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‘Why didn’t we know?’ is no excuse. Non-Indigenous Australians must listen to the difficult historical truths told by First Nations people

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/heidi-norman-859">Heidi Norman</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anne-maree-payne-440459">Anne Maree Payne</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> Big things are being asked of history in 2023. Later this year, we will vote in the referendum to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative body – the <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-questions-about-the-voice-to-parliament-answered-by-the-experts-207014">Voice to Parliament</a> – in the Australian constitution. The Voice was introduced through the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which outlines reforms to advance treaty and truth, in that order. And it calls for “truth telling about our history”. Truth-telling has been key to restoring trust and repairing relationships in post-conflict settings around the world. Historical truth-telling is increasingly seen as an important part of restorative justice in settler-colonial contexts. The UN recognises the “<a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/right-to-truth-day">right to truth</a>”. It’s important to restore dignity to victims of human rights violations – and to ensure such violations never happen again. But there’s also a collective right to understand historical oppression. The Uluru Statement, too, <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-nations-people-have-made-a-plea-for-truth-telling-by-reckoning-with-its-past-australia-can-finally-help-improve-our-future-202137">sees truth-telling</a> as essential for achieving justice for Australia’s First Nations people. A successful “Yes” referendum outcome has the potential to make history. The Voice will structure a more effective relationship between Aboriginal nations or peoples and government. It will better represent Indigenous interests and rights in Australia’s policy development and service delivery. However modest this reform, the Voice is outstanding business for the nation. But the Uluru statement’s call for “truth-telling about our history” will prove more difficult. <h2>Barriers to ‘truth hearing’</h2> “Why didn’t we know?” non-Indigenous Australians still lament when confronted with accounts of past violence and injustice against Indigenous Australians, despite decades of curriculum reform. Our current research reflects on the barriers to “truth hearing”. The barriers are not just structural. Negative attitudes need to be overcome, too. Researchers have noted <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340480495_NEW_Preface">the levels of</a> “disaffection, disinterest and denial of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history”. They’ve also lamented the piecemeal nature of current educational approaches. <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/historys-children_history-wars-in-the-classroom/">Anna Clark’s research</a> on attitudes in schools towards learning Australia history – particularly Indigenous history – shows that students experience Australian history as both repetitive and incomplete, “taught to death but not in-depth”. Bain Attwood has <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48554763">convincingly argued</a> that early settler denial of the violence of Indigenous dispossession was followed by a century of historical denial. History as a discipline, he argues, needs to reckon with the truth about its own role in supporting <a href="https://theconversation.com/truth-telling-and-giving-back-how-settler-colonials-are-coming-to-terms-with-painful-family-histories-145165">settler colonialism</a>. <h2>50+ years of Aboriginal history</h2> For more than 50 years, historians have produced an enormous body of work that’s brought Aboriginal perspectives and experiences into most areas of Australian history – including gender, class, race, <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-when-did-australias-human-history-begin-87251">deep history</a> and global histories. Until the late 1970s, academic interest in Aboriginal worlds was led by mostly white anthropologists and their gaze was set to the traditional north. But historians were then challenged to address the “silence” of their profession when it came to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They needed to write them into history. This meant “restoring” the Aboriginal worlds omitted in the Australian history texts of the 20th century. This called for new ways of doing research: oral history, re-evaluating the archive, drawing on a wider range of sources than the official and written text. Today, some historians work with scientists and traditional knowledge holders to tell stories over much longer time periods. For example, Australian National University’s <a href="https://re.anu.edu.au/">Centre for Deep History</a> is exploring Australia’s deep past, with the aim of expanding history’s time, scale and scope. And the <a href="https://www.monash.edu/arts/monash-indigenous-studies/global-encounters-and-first-nations-peoples">Global Encounters and First Nations Peoples</a> Monash project, led by Lynette Russell, applies interdisciplinary approaches to consider a range of encounters by First Nations peoples over the past millennium, challenging the view that the Australian history “began” with British colonisation. On the other side of the sandstone gates, an incredible flourishing of historically informed Aboriginal creative works has taken centre stage in Australian cultural life. This includes biographies, memoirs, literature, painting, documentary and performance: often with large audiences and readerships. They are all forms of truth-telling. In <a href="https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/black-words-white-page">Black Words, White Page</a> (2004), Adam Shoemaker details the extent of Aboriginal writing focused on Australian history from 1929 to 1988: writers like <a href="https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/noonuccal-oodgeroo-18057">Oodgeroo Noonuccal</a>, <a href="https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/davis-jack-17788">Jack Davis</a>, <a href="https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/gilbert-kevin-john-18569">Kevin Gilbert</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/charles-perkins-forced-australia-to-confront-its-racist-past-his-fight-for-justice-continues-today-139303">Charles Perkins</a>. This body of work – and much more since – conveys an Aboriginal interpretation of past events, through oral history and veneration of leaders and heroes, drawing together the past and future. Some early examples include Wiradjuri man Robert (Bobby) Merritt’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-australian-plays-the-cake-man-and-the-indigenous-mission-experience-88854">The Cake Man</a> (1975), set on a rural mission, which explores causes of despair, particularly for Aboriginal men. It was performed by the then newly formed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Black_Theatre_(Australia)">Black Theatre</a> in Redfern in the same year it was published. Indigenous autobiographies, like Ruby Langford Ginibi’s <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/dont-take-your-love-to-town-2">Don’t Take Your Love to Town</a> (1988), just reissued in UQP’s First Nations Classics series, and Rita Huggins’ biography <a href="https://shop.aiatsis.gov.au/products/auntie-rita-revised-edition">Auntie Rita</a> (1994) are realist accounts of Aboriginal lives, devoid of moralism or victimology. Many more have followed, including Tara June Winch’s novel <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-yield-wins-the-miles-franklin-a-powerful-story-of-violence-and-forms-of-resistance-142284">The Yield</a> (2019), winner of the 2020 Stella prize for literature. Through Wiradjuri language, she gathers the history of invasion and loss – and survival in the present. Indigenous artists are exploring ways to represent the past in the present: overlaid, but still present and continuous. Jonathon Jones’ 2020 <a href="https://mhnsw.au/whats-on/exhibitions/untitled-maraong-manaouwi/">artwork</a> to commemorate the reopening of the Sydney Hyde Park Barracks, built originally in 1817 to house convicts, is one example. Jones <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=374269496789482">explained</a> the installation’s interchangeable use of the broad arrow and maraong manaóuwi (emu footprint) as a matter of perspective: one observer will see the emu print, another the broad arrow. Each marker, within its own sphere of significance, served similar purposes. The emu print is known to be engraved into the sandstone ledges of the Sydney basin and marked a people and their place. The broad arrow inscribed institutional place and direction. Jones wants to show how the landscape can be written over – but never lost – to those who hold its memory. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WPGcFDw5c_s?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>Jonathan Jones’ artwork is part of an incredible flourishing of historically informed Aboriginal creative works.</figcaption></figure> <a href="https://www.uapcompany.com/projects/the-eyes-of-the-land-and-the-sea">The Eyes of the Land and the Sea</a>, by artists Alison Page and Nik Lachajczak, commemorates the 250th anniversary of the 1770 encounter between Aboriginal Australians and Lt James Cook’s crew of the HMB Endeavour at Kamay Botany Bay National Park. This work, too, represents the duality of interpretation and meaning. The monumental bronze sculpture takes the form of the rib bones of a whale – and simultaneously, the hull of the HMB Endeavour. This body of work by dedicated educators, researchers, artists and families has been highly contested. <h2>Truth-telling, healing and restorative justice</h2> Many non-Indigenous Australians are interested in – but anxious about – truth-telling, our early research findings suggest. They don’t know how to get involved and are unsure about their role. Indigenous respondents are deeply committed to truth-telling. But they have anxieties about the process, too. Only 6% of non-Indigenous respondents to Reconciliation Australia’s most recent <a href="https://www.reconciliation.org.au/publication/2022-australian-reconciliation-barometer/">Reconciliation Barometer report</a> had participated in a truth-telling activity (processes that seek to engage with a fuller account of Australian history and its ongoing legacy for First Nations peoples) in the previous 12 months. However, 43% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents had participated in truth-telling. Truth-telling is seen as an important part of healing, but there is uncertainty about its potential to deliver a more just future for First Nations peoples. And it’s acknowledged that <a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-is-promising-truth-telling-in-our-australian-education-system-heres-what-needs-to-happen-191420">truth-telling</a> might emphasise divisions and differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. There are also concerns about <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-half-of-australians-will-experience-trauma-most-before-they-turn-17-we-need-to-talk-about-it-159801">trauma</a> and issues of cultural safety. But during the regional dialogues that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the demand for truth-telling was unanimous from the Indigenous community representatives. Constitutional reform should only proceed if it “tells the truth of history”, they agreed. This was a key guiding principle that emerged from the process. Why does truth-telling remain a central demand? The final report of the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/constitutionalrecognition">Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples</a> described its multiple dimensions. Truth-telling is a foundational requirement for healing and reconciliation. It’s also a form of restorative justice – and a process for Indigenous people to share their culture and history with the broader community. It builds wider understanding of the intergenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous Australians. And it creates awareness of the relationship between past injustices and contemporary issues. “Truth-telling cannot be just a massacre narrative in which First Nations peoples are yet again dispossessed of agency and identity,” <a href="https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q6316/teaching-as-truth-telling-a-demythologising-pedagogy-for-the-australian-frontier-wars">argue</a> Indigenous educators Alison Bedford and Vince Wall. Indigenous agency and the long struggle for Indigenous rights need to be recognised. And there is an ongoing need to deconstruct Australia’s national foundational myths. A focus on military engagements overseas has obscured the violent dispossession of First Nations Australians at home. As Ann Curthoys argued more than two decades ago, white Australians positioned themselves as heroic strugglers to cement their moral claim to the land. This myth overlooked their role in dispossessing First Nations people. <h2>Makarrata Commission</h2> The Uluru Statement called for <a href="https://theconversation.com/response-to-referendum-council-report-suggests-a-narrow-path-forward-on-indigenous-constitutional-reform-80315">a Makarrata Commission</a> to be established to oversee “agreement-making” and “truth-telling” processes between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As part of its commitment to the full implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the current federal government committed $5.8 million in funding in 2022 to start the work of establishing the Commission. Yet few details have been provided so far about the form truth-telling mechanisms might adopt. And there’s been little acknowledgement that the desire to “tell the truth” about the past runs counter to the contemporary study of history, which sees history as a complex and ongoing process – rather than a set of fixed “facts” or “truths”. Worimi historian <a href="https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/john-maynard">John Maynard</a> describes Aboriginal history research as generative: the work reinforces and sustains Aboriginal worlds – and it reflects a yearning for truth by Aboriginal people that was denied. The impact of colonisation not only targeted the fracturing of Aboriginal people but, as Maynard says, “a state of forgetting and detachment from our past”. Wiradjuri historian <a href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/bamblett-l">Lawrence Bamblett</a> develops a similar theme. “Our stories are our survival,” <a href="https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=61SLQ_INST:SLQ&search_scope=Everything&tab=All&docid=alma9915551944702061&lang=en&context=L&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&query=sub,exact,Australia%20--%20Race%20relations%20--%20History,AND&mode=advanced&offset=10">he says</a>, in his account of Aboriginal approaches to history. Consider the dedicated labour to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/heidi-norman-bob-weatherall-weve-got-to-bring-them-home/13962068">return Ancestral Remains to their country</a>. Consider the the work of Aboriginal people to restore the graves of their family and community on the old missions. And the work to document sites, such as <a href="https://youtu.be/gTh2rV_VuwQ">Tulladunna cotton chipping Aboriginal camp</a>, on the plains country of north west New South Wales. Some of this dedicated labour to care for the past is made possible by the recognition of Aboriginal land rights. Aboriginal communities are documenting their history in order to communicate across generations – and to create belonging, sustain community futures and know themselves. These processes of documenting and remembering Aboriginal stories of the past are less concerned with the state, and settler hostility. They are <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-dark-emu-debate-limits-representation-of-aboriginal-people-in-australia-163006">unburdened by categorising time</a>. The “old people” or “1788” appear irrelevant in the enthusiasm for living social and cultural history. That history is not confined to the “fixed in time” histories called upon in Native Title litigation, or the debates among historians and their detractors over method and evidence. Nor is it confined to the moral weight of such accounts in the national story. <h2>History and political questions</h2> When discussing Aboriginal history, there is an unbreakable link between the history being studied and the present. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis)">Presentism</a> – the concern that the past is interpreted through the lens of the present – and the concept of the “activist historian” can both impact on the way Aboriginal history is perceived or judged. Disdain for “presentism” has leaked into contemporary discussions recently. A <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2022/is-history-history-identity-politics-and-teleologies-of-the-present">widely criticised column</a> by the president of the American Historical Association – James Sweet, a historian of Africa and the African diaspora – is a recent example. He argued that the increasing tendency to interpret the past through the lens of the present, plummeting enrolments in undergraduate history courses and a greater focus on the 20th and 21st centuries all put history at risk of being mobilised “to justify rather than inform contemporary political positions”. These are not new debates. They have taken place within and outside the academy across the world, including in Australia. But the realities of the histories of <a href="https://theconversation.com/eliza-batman-the-irish-convict-reinvented-as-melbournes-founding-mother-was-both-colonised-and-coloniser-on-two-violent-frontiers-206189">colonisation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/unpapering-the-cracks-sugar-slavery-and-the-sydney-morning-herald-202828">slavery</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/empire-of-delusion-the-sun-sets-on-british-imperial-credibility-89309">imperialism</a> mean they continue to have an impact in the present. Reparations and apologies happen because of the work of historians and others. They are real-world, present impacts of the work being undertaken. It’s the role of historians to understand the past on its own terms – and to produce work relevant to contemporary political questions. Applied (or public) history produces this work. In this work, particularly historical work that sits outside the academy, we do often find “truth telling”. For example, in the important work done for the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/bringing-them-home-report-1997">Bringing them Home</a> Commission, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-deaths-in-custody-inquests-can-be-sites-of-justice-or-administrative-violence-158126">Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Royal Commission</a> and Native Title claims in courts. But somehow, these efforts at truth-telling – and other historical research conducted since colonisation – seem not to have impacted on the overall “history” of Australia. <h2>Forgetting and resistance</h2> As the referendum vote edges closer, Australians are being asked to make provisions for the First Peoples to have a role in the political process – and the decisions that impact them. The challenge to address the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-great-australian-silence-50-years-on-100737">Great Australian Silence</a>” – to include First Peoples in the stories of the nation, where they were otherwise omitted – has been largely addressed by the significant body of historical work added over the last 50 or more years. That work, and the correction it has delivered, has generated discomfort and hostility. Yet Australians’ appreciation – and even awareness – of the history of its First Nations people remains deeply unsatisfactory. There is now little justification for the laments Why weren’t we told? or How come we didn’t know?. Our undergraduate students continue to ask these questions, though. Australia has a difficult relationship – a kind of historical amnesia; a forgetting and resistance – to hearing those First Nations stories. That resistance is much deeper than simply being told. The current focus on truth-telling will once again draw our attention to dealing with difficult history. This time, different questions need to be asked. Not why didn’t I know? But how can I find out? <hr /> Heidi Norman and Anne Maree Payne will be presenting their research at the upcoming 50th Milestones Anniversary of the Australian Historical Association. Heidi will deliver the keynote address, <a href="https://web-eur.cvent.com/event/f99aac02-b195-46e5-b1d9-bf5183aea6fc/websitePage:150e8a3c-395b-4de3-bf2b-98ac8be5929e">The End of Aboriginal History?</a><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/208780/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/heidi-norman-859">Heidi Norman</a>, Professor, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anne-maree-payne-440459">Anne Maree Payne</a>, Senior Lecturer, Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</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/why-didnt-we-know-is-no-excuse-non-indigenous-australians-must-listen-to-the-difficult-historical-truths-told-by-first-nations-people-208780">original article</a>.

