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Breaking the silence on prostate cancer: man’s family legacy highlights importance of early detection

James Murray, 55, an architect from Melbourne, always knew he was living with a genetic "time bomb." A fifth-generation prostate cancer sufferer, his family’s battle with the disease spans over 170 years. From his great-great-grandfather, who chronicled his symptoms in 1847, to his uncles and father who also faced the disease, prostate cancer has been a grim constant in his family. “My family has what's been called a ‘spectacular history’ with prostate cancer,” James reflects. “But that’s not the kind of thing you want to hear. My great-great-grandfather had it, though they couldn’t test for it back then. My grandfather died from it, my father got it, and both of his brothers had it as well. It’s been a constant in our family for generations.” James' great-great-grandfather, Robert William Felton Lathrop Murray, a soldier and the founder of the Hobart Town Gazette, documented his battle with the disease long before modern medicine could provide a diagnosis. Since then, generation after generation of Murrays has grappled with the same fate. For James, however, early detection was key. Diagnosed in February 2022, he underwent surgery just a few months later in May, removing what doctors described as an aggressive form of the disease. But his story, unlike his ancestors, had a different ending. “In a way, we’ve been cursed by prostate cancer," explains James. "But it’s also been a blessing because it made us all hyper-aware of the importance of early detection. My dad was incredibly diligent, and that saved his life. He made sure I was on top of my PSA testing from my mid-40s, and that’s how we caught it early for me.” Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) testing and early detection are now recognised as crucial, particularly for men with a family history of prostate cancer. Yet, dangerous myths surrounding prostate cancer testing continue to cost lives, warns Associate Professor Weranja Ranasinghe, Deputy Leader of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand’s (USANZ) GU-Oncology Special Advisory Group. “Many men believe that they need to have urinary symptoms to be concerned about prostate cancer,” explains Ranasinghe. “The reality is that most prostate cancers develop without any symptoms at all. Urinary symptoms are not reliable – most of these symptoms are caused by non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate but advanced cancer can also give you urinary symptoms. So it is important to get checked.” An even greater barrier, however, is the outdated belief that prostate cancer screening requires an invasive rectal exam. Ranasinghe stresses that this is no longer the case: “A simple PSA blood test, combined with advanced imaging like MRI, is now the standard approach. Many men are avoiding tests due to this outdated fear, but in the GP setting, a rectal exam is currently not required for detecting prostate cancer." With over 26,000 Australian men expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ) is raising awareness during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month about the importance of early testing and debunking these misconceptions. Ranasinghe also points out that men with a strong family history should be particularly vigilant. “Men with female relatives who have had breast or ovarian cancer are also at an increased risk of prostate cancer due to the same genetic mutations. So we recommend that men with a strong family history get a PSA test at the age of 40, which is earlier than the recommended age.” For James Murray, the decision to undergo surgery quickly after his diagnosis proved life-saving. “When my PSA levels started rising in February 2022, I wasn’t shocked," he recalls. "I had always known this day would come. It wasn’t something I feared, but more something I was prepared for. I told myself, ‘Okay, it’s here, let’s deal with it,’ and I just focused on getting through the surgery as quickly as possible.” James feels fortunate compared to his uncles, whose diagnoses came much later in life, leading to more severe outcomes. His surgery went well, and he's had a quick recovery, returning to work and feeling grateful that they caught it early. That's why James is advocating for early PSA testing, particularly for men with a family history of prostate cancer. He plans to ensure his 19-year-old son is aware of the need for testing in the future. "We often see men wait until a friend or relative is diagnosed before thinking about getting a prostate cancer PSA test done," says Ranasinghe. "This reactive approach is dangerous. Men need to be proactive and take ownership of their prostate health and talk to their GPs about this, just like they would with cholesterol or other routine health checks." As prostate cancer awareness grows, James hopes his story will encourage others to get tested. It’s something no one wants to face, but the sooner you catch it, the better chance you have. For more information on prostate cancer screening and to find a urologist, visit the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ) at <a href="https://www.usanz.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.usanz.org.au</a>. Images: Supplied

Caring

Fear of ageing is really a fear of the unknown – and modern society is making things worse

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/chao-fang-1010933">Chao Fang</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-liverpool-1198">University of Liverpool</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alastair-comery-1501915">Alastair Comery</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-bath-1325">University of Bath</a> For the first time in human history, we have entered an era in which reaching old age is taken for granted. Unlike in ages past, when living to an older age was a luxury afforded mainly to the privileged, globally around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TO65.FE.ZS?locations=1W">79% of women</a> and <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TO65.MA.ZS?locations=1W">70% of men</a> can expect to reach the age of 65 and beyond. Despite longer life expectancy, many people in the contemporary west see growing old as undesirable and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/apr/02/ageing-and-the-mortality-alarm-i-started-panicking-about-future-me">even scary</a>. Research shows, however, that anxiety about ageing may in fact be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0164027500225004">fear of the unknown</a>. Society’s <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/articles/199409/learning-love-growing-old">focus on youthfulness</a> and <a href="https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psychology-teacher-network/introductory-psychology/ableism-negative-reactions-disability">capability</a> can cause anxiety about becoming weak and unwanted. Adverts for anti-ageing products <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-20th-century-rejuvenation-techniques-gave-rise-to-the-modern-anti-ageing-industry-133569">are everywhere</a>, reinforcing the idea that growing older is inherently unattractive. Some people fear ageing so much that it becomes a pathological condition <a href="https://mind.help/topic/gerascophobia/">called gerascophobia</a>, leading to irrational thoughts and behaviour, for example, a fixation on health, illness and mortality and a preoccupation with hiding the signs of ageing. We frequently hear about attempts to reverse ageing, often by the super rich. For example, <a href="https://fortune.com/well/2023/01/26/bryan-johnson-extreme-anti-aging/">Bryan Johnson</a>, a 45-year-old American entrepreneur, is spending millions of dollars a year to obtain the physical age of 18. While the desire to reverse ageing is not a new phenomenon, advancements in biomedicine have brought it closer. Work published by genetics professor <a href="https://lifespanbook.com/">David Sinclair</a> at Harvard University in 2019 suggests that it may be possible to challenge the limits of cell reproduction to extend our lifespan, for example. His <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00527-6">information theory of ageing</a> argues that <a href="https://epigeneticsandchromatin.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1756-8935-6-3">reprogramming DNA</a> can improve damaged and old tissues, and delay or even reverse ageing. However, these new possibilities can also heighten our fear of ageing. <h2>From the unproductive to undervalued</h2> People haven’t always dreaded growing older. In many societies, older people used to be widely regarded as wise and important – and in some they still are. In ancient China, there was a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/605890">culture</a> of respecting and seeking advice from older family members. There is still an ethos of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6363941/">filial piety</a> (showing reverence and care for elders and ancestors) today, even if it’s not as pronounced as it used to be. The same went for <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/abs/old-age-in-the-dark-ages-the-status-of-old-age-during-the-early-middle-ages/3699DC4100DE852BDA1E1B3BBF33DDBC">medieval Europe</a>, where older people’s experiences and wisdom were highly valued. However, the industrial revolution in the west from the 18th century led to a cultural shift where older people <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1014358415896">became excluded from society</a> and were considered unproductive. People who had surpassed the age to work, alongside those with incurable diseases, were regarded by society as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13607860903228762">“evils”</a> in need of assistance. The treatment of older people has taken a different form since the early 20th century. The introduction of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/business/retirement/why-the-world-needs-to-rethink-retirement.html">universal pension systems</a> made ageing a central concern in welfare systems. But as the demands for social and health care have increased, journalists increasingly portray ageing as a <a href="https://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-news/archive/older-people-feel-a-burden-to-society/">burden</a> on society. Consequently, growing older is often associated with managing the risk of ill health and alleviating the onus of care from younger relatives. This can result in the <a href="https://utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/utq.90.2.09">institutionalisation</a> of older people in residential facilities that keep them hidden, sequestered from the awareness of younger generations. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0164027500225004">Research</a> analysing the responses of 1,200 US adults from the American Association of Retired Persons’ Images of Ageing survey shows that much of the perceived fear of ageing is closely aligned with the fear of the unknown, rather than the ageing process itself. This fear is only exacerbated by the largely separate lives lived by older and younger generations. The prevalence of nuclear families and the decline of <a href="https://www.cpc.ac.uk/docs/BP45_UnAffordable_housing_and_the_residential_separation_of_age_groups.pdf">traditional mixed-generational communities</a> have deprived younger people of the opportunity to more fully understand the experiences of older people. Plus, the rapid increase in <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/why-its-more-difficult-for-young-people-to-buy-a-house-now-than-it-was-fifty-years-ago-12537254">house prices</a> means many young people cannot afford to live near their older relatives. The separation of older people from children and young people has sparked generational conflicts that seemingly continue to <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2017/05/04/britains-generational-divide-has-never-been-wider">grow wider than ever</a>. Older people are frequently portrayed in the media as conservative and privileged, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/12/old-young-gap-britain-generation-dysfunctional-family">making it difficult</a> for younger generations to comprehend why older people act and think the way they do. <h2>Intergenerational interactions</h2> Academics suggest that creating <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.996520/full">a system</a> for older and younger generations to interact in everyday settings is vital. A set of three <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031197/#bjso12146-bib-0004">UK-based studies</a> in 2016 analysed and compared the effects of direct contact, extended contact and interactions between younger (aged 17 to 30) and older people (65 and over). The findings indicated that good quality direct intergenerational contact can improve young people’s attitudes towards older adults (especially when sustained over time). Intergenerational programmes have been adopted globally, including mixed and <a href="https://www.cohousing.org/multigenerational-cohousing/">intergenerational housing</a>, <a href="https://www.nurseryinbelong.org.uk/intergenerational-choir-hits-high-note-at-belong-chester/">community choirs</a> and <a href="https://www.shareable.net/how-sharing-can-bring-japans-elderly-and-youth-together/">senior volunteers reading to young children in nurseries</a>. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10433-018-00497-4">Studies show</a> that these activities can not only enhance the wellbeing of older people but also help younger people gain an appreciation of ageing as a valuable and fulfilling life stage. Getting worried about growing older is normal, just as we experience anxieties in other stages of life, such as adolescence and marriage. But here’s the thing – instead of seeing ageing as a looming figure, it is important to realise it is just a part of life. Once we understand ageing as a regular experience, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/changepower/202106/do-you-have-fogo-taming-the-fear-getting-old">we can let go</a> of these worries and approach the journey through different life stages with a positive attitude and a fortified will to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220925/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/chao-fang-1010933">Chao Fang</a>, Lecturer in Sociology, Deputy Director of the Centre for Ageing and the Life Course, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-liverpool-1198">University of Liverpool</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alastair-comery-1501915">Alastair Comery</a>, PhD Candidate, Sociology, Centre for Death and Society, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-bath-1325">University of Bath</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fear-of-ageing-is-really-a-fear-of-the-unknown-and-modern-society-is-making-things-worse-220925">original article</a>.

