Author: Breagha

Book: The Dovekeepers

Author: by Alice Hoffman.

The novel “The Dove keepers,” written by Alice Hoffman is a fictional story based on the historical events of a siege, by the Roman armies, on a mountain in the Judean Desert, Masada in 70 C.E. From this attack two women and five children survived out of the nine hundred Jews that lived in the fortress. The story follows four women Yael, Revka, Aziza and Shirah. We learn from each of these women, their tragedies and triumphs show the readers certain themes that can be seen reflected in real life, or as something that can be taken away to then reflect on. To me some of the more important themes portrayed in the text were, the forcing of maturation of young children in the face of trauma, the place of a woman and her limitations in an oppressive society, and how rebellion of faith lead the women to survive under their circumstances.

Yael, our first story,  is the daughter of an assassin. She killed her mother during childbirth, an act her father resents her for. Her family is forced to travel into the desert due to her home town being overrun by Roman troops. In the desert Yael losses herself, “My girlhood disappeared in the desert. The person I had once been vanished.”  This line shows how she has been forced to mature too soon and how all that she has her belongings, family and her own conflicted soul has been stripped away by the wind, sun and horrific situation. Yael’s journey from timid girl to strong women I thought taught the reader how horrible things can affect us, and how we can grow stronger from them; another example of this is Ellie from “Tomorrow when the war began” who starts off as a regular teenager before she is forced to mature quickly and adapt to her new and life threatening situation. Ellie due to a war appearing on her doorstep, so to speak, she has to take on responsibilities and face grim realities of death and hardships that most would never dream for a child to experience. Much like Yael, Ellie grows, a woman forged from her trauma, stronger but most likely very broken inside. Both cases in the text show the readers the effects that trauma and war can have on children/young adults, people who until this experience have been treated with care and consideration to how they will process each obstacle that comes before them. As we can see in our characters experience, she  is broken completely. Then she dusts herself off and carries on, due to will and grit that she has had to take on; losing her last remnants of adolescents with it. These images are reflected in our own media. In war torn countries, young women and children are often left behind by the men to fight or are the survivors of the ordeals they have faced. Although these adolescents make it out alive, they leave behind memories of a better time with whole families and easy times behind. The way these children deal with this pain can be read through the character of Yael, showing her audience the lasting effects that linger well into adulthood.

The story of Aziza is written to show more of her inner struggle between what she has been brought up as, and now who she is expected to be. Aziza was brought up as a first born son when her mother could not bear one, but when her new younger brother takes her place she is forced back into the ways of the women of her tribe. She is a proud soldier, competent in combat and horse riding due to training in her youth. Aziza’s story, symbolises the struggle women have had throughout history trying to gain equality with men within their societies. This quote here, “Weapons are kept from women, but such a naming suggests that perhaps men fear our talents in war as well as our desire for peace,” showing how Aziza herself knows her competence for the task she is banned to perform. This is an example of how competent women in the workplace of our modern day societies are passed over for jobs, which are then given to men purely due to old ideas; also how jobs allocated to women are deemed as less heroic or enduring, whether it’s charging into battle or as a nurse opposed to being a doctor. Aziza, much like the character Mulan from the disney movie of the same name, transforms herself into a man in order to be put onto the battlefield where she is most useful and knows her skills are necessary; her being there saves the lives of many of her fellow soldiers. Aziza much like many women still are today, is trapped in an identity that was given to her based off religious upbringing and the condemning of women as leaders in societies. I as the reader ultimately learnt through Aziza how sometimes breaking faith and rule is necessary in order to take a place in a society that won’t accept me for a profession until proven otherwise. “Perhaps that meant a woman who was well trained in arms would be the superior warrior, her attention never wavering from her task.”

Another aspect of the book that was particularly interesting to me was the relationship the main characters had to their faith. Religion, in the text, was an all consuming aspect of people’s everyday lives, and as it was the early Judean faith, women were very restricted in what they could do. Yael betrays her faith multiple times, but believes that because of her first sin at birth, her other sins do not matter to their God, whom she believes has already condemned her. Aziza also betrays her faith but only to help her people by using her skills even when they are considered a sin. Revka blames God for what has happen to her family, but cannot turn her back on him, she is hopeful yet for a miracle. Shirah has already been condemned as she is a witch, a woman who has left God and men for her own dark ways, but still she prays for her children and her loved ones, who have not come to be sinners as of yet. The characters are rebellious in their ways by disregarding traditional religious laws to protect themselves and their loved ones, but they never completely abandon their faith. The author uses symbolism throughout the novel; an example of this is the doves the women care for. The doves, in this religion, symbolise femininity and procreation, and example of the women themselves. However in the actual novel the doves are killed by Yael for her own survival, this could symbolise how her femininity has ‘died’ as she is the most untamed of all the women. Also the women defy the rules again by setting free the doves at the end of the story allowing them to fly free, instead of being caught up in the ensuing mass suicide. “We breathed in the bones of our people- their desires, their petty differences, their faith- all martyred, vanishing into the dusky murderous air,” this line shows how the others from the fortress have given themselves up to their God through a mass suicide, and shows the reader how once again the women have rebelled by surviving. The audience can see even more clearly how the women are willing to do anything to protect the people they care about no matter the consequence for themselves by man or by God.

