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The UK prison population has risen by around 74% since 1990, with 78,037 people now serving sentences. Research shows that taking part in educational activities while serving a sentence can help people cope with prison life and reduce reoffending.
There is an education department in every prison typically offering academic courses such as literacy and numeracy, and vocational courses such as joinery and bricklaying. However, numbers of people engaging in prison education are declining as it becomes increasingly undervalued and under-resourced. So, it’s vital to develop engaging educational activities in prisons.
One way to do this is to link education with family activities. Around half of the people in prison have children. Maintaining good relationships between parents and their children during a sentence can reduce reoffending and help people to reintegrate with their families upon release. It can also help children to better cope with someone close to them being in prison.
However, it is challenging to maintain family relationships because of the lack of meaningful contact between prisoners and their children. With our White Water Writers project, we believed that linking education with family activities would encourage prisoners who might not typically participate in education to get involved, and help foster better family relationships.
White Water Writers (WWW) gives groups of eight to ten people the opportunity to collaboratively plan, write and publish a full-length novel in just one week. Books go on sale online and the authors receive professionally printed copies of their novels. Originally developed in schools, WWW has enabled more than 3,000 young people to become published authors.
We decided to run the project in a prison to provide an engaging and motivating educational opportunity. We linked the work to families by inviting participants to write a novel for their children, who would then produce the illustrations for the book. Our research explored the impact WWW had on both the prisoners and their families.
Eight men from a prison in England took part, and were given four days to collaboratively write and publish a novel for their children, supported by a facilitator and prison staff.
A key principle of WWW is that no one from outside the group is involved in developing the plot, writing or editing. On the first day, each writer created their own character and, together, the group developed the plot. On the second and third days, they collaboratively wrote their novel. On the fourth day, they proofread it – and then the final day was a family day, where children visited the prison and produced the illustrations.
While the writers were initially a little daunted at the prospect of writing a novel, they worked hard to produce something their children would enjoy – the result was an exciting fantasy adventure of around 8,000 words. To understand the impact of the project, we then interviewed the writers, their families and prison staff about their experiences, as well as analysing their novel.
The book helped the children to better understand their fathers’ experiences. It had two main themes: “people not being bad” and “people changing for the better”. The villains in the book are not bad people. Rather, they experience difficult circumstances which lead to challenging emotions, and these in turn lead to bad behaviours.
However, by the end of the novel, the villains are reformed. For example, one character, who is a bear, is in prison at the start of the book but wants to change his life. The book ends with him putting his life at risk to save the world.
Many of the writers included their own children in the novel as characters. This helped them connect with their children, who enjoyed seeing themselves in the book. One participant said he wrote the plotline of his daughter becoming braver in the story to help her deal with the anxiety she was feeling about moving to a new school.
The writers said they would not have engaged with WWW if it had not been linked to their families. The family visit day was an incentive, and they enjoyed creating something tangible for their children. All the authors said they improved a range of skills including writing, typing, computer skills and “soft skills” such as teamwork.
As many had negative experiences of education and few had any formal qualifications, they did not expect to complete the novel. Their success led them to feel proud of themselves: “The fact that I can write a thousand words, I am stunned,” one said.
The project also led the men and their families to feel more connected to each other. Family members discussed feelings of pride in what the writers had achieved.
We even discovered that one of the children had dressed as her character for World Book Day at school. She told her teacher about the book, and the class then used it as their reading book. One member of prison staff said:
How that child must feel to have something positive from her daddy and to share that with her classmates. I certainly didn’t expect that, and I think it’s a massive success and has obviously had an impact.
This suggests that linking projects with families, where appropriate, may be a way to increase engagement with education and provide meaningful opportunities for contact between people in prison and their families. This will have positive results not just for those in prison, but for their families as well.
Yvonne Skipper is a Trustee for the Charity eQuality Time which runs the White Water Writers project. She has received funding from Novus Prison Education, the British Academy, EPSRC and ESRC.
With Nicola Sturgeon’s departure, the UK has lost an expert in constructing a public image and winning support across political divides. Sturgeon led the Scottish National Party (SNP) to an unprecedented five electoral victories – three in Westminster and two in her home parliament of Holyrood.
As deputy and then first minister of Scotland, Sturgeon turned the map of electoral allegiances upside down. She made normal what once seemed impossible – taking from Labour what was always assumed would be its birthright as the dominant party in Scotland.
Perhaps more impressively, she did this in a period in which Scotland’s governance in a range of policy areas including education and climate – and crucially, the constitutional question – have not delivered on electoral promises. Other politicians seeking to shift opinion and win public support have a lot to learn from her tactics, including whoever replaces her as first minister.
“Authenticity” is often discussed as integral to success in politics. Sturgeon has the advantage of her claims to authenticity actually being founded in truth. She is of a type that everyone in Scotland will recognise – the brain box whose head was always stuck in a book, a high achiever who moved on from the working-class estate. She became the first in her family to go to university (Glasgow) and continues, when time permits, to read prodigiously. She loves going to book festivals and promotes her favourite books on Twitter.
