Questionnaire

Age?

19

Sex?

F

What is your degree subject (both if joint)?

French and English

Does ‘Being Bad’ relate well to the other modules you are taking?

More to English than to French, obviously. But even then it's a bit of a divergence

If so, how? And if not, why not?

Well it's just about slightly random mad things, so it's not really easy to relate it to academic stuff

Have you found ‘Being Bad’ too demanding, too easy, or at an appropriate level?

If I'm honest the assignments were a bit easy, but then I haven't had my grade back yet so I might be counting my eggs before they've hatched, so to speak

Do you think the list of topics covered on the module was appropriate?

Yeah, but the bandits one was terrible. It didn't really explain WHY people did it, why it's attractive, etc, which is kind of the point of the module.

Are there any topics not included in the module that you would like to see included?

Not really. Maybe something like cross dressing would be interesting.

Do you think that the format for classes has worked well?

Yeah, it's quite good.

What did you think of the module team?

Most of them were excellent, particularly the guy who did the Body Modification one - very interesting, he kept it engaging without it turning into a total freak show! Only the bandits one was a total let down. The man who did the lying one was good, he got a really good debate going. Mark is really great, just a shame we didn't see more of him - the masturbation lecture with the weird handheld things was awesome.

Do you think it would have been better to have had more:

Small group discussions?

Discussion and debate among the class as a whole?

Information and talk from lecturers?

The discussion in pairs things always ALWAYS go on for longer than necessary and everyone gets bored. It's more interesting to have debate among the class as a whole, which was why the lying one was interesting. However, in MC001 it's kind of hard because of the room lay-out - when we were in MC416 or whatever, it was a lot easier because we could hear each other.

The approach taken in the module is interdisciplinary (drawing on perspectives from English Literature, Film Studies, Creative Writing, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies and Politics): do you think this a useful way of approaching the topics covered in the module?

Yes, however one lecturer in particular relied too heavily on films. The lying lecture was good because it started with a little clip from Red Dwarf about the nature of lying, and then we had to discuss it - that sort of got the ball rolling for the debate.

Do you think that interdisciplinary modules are a good idea?

Yeah they're quite interesting

Do you think you have benefited from the interdisciplinary approach taken in the module?

Yep, I've learned a lot

Would you like to see more modules that cover this kind of subject matter?

Yep

Are you planning to take the follow-up module PH2004 ‘It Shouldn’t Be Allowed’ at level 2?

I would but it's on at a stupid time again, and I can't commute from Telford to Wolves and back again at a ridiculous hour. I would like to otherwise, but it's not practical.

Would you recommend ‘Being Bad’ to a friend?

Yeah but I'd warn them about the anarchy it occasionally lapses into

Do you think that the blogs (web logs) were a good idea?

Definitely, one of the best assessments I've had. Sometimes it was difficult to think of enough topics to keep going, but if it was easy then there'd be no challenge.

What did you think of the other assessments (e.g. would it be better to have one longer assessment rather than two shorter ones?)?

I liked them. There's a danger of always picking an essay first though, since it's easier, and then struggling with the creative writing for the harder second part of the modules. It's not so easy to write about religious experience as it is about adultery. That said, I liked being given a title and a first line, that gave it an interesting spin.

What have you learned from the module?

That the buses from Telford and Wolves are quite punctual. Also I learned a lot about body modification amongst various things, that I previously had no interest in at all.

What parts of the module have you found most useful and why?

Not sure really. Nothing useful about it, it just seems at the moment to be the kind of knowledge that will only get you far in a pub quiz.

What parts do you think were a waste of time and why?

The bandits lecture, and the film.

Are there any other comments you wish to make regarding ‘Being Bad’?

It was a let down that our assignments weren't returned, they were just postponed again and again - it means I now have to catch the bus (an hour either away) to Wolves purely for something that will take a maximum of 30 seconds. It would be better if the results were posted on evision asap. Also, why did we never get our field trip?

Graffiti

Is graffiti art or crime? I think for me it depends where it is.

As I was walking through the underpass by the Molineux the other day I watched some cleaners remove all the graffiti from the walls. I thought in a way it was kind of sad, because some of that art took a lot of time and effort to create. However, you know by next week some of it will be back on the wall.

I know that more modern graffiti is associated with hip-hop culture, and a lot of it is undesirable when to councils and local residents as they believe it sends out the wrong message. However I think it can also be a positive thing, and I think it would be a good idea to have 'designated' graffiti areas. I think this would probably reduce the amount of graffiti elsewhere. It's like people who complain about skateboarders outside the town centre - if you don't provide a skate-park, where else are they going to go?

I don't think it's fair to completely restrict what is essentially an artistic activity - just give the people somewhere specific to do it in. Without it you get people like Banksy, who are going to do whatever it takes to protest against the government in this case.