Beauty & Style

The move to a cashless society isn’t just a possibility, it’s well underway

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/angel-zhong-1204643">Angel Zhong</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> When was the last time you used cash? For many Australians using cash or even swiping a card has become a rare event. The move towards a cashless society started 50 years ago with the introduction of the Bankcard and was driven by technological advancements. But it really took off with the COVID pandemic when consumers and retailers were reluctant to handle potentially infected notes and coins. The federal government last week underscored its recognition of this trend by <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/modernising-payments-regulation">unveiling reforms</a> to regulate digital payment providers. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said: "As payments increasingly become digital, our payments system needs to remain fit for purpose so that it delivers for consumers and small businesses. We want to make sure the shift to digital payments occurs in a way that promotes greater competition, innovation and productivity across our entire economy." From big cities to remote rural corners the shift towards digital payments is evident. This raises the question, is a cashless society inevitable? <h2>The phenomenal growth of the digital payments</h2> The convenience of digital transactions has become irresistible for consumers and businesses and has led to the sector eclipsing traditional payment methods. The relentless march of technology has produced myriad innovative platforms from mobile wallets to buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) schemes, each vying for a piece of this burgeoning market. A recent <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bank-On-It-%E2%80%93-Customer-Trends-2023-1.pdf">report</a> by the Australian Banking Association paints a vivid picture of the digital payment industry’s explosive expansion. The use of digital wallet payments on smartphones and watches has soared from $746 million in 2018 to over $93 billion in 2022. Cash only accounts for 13% of consumer payments in Australia as of the end of 2022, a stark contrast to 70% in 2007. Digital wallets are popular with most age groups. Young Australians aged between 18 and 29 are leading the pack, with two thirds <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2023/jun/consumer-payment-behaviour-in-australia.html">using digital wallets</a> to pay for goods and services. About <a href="https://www.ausbanking.org.au/almost-40-leave-wallets-at-home/">40% of Australians</a> are comfortable leaving home without their actual wallets or even credit or debit cards, as long as they have their mobile devices with digital wallets. The astonishing speed at which Australians have embraced digital payments places the country among the top users of cashless payments globally, surpassing the United States and European countries. Digital wallets are not the only players in this space. The use of BNPL products is also growing rapidly in Australia, which was where many of the large-scale products in this category started. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reports the total value of all BNPL transactions increased by <a href="https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/find-a-document/reports/rep-672-buy-now-pay-later-an-industry-update/">79% in the 2018–19 financial year</a>. This continues into 2022 with an annual growth beyond 30% according to the <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/annual-reports/psb/2022/the-evolving-retail-payments-landscape.html">Reserve Bank of Australia</a> (RBA). PayID and PayPal payments are also claiming their shares in this space. <h2>Are government regulations necessary?</h2> The government’s planned regulation of the system, contained in amendments to the Reforms to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998, is a big step towards establishing a secure and trustworthy cashless society in Australia. It will subject BNPL and digital wallet service providers like Apple Pay and Google Pay to the same oversight by the RBA as traditional credit and debit cards. The regulations will require providers meet clear standards for security measures, data protection and dispute resolution to give Australians confidence their funds and personal information are safeguarded. With increasing concern over cyber attacks, the regulations will help reduce the risk of fraudulent activities and money laundering and help identify suspicious transactions, maintaining the integrity of the financial system. Also, regulation will promote fair competition and market stability by levelling the playing field and by preventing monopolies. While banks support the forthcoming regulation, new market players are less positive. For example, Apple Pay says it is merely <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/new-rba-powers-to-regulate-apple-google-payments-20231010-p5eb6d">providing technical architecture</a> rather than payment services. The current regulatory debate is not new. When credit cards made their debut in Australia in the early 1970s, there were hardly any safeguards for consumers. This led to card users being hit with high interest rates on money owed, sneaky fees and aggressive marketing tactics. Consequently, regulations were introduced to hold card providers to a standard of responsible behaviour. Today, they must openly disclose interest rates, fees and charges, and follow stringent guidelines in advertising their products and services. Regulating digital wallet providers strikes a crucial balance between innovation and accountability, ensuring life-changing technology continues to serve the public interest. The shift towards a cashless society in Australia isn’t just a possibility, it’s already well underway. The blend of technological advancements, changing consumer preferences and regulatory adaptations has set the stage for this transformation. The new regulations will help Australians navigate this transition more confidently.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215446/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/angel-zhong-1204643">Angel Zhong</a>, Associate Professor of Finance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-move-to-a-cashless-society-isnt-just-a-possibility-its-well-underway-215446">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

Concerns for seniors in shift to cashless society

Experts have voiced their concerns that senior Aussies will be left behind as the banking industry continues to move away from using cash. National Seniors Australia chief operating officer Chris Grice said there has been a "big shift to getting people off cash", as many financial institutions favour digital transactions. While this shift is geared towards leaning into technological and advancements and making things as convenient as possible, there are worries that older Aussies will be left struggling with the change. "The feedback we're getting it is not as easy as, you know, just tap and go and away you go," Mr Grice told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/commonwealth-bank-statement-on-claims-of-cashless-branches/63ed8948-8dbc-40a9-a2cc-a58b2b94255e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Today</a>. "Some of these regional communities in particular, have challenges around internet access." While cash will still be readily available, Mr Grice warned that people trying to access their cash could face increasing transaction fees at ATMs. Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank has responded to reports that it has increased the number of "cashless" branches, where a general banking teller is not provided to service customers, saying Cash withdrawals and deposits are available at all Commonwealth Bank branches and Specialist Centres." They went on to say that Specialist Centres, for people who require a face-to-face service, will remain in "major metropolitan locations". There are fears that a growing number of cashless branches across the entire banking industry would disadvantage older Australians who rely on cash as their primary form of banking, leaving many wonder how they will access their money given the limitations. Image credits: Getty Images

Money & Banking

How 1920s high society fashion pushed gender boundaries through ‘freaking’ parties

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dominic-janes-347508">Dominic Janes</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/keele-university-1012">Keele University</a> The 1920s brought about a rise in androgynous fashion among a high society set that broke boundaries and caused controversy. This drew on a subculture that had existed for decades, perhaps centuries, but after the first world war gender-bending fashions became front page news. It was a time of upheaval. Established regimes were toppling across Europe. In Britain, women over 30 had finally been given the vote and there was widespread concern about the new hedonism of their younger “flapper” sisters. There was also a new market for novels, such as Radcylffe Hall’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2019/4/1/radclyffe-hall-well-of-loneliness-legacy#:%7E:text=On%20November%2016%2C%201928%2C%20Biron,its%20immediate%20removal%20from%20circulation.">banned book</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221121-the-well-of-loneliness-the-most-corrosive-book-ever">The Well of Loneliness</a> (1928) that focused on, rather than merely hinted at, queer lives. Daring male university students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab036">started wearing makeup</a>. One of these was <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/cecil-beaton-an-introduction">Cecil Beaton</a>, the future celebrity photographer, who <a href="https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/ht24wj66t">delighted in cross-dressing</a> both on stage and off. Beaton became part of a set of high society socialites who were known as the “<a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/cecil-beaton-bright-young-things/exhibition">bright young things</a>”. They were often socially privileged, many of them were queer and their antics were <a href="https://djtaylorwriter.co.uk/page10.htm">widely followed in the media</a> with a mixture of horror and fascination. The “things” took partying seriously and paid great attention to their outfits. They dressed to transgress. In 1920, high society magazine <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/freak-to-chic-9781350172609/">The Sketch reported</a> that what it termed “freak parties” were suddenly in vogue with the younger set. Before the war, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/freak-to-chic-9781350172609/">articles had appeared</a> condemning unusual styles as “freak fashions”, but suddenly “<a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/freak-to-chic-9781350248083/">freaking</a>” was all the rage. Until this point, menswear had been heavily circumscribed. Black was the default colour for formal occasions and tweed for informal settings. But suddenly there was a circle who were keen to try out new looks, no matter how bizarre – or queer-looking – the results. <h2>Queer parties, queer fashions</h2> These styles were often worn as fancy dress, but they borrowed looks from marginalised queer communities such as feminine-styled queer men, some of whom made a living by selling sexual services. One such man was Quentin Crisp, whose memoir <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/324730/the-naked-civil-servant-by-quentin-crisp/">The Naked Civil Servant</a> (1968) was dramatised as a <a href="http://www.crisperanto.org/news/NCSusa2007.html">pioneering TV drama</a>. Another source of inspiration was the <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3682948.html">freak show</a>. These displays, horrifying from a 21st century point of view, were a popular element of circuses at the time. They featured such stock characters as the muscled giant and the bearded lady, some of whom <a href="https://www.thehumanmarvels.com/annie-jones-the-esau-woman/">became celebrities</a> in their own right. Masquerade and fancy dress parties had long been a feature of urban social life, but the bright young things innovated in that they impressed less through the expense of their outfits and more through their queer implications. Many such parties were themed, such as a Greek-themed freak party that was hailed as the greatest “Dionysia” of 1929 (Dionysus being the Greek god of sex and pleasure). Androgynous and cross dressing looks were common and men such as Beaton designed their own frocks. In July 1927, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Her-Husband-was-a-Woman-Womens-Gender-Crossing-in-Modern-British-Popular/Oram/p/book/9780415400077">one magazine declared</a> that an event attended by Beaton’s friend Stephen Tennant dressed as the Queen of Sheba and bisexual actress Tallulah Bankhead dressed as a male tennis star was: “one of the queerest of all the ‘freak’ parties ever given in London”. <h2>The party’s over</h2> The Wall Street crash of 1929 led to a rapid shift in public mood. Economic recession led people to favour sobriety over flamboyance. Money for the parties ran out and media attention faltered. Gender-bending style vanished from the fashionable arena, although it persisted on inner cities streets. Quentin Crisp’s mode of <a href="https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/british-dandies">queer dandyism</a> was daring for its time, but it only became extraordinary by virtue of his unwillingness to modernise. Seemingly he, and pretty much he alone, continued to wear the queer looks of the interwar period into the television age. He duly <a href="http://www.crisperanto.org/news/AnEnglishmanInNYmovie.html">became a transatlantic celebrity</a> late in life when he became the inspiration for Sting’s song <a href="https://www.sting.com/discography/album/189/Singles">Englishman in New York</a> in 1987. Cecil Beaton, meanwhile, became a leading photographer for Vogue magazine and was commissioned to take official <a href="https://www.rct.uk/cecil-beaton-1904-80">coronation portraits of Elizabeth II</a>. He also designed the fantastic dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/in-cecil-beatons-show-stopping-designs-for-my-fair-lady-lies-a-story-of-tantrums-and-top-hats">My Fair Lady</a> (1964), inspired by the gowns he and his compatriots had dreamed up for themselves some 40 years earlier.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205893/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dominic-janes-347508">Dominic Janes</a>, Professor of Modern History, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/keele-university-1012">Keele University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-1920s-high-society-fashion-pushed-gender-boundaries-through-freaking-parties-205893">original article</a>.

Beauty & Style

Can you lend a paw this tax time to help cats in need?