In spite of her success, she remains moored to her working-class roots. She lives in an unflashy new build – undoubtedly larger and much nicer than the council house her parents bought, but notable in its ordinariness.
The idea of her being a good laugh down the pub has been cemented by Glasgow comedian Janey Godley’s now famous “press conference voiceover” videos. In the latest iteration, Godley’s “caravanning with Nicola Sturgeon” saw the departing FM go off with “all the Sandras and the Debras” to start a Zumba group.
Sturgeon’s “ordinary and relatable” image is supported by her approach to public engagement. She attends meetings at local universities, schools, businesses and NGOs across Scotland without much fanfare. She is also very visible in her constituency of Govanhill, notably turning up to vote in 2021 at her local polling station without security. Her look of alarm as she was harassed by a far-right extremist was shared by many who watched the widely circulated video.
This not only emphasises how differently Sturgeon does things from most Westminster politicians, but aligns with the principles underpinning the Holyrood parliament. The building itself was designed on the basis of openness and debate, rather than gladitorialism.
Sturgeon has worked very hard to achieve a similar sense of visibility and access. But in recent years, Scottish politics has become notably less transparent – and this arguably played a role in her demise. Surrounded by an increasingly small and elite inner circle of advisors and lobbyists, her government has developed a tendency to shut out criticism.
This can be seen clearly in the row over the gender recognition legislation, where a decline in public support for the bill was not addressed. It is felt keenly by critics of Scotland’s education policy too, who argue that the one group least consulted is teachers.
Listening to Scottish Green party co-convenor Lorna Slater – a minister in the Scottish government but nominally of an opposition party – describe Sturgeon as a “legend” on the evening of her resignation may indicate the level of critique she’s been getting from the people around her.
Another point where the legend and reality of Sturgeon diverge is in policy, and the kind of politics she pursues. Again, some of this relates to her class background and associated assumptions. Sturgeon the politician is notably cautious and firmly centrist. Some nods to wealth redistribution and growth in welfare distinguish her from the current crop of extreme right-wing politicians in Westminster, but certainly do not merit the status she holds as a “radical” or highly “progressive” politician.
A communication strategy she has used exceptionally well in this respect is the refrain of the limited powers of the devolved administration. The implicit message is that she would go a lot further towards the left if completely free to do so. This also rests on the understanding of independence as an inherently radical proposition – in itself it is, but the pathway to and nature of independence may not be.
Sturgeon has successfully managed her image in the social media age, where tribalism rules and prominent women receive sustained and vile misogynistic abuse. While many censor themselves to avoid the vitriol, she has shown exceptional fortitude – beating the trolls time and again, online and in the tabloid press.
In choosing the time of her resignation, Sturgeon maintained this level of control over her image and public opinion. There are many explanations for her choosing to go at this time, but watching recent press conferences on gender recognition reform and the de facto independence referendum, her lack of conviction was quite striking. For all these years of persuading people, of bringing them around to her view, she could no longer convince herself.
Catherine Happer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
In 1992, archaeologists excavating at the site of the Roman fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland discovered what they thought was a darning tool. The artefact was subsequently ignored and as a result remained unresearched. Until now.
Recently, archaeologists Rob Collins of Newcastle University and Rob Sands of University College Dublin took another look at the artefact and had a shock. Upon examination, they came to a somewhat different interpretation, identifying it not as a darning tool, but as a phallus. And not just any phallus: to date, the only known life size wooden phallus to have survived intact from the Roman period.
Through my research into ancient prosthetics, I know that Roman shoemakers often moonlighted in a more daring trade. Could they have been behind this wooden tool, which looks to be an ancient Roman dildo?
Stone, metal, bone and ceramic phalluses are already widely known from other Roman sites. While phalluses made of organic materials such as wood and leather must have been equally popular during the Roman period, they would only survive in the archaeological record under certain environmental conditions – either very wet or very dry.
Vindolanda has the former and has for many years been astounding archaeologists with its treasures. These have ranged from wooden tablets bearing ancient private letters (including an invitation to a birthday party) to a pair of leather boxing gloves, to a wooden toilet seat.
The Vindolanda phallus, as it is now being called, was recovered from a deposit dating to the late second century CE and is extremely well preserved.
It is carved from ash wood and was probably whittled with a single tool by someone with a degree of woodcarving experience, since there is no evidence of mistakes made in the process. It is 16cm long but it may originally have been longer and larger, as wood is prone to shrinking and warping over time.
The phallus was a ubiquitous image in the Roman world. Where once phalluses were viewed very literally and thought to point the way to brothels, these days they are usually interpreted as being “apotropaic” – a means of protection and warding off bad luck. Consequently, there are several intriguing possibilities about how this Vindolanda phallus could have been used.