”The Dove keepers,” by Alice Hoffman is I think is poetically written novel, set to teach lessons and inform readers on the horrific events that shape our history and maybe the things we can learn from them. We learn all of this through women who have experienced these things in a trying situation. As an audience I learnt about the cultural and historical significance of the siege of Masada, and how it came to be. The themes discussed are apparent throughout the novel, fundamentally I believe the story is a history lesson on rebellion of faith, female identity and the effects that war harbours.  

Movie: Gone girl(2014) – Cool Girls monologue

Director: David Fincher

“He loved a girl who doesn’t exist. A girl I was pretending to be. The Cool Girl.” The movie, “Gone Girl,” directed by David Fincher tells the tale of a brilliantly insane housewife; who fakes her death and frames her partner. Throughout the film we learn of her motivations for this act, and follow her partner’s, Nick Dunne played by Ben Affleck, bid for innocence, by trying to prove that his wife is alive. Although I found all of this text is striking, an aspect that I found holds a lot of significance is a two minute and twenty second monologue by our spurned housewife, Amy Dunne. Amy Dunne, played by Rosamund Pike, delivers this monologue after her “death” telling her audience about the cool girl persona. There are three parts to this monologue, first Amy tells us what the cool girl is. Secondly she talks about the unfairness of girls changing themselves to become the “Cool Girl” for men, but men never changing for women. Lastly she describes her bitterness when her own husband rejects her when she drops her own long held cool girl persona.

The Cool Girl, in Amy’s words, is the girl that every guys wants and is, ‘not like other girls,’ she is down to watch football and drink beer, she is ‘one of the boys’ while still holding onto the archaic housewife qualities of being beautiful and dotting on her partner. In this scene Amy cuts her long blonde hair short, and dyes it brunette; she sheds her size 2 jeans and spanx and finds a sundress that in the scripts words, “her extra flesh filling it easily.” This transformation of her looks not only seems to act as her disguise while on the run but also accompanies the monologue. This process shows Amy tossing aside her old Cool Girl persona. Typically the “Cool Girl” that springs to my and most likely others’ minds has long blonde hair, a tan and is casual, but classy. Amy cuts her long hair and dyes it brunette discarding this stereotype and she slips into something more comfortable to her body type. “Cool girl likes what he likes and puts him  first and does it all with a  f***ing smile,”  Amy says this last quote while buying junk food and then drinking Coke while driving. She is no longer Cool Girl outwardly, she is shedding the body image that is created around it by eating foods she had never allowed herself before. During the monologue I found it clearly apparent of Amy’s disgust at the idea of Cool Girl, and her own disgust at herself for becoming what she most despises. We see a lot of women like Amy and the ones she frowns upon in real life. In our world, especially in schools, I see women and girls changing themselves and developing new personalities, often as a reflection of their current partner. This can be seen in another text, a Norwegian show called” Skam.” In the first season of this show the main girl character struggles with her self identity and by the end of the season realises that she has no self worth outside of other people’s opinions’ of her, especially her boyfriend’s, seen here in this quote: “I became insecure and desperate, your opinion meant more to me than my own, and that’s not how it should be.”  In Skam the opinion of another is seen as more important, and the main character then decides to find her own opinion of herself before becoming involved with other people. Amy did this herself with Nick, her partner, and we see many girls in media and in life repeating the mistake of changing themselves to be liked; they become the Cool Girl of their man’s dreams, instead of finding themselves. This is an idea that Amy appears in the scene to hate women for, rather than inspiring them to become themselves. Although I strongly agreed with Amy’s monologue and its key ideas, her own reaction to these women and to herself for falling into the ‘Cool Girl’ trap is not a helpful message. Instead I saw it as a way to make women retreat further into the stereotype for fear of being judged by other women like how Amy does to the women she passes while driving. 