With a proud reputation of caring for cats for more than 60 years, the Cat Protection Society of NSW runs Sydney’s only no-kill shelter just for cats, as well as providing feline welfare programs to help cats and the people who love them. Cat Protection began in 1958 as a small group of people dedicated to reducing the number of street cats and while our organisation has grown over the years, our vision remains the same; that every cat deserves a loving and responsible home. Over the years, Cat Protection has helped literally hundreds of thousands of cats, kittens, and people. We’ve led the way in setting the standards for best-practice feline sheltering, and our health and welfare services extend far beyond our adoption centre. And while technology means we can offer a great range of free cat care resources online, we’ve never lost our human touch and we still help thousands of people every year with advice and tips on cat care by phone or in-person, at no cost. Our subsidised desexing, vaccination and microchipping programs promote cat health and welfare in the community and our newest program, Adopt-a-Stray, offers a complete and affordable package for those who wish to fully welcome a street cat into their heart and home. What sets us apart from many other animal shelters is our holistic approach to each individual cat or human client. Cats are not given a time limit, although most are adopted within days or weeks. Every cat is individually assessed and provided with a care plan to meet their unique needs. If they need complex surgery, allergy trials or behavioural interventions our highly qualified team will work with veterinarians and specialists to ensure the cat gets everything they need to set them on the path to living their best life. A kind person found Snake, a four-week-old sickly orphaned kitten. In addition to cat flu, our vets identified corneal scarring in his right eye, a blocked tear duct, and an adhesion on his eyelid restricting the normal movement of his third eyelid. Treatment resolved the flu and improved his eye, but Snake will live with limited vision in that eye. This has not dampened his playfulness or zest for life. As well as poor physical health, orphaned kittens miss out on the important lessons of being a cat from their mum and siblings, and this can lead to behavioural issues. Where we can, we will make sure such kittens get to join a stepfamily, but in cases such as Snake’s, illness means that isn’t always possible. It is then up to our human team to work with these little ones to help them learn to navigate the world with good manners! In contrast, Banjo had all the behavioural benefits of his brother but alas at seven weeks of age Banjo weighed only 560 grams while his brother Clancy weighed 900 grams! Banjo was diagnosed with a rare form of congenital hypothyroidism. Because his condition was diagnosed early, his prognosis is very good. He was started on a medication called Thyroxine and went back into foster care so that we could monitor his progress and adjust the dose of his medication as necessary with follow-up blood tests. After six weeks in foster care, Banjo graduated to the adoption centre. He will need to be on Thyroxine for the rest of his life, but that didn’t daunt his new family who’ve told us Banjo is now thriving in his loving forever home. From individualised TLC and veterinary care for every cat and kitten, to helping human clients resolve cat challenges (from furniture scratching to strata bans) and strategic research and advocacy on behalf of people and cats, Cat Protection’s impact is so much greater than our budget. As an independent registered charity for cats, we’re dependent on donations and bequests to do our work. We are compliant, open and transparent; on our website you can see our audited annual reports for details of what we do and what it costs. We have a strict “no harassment” fundraising policy which means under no circumstances will your information be sold on, and we do not employ pressure-tactics or door-to-door solicitations. We don’t spend money paying fundraising companies to ring you at dinner time asking for money or send you five-page long letters insisting you give more. And we never will. Donations are invested in helping our feline friends and nurturing the unique bond between cats and people. Your generosity will mean that we can continue to help thousands of cats and people each year. If you can lend a paw, please <a href="https://www.givenow.com.au/catprotectionsocietynsw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make your tax-deductible donation here</a>! For general advice on cat care and everything feline, call the Cat Protection Society of NSW on 02 9557 4818 or visit <a href="https://catprotection.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">catprotection.org.au</a> Images: Supplied. This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with the Cat Protection Society of NSW.

Family & Pets

Tiredness of life: the growing phenomenon in western society

Molly was 88 years old and in good health. She had outlived two husbands, her siblings, most of her friends and her only son. “I don’t have any meaningful relationships left, dear,” she told me. “They’ve all died. And you know what? Underneath it all, I want to leave this world too.” Leaning a little closer, as though she was telling me a secret, she continued: "Shall I tell you what I am? I’m strong. I can admit to myself and to you that there’s nothing left for me here. I’m more than ready to leave when it’s my time. In fact, it can’t come quickly enough." I’ve <a href="https://theconversation.com/loneliness-loss-and-regret-what-getting-old-really-feels-like-new-study-157731">interviewed</a> many older people for research. Every so often, I’m struck by the sincerity with which some people feel that their life is completed. They seem tired of being alive. I’m a member of of the European <a href="https://research.ugent.be/web/result/project/6d511516-39ad-4c2e-ad46-44d5ce25ca29/details/en">Understanding Tiredness of Life in Older People Research Network</a>, a group of geriatricians, psychiatrists, social scientists, psychologists and death scholars. We want to better understand the phenomenon and unpick what is unique about it. The network is also working on advice for politicians and healthcare practices, as well as caregiver and patient support. Professor of care ethics Els van Wijngaarden and colleagues in the Netherlands <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615002889">listened to a group of older people</a> who were not seriously ill, yet felt a yearning to end their lives. The key issues they identified in such people were: aching loneliness, pain associated with not mattering, struggles with self-expression, existential tiredness, and fear of being reduced to a completely dependent state. This need not be the consequence of a lifetime of suffering, or a response to intolerable physical pain. Tiredness of life also seems to arise in people who consider themselves to have lived fulfilling lives. One man of 92 told the network’s researchers: "You have no effect on anything. The ship sets sail and everyone has a job, but you just sail along. I am cargo to them. That’s not easy. That’s not me. Humiliation is too strong a word, but it is bordering on it. I simply feel ignored, completely marginalised." Another man said: "Look at the condition of those old ladies in the building opposite. Gaunt and half-dead, pointlessly driven around in a wheelchair … It has nothing to do with being human anymore. It is a stage of life I simply don’t want to go through." <h2>A unique suffering</h2> The American novelist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/review/07gord.html">Philip Roth wrote</a> that “old age is not a battle, old age is a massacre”. If we live long enough, we can lose our identity, physical capabilities, partner, friends and careers. For some people, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/abs/gradual-separation-from-the-world-a-qualitative-exploration-of-existential-loneliness-in-old-age/5567288AD35DFB878F3F756FF233FB1C">this elicits</a> a deep-rooted sense that life has been stripped of meaning – and that the tools we need to rebuild a sense of purpose are irretrievable. Care professor Helena Larsson and colleagues in Sweden have <a href="https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12877-017-0533-1.pdf#:%7E:text=This%20study%20is%20part%20of%20a%20larger%20research,was%20analysed%20using%20Hsiehand%20Shannon%E2%80%99s%20conventional%20content%20analysis.">written about</a> a gradual “turning out of the lights” in old age. They argue that people steadily let go of life, until they reach a point where they are ready to turn off the outside world. Larsson’s team raises the question of whether this might be inevitable for us all. Of course, this sort of suffering shares characteristics (it’s depressing and painful) with anguish we encounter at other points in life. But it’s not the same. Consider the existential suffering that might arise from a terminal illness or recent divorce. In these examples, part of the suffering is connected to the fact that there is more of life’s voyage to make – but that the rest of the journey feels uncertain and no longer looks the way we fantasised it would. This sort of suffering is often tied to mourning a future we feel we should have had, or fearing a future we are uncertain about. One of the distinctions in tiredness of life is that there is no desire for, or mourning of, a future; only a profound sense that the journey is over, yet drags on painfully and indefinitely. <h2>The global view</h2> In countries where euthanasia and assisted suicide are <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n147">legal</a>, doctors and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2021.2013981?casa_token=XEzfqjWH8uUAAAAA:GD6c6mZEv7q9eq2fqfSNcrbGWYD1-0ehOU3tTTJ2Zbnyraf3VvdvQcIRXF847Dp6T9k_yWctt3E">researchers are debating</a> whether tiredness of life meets the threshold for the sort of <a href="http://www.bioethics.org.au/Resources/Online%20Articles/Opinion%20Pieces/2201%20Tired%20of%20Life.pdf">unceasing emotional suffering</a> that grants people the right to euthanasia. The fact that this problem is common enough for researchers to debate it may suggest that modern life has shut older people out of western society. Perhaps elders are <a href="https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/703688/">no longer revered</a> for their wisdom and experience. But it’s not inevitable. In Japan, age is seen as a spring or rebirth after a busy period of working and raising children. One study found older adults in Japan showed <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3183740/#R34">higher scores on personal growth</a> compared with midlife adults, whereas the opposite age pattern was found in the US. Surgeon and medical professor <a href="https://mh.bmj.com/content/41/2/145">Atul Gawande</a> argues that in western societies, medicine has created the ideal conditions for transforming ageing into a “long, slow fade”. He believes quality of life has been overlooked as we channel our resources towards biological survival. This is unprecedented in history. Tiredness of life may be evidence of the cost. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/tiredness-of-life-the-growing-phenomenon-in-western-society-203934" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Caring

