BULL Edition 7, 2014

Issue 07, 2014 / FREE
THE FISH OF TWITCH / ADDICTED TO SEX / GIRLS IN TECH / THE DANISH PLAY / CASUAL FLINGS

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Issue 07
CONTENTS
3
Editors
Eden Caceda
Katie Davern
Sophie Gallagher
Rob North
Sean O’Grady
Erin Rooney
REPORTERS
Alisha Aitken-Radburn
Hannah Edensor
Georgia Hitch
Shannen Potter
Barbara Taylor
Mary Ward
Contributors
Bernadette Anvia, Joanna Connolly,
Cherie Colaco, Alex Downie,
Whitney Duan, John-El Khoury,
Milly Ellen, Dominic Ellis,
Georgia Graham, Sophie Henry,
Samantha Jonscher, Rebecca Karpin,
Maria Mellos, Emily Shen,
Lucinda Starr, Katie Stow,
Matthew R.Webb, Lisa Xia
Publications Manager
Louisa Stylian
Design manager
Robyn Matthews
Design
Simon Macias
Peta Harris
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
The USU acknowledges the Cadigal
People of the Eora Nation as the
traditional owners of the land we meet
on today. The USU recognises that the
land belonging to these peoples was
never ceded, given up, bought, or sold.
We pay our respects to the Aboriginal
Elders both past and present and extend
this acknowledgement to any other
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
people here with us.
CONTACT
editors@bullmag.com.au
bullmag.com.au
facebook.com/bullmag
@usubullmag
usu.edu.au/bullmag
The views expressed in this publication
are not necessarily the views of the USU.
The information contained within this
edition of Bull was correct at the time
of printing.
Write for us!
Whether you’re a budding
student journalist or have
a random idea that could be
a great story, email us and
you could get published here.
editors@bullmag.com.au
CONTENTS
FEATURES
TWITCHING WITH THE FISHES 10
BETWEEN THE SHEETS 13
WHO RUN THE WORLD? 18
DEATH TO TYRANTS AND DIRECTORS 27
SOCIAL SEX AT SYDNEY 32
REGULARS
What’s On 04
Editorial & Board 06
Letters 07
Opinion 09
Interview 16
Taste 22
Go 23
Move 24
Learn 25
The Time I Tried 31
Campus Fashion 35
Vox & Classic Countdown 36
Cow & Horns 37
Arts 39
Reviews 40
Experience 41
Club Confidential 42
Shutter Up 44
Comics 45
Ask Isabella 46
/bullmag /USUbullmagbullmag.com.au

bull usu.edu.au
WHAT'S ON
4
For the FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS – head to USU.EDU.AU AND CLICK THE CALENDAR.
Clubs & Socs – remember to submit your events on the website!
WHAT'S ON
MON TUE WED THU FRI
wk8(September)
15 16 17
FUNCH
Eastern Avenue, 12–2pm
18
BAND COMP
STATE
FINAL
MANNING
BAR
7PM
19
wk9(September)
22 23 24
WEDNESDAY MARKETS
Eastern Avenue, 9Am

25 26
STUVAC
29
STUVAC
30
STUVAC
01
STUVAC
02
STUVAC
03
STUVAC
wk10(September)
06
LABOUR DAY
PUBLIC HOLIDAY
07 08
VERGE FESTIVAL
WEDNESDAY MARKETS
Eastern Avenue, 9Am
LIGHTHAUS - OPENING NIGHT
UV PARTY
MANNING BAR, 7PM
09
VERGE FESTIVAL
THEATRESPORTS GRAND FINAL
Manning Bar
1-2pm
SCHAPELLE! THE MUSICAL
MANNING BAR, 7PM
10
VERGE FESTIVAL
SCHAPELLE! THE MUSICAL
MANNING BAR, 7PM
wk11(September/October)
13
VERGE FESTIVAL
14
VERGE FESTIVAL
THE NIGHT IS DARK AND
FULL OF TRIVIA - GAME OF
THRONES TRIVIA
HOLME REFECTORY, 7PM
15
VERGE FESTIVAL
GET UP! STAND UP! KEEP CUP!
FT. FRANK WOODLEY
MANNING BAR, 7PM
16
VERGE FESTIVAL
17
VERGE FESTIVAL
THE GATHERING - VERGE
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
HERMANN'S BAR, 7PM
Issue 07
what's on
5
COMING UP
BAND COMP STATE FINAL18
SEP
8
OCT
5
OCT
19
SEPT
16
OCT
15
OCT
26
SEPT
24
SEPT
Lighthaus: Verge Opening Party
Sepultura
Get Up! Stand Up! Keep
Cup! Feat. Frank Woodley
Saskwatch + Sietta
Theatresports Grand FinalRAW SHOWCASE
Revues Awards Night
MONDAY
$4 tap cider and
$4 spirit HAPPY HOUR
4-6pm, Manning Bar
$3.50 house beer & wine
HAPPY HOUR
4-6pm, Hermann’s Bar
SOLO SESSIONS
5-6pm, Manning Bar
$7 steak night
6-8pm, Manning Bar
TUESDAY
FOOD CHALLENGE
1-2pm, Manning Bar
AUSTRALIAN
DISCUSSION GROUP
3-4pm, Level 4
Wentworth Building
TRIVIA
5-6pm, Manning Bar
$4 tap cider and
4-6pm, Manning Bar
HAPPY HOUR
50C WINGS
6-8pm, Manning Bar
WEDNESDAY
FUNCH
Eastern Avenue, 12-2pm
series screenings
12-4pm, Manning Bar
Get Up! Stand Up!
Debating Regionals
5.15pm, Alternating
Venues
$4 tap cider and
4-6pm, Manning Bar
HAPPY HOUR
2 for 1 schnitty
6-8pm, Manning Bar
THURSDAY
THEATRESPORTS®
1-2pm, Manning BarBar
POOL COMPETITION
4-6pm, International
Student Lounge
$4 tap cider and
4-6pm, Manning Bar
HAPPY HOUR
Local Bands and DJs
5:30pm, Hermann’s Bar
$3 dog night
6-8pm, Manning Bar
FRIDAY
DJs
$4 tap cider and
4-6pm, Manning Bar
HAPPY HOUR
free topping friday
All day, Manning Bar
every weekmonday – friday
MUST SEE
VERGE FESTIVAL 2014
Wednesday 8 October – Friday 17 October
Camperdown / Darlington Campus
Sydney Uni, it’s time to ‘deviate’. Leave your
lectures and tutes behind this October and immerse
yourself in the USU’s Verge Festival – now the largest
celebration of student art and culture in the Southern
Hemisphere.
For 10 days, your lunchtimes will be accompanied
by bands rocking it out across two stages on Eastern
Ave and JFR Plaza. Join a mysterious sculpture walk
around campus or decorate a cake before hitting
‘The Arcade’ – a makeshift computer games room
made from a shipping container, showcasing original
works from local designers.
After the sun sets on the first night, head to the
UV party at Manning Bar and experience a whole
new world of neon. If bright lights don’t attract your
attention maybe Schapelle! The Musical will, plus many
more night-time events to get involved in.
Go to usu.edu.au for the full program.
PRESENTS

