Skipping Out Summer 2020 Contents The Lessons of the Roaring Twenties, Kate Ivanova Save a Life: Give Blood, Annika Woodward Are Regeneration Projects Providing Enough Affordable Housing?, Anita Higgs More of a Hindrance than a Help, Yasmin Ghobadian The Glamorisation of Eating Disorders, Hannah Davis How Cleopatra Fell Victim to Fake News, Lily Blue Harper Mind Your Language, Chiara Lewis Not in Ourselves but in Our Stars, Melissa Redman The Floods in Jakarta: a Study in Western Media, Saskia Kirkegaard Stand Up for the Cheaters? Millie Jackson The Persecution of Jews in Belarus, Morgan Dropkin Roar The Flint Water Crisis, Maeve Gallagher A Convenient Excuse, Juliet Freeman Angels of Death, Naishah Karim Great Expectations, Chloe Grossmith-Dwek Skipping Out Skipping A re-Education, Anika Anand Cover Cover work by Nora Jovine About Skipping Out Skipping Out is a pupil-led magazine; it aims to give all students in the Senior School a voice and freedom to express their opinions, passions and interests. 2 Girls enjoying success Dear readers, As we begin another decade, a decade which will hopefully become a new Roaring Twenties, one of great prosperity, untold advances and fabulous fashion (though, let’s face it, things aren’t looking too hot at the moment), we thought we’d write about all the things that made us rant, rumble and roar. We hope you enjoy reading the following articles. If you’re interested in writing for a future issue of the magazine, please contact Ms Wilkinson. You’re gonna hear us roar! Kate Ivanova Annika Anita Higgs Yasmin Hannah Davis Morgan Woodward Ghobadian Dropkin Lily Blue Chiara Lewis Melissa Saskia Millie Jackson Maeve Harper Redman Kirkegaard Gallagher Juliet Freeman Naishah Karim Chloe Anika Anand Nora Jovine Grossmith- Dwek Girls enjoying success 3 The Lessons of the Roaring Twenties Kate Ivanova compares our new decade with the Roaring Twenties. “The buildings were higher, the parties were bigger, the morals were looser and the liquor was cheaper.” That’s how F. Scott Fitzgerald described the change that occurred in 1920, the start of the period now affectionately referred to as the Roaring Twenties. It became the ultimate symbol of glamour, novelty and drunk excitement, immortalised by the film industry over the years, and certainly a far cry from the reality faced now, exactly a century later. The new year is supposed to be a time for change and hope, and yet only a few months into 2020, this decade has come to be defined by the climate emergency, Australian bushfires, the Coronavirus, and whatever else news outlets see fit to bombard us with daily. So while thousands of people are still attempting to stick to their new year resolutions, perhaps there is no better time than now to take a page out of the world of The Great Gatsby and bring some of that idealised excitement into our own lives. Here’s what we should, and probably should not, embrace from that decade as we enter the new Roaring Twenties. Should: the influence of fashion What is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the 1920s? Most likely, it is the marvellous outfits that emerged Should not: harmful social attitudes during this period. For women, clothing restrictions were lifted as the looser, straighter frocks known as flapper dresses rose It is both fascinating and utterly shocking that some of the in popularity. The diminishing favour of the corset allowed for problems faced by society a century ago are still prevalent in less tailoring, which created a tubular silhouette with dropped the modern age, none more so than varying social attitudes waistlines and shorter hemlines that were particularly useful as like racism, sexism and homophobia. At the same time as the a larger number of female drivers emerged. This was a sharp flapper girls were gaining in popularity, another prominent contrast to the stiff, elaborate gowns of the Edwardian era, group rallied new members in the 1920s. The Ku Klux Klan and it facilitated the availability of high-end clothing for all social (KKK), despite existing since 1865, experienced the highest classes. Fashion became a way of empowering women who surge in membership numbers after William Joseph Simmons were just getting used to their new found freedom, especially took leadership of it in 1915. Its anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, with their right to vote and opportunities for higher education. anti-immigrant and later anti-Communist agenda appealed By the end of the period, flapper girls, as they came to be to those who felt their liberty threatened by the newly put called, were seen as shunners of traditional values as they cut in place Prohibition and the acceptance of sexual freedoms. their hair, wore bold make-up and were the representations The KKK’s supposedly patriotic message led to the number of the party