Why reading books is good for society, wellbeing and your career

TikTok allows video up to 10 minutes, but says surveys show almost half its users are stressed by anything <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tiktok-wants-longer-videos-like-not">longer than a minute</a>. An Instagram video can be up to 90 seconds, but experts reckon the ideal time to maximise engagement is <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-reel-length/">less than 15 seconds</a>. Twitter doubled the length of tweets in 2017 to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/30/twitters-doubling-of-character-count-from-140-to-280-had-little-impact-on-length-of-tweets/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE7Ou03VeQ_VU9SZA2zdsZOLh6KKtVl5dj2ti0R3YgY_T_G9h7s3Ry9GOzQNecfcZbs_ko9I9YGELzKTM_2Ox9PTglVrcKM_xbBwh23aBAm12Q126TLMvre8SujfV3KkZnRIisVGD19Q3j5uP-P3RMMJuATO_ooLJgkF19ECOs3g">280 characters</a>, but the typical length is more like <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/10/many-characters-tweet-ask-experts/">33 characters</a>. It’s easy to get sucked into short and sensational content. But if you’re worried this may be harming your attention span, you <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media">should be</a>. There’s solid evidence that so many demands on our attention make us <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/news/media-release/short-attention-spans-linked-to-social-media-distress/">more stressed</a>, and that the endless social comparison <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-social-media-makes-you-feel-bad-and-what-to-do-about-it-197691">makes us feel worse</a> about ourselves. For better mental health, read a book. Studies show a range of psychological benefits from book-reading. Reading fiction can increase your capacity for <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1239918">empathy</a>, through the process of seeing the world through a relatable character. Reading has been found to reduce stress as effectively as <a href="https://clutejournals.com/index.php/TLC/article/view/1117">yoga</a>. It is being prescribed for depression – a treatment <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-95164-009">known as bibliotherapy</a>. Book-reading is also a strong marker of curiosity – a <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-business-case-for-curiosity">quality prized</a> by employers such as Google. Our research shows reading is as strongly associated with curiosity as interest in science, and more strongly than mathematical ability. And it’s not just that curious minds are more likely to read because of a thirst for knowledge and understanding. That happens too, but our research has specifically been to investigate the role of reading in the development of curious minds. <h2>Tracking reading and curiosity</h2> Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00036846.2023.2174943">findings</a> come from analysing data from the <a href="https://www.lsay.edu.au/aboutlsay">Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth</a>, which tracks the progress of young Australians from the age of 15 till 25. Longitudinal surveys provide valuable insights by surveying the same people – in this case a group of about 10,000 young people. Every year for ten years they are asked about their achievements, aspirations, education, employment and life satisfaction. There have been five survey cohorts since 1998, the most recent starting in 2016. We analysed three of them – those beginning in 2003, 2006 and 2009, looking at the data up to age 20, at which age most have a job or are looking for one. The survey data is rich enough to develop proxy measures of reading and curiosity levels. It includes participants’ scores in the OECD <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> tests for reading, mathematics and science ability. There are survey questions about time spent reading for pleasure, time reading newspapers or magazines, and library use. To measure curiosity, we used respondents’ answers to questions about their interest in the following: <ul> <li>learning new things</li> <li>thinking about why the world is in the state it is</li> <li>finding out more about things you don’t understand</li> <li>finding out about a new idea</li> <li>finding out how something works.</li> </ul> We used statistical modelling to control for environmental and demographic variables and distinguish the effect of reading activity as a teenager on greater curiosity as a young adult. This modelling gives us confidence that reading is not just correlated with curiosity. Reading books helps build curiosity. <h2>Gloom and doom-scrolling</h2> Does this mean if you’re older that it’s too late to start reading? No. Our results relate to young people because the data was available. No matter what your age, deep reading has benefits over social-media scrolling. The <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Dopamine-Nation-Finding-Balance-Indulgence/dp/152474672X">short-term dopamine rush</a> of scrolling on a device is an elusive promise. It depletes rather than uplifts us. Our limbic brain – the part of the brain associated with our emotional and behavioural responses – remains trapped in a spiral of pleasure-seeking. Studies show a high correlation between <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hcr/article-abstract/44/1/3/4760433">media multitasking and attention problems</a> due to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315167275/emotional-cognitive-overload-anne-fran%C3%A7oise-rutkowski-carol-saunders">cognitive overload</a>. The effect is most evident among young people, who have grown up with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11126-017-9535-6">social media overexposure</a>. US social psychologist <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00296-x">Jonathan Haidt</a> is among the researchers <a href="https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/social-media-mental-illness-epidemic">warning</a> that high social media use is a major contributor to declining mental health for teenage girls, "Boys are doing badly too, but their rates of depression and anxiety are not as high, and their increases since 2011 are smaller." Why this “giant, obvious, international, and gendered cause”? Haidt writes, "Instagram was founded in 2010. The iPhone 4 was released then too — the first smartphone with a front-facing camera. In 2012 Facebook bought Instagram, and that’s the year that its user base exploded. By 2015, it was becoming normal for 12-year-old girls to spend hours each day taking selfies, editing selfies, and posting them for friends, enemies, and strangers to comment on, while also spending hours each day scrolling through photos of other girls and fabulously wealthy female celebrities with (seemingly) vastly superior bodies and lives." In 2020 Haidt published <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00296-x">research</a> showing girls are more vulnerable to “fear of missing out” and the aggression that social media tends to amplify. Since then he’s become even more convinced of the correlation. Social media, by design, is addictive. With TikTok, for example, videos start automatically, based on what the algorithm already knows about you. But it doesn’t just validate your preferences and feed you opinions that confirm your biases. It also varies the content so you don’t know what is coming next. This is the same trick that keeps gamblers addicted. <h2>Tips to get back into books</h2> If you are having difficulty choosing between your phone and a book, here’s a simple tip <a href="https://www.katymilkman.com/book">proven by behavioural science</a>. To change behaviour it also helps to change your environment. Try the following: <ul> <li> Carry a book at all times, or leave books around the house in convenient places. </li> <li> Schedule reading time into your day. <a href="https://howtoliveameaningfullife.com/you-should-read-everyday-but-for-how-long-the-science-says/?fbclid=IwAR03mbaXPpM19aoaO4p1AsTD0EvZsLgFQJy0RoJo8JTx9g1Q6ukh4_FEbIU">20 minutes is enough</a>. This reinforces the habit and ensures regular immersion in the book world. </li> <li> If you’re not enjoying a book, try another. Don’t force yourself. </li> </ul> You’ll feel better for it – and be prepared for a future employer asking you what books you’re reading. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-reading-books-is-good-for-society-wellbeing-and-your-career-200447" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Images: Getty

Books

Ever feel like your life is a performance? Everyone does – and this 1959 book explains roles, scripts and hiding backstage

Shakespeare’s adage — “All the world’s a stage” — suggests human beings are conditioned to perform, and to possess an acute social awareness of how they appear in front of others. It resonates in the age of social media, where we’re all performing ourselves on our screens and watching each other’s performances play out. Increasingly, those screen performances are how we meet people, and how we form relationships: from online dating, to remote work, to staying in touch with family. While the idea of performance as central to social life has been around for centuries, <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0228.xml">Erving Goffman</a> was the first to attempt a comprehensive account of society and everyday life using theatre as an analogy. His influential 1959 book <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-9780241547991">The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life</a> is something of a “bible” for scholars interested in questions of how we operate in everyday life. It became a surprise US bestseller on publication, crossing over to a general readership. Goffman wrote about how we perform different versions of ourselves in different social environments, while keeping our “backstage” essential selves private. He called his idea <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003160861-3/dramaturgy-charles-edgley?context=ubx&refId=6e9b71d0-973c-4ebe-b90b-41a372d12623">dramaturgy</a>. Playwright Alan Bennett <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v03/n19/alan-bennett/cold-sweat">wrote admiringly</a> of him, “Individuals knew they behaved in this way, but Goffman knew everybody behaved like this and so did I.” <h2>Goffman as influencer (and suspected spy)</h2> In a <a href="https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/about-isa/history-of-isa/books-of-the-xx-century">poll of professional sociologists</a>, Goffman’s book ranked in the top ten publications of the 20th century. It influenced playwrights such as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/019027250907200402">Tom Stoppard</a> and, of course, Bennett, who <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Alan-Bennett-A-Critical-Introduction/OMealy/p/book/9780815335405">was interested in</a> depicting and analysing the role-playing of everyday life that Goffman identified. Goffman was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781444396621.ch24">born in Mannville</a>, Alberta in 1922 to Ukrainian Jewish parents who migrated to Canada. The sister of the man who would become famous for his theatre analogies was an actor, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0062844/">Frances Bay</a>: late in life, she would play quirky, recognisable roles such as the “marble rye” lady on <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-of-seinfeld-131606">Seinfeld</a> and a recurring part on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ill-see-you-again-in-25-years-the-return-to-twin-peaks-32624">Twin Peaks</a> (as Mrs Tremond/Chalfant). The path to Goffman’s book was an unusual one. It didn’t come from directly studying the theatre, or even from asking questions about theatregoers. While completing postgraduate studies at the the University of Chicago, Goffman was given the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in the Shetland Islands, an isolated part of northern Scotland, for his <a href="https://www.mediastudies.press/pub/ns-ccic/release/4">PhD dissertation</a>. Goffman pretended to be there to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470999912.ch3">study agricultural techniques</a>. But his actual reason was to examine the everyday life of the Shetland Islanders. As he observed the everyday practices and rituals of the remote island community, he had to negotiate suspicions he may <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Goffman-Social-Organization-Sociological-Routledge/dp/0415112044">have been a spy</a>. In Goffman’s published book, the ethnography of the Shetland Islands takes a back seat to his dramaturgical theory. <h2>More than a popular how-to manual</h2> <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-presentation-of-self-in-everyday-life-9780241547991">The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life</a> quickly became <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Sociological-Bent-InsideMetro-Culture/dp/0170120015">a national bestseller</a>. It was picked up by general readers “as a guide to social manners and on how to be clever and calculating in social intercourse without being obvious”. This fascinating and complex academic work could indeed be read as a “how-to” manual on how to impress others and mitigate negative impressions. But Goffman <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Erving-Goffman/Smith/p/book/9780415355919">didn’t mean</a> “performance” literally. Reading the book as a guide to middle-class etiquette misses some of its nuances. One is the sophisticated understanding of how reality and contrivance relate to each other. A good performance is one that appears “unselfconscious”; a “contrived” performance is one where the fact the social actor is performing a role is “painstakingly evident”. In everyday language, we tend to describe the latter as trying too hard. But Goffman is making a more general point, about the way we all perform ourselves, all the time – whether the effort is visible or not. If “All the world is not, of course, a stage”, then “the crucial ways in which it isn’t are not easy to specify”. <h2>Playing roles and being in character</h2> Today, we regularly use theatrical terms like “role”, “script”, “props”, “audience” and being “in and out of character” to describe how people behave in their everyday social life. But Goffman is the one who introduced these concepts, which have become part of our shared language. Together, they highlight how social life depends on what Goffman terms a shared definition of particular situations. Whether we are performing our work roles, having dinner with someone for whom we have romantic affections, or dealing with strangers in a public setting, we need to produce and maintain the appropriate definition of that reality. These activities are “performances”, according to Goffman, because they involve mutual awareness or attentiveness to the information others emit. This mutual awareness, or attention to others, means humans are constantly performing for audiences in their everyday lives. <h2>Being in and out of character</h2> It matters who the audience is – and what type of audience we have for our performances. When thinking about how people adapt their behaviour for others, Goffman differentiates between “front regions” and “back regions”. Front regions are where we must present what is often referred to as the “best version of ourselves”. In an open-plan office, a worker needs to look busy if their supervisor is about. So, in the front region, they need to look engaged, industrious and generally perform the role of being a worker. In an open-plan office, a worker needs to be constantly “in character”, as Goffman puts it. Back regions are where a social actor can “let their guard down”. In the context of a workplace, the back regions might refer to the bathroom, the lunchroom or anywhere else where the worker can relax their performance and potentially resort to “out of character” behaviour. If the worker takes a diversionary break to gossip with a colleague when their supervisor is no longer in earshot, they could be said to be engaging in back region conduct. Front and back regions are not defined by physical locations. A back region is any situation in which the individual can relax and drop their performance. (Of course, this means regions overlap with physical locations to some extent – people are more likely to be able to relax when they’re in more private settings.) Thus, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/opinion/open-plan-office-awful.html">open-plan offices</a> are often unpopular because workers feel they are constantly under surveillance. Conversely, the work-from-home arrangements that have become more common since the era of COVID lockdowns are popular because they allow people to relax their work personae. Renowned writer Jenny Diski <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v26/n05/jenny-diski/think-of-mrs-darling">reflected</a> in 2004, "reading Goffman now is alarmingly claustrophobic. He presents a world where there is nowhere to run; a perpetual dinner party of status seeking, jockeying for position and saving face. Any idea of an authentic self becomes a nonsense. You may or may not believe in what you are performing; either type of performance is believed in or it is not." <h2>21st-century Goffman</h2> Dramaturgy has survived the onset of our new media environment, where the presentation of the self has migrated to platforms as diverse as <a href="https://theconversation.com/instagram-and-facebook-are-stalking-you-on-websites-accessed-through-their-apps-what-can-you-do-about-it-188645">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-corn-how-the-online-viral-corn-kid-is-on-a-well-worn-path-to-fame-in-the-child-influencer-industry-189974">TikTok</a>. In some ways, it’s more relevant than ever. Goffman’s approach has been applied to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/no-sense-of-place-9780195042313?cc=au&lang=en&">electronic media</a>, radio and <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Media_and_Modernity/asB7QgAACAAJ?hl=en">television</a> <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003160861-19/reception-goffman-work-media-studies-peter-lunt">studies</a>, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262515047/new-tech-new-ties/">mobile phones</a> – and, more recently, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565211036797">social media</a> and even <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263276419829541">AI studies</a>. The “successful staging” (as Goffman terms it) of our social roles has only become more complex. This is perfectly illustrated by “BBC Dad” Robert Kelly, whose 2017 <a href="https://junkee.com/bbc-dad-pictures-kids-now-marion-james/324165">live television interview</a> from his home study was interrupted when his children wandered into the room. This was before COVID lockdowns, when our home and work lives (and personae) increasingly merged. “Everyone understands that now,” <a href="https://junkee.com/bbc-dad-pictures-kids-now-marion-james/324165">wrote Reena Gupta</a> in 2022. “You or someone in your family or circle of friends has been BBC Dad.” Maintaining and maximising performances still matters. And so does Goffman. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-feel-like-your-life-is-a-performance-everyone-does-and-this-1959-book-explains-roles-scripts-and-hiding-backstage-195939" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Images: Getty