TOUCH THE SKY
Dear Phantom Overlord,
I must say that your attempt at waxing
lyrical last issue made me cringe hardcore.
So from one wannabe rapper to another,
here’s a little advice for you.
First of all, if we can learn anything
fromYeezy, it’s that the more you talk
yourself up, the more successful you
will be. So amp that ego up a notch,
and generate some Kanye self-confidence.
The Eastern Avenue fans will follow.
Secondly, get yourself a bucket hat on
that head already for goodness’ sake. If you
want to move from being a hype man to an
internationally recognised artist and style
icon, take a page out of Schoolboy Q’s
book and have a little taste at least.
And thirdly…coffee sometime?You
seem to have a good grasp on lyrics at the
very least and I could use a brother like
that in ma’ hood.
~ Scratchin’ Beggar
Eds: If this means there are going to be more
impromptu curbside rap battles on Eastern
Ave, we’re all for that.
DISEASES ARE TERRIFYING
Dear BULL,
Eden Caceda’s feature on HIV/AIDS
scared the hell out of me. It took me right
back to the days where I wouldn’t share
a glass of water with anyone for fear of
getting meningococcal. If anyone needs me
I’ll be hiding under my covers until all the
diseases go away.
~ Anonymous
Eds: If only all the world’s problems could be
solved by hiding under bed covers…
AFFORDABLE LUXURY BRAS OR BUST
Dear BULL,
Jordan Mullins’ article about the bra
industry really hit the nail on the head –
if my breasts have to go to boob jail every
day, it had better be in style. Let’s all write
strongly worded letters to Victoria’s Secret
to bring their bras to our shores.
~ Serial online shopper
Eds: Never underestimate the power of
a strongly worded letter.You never know
what free stuff you might get.
RESPECT STAYING FAITHFUL
Dear BULL,
Running the risk of being called rigid,
dogmatic or, even worse, a social
conservative, I have to say I was not
impressed with Natasha Gillezeau’s piece
on polyamory. I have obviously heard
all the arguments and not automatically
dismissed them as either immoral, indecent
or just simply too ‘out there’. However,
excusing one’s inability to remain in a
monogamous relationship for whatever
reason is questionable.There is no
doubt staying faithful could at times be
challenging for many reasons but it is not
a requirement of being with someone, it
is primarily a test of one’s moral strength
that has absolutely nothing to do with
upbringing, religion or the so-called rules
imposed on us by society.
~ Joanna (BIGS/Law)
Eds:Thank you for your letter Joanna.
Polyamory is quite a subjective topic!
LETTERS
BULL wants to hear from you
Tell us about the stories you shared with your friends or those you placed on
the bottom of your budgie cage. Or just write and let us know you’re lonely.
Email editors@bullmag.com.au
PARENTS ON FACEBOOK
Parents.They’re there through
good and bad: guiding you through
childhood and pushing you through
the tumultuous teenage years towards
adulthood. And just when you thought
you’d finally found independence,
forming your own unique identity,
a safe haven for your social life,
BAM! They discover Facebook.
Surveying your every move,
sharing your every status, commenting
your worst fears…it’s an embarrassing
parent’s dream.They learn more about
your life and your friends’ lives than
you’d ever let on, spying out prospective
suitors all the while. And then, just
when you thought it couldn’t get any
worse, they give a struggling post of
yours a like – the only like.The cyber-
world equivalent of “Don’t listen to the
other kids, I still think you’re beautiful”.
But parents being online can have
its perks. Because it doesn’t take long
before you realise that your friends are
in the same boat, and the potential for
watching them get embarrassed along
the way by childhood photos is just
too great to ignore. Plus, who doesn’t
secretly enjoy the occasional corny
inspirational quote that parents post?
So this month, take a moment to
appreciate and just laugh at parents
fumbling their way through social
networking. Because let’s face it -
they’re better than tweens on Facebook.
Issue 07
LETTERS & PICK OF THE MONTH
7
of starting their own business. However,
the industry is still largely male-dominated
and Erin Rooney chats to four female
entrepreneurs to find out what resources
are available to women in Sydney wanting
to run their own business.
Meanwhile, from the comfort of his
own room, resident video game enthusiast
Rob North clues us in on the live-streaming
phenomenon, where legions of keyboard
warriors, button smashers and e-Sport
fans tune in.
And on the University stage, Sam
Jonscher provides a thorough retrospective
on one of the most ambitious SUDS projects
to date: Hamlet.
We’re following Barbara Taylor’s lead
and trying not to apologise for a week,
so we hope you love this edition of BULL
as much as we do, but if you don't...suck it.
BULL wants to hear from you
Email editors@bullmag.com.au
FROM THE EDITORS
EDEN, KATIE, SOPHIE, ROB, SEAN, ERIN
bull usu.edu.au
EDITORIAL
6
Q&A: TARA WANIGANAYAKA
USU President
B: If VC Michael Spence continues to ignore
students’ opposition to the deregulation of
university fees, and the government goes ahead
with the policy, what will the USU do to
combat it?
TW: It will be disappointing if the University
continues to push for deregulation.The
Board of Directors strongly feels that
deregulation will severely impact those
from low socio-economic and rural
backgrounds, and minority groups – so
we will be continuing our conversations
with other student organisations to engage
in further action if necessary.
B: Georgia Kriz recently wrote an article in
Honi Soit, arguing that the USU favours more
established revues over those of traditionally
marginalised groups, like Queer Revue.
As President, what is your personal opinion
of her statements, and what is the USU
doing in response to her claims?
TW: The money allocated to each Revue
is purely based on the cost of the theatre
in which they perform: the York Theatre,
being the largest, demands the most
significant fee and thus Revues which have
a proven record of being able to fill its
seats receive the money to support their
venture to do so.Traditionally these have
been Faculty Revues like Science, Medicine
and Law, though I hope the growth of our
smaller Revues will soon see theYork hosting
more of our talented students! Georgia raises
some very good questions in her article,
and the Board is working alongside staff
to ensure that come next season all of
our Revue students receive the best
opportunities and experience possible.
B: Only two candidates out of a total 17
running for USYD Senate are wom*n, whilst
the USU’s last four President’s have been
wom*n. Do you think the Senate could learn
from the USU, and should implement policy
to ensure greater equality in future elections?
TW: It is beyond disappointing that there
are only two wom*n in the undergraduate
Senate race, and, with no exaggeration,
a farce that there are no wom*n in the
postgraduate race. It calls for greater
encouragement of wom*n’s leadership
at the grassroots level, and more active
engagement of the Senate in informing
wom*n of the leadership opportunities
available to them.
While our minds are already planning trips
to the beach and music festivals as we pass
the middle of the semester, our bodies are
trapped in the mundane drudgery of uni
life. Luckily for you, BULL has your reading
covered while you dream of a place where
you’d rather be.
Our campuses’ student media promised
raw, sweaty journalism this year – and at
risk of following suit we’ve never refrained
from plonking the nocturnal bedroom
activities of students onto our pages, with
Hannah Edensor, Eden Caceda and Whitney
Duan teaming up to take on contemporary
sex issues in this edition.While Hannah
delves into the realm of casual sex, and the
discrepancies between what we’re taught
in our formative years and the real-life
young-adult experience, Eden and Whitney
question the existence of sex addiction.
But that’s enough bedroom talk.The
dynamic world of tech is thriving with
young people increasingly taking the risk

WEEKLY
DRAW
BADGE
9
The Red Bull and
Ritalin Cocktail:
Keeping USyd
Students Sharp
Milly Ellen
For many students
in need of a
pep-up during peak assessment periods,
psychostimulants usually reserved for
those diagnosed with ADHD called
methylphenidate (Ritalin) are increasingly
being illegally procured in the pursuit
of those illustrious High Distinctions.
As outlined in the Code of Conduct for
Students, USyd students are expected to
‘act ethically and honestly in the preparation…
of all forms of assessment’ and ‘avoid any
activity or behaviour that would unfairly
Please Don’t Ask
Me To Ice Myself
Shannen Potter
If you use social
media, read the
news, watch TV or
look out the window occasionally you’ve
probably seen someone dousing themselves
in a bucket of ice cold water.These people
aren’t (confirmed) masochists, experiencing
the thrill of moderate physical discomfort
for your newsfeed viewing pleasure.
Rather, they’re participating in the ALS
(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – more
commonly referred to as motor neurone
disease in Australia) Ice Bucket Challenge,
and, while well intentioned, they are
ultimately damaging the efforts of charity
work in the long term.
While no one can deny that the
challenge has raised significant and needed
funds for ALS research, the phenomenon
of moral licensing means that those who
throw a bucket of water over their heads
and post it online are less likely to donate to
advantage or disadvantage another student
academically.’ But given the difficulties
many students face in balancing hectic uni/
work/internship schedules, and the pervasive
cheating that plagues a number of faculties,
how badly are pill-poppers actually rorting
the academic system?
Around 75 per cent of university
students have a part-time job in tandem
with their studies, which is a significant jump
from around 20 years ago, when the number
was closer to 18 per cent.The reasons for
this could span a volume of works, yet the
fact remains that students have less time to
study because they’re rather preoccupied
with affording rent and electricity bills.
In contrast to students who live at home,
with everything catered for and few
financial woes, the students doing it tough
charity in the future. Basically, committing
a charitable act allows us to feel like we
are good upstanding citizens and we give
ourselves licence, or permission, to hold
back on charity work and acts of kindness
for a while.Therefore Ice Bucket Challenge
devotees are redirecting money from other
charitable causes towards ALS and are less
likely to donate to charities, including ALS
research, in the future.
Additionally, when the meme was originally
spawned the rules stated that the nominated
person must become familiar with the inside
of a bucket of cold water or donate money
to an ALS charity. In effect, this means
that many of the challenge’s participants
never actually donate money to the cause,
instead citing the amorphous goal of ‘raising
awareness’.The act of showering oneself in
ice cold water and sharing the video online
is more than enough to bring moral licensing
into effect, meaning that potentially the
challenge has actively reduced the amount
of time and funds which will be donated to
charities over time.
Donating money and time to charity
or a cause you feel passionately about is an
admirable act, and funding medical research
can make a substantial difference to those
suffering particularly from rare or relatively
unknown diseases. However, charity work
and activism need to be undertaken as part
of a sustained effort motivated by genuine
concern, and not as a short term reaction to
an online trend.
are already suffering from socio-economic
disadvantages.With the small amount
of time left to those living independently,
study needs to be efficiently carried out,
and Ritalin is far more effective than
a couple of Red Bulls.
If taken in moderation, at prescribed
doses and with no other contraindicating
pharmaceuticals, methylphenidate use has
few risks, no long-term effects, and well-
documented positive effects on working
memory and attention. Compared to those
who outsource assessments and pay for their
success, it seems unfair that those who are
most disadvantaged at university should
receive such vilification for consuming
Ritalin, in comparison to the outright
cheating that is advertised on bathroom stalls
and endemic within many USyd faculties.
OPINION
Issue 07
OPINION
many of the challenge’s
participants never actually
donate money to the cause,
instead citing the amorphous
goal of ‘raising awareness’

