Despite the prevailing notion that people are expected to treat media such as TV and computers in a different way to how they treat real people and places, the article ‘medial equation’ surprisingly pointed out that the interaction with media is identical to real social relationships.

In terms of interpersonal space, the article, by citing experiments, concludes that evaluations of people in pictures is more intense when the faces seem close, attention and memory were also enhanced when pictures seemed close. At first glance, I feel sceptical about the research result, were the memories of those subjects reliable, will their different personal backgrounds affect their evaluation, and is it likely that some of the faces in the pictures are more attractive by nature so that they leave a deeper impression?

However, my scepticism was soon dissipated because of the rigor of the experiments. Just as the author mentions, “people have a primitive interest in the physical arrangements that define an interaction, and they respond automatically even to pictures.”

Although we may feel reluctant to admit, we are, in most cases, unconsciously applying the rules in real life interaction to human-media interaction. Furthermore, the finding has a profound implication on TV speech or presentation. Watching TV or a video is totally different from reading a book or newspaper. The former can be regarded as hot media which is low in participation while the latter leaves more room for readers to imagine. Since more attention will be paid to the physical presence of the speaker than his words when he is making a speech on TV, by moving closer to the camera with gestures or body language, the speaker will be remembered better by viewers and hence, leave a deeper impression.

Never before have I thought that “media can equal real life”. Perhaps human beings are simpler than we have imagined. Some people may repeatedly argue that media has no emotion while humans do, yet we actually apply the same rules in interaction with emotional humans as we do to interaction with emotionless media in an unconscious and ineffable way. With the rapid development of new media, it is hard to imagine what the future world will be like. Perhaps one day when you get up, you will be surprised to find you are chatting with your laptop instead of your wife!

So what exactly is a geisha? Well the Japanese Kanji 芸 (gei) and 者(sha) literally translated would be ‘performing artist’. In Kyoto, geisha are also known as geiko, differentiated from maiko who are apprentice geisha and in training to become the real thing.

One common misconception is that (all) geisha are prostitutes. This association undoubtedly lies in the history of the ‘entertainment’ industry in Japan. Before the 18^th century the rich and elite solicited courtesans for sexual pleasures (their wives were mothers and ran the home). These courtesans were found in certain districts or ‘pleasure quarters’ as designated by the shogunate of the time. Only licensed courtesans could work here, and they danced, entertained and pleasured their male visitors.

Some courtesans eventually progressed to becoming specialized in traditional dances, music and performance. They purely offered classic forms of entertainment; sex was no longer on the cards. This is where the geisha came from. They became extremely skilled in their chosen arts, for example playing the shamisen, or calligraphy. Essentially, then, the geisha’s skills could only be paid for by the elite, as such specialized entertainment was not only expensive but also exclusive as connections were needed to even be able to make a booking.

Geisha start their training young, in the past this could have been from the age of 5, but now the minimum age is 13. At least the individual can choose whether this is the path they choose for their lives. Training is demanding and all consuming- not for the faint of heart. Some women even decided to start their training in adult hood. Maiko are the apprentice geiko, and learn the skills required in the traditional and complex ceremonies of greeting customers, serving tea, wearing kimono and entertaining.  Becoming a fully fledged geiko can take years of studying, watching and learning.

The makeup, hairstyles and clothing worn by the maikos and geikos are beautiful to behold. The intricate hair designs, white make up and exquisite silk kimonos in an array of colours are uniquely Japanese. The world surrounding the life of a geisha has long been surrounded in mystery, and only visible to the elite few who could afford their services. Now they are slightly more visible, and you no longer need the complicated connections to be able to make a booking. Let’s hope that the tradition doesn’t die out and that the classic image of female beauty remains ingrained in Japanese culture for years to come.

I can probably see where their objections may stem from, but it is important to remember that this book does not question or even aim to approach the topic of male and female equality, it looks at the differences between the sexes and those even the ardent feminist would need to acknowledge.

Discussions with friends and colleagues have not thrown up any startling differences in opinion on this topic. The notion of the man in his cave and the women with her “Jim’ll fix it” hat are common in any household all over the world. Maybe I am being too much of a generalist here, but being a girl, how many times have you had a problem and talked to your  boyfriend about it only to be bombarded with several practical solutions to a simple issue that it upsetting you, and then how many of you have, knowing that the solution is indeed simple still wanted to carry on with your rant? For me, it’s very true, when I have a problem I don’t necessarily always want it solved, I just need some supportive nods, a rub on the back, some words of encouragement, is that too much to ask?