Books

Dental care for cats

Do you brush your cat’s teeth? Probably not. You’re not alone either. Most cat owners, even cat-owning veterinarians, choose not to risk furry fury or injury to themselves and avoid brushing their cat’s teeth. We would all prefer not to offend our feline friends by poking around in their mouths, even if it may be for their benefit – just try telling your cat flossing is for their own good! But we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of feline dental care. Tooth and gum problems don’t just cause pain to your cat but can lead to serious systemic disease. Estimates vary, but all agree that most cats will get some form of dental disease in their lifetime. Cats can get a variety of problems such as build-up of tartar, fractured teeth or gum disease that can lead to infection and subsequent tooth loss and pain. But with proper care of your cat’s teeth, you can help to avoid some of these problems. What does dental disease look like? You might notice: <ul> <li>Bad breath </li> <li>Loss of appetite </li> <li>Yellow/brown tartar on teeth</li> <li>Reddened or bleeding gums </li> <li>Drooling </li> <li>Missing teeth </li> <li>Pawing at the mouth</li> </ul> If your cat has any of these symptoms, or you have difficulty examining your cat’s mouth, you should consult your veterinarian as soon as possible. Bacteria from plaque can cause infection in your cat’s vital organs: dental health is essential to good health. Dental diets and treats A relatively simple way to reduce the risk of tooth problems is to use specifically designed cat foods, such as Hill's Science Diet Oral Care. These cat biscuits help to reduce plaque and tartar, leaving your cat’s teeth cleaner and their breath fresher. Don’t suddenly change your cat’s diet, as this can upset their stomach. Any dietary changes should be slowly transitioned, and biscuits such as Oral Care, which are complete and balanced from a nutritional standpoint, can form a part of your cat’s normal daily diet. Treats such as Greenies are designed with dental care in mind and can also help prevent dental disease. Some people like to give their cats raw bones but be very careful as these can shatter, and they can present a choking hazard. You should never let your cat eat bones unsupervised. There are other risks associated with raw meat, so consult your veterinarian if this is something you’re considering for your cat. Brushing your cat’s teeth Depending on your cat’s temperament, brushing your cat’s teeth can be an option. It’s important to consult your vet first, as your cat’s dental health needs to be considered when it comes to whether, how, and how often you brush your cat’s teeth. Your vet or vet nurse will be able to show you how to brush your cat’s teeth in a stress-free way (but remember, some cats simply won’t tolerate it at all). It is best to start gradually, using a pet finger toothbrush or gauze around your finger to familiarise your cat with the feeling of having their gums and teeth touched. Be sure to provide positive reinforcement by using treats or toys. Over time, more teeth can be brushed, and pet toothpaste can be incorporated to increase the effectiveness of brushing. NEVER use human toothpaste; it will make your cat sick. Tooth brushing is something many cats will not enjoy. If your cat seems stressed during brushing, don’t persist. Water additives There are also products on the market that can be safely added to your cat’s water to decrease plaque and tartar build-up. However, it is important to slowly introduce these to ensure your cat still drinks enough water with these additives. Regular veterinary dental clean Yearly dental health checks are highly recommended and are easy to schedule with your cat’s yearly vaccination and general health check. Senior cats should have six-monthly check-ups. If your cat has early-stage dental disease, your vet might recommend a ‘scale and polish’ under general anaesthesia. During this process, vets will thoroughly remove tartar using an ultrasonic scaler and polish any unevenness of the tooth surface. If your cat has chipped teeth or baby teeth that haven’t fallen out, they might also need extractions. Follow your veterinarian’s advice after any dental procedure as your cat might not be able to eat normally for a little while afterwards. Even if brushing your cat’s teeth is out of the question, you can protect your cat’s pearly whites with regular dental check-ups, a scale and polish when needed and a good diet, which will also help to keep your cat’s breath sweet, and their mouth and body in optimal health. For general advice on cat care and everything feline, call the Cat Protection Society of NSW on 02 9557 4818 or visit their website, <a href="https://catprotection.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">catprotection.org.au</a> Images: Supplied by Cat Protection Society of NSW This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with the <a href="https://catprotection.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cat Protection Society of NSW</a>.

Family & Pets

When pets are family, the benefits extend into society

There is a growing global trend to consider pets as part of the family. In fact, millions of people around the world love their pets, enjoying their companionship, going for walks, playing and even talking to them. And there is evidence suggesting that attachment to pets is good for human health and even helps build community. More and more often, animals are included in family events and become important to all members of the family. This can be particularly significant in single-parent families, where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2214.2001.00202.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a pet can be an important companion to children</a>. Children with pets may have higher levels of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/089279306785593801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">empathy</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2009.01296.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">self-esteem</a> compared to those who do not have pets. Thinking of pets as family members can actually make the chores associated with pet care less stressful than they are for those who consider pets as property. Spending more time caring for a pet increases attachment to that animal which in turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2018.1505269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduces stress in owners</a>. In the research my colleagues and I have done on <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3417/3/4/75/htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aging and social participation</a>, we found considerable analysis showing that interactions involving pets, especially if we care about them, can have a health-protective effect. Zooeyia (pronounced zoo-AY-uh) is the idea that pets, also known as companion animals, can be <a href="https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/4/526" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good for human health</a>. In fact, pet owners in Germany and Australia were found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-5072-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visit their doctor 15 per cent fewer times annually than non-pet owners</a>. <h2>Healthy, emotional connections</h2> Many health benefits to humans occur when there is an emotional attachment to pets. And we tend to care the most for animals that live with us. For example, a study that looked at attachment to dogs found that people tended to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279306785415466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">care about their house dogs more than those that lived in the yard</a>. Higher levels of attachment to dogs has been associated with a greater likelihood of walking the dog and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw051" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spending more time on those walks as compared with those with a weaker bond to their dogs</a>. Sharing your life with a pet has been associated with a decreased risk of <a href="https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00005792-201703310-00028" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coronary artery disease, a reduction in stress levels and increased physical activity (especially through dog walking)</a>. The presence of a pet during stressful activities has been shown to <a href="https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Citation/1998/01000/SOCIAL_INTERACTION_AND_CARDIOVASCULAR_REACTIVITY.52.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lower the blood pressure of couples taking part in a stressful task</a>. In fact, <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/12672376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">levels of beta-endorphin, oxytocin and dopamine, among other markers, increased in both humans and their dogs</a> during caring interactions, demonstrating that time spent together is physiologically beneficial for both species. And owning a pet has been associated with an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000001214" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improved cardiovascular disease survival among older adults (aged 65 to 84 years old) being treated for hypertension</a>. <h2>Pets as family and community members</h2> Because pets are considered family members by many people, the loss of a dog or cat is often a cause for deep grief. A missing or dead pet is hard for many to replace because the relationship between the person and pet was specific to those individuals. The attachment between humans and animals is often so strong that it is common to <a href="https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.26.3.udj040fw2gj75lqp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mourn in a way that is very similar to the feelings and behaviours associated with the loss of a human family member</a>. The bond between humans and animals is not just good for human health, it can also help <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">build community</a>. People with pets often find that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.01.017" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activities with their companion animal creates connections with other people</a>. Social networks that are developed based on shared concern over the welfare of animals can lead to increased human-human interaction, as well as activities involving pets (e.g. dog-walking clubs). Walking a dog gets people out of private spaces, which can be isolating, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2015.04.140254" target="_blank" rel="noopener">into public areas where interactions with neighbors and other walkers are possible</a>. <h2>Protecting pets</h2> Societies create laws and institutions to protect companion animals from cruelty and neglect. In most jurisdictions, regulation of shelters and pounds has not evolved to reflect the beloved status of many pets, and instead consider pets as property. If a lost pet is not reunited with an owner within a few days it can be <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90a22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold to a new family, to a research lab, or be euthanized</a>. However, some countries, such as <a href="https://helpanimalsindia.org/news/library/saving-indias-street-dogs-from-abc-to-arv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4415/ann_12_01_16" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Italy</a> and <a href="https://eng.coa.gov.tw/theme_data.php?theme=eng_news&id=481" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taiwan</a> have legislated against the euthanasia of healthy shelter animals. But in North America euthanasia is still common. In 2017, Humane Canada found that among the shelters they surveyed, <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cfhs/pages/427/attachments/original/1542135547/Humane_Canada_-_2017_Shelter_Statistics_-_FINAL.pdf?1542135547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 70 per cent of lost dogs and cats were unclaimed, and tens of thousands of dogs and cats were euthanized</a>. In 2016, <a href="https://www.ccac.ca/en/facts-and-legislation/animal-data/annual-animal-data-reports.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4,308,921 animals were experimented on</a> in Canadian laboratories. Approximately <a href="https://www.animalalliance.ca/campaigns/pets-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17,000 were pet dogs and cats who were provided by shelters to research laboratories</a> and later euthanized. The strength of the human-animal bond has resulted in the creation of not-for-profit animal rescues whose mission is to ‘pull’ lost and abandoned animals from shelters before they are euthanized or sold for research. For example, <a href="http://marleyshope.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marley’s Hope</a> is a Nova Scotia all-breed rescue organization. The organisation also partners with the Sipekne’katik First Nation to help <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/sipekne-katik-first-nation-implementing-dog-population-control-program-1.3094215" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rehome roaming dogs as well as spay and neuter where possible</a>. The <a href="http://www.underdograilroadcanada.com/who-are-we.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Underdog Railroad</a> in Toronto, Ontario, rescues dogs and cats from high-kill shelters as well as those offered “free to a good home” online. And <a href="http://www.elderdog.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elderdog</a> provides older adults with help to care for their pets as well as rescuing abandoned older dogs. The <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Humane Society International — Canada</a> assists in <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/news/releases/2018/06/spay-neuter-la-romaine-060718.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spay-neuter programs</a> as well as <a href="http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/work/endanimaltesting/qa/cosmetics_qa_canada.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advocating for</a> and rescuing animals, including in the <a href="http://www.hsi.org/issues/dog_meat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">international dog and cat meat industries</a>. They closed three South Korean dog meat farms and two slaughterhouses in 2018, rescuing 512 dogs, many of whom found homes in Canada and the USA. Mohandas Ghandi understood the importance of the human animal bond. In his autobiography he said “<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/gandhi/part1/117chapter.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">man’s supremacy over the lower animals meant not that the former should prey upon the latter, but that the higher should protect the lower, and that there should be mutual aid between the two</a>.” Recognizing the ways that companion animals enrich human lives, and understanding the depth of the affection between many humans and animals, may be the key to not only better health, but to improving the welfare of society as a whole. This article originally appeared on The Conversation. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Young woman on $100k-plus salary shares her spending habits