The second aspect of Amy’s monologue, talks about a huge double standard that most women face; the fact that it is normally up to the women to change and the men to praise. This idea is not new, we can see as far back as the 1800s when finishing schools started up to teach women the ways in which they must behave in order to attract a husband. In the text this double standard is not taken so formally, but rather in more subtle means seen in Amy’s quote here, “I waited years for the pendulum to swing the other way, for men to read Jane Austen and make out with  each other while we leer. And then we’d say, yeah, he’s a cool guy.” Amy leans to the more teenage girl ways where this double standard is obvious, before she and most women settle for the idea that the men aren’t going to act like women do, or get judged in the same way. There is often the double standard that for two girls to make out men will leer and encourage it, while being disgusted at the idea of two men committing the same act. Amy briefly mentions reading Jane Austen, hinting from her face that this female written, female lead book would not peak the interest of many boys. Her last remark of the quote, “ And then we’d say, yeah, he’s a cool guy.” takes us back to her point, Amy is done with the Cool Girl idea, she is done with the men in her life not facing the same stigma, and she is done with how early this idea is placed upon girls at a unreasonably young age. Lastly we see from her extreme actions that she is willing to throw away all that was once attached to the Cool Girl that Amy was in order to be reborn as her own person.

I believe that the most powerful part of this whole monologue scene is the last quarter or so. This is because it is the raw emotion of Amy describing her pain at being rejected by the one she loved. Amy reveals to the audience the problems they had in their marriage, the loss of both their jobs, Amy’s parents financial problems and then, them having to move into the countryside, and finally Nick’s affair: “Then he dragged me, penniless, to the navel of the country and found himself a newer, younger, easier Cool Girl.” Amy is very clearly bitter about how she has been treated in her marriage, and at herself for allowing herself to come down so low from her own standards for Nick. The final straw of the two’s broken marriage is when Amy sees that when she decided to drop her persona even a little, Nick does not love what he sees, and goes out finding a, “younger, bouncier Cool Girl,” in Amy’s words. This is a representation of how most affairs begin in marriages. One partner becomes bored or falls out of love with their significant other; in most cases it is due to their S.O becoming someone that cannot  love anymore due to appearance or internal values. When Nick finally sees who Amy is he doesn’t love her anymore. She’s not the “Cool Girl” he told his friends about and that loves everything he does and doesn’t challenge him too much. So he starts an affair with a different woman, someone more attractive, younger and as the text portrays not as intellectual as his Wife. This is what sparks Amy’s revenge, and what can destroy a lot of relationships in our real lives. Amy finishes her monologue by saying how she thinks of their marriage as a game, one that she is losing: “You think I would let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No. Never. He doesn’t get to f***ing win.” A lesson viewers can take away from this aspect of the monologue is at least that a marriage based off false identities, and where the love for one partner greatly outweighs the other is not particularly healthy or the love will not be long lasting. I took away from this scene that the reasons stated above can be the reasons for a lot of the failed marriages and terrible relationships that I see in media and in daily life. 

This text, “Gone Girl,” is extremely evocative through its entirety, but the “Cool Girl” monologue is the most one of the most renowned scenes in the movie and also in the book. This is due to the ideas expressed by Amy and what the audience learns not only about Amy’s opinions, but also as a reflection of pushed societal behaviour.  We as the audience see Amy visually break free, and renounce her Cool Girl title as she carries out extremely non-feminine acts. But from her speech I think we learn the most. She reflects on how our society allows for the pressure on women to change in order to suit men’s fantasies, rather than becoming someone we approve of ourselves. In conclusion this monologue is famous for a reason, It shows women, the taboo subjects and daily rituals of changing themselves for others and the darker connotations that can accompany it. I also think it begins a conversation about how our external should reflect the internal, teaching us how sometimes valuing the opinions of others, above our own can lead to extreme actions.

Book: Lolita   

Author: Vladimir Nabokov

The story of Lolita is a famous one. It is the romanticised tale of a pedaphile, although many seem to ignore this little fact. Readers have fallen in love with the characters and with the often swaying writing ability of our author, Russian American novelist, Vladimir Nabokov. Written in 1955 the book is known for its controversy, however, it has still achieved undeniable success being adapted into a film twice: as well as numerous numerous stage productions. I would like to review the implorable actions of our main character, Humbert. Humbert, and the writing of the character Lolita. Also how communities in the text allow for the sexualisation, and objectification of young girls and women as a whole in the text and in our own world. Personally I find this text hard to read due to the underlying context I will further discuss, and because of the way in which the writing allows for the excuse of the actions of Humbert. 