Caring

Woman praised for confronting pickpockets

An Italian woman has generated a lot of praise after her “brilliant” way of calling out pickpockets disguised as tourists has gone viral. Monica, 57, is part of a volunteer group called Cittadini Non Distratti, meaning "Citizens not distracted," which aims to to disturb and prevent active pickpockets in the popular tourist destination. She works alongside 40 other volunteers and has dedicated 30 years of her life saving tourists from the sneaky snatchers, and they’re doing it out of sheer goodwill. "People are pickpocketed for their American or English passport, then to return to their country they have to go to the embassy in [...] Rome," Monica told Newsweek. "This incurs additional expenses for them, so it is better to prevent this by warning tourists of the problem." The videos, which were originally posted on Facebook, have gained the attention of a younger audience after they started posting on TikTok. "We decided to make our videos go viral to inform tourists to be careful," she said. "There is a lack of prevention and information about what is happening in the city and we are all happy that these videos are letting people see the problem in Venice and throughout Italian cities." Many of the volunteers have their own way of weeding out the pickpockets, with some using a deafening whistle to capture the attention of everyone around them. Others just call out “attention pickpocket” in both English and Italian then proceed to shoo away the pickpockets, telling them to “go away” and for tourists to “watch out for their wallets”. <div><iframe title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7248214400102944027&display_name=tiktok&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40minutesofentertainment%2Fvideo%2F7248214400102944027&image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-va.tiktokcdn.com%2Fobj%2Ftos-useast2a-p-0037-euttp%2F22dfb064ae9640a7b60ede7892167b41_1687606456%3Fx-expires%3D1687755600%26x-signature%3DkrwLySytAL%252FmznIUf7jxQKln%252Bl4%253D&key=5b465a7e134d4f09b4e6901220de11f0&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> In the video that has gone viral, the pickpockets can be seen scurrying away from the crowd as soon as these volunteers call them out. Although the original video and account “citadininondistratti” got banned on TikTok, many other accounts have reposted and reshared the content. Many have commented their praise for the group, despite local police officers reportedly not supporting this form of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/woman-cheered-confronting-suspected-pickpockets-targeting-tourist-1807553" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vigilante justice</a>. “Thank you for your service ma’am,” wrote one person. “Brilliant 👏” wrote a second person. “I was in Rome, both times I was on the train the locals warned and pushed the pickpockets away from me. Love the locals,” wrote a third. “She called them purse thieves in Italian,” commented one amused person. Images: TikTok

Travel Trouble

Settle in with one of these top reads this winter

It can be challenging deciding on a new book to read, but with these titles releasing throughout July 2023, you’re sure to find something to settle in with. Whether an edge-of-your-seat murder mystery, a laugh-out-loud romantic escapade, or even a deep-space adventure is more your cup of tea, the time has come to dive into your next favourite novel, and maybe even convince your book club to read along with you. For the budding detectives out there: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/zero-days-ruth-ware/book/9781398508408.html">Zero Days</a>, Ruth Ware </li> </ul> “Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband Gabe are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their only suspect – her. “On the run and out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the truth in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery from 'one of the best thriller writers around today' Ruth Ware.” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/four-dogs-missing-rhys-gard/book/9781760687724.html">Four Dogs Missing</a>, Rhys Gard </li> </ul> “While estranged twins Oliver and Theo Wingfield are identical in appearance, they couldn't be more different. Theo, an extrovert verging on arrogant, was always a drifter, a nomad, operating on the fringes of the law. Oliver, intense, creative and introspective, was destined to become a winemaker. Each vintage, every bottle from Oliver's Mudgee-based label, Four Dogs Missing, sells out. “And now, after fifteen years without contact, Theo unexpectedly turns up at his brother's vineyard, bearing an invitation that his twin knows nothing about. The quiet and fulfilling life that the winemaker has built for himself is about to change overnight: Theo's arrival is the catalyst for a series of murders involving those closest to Oliver. Finding himself the main suspect, Oliver soon discovers that not everyone in Mudgee supports a reclusive and unorthodox vigneron who's shied away from the community that helped him succeed. “Oliver is inexorably drawn into a sinister world where poisoned liquor and stolen art leave a deadly trail. Abandoning his grapevines, he sets out to solve the crimes – and confront his damaged past – before someone else he loves is found dead … beside a bottle of his own wine.” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/none-of-this-is-true-lisa-jewell/book/9781529195989.html">None of This is True</a>, Lisa Jewell </li> </ul> “Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. “A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. “Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. “Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life - and into her home. “But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, her life and her family's lives under mortal threat. “Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?” For the sci-fi fanatics: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/circle-of-death-james-patterson/book/9781529136630.html">Circle of Death</a>, James Patterson </li> </ul> “Since Lamont Cranston - known to a select few as the Shadow - defeated Shiwan Khan and ended his reign of terror over New York one year ago, the city has started to regenerate. “But there is evil brewing elsewhere. And this time the entire world is under threat. “Which is why Lamont has scoured the globe to assemble a team with unmatched talent. “Only their combined powers can foil an enemy with ambitions and abilities beyond anyone's deepest fears. “As their mission takes them across the globe and into the highest corridors of power - pushing them beyond their limits - can justice prevail?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-becky-chambers/book/9781250320216.html">A Psalm for the Wild-Built</a>, Becky Chambers </li> </ul> “It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. “One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. “But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. “They're going to need to ask it a lot. “Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-mother-fault-kate-mildenhall/book/9781760859848.html">The Mother Fault</a>, Kate Mildenhall </li> </ul> “Mim’s husband is missing. No one knows where Ben is, but everyone wants to find him – especially The Department. And they should know, the all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’. “But suddenly Ben can’t be tracked. And Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport and threatened with the unthinkable – her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife. “From the stark backroads of the Australian outback to a terrifying sea voyage, Mim is forced to shuck off who she was – mother, daughter, wife, sister – and become the woman she needs to be to save her family and herself.” For those with a passion for romance: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/palazzo-danielle-steel/book/9781529022421.html">Palazzo</a>, Danielle Steel </li> </ul> “After her parents perish in a tragic accident, Cosima Saverio assumes leadership of her family's haute couture Italian leather brand. While navigating the challenges of running a company at twenty-three, Cosima must also maintain the elegant four-hundred-year-old family palazzo in Venice and care for her younger siblings: Allegra, who survived the tragedy that killed their parents, and Luca, who has a penchant for wild parties, pretty women, and poker tables. “Cosima navigates her personal and professional challenges with a wisdom beyond her years, but her success has come at a cost: Her needs are always secondary. She's married to the business, and her free time is given to those who rely on her . . . until she meets Olivier Bayard, the founder of France's most successful ready-to-wear handbag company. “But Luca's gambling habit gets out of control and Cosima is forced to make an impossible choice to save him. The palazzo, the family business or cut Luca loose. Or is there another way to rescue everything she has fought for before it goes up in flames?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-willow-tree-wharf-leonie-kelsall/book/9781761066092.html">The Willow Tree Wharf</a>, Leonie Kelsall </li> </ul> “Samantha, owner of Settlers Bridge cafe Ploughs and Pies, is short on confidence and big on regrets. Married young to fill the void left by an unhappy childhood, she still works in the same small town where she grew up, too filled with self-doubt and insecurity to ever risk spreading her wings. Yet will the end of her abusive marriage force her to start anew? “City restaurateur Pierce di Angelis knows what it is to have his career and family ripped away. However, a chance encounter with the intriguing Samantha ignites his passion, and together they concoct a plan for a destination restaurant. “But, with their personalities like oil and water, will old hurts and hidden truths destroy the new business before it's afloat?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-forgotten-bookshop-in-paris-daisy-wood/book/9780008525248.html">The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris</a>, Daisy Wood </li> </ul> “Paris, 1940: War is closing in on the city of love. With his wife forced into hiding, Jacques must stand by and watch as the Nazis take away everything he holds dear. Everything except his last beacon of hope: his beloved bookshop, La Page Cachée. “But when a young woman and her child knock on his door one night and beg for refuge, he knows his only option is to risk it all once more to save a life… “Modern day: Juliette and her husband have finally made it to France on the romantic getaway of her dreams – but as the days pass, all she discovers is quite how far they’ve grown apart. She’s craving a new adventure, so when she happens across a tiny, abandoned shop with a for-sale sign in the window, it feels fated. “And she’s about to learn that the forgotten bookshop hides a lot more than meets the eye…” Images: Getty