A woman who earns $104,600 a year has shared how she spends her lavish pay cheque. The 24-year-old producer based in Melbourne, Australia, submitted her salary and breakdown of her spending habits to Smart Women Society. The breakdown is then shared into a short clip on TikTok revealing how much money goes where. After tax, HECS and superannuation, the young woman is left with $5,468 to take home. She also has a side hustle which brings in $1,000 monthly. The woman’s main goal is to set aside at least $60,000 for a house deposit, as well as having a safety emergency fund. A breakdown of her monthly spending habits shows $1,424 on rent, $140 on bills, $40 on her phone, $50 on transport, $90 on the internet, $74 on insurance, $300 on groceries and $160 on psychologist appointments. Once she’s got the important stuff out of the way, the woman is left with $3,728 of which $700 of it goes towards her home savings and $300 to the emergency fund. The only debts she has are a $363-a-month Invisalign treatment and her $26,000 HECS which is automatically taken out from her pay. She is then left with $2,582 for “fun” stuff such as shopping and eating out. Viewers shared their suggestions to the woman saying it would be better to put more toward the home savings. “That's a lot of money spent on 'fun' - I think I would try and save $1500 for my house,” one commented. “You need to live like you actually have a mortgage now and add those extra bills into it because when you have a mortgage you don’t get 2500 a month fun,” another added. “I’d be dropping an extra bit of cash into the house/emergency fund,” someone else shared. Images: Shutterstock

Money & Banking

Our society should have never abandoned these 5 etiquette rules

Don’t skip these etiquette rules. 1. Using good table manners Having proper table manners is sometimes seen as being ‘stuffy’ or ‘stuck up,’ but nothing could be further from the truth,” Gottsman says. “The whole point of practising good manners at the table is to ensure everyone has a positive, comfortable dining experience.” It’s not as tricky as you think. 2. Apologising, sincerely, in person Watch any news channel and you’ll see many examples of faux-apologising – pretending to say they’re sorry while not actually accepting any responsibility or changing their behaviour. This is not only terrible etiquette but also counterproductive, Gottsman says. “If you’ve made a mistake, the right thing to do is to own up to it and apologise, sincerely, in person,” she says. If you’re too far away for this to be feasible, a phone call or video chat is the next best thing. Apologising over text almost never goes well since it’s too difficult to read tone and intent. 3. Standing when greeting someone new When being introduced to someone new or greeting someone who’s coming into a group, it’s polite to stand to acknowledge them – and this is true for both men and women, Tsai says. “It shows that you are welcoming and also indicates respect.” 4. Minding your own business Gossip makes for excellent television but terrible real-life relationships, and that fact is truer than ever in this age of constant information and instant communication. “You need to be so careful about what you say, both in public and private, about others,” says Gottsman. “Not only is it not polite to speak about others behind their backs, but it protects you as well. Remember: The internet is forever!” 5. Sending thank-you notes Everyone loves to be thanked, but hardly anyone seems to remember to do it these days. “Any way of saying thank you is wonderful, including a text or email,” Gottsman says. “But the gold standard is still a handwritten thank-you card.” Seeing your handwriting is meaningful to your loved ones, as is knowing that you took the time to do this. Plus, many people like to save these cards, and that’s much harder to do with an electronic thank-you. Written by Charlotte Hilton Andersen. This article first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/14-etiquette-rules-we-should-never-have-abandoned" target="_blank">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a rel="noopener" href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA93V" target="_blank">here’s our best subscription offer.</a> <img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" />

Beauty & Style

Ruth Bader Ginsburg forged a new place for women in the law and society

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-20/what-ruth-bader-ginsburgs-death-means-for-donald-trump/12519640">death</a> has generated an outpouring of grief around the globe. Part of this grief reflects her unparalleled status as a feminist icon and pioneer for women in the legal profession and beyond. There is already considerable interest in what her departure means for the future of the US Supreme Court, and indeed, the wider political landscape. But to understand that, we must reflect on her legacy. In 1956, Ginsburg enrolled in Harvard Law School, one of only nine women in her year alongside about 500 men. Reflecting the prevailing mindset of the time, which regarded the study and practise of law as the proper domain of men, the Harvard dean, Erwin Griswold, <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1993/7/23/ginsburg-blasts-harvard-law-pin-testimony/">asked each of the nine women</a> how they could justify taking the place of a man. Ginsburg’s answer, that she wanted to better understand her husband Marty’s career as a lawyer (he was the year ahead of her at Harvard), belies the reality of the enormous contribution she would make to public life in the subsequent six decades. The number nine would come to be significant in marking her success in a profession traditionally dominated by men. In 1993, she took her place on the nine-judge Supreme Court as the second woman appointed in its history. In more recent years, in response to questions about when there will be “enough” women judges, Ginsburg replied there would enough <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/30/justice-ginsburg-all-female-supreme-court">when there were nine women</a> on the Supreme Court. Acknowledging that people are shocked by this response, Ginsburg famously countered “there’s been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” This exchange points to just how ingrained the idea that judging is men’s work had become. A formidable mind Long before President Bill Clinton resolved to nominate Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, Ginsburg had established a reputation as an academic (she was the second woman to teach law full-time at Rutgers University and the first woman to become a tenured professor at Columbia Law School). She was also known as a feminist litigator, leading the American Civil Liberties Union’s campaign for gender equality. Ginsburg’s nomination to the Supreme Court was an uncontroversial appointment. She was regarded as a restrained moderate and was <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103&session=1&vote=00232">confirmed by the Senate 96 votes to three</a>. Although there were some concerns she was a “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2vwUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=%E2%80%9Cradical+doctrinaire+feminist%E2%80%9D+ginsburg&source=bl&ots=czf2V7bZm8&sig=ACfU3U1S2Dh6FVpm8o7uhDnEvlGAwoLQiA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwgdiYmvXrAhWlF6YKHdc1ClwQ6AEwA3oECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cradical%20doctrinaire%20feminist%E2%80%9D%20ginsburg&f=false">radical doctrinaire feminist</a>”, her credentials were bolstered by her record on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (she was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980). Ginsburg had spent the 1970s pursuing <a href="https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2253&context=facpub">a litigation strategy</a> to secure woman’s equality — although she would <a href="https://achievement.org/">describe</a> her approach in broader terms as the “constitutional principle of equal citizenship stature of men and women.” In a series of cases, she <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/411/677/">sought to establish</a> sex, like race, is a visible, immutable characteristic bearing no necessary relationship to ability. By extension, she argued, legal classifications on the basis of sex should be subject to the “strict scrutiny” required in cases where there were distinctions or classifications on the basis of race. To put it more bluntly, pigeon-holing on the basis of sex should be unconstitutional. The nub of her argument, whether acting for men or women plaintiffs, was that treating men and women differently under the law <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1972/71-1694">helped to</a> “keep woman in her place, a place inferior to that occupied by men in our society.” Outside the court — and inside, too Feminist theorists have sometimes expressed reservations about the extent to which a legal system designed by men to the exclusion of women can ever be fully appropriated to achieve equality for women. While some feminists have seen much promise in the possibility for law reform, others have been more circumspect. This tension is reflected in the <a href="https://www.northeastern.edu/lawstudentaffairs/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/When-the-First-Quail-Calls.pdf">two-pronged strategy proposed</a> by Professor Mari Matsuda — that there are times to “stand outside the courtroom” and there are times to “stand inside the courtroom”. Ginsburg’s legacy in life and law reflects the latter approach. Her faith in the law is reflected in her approach to stand inside the courtroom (literally as a litigator and a judge) to transform existing legal categories. In this way, her approach was <a href="https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol63/iss5/4/">reconstructive</a> rather than radical (which is not say that some of her thinking wasn’t radical for its time). Ginsburg sought to reconstruct sex roles and emphasised men and women alike were diminished by stereotypes based on sex. Importantly, Ginsburg did not simply pursue formal equality (the idea that equality will be achieved by treating everyone the same). Rather, she advocated for affirmative action as a principle of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4099346?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">equality of opportunity</a>. She favoured incremental rather than radical change, reflecting a view that such an approach would minimise the potential for backlash. Her critique <a href="https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/">of the strategy</a> adopted in the landmark 1973 case Roe v Wade (the case upon which US reproductive rights are based), and her departure from the feminist orthodoxy on this point, reflected her preference for incrementalism. Legacy on the bench Ginsburg’s jurisprudential contributions on the Supreme Court continued the legacy she began in the 1970s. One of her most <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/518/515/">significant majority opinions</a> in 1996 required the Virginia Military Institute to admit women. Importantly, this was because it had not been able to provide “exceedingly persuasive justification” for making distinctions on the basis of sex. Although this standard fell short of the “strict scrutiny test” required in cases involving classifications on the basis of race, it nonetheless entrenched an important equality principle. But it was perhaps her judicial dissents, sometimes delivered <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1074.pdf">blisteringly</a> in the years where she was the lone woman on the bench (prior to President Barack Obama’s appointment of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/politics/27court.html">Sonia Sotomayor in 2009</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/10/barack-obama-nominate-elena-kagan">Elena Kagan in 2010</a>), that seem to have really captured the wider public imagination and catapulted her into the zeitgeist. It was in the wake of her 2013 dissent in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-96_6k47.pdf">case about the Voting Rights Act</a> that she reached the status of a global feminist icon. A <a href="https://notoriousrbg.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> account was established in her honour, giving her the nickname “Notorious RBG” (a title drawn from the rapper Biggie Smalls’ nickname Notorious B.I.G). A 2018 documentary <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/rbg">RBG </a> chronicled her legacy and status as a cultural icon, and a 2018 motion picture <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4669788/">On the Basis of Sex</a> depicted her early life and cases. Ginsburg’s celebrity certainly expanded during her time on the court — but this is not to say to it has been without controversy or critique, even from more liberal or progressive sources. She has been criticised for her decisions (for example, a particular decision about <a href="https://www.law.du.edu/forms/writing-competitions/documents/winners/7.pdf">Native Americans and sovereignty</a>), for her comments about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/10/13/sorry-it-turns-out-ruth-bader-ginsburg-is-not-your-liberal-cartoon-superhero-after-all/">race and national anthem protests</a>, and for being too partisan — particularly in her criticism of President Donald Trump. (<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36796495">She called him a “faker” and later apologised</a>.) A great legacy Did Ginsburg’s feminism or celebrity undermine her legitimacy as a judge? Questions of judicial legacy and legitimacy are complex and inevitably shaped by institutional, political and legal norms. Importantly, her contributions as a lawyer and a judge have done much to demonstrate how legal rules and approaches previously regarded as neutral and objective in reality reflected a masculine view of the world. Over 25 years ago, Ginsburg <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/21/us/the-supreme-court-excerpts-from-senate-hearings-on-the-ginsburg-nomination.html">expressed her aspiration</a> that women would be appointed to the Supreme Court with increased regularity: “Indeed, in my lifetime, I expect to see three, four, perhaps even more women on the High Court Bench, women not shaped from the same mold but of different complexions. Yes, there are miles in front, but what distance we have travelled from the day President Thomas Jefferson told his secretary of state: ‘The appointment of women to [public] office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared.” That Ginsburg came to share the Supreme Court with two women, Kagan and Sotomayor, must have given her some hope that women’s access to places “where decisions are being made” was at least tentatively secure, even if hard-won feminist gains sometimes felt tenuous at best. Ginsburg was a trailblazer in every aspect of her life and career. The women who follow her benefit from a legacy that powerfully re-imagined what it means to be a lawyer and a judge in a legal system that had been made in men’s image. Written by KCasey McLoughlin. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ruth-bader-ginsburg-forged-a-new-place-for-women-in-the-law-and-society-146540">The Conversation.</a>