Our storyline follows as such, our protagonist Humbert.Humbert describes his life before his incarceration, firstly his failed marriage to a Russian woman in France, to a run in with an underage prostitute. This event leads him on to see that his “urges” towards young girls for sexual pleasure are what he really wishes for. After having two mental breakdowns, putting him in an asylum ( These episodes are skipped over quickly in the text). Humbert then moves to America to live with a family as a boarder. He arrives to find that the family he ends up staying with has a twelve year old girl, whom which he becomes infatuated with and gives the secret nickname of “Lolita.” Humbert later goes on to kidnap Lolita, following the death of her mother, and they start a sexual relationship while road tripping across the US; they are always on the run to avoid suspicion about their relationship. Our story ends with Humbert incarcerated for the murder of a man whom had tried to employ Lolita, now fourteen, in a porn film. Humbert describes how he found out Lolita has died in childbirth at the age of seventeen, and finally we learn how Humbert himself has died a couple of months later, still believing in his own innocence of taking away Lolita’s.

Our narrator, I will not say protagonist as that implies a hero aspect to this character who I believe to be disgusting, for this text is Humbert. Humbert. A man in his early thirties who has had two mental breakdowns and one failed marriage, he is also a pedophile. Humbert masquerades as a gentleman, kind, smart and respectable in every sense of the word. The people he surrounds himself with, are those who can adore him while never glimpsing what’s below the shallow facade that he has built: “ But in our middle-class nosy era it would not have come off the way it used to in the brocaded palaces of the past” I thought that this quote gleaned to the reader Humbert’s real thoughts on the society he lives in. His abhorrent actions are narrated by himself in the story, giving only an sugarcoated account of his own doings. As the reader we soon learn that we must take every memory of his with a pinch of salt; because with Humbert things are never as then seem, often far darker than what they are written as. Vladimir Nabokov, has said in interviews that he doesn’t agree with the actions of his own character, and that he wrote Humbert as a challenge, a person so far removed from himself that he could allow his imagination to roam. Humbert charms those he meets and tries to also charm his reader. This has worked for many fans of the novel who have defended his actions, claiming Humbert to be the victim of this story instead of the predator that even Nabokov has stated Humbert is. From Humbert we learn how even the most charming of people can have a darker side, and to be weary of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

While reading the text I found that the writing of the character Lolita is done in such a way, that shows how our narrator, Humbert, has stripped away Lolita as a person. Lolita’s real name is Dolores Haze, she is a girl of twelve years when she meets Humbert, and like many young girls develops a small crush. This is all normal behaviour of a troublesome twelve year old, but this innocent development is not how Dolores is portrayed in the text. To Humbert, and as presented to us the readers, she is Lolita; the “nymphet” of Humbert’s dreams, and to him, shows her eagerness to become involved. The reality of the situation is skewed by Humbert, so that Lolita is seen as more of a woman than she is, more ready for a relationship with a man, more ready to be Humberts, and that all that is stopping her is the society she lives in. To me, the obvious reality is that she is a vulnerable child, susceptible to outside influence, as such from Humbert:“nothing could make my Lolita forget the foul lust I had inflicted upon her.” Vladimir Nabokov seems to have written this way on purpose, Dolores loses her identity when she renamed Lolita, she becomes everything that Humbert imagines, giving the reader no other guide as to the actual events or actions of Dolores other than how Humbert perceives them to be. Elizabeth Janeway from the The New York Times Book Review describes this behaviour with this quote: “Humbert is every man who is driven by desire, wanting his Lolita so badly that it never occurs to him to consider her as a human being, or as anything but a dream-figment made flesh.” As that is what Lolita becomes, a dream made flesh. She is not a real person, she is a figment of Humbert’s pleasure driven imagination, he even admits that Lolita was a creation of his own making in this quote here: “In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child.” Dolores is the reality, one that Humbert changes for his own desires.  Dolores is essentially written out of the story. She only exists in the text when other characters are also in the scene with her, she is never Dolores when alone or with Humbert, she is Lolita then. Dolores’ humanity is stolen from her, as is her innocence, at the hands of Humbert. Ultimately I learnt from Dolores situation the importance of hearing two sides of every story. For without the whole picture, actions can be called into question and some key motivations and evidence can be blanked over completely.

