Fluorescent Adolescent

It's really beginning to sink in that in a few short months university will be over, and a lifestyle of lazy days and takeaways will be replaced by the dreaded condition which all 'adults' eventually suffer from, a JOB. As the workload increases to terrifying levels, and the piles of books on my desk threaten to bury me in a small avalanche, there's a constant niggling thought bouncing around in the back of my mind. Although I try to drown it out with loud music, or make it forget what it's on about with alcohol, I'm reminded of it when that most dreaded of questions is asked, by lecturers or family members who think they're being kind by taking an interest but really you just want to vomit on their head in fear every time they ask it.
"So what are you going to do when you finish university?"


Reading this article on the Guardian website really doesn't do anything to encourage a positive attitude at the notion of entering the workplace. 

• Youth unemployment rate = 21.9%
• 1.02 million unemployed people age 16-24 between July and September of this year
• 1 in 5 young people out of work

That's more terrifying than any horror film I've ever watched. 

Certain members of the government are trying to lay the blame for this on the Eurozone crisis, but it's an issue which I've always been aware of, and acknowledged when I made the decision to go to into further education. I could have stayed at my job at Matalan, earned a full time wage and by now I could have saved enough dollar to consider moving out of my parent's house, or even learnt to drive (Yep, never had a lesson in my life. My rail card is my best friend). But I know from experiencing a summer of a full time retail career that while I may have been in a better position financially, I would almost certainly be suffering from crippling depression and on the verge of being institutionalised. Fair play to anyone who works in that field, but I always knew that it wasn't the profession for me. I kind of hate people, so working in a job serving them definitely doesn't suit me. Smiling literally pains me, it hurts my cheek muscles. Sure, journalism involves contact with people, but I wouldn't be paid to be nice to them. So I went to university, to get a degree in something I had always had a keen interest in and wanted as a vocation. 

I don't regret my decision, especially now that the fees are rising, I feel lucky to have received my education at the 'cheap' yearly rate of £3,225.  But all the negative press surrounding youth unemployment and university graduates who have top degrees yet can't even get a job stocking shelves in the supermarket, is thoroughly disheartening. Where are the success stories, where are the articles detailing the lives of graduates who have landed their dream jobs and are living the perfect lives? There must be some...surely?

The government complains about the number of young people on the dole, but then constantly barrage them with the news that there are no jobs and degrees have lost their value. That's not going to make anyone want to get out of bed and look for work, let alone someone my age. Getting out of bed is difficult enough before 3pm, let alone with the knowledge that today is just going to be one big waste of time, there's no point going to your lecture because everything you learn will be useless because you'll never get a bloody job. They may have work programmes and work experience 'schemes' (I always think this has such a sinister undertone, like an evil secret plot or something) which are apparently "significantly reducing the number of young people on benefits and out of work", but I know that myself or none of my friends want to spend another year without earning money - we actually want to work! The stereotypical view of students as being lazy and unwilling to get  a job is so untrue, everyone I know can't wait to actually have some money in their pocket to spend on something other than Asda Smartprice food or textbooks. We've done the education thing for a good 16 years now, we're ready to start injecting some money into our banks and diminishing those dreaded overdrafts. 

Who knows what will happen to us when May comes hurtling along and we hand in our FMP's, and visit uni for the very last time. I think that while many of us try to remain positive, it's a bleak picture that's being painted out there. While journalists are always going to be required, with the apparent death of print being on the horizon, and a growth in blogging and 'citizen journalism', what is the need for a degree, when anyone can boot up their laptop and publish their views for the whole world to see? Sure, you can argue that 'quality' journalists will always be required, those with writing experience, knowledge and credence, and while I do think that blogging is an excellent platform for developing writing skills and getting your content out there, it's a double-edged sword. 

It remains to be seen, watch this space. It will either be filled with tales of my employment success or a sad story of my weekly trips to the job centre. At least the walk up the hill to the high-street will keep me fit. Every cloud eh.

Never Neverland

When did it become acceptable for society to abolish childhood? 

Looking at recent news stories, it seems that the whole notion of youth and innocence has evaporated completely, leaving behind a disturbing world in which young children, particularly girls, are left vulnerable to the pressures that face grown women everyday. 

The idea of 'baby beauty pageants' filtered through to the UK a few years ago, but thankfully hasn't taken off in the extreme way that it exists in the US. While it seemed bad enough to parade little girls around in swimsuits, fake tan, false eyelashes and caked in make up, all with the intention of winning a cheap plastic crown, what has happened more recently seems much worse.

'Trendy Monkeys' is a beauty salon based in Brentwood, Essex. Not unusual, after witnessing the antics in TOWIE, you wouldn't be mistaken for expecting to see one on every corner with the amount of fake tan consumed by the cast. However this business caters to one specific clientèle, little girls. 