Infidelity

It's obvious that you can't justify infidelity, because it hurts people. But why are people drawn to it? I think it depends on the person. Some people want more excitement back in their lives, when their marriage is on the rocks. Other people genuinely fall in love, and go about it completely the wrong way because they're too frightened to admit to their partner. And some people are just pathetic and see it as a kind of game, to see how much you can get away with before you're caught.

However, I discovered this website. Infidelity.org.uk allows you to, for the measly sum of 5 pounds, name and shame anyone who has cheated on you. Now, yes, infidelity is an awful thing, and there should be some kind of divine justice served upon those who do it, but similarly I feel a bit uncomfortable about this website. I see it as a violation of privacy, as well as just bad taste. I can understand the attraction - everyone who has been cheated on wants revenge - but there's such a thing as attaining the moral highground.

I don't know - maybe I won't fully understand this until I have been cheated on myself, but I really don't get why anyone would do this. I have more idealised versions of infidelity stuck in my mind, like Brief Encounter, or even Butterflies. That's because though the people involved were in love, they were not foolish enough to throw away their life through sex, and nothing ever came of what they could have had.

Comment #5

In response to this entry. [http://leannemulloy.blogspot.com/2008/04/jeremy-kyle.html]

I completely agree with your analysis of Jeremy Kyle. I think the man is appalling. He exploits those who have serious problems in their lives, or are in need of some kind of professional assistance, whether it be counseling or even legal/governmental support (through benefits and assistance or concerning child custody or whatever the case may be). By essentially airing their dirty laundry in public and promising them that he can help, he makes himself a very rich man and destroys whatever dignity these people have.

The worst part of this show is when couples who have issues with each other, for whatever reason, but most often it seems to be infidelity, use their children as pawns in the battle to out shame each other. All of this paternity testing rubbish, I can understand sometimes when there is serious doubt on the father of a child, you definitely need closure on the subject. But, looking at the Jeremy Kyle website you linked to, one of the episodes is called "Confess you're a cheat or I'll prove I'm the father of your eldest daughter". That's a threat, and is not taking into account how the eldest daughter feels about the whole thing.

This is a sick show, and similarly to Kilroy and many of the other 'helping' chat-shows, it does little or nothing to solve the problems that are tearing these people apart.

Comment #4

This is a response to this blog entry: [http://stundreded.blogspot.com/2008/04/taking-your-own-life.html]

I found your entry about suicide really interesting. I too have developed something of a morbid curiosity as well, ever since I read "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby, which is about four people who all try to kill themselves on New Year's Eve by throwing themselves off a building, and how they all accidentally meet on the roof-top before the event. It's very interesting as it looks at the different reasons why they are all motivated to do such a drastic thing.

One view I had never thought of until I read the book is that suicide is in most religions seen as a 'sin', and as you said, only God has the power to take our lives, as he gave us them in the first place. As I'm not particularly religious I don't go along with that, but I can see why people suddenly 'find God' when they are at such a low point in their lives - it rationalises why they CANNOT take their own lives (when really they are just afraid to). I agree with you when you say that it takes a very brave person to end their own life.

This was a really good entry, I've very much enjoyed your blog, thank you!

The Supernatural

I simply cannot watch programmes like 'Most Haunted'. There is no way they can be real, but I do try to have an open mind. It's just hard when men like Derek Acorah think that by putting on a funny voice they can convince you that they're someone else entirely - even weirder is that he uses the same dodgy voice for a 60-year old man or a 5-year old girl. Strange.

Spiritualism has been around forever. Famously, even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a bit of a fan. I'd say now more than ever spiritualism is more popular, but there are also even more skeptics. I am definitely a skeptic, and I stumbled across this fantastic website which looks at Bad Psychics, in particular the number of times Most Haunted has been proved to be faked.

Last night I was watching the Today Show, and James Randi was on. If you don't know about him, he's 79, and he's offering a million dollars to anyone who can prove to him to have supernatural powers. Naturally nobody high-profile is taking up the challenge, he just seems to get an influx of crazy people. I think this kind of proves the whole thing is fraudulent. I'm sure the supernaturalists would argue that they shouldn't HAVE to prove they can do it, we should just believe, but even so - what is there to be afraid of if you genuinely can talk to the dead?

I really hope James Randi gets to prove that mediums and parapsychologists are all fakers. The whole thing is ridiculous, and it's sad that these people play on the vulnerable public - particularly those grieving for somebody dear to them.

Violence in Video Games

I personally don't know what to say about violence in video games - is it bad? I think so, to a degree.

I think it's immoral to sell violent video games to younger people who are more easily influenced by them, purely for a profit. Games such as: Doom, Quake, Halo, and Resident Evil as well as the controversial Grand Theft Auto series. However, older generations (teenagers and up?) have the common sense to not be swayed by these products.