One of the main themes of this text is the sexualisation of a young girl. This type of theme is apparent in a large amount of  modern and classic texts, ranging from movies and songs to comics and books. In “ Lolita” this girl is Dolores. She is sexualised by Humbert, and his actions towards her are ignored by the society of Ramsdale, Dolores’ own mother, and the others of the communities that the two travel to while on the run. Our own real life society has allowed for Dolores sexualisation, by defending Humbert and also by coining the novel’s name “Lolita” to refer to child like women, dolls, and also to young girls who are interpreted by adults to be more explicit than others their own age. An example of this can be seen in the “Lolita” fashion trend. This is where, woman primarily, dress in doll-like or childlike clothing to appear cute. These costumes are however, often sexualised in some form with very short skirts, extremely low necklines or skimpy stockings. This example shows how our societies, even in the 21st century, are allowing for the sexualistation of young girls or images associated with young girls, and passing it off as normal behaviour to do so. This is a form of objectification as well, where the women in these texts are not often viewed as people but as an object of beauty of pleasure for the other characters for us, the consumers, to enjoy and the expense of the image we are creating of the women and girls in the texts. Lolita is almost always written objectively, seen here in this quote, “I seldom if ever dreamed of Lolita as I remembered her — as I saw her constantly and obsessively in my conscious mind during my daymares and insomnias.” This novel shows objectification and sexualisation in a very raw form, everything is a male perspective and one driven by pleasure. Fundamentally I think this novel should have been a warning against the culture we have created around the name, maybe Nabokov even intended it to be written as one, but the point that has come across to readers is that the vulnerability of a young girl can be ignored in some cases in the pursuit of romantic interest. A troubling conclusion coming to life, through a a piece of literature that I believe has almost single handedly become the excuse for this behaviour. 

The novel of “Lolita,” written by Vladimir Nabokov, tells the romanticised tale of the loss of innocence of a young girl at the hands of a charming gentleman. As a novel I thought the writing was poetic and brilliant at persuading the reader into condoning the acts of the predator. Narrated by the predator himself the novel twists our ideas of what is and isn’t allowed in society, but the author leaves hints as to tell the reader to tread carefully; seeing if we will find the signs that the bystanders of the story miss.  I want to believe that Nabokov tries to show the readers the way in which Dolores becomes Lolita, how she is written out of her own story and how the signs of a predator are missed by so many that could have saved her; but from what has come from this novel I am not so sure as to Nabokov’s stance on his characters actions. As the readers we learn these things, as well as get an insight into how this writing style can lead some to miss the point entirely. People have gone onto praise a novel not for raising awareness but for the tale itself and the gentleman at the wheel. In conclusion, this novel shows the objectification of women and young girls from a young age, that has started to teach societies in and out of the novel that it’s okay to sexualise a girl at whatever her age, and that some will still not see her as the victim. And for me that is more than reason enough to want to forget this book entirely, for its original message I believe will never be heard by the colossal fan base this novel has created around itself. 

Interview: Women In The world Talk ( Cara Delevingne )

Cara Delevingne: The new “it” girl of fashion, known for her brows and her beauty. I, along with thousands, thought her the same as every other model; some skinny girl used and abused by the fashion industry, to sell us things we don’t need, and to promote an image unattainable to most. However, I found her talk in “Women In The World” both enlightening and surprising. Cara discusses her own mental health issues and her belief that society needs to treat mental illness in the same manner as a physical illness. One of the main points of Cara’s discussion was that, when some one is told repeatedly that they are not tall enough, not skinny enough, not smart enough, that this equates to them not being ‘good enough’ as a person. That we, as women and girls, need to aim higher in our views of ourselves and what we can achieve. I thought that these points were spoken about with passion and insight also coincided with my own views of how women can indeed do far more than we are shown to by media portrayals, making an interesting presentation and Cara has the makings of a new role model for all the right reasons.

Cara’s point about women and girls needing ‘to aim higher’ rings very true to me; in her own words “ just dream bigger, go for president, just keep going up, become an astronaut.” Statistics show that until ages of 11-13, girls love science and maths just as much as the boys, and have dreams to pursue careers like medicine and space travel. However, the percentage of girls following these science-based subjects continues to drop as girls grow older, with only about 30% of young girls (11-15 years) wanting careers based from stem subjects. The girls’ aspirations change from becoming a doctor to modelling, becoming a professional ‘youtuber’, chasing the Hollywood movie-star life or trying to break into the music industry. These are not not bad careers, and if you love to sing and act and design clothes, then I believe you should go for it. However, the staggering number of girls trying to look like models and developing eating disorders has risen, particularly as a result of the ‘media-consuming’ younger generations. Images presented to us, the youth, give distorted images of bodies and how we should view ourselves; leaving detrimental effects to mental and physical health when these are taken to the extremes in the form of anorexia or bulimia to achieve such goals. Cara’s comments, such as this “we witness these extreme experiences which happen to women; suppression among other things. But really that happens everyday, we’re just used to it. In the workplace, relationships,” focuses on the imbalance in work for women and men in industries, and how this affects the amount of young women heading into these types of work. This allowed me to better understand the way media shapes our perspective of how representation of women in the media really does affect the decisions of younger girls.