Kids as young as three can be pampered just like the celebrities they aspire to be, getting a variety of treatments including fake tanning and manicures. We all know that the days where a board game or a doll can keep a child happy are long gone, replaced by television and computer games. But this idea of beauty treatments, designed for adults, as recreation for youngsters just doesn't seem right. 

Most little girls have an awareness of their appearance, and today especially care quite a lot about it. But I thought that the furthest that went was a cute headband, or maybe some sparkly nail polish. Not falsies and a St. Tropez. 

I remember reading an article in The Guardian where a 6 year old girl had written in her diary that she thought she was fat and ugly. Children that age shouldn't be thinking these things, this is the time when you don't have to worry about what you eat, or how you look. Magazines and television bombard us (all of us, children included) with images of 'perfect' celebrities, of women who are celebrated for their thin figures and slaughtered if they have an inch of cellulite. While these glossy images may make us feel rubbish on a bad day, a child can't understand that this isn't reality, as far as they're aware this is how they should be. And if they're not, well now they can visit the salon, to be fake as their idols. 

After this revelation, another far shocking story has emerged, about 'Little Spinners' dance classes. Parents can pay £5 an hour to have their toddlers learn how to pole dance. This sleazy and degrading act that, personally, should never have become an acceptable form of 'exercise', is being offered to children as a fun after-school activity. Little girls are imitating the sexualised moves without having any idea of the connotations behind them, and it's completely sick. 

Although you can't wrap children up in cotton wool and protect them forever, they shouldn't be pushed into this adult world so quickly and with such little consideration for the repercussions. With such concern over paedophilia and the child sex trade, it seems like a huge contradiction to be encouraging young girls to learn provocative dance moves, and dress them up to look older than their years.

I dread to think what will be available for children if I decide to have any in the future, make-up designed for baby's? High heels for toddlers? A few years ago high street stores were reprimanded for having padded bras for girls as young as three, but in a few years time will Ann Summers be stocking lingerie sets for school girls?

Whatever happened to NeverLand...

Rabbit Heart

"The major civilizing force in the world is not religion, it is sex."

Since the beginning of time, when cave men were dragging their wives round by their hair, women have had to endure quite a lot of crap.

For thousands of years they were considered second class citizens, forced to live in a patriarchal society where the most they could hope to achieve in life was a husband who didn't drink his wages or show them the back of his hand. Then in the late 19th/early 20th century, that all began to change. The Suffragette movement was the first of many steps to achieving equality between men and women in all aspects of life. It started with the vote, and throughout the years has progressed to the work-place and the home. 

Now, more than ever, women can be independent, making their own decisions and supporting themselves with whatever job they choose to have. Women can be priests, they can be police officers - they aren't many barriers holding the fairer sex back any more.

But it seems that a certain well-known brand is set to fling us back into the sexist days of the past, kitting us out in bunny ears and a tail as they do it.

In 1960, Hugh Hefner opened his first of many Playboy clubs, based on his successful men's magazine. This was a place where wealthy men could enjoy the real-life versions of the pretty girls who's pictures they oggled over. 

While the clubs enjoyed some success, the Feminism movement soon identified these establishments as a sexist exploitation of women, which were degrading and archaic. The last club closed in the early 90's, but the Playboy brand boomed in the noughties, with the iconic bunny symbol being recognised world-wide, synonymous with industry giants like McDonalds and Coca Cola. There was even a successful reality TV show that ran for six series, The Girls of the Playboy Mansion.

And now, just as it seems that women have achieved (almost) total equality, some are shunning that in favour of becoming a 'prestigious' bunny girl.

This month, a Playboy club will re-open in London. And hundreds have already been flocking to audition to claim their own pair of bunny ears. It seems that in this celebrity obsessed culture, where girls aspire to be WAGS and glamour models, this has come at the perfect time. 

Personally, I think it's not just totally demeaning and a step backwards in regards to the feminism movement, it's quite sad. I'm not claiming to be a feminist or anything, I'd be perfectly happy to have dinner bought for me and doors held open, but I think that when girls are given so many opportunities in this country and the rest of the Western world, it seems like such a waste to opt out of making the most of ourselves to instead be content with serving men in lingerie. 

There's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best, and it's an unfortunate truth that 'pretty' people are often more successful in life. Studies have shown that people who conform to fundamental aesthetics of beauty are considered to be more trustworthy, friendly and hard-working. You can't judge a book by it's cover, but most people don't think to turn over the page these days.

I wonder how long the Playboy clubs will last this time around. I'm sure at first they will be enjoyed for the nostalgia factor, and I fear that they will prove popular both among men and young women with stars in their eyes looking for a quick step up the ladder.

It remains to be seen, but I think we may be seeing that bunny logo cropping up in shops again very soon...

For more on this story, read this article from the Daily Mail