is about: a shared experience that
anyone and everyone can enjoy.
50 | Lot’s Wife

CULTURE
Food fight
By Layla Homewood
Illustration by Natalie Ng
It's that time of year again. Winter is creeping up on us,
casting grey clouds over our university, while sheets of rain
stunt our motivation for those 9am lectures (okay, so we never
had the motivation for them in the first place, but the rain isn't
making them any easier). And as our winter approaches, everyone
seems to be jet-setting off on a European adventure to soak
up the rays which are so rudely ignoring our part of the world.
And we know what summer in Europe means; festivals.
Around this time, we expect crazy and vibrant and exhilarating
festivals for any reason. But in my memory, one event
in particular stretched the limits of every possible expectation.
Hosted every year, on the final Wednesday of August in Bunol,
Spain, is the world's largest food fight, otherwise known as La
Tomatina. Before going to this 70 year old festival, I had come
to terms with the fact that Spain was a lot more full on than
where I'm from. But I was not prepared enough for what I had
to face at the festival. No matter how much you're told about a
certain place, or how much you research or prepare for it, you
will never be completely ready until you're there, and this was
no exception.
I know what you're thinking. "I already know what the
Tomato festival is. It's where a bunch of tourists get drunk and
throw tomatoes at each other." Well, look, you're not wrong.
But there is so much more to the event than you may originally
believe. Before the tomatoes come out, before the chaos and
mayhem of the brutal war even begins, a whole host of other
traditions must first take place.
Exactly how the bizarre tradition began is still speculated.
Some say it all started with some young children from the
town, a horrible busker, and a hand-full of tomatoes used to
shut him up. Others believe a parade through the streets of
Bunol went awry when a fight broke out near a vegetable stand.
Either way, the act managed to stick and be repeated for many
years to come.
Now, over 50 years after its inception, hundreds of stalls
are perched on the side of the road trying to sell traditional
sangria as you, a humble warrior in this mighty war, make your
way to the street where the fight takes place. Not only do the
locals embrace the annual tradition by selling traditional food
and drink, but those who actually live in the street where the
fight occurs (yeah, there are people living there) flock to the
roofs of their buildings with even more sangria and massive
buckets of water, to pour on the sweltering people below. As
the tiny, narrow street fills with tourists and locals combined,
drenched in sweat, alcohol and fresh water, a courageous bunch
of individuals will try to climb a two-storey-high pole covered
in slippery animal fat and claim the leg of ham perched atop it.
Yeah, you heard right. For hours before the first tomato is
thrown, everyone attending the festival crams into the slender
street and cheers others on as they make every many and
varied attempt at claiming the leg of ham. And it's no easy
challenge. In the past few years of the tomato festival, the leg of
ham has remained untouched and unclaimed, leaving a string
of disheartened, animal fat and tomato covered festival goers
in its wake.
So by 11am, you can imagine 22,000 excited people all waiting
for the first cannon to signal the beginning of war. You can
imagine the ancient street, the width of only two cars where
they're all crammed in. And you can imagine the anticipation.
Whether you scaled the building walls for a better scope of
the juice-drenched crowd (careful! If you stand on something
tall, people tend to see you as an easy target), or were thrown
around in what was affectionately coined "The Kill Zone," the
area where truck loads of tomatoes would be unceremoniously
dumped every 10-15 minutes for a frenzy of festival goers to
dive upon, you'll end up completely a part of the festivities.
By the end of the fight when the final cannon has sounded,
you're literally shin deep in a brutal mixture of 50% tomato
juice, 20% sangria, 20% water, and 10% urine and vomit (urine
from people who didn't want to lose their precious place before
the fight, and vomit from people who suffered one too many tomatoes
to the mouth or one too many sangrias to the stomach).
So while your friends are off gallivanting amongst the
European sun, while you're struggling to think of a new way to
put off that 3000 word essay, remember to expect the unexpected.
But most importantly, if you're expecting a massive
tomato fight, expect to be standing shin deep in someone else's
urine too.
Lot’s Wife | 51