I found this good website which answers some myths about violence in the media scientifically, and this is an interesting fact:

Myth 6. There are no studies linking violent video game play to serious aggression.
Facts: High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods, and violent criminal behavior (e.g., self-reported assault, robbery).

It also states that it is reasonable to assume that some parts of the population are more susceptible to being influenced by the violence in the media.

On a personal level, most of my (very geeky) male friends play these very violent video games, and I have never seen them influenced by it. They play fight, but so does everyone who thinks that Neo is a role-model. At an earlier age we were all exposed to things as simple as Power Rangers, and that has had an effect, because we almost 'recreate' that kind of nonsense fighting in jest. But they don't genuinely pretend to hack at each other with swords (at best, it's carefully choreographed plastic light saber battles in the garden)

Religion and Ethics

We haven't done the 'Being Too Religious' lecture yet, so I don't know what that will entail. But I do have experience of what I think is being too religious.

Does anybody remember this on the local news? Here's a quote to refresh your memory:

A 22-year-old mother died just hours after giving birth to twins because doctors were forbidden from giving her a blood transfusion as a Jehovah's Witness.

Emma Gough's family, including her Jehovah's Witness husband, Anthony, 24, refused to overrule her wishes and she died after losing blood.

I know that in the Jehovah's Witness religion they think that the Bible tells them that blood transfusions are against God's will, but I still think this is going too far. I know it's a belief system and therefore the people involved in the religion will see this as the Right Thing To Have Done, but I can't agree. I cannot help but feel strongly about this, since my half-brother is part of this religion. As an outsider, all I see is a woman actually being very selfish. Why not sin, so your children can have a mother when they grow up?

Also, what if it had been the other way around? There were complications in the birth and the babies needed blood transfusions? Would you deny them that? Or let them die for God's will?

This website explains more about why Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood, and a bit about the ethics involved.

Comedy Throwbacks

So, bad comedians. From the off, I am a HUGE comedy fan, I go to gigs, I love the damn stuff. However, I have never been able to appreciate the 'genius' of Messrs. Manning, Chubby Brown, and Davidson.

The kind of material that they use is a complete throw-back to the times of Alf Garnett, where it was acceptable to say the things they do. A man in the lecture said that these comedians should not be censored but I absolutely think they should be, and occasionally they are. Take Hell's Kitchen for example. Jim Davidson was asked to leave the programme for referring to co-team member Brian Dowling as 'a shirt-lifter', amongst other things.



What happened there was out-right bullying, which just goes to show that these comedians actually believe some of their material. This makes them not-subversive, but homophobic, sexist, and racist. You can just barely get away with it in a comedy routine, but it does not make it justified. Remember when Michael Richards went on that huge racial rant during a gig? In the space of one evening one of the US's best loved stars went to public enemy number one, and rightfully so.

Why should these people be given free speech when they will do nothing but incite hatred? Yes, the more educated amongst us will laugh at them, not with them. But there is always that minority who agree with them, and I believe that is now unacceptable.

Leave that kind of humour to times past. In today's society there is no place for it.

Plastic Surgery

I can totally understand some boob jobs.

If your chest is enormous then it's understandable a reduction is in order - large breasts can cause back injury, amongst other problems, and the process is even offered on the NHS but only for 'extreme cases'.

I can also understand breast enlargement in some cases. I was flat chested for many years of my life, and mistaken for a boy at least a dozen times in my puberty. Believe me, your boobs make a huge impact on your life, and the way you are treated. In two years I have gone from an A cup to a DD (no surgery, just one HELL of a late bloomer), and the impact on my life has been significant. For a start, boys smile at you one hell of a lot more.

What I don't understand is the kind of body modification that leads people to look like this:

For those of you who don't know your pop-culture, this is Lolo Ferrari, the woman billed as having 'the world's biggest breasts'. She had 22 breast enlargements, though there isn't an officially cup size recorded for her. I will never understand this cartoonish look that some women will go for. I know there are naturally curvy women, I just do not understand why it is necessary to make a caricature of yourself.

Today it costs anywhere from 2000 quid upwards to get a set of silicon implants. String implants are now banned in the US since 2001; these are implants which increase indefinitely by absorbing body fluid, till the implantee reaches phenomenal proportions.

I hope the women who do get breast surgery are very happy, but there is no need in my mind to look like a life size Barbie doll.

Medicinal Marijuana

So drugs are bad right? Most people seem to think so anyway. But what about for medicinal purposes?

I think this is a good subject for being bad as it is entirely personal. I would never do drugs, I think they're bad, but I have no problem with them being used for legitimately medicinal reasons.

