Your comment about ticking clocks also had me reflecting. I endured a rather challenging childhood thanks to an alcoholic stepfather. I've come to realise that when things were particularly awful, it was the ticking of the clock in the lounge, or if I'd managed to escape to my room, my cuckoo clock, that kept me going. If I could just focus on the ticking, and shut out everything else, I know that the passing seconds with each tick would carry me through and out the other side.
I'm the same now if I have a down day, or am facing challenges. The ticking is my grounding, my stability, my liminal space in time, I suppose.
Interesting how the exact same sound evokes such equally strong, yet opposing, sentiments.
That's fascinating, it makes sense to have had that kind of connection with a signifier of consistency and order when life became chaotic. There's something both comforting and terrifying about time carrying us away from what's happening at the present moment. It makes sense that your reaction depends on how much you want the present to pass! Thanks for sharing, Fran.
I don't know how you keep doing it but this is another ace piece. Your exploration of Botany Manor was a real pleasure to read. I appreciated how you brought the game’s atmosphere to life, particularly the eerie, melancholy feel. The historical context you wove into Arabella’s story, linking her experiences with real-world pioneers like Elizabeth Phillips Hughes, was fascinating and added valuable perspective.
I wonder what the full picture of their justification was. It's very easy to say they were just sexist meanies. But society didn't have anything like the resources back then. The women's colleges didn't have the staff they do today, thus couldn't justify a full degree. It would have been seen as selfish. My traditionalist grandmother would have been the first to vote against this.
She wouldn’t have considered it fairness. She was a communist having collectivistic values, she thought it would be denying a man a place, impoverishing society as men were breadwinners then. And unfair to make an exception for the queen mother.
-I want to make it clear this is not my stance. My values are individualist. But I don’t like to see feminists who have no idea of the nuance.
I think you’re missing the point that they were already at the university, already at colleges that had been specially built for women, already using the same resources and already sitting the same exams - they just weren’t being given formal recognition for their achievements. A bit like if you learned how to drive and passed your test but the instructor turned around and said ‘I’m sorry, brunettes aren’t allowed to be awarded licenses’ and denied you your qualification. It’s quite bizarre that you’ve avoided entirely all the evidence that this is about prejudice (the whole rioting/effigy burning bit), which is what Cambridge itself says about its history in the video I shared… but I wish you well on your quest to educate us silly little women of the internet!
Doing granny's work! I just want you to think, real education is considering every argument and position, playing devils advocate, finding occult knowledge. Rioting only proves they felt strongly about something, not why. Bear in mind these would have been the most liberal men in the country. And it's the first university to admit women.
...and the last to award them degrees. As I said, I'm repeating the narrative that the University of Cambridge itself espouses based on an understanding of its own history as evidenced in the video I shared. If you have new evidence to suggest that prejudice against women was not a motivating factor in burning effigies of female students and attacking female colleges, feel free to send it along, I'm sure Cambridge will be fascinated to hear it!
I don't play online games, but your description of this makes me wish I did. And I love the reference to Edward Gorey!
PS It's not always easy to be a female Beatles scholar, either. Those original Beatles writers, all male, do not always appreciate a "girl" getting her hands on "their" story...
I think you may find this book interesting - written by a friend. Definite echoes.
https://misswillmottsghosts.com/
Oooh looks awesome, thanks Fran!
Your comment about ticking clocks also had me reflecting. I endured a rather challenging childhood thanks to an alcoholic stepfather. I've come to realise that when things were particularly awful, it was the ticking of the clock in the lounge, or if I'd managed to escape to my room, my cuckoo clock, that kept me going. If I could just focus on the ticking, and shut out everything else, I know that the passing seconds with each tick would carry me through and out the other side.
I'm the same now if I have a down day, or am facing challenges. The ticking is my grounding, my stability, my liminal space in time, I suppose.
Interesting how the exact same sound evokes such equally strong, yet opposing, sentiments.
That's fascinating, it makes sense to have had that kind of connection with a signifier of consistency and order when life became chaotic. There's something both comforting and terrifying about time carrying us away from what's happening at the present moment. It makes sense that your reaction depends on how much you want the present to pass! Thanks for sharing, Fran.
I don't know how you keep doing it but this is another ace piece. Your exploration of Botany Manor was a real pleasure to read. I appreciated how you brought the game’s atmosphere to life, particularly the eerie, melancholy feel. The historical context you wove into Arabella’s story, linking her experiences with real-world pioneers like Elizabeth Phillips Hughes, was fascinating and added valuable perspective.
Thank you so much Jon, I always enjoy your articles!
I wonder what the full picture of their justification was. It's very easy to say they were just sexist meanies. But society didn't have anything like the resources back then. The women's colleges didn't have the staff they do today, thus couldn't justify a full degree. It would have been seen as selfish. My traditionalist grandmother would have been the first to vote against this.
Cambridge made a handy video explaining why, despite passing the same exams, women were not granted degrees for decades. It was prejudice, I’m afraid: a number of male students protested the women’s petition and burnt an effigy caricaturing a female student. They later smashed the gates of Newnham college “It’s a real act of symbolic intimidation.” I’m sorry to hear your grandmother was against fairness in education! https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/news/women-cambridge-womens-struggle-education#:~:text=Women%20at%20Cambridge%3A%20Women's%20struggle%20for%20education,-Cambridge%20University%20Library&text=In%201869%2C%20Girton%20College%20became,British%20University%20to%20do%20so.
She wouldn’t have considered it fairness. She was a communist having collectivistic values, she thought it would be denying a man a place, impoverishing society as men were breadwinners then. And unfair to make an exception for the queen mother.
-I want to make it clear this is not my stance. My values are individualist. But I don’t like to see feminists who have no idea of the nuance.
I think you’re missing the point that they were already at the university, already at colleges that had been specially built for women, already using the same resources and already sitting the same exams - they just weren’t being given formal recognition for their achievements. A bit like if you learned how to drive and passed your test but the instructor turned around and said ‘I’m sorry, brunettes aren’t allowed to be awarded licenses’ and denied you your qualification. It’s quite bizarre that you’ve avoided entirely all the evidence that this is about prejudice (the whole rioting/effigy burning bit), which is what Cambridge itself says about its history in the video I shared… but I wish you well on your quest to educate us silly little women of the internet!
Doing granny's work! I just want you to think, real education is considering every argument and position, playing devils advocate, finding occult knowledge. Rioting only proves they felt strongly about something, not why. Bear in mind these would have been the most liberal men in the country. And it's the first university to admit women.
...and the last to award them degrees. As I said, I'm repeating the narrative that the University of Cambridge itself espouses based on an understanding of its own history as evidenced in the video I shared. If you have new evidence to suggest that prejudice against women was not a motivating factor in burning effigies of female students and attacking female colleges, feel free to send it along, I'm sure Cambridge will be fascinated to hear it!
I don't play online games, but your description of this makes me wish I did. And I love the reference to Edward Gorey!
PS It's not always easy to be a female Beatles scholar, either. Those original Beatles writers, all male, do not always appreciate a "girl" getting her hands on "their" story...
Scared of the competition, perhaps?
that and that when you look closer, the story isn’t quite what all those male writers would wish for it to be.
And of course, the fault is ours for pointing that out, not theirs for making the error in the first place.
By Georgette, I think she's got it. 😎
Intriguing!
Thank you, Elijah!