On the other hand, when my boyfriend has a problem and shuts down, retreating into his cage I have to try my utmost not to follow him in there with a torch and hammer. I see him upset and I want to fix it, that’s only natural when faced with the problems of a loved one, but he wants to take some time out and deal with it himself, if he needs my help then he will undoubtedly ask for it!

So you see the concept is simple. Gray does not tell any of us anything radical or thought changing, he says the obvious, but by saying so forces us to acknowledge it instead of glossing over it. It forces us to reconsider how we interact with not just the opposite sex, but people of the same sex too.

The use of men and women in this book I feel is designed to bring forward two traditionally separate entities and highlight how they can understand each other better. However, many of us have male and female friends/family/colleagues that display characteristics and traits that might be considered typical of the opposite sex. This does not make the book sexist, it is our understanding that would make it sexist. The key is to look at the bigger picture here, to see male and female characteristics in Gray’s book as x and y whose traditional traits can be applied interchangeably to other men and women in our daily lives.

In that sense I think this is a fantastic book, it has definitely made a difference in the way I approach situations, not just with the opposite sex, but with fellow females too.

What Is Causing The Slut versus Stud Debate?

Listen in to a conversation that men are having.  How often do they describe their latest conquests?  How often will you hear them say some girl they were with was “easy”?  But why is she classed as easy, when it takes two to tango and the man was equally involved in sleeping with her?  Why is it okay for men to be proud of their sexual exploitations, when women are not allowed to be?  How often do you hear a woman have the same conversation?  Probably never, right?

Look at yourself and be honest.  Watch a programme such as Friends or Two and a Half Men, where at least one of the male characters has many different women.  Joey in Friends for example, or Charlie in Two and a Half Men.  They show up with different women all the time and these women are depicted in such a way as to make them look like sluts, dumb bimbos and clueless, silly girls.  However, we all like Joey and Charlie from these series, don’t we?  Whether you are a man or a woman, it is likely that you will watch these programmes and be highly amused.

Sluts or Studs

So what is the answer to this debate?  Any rational being will know that there should be equality between men and women and that if they behave in the same manner, they should be treated the same way.  So, should we call them all sluts, or should we call them all studs?

Biologically speaking, it is argued on very regular occasions that we are not a monogamous species, particularly the men who feel the need to reproduce.  Women have the same need and hence also need frequent sexual partners.  However, we are not cavemen (and cave women) anymore, so does this argument still fly?  Each should be left to their own, but we do need to be realistic about such issues as sexually transmitted diseases and the fact that low self esteem often appears as a result of sexual promiscuity.  So sluts or studs?  The answer is probably sluts…

The question, perhaps, should be more centred around why anybody feels the need to have this many sexual partners.  The second question would be why there is still such inequality between men and women.  Women in this day and age feel more empowered by the waves of feminism that have preceded them, but this seems to make them think it is okay to be a slut.  Was this the point of feminism?  Was equality between men and women meant to mean that each could sleep with the same amount of people?  Or did feminists fight to have equality in a relationship where both parties respect each other?  You decide…

The stark contrast in cultures is alarming. When Ford first invented the motor car there were fears that it would give youngsters too much freedom and lead to, amongst other things,  more sex, but this was a few decades ago. To think that now, in the 21^st century, women drivers in Saudi Arabia are thought to bring about the end of virgins in the Islamic kingdom is a bit of a stretch for most people’s imagination.

When I first got behind the wheel, as far as I can remember, I don’t think the first thing I wanted to do was to go and have sex, or become a lesbian or watch porn, and had I been married I don’t think that I would have had the sudden urge to seek out a lawyer for a divorce settlement, but then I’m talking from a vantage point in the future. As much as I try to take myself back to the mindset of a 17 year old girl though, I still fail to understand the basis of the Saudi policies in this regard. These policies are built on the very assumptions about females that seem absurd to most readers today.

So when in the UK women are being praised for their driving abilities I think it really is something to be proud of. It may surprise you to know that female drivers are appreciated the world over and nowhere more so than here in Shanghai where I am based at the moment.