Cannabis is a class C drug, which does make it illegal to possess. There's currently a large campaign to have it legalised, however. It can be extremely beneficial to sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis, as well as those on chemotherapy for cancer, and also AIDs sufferers (amongst a host of other possible things that might be wrong with you, but alas, not Female Hysteria). I know on a more personal level that it does help sufferers of MS, as I have an uncle who suffers very badly, and it has been proved scientifically to reduce muscle tremors. The drug also reduces the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

I believe that it should be legalised for medicinal purposes. Currently doctors are able to prescribe THC (the active ingredient in cannabis), on the NHS, but it is still not widely distributed. However I know it would be very difficult to do that without there being issues with people using it for non medicinal purposes. However, in the USA using cannabis is apparently more popular than using the internet (thank you, dubious internet fact). I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to obtain illegally anyway.

I guess you have to weigh up the pros of the medicinal usage with the cons of the non-medicinal usage. This BBC website is quite useful as it looks at several aspects of the drug including its effect on the body.

Shame TV

A good example of being bad which could be taken either way is reality TV.

I'm sure the television companies, and people such as Simon Cowell argue that they are just bringing entertainment to the masses, but I think there's a certain amount of cruelty involved too.

If you've ever watched Britain's Got Talent you'll be able to see the mob mentality of the crowd. They boo and heckle and chant the acts they don't like, as well as join in with the ones they do. But it's worse than panto.

Take for example, Donald:



He auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, and was far from talented. The audience kept encouraging him to continue singing purely to watch him be humiliated. He didn't seem to understand what was going on. Many of the early auditionees on programmes such as this, and X-Factor, don't seem to understand that they're in fact being ridiculed, as well as rejected.

It's strange that the things that sell these formats are some weird human desires to see other people humiliated. Most people don't watch much past the first audition shows - after that it's all a bit boring.

Ethically it's objectionable, morally it's disgusting, but personally I love a lot of it.

This article explains the reasons why, and here's a little snippet:

We evaluate ourselves in comparison with other people. "It's a balm to our self-esteem," he says. He believes we look at the loser contestants on Idol saying I'm better than that. I would never do that and look what happens to people who do that.

Binge Drinking

To start with: I don't drink much. I'm not saying I only have a couple when I'm out, I'm saying I have about one alcoholic drink per month (if that). I know I've gone for a least 4 months without bothering. I personally cannot see the attraction at all.

This makes binge-drinking somewhat of a mystery to me. Why do people do it? From my perspective, I can only see that it makes you look completely ridiculous and a bit disgusting while you're still conscious. It means your friends are obliged to look after you. You can't remember anything you've done the night before (so why did you do it if you don't get to keep the memories of it?), and it makes you violently ill. People can die from things like choking on their vomit, and I know it's possible for people to swallow their tongue while unconscious. It causes long term liver damage as well.

I say this as someone who has had to confiscate car keys off drunken friends, pick them up off the floor when they've landed on their face, and humour them when they decide we should sit in the shower cubicle together and sing show-tunes at God knows what time. Hey, a humoured drunk is better than one who is crying over his ex-girlfriend to me.

Looking it up, there seems to be no hard and fast rule as to what binge-drinking technically is, but I did find this as regards the UK:

"A popular 'definition' of binge drinking in the UK is the consumption of 50% or more of the recommended maximum weekly number of units of alcohol in 'one session', e.g. one night out. Thus, for a male the consumption of 4 pints of 5% ABV beer/lager would constitute 'binge drinking' (11.36 units of alcohol out of a maximum weekly total of 21), and for a female the consumption of 3 large glasses of white wine...would again be classified as binge drinking (9 units out of 14)."

I don't think I've ever come close to my maximum weekly total, ever. Plus, I hate wine. Looking more closely at the medical implications of binge drinking, I see that it's actually possible to have a ruptured bladder, because a drunk unconscious person doesn't feel that they need to urinate. That's if the body doesn't accidentally wet itself first, you see.

Why do we find this an attractive past-time in the UK?

I think we need to adopt the French approach to alcohol. They are allowed booze at an equally early age, but consume it slowly over the course of a meal. Similarly, they eat very slowly too, which allows them to feel when they're full - that's why you don't get many fat people in France, instead of in the 'fast food' culture of the USA.

An interesting read is Jeremy Clarkson's take on all this, in his Times Column. He's not one to not have an opinion after all, and I find I most definitely do not agree with him.

Transvestism

Since one of my idols is the great Mr. Eddie Izzard, it has never occurred to me that being a transvestite was weird.

Apparently all transvestism is, is:

the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing the clothing of the opposite sex.

This can apply to both men and women. So surely most women these days cross-dress; I can't remember the last time I saw lots of skirts around university, instead of trousers. It's not so socially accepted in men, however, which to me seems a great shame. I can see why people think it makes men effeminate, but surely that's the whole point and there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

If you're going to dress as a girl, you're going to look girly. That's the point.