When Grayson Hopper started his gaming journey to be the very
best, like no one ever was, he couldn’t have possibly imagined that
his every move would be watched, commented on and critiqued
by 4.5 million people worldwide. In fact, it’s almost certain that
Grayson still isn’t even aware that he is on a journey to begin with.
And that’s because he’s a small freshwater fish.
Broadcast live over the Internet on the popular gaming focused
live-streaming platform Twitch, Grayson, the real-life fish, has
been struggling his way through the iconic Pokemon Red
videogame for the Nintendo Game Boy.The aptly
named channel, Fish Plays Pokemon, received
more than 4.5 million views over the month of
August. Grayson’s tank is divided into a grid of
nine squares that correspond with the buttons
of the physical version of the 90s handheld
gaming device, with his every movement
analysed by a motion-tracking camera.When
Grayson swims into the grid square labelled
with an ‘up’ arrow, for example, his in-game
character reacts accordingly and moves up.
While it is certainly true that watching a fish
stumble through a videogame is probably just a
passing fad that has merely caught Internet users with
too much time on their hands hook, line and sinker – it is
also a clear indication of the massive changes the Internet
has brought to the videogame world, and the growing popularity
of the live-streaming of videogame content in recent years.
Twitch, by far the most popular live-streaming service, received
45 million unique views per month last year – a staggering number
that few could have predicted when the startup launched as the
gaming arm of the now defunct Justin.tv midway through 2011.
In fact, live-streaming has become such a big deal that the world’s
largest online retailer, Amazon, snapped it up for almost $1 billion
in late August, following earlier reports that Google was attempting
to do the same.
“Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon,”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement, “and Twitch has built
a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch
billions of minutes of games each month.”
Initially the service gained notoriety for its
broadcasting of professional e-sports tournaments
and the candid gameplay of professional gamers
outside of competition, from which fellow players
could seek excitement or look to improve their
own skills through observation. But it’s since
morphed into a strong and active community
where like-minded people around the world can
chat while watching their chosen gaming content,
with Twitch’s Vice President of Marketing
Matthew DiPietro telling the website onGamers,
“It’s safe to say Twitch is the central hub for the
entire video game industry to share their passion
for games.”
And though much of the mainstream media
continues to denigrate videogames and their live-streaming
as the pastime of children and basement dwelling nobodies, with
the BBC’s Jim Reed infamously opening his recent report with
the rhetorical question, “Who would want to watch teenagers just
clicking away playing their videogames all night?”, the raw figures
and interest from large commercial entities don’t lie – watching
others play videogames has become an extremely popular source
of entertainment for netizens.
Fans in a Flutter
Grayson is but one star amongst the 900,000
unique monthly broadcasters on Twitch
– including full-time professional gamers
earning prize money, comedic personalities
earning ad revenue for their streams, and
amateurs earning the kudos of their peers –
but he certainly is one of the most novel
and popular at the moment.The fishy
stream was set up in under 24 hours by
two US students, inspired by the original
Twitch Plays Pokemon – a viral sensation
that saw as many as 100,000 Internet users
at the same time work to collaboratively
beat Pokemon Red in just two weeks. It was
often chaotic, with chat commands dictating
the movement and actions of the player
character, although periodic moments of
democratic voting were later adopted to
allow faster progress.
Fish Plays Pokemon displays Grayson
in his tank and the actual Pokemon gameplay
side-by-side.Through pure luck, our aquatic
friend has managed to receive his first
Pokemon, and perhaps more surprisingly,
narrowly defeated his rival’s Squirtle. At this
rate, he’s highly unlikely to ever finish the
game, as he spends most of his time sleeping
(during which many viewers will remark with
morbid humour that the journey has come
to an abrupt and tragic end), inadvertently
opening and closing the in-game menu, and
repeatedly sending his avatar careening into
walls. But thousands of people remain glued
to the addictive stream.
FiSHIES ENTER THE FRAY
If the trials and tribulations of Grayson
are too wearisome for your liking, there’s
another stream available – Fish Play Street
Fighter – wherein two fish duke it out in the
classic fighting game. Comically billed like
real prize fighters, the ‘methodical’ Robert
the Bruce and the ‘aggressive’ AG.Aquarius
(who’s now sponsored by the professional
fighting game team Always Godlike) are
rivalling Grayson’s popularity with their
high-speed frenzied in-game battles.
Most Watched Games on Twitch
5. Minecraft: The highly modifiable indie
sandbox game wherein players explore a
procedurally generated world, gathering
resources with which they can craft items
and build structures. Streamers show off
creations, embark on quests or undertake
challenges, and provide live tutorials.
4. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive:An enduring
multiplayer first-person-shooter franchise
that pits teams of terrorists and counter-
terrorists against each other in short
objective based rounds where death is
permanent – earlier games in the series
were a mainstay of professional competition,
and this iteration is no exception.
3. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: A virtual
trading card game (think of it as the digital
equivalent of Pokemon trading cards, Yu Gi
Oh, or Magic:The Gathering) set within the
Warcraft universe.
2. Dota 2: This stand-alone sequel to the
Defence of the Ancients (DotA) custom
game mode for Warcraft III is a multiplayer
online battle arena (MOBA) – a mesh of
action role-playing and strategy games.
Players control a single character in one
of two teams, and the main objective is to
destroy the opposing team’s base with waves
of computer controlled weaker combatants
marching alongside and against you.
1. League of Legends: Not content with
merely being one of the most widely
played games in the world – with 27
million people playing every day and
over 7.5 million playing at the same time
during peak play time – Riot Games’
delightfully accessible MOBA, inspired
by the original DotA, is the most watched
game on Twitch, and is to many gamers
synonymous with the streaming platform.
Rob North dives into the live-streaming sea of videogames, and finds a community that’s anything but floundering.
Issue 07
FEATURE
11bull usu.edu.au
FEATURE
10 11
twitching
with the fishes
“Broadcasting
and watching
gameplay is
a global
phenomenon.”

Visit today and take a tour around our state-of-the-art
facilities. Offer ends 28 September.
Eden Caceda and Whitney Duan
investigate the legitimacy of
sex addiction.
Issue 07
FEATURE
13

14 Issue 07
FEATURE
15bull usu.edu.au
FEATURE
Lisa*
is a sex addict. A former lapdancer,
model and softcore pornstar, Lisa has
spent the past two years in therapy trying
to recover from her addiction to all things
sex related. “I suspected a long time ago
that I might be a sex addict, although
I never really much did anything much
about it”, she says on her personal blog.
Described as being unable to control
sexual urges, behaviours or thoughts,
sex addiction is one of the most newly
diagnosed mental disorders internationally
and one of the most controversial
dependences in recent years. Indeed,
sex addiction is also not limited to sexual
intercourse; addicts have compulsive needs
to masturbate, view pornography or be in
sexually stimulating situations, making the
diagnosis personal and particularly difficult.
In fact, the legitimacy of addiction to sex is
of constant debate among psychologists,
sociologists and medical professionals.
Having lost her virginity at only 13,
Lisa makes a point of the fact that she had
never been sexually assaulted or had a bad
initial experience with sex (something that
many people attribute to sex addiction later
in life). Despite her addiction, Lisa has
been in a relationship for five years and is
the head of her own business. “I’m happy
at where my life is despite my addiction.
I’m not on the street. I’m thriving and trying
to change my ways.” In fact, statistics have
determined that approximately 10 per cent
of the adult population around the world
are like Lisa.
The concept of sex addiction first emerged
in the mid 1970s when members of
Alcoholics Anonymous sought to apply
the principles of the 12 steps towards
sexual recovery:This was in response
to serial infidelity and compulsive sex
behaviours which are similar to the feelings
of powerlessness experienced by alcoholics
and compulsive gamblers. However, unlike
other addictions, the amount of people who
identify with having a sex addiction has
increased exponentially in recent years.
Many sociologists have determined that
celebrities including golfer Tiger Woods,
comedian Russell Brand, singer Casey
Donovan and actor David Duchovny have
raised the profile of the addiction by declaring
themselves addicts. And in a world of constant
exposure to, and widespread worship of
sex-related ideas on the Internet, on
television and in daily life, people are likely
to be reminded about sex more frequently.
The Internet has made information about
sex more readily available with the alluring
promise of anonymity for those curious.
While important information about sexual
health and consent is now accessible online,
the web has also opened up perhaps more
ominous doors to pornography and explicit
sexual content. Porn is no longer confined
to the glossy sealed adult magazines on
petrol station shelves; youths are now able
to access enormous archives of hardcore
pornographic videos at any time, warping
ideas about sexuality at a young age.
Approximately 40 million people in the
United States are sexually involved with
the Internet and 25 per cent of all search
engine requests are pornography related.
Individuals have simply become more
involved with sexual behaviour and content.
Furthermore, progressive thinkers of
the 21st Century have embraced previously
stigmatised human sexuality rather than
suppressing or condemning it, allowing
sex to become more accessible and more
involved with popular culture. Apps like
Grindr and Tinder have openly condoned
and facilitated sexual interactions online,
while films exploring human sexuality, like
Lars von Trier’s Nymphomanic, have moved
out of the niche genre with audiences
unashamedly intrigued by sexual psychology.
The widespread interest and knowledge of
sexuality has opened questions about the
individual’s own sexual behaviour, boosting
popularity in sex addiction forums and self-
help books.
Gender and Cultural Studies Associate
Professor Kane Race from the University
of Sydney also has his own theory on the
rise of sex addiction. “It is mainly a creature
of popular discourse and the self-help
literature. I don’t doubt that some people
find their sexual desires, impulses or
activities difficult to control. But I think the
terminology of addiction is a very particular
way of understanding what is going on and
not necessarily an unproblematic or always
helpful one.”
The issue of legitimacy of sex addiction
mainly revolves around the idea that addicts
are hypersexual and/or promiscuous beings
seeking justification and that ‘addiction’
to sex is more of an intense liking rather
than a medically curable compulsion. Last
year the University of California released
results from a study that concluded that
many people who claimed to be sex addicts
simply had high libidos which explained
their hypersexual behaviour. Much of
the debate revolves around the use of the
word ‘addiction’ itself. “The terminology of
‘addiction’ might be thought of as replacing
previous diagnoses of ‘sin’ or ‘weakness’ and
it gives the condition an air of quasi-medical
authority,” says Race on the use of the word.
“The problem with the concept of addiction is
that it tends to prescribe individual solutions
to problems that might otherwise be subject
to collective re-thinking and critique.”
Currently in Australia, there are two
diagnostic manuals that are used to help
health professionals diagnose mental disorders:
the International Classification of Diseases:
Classification of Mental and Behavioural
Disorders (ICD) and the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM).Though sex addiction appears in
the ICD, it isn’t considered a valid disorder
in the more recent fifth edition of the DSM.
The lack of recognition by DSM V, which
is the only diagnostic manual used in the
United States, means that it is hard to seek
help as a sex addict simply because many
psychologists and medical professionals
don’t see it as legitimate.
However, regardless of the exact
terminology, there is a continuing trend
of sex addiction in recent years and the
development of sex addiction is of interest
to many psychologists. “It is no more about
sex than an eating disorder is about food
or pathological gambling is about money,”
says Rory Reid, PhD, LCSW, a research
psychologist at UCLA’s Semel Institute for
Neuroscience and Human Behaviour talking
to WebMD.
While from the outset an addiction to
sex may not be taken as seriously, it is a
highly dangerous and destructive condition
that influences an addict’s mental health,
personal relationships, quality of life and
safety. For Lisa, her sex addiction allowed
her to participate in many deviant sexual
practices. “I liked the loss of control when
being dominated, and became more and
Sex addiction
is one of the most
newly diagnosed
mental disorders
internationally.
more aware that fear and submission were
emotions that really turned me on. I was
only 17 years old, and I was letting a guy
hold a replica gun to my head, or a very
real knife to my throat, and mock force me
to do what he pleased. But the thing is that
I liked it,” she says. In other reported cases,
sex addicts have had relations with underage
children, animals or objects.
Fortunately in Sydney, there are a
number of support groups and therapists
to help sex addicts manage and try to
overcome their sexual behaviour. Sex
Addicts Anonymous is an organisation
of men and women who share their
experience and help others recover from
sexual addiction or dependency and is one
of the prime sex addiction management
groups. Likewise there are support groups
for more specific sexual behaviours
including pornography and masturbation.
Unlike most addictions, treatment for
sex addiction cannot require the addict
to give up sex for the rest of their lives.
In the recovery process, it is essential that
sex addicts learn the difference between
healthy and unhealthy sexual behaviour.
Despite her addiction, Lisa is committed
to repairing her life and changing her
mentality on sex. “I want to be able to see
sex in a positive light and I want to rebuild
my life. I don’t want to be haunted by my
addiction so I need to change my life.”
* Names have been changed