Caring

Queen Elizabeth celebrates stamp collector society’s 150th anniversary with a grin

Queen Elizabeth was in her element as she visited the Royal Philatelic Society to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Philately is the study of stamps, postal history and other related items. The Royal Philatelic Society, according to this Instagram post by The Royal Family, aims to “promote the science and practice of the study of stamps as well as maintain collections of stamps”. The Queen is an avid stamp collector herself, as she has a collection that’s estimated to be worth AUD $189,291,500 NZD $199,885,605 and had a huge grin on her face as she was shown around the new building. Her stamp collection, according to Telegraph UK includes a rare Mauritian stamp valued at AUD $3.7 million NZD $3.9 million and the stamp went on display for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. She opened a new headquarters for the society, which is the oldest in the world. The Queen also met with architects, administration staff, supporters and young collectors who are busy working hard to keep the tradition of stamps alive. The nearly 93-year-old wore an eye catching sea blue coat dress with contrasting navy velvet trip by her personal dressmaker Angela Kelly. The look was accompanied with a matching hat. Angela Kelly has revealed a number of secrets from her 20 years of working with The Queen and is the first tell-all book to be sanctioned by her Majesty. The book is titled The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe. Scroll through the gallery to see the Queen enjoy herself at the Royal Philatelic Society. Photo credits: Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B5VN1P8H6Dn/">theroyalfamily</a>

Art

"We are in a great depression": Guy Sebastian opens up on personal issues and society's ills

Acclaimed singer Guy Sebastian has opened up about his personal experiences with mental health and has reflected on the modern challenges people face, especially children. “I have had personal experience with mental health, both in my family and friendship circles,” Sebastian said. “What we need to remind ourselves of on a daily basis is that people can be struggling and not show it, or really struggling and wear it front and centre. It’s such a fine line and is an individual experience for everyone.” Sebastian is part of a men’s mental health campaign called <a rel="noopener" href="https://2020mentality.com.au/guy-sebastian/" target="_blank">MEN-tality</a> by famed photographer Peter Brew-Bevan, whose featuring portraits of notable figures with heartfelt messages. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Gcf_Rgge3/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Gcf_Rgge3/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Guy Sebastian Introducing the story of Guy Sebastian @guysebastian “When I was growing up, we didn’t talk about mental health in class at school. We only really cared about what our siblings and a handful of people thought about us. I think mental health is not just the big stuff but the everyday problems” Click on the link in our bio to read the full story #tohearandbeheard #2020mentality #beyondblue #mensmentalhealthawearness</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/2020mentalityproject/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> the.MEN-tality.project</a> (@2020mentalityproject) on Oct 26, 2019 at 4:58pm PDT </div> </blockquote> The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the challenges faced by a growing number of Australians as well as to encourage them to seek out help when they need it. “When I was growing up, we didn’t talk about mental health in class at school,” Sebastian said. “I think mental health is not just the big stuff but the everyday problems. I truly believe we are in a great depression. Our kids are facing realities that we simply didn’t face as we didn’t grow up like this. “We need to prepare them for what is ahead — that is our duty not only as parents, but as part of the human race. We have all just learnt to try and get through it the best we can, but that isn’t enough. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4B1MT8gNju/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4B1MT8gNju/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Excited to be Revealing this Sunday 27.10.19 at 11 AM our next talented man in the 2020 MEN-tality series ..... #tohearandbeheard #2020mentality #beyondblue #mensmentalhealthawearness</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/2020mentalityproject/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> the.MEN-tality.project</a> (@2020mentalityproject) on Oct 24, 2019 at 9:58pm PDT </div> </blockquote> “We need to help them build their self-worth and moral structure that just isn’t there.” Brew-Bevan has shot a range of portraits and will be releasing them periodically over the next coming weeks. “This project came to fruition after my personal experiences last year learning about the loss of two men within my wider social circle to suicide,” Brew-Bevan said. “I have become passionate about getting the message out there — to hear and to be heard,” he said. “To help inform other men how to talk and how to listen to each other as I have come to realise, we all have issues that need to be lightened.”

Mind

Is there really a single ideal body shape for women?

Many scholars of Renaissance art <a href="http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/birth-of-venus.htm">tell us</a> that Botticelli’s Birth of Venus captures the tension between the celestial perfection of divine beauty and its flawed earthly manifestation. As classical ideas blossomed anew in 15th-century Florence, Botticelli could not have missed the popular <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/neoplato/#H5">Neoplatonic notion</a> that contemplating earthly beauty teaches us about the divine. Evolutionary biologists aren’t all that Neoplatonic. Like most scientists, we’ve long stopped contemplating the celestial, having – to appropriate <a href="http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2011/09/16/there-is-no-need-for-god-as-a-hypothesis/">Laplace’s immortal words to Napoleon</a> – “no need of that hypothesis”. It is the messy imperfection of the real world that interests us on its own terms. My <a href="https://theconversation.com/columns/rob-brooks-1343">own speciality concerns</a> the messy conflicts that inhere to love, sex and beauty. Attempts to cultivate a simple understanding of beauty – one that can fill a 200-word magazine ad promoting age-reversing snake oil, for example – tend to consistently come up short. Waist to hip Nowhere does the barren distinction between biology and culture grow more physically obvious than in the discussion of women’s body shapes and attractiveness. The biological study of body shape has, for two decades, been preoccupied with the ratio of waist to hip circumference. With clever experimental manipulations of line drawings, Devendra Singh <a href="http://www.femininebeauty.info/i/singh.pdf">famously demonstrated</a> that images of women with waists 70% as big as their hips tend to be most attractive. This 0.7:1 waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), it turns out, also reflects a distribution of abdominal fat associated with good <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3874840">health</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=w2qTGfoAAAAJ&citation_for_view=w2qTGfoAAAAJ:TQgYirikUcIC">fertility</a>. Singh also showed that Miss America pageant winners and Playboy playmates tended to have a WHR of 0.7 despite changes in the general slenderness of these two samples of women thought to embody American beauty ideals. Singh’s experiments were repeated in a variety of countries and societies that differ in both average body shape and apparent ideals. The results weren’t unanimous, but a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 came up as most attractive more often than not. The idea of an optimal ratio is so appealing in its simplicity that it became a staple factoid for magazines such as <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com.au/health-lifestyle/healthy-eating/2010/8/female-attractiveness-relates-to-waist-size/#_">Cosmo</a>. There’s plenty to argue about with waist-hip ratio research. Some researchers have found that other indices, like <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691155/">Body Mass Index</a> (BMI) explain body attractiveness more effectively. But others reject the reductionism of measures like WHR and BMI altogether. This rejection reaches its extremes in the notion that ideas of body attractiveness are entirely <a href="http://www.socwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/fact_04-2008-wom-size.pdf">culturally constructed and arbitrary</a>. Or, more sinisterly, designed by our capitalist overlords in the diet industry to be inherently unattainable. The evidence? The observation that women’s bodies differ, on average, between places or times. That’s the idea animating the following video, long on production values, short on scholarship and truly astronomic on the number of hits (21 million-plus at the time of writing): <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xrp0zJZu0a4"></iframe></div> This rather questionable video, called ‘Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History’, is getting a lot of airplay on YouTube. I note that Botticelli’s Venus looks more at home in the 20th Century than among the more full-figured Renaissance “ideals”. So do the Goddesses and Graces in <a href="http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/la-primavera-allegory-of-spring-by-sandro-botticelli/">La Primavera</a>. Perhaps there was room for more than one kind of attractive body in the Florentine Renaissance? Or is the relationship between attractiveness and body shape less changeable and more variegated than videos like the one above would have us believe? Not that I’m down on body shape diversity. Despite the fact that there seems to be only one way to make a supermodel, real women differ dramatically and quite different body types can be equally attractive. The science of attractiveness must grapple with variation, both within societies and among cultures. Enter the BodyLab For some years our <a href="http://www.robbrooks.net/">research group</a> has wrestled with exactly these issues, and with the fact that bodies vary in <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20840313">so many more dimensions</a> than just their waists and their hips. To that end, we established the <a href="http://www.bodylab.biz">BodyLab</a> project, a “digital ecosystem” in which people from all over the internet rate the attractiveness of curious-looking bodies like the male example below. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73884/original/image-20150305-1931-14hs705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73884/original/image-20150305-1931-14hs705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Example image from the BodyLab ‘digital ecosystem’. The VW Beetle is provided as the universal symbol of something-slightly-shorter-than-an-adult-human. Faces pixellated to preserve any grey people’s anonymity. Rob Brooks/BodyLab.biz We call it a “digital ecosystem” not to maximise pretentiousness, but because this experiment involved multiple generations of selection and evolution. We started with measurements of 20 American women, a sample representing a wide variety of body shapes. We then “mutated” those measures, adding or subtracting small amounts of random variation to each of 24 traits. Taking these newly mutated measures we built digital bodies, giving them an attractive middle-grey skin tone in an attempt to keep variation in skin colour, texture etc out of the already complex story. <blockquote> If you want to help out with our second study, on male bodies, visit <a href="http://www.bodylab.biz/Experiments.aspx">BodyLab</a> and click through to Body Shape Study and then Rate Males (Generation 6). </blockquote> This all involved considerable technologic innovation, resulting in an experiment unlike any other. We had a population of bodies (120 per generation) that we could select after a few thousand people had rated them for attractiveness. We then “bred” from the most attractive half of all models and released the new generation into the digital ecosystem. What did we find? In a paper just published at <a href="http://bit.ly/1EOQcOl">Evolution & Human Behavior</a>, the most dramatic result was that the average model became more slender with each generation. Almost every measure of girth decreased dramatically, whereas legs and arms evolved to be longer. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73901/original/image-20150305-1942-103dem4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73901/original/image-20150305-1942-103dem4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> In eight generations, the average body became more slender. Waist, seat, collar, bust, underbust, forearm, bicep, calf and thigh girth all decreased by more than one standard deviation. At the same time, leg length (inseam) rose by 1.4 standard deviations. Rob Brooks That may not seem surprising, particularly because the families “bred” from the most overweight individuals at the start of the experiment were eliminated in the first few generations. But, after that, more families remained in the digital ecosystem, surviving generation after generation of selection, than we would have expected if there was a single most attractive body type. The Darwinian process we imposed on our bodies had started acting on the mutations we added during the breeding process. More meaningful than the mean Those “mutations” that we introduced allowed bodies to evolve free from all the developmental constraints that apply to real-world bodies. For example, leg lengths could evolve independently of arm lengths. Waists could get smaller even as thighs got bigger. When we examined those five families that lasted longest as our digital ecosystem evolved, we observed a couple of interesting nuances. First, selection targeted waist size itself, rather than waist-hip ratio. No statistical model involving hip size (either on its own or in waist-hip ratio) could come close to explaining attractiveness as well as waist size alone. Our subjects liked the look of slender models with especially slender waists. There was nothing magical about a 0.7 waist-to-hip ratio. Second, within attractive families, which were the more slender families to begin with, evolution bucked the population-wide trend. These bodies began evolving to be more shapely, with bigger busts and more substantial curves. It turns out there’s more than one way to make an attractive body, and those different body types evolve to be well-integrated. That’s a liberating message for most of us: evolutionary biology has more to offer our understanding of diversity than the idea that only one “most attractive” body (or face, or personality) always wins out. What about the cultural constructionists? Are body ideals arbitrary, or tools of the patriarchal-commercial complex? Our results suggest that the similarities between places, and even between male and female raters, are pretty strong: the 60,000 or so people who viewed and rated our images held broadly similar ideas of what was hot and what was not. But their tastes weren’t uniform. We think most individuals could see beauty in variety, if not in the full scope of diversity on offer. What’s cool about our evolving bodies, however, is that we can run the experiment again and again. We can do so with different groups of subjects, or even using the same subjects before and after they’ve experienced some kind of intervention (perhaps body-image consciousness-raising?). I’m hoping we can use them to look, in unprecedented depth, at the intricate ways in which experience, culture and biology interact.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38432/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Rob Brooks, Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Director, Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, UNSW. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-really-a-single-ideal-body-shape-for-women-38432" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Body