Take for instance my journey home from the weekly quiz last night. It was, in the very least, extraordinarily smooth and unremarkable. I didn’t clutch onto the door handle when we approached traffic lights and I didn’t even hold my breath when we rounded sharp, pedestrian infested corners. If I had forgotten that the person in the driver’s seat was a woman it certainly came screeching back soon enough. When a male driver pulled out hurriedly in front of us she was sharp and alert enough to manoeuvre her taxi into a safe position, without a rude gesture or curse insight.

In my mind at least, the concept of the “woman driver” as being slow, careless and clueless has been largely dispelled. It is almost endearing when a man curses the driver in front with the all too familiar tag line: “must be a woman” only to find that it is a man.

That said, it would be wrong of me to gloss over all women as excellent drivers and all men as their wretched counterparts. It would be nice though if men and women could see beyond gender separations and distinctions and look at one another as just human beings with individual traits and flaws, distinct to their nurture rather than their nature.

The Pay Gap

The Equal Pay Act came into force in the United Kingdom some 40 odd years ago, but it seems this has not changed the fact that men and women still receive unequal pay.  There is some positive news, however, that shows that the average salary of women has gone up by around 0.3%.  However, the difference in pay between men and women still stands at around 19.9%.  This pay difference is seen even more severely in overtime pay.  Around a quarter of men who work full time also get overtime pay, whereas only around 12% of women in this situation receive the same.

Many people counter argue that these statistics are flawed because women receive maternity pay when they are not actually “working” (although many would argue that taking care of a child is more than a full time job) and that a large amount of women work part time.  Even if we readjust the statistics to take this into account, women still earn around 10% less than men.

Why Is There A Pay Gap Between Men and Women?

Some people say that the pay gap between men and women doesn’t exist in reality, and that it doesn’t look at equal pay for equal jobs.  According to the anti-pay gap existence movement, women earn less than men overall rather than on a job per job basis.  Because women tend to opt for careers that are on the lower earning scale – jobs such as teachers, nurses and counsellors – they will always earn less than men.  Hence, according to these statistics, the issue lies not in discrimination but in lifestyle choices.

Some go so far as to say that there is no pay gap at all and that if the rate of pay between men and women in the same jobs was compared this would be proven.  Their argument is that salaries are set in advance and that there can be no fluctuation between men and women for the same job.  This may be true for jobs in the local government and other organisations that have pay scales, but it certainly is not true for many jobs in the private sector.  Have one look at a job advertisement in a local paper that states pay is between two amounts per hour – depending on skills and experience.  This is where the pay gap really arises, with women being scaled in much lower than men.

Solutions

So what can be done about this?  Perhaps a new wave of feminism is needed to once again bring this to the attention of the public.  Certainly some statisticians that look into what the pay gap actually is and where it is most prevalent are needed.  Only by having exact data can the real cause be identified and can real solutions be found.

Everyone has different voice timbres; some voices are sweet and mellow, while others can be annoying and distracting. Some people believe that through a person’s voice, one can determine their attitude and physical size.

Recent research has investigated a number of ‘external’ pieces of information available in voices. It has shown that the sound of a man’s voice reveals his masculinity, overall health, age, emotional state, fighting ability, and upper body strength.

A team of researchers at the University of California recorded the voices of more than 200 men from the U.S, Argentina, Bolivia, and Romania. Researchers collected voice samples from participants originating from a wide range of cultures, by having them utter a sentence in their native language. Both male and female volunteers were asked to guess the men’s height, weight, strength, and fighting ability. The result was that test subjects were able to provide quite accurate estimates of a man’s basic parameters of height, weight, and strength, based on voice alone, even when they did not understand the language of the speaker.

These results correlate very well with another study by Sarah Wolff and David Puts, which found that men with deep, resonant and masculine voices are more likely to be considered more dominant by other men. In addition, the more dominant a man thinks he is, the less dominant other men’s voices appear to him.

So, what does it all mean?

Well, from an evolutionary point of view, it makes perfectly good sense that an ability to quickly and accurately assess a man’s strength from his voice is useful, both for women and for men. It can help women in selecting an appropriate mate, and men to avoid conflicts with competing males that they wouldn’t have a chance of beating.

What further supports the evolutionary origin of this ability is the fact that, in the Californian study, women’s voices were also tested, and neither men nor women were able to accurately assess the same parameters as for men, presumably because assessing sheer physical strength and aggression in women does not convey an evolutionary advantage.

Is it really that simple?