Issue 07
INTERVIEW
17
Chris Graham purchased New Matilda in
May this year, he is the Editor in Chief, but
it doesn’t pay his bills. I hesitantly describe
it as a passion project and he says that it is
a good way of putting it. He hopes one day
to earn money from it – not to become rich,
but to be comfortable. As I listen to him talk
for nearly an hour, his abiding passion for
what he terms “real journalism”, for holding
power to account, is made clear. I come to
doubt that failing to profit from the venture
would spell failure in a personal sense. Just
so long as New Matilda continues to break
big stories under his tenure – as it has done
already by uncovering Frances Abbott’s
allegedly ill-gotten scholarship to the
Whitehouse Institute of Design – then Chris
will be happy with his investment.
After a series of missed calls I finally
get onto him, just returned from “out bush”
where he has been working on a story that
will have been in progress for over a year
when this goes to print. He is drawn to
stories about Indigenous Australians and
as such spends a large amount of time “out
bush” pursuing them. Previously, he helped
establish the National Indigenous Times and
was Editor of Tracker Magazine – formerly
the official publication of the New South
Wales Aboriginal Land Council – before
the publication was suddenly abolished
earlier this year.
Graham recalled first going “out bush”
as a “young privileged white man” and
being taken aback by the vast differences
between the realities of indigenous affairs
and what he was taught in school. He was
particularly stunned to find relationships
between Indigenous and White Australians
so poor – something that has improved little
throughout the decades and throughout his
time reporting on Indigenous Australians.
He has just returned from Walgett, a town,
he tells me, which has a large number of
Aboriginal residents and has a reputation
for violence. Given my inability to place
Walgett on a map, I take his word for it. His
experience of the town is entirely different.
He finds there, and in many other towns
with a high proportion of Indigenous
populace, that there is an incredible sense
of community.The fact that he is welcomed
into these communities seems to mean a
great deal to Graham. Indeed, he believes
that White Australia aspires to the degree of
hospitality he finds among Australia’s first
inhabitants, but falls miserably short.
Graham is at once in awe of the resilience
of the first Australians and indignant about
what they have been made to endure. It is
this indignation, and 20 odd years, that led
him to work with John Pilger as a producer
on the documentary Utopia.
Graham tells me that Pilger was a
childhood hero of his. Now, having worked
with him, Graham has elevated Pilger to
loftier heights. A veteran investigative
journalist, Graham felt like he had nothing
left to learn until he worked with Pilger. As
I swoon over Pilger’s evisceration of Warren
Snowden, member for Lingiari, as seen
in Utopia, Graham tells me he was in the
room and sweating even though the cameras
weren’t on him.
Graham is humbled by the rigorous
research Pilger undertakes for all his stories.
He is awestruck as he describes Pilger’s
mastery of the interview as art, and
demonstrated by Warren Snowden’s
interview. “It wasn’t manipulation, Pilger just
knew where to jab the guy to get the truth
out,” says Graham. He goes on to tell me that
the thing he really admires about Pilger “is
that he doesn’t just stand outside the tent and
piss in, he’ll piss all over the tent that he’s in”.
Having heard that, it comes as no
surprise that Graham has very little love for
mainstream media. News Limited, Fairfax
and the ABC are treated with equal disdain
throughout our conversation. He accuses
Fairfax and News of “exploiting ignorance
in the community”. I mention that I rarely
visit a Fairfax website, he tells me that he
only does in order to write a story that
criticises their reporting.
Whilst he never professes to any specific
political ideology, Graham is obviously
progressive.That being said, he appreciates
journalism that comes from any ideological
base whether or not he agrees with it. Media
can campaign on political issues, he contends,
“but they need to be honest about it”.
Mainstream media, in his mind,
does not meet this standard. He is ardent
that journalists need to be outside of the
establishment in order to fulfil the role
of the fourth estate.This means taking
risks.There is “no greater compliment as
a journalist than to attract the attention of
police and politicians”– something Graham
has achieved on countless occasions.The
most notable incident occurred whilst he
was working at the National Indigenous
Times: in possession of leaked cabinet
documents, he had his house and car raided
by Federal Police. In a subsequent Freedom
of Information request, it was revealed that
his phone was also tapped. He takes personal
pride in exposing himself to risk, but he
doesn’t believe the trait to be common to
his profession. Referring to journalists from
mainstream news outlets he says “the only
risk they take is getting so drunk they pass
out at the press club”.
Graham refuses to be subsumed or
intimidated by the architecture of the state,
although he is appalled by it. Even in the
wake of allegations by the NSW police that
Freya Newman, UTS student and former
employee of the Whitehouse Institute of
Design, leaked the details of Frances Abbott’s
scholarship to New Matilda, Graham refuses
to confirm that Newman was the source.
This refusal doesn’t prevent him from
being incensed by the mainstream media’s
character assassination of Newman.
It was lucky, then, that the opportunity
to buy New Matilda came along when it did.
The abolition of Tracker left Graham without
work. Uneager to freelance for the mainstream
media for which he has little respect, buying
New Matilda has given Graham a platform to
continue to hold (or at least attempt to hold)
power to account.
Alternative media is his true passion.
He believes people “want more regular and
aggressive news”, and he is compelled to give
it to them. It also allows Graham to continue
reporting on Indigenous affairs. He has
expanded New Matilda’s coverage of it and
plans to take it further.
I ask him if, in an ideal world, Indigenous
affairs ought to be solely the work of
Indigenous reporters. His response boils
down to a maybe. New Matilda has recently
hired an Aboriginal reporter for that purpose,
and Graham hopes to hire more in the future.
Yet he also thinks that anyone can do it, just
so long as they take the time, as he has done,
to attempt to understand the culture and
perspectives of the communities they wish to
report on.
Just as he doesn’t have the understanding
necessary to report on Inuit Americans, it is
little surprise that a Fairfax cadet often
misrepresents Aboriginal affairs.
Graham loves journalism, but believes
its contemporary practice is largely broken.
He wants to help fix it.
Sean O'Grady
Photo courtesy of caama.com.au
Interview
CHRIS GRAHAM
bull usu.edu.au
INTERVIEW
16

18 19bull usu.edu.au
FEATURE
Issue 07
FEATURE
Stacey Jacobs / Tidy JessicaWilson / Stashd App
Erin Rooney questions why the startup space is still male-dominated.
WHO RUN THE WORLD?
From Ada Lovelace in the 1800s, technically known as the
world’s first computer programmer, to successful female
entrepreneurs today, such as Kath Purkis of Her Fashion Box
and Shoes of Prey founder Jodie Fox, women in the tech space
is hardly a new concept.Yet there exists a crude stereotype that
the key players in the tech world are limited to geeky men in
their garages playing with gadgets. And what this always brings
home is the fact that the successes of female entrepreneurs often
remain unsung.
Women are doing some incredible things in business in
Australia. From fashion, through to tech, more women are
embracing fear and taking the risk to start their own companies.
In fact, as recently as June this year, the Gender Global
Entrepreneur and Development Index ranked Australia as the
second best place in the world to be a female entrepreneur,
after the US.
With the decline of the manufacturing industry and rise in the
use of technology, the landscape of Australia’s workforce is
constantly changing and young people are increasingly spotting
opportunities and finding gaps in the market to launch their
own startups.
In order to accommodate this trend, many universities
around Australia have established accelerator programs to fund
student startups, such as the University of Sydney Union’s own
program, INCUBATE.Though the number of women applying
to INCUBATE is rising since its launch in 2012, male students
still largely dominate the program.
James Alexander, Founder of INCUBATE, speculates that
this problem stems from the fact that fewer women are enrolled
in technical degrees such as engineering and computer science
in Australia, which teach skills that lend themselves well to
developing the platform of a tech startup idea, such as coding
Zoe Palmer / Brand Chemistry
Danielle Fletcher / PropellHer
a website or app. As a result, James explains that there are
incredible opportunities available for tech startups targeted
at female consumers – and one need only look at the success
of Pinterest to see that this is the case. For women thinking
about applying to enter the program, he stresses that this
is one of the areas where opportunity is ripe for female
entrepreneurs, particularly attracting the interest of investors.
“I think if they’re a woman entrepreneur, and they want to
produce a product specifically for women, that’s something they
should definitely do, because there’s not enough of those. And
they shouldn’t think that’s a bad thing to do – in fact it’s fantastic.”
Despite receiving a majority of applications from male
students for INCUBATE, James explains that the most successful
startups that have come through the program so far have had
female co-founders, as females often provide leadership qualities
that are beneficial to early-stage startups, such as excellent
communication skills.
Female styles of leadership are greatly supported by
biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher, author of The First
Sex, who has written widely on the cognitive gender differences
between men and women and their leadership skills. She coined
the term ‘web thinking’ to describe the way that women make
connections in their brain, lending themselves better to weighing
up more variables, and seeing a great range of possible solutions
to a problem. Men, on the other hand, are generally better at
what she calls ‘step thinking’ – focusing their attention on one
particular thing at a time.These styles of thinking allow for
greater diversity in the management of a company when working
together, proving advantageous to future planning.
“Technology needs to be seen more
as a vehicle to drive innovation.
Women, too, have the potential to be
the next Mark Zuckerburg.”
Although the startup world is largely male-dominated at this
point in time, this has not deterred many young women from
jumping in and making waves.