Why the benefits of a cashless society are greatly overrated

After recreational cannabis use became legal in Canada last October, research shows the number of <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2019/02/26/legalising-cannabis-reduced-the-use-of-cash-in-canada/">bank notes in circulation</a> fell sharply. Before, marijuana buyers used cash to keep their transactions anonymous. After, there was a massive switch to the convenience of cashless payments. It’s a prime example of what makes a cashless society so attractive to law makers and enforcers wanting to put the squeeze on the “black economy” that can’t be tracked or taxed. But not everyone clinging to cash has illicit motivations. This month Philadelphia became the first major US city requiring all merchants to accept cash. This week the state of New Jersey followed suit. Other US cities and states are considering the same. The chief concern is that cashless payment systems discriminate <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/philadelphia-is-first-u-s-city-to-ban-cashless-stores-11551967201?mod=hp_lead_pos5">against the “unbanked”</a> – those without a bank account – making life harder for those already on the margins. “It’s really a fairness issue,” said the <a href="https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-ban-cashless-stores-first-us-city/">councillor who sponsored the ban</a>. “Equal access is what we’re trying to get.” So as nations make plans to become cashless societies, and automated teller machines start to go the way of telephone booths, it’s timely to consider the pros and cons of cashless payments. We need ensure our enthusiastic <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-may-be-closer-to-being-a-cashless-society-but-it-wont-happen-by-2020-75258">march to the future</a> does not trample over people or leave them behind. Counting the unbanked A <a href="https://economicinclusion.gov/">national survey</a> by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shows about 8.4 million US households – or 6.5% of all households – were unbanked in 2017. Philadelphia’s new law is primarily to protect such people. Taking effect on July 1, the law requires most stores to accept cash, and forbids them charging a surcharge for paying with cash. New York, Washington and Chicago are among the cities investigating similar measures. In Britain a <a href="https://www.accesstocash.org.uk/media/1087/final-report-final-web.pdf">review of cash accessibility</a> headed by former chief financial ombudsman Natalie Ceeney has urged financial regulators to stop the country “<a href="https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/33482/access-to-cash-system-on-verge-of-collapse-warns-report?utm_medium=newsflash&utm_source=2019-3-6&member=103992">sleepwalking</a>” into a cashless society. Its report, published this month, recommends a national guarantee that consumers will be able to access and use cash for as long as they need it. About 17% of the British population – over 8 million adults – would struggle to cope in a cashless society, the report says: “While most of society recognises the benefits of digital payments, our research shows the technology doesn’t yet work for everyone.” The tip of the iceberg is the decline in bank branches and ATMs. Two-thirds of bank branches have closed <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1947ac8e-e8d2-11e8-a34c-663b3f553b35">in the past three decades</a>, and the rate of closure in accelerating. Cashpoints are disappearing at <a href="https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/33386/the-numbers-dont-add-up-universal-provision-of-access-to-cash-called-into-question?utm_medium=dailynewsletter&utm_source=2019-2-15&member=6040">a rate of nearly 500 a month</a>. Learning from Sweden But this is simply the most obvious symptom, according to the Ceeney report, with evidence from other countries demonstrating the issue of merchants accepting cash is more important. “Sweden, the most cashless society in the world, outlines the dangers of sleepwalking into a cashless society: millions of people could potentially be left out of the economy,” it says, “and face increased risks of isolation, exploitation, debt and rising costs.” About 85% of transactions in Sweden are now digital. Half the nation’s retailers expect to stop accepting cash before 2025. The nation is now counting the societal costs. The Riksbank, Sweden’s Central Bank, is asking all banks to keep providing and accepting cash while government works out how best to protect those <a href="https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/statistics/payments-notes-and-coins/payment-patterns/">who most rely on cash</a> – such as those aged 65 or more, those living in rural areas, those with disabilities and recent immigrants. An estimated 1 million Swedes are not comfortable with using a computer or smart phone to do their banking. Immigrants often do not have a bank account or credit history to get a payment card. Considering consequences “If cash disappears that would be a big change, with major implications for society and the economy,” Mats Dillen, the head of the Swedish Parliament Committee studying the issue, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/business/sweden-cashless-society.html">has said</a>. “We need to pause and think about whether this is good or bad and not just sit back and let it happen.” The New York City Council member pushing the bill to ban cashless-only stores, Ritchie Torres, agrees. He is particularly concerned about the issues of class and ethnic discrimination. “I started coming across coffee shops and cafés that were exclusively cashless and I thought: but what if I was a low-income New Yorker who has no access to a card?” <a href="http://www.grubstreet.com/amp/2018/11/new-bill-would-make-cash-free-businesses-restaurants-illegal.html">Ritchie Torres has explained</a>. “I thought about it more and realised that even if a policy seems neutral in theory it can be racially exclusionary in practice. "In some ways making a payment card a requirement for consumption is analogous to making identification a requirement for voting. The effect is the same: it disempowers communities of colour.” These are timely reminders that we should never assume that technological change is value-free, or necessarily an improvement. All revolutions have their hidden costs. We need to ensure those costs are shared equitably, and that no one is accidentally disadvantaged by them. Written by Steve Worthington. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/depending-on-who-you-are-the-benefits-of-a-cashless-society-are-greatly-overrated-113268">The Conversation.</a>

Money & Banking

I’m a carer in a society that doesn’t value us

Jenny Stewart, 59, believes caregiving is one of the most difficult jobs around. So why aren’t carers getting the support they need? I have to ask myself who would be looking at being a home support worker as a career option? I have to work two jobs to be able to survive. Also known as carers, we have to be resilient and have a lot of common sense. It gets pretty frustrating that it is so undervalued by society, largely because this is considered "women's work". That's why the issue of equal pay is so important to us. There is a great deal of stress and anxiety with not being able to budget. The insecure hours and the kind of work can be punishing. I work twelve days on, two days off – I have to work a lot of hours to get enough to get by. I'm 59 years old and I get paid $15.20 an hour. That's the minimum wage. I started doing this work as I used to work at the local high school as a teacher's aide but I got completely burnt out in the role. I took up being a home support worker as a fill in, but quickly realised it was what I wanted to do. One of the most difficult parts of this job, is the lack of guaranteed hours. You have very little idea of whether you will get paid the same amount from one week to the next. I now juggle two jobs, I went back to aide work as I wasn't making enough as a carer. My hours dropped down to 14-per-week so now I juggle both. I have heard of people who are in a similar position who find it very difficult to get a loan as the income isn't looked on as reliable. That's tough for a lot of people. The major reward of this kind of work is that you get to make such a difference in people's lives and for their families. It is hard work though. At the moment, I go into people's homes. I shower them, monitoring all the time for bed sores and any differences with their skin. Care workers are often the first people to notice any differences after a fall and make sure the elderly get to a doctor when they need to. We are able to step in and prevent worse injuries. I cover the whole range of personal care as well as cleaning the toilet, the floors and enabling these people to stay in their homes. I clean the catheter site of one of the women I visit. I have to keep that area clean and dress it daily, empty her bag so we deal with faeces and urine. We're intimately involved with people's personal hygiene, their clothing, their medication. I also have several very high needs clients. There are people who've had strokes with mobility issues. I make meals for people and am responsible for their levels of nutrition. It's a varied job and I am the eyes and ears for all sorts of intangible things you wouldn't even think about. I have a dementia patient who is still able to stay in her home because of the care I provide. I have to be very calm and patient and there is no one else there to help me if anything goes wrong. I really feel like we are very vulnerable workers looking after very vulnerable members of our community. We all care about our clients but I see other women like me working into their 70s, caring for the elderly. Many of us just don't have the extra oomph after working to go in to battle for fair and equal wages. This profession needs to be better paid because it's a growing industry and it's much cheaper for government if people stay in their home for as long as possible. Tell us in the comments below, are you a carer? Do you agree with Jenny’s perspective? Written by Jenny Stewart. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>.

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