Daily Archives: 5th November 2016

Perspectives: Are we living in a post-gender age?

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This Monday’s Perspectives evening kicked off with a fantastic turnout once again, with a diverse range of academics and researchers at the ready to speak about their disciplinary or personal take on whether we are living in a post gender age.

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An introduction to the evening from Dr Masson began proceedings

 

The first speaker, Dr Gillian Campling, kicked off the evening talking about biological sex, posing the question that if we could achieve a post-gender society, could we ignore human genetic make-up?

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Dr Gillian Campling

The next speaker was one of our very own postgrad students, Hannah Earnshaw. They gave an eye opening account of their personal experience about coming out as agender, which challenged the audience to think beyond the binary. This account stimulated open discussions within small groups about current societal positions towards gender.

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PhD student Hannah Earnshaw

The final speaker, Professor Robert Song, talked about the traditional view of man and woman in the Bible, adding to the diversity of the evening. This was followed by a short, but thought-triggering discussion session, aided by cheese and wine.

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Professor Robert Song

The talk was particularly relevant in college as at the JCR meeting the day before, the constitution was changed to recognise students of all gender and none. All in all, it was a really engaging evening, throwing new light on an incredibly relevant issue for today’s students.

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The Great Chad’s Bake Off

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Fairtrade and CharComm united on Wednesday night in the form of The Great Chad’s Bake Off. Baking talent from across the college came out to produce an array of cakes and cookies the revered Paul and Mary would be proud of.

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Judging started at 6:45, which involved Eleanor Spencer-Regan, Maryam Mahtob and Jack Angers trying everything from profiterole-decorated coffee cake to vegan banana loaf. Assessing for appearance, effort and taste, the ultimate prize of Chad’s Star Baker was well-deservedly given to Ayesha Mahmood for her visually impressive chocolate cake.

Following the announcement, donations were made to the Fairtrade Foundation in exchange for tasting the bakes, whilst the judges went for a lie down having eaten enough sweet food to last a life time. In total £53.23 was raised, and the turn out for both taking part in baking and consuming cake was brilliant. All in all, the night was a success, and congratulations to the winner of the actual Great British Bake Off!

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Our three Judges: (l-r) Jack Angers, Eleanor Spencer-Regan, Maryam Mahtob