20 bull usu.edu.au
FEATURE
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One such woman is Stacey Jacobs, founder of tech startup Tidy,
an online platform for booking house cleaners in the Eastern
Suburbs.The website has already received a healthy response,
reaching 50 customers in its seventh week since creation, and she
dreams of expanding it beyond the East.
“I’d been thinking about starting my own company for a
while, after working for other tech startups for the past three
years, and I thought it was just now or never,” says Stacey. “So
I made the decision to quit my job, took a week off, and then I
founded the company.”
Stacey praises the advantages of co-working spaces shared
with multiple startups in that they help facilitate networking with
other startups and allow the opportunity to meet investors when
in the early stages of your business. She has had particularly
strong involvement with Fishburners, the largest tech co-working
space in Australia.
“If you go to Fishburners or any other co-working space
there’s more guys than there are girls – that’s just how it is – but
tech in general is such a fantastic and welcoming community.”
This is a common view held amongst female tech
entrepreneurs, including 22-year-old Jessica Wilson, who has
had an overwhelming response to her startup, Stashd App, with
users in 85 countries since its launch in November last year.
The concept of the app combines her knowledge of the fashion
industry with a tech platform that enables online shopping by
simply swiping left or right, much like Tinder. In her experience
working in the tech space, she believes that what’s needed to
attract women to the industry is a shift in mentality.
“Women grow up with the media projecting what is expected,
accepted socially, and on trend, in which tech is portrayed as
‘geeky’ – and who wants to be seen as the opposite of what society
deems as what all the ‘It’ girls are doing?” says Jessica. “This
is what has to change.Technology needs to be seen more as a
vehicle to drive innovation.Women, too, have the potential to be
the next Mark Zuckerburg – just with better dress sense.”
In Australia at the moment, although women account for
60 per cent of university graduates according to Universities
Australia data, there is still a severe lack of women on corporate
boards and in executive ranks, pointing to a problem in workplace
retention amongst other factors. A report conducted by the
Australian Institute of Management found that flexible working
arrangements were the most crucial factor in the attempt to
increase rates of workplace retention, with 58 per cent of
respondents listing this as the most important consideration to
allow change. Many women are finding that starting their own
businesses allows for this kind of flexibility, and significantly,
allows them to work on a cause they truly believe in.
For Zoe Palmer, founder of business-to-business branding
agency Brand Chemistry in Sydney, while the primary reason
she started the agency was to open herself up to the passion of
her practice and for the choice to work with other passionate
people, she finds the flexibility of owning the business important
to having time to spend with her family.
“The biggest benefit for me to it is that I feel like running the
business and balancing it with your home life is like you have a
bunch of valves to turn,” says Zoe. “So you might have a growth
valve, a profit valve, a resources valve, a family valve, and you can
turn them all up and down according to what your needs are at
the time.”
Between the business and her two kids, currently three and
six years old, Zoe is incredibly busy, so her networking style has
also changed to fit everything in. Instead of attending formal
networking events, she says that every few months she’ll meet up
with friends and fellow business owners in a grocery store or on
a walking meeting to troubleshoot or share experiences, while
also completing a personal task like shopping or exercise.
When starting a company, certainly one of the most common
and significant pieces of advice from entrepreneurs is to find
a mentor that you connect with and who can guide you in the
running of your business.
“From our data, it’s the single most valuable thing that the
startups get out of the program,” says Alexander on INCUBATE.
“It’s not the grant money, it’s not the free office space, it’s not the
workshops – it’s the mentors they’re given.”
There are a number of platforms currently available to
women in order to network and collaborate such as business
communities like Business Chicks,Women in Focus and SHE
Business. However more recently, tech startup PropellHer has
entered the space with the aim to connect female mentees with
mentors through an entirely online community.
Danielle Fletcher, co-founder of PropellHer with business
partner Naomi Kimberlin, describes the influence of a mentor
as instrumental to her own business journey.While originally a
personal branding business, Danielle and Naomi pivoted the idea
by taking the concept of career mentoring online following the
advice of their mentor Lars Rasmussen, creator of Google Maps
and Director of Engineering at Facebook.
“At the time, we were very naive and thought ‘we can’t get
our wireless printer to work, but hey, let’s start a tech company!’”
Danielle says. “So that’s what we did.”
“If you go to Fishburners or any
other co-working space there’s
more guys than there are girls
– that’s just how it is – but tech
in general is such a fantastic and
welcoming community.”
Despite combatting fear and uncertainty at first, PropellHer
(www.propellher.com) is now a thriving community with over
2000 mentors. From her own experiences working with people
to develop their personal brand, Danielle has found that women
often lack self-belief in their abilities, something that mentors can
help change.
“I think mentors are perfect for that.They’re not only there
to share their advice and their experiences but for that support
around confidence, and just someone who can be a cheerleader
as well – tell you that you’re doing a great job and to keep going.
We all need that sometimes.”
Interestingly, a common theme emerging in the success
of startups is the idea that entrepreneurs should never have to
go it alone.There is a wealth of knowledge available to anyone
interested in starting their own business through the experiences
and support of others, and an extraordinary number of ways out
there to connect with these people.
Although financial risk and the fear of failure can pose
challenging obstacles to those wanting to enter the startup space,
the passion and hope in the voices of entrepreneurs is evident of
the phenomenal change and disruption they are making to these
industries, and in a wider sense, the world. And if all this has
taught me anything, it’s what Danielle has put quite eloquently in
her own words: “The scariest step when you’re starting your own
business is taking the first one.”

Issue 07
GO
23
Songs From the South
Sophie Henry
Being a city girl through and through,
my decision last year to venture down south
to the dusty streets of Nashville,Tennessee,
was an unusual choice for me. Before then,
I had never owned or appreciated cowboy
boots, while fiddles and banjos made rare
appearances on my iPod playlists. Nevertheless,
this strange gem of a city stole my heart
and opened my eyes to the beauty of the
hospitable south.
Nashville is one of the most influential
music cities in America with a phenomenal
history, and a never-ending supply of people
to share this love of music with.To this day,
I am amazed by how genuinely lovely every
person was and the happiness of the crowds
we walked by.
The first traditionally southern dive
bar my friends and I stepped into quickly
blew us away with its vivacious atmosphere.
It was around four o’clock on a Friday
evening and, unsurprisingly for Nashville,
a band was playing with an NFL match
screening in the background.
The bar was full, the crowd smiling
and laughing, and everyone was singing
along to the iconic tunes of ‘Sweet Home
Alabama’ and John Waite’s ‘MissingYou’
as if in a dream.
The streets of Nashville are filled with
these dive bars and honky tonks, each
GO
NASHVILLE
offering live performances as vibrant and
impressive as the next.The only way to
distinguish the more popular venues is to
count the number of signed cowboy boots
and pieces of country music memorabilia
that line the walls.
We ventured further into the depths
of the city, and slowly came across more
venues and experiences that only made
Nashville’s character shine more, allowing
our slow growing love for this southern land
to blossom further.The Country Music Hall
of Fame, one of my favourite stops, offered
an in-depth overview of Nashville’s musical
history, with shrines to music legends such
as Elvis and Reba.
Along the way, our taste buds were
delighted by the irresistibly delicious
homemade toffee apples and other southern
delicacies such as ribs, macaroni and cheese,
and fried corn. Healthy food is not a possibility
here, in case you were wondering.
As a music-lover, the country influences
really grew on me as this trip went on, and
the absolute highlight of this musical journey
was our visit to its most famous honky tonk,
Bluebird Café. Modest in style and size with
a casual feel, this venue felt like a family
reunion with my long-lost, overly talented
American relatives.Taking the tiny stage that
night were four elderly men, no younger
than 70, featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn’s
former keyboardist and the most-recorded
bass player in American history.These were
by far the coolest grandpas I had ever seen,
playing a humble, intimate and clearly
passionate set.
So before I knew it, I had become Elvis’
number one fan, started saying “y’all” more
often than is socially acceptable and even
considered (note: considered) investing in
some cowboy boots. Nashville, you really
are the only Ten I See.
A TASTE Of NASHVILLVE IN SYDNEY:
1. Shady Pines Saloon: Hidden in the
depths of Darlinghurst, this bar is the
epitome of the Tennessee spirit: great
music, southern décor, bearded men
and an endless supply of peanuts.
2. Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen: With
a menu that is spot-on Southern and
a buzzing atmosphere, this place will
truly give you the best tastes from
Nashville. For an authentic experience,
try the sweet pie or watermelon fizz.
3. The Soda Factory: This place is basically
just the cool version of Nashville; the
menu is fun and authentic, the staff
friendly and outgoing and the décor
is the southern belle of Sydney.
4. Sydney Country Music Festival: Coming
up in November this year and hosted
at Bella Vista Farm Park, this festival
will surely satisfy all your southern
cravings and give your ears a sample
of Nashville lifestyle.
bull usu.edu.au
TASTE
22
Best in the West
Katie Davern
There’s more to Sydney’s western suburbs
than cringe-worthy news coverage would
have you believe. Sydney’s West is home
to a multitude of ethnic and cultural
communities so it’s no surprise that it has
some of the best, most authentic cuisines
you’re likely to find in this city.
But not everyone is in touch with this
tasty side of Sydney. Alison from food blog
Street Food says, “There are new places
opening up all throughout the suburb and
[food] guides just haven't caught up yet
with new tastes and flavours, even some
long established ones.” She adds, “We also
suspect most of these places are just too
difficult to get to in the Land Rover, daahling.”
Strap yourself in and turn on the
GPS: here are BULL’s top foodie picks in
Sydney’s west.
El Jannah and Hawa Charcoal
Chicken, Granville: It’s the most lauded
Middle Eastern eatery you’re likely to have
heard of and make no mistake, the take-out
style chicken, pickled vegetables and salty
chips (and let’s not forget the heavenly garlic
sauce or toum) are definitely worthy of praise.
If the El Jannah lines are off-putting, walk
a bit further down South St and you will
happen upon the red, black and white of
Hawa Charcoal Chicken, the former ruler
of the charcoal chicken roost on South St.
El Sweetie, Granville: Another must on
South Street if you want to end your night
with delicious baklava and feel like a real
local with a puff of mint argily and a good
dose of people watching.
Al Aseel, Greenacre: For fancier but
affordable Lebanese dining, Al Aseel (also
located in Newtown) serves up an unending
stream of Lebanese bread and quality mezze.
Vatan and Darband, Auburn: The
Bagheli Polo with broad beans, dill rice and
braised lamb at Vatan in Auburn is a street
party in your mouth and the sweet tang of
barberries in the Zereskh Polo will have you
coming back for more. Darband, on the other
side of Auburn station is another must-try
Persian restaurant.
Holy Basil and Twelve Spice, Canley
Heights: The most famed Lao & Thai
outlets with people queuing before the places
even open for lunch and dinner. Don’t leave
without trying the fried ice cream which
comes in adventurous flavours like pandan,
black sesame and green tea.
Green Peppercorn, Fairfield:
Snagging the SMH Good Food Under $30
Guide’s Best New Restaurant title last year
was this primarily Lao restaurant in Fairfield.
Sundaes served in giant glasses are a bit
hard to see over and we recommend one
of Green Peppercorn’s pandan (South East
Asian vanilla equivalent) desserts – it will
rock your senses!
Billu’s Indian Eatery, Harris Park:
For Indian cuisine, Harris Park is your
one-stop shop.The whole of Wigram St
in particular will transport your senses and
Billu’s is widely accepted as one of the best
Indian restaurants on the block.
La Paula’s, Fairfield: For the best
Chilean empanadas or a Chilean chacarero
(their famed burger packed with beef, beans
and mayonnaise). Chilean cable TV and the
array of drool-worthy desserts, almost all
of which are oozing dulce de leche (South
American caramel), are sure to convert you
into a regular.
Grano,Wetheril Park: Think rustic
furnishings and serving styles, and
Mediterranean flavours that are exactly
on point. I still dream about the chocolate
ravioli (it’s as amazing as you’re imagining).
Giotto’s Gelato, Smithfield: I might
be upsetting a few people when I say Giotto’s
is my favourite gelato place.The institution
of Gelato Messina is commendable, but
nothing will beat Giotto’s hazelnut gelato.
I’m sorry.
Photos courtesy of Cherie Colaco
TASTE
WESTERN SYDNEY CUISINE
Alison from Street Food’s favourite
places to eat in Sydney’s West:
1. Kebab Al-Hoja:Merrylands for Afghani BBQ.
2. Fiesta Filipino: Blacktown (the pork in
taro leaves is a fave there).
3. Indo Lankan Food Bar: Seven Hills for their
Sunday curry on banana leaf specials.