Books

8 fictional places you can visit in real life

Step into the world of your favourite book, movie or TV show with a visit to these fictional locations that represented the original. Hogwarts, Harry Potter You won’t see anyone playing Quidditch on the lawns, but Alnwick Castle in Northumberland in the UK played Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films (with a little digital trickery thrown in). The castle has been the home of the Dukes of Northumberland for more than 700 years and is in high demand with film and TV crews – it also stars in the Downton Abbey Christmas specials. Jurassic Park The lush jungle foliage and towering waterfalls of the island of Kauai in Hawaii served as the backdrop for Stephen Spielberg’s rampaging dinosaurs in all three Jurassic Park movies. You can rent a four-wheel drive and travel through the national park where the movie was filmed though, sadly, none of the dinosaurs remained behind after shooting wrapped. West Egg, The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald modelled West Egg on Great Neck in Long Island, New York. This area on the north coast of Long Island was known as the Gold Coast because of the huge mansions, polo fields, golf courses and country clubs built there by America’s super wealthy (think Vanderbilt, Astor or Guggenheim). The very grand Oheka Castle in nearby Huntington partly inspired Gatsby’s house. Amity Island, Jaws Don’t go in the water! The beach on Amity Island was the setting for the first scene in the classic 1970s horror movie, Jaws. As well as looking the part of the perfect American seaside resort, the shallow water of the bay made it easier for the crew to operate the mechanical sharks. Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh Just over an hour from London you can walk in the footsteps of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin through Ashdown Forest. There’s only about 25 square kilometres of wooded area left from what was once a mighty forest, but it is still quintessentially English and one could almost expect Pooh, Tigger and Piglet to come bounding around a shady corner. Greenbow, Forrest Gump Life is like a box of chocolates in Varnville, South Carolina, which served as the fictional town of Greenbow in the Oscar winning movie Forrest Gump. The old Southern mansion that Forrest and his mamma lived in was a fake however, built just for production (and torn down right after), and even some of the Vietnam War scenes were shot around Varnville. Thank goodness for special effects. King’s Landing, Game of Thrones The historic Maltese capital of Mdina played the part of Kings Landing in the first series of Game of Thrones. The medieval walled city is in the centre of the island and has a population of just 300 – many of whom weren’t happy about the series. Maltese officials complained about the damage done and filming moved to Croatia for the following series. Hobbiton, The Lord of the Rings The three Lord of the Rings movies were such a smash hit that the village of Hobbiton was completely rebuilt in the original film location near Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand. You can step inside the tiny hobbit holes, visit the Green Dragon Inn and (of course) buy a souvenir at the gift shop. Images: Getty

International Travel

Ethical non-monogamy: what to know about these often misunderstood relationships

Imagine Sarah and John have been in a <a href="https://www.queerlit.co.uk/products/rewriting-the-rules?_pos=1&_sid=0287cd7c7&_ss=r">monogamous relationship</a> for five years. Although they love each other, Sarah, who is bisexual, has recently started feeling an attraction to her coworker, Andrea. This has led to several sexual encounters, leaving Sarah feeling guilty. However, she has not talked to John about her feelings or experiences with Andrea. No matter how much you love your partner, it’s common to feel attracted to someone outside of a relationship. Some couples may even want sexual encounters with other people. It can be difficult to navigate these feelings, especially when they conflict with the commitment and promises made in the relationship. While the sex between Sarah and Andrea was consensual, Sarah engaged in non-consensual sex by stepping outside of her monogamous relationship without John’s consent. There is growing curiosity about ethical or consensual <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101468">non-monogamous relationships</a>, particularly among young people. YouGov data found that 43% of millennial Americans say their <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/society/articles-reports/2020/01/31/millennials-monogamy-poly-poll-survey-data">ideal relationship</a> is non-monogamous, even if few are in such a relationship. And a survey commissioned by sex toy brand <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/throuples-restaurants-valentines-day-b2010151.html">Lelo</a>, found that 28% of aged 18 to 24 would consider an open relationship. What makes non-monogamy “ethical” is an emphasis on <a href="https://bettymartin.org/videos/">agreed, ongoing consent</a> and mutual respect. All parties involved are fully aware of the situation and voluntarily agree to participate. Partners are free to change their minds at any time and (re)negotiate boundaries that work for everyone involved. Ethical non-monogamy can take many forms, including <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8321986/">polyamory</a>, open relationships and <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1348/014466606X143153">swinging</a>. These relationships are often <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/01461672221139086">stigmatised</a> and misunderstood. They challenge the traditional notion of monogamy, which is commonly viewed in most western and religious societies as the only acceptable way of engaging in romantic relationships. Yet <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1948550619897157">research has shown</a> that consensual non-monogamy can have positive effects on relationships and the people in them. People in consensual non-monogamous relationships have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1088868312467087?casa_token=We5Fp9hOPjQAAAAA:LI0m000j1SwvqGMbCVWekUcZ5z9DfqzuMmUtdIi59-OJiEZJ0_EjxlYq3pU6xcUZr5jIG9vlvXxztA">reported</a> higher levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction and greater <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19419899.2011.631571">relational intimacy</a> than people in monogamous relationships. <h2>Misconceptions and stigma</h2> One <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-021-00667-7">stigmatising view</a> is that people in non-monogamous relationships pose a greater risk to their partners’ sexual health. This is based on the assumption that having multiple sexual partners increases the likelihood of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282130422_A_Comparison_of_Sexual_Health_History_and_Practices_among_Monogamous_and_Consensually_Nonmonogamous_Sexual_Partners">sexually transmitted infections</a> (STIs). However, research shows that people in open and non-monogamous relationships have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S174360951534008X?via%3Dihub">safer sex practices</a> than monogamous, but unfaithful partners. Ethical non-monogamy can be a safer outlet for sexual expression compared with monogamous relationships that have led to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jsm/article-abstract/12/10/2022/6966715">cheating</a> where someone ends up passing an STI to their partner. In healthy relationships, partners recognise that each person has their own unique sexual preferences and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-021-00667-7">diverse needs</a>. For consensually non-monogamous partners, this means understanding that their primary relationship may not always fulfil all their sexual desires. Although jealousy can still exist within non-monogamous relationships, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1041794X.2018.1531916">research</a> has found that it can be more <a href="https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3297&context=tqr">manageable</a> than in monogamous ones. This is because, in secure non-monogamous partnerships, there are open discussions about sexual attraction and setting boundaries, where partners can address jealousy anxiety. <h2>Exploring non-monogamy</h2> Ethical non-monogamy is not for everyone. You should only explore this type of relationship if it feels comfortable, you seek appropriate consent and the existing relationship is solid. Outsiders often hold the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33990929/">stereotypical</a> view that people only engage in ENM if their current relationship is unstable. If you decide that it’s right for you, keep the following in mind. 1. Communicate openly Communication is important in any relationship, but especially critical in ENM relationships. Partners must be transparent and honest about their intentions, feelings, expectations and boundaries. People in non-monogamous relationships need to be aware of their emotional boundaries and be prepared to navigate feelings of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1286-4">jealousy</a>. 2. Practice safe sex Sexual health is key regardless of your relationship status or style. Get tested regularly for STIs and to use protection during sexual encounters to minimise the risk of transmission. 3. Stop shame Managing stigma is one of the most difficult parts of an ENM relationship. When people are socialised to believe that having multiple partners is wrong or immoral, this can lead to feelings of shame and self-doubt. It is important to recognise that consensually non-monogamous and multipartnered relationships are a valid lifestyle choice. You can seek support from like-minded people or talk to a sex and relationship therapist if necessary. While non-monogamy is not everyone’s cup of tea, these tips can be helpful for any relationship. Ultimately, it is essential to keep communication, consent and respect at the heart of your partnership. Image credit: Shutterstock This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ethical-non-monogamy-what-to-know-about-these-often-misunderstood-relationships-200785" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Relationships