Unfortunately, the reality is not that straightforward. To make the above predictive picture more ambiguous, some of the information gleaned from a man’s voice can actually be confusing and detrimental. Thus, according to an Australian study, a higher testosterone level in men is associated with features such as a deep voice, attractiveness, masculinity, and dominance. The trouble with that is that, although testosterone plays an important role in the formation of sperm, it actually indicates high levels of impaired sperm production. Women generally find the deep-voiced tone of a man as attractive; this feature unfortunately does not just indicate his masculinity and upper body strength but also the (lower) quality of his sperm.

In other words, a woman may be able to rely on voice to find a strong, attractive mate, but that may come at the expense of having children together.

In addition, as a word of solace for all you soft-voiced, high-pitched males out there (if you are still reading at this point), there are obviously exceptions to all of this. Take Manny Pacquaio, for example, one of the most famous boxers in the world. He has won world championships in a record number of weight categories and has usually done this against opponents that are taller and bigger than him. In addition, his voice is certainly not powerful or dominant, but few would deny that he has considerable strength and fighting ability, well certainly not to his face!

A real-life experiment that has remained fairly little-known outside of the chess community provides some decisive light on this debate.

Chess – the ultimate male domain

Chess has long been regarded as a thoroughly male pursuit, and expert – male – players have been queuing up to declare women fundamentally and constitutionally unable to become world-class players. Former World Champion Garry Kasparov for instance once famously (or infamously) declared that “Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters”. It would therefore seem an ideal arena for proponents of ‘nurture’ to try and prove a very visible point.

Here come the Polgar girls

One such proponent came along in the shape of Laszlo Polgar, a very mediocre chess player, who was however a psychologist, who had previously written a book called ‘Bring Up Genius!’, in which he maintained that genius was all about education and environment.

Unusually, he actually put his ideas into practice with a remarkable single-mindedness and perseverance, helped by his wife Klara, who to this day remains ignorant about the rules of chess, but who bore him 3 girls in quick succession, Zsuzsa, Zsofia and Judit. The girls were completely home-schooled with a focus of 5 to 6 hours a day on chess education.

The results were remarkable:  Zsuzsa, the eldest, won the Budapest City Championship for girls under 11 at the age of four and a half, and the sisters never looked back. Zsofia, the weakest, stopped playing professionally when she was number 6 in the women’s rankings, Zsuzsa and Judit became the first ever women to become grandmasters (Judit at the age of 14), Zsuzsa went on to become women’s world champion, while Judit spurned women’s chess altogether and became one of the top ten ‘male’ players instead.

The Polgar sisters demonstrate very powerfully the importance of nurture. Based on this real-life experiment, it can be argued that much of the reason why girls generally don’t grow up to become chess grandmasters is to do with conditioning and expectations. Change those parameters, and the difference between boys and girls appears to magically disappear, and girls can triumph in what has always been thought of as an all-male domain.

Not quite a perfect experiment

There remains a nagging suspicion that the Polgars’ success has at least partly been due to the lucky circumstances of a very favourable genetic make-up. Laszlo is not to be blamed for this, for he had considered an extension to his plan, and this is where the Polgars’ story almost crossed over into B-movie territory. The family had a sponsor, a Dutch billionaire called Joop van Oosterom. He was so taken by the question of whether genius was due to nature or nurture that he was willing to sponsor an extension of the experiment that Laszlo had suggested, namely to adopt 3 more girls from random backgrounds in order to mould them into chess champions as well.  Resistance by the Hungarian authorities at the time prevented this experiment from being implemented.

The question of whether women or men make better translators or interpreters is not one that is frequently asked. Perhaps this is because a career in translating or in interpreting, unlike many other careers, is not one where either males or females have an obvious advantage. That is to say, unlike trading or senior management, there is no ‘glass ceiling’ to be broken. Freelance translators can work from the comfort of their own home, and their client or contractor may not even be aware of their gender.

Similarly interpreters may not often have face-to-face contact with their contractor, and even when they are working directly for a client their role requires them to be neutral and impartial. Gender does not usually enter the equation, except in sensitive situations such as the interviewing of rape victims, or in situations where gender politics are being discussed.

I once worked as a volunteer interpreter in a feminist forum where no male interpreters were allowed, for example. Overall, however, the languages services industry is generally perceived as an industry where the quality of the written and spoken word, as well as speed and efficiency, are the primary goals, and where gender discrimination issues are noticeable only by their absence.