Illustration by Elizabeth Bridges

CREATIVE
Parlour Games
By Kiowa Scott-Hurley
Lot’s Wife | 53

Illustration CREATIVE
by Natalie Ng

POETRY
Sirens
By Ed Jessop
Lot’s Wife | 55

56 | Lot’s Wife
Illustration by Michael Wilkinson

FICTION
Funding
By Justin Jones Li
A
hint of jasmine fought valiantly against Cuban cigars
in the dark, smoky boardroom. The space was lit by a
circle of scented candles that stood in the middle of the table.
Organic. Hypoallergenic. Bespoke.
The attendees all rested their elbows on the table and tented
their fingers. Everyone had something different hovering above
the table. Magda Copperfield had a string of pearls draped over
her fingers; Carmen Wentworth had a ribbon of purple silk.
Priscilla Fairfax-Montgomery tapped her platinum and
rhodium rings together, and all eyes fell on her. “I now open
this month’s meeting of the First Women’s Committee. The
first item on the agenda, which I will present, is the wonderful
news that our proposed funding increase has been approved.
This year’s budget has been increased to match that of the First
Men’s Committee.”
There was a brief silence before the room collectively sighed
contentedly, and plumes of smoke inwards from the edge of the
circle. As the candlelight almost perished, the gleam of Selena
Babbage’s rubies flickered in kind.
Priscilla continued, “We’ve worked very hard for very long to
achieve this. I’m probably understating it massively to say that
we can all give ourselves a pat on the back. This is all thanks to
our advocacy and dedication. I thank you all.
“Now to the second item on the agenda, I believe a few of
us have prepared something to present. In this meeting, we
will vote on how to use this extra funding. I especially adored
Christine’s idea.”
“Thank you,” said Christine, Duchess of Lowbury, “I propose
to set up a grant for women who ordinarily cannot afford to
become a member of this committee. As Priscilla said, it is only
because of our steadfast commitment that we were able to
achieve equality in funding. It is high time that underprivileged
women finally get an opportunity to effect real change.”
Another wave of smoke filled the scene. The room approved
of Her Grace’s idea.
“Of course, there needs to be stringent requirements for
eligibility,” said Diana Penfold VII. “She would have to be
exceptional. Years of community service, a wide industry network
and she would definitely need to be well travelled.”
“Excellent suggestions,” Priscilla chimed. “Are there any
more”—
Priscilla’s phone began to ring. Acting against the weight of
its diamond-encrusted cover, she laboriously, though successfully,
picked it up.
“Hello? Oh hello! I see… Oh, that’s terrible… Wait, I’ll put
you on speaker.”
“Wait, what? No, I’d really rather not.”
It was, however, too late. The First Women’s Committee
could already hear the conversation, and everyone was eager for
the message.
“Oh okay… I’m Aisha Talwar from the Second Women’s
Committee. I was just letting Priscilla know that our committee’s
funding has been cut. Apparently, there were some
unforeseen circumstances, and some of the money that was
earmarked for us has been reallocated.”
The room was plunged into a hell-scape of horrified gasps.
“How beastly!”
“This is unjust!”
“I think I might swoon!”
Aisha began to mumble. “Everyone, I’m sure this is a solvable
problem.”
Pandemonium gripped the First Women’s Committee.
“I just don’t understand!”
“I know it doesn’t affect me, but I just can’t help it!”
“My god, I’ve just swooned! Somebody call an ambulance!”
Aisha tried again. “Everyone, this is a little counterproductive.
I think I have an idea about how to proceed. If you could
just give me a moment…”
The uproar continued. Everyone was in tears. Aisha hung up.
Priscilla spoke up again.
“I move that this meeting be closed so that we can all take
things easy for a while. Do I have a seconder…? Yes? Okay.
Carried unanimously!”
Lot’s Wife | 57

POETRY
In Search of
Lost Time
By Isaac Reichman
I remember, something.
The smell of violets in a violet room,
Forced to resume and presume the most;
Around a table in the violet room.
Where we sat upon the chairs we made;
Sat upon our hands and ate,
The scones and jam and cream.
The violets predicting and premising
Future scenes in a room with cakes and coffee.
The past calls to scene,
A notion of moment-less imposition;
Remission of consciousness,
And a ray of light cast upon the table
Stained with the afternoons gone by.
So it seems
Maybe… something… gleams.
Perhaps in another dream.
Yes, so it seems,
Perhaps, I’ll resume
The clock has fallen off the wall
In days gone by.
The clock has fallen on the floor.
Time is yet to present itself again
Resting on the table,
Beneath a vacant shawl.
Days are spent undoing frayed knots,
Rearranging bookends in new ways.
Time presents and rests within a book,
Not yet returned to its familiar place.
The flicker of daylight passes by.
Reflections of memories cast upon
The midnight moon’s pale eyes.
Diffraction and detracting from the simple.
Now you know, evening glows for who you know.
And the moons pale eyes wink with a feeble smile,
Casting waves upon the shore,
Turning shifting tides into mystic lore.
The moon passes by and coats the sky with cheap paint
From a corner store.
Clouds move and dusk sets in place,
Being worn by the night as a gown of silken lace.
Can you recall what it was like to breathe;
To breathe without the air catching in your throat?
The fray of spring precipitating on your car window;
Driving to strive for something unknown.
A boat, a car, a plane,
Can pass the time but no distance you hope;
We are not hopeless,
And so we cannot float upon the roses.
Instead we drove and stopped for toast,
Instead we walked upon the pitted wood of the pier
And dove in.
As with time and quite soon,
The violets wilt in the violet room.
Along with the cakes and coffee beans,
Along with the people that presumed.
58 | Lot’s Wife

Illustration by Stephanie Dim

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