"The wilderness of mirrors": 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond. Fleming’s first novel, <a href="https://www.ianfleming.com/items/casino-royale/">Casino Royale</a>, was published 70 years ago on April 13 1953. It sold out within weeks. British readers, still living with rationing and shortages after the war, eagerly devoured the first James Bond story. It had expensive liquor and cars, exotic destinations, and high-stakes gambling – luxurious things beyond the reach of most people. The novel’s principal villain is Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a French trade union controlled by the Soviet intelligence agency SMERSH. After losing Soviet money, Le Chiffre takes to high-stakes gambling tables to recover it. Bond’s mission is to play against Le Chiffre and win, bankrupting both the Frenchman and the union. The director of British intelligence, known only by his codename “M”, also assigns Bond a companion – Vesper Lynd, previously one of the agency’s assistants. The two infiltrate the casino, play at the tables, and dodge assassination attempts, while engaging in a dramatic battle with French communists, the Soviets, and each other. Fleming’s Bond – the sophisticated, tuxedo-clad secret agent – is an enduring image of espionage. Since 1953, martinis, gadgets, and a licence to kill have been part of how ordinary people understand spycraft. Some of this was real: Fleming drew on his own work as a spy for his novels. Intelligence work is often less glamorous than he depicted, but in both espionage and novel-writing, the difference between fact and fiction is not always easy to distinguish. <h2>Ian Fleming, Agent 17F</h2> Fleming came from a wealthy, well-connected British family, but he was a mediocre student. He only lasted a year at military college (where he contracted gonorrhoea), then missed out on a job with the Foreign Office. He could write, though. He spent a few years as a journalist, but drifted purposelessly through much of the 1930s. The outbreak of war in 1939 changed everything. The director of British Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Henry Godfrey, recruited Fleming as his assistant. Fleming excelled, under the codename 17F. He didn’t see much of the war firsthand, but was involved in its planning. He was an ideas man, not overly concerned with practicalities or logistics. Fleming came up with the fictions; other people had to turn them into realities. In 1940, for example, he developed “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-britain-fleming-bond-finea-idCAL1663266620080416">Operation Ruthless</a>”. To crack the German naval codes, Fleming planned to lure a German rescue boat into a trap and steal its coding machine. They would obtain a German bomber, dress British men in German uniforms, and deliberately crash the plane into the channel. When the German rescue crew arrived, they would shoot them and grab the machine. Preparations began but Fleming’s plan never eventuated. It was too difficult and risky – not least because crashing the plane might simply kill their whole crew. Fleming worked on various operations. When he began writing after the war, these experiences found their way into Bond’s world. Fleming and Godfrey had visited Portugal, a neutral territory teeming with spies, where they went to the casino. Fleming claimed he played against a German agent at the tables, an experience that supposedly inspired Bond’s gambling battles with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. Godfrey maintained that Fleming only ever played against Portuguese businessmen, but Fleming never let facts get in the way of a good story. Fleming picked up inspiration everywhere. Godfrey became the model for M. Fleming’s secretary, Joan Howe, inspired Moneypenny. The Soviet SMERSH coding device in <a href="https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/From_Russia_with_Love_(novel)">From Russia, With Love</a> (1957) was based on the German Enigma machine. Many of Fleming’s characters were named for real people: one villain shares a name with Hitler’s Chief of Staff, another with one of Fleming’s schoolyard adversaries. It became something of a sport to hypothesise about the inspiration for Bond. Fleming later called him a “compound of all the secret agents and commando types” he met during war. There were elements of Fleming’s older brother, an operative behind the lines in Norway and Greece. Fleming also pointed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly">Sidney Reilly</a>, a Russian-born British agent during the First World War. He had access to reports on Reilly in the Naval Intelligence archive during his own service. Other possible models include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_O%27Brien-ffrench">Conrad O’Brien-ffrench</a>, a British spy Fleming met while skiing in the 1930s, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Dunderdale">Wilfred “Biffy” Dunderdale</a>, MI6 Station Chief in Paris, who wore handmade suits and was chauffeured in a Rolls Royce. Stories of discovering <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/mr-bond-i-presume-20141017-117xji.html">the real-life James Bond</a> still appear. But there was also much of Fleming himself in Bond. He gave 007 his own love of scrambled eggs and gambling. Their attitude towards women was similar. They used the same brand of toiletries. Bond even has Fleming’s golf handicap. Fleming would play with this idea, teasing that the books were autobiographical or that he was Bond’s biographer. Much like a cover story for an intelligence officer, Bond was Fleming’s alter-ego. He was anchored in Fleming’s realities – with a strong dash of creative licence and a little aspiration. <h2>The changing world of Bond</h2> The success of Casino Royale secured contracts for more Bond novels. In the early 1960s, critics began to denounce the books for their “sex, snobbery, and sadism”. Bond’s attitude toward women, in particular, was clear from the beginning. In Casino Royale, he refers to the “sweet tang of rape” in relation to sex with his MI6 accomplice and paramour Vesper Lynd. But the public appeared to be less concerned. Bond novels still sold well, especially after John F. Kennedy listed one among his top ten books. The first film adaptation, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055928/">Dr. No</a>, appeared in 1962 and Fleming’s success continued apace. Bond’s world was evolving, though. From Casino Royale to For Your Eyes Only (1960), Bond battled SMERSH, a real Soviet counter-espionage organisation. The early Bond novels were Cold War stories. Soviet Russia was the West’s enemy, so it was Bond’s. But East-West relations were thawing in 1959 when Fleming was writing Thunderball (1961). The Cold War could plausibly have ended and he didn’t want any film version to look dated, so Fleming created a fictional villain: SPECTRE. This was an international terrorist organisation without a distinct ideology. It could endure beyond the battles of the Cold War – and did. It features in the 2021 Bond film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382320/">No Time To Die</a>. Fleming’s more fantastic plots were always anchored in reality by recognisable brands and products. Bond’s watch was a Rolex; his choice of bourbon was Jack Daniels. His cigarettes were Morlands, like Fleming’s. In the novels, Bond drove Bentleys – the Aston Martin was introduced in the 1964 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/">Goldfinger</a>. The films have changed Bond’s brands to keep up with the world around them (and secure lucrative product-placement deals): Omega replaced Rolex in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/">Goldeneye</a> (1995); the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/apr/17/bond-taste-for-beer-skyfall">martini was swapped for a Heineken</a> in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/">Skyfall</a> (2012). Bond now carries a Sony phone. Other changes brought the 1950s spy into the 21st century. Recent films have more diverse casting. Their female characters do more than just spend a night with Bond before their untimely deaths. The novels, too, continue to change – the 70th-anniversary editions have had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/james-bond-novels-to-be-reissued-with-racial-references-removed">racial slurs and some characters’ ethnic descriptors removed</a>. Some have criticised this as censorship. But as with <a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-a-brief-history-of-sensitivity-edits-to-childrens-literature-200500">recent rewritings of Roald Dahl’s books</a>, changes like this are not new. Fleming’s family has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/ian-fleming-james-bond-books-changes-to-new-editions/102035958">defended the alterations by citing similar removals</a> in 1955, when Live and Let Die was first published in the United States. There is a risk that this whitewashes Fleming’s attitudes, making them appear more palatable than they really were. But the revised Bond novels will include a disclaimer noting the removals. Casino Royale itself has not been altered (Bond’s rape comment remains intact), so the changes will perhaps be less extensive than the media coverage suggests. <h2>Spies After Bond</h2> Fleming is not the only ex-spy to have successfully turned his hand to spy fiction. John le Carré’s George Smiley is perhaps an anti-Bond: slightly overweight, banal, and essentially a bureaucrat. He relies on a shrewd mind rather than gadgets or guns. Le Carré introduced his readers to a more mundane, morally grey world of espionage. He had worked for MI5 and MI6 in the 1950 and ‘60s. He thought Bond was a gangster rather than a spy. Le Carré’s stories have also shaped how we think about espionage. Words like “mole” and “honeytrap” – the terminology of spycraft – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/john-le-carre-spy-came-in-from-cold-book/673227/">entered common usage via his novels</a>. Stella Rimington, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/apr/23/stella-rimington-i-fell-into-intelligence-by-chance">the first female director-general of MI5</a>, began writing fiction after retiring from intelligence in the late 1990s. Her protagonist, 34-year-old Liz Carlyle, hunts terror cells in Britain. Like Smiley, Carlyle appears rather ordinary. She is serious and conscientious. We get glimpses of the everyday sexism she experiences. Carlyle triumphs by remaining level-headed, not by fiery gun battles or explosions. After three decades of agent-running for the CIA, Jason Mathews wrote his <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Red-Sparrow-Trilogy">Red Sparrow</a> trilogy to occupy himself in retirement. He called it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/books/shadowing-jason-matthews-the-ex-spy-whose-cover-identity-is-author.html">a form of therapy</a>. There’s a little more Bond in Mathews’ books than in those of le Carré or Rimington. His protagonists Nate Nash and Dominika Egorova are attractive, charismatic and entangled in a personal relationship of stolen moments and high drama. This is counterbalanced by the many hours they spend running surveillance-detection routes before meeting targets. The more tedious and banal aspects of spycraft – brush passes, broken transmitters, and dead drops – accompany the glamour and romance. <h2>The wilderness of mirrors</h2> Spy fiction is never just about entertainment. The real world of espionage is so secret that most of us only ever encounter it on pages or screens. We don’t usually look to Bond films for accurate representations of espionage. But the influence of Fleming’s spy and the general aura of secrecy surrounding intelligence work lend some glamour and excitement to the work of real spies. These fictions also influence our views on real intelligence organisations, their activities, and their legitimacy. This is why the <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-cia-goes-to-hollywood-how-americas-spy-agency-infiltrated-the-big-screen-and-our-minds/">CIA invests time and money into fictionalisations</a> dealing with its work. From stories based on true events, such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/">Argo</a>(2012) or <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a> (2012), to fictional series like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796960/">Homeland</a> (2011-20), the agency’s image is shaped via the media we consume. This was true when Fleming was writing, too. Soviet authorities <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Russia-and-the-Cult-of-State-Security-The-Chekist-Tradition-From-Lenin/Fedor/p/book/9780415703475">were preoccupied</a> by Sherlock Holmes’ surging popularity behind the Iron Curtain and fretted over the release of the Bond novels and films. The KGB studied both carefully. It was likely Bond who prompted KGB officers to release classified details about their most successful spy story: the career of <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-name-s-sorge-richard-sorge/">Richard Sorge</a>. Former intelligence officers such as Fleming are often quite good at fiction – perhaps because it is a core part of spycraft. A solid cover story has to be grounded in reality, with just enough fiction to protect the truth or gain a desired outcome. A good operation often requires creativity, to outwit a target or evade detection. And spreading fictions – disinformation – can sometimes be just as useful as gathering information. The world of espionage is sometimes referred to as the “wilderness of mirrors”. Spycraft relies on both reflections and distortions. The line between fact and fiction, between real stories of intelligence work and invented ones, can become blurry – and intelligence agencies often prefer it that way. Image credits: Columbia Pictures This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wilderness-of-mirrors-70-years-since-the-first-james-bond-book-spy-stories-are-still-blurring-fact-and-fiction-201373" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Books

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

Although most would expect artificial intelligence to keep to the science fiction realm, authors are facing mounting fears that they may soon have new competition in publishing, particularly as the sales of romantic fiction continue to skyrocket. And for bestselling author Julia Quinn, best known for writing the Bridgerton novel series, there’s hope that “that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” For one, human inspiration is hard to replicate. Julia’s hit series - which went on to have over 20 million books printed in the United States alone, and inspired one of Netflix’s most-watched shows - came from one specific point: Julia’s idea of a particular duke. “Definitely the character of Simon came first,” Julia told BBC reporter Jill Martin Wrenn. Simon, in the Bridgerton series, is the Duke of Hastings, a “tortured character” with a troubled past. As Julia explained, she realised that Simon needed “to fall in love with somebody who comes from the exact opposite background” in a tale as old as time. And so, Julia came up with the Bridgerton family, who she described as being “the best family ever that you could imagine in that time period”. Meanwhile, Simon is estranged from his own father. Characterisation and unique relationship dynamics - platonic and otherwise - like those between Julia’s beloved characters are some of the key foundations behind any successful story, but particularly in the romance genre, where relationships are the entire driving force. It has long been suggested that the genre can become ‘formulaic’ if not executed well, and it’s this concern that prompts the idea that advancing artificial intelligence may have the capability to generate its own novel. ChatGPT is the primary problem point. The advanced language processing technology was developed by OpenAI and was trained using the likes of internet databases (such as Wikipedia), books, magazines, and the likes. The BBC reported that over 300 billion words were put into it. Because of this massive store of source material, the system can generate its own writing pieces, with the best of the bunch giving the impression that they were put together by a human mind. Across the areas of both fiction and non-fiction, it’s always learning. However, Julia isn’t too worried about her future in fiction just yet. Recalling how she’d checked out some AI romance a while ago, and how she’d found it “terrible”, she shared her belief at the time that there “could never be a good one.” But then the likes of ChatGPT entered the equation, and Julia admitted that “it makes me kind of queasy.” Still, she remains firm in her belief that human art will triumph. As she explained, “so much in fiction is about the writer’s voice, and I’d like to think that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” And as for why romantic fiction itself remains so popular - and perhaps even why it draws the attention of those hoping to profit from AI generated work - she said that it’s about happy endings, noting that “there is something comforting and validating in a type of literature that values happiness as a worthy goal.” Images: @bridgertonnetflix / Instagram

Books

“So many non-technical people will fall for this”: New myGov scam that looks real