Cara talks about how society continues to feed girls and boys the image of the Perfect Woman; she has a job and a family, while still holding onto a youthful beauty. She is clever, well read and funny. Boys are fed the ideal that a successful man has a good career, is a good looking partner (with six-pack and muscle definition), an involved father, while being sporty and clever, who keeps his attractiveness as he ages. In Cara’s own words, “we are told that if we are beautiful, if we are skinny, if we’re successful or famous that if everybody loves us…then we will be happy.” Even in the movie industry the majority of directors, producers and screenwriters are male. As for actresses, they expect to have a nude or semi-nude scene, they don’t have many inspiring leading roles and in general, their costume design is simply created for sex appeal. An example of this can be found in ‘superhero movies’. Superheroes such as Batman and Superman have tight fitting outfits that would be practical for all the stunts and fighting they have to do; but when we look at Superwoman, who does all the same stunts, she wears a leotard with no practical breast support , a full face of makeup and doesn’t even have her long hair tied back. Honestly, what girl with long hair tries to fight crime with her hair down? These kinds of images are what we are showing children. The heroic muscular man and the pretty petite girl, doing the same job but portrayed in a very different manner. These kinds of images and the general depiction of women in the media, demonstrates the inequality of women in the workplace. I believe that something needs to change. Girls and women need role models such as Helen Clark, Aung San Suu Kyi, Marie Curie, Malala Yousafzai and Cara Delevingne. These women lead by example excelling in their fields of work as humanitarians, politicians, Writers and chemists. Inspiring girls to aim higher than the superficial level of making money based on a fake face and body.

Another point in Cara Delevingne’s talk that I found incredibly important, is that we are constantly told we are not good enough.  From 2010 to 2016, we have seen an upward trend in youth suicide and suicide attempts. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of teen suicide in the world. People turn to self-harm and suicide for many reasons, but it can linked to low self-esteem. Low self-esteem can manifest itself in many ways, but most often in emotional pain. Leading to a lot of youth to take this internal pain and turn it into external physical pain as a  coping mechanism. This issue with low self esteem can be deeply affected by society’s underlying expectations and messages that are sub-consciously promoted by family and friends, and almost subliminally by the media. As I have previously stated, the media pushes a very specific image, or mould, that very few of us fit, causing people to believe that they and the people around them, should fit into that mould also. In present day society more and more girls and young women are developing mental illnesses such as eating disorders, and more and more boys and young men are committing suicide. Cara talks about her own struggle with self -harm and depression saying, “ At that point, all I wanted was for someone to stop me… and no one did”.  This is the sad reality of a lot of cases. People want to talk, to be listened to without judgement; youth especially, need us (parents, friends, media etc.) to tell them they are good enough. Also, in Cara’s words, “mental illnesses and depression are nothing to be ashamed of,” – this is true as well. I think mental illness should have the exact same treatment as physical ailments; it’s something most people can’t control and help should be sought from a health provider. Just like physical illnesses, we need the people around us to give open support and help until we are better: whether they just empathise, are the ones who call for help, or who they are there just to listen to help you get everything off your chest. To finish off her point on mental illness, Cara says, “ it’s about finding people around you who have your best interest at heart,” . I agree wholeheartedly: Why live a life, acquaintances with everybody, but good friends with none? The message I took from Cara here was, to surround yourself with people who will love and support you through thick and thin, people who have your best interests at heart.

In conclusion, I found this talk by Cara Delevingne incredibly interesting and enlightening on more than a few topics. She surprised me with her openness and her obvious desire for a better future for the next generation of women. I especially liked Cara’s points on mental health stigmas, and inequality, as an issue that many women continue to fight for today: I was so glad to see someone with such a vastly large platform as Cara does, using it to promote a healthier view of women and using her representation where it matters. I agree that girls should not grow up ashamed of their bodies from societal expectations, and girls should be able to ‘reach for the stars’ with no restrictions from themselves or society-imposed ideals.