Issue 07
section heading
bull usu.edu.au
section heading
2524 bull usu.edu.au
MOVE
24
JUMP AROUND
MARY WARD
I was never allowed a trampoline as a kid.
Every Christmas and birthday my
parents managed to find a new reason why
furnishing our backyard with an elevated
sheet of waterproof canvas surrounded by
exposed, rusty metal springs was a bad idea.
Most involved broken bones. And tetanus.
So, it was with a rebellious swagger
that I entered trampoline centre Boing
Central, ready for my first ever experience
of trampoline fitness.
Trampoline fitness started in the US
around ten years ago, but it’s only in the
last year that the craze has made its way
to Australia.The science behind it seems
relatively straightforward: jumping expends
energy.Thus, physical activity becomes more
difficult when performed on trampolines.
The warehouse is covered with
trampolines from wall to wall. Some of the
trampolines even go up the walls.
Despite there being diverse activities like
boxing, pilates and a dodgeball competition
on offer, I decide to be a traditionalist and
take the centre’s TrampFit class. I register
and am provided with a free pair of socks
which have a plastic grip design on the
bottom to avoid any slippery trampoline
accidents.Winning!
I am in a class of four and I’m the
youngest by about 25 years.That being said,
at 20 years old I am probably the median
age of the centre’s patrons, given the large
number of toddlers drooling through
the foam pit. I am also the only person
in my class without a fluorescent item
of apparel manufactured by Lorna Jane.
(Full disclosure:This was at Baulkham
Hills at 10:30am on a Tuesday.You can
draw your own demographic conclusions
from that statement.)
Amanda, who is taking my class today,
starts us off with some stretches before we
move onto the tramps. Next thing I know,
we’re doing aerobics on a trampoline. And,
damn, it is tiring. Star jumps (making
contact with the tramp on both the ‘out’
and ‘in’ movement), lunges, burpees – you
name it and Amanda can make you do it on
a trampoline with three reps each sequence
and a one minute rest.
At first, I think my fellow jumpers are
taking the piss (no pun intended) by talking
about the effect of repeated jumping on their
pelvic floor muscles but the rate at which
they slip away from class for bathroom
breaks soon suggests otherwise. I restrict
water bottle usage as we tuck jump and push
up to hold on until the end of class, thanking
all that is good in this world that I have never
used that region to push out a small human.
After class, I ask Amanda how she got
into trampoline fitness.
“My brother and I saw that lots
of people were running and doing hard
impact exercise that’s tough on your joints,”
MOVE
TRAMPOLINING
she says. “Lots of people were injuring
themselves doing that.”
“The good thing about trampolining is
it’s soft on your joints; great for older people
and people with injuries. And it’s such an
effective cardio workout.”
Too right. Amanda tells me that in 50
minutes I would have burnt 500 calories.
To put that into perspective, I would have
only burnt 210 calories running for that
amount of time (assuming I could run for
50 minutes straight which is… doubtful).
The workout’s effectiveness makes almost
pissing my pants seem kind of worth it.
Would I do it again?Yeah, probably.
Free socks, a supportive environment and
a serious workout that doesn’t feel like one.
Oh, and no broken bones or tetanus.
Take that, parents.
Hot Fresh Pizza, Straight out of the
Vending Machine
GEORGIA HITCH
When Haviana thongs joined the likes of
chippies, chocolates and soft-drinks in
our local shopping mall vending machines,
Australian consumers were at long-last given
24 hour access to flip-flops with no human
interaction necessary. Unfortunately the
same couldn’t be said of our favourite Italian
cuisine – until now!
Installed near the food court of Westfield
Chatswood, the Pizza Gio vending machine
is making waves serving up hot, ready to eat
pizzas in less than three minutes.
Owner of Pompei’s pizzeria in Bondi,
George Pompei, invested $40,000 in a
specialised pizza dispenser which spent
two years in development before hitting the
Lower North Shore shopping centre in early
August.The $12 single-serve hot salami or
cheese pizzas are semi-cooked and snap frozen
in Bondi, before being transported to the
machine where they are kept at a constant
temperature until they’re ready to be spat out
to a waiting customer. And though some may
turn their nose up at the notion of ‘Real Italian
Pizza’ pre-heated and stored in a machine,
the popularity of the Pizza Gio suggests the
idea is not as half-baked as it seems.
Although Sydneysiders are only just
now dipping their toes into the world of
automated food vending, the Pizza Gio’s
wonderfully-weird factor is rivalled tenfold
by other machines overseas. In China,
there are a variety of machines that serve
despite their potentially negative impacts,
these new vending machines are also leading
innovative thinking and research.
One of the most expensive vending
machines on the market, ‘The Chef’s Farm’,
is doing just that.The Japanese invention,
originally designed for restaurants, uses
fluorescent lights and man-made soil blend
including nutri-cultures to swiftly grow up to
sixty lettuce heads over the course of a day.
The $90,000 invention is now used around
the country by everyday people looking for
a healthy and convenient alternative.
So for better or worse, vending machines
are bringing about change to activities that
have remained static for hundreds of years.
We’ll just have to wait, coins ready in hand,
to see what they bring us next.
live crabs, housed and kept dormant in
individual plastic packages that mimic the
shape of a cave.The United States also
has its fair share of dispensable delicacies
available, including caviar, escargot, and
truffles. But unlike your $3 Kit-Kat, these
little luxuries will set you back a minimum
of $500. Europe tends to be a little more
practical, with machines in Germany and
The Netherlands offering freshly baked
bread, eggs, cheese, and sausages. Elsewhere,
other consumer goods are available at
the touch of a button, including ties and
underwear in Japan, and gold in the United
Arab Emirates.
Despite the obvious convenience of
these vending machines, Dr John Rees of the
University of Notre Dame Sydney says we
need to consider the meaning and importance
of human interaction whenever we automate
the provision of goods and services.
“The implications of automation on
human interaction are complex, with some
benefits and some disadvantages,” he says.
“We have to determine what is gained and
what is lost via these technologies.”
Dr Rees suggests that with Pizza Gio
and other vended food products, the human
element is crucial in order to maintain
regulations and protect public health. In the
United States, the ethical implications of
providing the Morning After Pill via vending
machines has similarly been debated, and he
argues that human interaction is also important
in adequately relaying medical advice.
However Dr Rees also recognises that
human activity has always evolved and
adapted alongside new technology and
LEARN
VENDING MACHINES
25Issue 07
LEARN
Technology - Making Life Easier
E-Learning Though scholars maintain that
the Internet was primarily developed to
better distribute cute cat pics and provide
teenagers with a place to express their
anger, the happy by-product for students
has been the provision of learning materials
online. Skipping lectures has never been
easier with the availability of lecture
recordings, and we’re told that once upon
a time people actually had to spend time
looking for books in the library.
Driverless Cars Come January, automobiles
on autopilot will be roaming the public roads
of the United Kingdom. Whether this makes
things easier or just makes us humans lazier
is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain:
without user error car crashes are destined
to decline. The only problem, US entrepreneur
Bre Pettis told Fortune, is where we will
source organ donations.
Places to bounce in Sydney:
Boing Central Unit 5/6, 4-8 Inglewood Pl
Baulkham Hills, 2153
Sky Zone 75 O’Riordan St Alexandria, 2015
FX Zone Uhrig Rd Sydney Olympic Park,
2127
Planet X Entertainment 3/40 Bowman St
Richmond, 2753
Flip Out Various locations including:
Brookvale, Parramatta and Penrith
Note: no adult classes, only freestyle
jumping