Australians are being urged to be especially cautious of a new online myGov scam that purports to offer hundreds of dollars in tax refunds – and once you click through, the interfaces are so expertly copied that even highly vigilant scam experts are worried people will be taken in, and could potentially lose all their savings. The email, once it drops in your inbox, will inform you of an outstanding myGov refund, and will appear to genuinely be from the government agency. Email security software company MailGuard raised the alarm this week when it intercepted one of the suspect messages. Once you click through, you’ll be asked to enter login details and billing info. “These details will again be stolen by the criminal and will likely be used for their personal financial gain or sold on the dark web,” MailGuard warns. Space, software and politics expert @oferzelig deliberately went through all the steps to find out what happens, and then published the very disturbing results on Twitter. “A new ‘You have a message from myGov’ scam. I entered the link using a safe sandbox as I was curious,” he wrote. “They mimicked all the major Aussie banks' login pages, the bastards. So many non-technical people will fall for this, unfortunately 😢” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> A new "You have a message from myGov" scam. I entered the link using a safe sandbox as I was curious. They mimicked all the major Aussie banks' login pages, the bastards. So many non-technical people will fall for this, unfortunately 😢<a href="https://twitter.com/troyhunt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@troyhunt</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZJ25x9XuoZ">pic.twitter.com/ZJ25x9XuoZ</a> — 𝓞𝓯𝓮𝓻 𝓩𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓰 🚀💻 🇦🇺 🇮🇱 (@oferzelig) <a href="https://twitter.com/oferzelig/status/1610200580076769281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2023</a></blockquote> Services Australia, which delivers myGov, is aware of the scam and urged Australians to be on the alert. “We will never send you an email or SMS with a hyperlink directing you to sign in to your myGov account,” it says. “If you get an email like this, don’t open any links, download attachments or respond. “We’ll never ask you to open a link or a file attached to an email.” “When you are signed in to myGov, the messages in your myGov Inbox are secure. It’s safe to open links included in myGov Inbox messages,” it says. Check out all of the images below to see just how convincing the fake pages are – and please be extra cautious! Images: Twitter

Money & Banking

5 things the latest season of The Crown got right and 3 things that were inaccurate

<h2>Separating fact from fiction</h2> Season 5 of The Crown finally aired on Netflix after two years of waiting. The first season of The Crown aired in 2016, telling the story of all the major players in the royal family trees starting just before Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne. Every season since has covered roughly a decade or so in the lives of the royals. The new season of The Crown takes place between 1991 and 1997 and sees Charles and Diana nearing the end of their tumultuous marriage, securing their position as global tabloid fodder. (And, as season five points out, coverage of their lives would often blur the line between journalism and salacious gossip.) Despite the fact that there was so much real-life royal drama during this time, there are elements of The Crown that are not based on real events – so much so that Netflix added a disclaimer when releasing the trailer for this season that stated, ‘Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.’ It can be confusing to parse fact from fiction. Here’s a fact check of The Crown season five to help understand what’s real and what’s not. <h2>Here’s what was actually true in The Crown – and what wasn’t</h2> Most of the historical events that have appeared on The Crown are based on true events. Let’s start with a few things that definitely happened. <div> </div> <h2>Truth: Martin Bashir did use false evidence to convince Princess Diana to appear on Panorama</h2> On The Crown Season 5 Episode 7, BBC journalist Martin Bashir (played by Prasanna Puwanarajah) is shown fabricating fake bank statements to convince Charles Spencer and his sister, Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), into believing that members of their trusted teams were being paid off by British intelligence services for information about them. In turn, Bashir played into their fears and earned Diana’s trust enough to convince her to appear on his TV show, Panorama, giving one of the most explosive interviews of the decade. In 2020, an independent inquiry did find Bashir guilty of wrongdoing, and the BBC apologised to Charles Spencer for Bashir’s deception. <h2>Truth: Prince Philip was a world-class carriage driver</h2> Season 5 Episode 2 is when we learn of Prince Philip’s obsession with carriage driving. In fact, Philip (played by actor Jonathan Pryce) was not just a hobbyist in the sport, but he competed internationally as a member of the British Diving Team. He also wrote several books and served as the president of the Fédération Équestre Internationale. <h2>Truth: Windsor Castle sustained massive fire damage in 1992</h2> In Season 5 Episode 4, Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) referred to 1992 as an “annus horribilis,” or, a horrible year. It was the year that marked the separation of Charles and Diana as well as Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Adding to the heartbreak, 1992 was also the year that Windsor Castle caught fire when a spotlight ignited a curtain, destroying dozens of rooms and several priceless works of art. <h2>Truth: Mohamed Al-Fayed hired the Duke of Windsor’s former valet, Sydney Johnson, to work for him</h2> In Season 5 Episode 3, we are introduced to Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw), the Egyptian businessman who would build up an empire that included the Ritz Hotel in Paris and Harrods Department Store in London. As the show depicts, Al-Fayed was a lifelong Anglophile and did meet and hire Sydney Johnson, a Bahamian man who previously spent three decades as Edward, Duke of Windsor’s valet after Edward abdicated the throne. Johnson began working for Al-Fayed in 1977, five years after Edward passed away. After Edward’s wife, Wallis Simpson died, Al-Fayed purchased their Paris estate and, along with Johnson, helped restore it. With regard to the end of this episode, when Mohamed Al-Fayed met Princess Diana, while we’re not sure if they really did bond instantly at a polo match, it’s true that the two became friends years before Diana began dating Mohamed’s son, Dodi Al-Fayed. Dodi would later die in the 1997 car crash that also took Diana’s life. <h2>Truth: tampongate really did happen</h2> In 1989, when Charles and Camilla’s affair was not yet public, the two engaged in a phone conversation where Charles compared himself to a tampon. The conversation was later released to the public in 1993 after Diana and Charles separated. <h2>And now for a few things that appear on The Crown season 5 that didn’t actually happen… Fiction: The Sunday Times poll</h2> Throughout the season, Prince Charles (Dominic West) is seen as a man who is ready for new responsibilities. Specifically, the responsibility of being king. In Episode 1, a poll revealing that half the British population thinks that his ageing mother Queen Elizabeth, should abdicate her role is published in the Sunday Times, and Charles takes that as a sign that he should start preparing himself to be king. He even goes so far as to meet with Prime Minister John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) to seek his support. But, none of that happened. There was no such poll published in 1991 by the Sunday Times, and no such conversation between Major and the Prince of Wales. In fact, Major is one of this season’s biggest detractors. He has called the series “a barrel-load of nonsense.” <h2>Fiction: Prince Philip and Penny Knatchbull’s affair</h2> It’s true that Prince Philip and his godson’s wife, Penny Knatchbull, were both invested in the sport of carriage driving, and it is also true that their friendship was fodder for speculation that there was something more to it. But alas, there is no concrete evidence that Prince Philip engaged in an affair with Penny. <h2>Fiction: Diana warning the queen about her Panorama interview</h2> Everyone involved in Princess Diana’s Panorama interview knew it was a giant risk to let the estranged princess speak so candidly on the most revered broadcasting network in the country. While it’s true that Marmaduke Hussey, then-chairman of the BBC, felt that it was a disgrace to air the interview, the queen herself was not actually given a heads-up by Diana before the inflammatory program aired in 1995. The conversation between Diana and the queen was pure fabrication, confirmed by Patrick Jephson, Diana’s press secretary at the time. While it can be confusing parsing out what The Crown gets wrong about the royal family and what the show gets right, season 5 remains as engrossing as ever thanks to its excelling writing and cast. What we do know for sure is that season six, which tackles the final months of Diana’s life and the years after, can’t come soon enough. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/5-things-the-latest-season-of-the-crown-got-right-and-3-things-that-were-inaccurate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>. Image: Netflix

Iran: protesters call for move to a non-religious state. What changes would that bring?

My friend was in Tehran during protests after <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/events-iran-since-mahsa-aminis-arrest-death-custody-2022-10-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the death</a> of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police (Gasht-e Ershad). My friend went into a grocery shop intending to buy milk. The seller refused to sell anything to her. “Why are you refusing?” she asked. “I can see that you have milk.” “Because you are wearing a hijab,” the seller responded. This is part of a backlash by those who see themselves as oppressed by the Islamic Republic’s discriminatory hijab law, which prosecutes women for not “covering up”. The term hijab is an Arabic word meaning cover. It’s used to refer to different types of covering, from a long-sleeved coat, pants and scarf to the Islamic government’s preferred form of dress, chador, which is a loose-fitting black cloth worn over the entire body. After Mahsa Amini’s killing in September, mass protests broke out over this law and its enforcement. Wearing hijab became obligatory for all Iranian women from April 1983, after the 1979 revolution. Since then, all women have been forced by law to wear hijab (a covering of hair and or body) in public, even non-Muslims and foreigners visiting Iran. If they don’t they face prosecution. The government of Iran, the Islamic Republic, argues that God commands women to wear hijab. This is a government which has leaders who are members of the clergy and merged religious beliefs into state law. But even some Islamic scholars argue that the Qur'an does not suggest that hijab should be <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300257311/women-and-gender-in-islam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compulsory</a>. Mahsa Amini’s case is polarising Iran: those who rigorously advocate the hijab and religious law are set against those who prefer a <a href="https://time.com/6216024/iran-protests-islamic-republic-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secular state</a>, not run by religious values. This has led the nation to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/26/iran-at-least-15-killed-after-gunmen-attack-shrine-in-shiraz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the current upheaval</a>, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/are-hijab-protests-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-irans-regime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vast</a> protests across the country, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63410577" target="_blank" rel="noopener">people being killed</a>. At many protests the Iranian resistance chant is <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/iran-protests-women-life-freedom-mahsa-amini-killing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zan, Zendegi, Azadi</a> (#WomenLifeFreedom) is heard. The protesters call for life and liberty to be applicable to everyone (religious and non-religious). A big part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-majority-of-people-reject-compulsory-hijab-and-an-islamic-regime-surveys-find-191448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the motivation</a> behind these protests is to challenge how the current religious law takes away the right of women to choose what to wear. <h2>What is secularism?</h2> Secularism is the idea that states should be <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/1881/chapter-abstract/141631825?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">neutral about religion</a>. The state should not <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/16/what-mean-secular-state-neutral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back</a> a specific religion over others. A secular state <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2011.01117.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provides</a> equal opportunity for religious and non-religious citizens to pursue their lives. The state must respect everyone’s values (including minorities), not just some people’s values. Secularism seems reasonable <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/28394" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to many</a> because it is unusual for an entire nation to believe in a religion as one source of law. Some <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2019.1643330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scholars of Islam</a> disagree with the established interpretation of the Islamic Republic about whether God has commanded a mandatory hijab. As a result, they claim that hijab is not about covering hair but about “modesty”. Some others challenge <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/12/iran-hijab-law-protest-ali-larijani" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the way</a> the morality police treat women in the street. While some people might be railing against women being forced to wear the hijab, others continue to feel strongly about its continued use. <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-qom-women-hijab/31929986.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reports</a> say that Iranian authorities have closed some coffee shops because of the “improper” hijab of some female customers. And more <a href="https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/iran-detains-woman-eating-breakfast-without-hijab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently</a>, a woman was arrested for eating breakfast in a café with no hijab. <h2>Iranian history of secularism</h2> Modern debates about secularism in Iran can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/irans-constitutional-revolution-9780755649235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Constitutional Revolution</a> in 1906. It advocated <a href="https://iranicaonline.org/articles/constitutional-revolution-i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liberalism and secularism</a> and began conversations about a society without religious rules for all. Iranians experienced enforced secularisation shortly after Reza Shah Pahlavi was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reza-Shah-Pahlavi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crowned</a> in 1925. In 1936 he issued a decree <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/iran-and-the-headscarf-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kashf-e hijab</a> that any public expression of religious faith, including wearing hijab, was illegal. Again, this was a leader was telling women what to wear. However, his attempt to militantly secularise and westernise Iran faced <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203060636-22/banning-veil-consequences-dr-stephanie-cronin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resistance</a> from society. The overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979 led to the establishment of a militant Islamic government based on <a href="https://www.icit-digital.org/books/islam-and-revolution-writings-and-declarations-of-imam-khomeini-1941-1980" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shia Muslim teachings</a>. After the hijab became <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-headscarf-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandatory</a>, it became a symbol of compulsory faith. It has also played a significant role in pushing some parts of the Iranian population towards a more secular state. In 2022 Iran is experiencing some dramatic shifts, including what appears to be a shift towards secularism. Some argue that secularism is an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/25/archives/khomeini-terms-secular-critics-enemies-of-islam-dictatorship-of-the.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enemy</a> of religion or a product of <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814795644/democracy-in-modern-iran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">western colonisation</a>. Despite the majority of Iranians considering themselves <a href="https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GAMAAN-Iran-Religion-Survey-2020-English.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">religious</a>, some evidence shows that Iranians are <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-majority-of-people-reject-compulsory-hijab-and-an-islamic-regime-surveys-find-191448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less religious</a> than before. Since the Islamic revolution there’s been a lot of research about how Iran could work as a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Secularization-of-Islam-in-Post-Revolutionary-Iran/Pargoo/p/book/9780367654672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secular</a> society and about religious <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/9789047400714/B9789047400714_s006.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tolerance</a>. The current protest movement, led mainly by <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-rising-generation-z-forefront-protests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gen Z in Iran</a>, is growing partly because of its use of the internet and social media to communicate and share information. People can also learn from other nations’ experiences of secularism through social media. This is why the regime is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2022/oct/06/why-is-the-government-in-iran-shutting-down-the-internet-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shutting down</a> the internet and censoring YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. <a href="https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GAMAAN-Political-Systems-Survey-2022-English-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One poll</a> suggests that more than 60% of Iranians now want a non-religious state, the question is whether those in power are willing to give it to them. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protesters-call-for-move-to-a-non-religious-state-what-changes-would-that-bring-193198" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Sky News