After a bit of googling on the subject I found there's a whole market for it, including one really clever idea called 'The Boudoir Dressing Service', which allows men to dress as women and gives them total make-overs and photo shoots.

I think it's wicked that, slowly, very slowly, this sort of 'deviant' behaviour is becoming more accepted.

A good example of how it is being accepted is this entry, the Kit Kat Dolls, on Britain's Got Talent, which was a drag act which made it through into later acts.

Body Modification

I really don't think body modification is a bad thing if it is with consent and full knowledge of what is going to happen to you. It's really just a matter of personal taste.

Being really bad is stuff like Chinese foot binding (which I can't even google for, it freaks me out so bad). That is assault and mutilation (and if you look at it a certain way, it's kind of like torture isn't it?). Things like piercings and tattoos are fine by me though, and it was interesting to see the different cultures in the lecture. I don't really understand genital piercings but whatever funkys your monkey, so to speak.

The more extreme things like 'Cat Man', the man who is trying to turn himself into a tiger and has legally changed his name to Cat Man, are indeed a bit weird, but this guy isn't hurting anybody. Except maybe himself, I don't even know how whisker implants would work. Also having your ears 'clipped' into points sounds a bit painful, but you could see it as just a guy with a hobby. He's not hurting anyone and he's perfectly within the law - in fact he's probably helping people when he's like this, along with 'Lizard Man', otherwise Channel 4 would have to find something else to put in their weird documentaries.

Cyberstalking

I thought a blog on the subject of stalking would be a good definition of a 'bad behaviour', but then I discovered there's such a thing as 'cyberstalking' which is infinitely more interesting.

Cyberstalking is essentially the same as regular stalking, but using the internet obviously. A good definition of stalking is this one:

"Stalking is a form of mental assault, in which the perpetrator repeatedly, unwantedly, and disruptively breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom he has no relationship (or no longer has), with motives that are directly or indirectly traceable to the affective sphere. Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do taken together (cumulative effect)."

Cyberstalking goes a bit beyond just following people around though. Some examples of the type of stuff cyberstalkers get up to just go to show this. Here are a couple of the weirder ones:

• Attacks on data and equipment. They may try to damage the victim's computer by sending viruses.
• Ordering goods and services. They order items or subscribe to magazines in the victim's name. These often involve subscriptions to pornography or ordering sex toys then having them delivered to the victim's workplace.

There is also stuff like character assassination on forums/newsgroups, false accusations, and trying to meet up with people (particularly younger people, for sexual purposes - this is an online predator).

I've never come across this before. I once knew someone who used a mutual friend's email address to sign up for the 'I Love Cheese' newsletter, but that's neither here nor there. A rather great website I discovered on my travels around the web is this one, My Psycho Stalker, which documents the emails one person received from their very own cyberstalker.

I think this is really quite sinister. The only way to escape this would be to completely change all of your email addresses, and website accounts, or perhaps even to avoid certain websites. I know that it is possible to install programs on computers which log your activity, a method now quite frequently used when people think that their partner is cheating via emails and websites like match.com. Now Cyberstalking (in the UK, and some USA states) is considered an offense, however.

Comment #3

This comment is in response to this entry.

[http://c-beingbad.blogspot.com/2008/03/speeding.html]

I found this part of your entry very interesting:

Why do people find it so difficult to stick to the speed limit? Do speeders think that they’re bigger, better and cleverer than the rest of society? That someone wont step out in front of their car. They they’re such good drivers they can navigate through built up areas full of houses, shops and people at 50mph and not cause any damage?

It's quite difficult to say why some people speed. I'm a driver myself and I rarely go one or two mph over the speed limit (sometimes it is difficult not to - there's a fine line between just going over the limit and actually holding up traffic). However I have friends who do speed a lot, and as a passenger it makes me not want to travel with them because it's a bit scary. I know how easy it can be to lose control - your reactions are not as fast as you think they are!

Aside from speed demons, and the various reasons you might have for speeding, the one I find the most frustrating as a road-user myself are (forgive the stereotyping here), the middle aged men in mercedes and BMWs, who think that getting home that 20 seconds earlier is a just cause for breaking the law. I have a tiny car, and I don't look very imposing either, and so these men most often take advantage and do ridiculous things like overtake you on corners, or overtake on exit sliproads. I understand overtaking on the entry sliproad to the motorway - if it's a busy day then you can make a lot of progress by getting ahead of slower traffic - but not the other way around - it does not save any time at all, and causes a lot of traffic to slam on the breaks due to their speeding to overtake successfully. They pressure you to drive faster and speed yourself by tail-gating - it can be quite frightening.