SAMANTHA JONSCHER BELIEVES THAT
AMATEURS CAN MAKE ART
Death to Tyrants and Directors
In 2011, in the comment section of his blog, former Minster
for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr offered this advice to a newcomer
to Shakespeare: “never, ever see amateur Shakespeare.That is an
offence against God”.
Carr said this after seeing Kevin Spacey’s 2011 Richard
III, shaming Hollywood for meddling in the righteous business
of theatre.The quote, now infamous, caught the attention of
Nathaniel Pemberton, a University of Sydney student in his first
year who was also an eager participant in Sydney University
Dramatic Society (SUDS). An impassioned comment war
ensued.Their back and forth came to fruition when Carr
attended a 2013 SUDS production of Julius Caesar, directed by
Pemberton. He live tweeted the performance from the front row
on his iPad.
This year, Pemberton again tried his hand at Carr’s cardinal
sin: for the SUDS 125th year anniversary he proposed staging
Shakespeare’s Hamlet as the Society’s major production.
Two weeks after first conceiving the idea, Pemberton arrived
at the General Meeting that would decide the ‘Major’ with friend
and producer Ryan Hunter.They had drafted a budget, secured
the Seymour Centre’s Reginald Theatre and cobbled together
a team.The pair was up against two other plays, including an
Australian play by Stephen Sewell, King Golgrutha. According to
SUDS president Pat Morrow, “King Golgrutha and Hamlet were
excruciatingly close in the final tally.There was talk of running
two major productions, partly for the tightness of the race, and
also because a 90s play by a Sydney writer and the best known
play in English literature seemed a reasonable summation of the
society for its 125th year.”
But Hamlet won in the end and Pemberton started what
would turn out to be a nine-month process for those involved.
His 24-person cast, enormous by SUDS standards, was a mix of
SUDS veterans and newcomers.Travis Ash came on as Hamlet,
making it his eleventh SUDS production. Ian Ferrington as
Claudius performed in his fourth Shakespearean part with
SUDS and Caitlin West’s Gertrude represented her fifteenth
performance with the society. At the other end of the spectrum,
Tess Green, who took on Ophelia, and Max Baume as Horatio,
had both not acted since high school.
When I ask Pemberton after the final performance what
his vision was for the production, he told me that it was
“everything”. “Have you ever had an experience that left you
in awe, overwhelmed?” he asked me. “That is Hamlet the play.
Hamlet should leave you completely overwhelmed.”
Issue 07
FEATURE
27
8-17 OCTOBERTICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE ACCESS DESK
LEVEL1 MANNING HOUSE, MANNING ROAD
SCHAPELLE!
THE MUSICAL
LIGHTHAUS
OPENING NIGHT UV PARTY
ZEDTOWN:
DARKNESS FALLS
HUMANS VS. ZOMBIES GAME
GET UP! STAND UP!
KEEP CUP!
FEAT. FRANK WOODLEY
THE GATHERING
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
FEAT. LDRU
AND MUCH MORE
THE NIGHT IS DARK
AND FULL OF TRIVIA
GOT TRIVIA
VISIT USU.EDU.AU/VERGE
For more information contact
The ACCESS Desk - Level 1 Manning House, info@usu.edu.au or call 9563 6000
Verge Gallery, Jane Foss Russell Plaza (USYD)
City Road, Darlington
Peoples choice voting now open
usu.edu.au/vergeawards
EXHIBITION NOW OPEN
Wed 8 - Fri 17 October
SHORT FILMMUSICLITERATUREPHOTOGRAPHY & ART
8-17 OCTOBERTICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE ACCESS DESK
LEVEL1 MANNING HOUSE, MANNING ROAD
SCHAPELLE!
THE MUSICAL
LIGHTHAUS
OPENING NIGHT UV PARTY
ZEDTOWN:
DARKNESS FALLS
HUMANS VS. ZOMBIES GAME
GET UP! STAND UP!
KEEP CUP!
FEAT. FRANK WOODLEY
THE GATHERING
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
FEAT. LDRU
AND MUCH MORE
THE NIGHT IS DARK
AND FULL OF TRIVIA
GOT TRIVIA
VISIT USU.EDU.AU/VERGE
For more information contact
The ACCESS Desk - Level 1 Manning House, info@usu.edu.au or call 9563 6000
Verge Gallery, Jane Foss Russell Plaza (USYD)
City Road, Darlington
Peoples choice voting now open
usu.edu.au/vergeawards
EXHIBITION NOW OPEN
Wed 8 - Fri 17 October
SHORT FILMMUSICLITERATUREPHOTOGRAPHY & ART
Image:Travis Ash as Hamlet

The most common word used by the cast to describe Pemberton’s
vision for Hamlet was “ambitious”.The 24-person cast was
the largest in living SUDS memory. In the production’s early
stages, Pemberton flirted with professionalism. He organised
workshops for the cast with USyd Alumni and STC Director
Kip Williams, as well as with John Bell, the man behind Bell
Shakespeare Company.
Even the production’s use of space was ambitious.
Pemberton’s Hamlet occupied every available surface in the
Reginald that was not filled with patrons, including 360 degrees
of balcony space, upstage and downstage exits and aisles. For
the set, Pemberton commissioned Hannah Cox – who came to
the production cast as Rosencrantz but ended up doing lots
of set work for the production – to paint a 20 metre mural that
imagined the interior of Hamlet’s mind as the cosmos. Her
mural shaped synapses, energy and emotions into an evocative,
primordial starscape. For maximum effect, the murals were
hidden until a full reveal at the beginning of the play’s fifth act.
Pemberton also didn’t cut the play in any discernible way.
Most productions of the Shakespearean mammoth focus on one
dimension, but Pemberton only took out lines here and there.
The final run time was 184 minutes.The production was not only
faithful to the notoriously lengthy text but went even further,
adding a five-minute introductory montage. Pemberton’s ambition
was clear from the play’s opening moments; a wall of bombastic,
cello heavy sound hit the audience as the cast silently moved
through a funeral, a coronation and a marriage.
One principal cast member described Pemberton’s rehearsal
schedule as akin to “professional devotion”. In the nine month
rehearsal schedule, rehearsals frequently lasted for eight hours,
to melodrama, Mitchell was there in time to expertly deliver
one of Polonius’ wizened truisms. Ferrington as Claudius, one
of English literature’s most notorious evil-step fathers, was
devoid of criminality and almost sympathetic.West’s Gertrude
was maternal but complicated. After the closet scene, where
Gertrude watches her son murder a friend and learns that her
current husband murdered her deceased husband,West maintains
the complete devastation and bereavement of a woman left with
nothing to believe in.
Ash traversed all corners of the stage and palpably conveyed
the mental instability and naivety that defines Hamlet. So much
of Hamlet, after all, is Hamlet; he gets 36 per cent of the play’s
lines. Ash, like several other members of the production noted,
was able to be himself. “I took a long time not knowing what to
do because the production was spaceless and timeless. I ended
up playing him as he is in the text: as a petulant, smart, generous,
but ultimately naïve uni student, basically myself”. Or, in words
of Morrow, “Ash is one of the few people I know capable of
having enough thoughts to make the character compelling”.
Sure, the play was rough around the edges; the staging was
fairly static and its conception sometimes a little muddled and
unfocused.Then there were a number of episodes that spoke
to the inexperience of those involved. On the opening night
Fortinbras appeared holding a script and visibly trembling
– he apparently made a hasty exit afterwards. From then on
Pemberton stepped in for Fortinbras, and then most of the
second week for Jacinta Gregory as Barnardo after she twisted
her ankle, and then also forYitzi Tuvel as the priest after Tuvel
came down with the flu.There were issues with campus sales
and ticket collection at the Box Office, and Pemberton’s final
sometimes scheduled three days a week. Speaking to Pemberton
after closing night about the demands he placed on cast and
crew, he pulled out a picture on his phone of some graffiti inside
one of the show’s principal props. It said “death to tyrants and
directors”. He laughed it off, “Practice makes perfect. My
priorities are simply different to other people’s priorities. Some
actors respond to that, others resent it. At the end of the day,
I’m an inexperienced director, I didn’t always communicate
what would be needed and I didn’t always manage people’s time
efficiently.” West, a full-time student, said that it wasn’t all that
bad for her as a principal lead. “Nathaniel just really cares, if I
couldn’t make it though, he would try and convince me, he would
still take no for an answer if I couldn’t make it. I have uni, I have
a job; most of the cast did. In the end, I had a great time, and I
think in the end, pretty much everyone else in the cast did as well.”
If the actors were tired by opening night, they didn’t show it.
The show was long, but the audience’s attention was sustained
the whole time. Jack Mitchell, as Polonius, carried the first act.
If the original dialogue became slow, or a moment too close
vision was in flux up until opening night. During bump in there
were still changes being made to set and costume.
But the production was Hamlet in a sustained and holistic
way, something that would have impressed even Bob Carr if he
had been invited.
As Pemberton admitted after the run, “I went into Hamlet
with such a grand vision that most people, and I, feared that it
was no vision”. Regardless of how this Hamlet would stack up
against the thousands that have come before it, what appeared
on the Reginald’s stage was Hamlet.They sold out six of their
nine performances; something that many professional shows in
the same theatre struggle to do.
“We did it”, Pemberton said. “It was cohesive. It wasn’t great,
it wasn’t perfect, but I’m happy.The actors should be happy,
everyone involved should be happy.We pulled it off, and that
means something in itself, I mean we took on Hamlet after all”.
In the aforementioned comment war Pemberton pointedly
countered Carr’s assertion, “Would you have turned up tickets to
see a [John] Barton/ [Ian] Mckellen/ [Trevor] Nunn Shakespeare
at Cambridge in 1959? I think God would take greater offence
at your arrogance, Mr. Carr”.Those are big names to drag into
a discussion about amateur theatre, but Pemberton had a point
back in 2011– everyone has to start somewhere. Regardless of
what the future holds for those involved in SUDS’s Hamlet,
at the end of the day, taking on Hamlet and its many intricacies
was a brave thing to do for all involved – not just for Pemberton
and not just for his principal actors.
Photography by Matthew R. Webb, matthewwebbstudio.com
Regardless of how this Hamlet would
stack up against the thousands that
have come before it, what appeared on
the Reginald’s stage was Hamlet.
bull usu.edu.au
FEATURE
28 Issue 07
FEATURE
29
Director: Nathaniel Pemberton The cast warm up on the stage Foreground: Ian Ferrington as Claudius