Legal

Bride called out for list of “non-negotiables” at wedding

A Queensland woman has been dubbed a bridezilla for her “non-negotiable” list at her wedding. Kara Hansen took to TikTok announcing that she has been engaged for a year and is organising her wedding. A part of her and her fiancé’s special day includes a list of things that are non-negotiable which Ms Hansen says “may p*** people off”. First on her list was no children under the age of 16 because it is simply “not the right place for them”. “There is loud music, they don’t eat the food, they don’t drink the alcohol, they don’t party, their parents have to leave too, it just feels like it’s not the right place for them,” she says in the video. The second non-negotiable on Ms Hansen’s list is not having dessert when there is cake. “I am not paying for a third course when I have already paid $400 for a wedding cake, I don’t care about keeping the top tier of my wedding cake, you guys can just eat it all,” she says. Other things included in her list are keeping speeches short and sweet and that she will wear a short dress for the reception because she “hates to wear long dresses”. Ms Hansen also said her husband can see her dress before the big day as long as she’s not wearing it, and finally wanting to have coffee with her husband on the morning of the wedding. Several people called out Ms Hansen for her harsh rules saying that everyone will be able to enjoy the day no matter their age. “Sorry, but I am having kids at my wedding, I don’t care if they don’t like the food or they drink just as long as everyone has a good time,” one wrote. “We are having kids at our wedding. We have two flower girls and two ring boys so we feel we can’t have them and not others. It feels wrong to us,” another person commented. Others however agreed with Ms Hansen, calling her list “freaking genius” and that they will be adopting some of her non-negotiables for their weddings. Watch the video <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@karaaaashley/video/7147551332994403586?embed_source=null_null_null&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&refer=embed&referer_url=www.news.com.au%2Flifestyle%2Frelationships%2Fmarriage%2Fbridezilla-reveals-wedding-nonnegotiables%2Fnews-story%2F1724eae5a63c8627526ae78c2916f7b6&referer_video_id=7147551332994403586" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. Images: TikTok

Relationships

Classic NON catch as kid takes a tumble at the cricket

As cricket fans descend on Australia’s stadiums to see the T20 World Cup play out, an incident off the field has gone viral online. Day two of the competition saw Scotland face off against the West Indies, but midway through the innings a moment of amusement and terror was captured in official footage. As the camera panned over Hobart’s Blundstone Arena, a young child was spotted climbing over the railing between the stands and a hill where spectators can sit, when he flipped over and toppled head-first to the ground. A man, assumed to be the child’s father, was seen frantically running after the toddler and hopping over the railing. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"> Had to GIF this 🤣🤣 <a href="https://t.co/SZe0CBa6aD">pic.twitter.com/SZe0CBa6aD</a> — SuperCoach Insider (@SCInsider100) <a href="https://twitter.com/SCInsider100/status/1581938384477786114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2022</a></blockquote> Footage of the incident was shared on Twitter with the caption, “Just a dad and his son at the cricket….”, when it quickly went viral. “This has made me laugh a lot more than it should of so far today,” one viewer joked. “Narrator: It was precisely this moment Steve knew his afternoon at the cricket had took a turn for the worse,” another quipped. Others referenced WWE wrestler Jeff Hardy, who is known for his ‘swanton bomb’ dives from great heights, with one user writing: “Jeff Hardy, famed from the top of the ladder!” The video racked up over 300,000 views, but the clip has since been disabled due to a “report by the copyright owner”. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/10/banned-t20-vid.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> The clip went viral online but has since been disabled. Image: Twitter The camera cut away before the child was picked up, and with no reports of injuries it seems the boy came out okay. Back on the pitch, Scotland claimed victory a day after Namibia defeated Sri Lanka. Australia will be going head-to-head with New Zealand at the SCG on Saturday. Image: Twitter

Travel Trouble

Romance fiction rewrites the rulebook

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

Books

Why is newborn baby skin-to-skin contact with dads and non-birthing parents important? Here’s what the science says

Soon after a baby is born, it’s getting more common these days for the father or non-birthing parent to be encouraged to put the newborn directly on their chest. This skin-to-skin contact is often termed “kangaroo care”, as it mimics the way kangaroos provide warmth and security to babies. Mothers have been encouraged to give kangaroo care for decades now and many do so instinctively after giving birth; it has been <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27552521/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shown</a> to help mum and baby <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0882596316000531?casa_token=QBk4MOx7VIMAAAAA:3DIH_RF_PdsZDqHkKSYgbM37Tgsau5GpTBPqUowy4kDN3tOwtnnPvpXCGkpBI8lJEQIqSorp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">connect</a> and with <a href="https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrnn/27/3/151.abstract" target="_blank" rel="noopener">breastfeeding</a>. So what does the evidence say about kangaroo care for other parents? A growing body of research A growing body of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361591701_Fathers_providing_kangaroo_care_in_neonatal_intensive_care_units_a_scoping_review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> shows kangaroo care brings benefits for both baby and parent. One <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apa.14184" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> that measured cortisol (a stress hormone) levels and blood pressure in new fathers found: <blockquote> Fathers who held their baby in skin-to-skin contact for the first time showed a significant reduction in physiological stress responses. </blockquote> Another <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2017/8612024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> in Taiwan involving fathers and neonates (newborn babies) found benefits to bonding and attachment: <blockquote> These study results confirm the positive effects of skin-to-skin contact interventions on the infant care behaviour of fathers in terms of exploring, talking, touching, and caring and on the enhancing of the father-neonate attachment. </blockquote> A <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361591701_Fathers_providing_kangaroo_care_in_neonatal_intensive_care_units_a_scoping_review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> I co-authored with the University of South Australia’s Qiuxia Dong found: <blockquote> Studies reported several positive kangaroo care benefits for fathers such as reduced stress, promotion of paternal role and enhanced father–infant bond. </blockquote> Qiuxia Dong also led a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jocn.16405" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> (on which I was a co-author) exploring the experiences of fathers who had a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide. This study found kangaroo care helps fathers connect and bond with their baby in an intensive care environment. This had a positive impact on fathers’ confidence and self-esteem. As one father told us: <blockquote> I think after all the stress, when I have skin-to-skin I can actually calm down a little bit. I sit down and relax, I can cuddle my child and it’s just a little bit of a happy place for me as well as him to calm down, not to do any work all the time, not to be stressed out. There’s other things on my mind all the time but it’s time to relax and turn off a little bit. </blockquote> Another told us: <blockquote> She nuzzled around a bit, kind of got my smell I guess and then literally fell asleep. It was great. It was very comforting for both I guess for her and myself. </blockquote> As one father put it: <blockquote> Of course, they can hear your heartbeat and all that kind of stuff, of course warmth […] it’s being close with your baby, I think that would be the best way of building a relationship early. </blockquote> However, this study also reported that some dads found giving kangaroo care challenging as it can be time-consuming. It is not always easy to juggle with commitments such as caring for other children and work. Involving both parents One study noted <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21820778/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dads</a> can sometimes feel like a bystander on the periphery when a newborn arrives. Encouraging and educating all non-birthing parents, including fathers, to give kangaroo care is a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21820778/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">valuable way</a> to get them involved. And if a caesarean birth makes it difficult for the mother to give kangaroo care while still in theatre, the father or non-birthing parent is the next best person to do it while the mother or birthing parent is not able. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480777/original/file-20220824-22-j9lpxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption>A caesarean birth sometimes makes it difficult for the mother to give kangaroo care while still in the theatre. Isaac Hermar/Pexels, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CC BY</a></figcaption></figure> More research needed There is a need for broader research on these issues, especially around the experiences of fathers from culturally diverse backgrounds and other non-birthing parents. But the research literature on kangaroo care shows there is good reason for dads and non-birthing parents to do some kangaroo care when a baby is born. As we concluded in our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jocn.16405">study</a>, in the challenging neonatal intensive care unit environment, kangaroo care can serve: <blockquote> as a silent language of love.<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/188927/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> </blockquote> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mary-steen-970055" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mary Steen</a>, Adjunct professor of Maternal and Family Health, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-newborn-baby-skin-to-skin-contact-with-dads-and-non-birthing-parents-important-heres-what-the-science-says-188927" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: Getty Images

Family & Pets

Couple book non-stop cruises for two-and-a-half years

A couple who missed out on the joys of cruising during lockdown are now bunkering down and cruising non-stop for two-and-a-half years. Jessica and Marty Ansen left Brisbane on Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess on June 16 for the beginning of their exciting adventure. They have previously sailed on 31 cruises with Princess with a whopping 1,173 days at sea and when the resumption of cruises they were ready to get started again. From now until August 2024, the loved up couple will be holidaying on the high seas and on a staggering 53 different cruise ships! “Cruising offers the ultimate holiday experience. You go onboard, you only unpack once, and you have all this amazing entertainment, exceptional food, great company and you can see the world. And, the crew deliver incredible service - that’s why we cruise,” they said. The Ansens booked their two years of back-to-back cruises (795 sea days) - including two round-the-world cruises in 2023 and 2024 – with Brisbane-based family-owned travel agency Clean Cruising. Martine Hero, the Senior Consultant at Clean Cruising, said the Ansens had always been passionate about cruising and were keen to be back on the water again. “For the last two years Marty frequently mentioned all he and Jessica wanted to do was to go cruising again,” he said. “Since the announcement of the resumption of cruising we have had an influx of interest and bookings, including those of the Ansens. “This extended trip has been in the works for a long time, as have those of many other cruisers. “We want to thank our cruise fans for their patience as we get them back doing what they love most.” Image: The Today Show

Cruising

Stuff-up or conspiracy? Whistleblowers claim Facebook deliberately let important non-news pages go down in news blackout