Ask language service project managers what they think about the question of male and female performance in translation and interpreting, however, and you might find them to be surprisingly opinionated. A quick survey among Rosetta’s project managers showed them to be of the opinion that male translators tend to be the best in terms of handling complex material and delivering idiomatic and well-presented translations. This does not go to say that Rosetta does not have some extremely competent female translators. In fact a quick statistical survey of our preferred translators revealed that 55% of them were female and 45% male. When our project managers were quizzed on why they had the impression that male translators performed better faced with more challenging translation work, they gave a variety of responses. These were the following:

-male translators take feedback better as they tend to be less emotional and defensive than female translators

-male translators are better at formatting, especially when this becomes more technical

-male translators are better at ensuring consistency and accuracy in long documents as they are more pragmatic

On the other hand, our project managers were generally of the opinion that women made better interpreters than men. This assessment may not be entirely objective given that 81% of Rosetta’s interpreters are women and only 19% are men. When our project managers were asked why they had the impression that women were more suited to a career in interpreting than men, the reasons offered were that:

- interpreting (especially liaison and public service interpreting) requires good interpersonal skills. As women tend to be better at picking up on emotional cues than men then they may be better at dealing with tense and sensitive situations as interpreters

-interpreting involves a considerable amount of multi-tasking, which women are famously good at. This said, simultaneous interpreting requires the brain to be ‘re-wired’ in a certain sense, which in itself requires considerable training and practice, and therefore it may be that both male and female students face more or less the same challenges in this area.

Another point that came of the discussion was that interpreters working in high-profile political interpreting (especially for the European Union, for example), often tended to be men, and the supposition given for this was that men tend to be more salary-focused and more ambitious in terms of their career development. However it would be interesting to see statistics for the percentage of men and women working in the lucrative field of conference interpreting, for example. Given that men are perhaps more salary-focused, they may also be less likely to want to work for agencies, preferring to work only with direct clients.

The question of gender in the fields of translation and interpreting is certainly an interesting one, as it appears that freelance work may allow men and women to work in a professional environment that is freer from gender discrimination, in terms of remuneration for example. However it appears that gender characteristics, whether innate or resulting from social conditioning (which is another issue in itself), may have an effect on aspects of translation performance in general, though of course individual performance is still very much dependent on individual qualities, regardless of gender.

Since then Japan and the clear-up operations have slipped from our news headlines. But Japan and the people in Miyagi prefecture and surrounding areas will be living with the aftermath for years. Rebuilding the town and clearing up the devastation will leave much more than physical scars. But the Japanese are not only stoically dealing with the aftermath of the natural disaster; they now also have to deal with economic problems- particularly in relation to the tourism industry. Tourism levels have dropped massively in the months since the tsunami hit. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council visitor numbers fell 62% in April and 50% in May (compared to the year before).

It is true that there is often the worry of being voyeuristic should you visit a place which has been devastated by a disaster. But, most of the areas affected by the earthquake are not on the beaten track of the tourist routes and so the places mostly visited by tourists would be safe for visitors.  It seems though that these places are also suffering in an indirect way from the disaster. In a time when Japan needs all the support it can get many people are staying well clear.

Japan’s tourism agency is trying to remedy the matter though in announcing that it will be offering 10,000 free flights to Japan this year. From April the flights will be given to applicants who write in outlining their travel plans and answering questions about post-disaster tourism. Whilst the flights would be free the selected travellers will need to pay for accommodation and everything else. It is thought that the plan to boost tourism figures will cost approximately £10 million, but the Japanese tourism agency is hoping that the money spent by tourists will give the boost they need. It is reported that spending by tourists dropped 47% in the quarter following the disaster, which particularly affected local economies.

In offering the flights they are hoping to reassure travellers that Japan is still a safe place to visit, and that it still remains a beautiful and worthwhile country to experience. It is true that the continuing issues with the Fukushima nuclear plant are still worrying many potential visitors. However the industry is showing signs of recovery particularly from visitors coming from Southeast Asia. Visitors from the UK are also increasing. With reports that Japan’s GDP grew by 1.5% in the quarter ending September 2011 it shows that Japan’s economy is picking up. Although the country is far from being completely out of danger, especially in light of the recent flooding in Thailand, it is important that the tourism industry in Japan is supported as it is hoped to provide over one million jobs and to contribute to at least 2% of GDP.