Speeding is selfish and dangerous. It affects all other road-users as well as pedestrians. (As a college student I once used a zebra crossing only to find a pensioner ACCELERATE to force me out of his way). I think it is one of the worst things you can do as a motorists, and it leads to aggressive driving and road-rage.

I very much liked your post. You have made me think a lot about speeding as 'bad behaviour'.

Comment #2

This comment is for this blog entry.

[http://jeni-f.blogspot.com/2008/04/prostitution-in-relation-to-bad.html]

I thought your observation of Pretty Woman as being 'glamorous' was an interesting one. I'd say it was anything but. The only reason Vivienne gets to live in the penthouse for a week and go to posh polo matches and the opera and get dressed up so beautifully is because she got lucky. At the beginning of the film you can see how difficult her life is - her flatmate Kit steals the money she had been saving for the rent, and uses it for drugs. Vivienne ends up climbing out the window and down the fire escape to avoid her landlord. Similarly, the police are in Hollywood Boulevard where she 'works' because they found a prostitute's body in one of those big trash bin thingies.

I think that this shows that 'glamorous prostitution' is not something you can necessarily decide you want to be. When you're forced into the position of needing to do this for a living, I don't think you get much say in the matter, and as you said it can lead to an awful lot of
problems. But films such as Pretty Woman, and also the now popular diaries of people like 'Belle de Jour' (now a TV drama starring Billie Piper), lead us to believe that there's this classy world of prostitution, if only you have the luck to find yourself there.

Stealing and Piracy

As a sort of weird experiment, I recently asked my mates what the biggest thing they had ever stolen was (if anything). The results were amusing. Aside from quite a few people who had never stolen a thing, the worst anybody seemed to have done was stationery from work, or a couple of quid out of their mum's purse. My only run-in with stealing is I once took an extra Cadbury's hero out of the box on my teacher's desk when I was 12 (you were only meant to take one), and once when I was about 5 I took a penny sweet from our local newsagent, and then cried for about half an hour, overcome as I was by guilt for my petty larceny.

I think either I have really boring and law abiding friends, or they just don't get out much.

This all changed when I asked them if they download stuff from the internet very often. Oh, the number of times I heard "well, that's not really stealing... is it?" that day. Well, yes, it is sometimes. It's an infringement of copyright, and it's also theft if you don't pay for the things you download. I only know two people who use iTunes Music Store to download their music legally. Everyone else uses websites like BitTorrent, LimeWire, and others (it's hard to keep up with what has and hasn't been shut down recently).

Turns out as well that the UK government is going to crack down on it, apparently, by cutting off people's internet connections.

As a side note, I found this statistic from Wikipedia:

"According to a poll, 75% of young voters in Sweden (18-20) support file sharing when presented with the statement:

“

I think it is OK to download files from the Net, even if it is illegal.

”

However, there is a huge debate as to whether the amount of music downloaded is actually having a positive effect on CD sales, due to a lot of music being more accessible. Somehow I don't think it is. And it's not just music. Some friends had downloaded movies as well as music, and also computer software. It's not remotely difficult to do, but it doesn't make it right.

What do you think about downloading illegally?

To finish, have a look at a song about Piracy by Mr 'Weird' Al Yankovich, called 'Don't Download This Song'. You'll love it. (seriously).

Comment #1

This is a response to this entry

[http://beingabadgandalf.blogspot.com/2008/03/since-lecture-on-this-aspect-of-being.html]

I found this to be a really interesting way of looking at the subject. I had a look at the portrayal of masturbation in films too, and so I did a bit more research on the subject. There's bound to be serious masturbation scenes in mainstream cinema, we're just not thinking of them.

Well I discovered this site: [http://sexuality.about.com/od/masturbation/a/masturbation_mo.htm] and unfortunately, half of the serious ones it mentions I've never heard of. Perhaps I just live a sheltered life. However, I didn't think of the masturbation scene from Pleasantville, which is treated very well and you should look up if you've not seen it already.

Thanks for the interesting read!

Playing Hooky

Is it really that bad to skip an occasional class or lecture? I've been thinking about this, and I'm not sure I know the answer.

There's a difference between having to skip one, for say a hospital appointment, or unavoidable circumstances such as an accident in the family or an illness. Then I don't think it's being bad at all, it's just unfortunate circumstances, bad luck, and bad timing. That's definitely not being bad.

However I think it's bad to use one of these as an excuse to skip class for a less than appropriate reason. Say you wanted to go Christmas shopping, so you pretended you had a dentist appointment. That's kind of bad, but it's still your problem. You can admittedly skip all the classes you want - your lecturers won't really care, and the only person you're cheating is yourself. If you keep on doing it, you won't get your student loan any more.