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published information from Facebook whistleblowers, alleging Facebook (which is owned by Meta) deliberately caused havoc in Australia last year <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-deliberately-caused-havoc-in-australia-to-influence-new-law-whistleblowers-say-11651768302">to influence the News Media Bargaining Code</a> before it was passed as law. During Facebook’s news blackout in February 2021, thousands of non-news pages were also blocked – including important emergency, health, charity and government pages. Meta has continued to argue the takedown of not-for-profit and government pages was a technical error. It remains to be seen whether the whistleblower revelations will lead to Facebook being taken to court. The effects of Facebook’s “error” The <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-world-first-australia-plans-to-force-facebook-and-google-to-pay-for-news-but-abc-and-sbs-miss-out-143740">News Media Bargaining Code</a> was first published in July 2020, with a goal to have Facebook and Google pay Australian news publishers for the content they provide to the platforms. It was passed by the House of Representatives (Australia’s lower house) on February 17 2021. That same day, Facebook retaliated by issuing a <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/changes-to-sharing-and-viewing-news-on-facebook-in-australia/">statement</a> saying it would remove access to news media business pages on its platform – a threat it had first made in August 2020. It was arguably a reasonable threat of capital strike by a foreign direct investor, in respect to new regulation it regarded as “harmful” – and which it believed fundamentally “misunderstands the relationship between [its] platform and publishers who use it to share news content”. However, the range of pages blocked was extensive. Facebook has a label called the “News Page Index” which can be applied to its pages. News media pages, such as those of the ABC and SBS, are included in the index. All Australian pages on this index were taken down during Facebook’s news blackout. But Facebook also blocked access to other pages, such as the page of the satirical website <a href="https://www.betootaadvocate.com">The Betoota Advocate</a>. The broadness of Facebook’s approach was also evidenced by the blocking of its own corporate page. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/18/time-to-reactivate-myspace-the-day-australia-woke-up-to-a-facebook-news-blackout">most major harm</a>, however, came from blocks to not-for-profit pages, including cancer charities, the Bureau of Meteorology and a variety of state health department pages – at a time when they were delivering crucial information about COVID-19 and vaccines. Whistleblowers emerge The whistleblower material published by the Wall Street Journal, which was also filed to the US Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), includes several email chains that show Facebook decided to implement its blocking threat through a broad strategy. The argument for its broad approach was based on an anti-avoidance clause in the News Media Bargaining Code. The effect of the clause was to ensure Facebook didn’t attempt to avoid the rules of the code by simply substituting Australian news with international news for Australian users. In other words, it would have to be all or nothing. As a consequence, Facebook did not use its News Page Index. It instead classified a domain as “news” if “60% [or] more of a domain’s content shared on Facebook is classified as news”. One product manager wrote: <blockquote> Hey everyone – the [proposed Australian law] we are responding to is extremely broad, so guidance from the policy and legal team has been to be over-inclusive and refine as we get more information. </blockquote> The blocking approach was algorithmic and based on these rules. There were some exceptions, that included not blocking “.gov” – but no such exclusion for “.gov.au”. The effect of this was the taking down of many charity and government pages. The whistleblower material makes it clear a number of Facebook employees offered solutions to the perceived overreach. This included one employee proposal that Facebook should “proactively find all the affected pages and restore them”. However, the documents show these calls were ignored. According to the Wall Street Journal: <blockquote> The whistleblower documents show Facebook did attempt to exclude government and education pages. But people familiar with Facebook’s response said some of these lists malfunctioned at rollout, while other whitelists didn’t cover enough pages to avoid widespread improper blocking. </blockquote> Amendments following the blackout Following Facebook’s news blackout, there were last-minute amendments to the draft legislation before it was passed through the Senate. The main change was that the News Media Bargaining Code would only apply to Facebook if deals were not struck with a range of key news businesses (which so far has not included SBS or <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU/status/1440562209206128653?s=20&t=FsviAWBLX7mKumr80Qiwzg">The Conversation</a>). It’s not clear whether the amendment was as a result of Facebook’s actions, or if it would have been introduced in the Senate anyway. In either case, Facebook said it was “<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/changes-to-sharing-and-viewing-news-on-facebook-in-australia/">satisfied</a>” with the outcome, and ended its news blackout. Facebook denies the accusations The definitions of “core news content” and “news source” in the News Media Bargaining Code were reasonably narrow. So Facebook’s decision to block pages so broadly seems problematic – especially from the perspective of reputational risk. But as soon as that risk crystallised, Facebook denied intent to cause any harm. A Meta spokesperson said the removal of non-news pages was a “mistake” and “any suggestion to the contrary is categorically and obviously false”. Referring to the whistleblower documents, the spokesperson said: <blockquote> The documents in question clearly show that we intended to exempt Australian government pages from restrictions in an effort to minimise the impact of this misguided and harmful legislation. When we were unable to do so as intended due to a technical error, we apologised and worked to correct it. </blockquote> Possible legal action In the immediate aftermath of Facebook’s broad news takedown, former ACCC chair Allan Fels <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/facebook-could-face-lawsuits-for-unconscionable-conduct-over-nonnews-wipe-out/news-story/b312cef33b8e2261e8b5743f9bf87ca6">suggested</a> there could be a series of class actions against Facebook. His basis was that Facebook’s action was unconscionable under the <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/toc-sch2.html">Australian Consumer Law</a>. We have not seen these actions taken. It’s not clear whether the whistleblower material changes the likelihood of legal action against Facebook. If legal action is taken, it’s more likely to be a civil case taken by an organisation that has been harmed, rather than a criminal case. On the other hand, one reading of the material is Facebook did indeed overreach out of caution, and then reduced the scope of its blocking over a short period. Facebook suffered reputational harm as a result of its actions and apologised. However, if it engaged in similar actions in other countries, the balance between its actions being a stuff up, versus conspiracy, changes. The Wall Street Journal described Facebook’s approach as an “overly broad and sloppy process”. Such a process isn’t good practice, but done once, it’s unlikely to be criminal. On the other hand, repeating it would create a completely different set of potential liabilities and causes of action. <hr /> Disclosure: Facebook has refused to negotiate a deal with The Conversation under the News Media Bargaining Code. In response, The Conversation has called for Facebook to be “designated” by the Treasurer under the Code. This means Facebook would be forced to pay for content published by The Conversation on its platform.<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/182673/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rob-nicholls-91073" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rob Nicholls</a>, Associate professor in regulation and governance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSW Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/stuff-up-or-conspiracy-whistleblowers-claim-facebook-deliberately-let-important-non-news-pages-go-down-in-news-blackout-182673" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: Getty Images

Technology

World first painless and non-invasive skin cancer treatment trialled in Australia

Skin cancer patients in Australia are the first to be enrolled in a global trial of a new painless non-invasive treatment. The therapy called Rhenium-SCT uses a resin paste containing radioactive particles to kill non-melanoma skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma. South Coast Radiology on the Gold Coast is the first to offer the new treatment as part of a study recruiting 200 patients, also involving patients in Sydney and Perth. Small published studies overseas have shown the therapy to be effective and well-tolerated but more evidence is needed. "The Rhenium-SCT has advantages in that it's a single treatment that is painless with a really good cosmetic outcome," said Dr Sam Vohra, OncoBeta Australia Medical Director. GenesisCare's Radiation Oncologist Associate Professor Sid Baxi treated the first patients in the study. "This is particularly useful for thin skin cancers, around three millimetres in-depth," he said. "We're looking at an approximate 90 percent clearance rate." He said about 500 patients around the world have already received the therapy with a follow-up of about two years. The latest trial will shed more light on its effectiveness, the side-effect profile and the patient's quality of life. Jan McGrath travelled from Sydney to the Gold Coast after she jumped at the chance to take part in the trials. "It just sounded amazing to be able to cure it without having to be cut, chopped and sewn," she said. "It was really easy, it didn't hurt at all." Jan wanted to avoid having a surgical graft after a basal cell carcinoma developed inside her ear. She has had about ten skin cancers removed in the past, including major surgery on her nose which took weeks to heal. "It's invasive, painful and takes a long time to recover," she said. The German-based innovators have partnered with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to manufacture and deliver the radioactive particles at Lucas Heights. Image: 9News

Body

Charges against the Queen and 75 others dubbed a “work of legal fiction”

Social media posts celebrating the fact that the Queen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Pope Francis are among 75 individuals charged with “crimes against humanity” have been dubbed a work of fiction by experts.According to <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/arrest-warrants-for-queen-and-pope-a-work-of-legal-fiction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AAP FactCheck,</a> the so-called “International Common Law Court of Justice” has no legal authority to issue arrest warrants and its judgements are meaningless, despite the claims made online.Posts have emerged from <a href="http://archive.today/0ctCR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> and <a href="https://archive.ph/0gl6U" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a> claiming the International Common Law Court of Justice has convicted the individuals to life imprisonment for their crimes.“After a four-month trial convened under International Law, the judges of the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) issued their historic verdict and sentence today, along with Arrest and Expropriation Warrants against the defendants,” a Facebook post read.The post also contained a link to a <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/4L4VdCi0QEl9/?fbclid=IwAR2hyrAAxKeSaFaJDp7IOKprKJy2TKmft6oXg_n4VbfvqsXL5BAAUBhezv4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitchute</a> video of a man who introduces himself as “Kevin Annett Eagle Strong Voice” and claims to be the chief advisor to the ICLCJ in Brussels.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/kevin-annett1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Kevin Annett, the man seemingly behind the International Common Law Court of Justice, reads out the court’s ‘judgement’ against the Queen, world leaders, and the CEO of Pfizer. Image: Murder By DecreeThe full video, available along with the judgement details on a website for Mr Annett’s book, <a href="http://murderbydecree.com/2022/01/14/breaking-news-from-the-international-common-law-court-of-justice-january-15-2022-gmt-big-pharma-government-church-leaders-face-arrest-as-court-convicts-them-of-genocide-prohibits-injections/?fbclid=IwAR211sRCsw1jEQDI0uVz7ymp0S1JF_rfvHrb0HS8tvb6zviBumkdDVUAnDQ#page-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murder By Decree</a>, claims to be an “international press conference” going out as a “cause of hope to people labouring under the Covid Corporate Police State”.Mr Annett, a former Canadian church minister who was <a href="https://pacificmountain.ca/kevin-annett/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed for spreading conspiracy theories</a>, goes on to share a summary of the court’s “judgement” on its behalf.Along with the Queen and the Pope, others who have been “charged” include Albert Boula, the CEO of Pfizer, and Emma Walmsley, the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.As well as sentencing the 75 individuals to life imprisonment, the verdict also “seizes their assets and disestablishes their corporations, and lawfully prohibits the further manufacture, sale or use of their COVID vaccines”.Documents on Mr Annett’s website also claim that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a “Criminal Conspiracy to reduce humanity to slavery” and “master plan of global Eugenics”.In addition, the court’s ‘judgement’ allegedly empowers “not only our Sheriffs and deputised police, but people everywhere to enforce the Court’s verdict by arresting the convicted felons, seizing their assets, and halting the sale and use” of the vaccines.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/queen-guard.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Though the ICLCJ may allow it, arresting Queen Elizabeth II may not be the best of ideas. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesHowever, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported that the ICLCJ doesn’t exist as a legal authority in any jurisdiction, and that it isn’t listed on the United Nations’ list of courts and tribunals.An investigation by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vatican-pope-idUSL1N2RT0XP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> also found that the court had no legal standing and appeared to have been invented by Mr Annett.Professor Kevin Heller, an expert in international law and human rights at the Australian National University (ANU), described ICLCJ as a fabrication.“It is a private initiative that has adopted a fancy name to make it seem like a real one,” Professor Heller shared with AAP FactCheck in an email.“Basically a right-wing version of a People’s Tribunal (such as the Russell Tribunal during the Vietnam War). Because it’s not a real court, it has no authority to issue an arrest warrant for anyone.“So any ‘conviction’ of the Queen or Pope or anyone is meaningless.”Professor Heller, who is also a special advisor to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor for International Criminal Law Discourse, said that the only international court with the power to prosecute individuals was the International Criminal Court (ICC).Emeritus professor Steven Freeland also told the publication that there was no such thing as the ICLCJ, and that the International Criminal Court can only prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.Image: Murder By Decree