Sydney University Law Society (photography Samuel Hoare)
Joining a professional development or course-related
club is a great way to meet new people and develop
networks within your field of study. It’s never too late
to get involved! To find out more about our Clubs and
Societies Program visit usu.edu.au today and get into
the fun side of uni life.
clubs &
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The Clubs & Societies program is provided by the University of Sydney Union.
Make sure you have a valid ACCESS Card to join.
Issue 07
THE TIME I TRIED...
31
BARBARA TAYLOR GAVE UP THE ‘S’
WORD AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE.
Apologising is a verbal tic; the impulse to
say ‘sorry’ before asking a question, or as the
Canadians do, apologise when someone else
steps on your (literal or figurative) feet.
Maybe it’s a politeness thing, but I never
thought it was a ‘me’ thing. Not that I’m rude,
but I am kind of obnoxious.When I vowed
to go a week without apologising, I didn’t
worry about the fact that I’m a perpetually
tardy fuck up with a narcissistic yearning to
be universally liked. I thought, “Whatever,
I’m pretty punk rock. Should be easy.”
On the first day – the first day – I nearly
apologise to a car that almost mows me down
on City Road. And I automatically apologise
to my friend for being late to our lecture.
Then I swear a lot, and have to apologise
again to the girl who sat in front of us.
Day two is like a second take. I am
predictably late to my 9am lecture.The door
squeaks and opening it slowly only makes
it worse.The professor stops talking, and
gives me an indulgent smile. I smile back in
a way that could certainly be described as
apologetic, but do not actually apologise.
I feel bad about it for an hour.
The next day, I am nervous and sweaty
whenever I’m in class. It’s annoying and also
gross. I spend a two-hour seminar in dead
silence.There is just no way I can raise my
hand without feeling sorry about it. I doodle
pictures to prevent myself from talking out
my ass, and leave the room as soon as I can,
tripping over someone’s laptop bag. “I’m
so–” I start, but instead of finishing the
phrase I make a kind of teakettle noise and
run out.
By day four, I’m determined to get
around this.There have got to be ways to
communicate sincerely without saying you’re
sorry. Interpretive dance? Smoke signals?
Sign language? No, that would never work.
I only know a few signs and one of them is
“sorry”.You make a fist and draw circles on
your chest, as if to say, “Here, take my heart,
it spends all its time falling out my butt
anyway, no please, I insist.”
The closest I can get is saying, “I hope you
don’t mind…” instead of “I’m sorry for…”
but it’s not universally applicable. Can you
imagine? “I hope you don’t mind that I ran
over your cat, puked on your grandmother’s
grave, and cut in front of you in line at
Coles.”That’s just no good.
On day five, I have no classes, so I spend
the whole day hanging out with my dog. I’m
invited to a drinks thing, but I’m too stressed
by the idea of being around people I can’t
say sorry to.What if I drink too much, badly
offend the wrong person, can’t apologise and
start an international conflict?
Not apologising is hard, and it sucks.
There is a difference between not qualifying
your speech and being straight up rude.
I lied. I’m not hardcore. I’m not punk
rock. I’m maybe soft grunge, at best.
I groan, and my dog looks up at me,
curious. He doesn’t understand English, so
he doesn’t understand apologies.Whenever
he looks at me, I want to tell him I’m sorry,
even though I don’t know what for. Instead I
simply say, “I know, I know.”
THE TIME I TRIED...
NOT APOLOGISING

Issue 07
FEATURE
33bull usu.edu.au
FEATURE
32
It starts when we’re just curious children, asking our parents
where babies come from, before eventually progressing to the first
awkward fragments of sex-ed in the last years of primary school.
By the time we reach high school, sex is on our minds more than
ever, and we turn to friends, siblings and the Internet for answers.
In our teenage years, we’re taught that sex is something special
to be shared between two people in love – often married – and
sometimes we believe the crap our parents spin. But then we
graduate, go to uni, and discover that sex isn’t as sacred as we’ve
been led to believe. At university, where hormones still rage and
sex is splayed across the landscape of student life, the word casual
enters our vocabulary in a completely new way.
Casual sex.Who does it? What is it? Is it the new alternative
to monogamy? According to the media, university is one big orgy,
where students slink from one bed to another, and sexual partners
are as transient as Campos coffees.
Amanda Holman from the University of Montana recruited
and interviewed 274 students to learn more about the culture of
sex at universities. More than half reported having engaged in
casual sex or ‘hook-ups’ over the course of the year, however they
also found that there was more talk than action. “Students
greatly overestimated the pervasiveness of hook-ups
within the general student culture,” the study said,
suggesting that casual sex is prevalent, but the
hype surrounding its presence on campus is
more moral panic than moral problem.
“Alcohol is a huge player,” Holman
told ABC News US. “If you become part
of this hook-up culture, and you go to
parties and you drink a lot and you’re not
fully aware of it, you probably don’t have
protection, and you are more likely to
engage in risky behaviour.” And Holman
believes that this perpetuating culture
of sex among students will only lead to
further risky behaviour, with a lack of personal
commitment being potentially damaging.
But when you step outside the media bubble,
and actually talk to people who are living the student
life, it seems this isn’t as prevalent a culture as many might think.
“I don’t think casual sex is specifically isolated with students – I
think it’s a common phenomena that happens in all age groups,”
University of Sydney student Charlotte*
said. “Casual sex is a part
of modern dating and relationships.”
But hindsight is a beautiful thing, and Charlotte didn’t always
see casual sex as a lifestyle choice for over 30s. “I thought uni was
the place that all casual sex happens,” Charlotte admits.
“I definitely thought I’d have a ménage à trois in my first year.”
“The media and movies definitely depict uni as a loose place
where everyone is having an orgy and double penetrating each other,
which is hilarious but I don’t think anyone really takes it as fact.”
Casual sex is a prevalent practice of students, there’s no denying
it. I myself have taken part in the odd one night stand, as well as
sleeping with someone without the parameters of a relationship.
But I’m also not decisively against monogamy, and it’s this middle
ground where a lot of students find themselves.
“For many it's a time to experiment and try out things and
spend time with like-minded people,” Sydney University student
Emma*
said. “You get to play around a bit and figure out what you
want and like.”
But despite this culture of cavalier sexual lifestyles, there’s also
an element of shame involved.
The public too often throws a blanket of disgrace over the student
population for its promiscuous sexual behaviours, and students tend
to feel ashamed of their sexual lifestyle choices.The fact that not
a single interviewee in this article was bold enough to disclose their
identity shows just how strong the air of taboo is, as it lingers like
a fog over campuses, and follows us home on our walks of shame.
There it is again, that word shame directly linked to the act of
casual sex. How else are we meant to perceive this sexual student
culture if we’re constantly perpetuating this notion of indignity?
“The media projects blame on the student-aged population
for increasing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, and
people view these student activities in a negative light,” University
of Sydney student Kate*
said, expressing her irritation that students
are the main age group shamed for their sexual choices. “It seems
like such a hidden thing, and when it is brought to light people
seem to look down on people who engage in sex.”
Another Sydney University student Sam*
insists that the public’s
perception on casual sex shouldn’t be solely attributed to students.
“I feel like casual sex is definitely a thing that happens at uni but it
is definitely a thing that happens well after uni too and perhaps this
latter incidence isn’t as spoken about or isn’t newsworthy,”
Sam said.
It’s a fair assumption that students have
a lot of sex.We’re young, we’re experimental,
and we’re at an age where relationships are
not taken as seriously. Sure, this is a grand
stereotype, but the shoe fits. University
of NSW graduate Tony*
supports this
idea of sexual experimentation. “When
you are younger, you are less likely to
have ‘found the one’ and aren’t tied
down to one person, so one would be
more available to have multiple sexual
encounters in a shorter amount of time,”
he explains.
With apps like Tinder and Grindr, casual
sex is geared towards younger generations.
Parties and events on campus are also hot spots for
casual hook-ups, with many students using these parties
to locate their next one night stand. “At any parties on campus
there will be people engaging in sexual activities so that culture
is prevalent,” Kate says.
It seems the only things we can deduce from looking at casual
sex on campus is that students have more opportunity, and less
responsibility, making casual sex the perfect way to explore yourself
sexually. Everyone experiences youth in different ways, and whether
you’re engaging in casual sex or not, as long as you take care of
yourself, it shouldn’t be anyone else’s place to judge.
Senior Vice President of Clinical Development, Elements and
Behavioural Health Robert Weiss wrote an article on whether casual
sex was healthy. He too saw it as an independent lifestyle choice
that depended on the person. “If casual sex doesn't violate your
personal sense of integrity in terms of how you treat others, how
you honour your commitments, and your individual moral code,
then what you're doing is probably not going to cause you either
short-term or long-term internal emotional distress,”Weiss said.
Or, for a more student-friendly conclusion: “If you’re fucking,
and happy and safe, then go for it,” Charlotte says. And when it
comes to casual sex, isn’t that really all we’re looking for?
* Names have been changed
Hannah Edensor looks at ‘hook-up’ culture and why we shouldn’t feel ashamed about it.
“I don’t think casual
sex is specifically
isolated with students
– I think it’s a common
phenomena that happens
in all age groups.”

Issue 07
CAMPUS FASHION
35
Natalie Simpson // Applied Science
(Occupational Therapy) I
JUMPER: Dotti
SHIRT: Princess Highway
JEANS: Topshop
BOOTS: Wanted
Who’s your style icon and why? I personally like
Gabrielle Aplin. She’s quite small, so I really like
how she knows what clothes compliment her.
She dresses simply but at the same time, she
chooses nice patterns or collars that make the
outfit stand out. She tends to wear a lot of shorts
and cute dresses too.
What inspired this look today? It’s been raining all
day so the boots were a given. I really like floral
shirts so thought I’d wear some sort of pattern
to uni.
Ultimate girl crush? Meghan Markle (she plays
Rachel in Suits). She’s absolutely gorgeous and
can pull anything off.
Most hated style trend you’ve spotted this winter?
Fur ugg boots with sequins.
MAY YANG // Law/International and Global
Studies II
Jumper: Kenzo
SKIRT: StyleNanda
FLATS: Myer
Who’s your style icon and why? Olivia Palermo
definitely. She has a way of making street fashion
work with couture pieces and her outfits are
always so creative! Another would be Mira
Duma. I would be ecstatic if I could have access
to her wardrobe.
What inspired this look today? It’s one of
those casual dress uni outfits I can rely on
to look decent.
Ultimate girl crush? Behati Prinsloo.The girl can
make jeans and a t-shirt look hot.
Most hated style trend that you’ve spotted this winter?
Probably too much pattern on pattern. I reckon
an outfit only needs one statement piece, not to
be completely comprised of it.
Christine Freak // Arts I
Scarf: Cotton On
Top: Cotton On
Skirt: Dotti
BOOTS: Markets
How would you describe your style? I would say
it’s pretty edgy and contemporary.
What inspired this look today? I wanted something
that was sophisticated and casual at the same
time, but something comfortable too.
Ultimate girl crush? Taylor Swift.
What style trend do you dislike? When people
wear things that aren’t weather appropriate
and struggle!
CAMPUS FASHION
SWEATER WEATHER
#UNSURE:
Spotted: pool slides and crew socks are coming
back in a big way, but we’re just not sure how
to feel about these. Mark Zuckerberg may have
rocked them in his college days and thought
they were cool, but we don’t think that counts for
much. Pool slides are risky enough on their own;
crew socks nearly make them dangerous.
Comfortable they may be, stylish they’re not.
We nearly drew the line at Birkenstocks so these
might just need to go ahead and slide right out
of everyone’s wardrobes ASAP.
By Emily Shen, Katie Stow, Rebecca Karpin
Friday 24 October
7pm – midnight
The Refectory, Holme Building
/USUAccess @USUAccess@USUAccess /USUonline usu.edu.au
ACCESS $40 | General Admission $50
Tickets available at the ACCESS Desk and online
Official after party hosted by SHADES
At a secret location to be revealed on the night

BULL Edition 7, 2014

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