For me, though, I think the worse thing you can do when skipping a class is to not give a reason at all. It would be quite rude if you told the lecturer you'd decided to go to Birmingham for the day instead of going to class, but it's also very rude to not email your seminar leader and tell them why you didn't turn up. (This doesn't hold true for all lecturers, it has to be said, since some of them have no idea who you are).

When I was at secondary school I only ever missed class once, and that was because I had to go to a careers meeting at a local college, and instead of coming straight back to school afterwards, I went home and watched Panic Room with my best friend. We didn't want to go to a Physics lesson. In college I never skipped class, I enjoyed it too much there.

And at university? Only a couple of times, when I've been feeling a bit poorly. But there was that time I decided not to go to 'Being Bad', and instead went to see Frankie Boyle live.

So there's irony for you.

I did a bit of googling on the subject of skipping class and playing hooky, and bizarrely found this website which helps kids play hooky without getting caught so easily. The internet, o how I love it so.

Masturbation

I've been reading other students' blogs on the subject of masturbation, and the general consensus is that we don't talk about it unless it's in a comedic situation, but nobody has actually said what they'd do in a VERY specific situation.

What do you do when you realise someone close to you masturbates regularly? Fortunately I do not speak from experience here, though bizarrely two of my friends have been on the receiving end of this ordeal.

Firstly, Friend A. He is in fact an identical twin. Imagine your horror to walk in to find your identical brother saying hello to his monster. I don't know what would disgust you more - seeing the process, or the fact it's like watching yourself do it in some kind of freakish out-of-body experience.

Of course what made the situation worse is that he told his friends about it. Masturbation in our society is such a taboo subject now, that the only response his friends were capable of giving was that he will be scarred for life, his brother is gross, and that the whole situation is so hilarious that it's a wonder no one got a hernia. There is no other possible response, which is so weird since I suppose most of his (and my) male friends do bash the bishop quite regularly.

You may think it is bad to find your identical twin quoting himself happy, but Friend B will probably need therapy for a while. What happened to him? He found his mom's vibrator. You could argue that he at least didn't find it while it was being deployed, so to speak, but nonetheless, my male friends have treated this as though the sky were falling. It is completely unheard of that somebody's MOM might have sexual needs, and might need to masturbate.

I think this is partly down to the media - off the top of my head, all but one of the female masturbation scenes I can think of are either gross or funny. Look at the girl from "The Forty Year Old Virgin", who masturbates using a shower-head - this probably isn't all that strange, if you worked out how many women have done that at least once in their lives, yet all the blokes I know treated it as if she were putting babies on spikes.

The only scene from a film I can think of which didn't treat female masturbation as something gross, is actually American Pie. The scene where they watch the exchange student via webcam, which is being bad in a whole different way!

I did some very careful googling on the subject and hit upon the weirdest review of American Pie I think I've ever seen, written entirely from the perspective of how sexy this film is and how if you take your girlfriend to see it she'll definitely have sex with you. Read, if you dare.

Smoking et Moi

In Alan's lecture on smoking he asked the students what their association with smoking was, and how it made them feel. Most people said it reminded them of a time in their lives when they were particularly happy, and there were really quite few negative opinions save the man who said it reminded him of family members with illnesses.

My feeling towards smoking is incredible apprehension. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, never taken a drag, and the closest I ever came was walking through the gang of smokers in my 6th form, who used to huddle by the main doors under a tiny strip of roofing.

The reason smoking worries me so much is because my parents would go absolutely spare if they ever caught me doing it. It is an absolute rule in my house, which I don't intend to break. My parents don't smoke, and have never taken more than a drag, and so I can't really argue against them not being good role models.

I've been aware of the dangers since an early age, but recently even the smell of tobacco smoke makes me really quite nervous. This is mainly because of my A-Level French teacher. She used to walk around the back of the room behind each table of French students, and smell us. She could tell just from the way our hair smelt whether we had smoked during the break, or were habitually smoking. Since I often had to walk through the great huddle of emo cigarette smokers, it used to terrify me that she'd think I'd smoked too. Because if she did think you were smoking, you would have to go for "a little chat" in her office, where she repeatedly called you a total plonker.

I'm very glad I'm not a smoker. I don't know how the government expect lessons about the dangers of smoking to help in the long term. They should just get my old French teacher to call you thick until you promise never to touch one again.

American Beauty

I thought I would do a blog on 'bad cinema', and I realised that a film I watched two days ago seriously fits the criteria for some deviant behaviour.

Though American Beauty is set against the background of American suburban life, and the whole idea of 'Martha Stewart living', it deals with themes of sexuality, self-liberation, the use of drugs, inappropriate sexual desires, extra-marital affairs, and suppression. This is all as well as the inevitable murder, but I don't want to ruin the end for you.