girl image that emerged during the Roaring of members to peak drastically from 1.5 million to 4 million, Twenties. They became emblematic of enthusiasm and youthful up to 15% of the eligible population, by 1924. Immigrants, exuberance, after a long period of suffering caused by the especially Eastern European Jews, Irish and Italian Catholics war and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. These new trends and the Japanese, were blamed for polluting America’s morals were demonstrative of the undeniable power and influence of by encouraging sexual liberty, widespread political corruption clothing. In light of the current upheavals happening around the and stealing jobs. What perhaps makes this whole movement world, the similarities to the past are uncanny; without wishing the more frightening is that because of the secrecy surrounding to sound trite, perhaps a way forward could be in embracing a the group, its offensive and primarily racist message was often new and freer aesthetic? disguised with patriotism, picnics and parades. Does any of this sound familiar? Donald Trump could be said to be using 4 Girls enjoying success his platform to blame immigrants for the problems in America often used by flappers to dress up regular words. The only today, except he is not a part of a relatively small political rule, the suffix must be a part of both the question and group, that excluding its brief rise in popularity in the early the answer (eg: ‘Would you like a drink-avous?’ could be 1920s, remained largely insignificant, but rather holds the replied to with “No thanks, I’m on the wagon-avous!’) highest position in office possible in the United States and is the person the country is supposed to rely on to bring forward Need I say more? a more positive future. As we begin this new decade, there is no better time to reflect on the past and heed its warning. Should not: Prohibition The 17th of January, 1920 signalled the start of the thirteen years in America known as Prohibition. It was probably not a bad idea in theory: prevent alcohol from being part of the cause of poverty, industrial incidents, criminality, political corruption or the break-up of families. It was hailed by President Herbert Hoover as, ‘a great social and economic experiment’, banning alcohol from being made, transported or sold within the United States. The drive for the ban to be instituted began all the way in 1846, when Maine passed the first prohibition law, and by 1916, 26 of the 48 states had prohibition laws put in place. In practice, however, the decision was more easily passed than enforced. The law defined anything containing more than half a percent of alcohol as an intoxicating liquor but made no mention of the use of alcohol for medicinal, sacramental or industrial purposes, which lead to doctors often purchasing it for ‘laboratory’ use but really passing it on to their patients to drink and making themselves a tidy profit in the process. For whatever could not be obtained Should: the use of slang in this way, there were criminals opening illegal drinking dens, the number of which rose up to 200,000 by the end of the The rise of internet communication facilitated not only the decade. Over this time, the consumption of alcohol dropped by emergence of in-the-moment conversations but also, ultimately, 50% and the number of deaths caused by cirrhosis of the liver of internet slang, also known as cyber-slang or chatspeak. Now dropped significantly, but at what cost? Prohibition, undeniably, you cannot open social media without being hit with the words had a strong effect on the economy, with the loss of $11 billion LOL, OMG, BRB or BTW. In fact, it seems as though every in tax revenues with the destruction of the brewing industry, as day you encounter a new word that has to be looked up to be well as the $300 million the ban cost to enforce. Without the properly understood. While people today might view these as ready availability of liquor, people turned to other substances: creative and innovative, they are nothing compared to the slang opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, or other things that emerged in the 1920s as part of the modernisation after it is believed they would never had encountered had it not the Great War. If nothing more, adopting these might bring been for Prohibition. Perhaps there is no greater evidence of some excitement and fun into our lives at a time when global Prohibition’s failure than the words of newly-elected President situations appear dire. Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Wall Street Crash in 1929: Some examples of 1920s’ slang: ‘What America needs now is a drink.’ What this shows is that widespread bans are not always successful, instead often • darb = splendid, wonderful subjecting the population to more dangerous conditions.