Legal

Children whose parents smoke have lower test scores and more behavioural issues than kids of non-smokers

Children whose parents smoke have lower academic test scores and more behavioural issues than children of non-smokers. These are the findings of our research published in the journal of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1570677X21000022?via%3Dihub">Economics and Human Biology</a>. Smoking is prevalent in lower socio-economic groups whose characteristics (such as lower IQ and poorer motivation on average) <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29058397/">are correlated with</a> lower academic scores and more behavioural issues in children. This can bias the results as the sample of children whose scores are lower is no longer random. After addressing such concerns, our broad finding remained the same. Because of the model we used, this means there is a causal – rather than merely correlational – relationship between parental smoking and children’s academic scores and behavioural outcomes. <h2>How we did our study</h2> We used data from the <a href="https://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/">Longitudinal Study of Australian Children</a> (LSAC), which tracks children from birth to monitor their development and well-being. It also surveys them and their parents on a range of cognitive (such as academic) and non-cognitive (such as behavioural) performance measures, and records other data such as their NAPLAN test results. We wanted to find the effects of parental smoking on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills in early life – from 4-14 years old. We measured children’s cognitive skills using the given NAPLAN literacy and numeracy test scores in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9. We also used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), which is designed to measure a child’s knowledge of the meaning of spoken words and his or her receptive vocabulary. The test is carried out as part of the LSAC survey when the children are 4-9 years old. Non-cognitive skills include social behaviour, hyperactivity or inattention, and peer problems. We took the measures of these as reported by parents. <h2>What we found</h2> We found, across all measures of cognitive skills, children living with non-smoker parents had a higher average score than children living with at least one smoker parent. We found smoking can reduce academic scores by up to 3%. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442417/original/file-20220125-13-t7tqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442417/original/file-20220125-13-t7tqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Girl writing test at desk." /></a> Kids’ test scores were lower if their parents were smokers than those of non-smoking parents. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-students-taking-exam-writing-answer-536624842" class="source">Shutterstock</a> Likewise, we found children with at least one parent who smokes are likely to experience more behavioural issues. We found smoking can reduce behavioural scores by up to 9%. Our findings are consistent even when we look at mums’ and dads’ smoking behaviour separately. But the effect is stronger for mothers, as expected. Maternal smoking in pregnancy has <a href="https://jhu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/low-birthweight-preterm-births-and-intrauterine-growth-retardatio-3">direct effects</a> on the child’s brain development and birth weight. Pre-natal ill-health and sickness in early childhood may affect cognitive, social and emotional outcomes through poorer mental well-being. Second-hand smoke exposure at home can <a href="https://actbr.org.br/uploads/arquivo/659_Pesquisa_fumo_passivo_OMS_2010.pdf">also cause numerous health problems</a> in infants and children, such as asthma and ear infections. This could lead <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/128/4/650/30703/School-Absenteeism-Among-Children-Living-With?redirectedFrom=fulltext">them to take more time out of school</a>. We used information on the number of school days missed because of health reasons and children’s physical health assessments in the LSAC survey to test whether parental smoking and absenteeism due to health were related. We found children from households with at least one smoker were more likely to have lower school attendance and poorer physical health, both of which have adverse consequences on their cognitive and non-cognitive development. Our findings did not change across various measures, such as the frequency or number of cigarettes parents smoked per day. But we did find parental smoking had a stronger influence on boys than girls. This is consistent with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-015-0509-6?email.event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorContributingOnlineFirst&error=cookies_not_supported&error=cookies_not_supported&code=8484cb89-b3f1-41ff-b1ce-6d9916f9aa2a&code=70985a21-e7c8-490e-b579-58a8a7e6f6d7">growing evidence</a> that girls are more resilient to environmental pressures than boys. <h2>How parental smoking affects kids’ skills: the three pathways</h2> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442419/original/file-20220125-27-1iaivrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442419/original/file-20220125-27-1iaivrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" alt="Top of shopping trolley with woman's hand on it." /></a> Spending on tobacco can leave less money for food. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-female-shopper-trolley-supermarket-92894512" class="source">Shutterstock</a> There are three pathways through which parental smoking has an effect on children’s academic, social and emotional skills. The first is that the child’s health may already have been affected before birth if the mother was a smoker. And some other negative effects of ill health come from exposure to second-hand smoke, as described above. The second pathway for parental smoking affecting a child’s acquisition of cognitive and non-cognitive skills is through a reduction in household income. Tobacco spending can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00148365-200403040-00009">displace spending on food, education and health care</a>. The third pathway is that children’s ability to develop skills <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/63853/1/321132386.pdf">depends on their parents’</a> cognitive and non-cognitive skills, which are determined by their own health and education. Parental smoking can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53017/">affect their own well-being</a>, such as through impacting their respiratory health. This, in turn, <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/63853/1/321132386.pdf">can influence the way they parent</a>. Our findings highlight the role of the family environment in early childhood development, which sets the foundation for long-term health, as well as social and economic success. Campaigns, programs and policies aimed at reducing tobacco use should emphasise the inadvertent harm smoking habits can have on children’s present and future.<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/172601/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/preety-pratima-srivastava-1138197">Preety Pratima Srivastava</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> 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/children-whose-parents-smoke-have-lower-test-scores-and-more-behavioural-issues-than-kids-of-non-smokers-172601">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

“It has stayed with me”: Using fiction to explore trauma

Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault. Those who experience trauma can seek help in various ways, through therapy or creative outlets, and fiction is no exception. In fiction, traumatic events are often depicted as a jumping-off point for a protagonist or hero’s story - whether that’s watching Bruce Wayne’s parents die before he can fight crime as Batman, or witnessing the attempted murder of Uma Thurman as the Bride in Kill Bill before she seeks revenge. These depictions of traumatic events are often the precursor to a character’s descent into revenge, madness, or both, but they don’t have to be the only stories we see. In her <a rel="noopener" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167817749703?casa_token=s_BbuJyDvjAAAAAA%3Apewb-trbcPxlbO0uGRYKAqOf_cchsFgT1CCpbRZQvODADU7rWimX6gaj1of76-A1cM1u61nak6K1L40" target="_blank">doctoral thesis</a> published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Dr Lynn Gumb defines an ‘ordinary hero’ that can emerge in fiction as a “person who, despite the challenges of trauma, continues to live an ordinary life” and doesn’t follow the well-worn path to madness or revenge. Instead, the individual can choose to “alter the landscape of their own lives” after trauma and pursue recovery. P. J. McKay, the author of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.pjmckayauthor.com/shop-1" target="_blank">The Telling Time</a>, uses traumatic experiences from her own life to explore this recovery process, as women from two generations navigate the Croatian immigrant experience, family secrets and backpacking as a rite of passage. “I know that my personal experience while backpacking in the 1980s, especially in a country like Yugoslavia, where there was such a chasm in the way men viewed Western women (fuelled of course by Western movies and songs) would be familiar territory for many young women,” she told OverSixty. “For me, novels that speak of shared experiences, or situations which feel believable, resonate most. “The backpacking experience has been a rite of passage for many, particularly in Australasia and I know many have experienced unwanted sexual attention. My experience was a close call. It has stayed with me and has felt like a significant turning point in my life.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Our discomfort and resulting tendency to retreat into silence only adds to the power of perpetrators. — Grace Tame (@TamePunk) <a href="https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1464790576323170305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2021</a></blockquote> As difficult as it can be for survivors to witness these moments, stories like The Telling Time keep these traumatic situations at the forefront of our minds, especially as these situations continue to happen. “I thought it was important not to shy away from the reality of sexual assault and to explore the impact of this on friendships and why sometimes (often) it seems best to hold close and not disclose what happened,” McKay adds. However, some argue that the focus of recovery stories should be on what happens after the traumatic event, and how individuals can find truth and healing despite their experiences. “There seems to be no doubt that trauma can stand in the way of finding truth and healing,” McKay says. “It remains to be seen whether society today, with its broader expectations and openness around sexual relationships, and less traditional male and female roles, will alow for more open conversations by those who have suffered trauma, particularly sexual trauma.” In an interview with ABC’s 7.30, American activist and founder of the #Metoo movement Tarana Burke said conversations around trauma should shift, as the retelling of traumatic events comes with more costs than benefits. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"> "We urge survivors to share their story, so you're re-traumatising not only the person but the person hearing that. There's not a tremendous amount of value in hearing the story, there's so much value in the hearing what happens after." – <a href="https://twitter.com/TaranaBurke?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@taranaburke</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc730?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc730</a> — abc730 (@abc730) <a href="https://twitter.com/abc730/status/1450386432757927947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2021</a></blockquote> “We urge survivors to share their story, so you’re re-traumatising not only the person but the person hearing that,” she said. “There’s not a tremendous amount of value in hearing the story, there’s so much value in hearing what happens after.” As the conversations around trauma continue to change, it may be that having to witness these events becomes less necessary, and that we no longer need to share them to prevent future generations from experiencing them. Image: Getty Images

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‘Why didn’t we know?’ is no excuse. Non-Indigenous Australians must listen to the difficult historical truths told by First Nations people

Woman praised for confronting pickpockets

Settle in with one of these top reads this winter

8 fictional places you can visit in real life

Ethical non-monogamy: what to know about these often misunderstood relationships

"The wilderness of mirrors": 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

“So many non-technical people will fall for this”: New myGov scam that looks real

5 things the latest season of The Crown got right and 3 things that were inaccurate

Iran: protesters call for move to a non-religious state. What changes would that bring?

Bride called out for list of “non-negotiables” at wedding

Classic NON catch as kid takes a tumble at the cricket

Romance fiction rewrites the rulebook

Why is newborn baby skin-to-skin contact with dads and non-birthing parents important? Here’s what the science says

Couple book non-stop cruises for two-and-a-half years

Stuff-up or conspiracy? Whistleblowers claim Facebook deliberately let important non-news pages go down in news blackout

World first painless and non-invasive skin cancer treatment trialled in Australia

Charges against the Queen and 75 others dubbed a “work of legal fiction”

Children whose parents smoke have lower test scores and more behavioural issues than kids of non-smokers

“It has stayed with me”: Using fiction to explore trauma

Our Partners

News

Shop

Catalogues

Newspaper

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Compare

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Information

Keep up to date

Search

‘Why didn’t we know?’ is no excuse. Non-Indigenous Australians must listen to the difficult historical truths told by First Nations people

Woman praised for confronting pickpockets

Settle in with one of these top reads this winter

8 fictional places you can visit in real life

Ethical non-monogamy: what to know about these often misunderstood relationships

"The wilderness of mirrors": 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

“So many non-technical people will fall for this”: New myGov scam that looks real

5 things the latest season of The Crown got right and 3 things that were inaccurate

Iran: protesters call for move to a non-religious state. What changes would that bring?

Bride called out for list of “non-negotiables” at wedding

Classic NON catch as kid takes a tumble at the cricket

Romance fiction rewrites the rulebook

Why is newborn baby skin-to-skin contact with dads and non-birthing parents important? Here’s what the science says

Couple book non-stop cruises for two-and-a-half years

Stuff-up or conspiracy? Whistleblowers claim Facebook deliberately let important non-news pages go down in news blackout

World first painless and non-invasive skin cancer treatment trialled in Australia

Charges against the Queen and 75 others dubbed a “work of legal fiction”

Children whose parents smoke have lower test scores and more behavioural issues than kids of non-smokers

“It has stayed with me”: Using fiction to explore trauma

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