If you don't want to know much about the plot of the film, I suggest you stop reading, as there be spoilers from now on.


I'm just going to take a look at the relationship between Lester Burnham, and his daughter's teenage friend Angela. Lester lusts after Angela, and often has erotic dreams about her. He masturbates when thinking about her in the marital bed, and his wife notices. When he overhears Angela say that she would 'totally fuck him' if he worked out a bit, he begins to weight-train obsessively. At one point, he uses his daughter's phone to call Angela and then hang up. This continues throughout the film, with Angela deliberately leading Lester on, knowing that he finds her very attractive. This plot-line ends when Lester finds Angela crying, and attempts to seduce her. Unfortunately for him, at the last minute Angela confesses that she is a virgin, and not the promiscuous cheerleader she has been putting on - Lester cannot bring himself to take her innocence, and so his lusting ends. It's important to note that we never find out how old Angela actually is, so whether or not a sexual relationship with her would have been illegal is slightly vague.

The key attraction for Lester is that Angela projects a promiscuous image; in his dreams she is often naked, but covered in rose petals, and one particular dreams shows her in a bath of rose petals. She then says to Lester "I was hoping you'd give me a bath. I'm very, very dirty." This image of Angela being dirty and sexy is what Lester finds the most attractive about her. The illusion is shattered when she confesses that she is still a virgin, and he realises that although she is beautiful, she is not what he wants. It is then that he becomes protective of her, covering nakedness with a blanket.

This plot-line, for me, is very interesting because both Lester's daughter Jane, and Angela herself, know how much that Lester adores Angela. It is the worst kept secret in the whole film, and yet everyone pretends it is not happening. Angela flirts, but never says out right what she knows to be true, and Jane tries to ignore the whole thing because she is so disgusted. However, it is clear that Lester, though entirely overwhelmed by his lust for Angela, is aware that his choice here is amoral. Possibly because he is married, possibly because Angela is just a teenager, he cannot bring himself to have sex with her when he is perfectly able to. He realises it would not be right to take Angela's virginity, and so becomes a father figure to her instead, making her a snack and wrapping her up a blanket. His paternal instincts return.

The Wikipedia page, and the imdb page for American Beauty, in case you want to find out more.

To finish, let's have a video of the first time Lester (Kevin Spacey) sees Angela (Mena Suvari), and the dream that follows.

The Birth of the Vibrator!

I decided to look at the history of masturbation as regards women. In the lecture we looked a lot at the 'treatment' of self-abuse in men, with all the horrible surgeries and restraints involved. Whilst researching for an interesting point to focus on, I found this website which gives a timeline of masturbatory history, which is an interesting read.

It seems the history of treating women is a lot stranger than the treatment of men, but definitely not as gross. The one part I found particularly interesting, and so researched further, was the treatment for something known as 'Female Hysteria'

The concept of Female Hysteria has been around since ancient times. In ancient Greece there was a myth that says the uterus used to wander around a woman's body strangling her, and causing major health issues. Weird.

In Victorian times it was more widely known as a medical condition related to an excess of sexual tension, one which could cause a huge number of symptoms including: nervousness, insomnia, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food, amongst other things. One doctor noted 75 pages worth of symptoms, while another estimated that 1/4 of all women suffered from Female Hysteria - this is probably on target, considering the amount of symptoms could cover practically anything that was wrong with you.

The treatment for this condition is even stranger. In order to cure a woman of all these terrible afflictions, she would have to undergo 'pelvic massage' to release the sexual tension. Pelvic massage was basically stimulation of the clitoris. Unfortunately for many physicians, it could take an extremely long time for them to do this manually, and so they often had to refer patients to midwives for the task - this lost them a lot of business, until...

The electromechanical vibrator was born! It was introduced in around the late 1800s, and was used to release a patient's sexual tension until she experienced a 'release'. This release was known as 'hysterical paroxysm', or as we know it today, 'an orgasm'.

By the turn of the century, these devices, along with 'hydrotherapy devices' were available at many bathing resorts across Europe, and with the introduction of home electricity vibrators became a consumer market.

And now, of course, we have Anne Summers and the Rampant Rabbits.




Further reading:
Is Hysteria Real? Brain Images Say Yes - New York Times

The Field Trip!

Hello everybody! Welcome to my Transgressive Studies: Being Bad blog.

For the first entry I'm meant to suggest a suitable place for us to go on a field-trip.

Unfortunately I can't seem to think of anything other than going to see a suitably politically incorrect comedian like Jimmy Carr, who is playing the Wolverhampton Civic in March. I looked through all the other shows on at the Civic and while some of them are fairly weird in themselves, the closest anything came to really being 'bad' was probably Brainiac Live. And that's only bad because you're essentially blowing things up gratuitously.

Hope someone else has some good ideas!