Certainly, the artefact could have been used in a sexual context. However, it could equally have been used as a pestle along with a mortar in food or medicine preparation. If so, perhaps the phallic motif was believed to strengthen the properties of the ingredients.
Alternatively, it could have been slotted into a statue, such as a representation of the gods Priapus or Silvanus, or even just a herm (a sculpture with a head and squared lower section on which genitals may also be carved), either freestanding or mounted on a building, that people approached to touch or rub for good luck.
The lack of wear indicates that if it was slotted into a statue, that statue was indoors, not exposed to the Northumbrian elements that the soldiers stationed at Vindolanda frequently complained about in their correspondence.
The archaeologists who reexamined and re-identified the artefact lean more towards interpreting it as a pestle or a statue component than as a sex toy.
However, that the phallus was discovered in a ditch with dozens of shoes and clothing accessories and waste products such as off cuts of leather and pieces of worked antler, is fascinating. It adds weight to the theory that the phallus could have been a dildo.
Ancient artisans such as shoemakers could turn their hands to all manner of things and while many men’s, women’s and children’s shoes have been excavated at Vindolanda, there would have been plenty of time during the long, dark, Northern nights for shoemakers to indulge in side hustles.
Just as we today like to equate foot size and penis size, in antiquity connections were frequently made between feet and phalluses. The poet Herodas describes two women named Coritto and Metro discussing Coritto’s newly acquired scarlet leather dildo, with Metro wanting to know where she can get one just like it and Coritto referring her to the local shoemaker, Cerdon.
In a subsequent instalment, Herodas describes Metro patronising Cerdon in order to make her dream a reality and Cerdon presenting her with an extensive catalogue of “shoes” to choose from. Perhaps the town outside the Vindolanda fort was home to an equally enterprising shoemaker.
Although the excavations at Vindolanda have been going on for decades, the site still has the capacity to surprise and amaze us with the access it gives us to the most intimate aspects of the lives of the Romans living there 2,000 years ago.
Jane Draycott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Pressures on gender recognition laws, the strong opposition to drag shows and increasing incidents of violence show that stigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people still exists, especially for those who do not conform to societal expectations around gender and sexuality.
A 2021 report by Stonewall highlighted how people in the UK still experience feelings of “fear, resentment, pity and disgust” towards those who identify as LGBTQ+, especially transgender men and women.
Amid such social turmoil, drag culture has become even more important for representation.
The most visible elements of drag are the fabulous outfits, the drama of lip-synchs and iconic catchphrases. However, the rich cultural history of drag for breaking social conventions and challenging gender stereotypes must not be forgotten.
From the theatres of 16th century England to the height of ball culture in 1980s New York, drag has provoked conversations and questioned social norms.
Drag has always been, and still is, a powerful tool to advance acceptance and raise social consciousness around inclusion within society. Above all, drag’s power is its contribution to the destigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people, which is needed to enhance their self-worth and wellbeing.
Our research focused on the reality TV show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality TV competition for drag queens. The participants are given different challenges every week and their performances are assessed by a panel of judges. These days, it is almost impossible to think of drag without also thinking of the global influence of the show and its creator RuPaul Charles.
Now in its 15th season in the US, with several worldwide spin-offs and a strong social media presence, the show has made important inroads in bringing themes traditionally considered taboo to prime time television. This spotlight has allowed the wider public to become more familiar with the struggles of this community.
In our research, we argue that drag has helped in two main ways: positive representation and humanisation. We also argue that there is much more scope for harnessing Drag Race’s positive momentum and disrupting the backlash against drag.
In their performances, drag queens represent the bending of gender norms (expectations of how men and women should act) in the form of entertainment. Contestants play with gender norms and make it acceptable for their audiences to do the same.
In doing this, they enhance the representation of minorities that have been historically hidden from the public eye. Cisgender men might dress up as divas of the 1950s, gender non-conforming people can play with different gender conventions, transgender men or women explore different domains of gender performances and women can play with both masculinity and femininity.
This provides LGBTQ+ viewers with a rich register of visible identities. Audiences can see themselves represented in the multitude of different performances of drag. Drag has helped the public to become more aware that gender can be a shifting concept and be more open towards the this community.
Drag also has the power to “humanise” LGBTQ+ people by making them more relatable. One of the key features of RuPaul’s Drag Race is showcasing the struggles of gay, lesbian, gender-nonconforming and transgender people.
In the show, contestants tell stories of being stranded when they came out, affected by HIV/AIDS, rejected by their families, or attacked in the streets. These stories allow audiences to understand that other people might have experienced similar struggles.
In a world characterised by episodes of stigmatisation and increased difficulty, brands like RuPaul’s Drag Race can leverage positive representation and humanisation to spread acceptance and awareness.
Different types of organisations (reality TV shows and advertising agencies) can follow the example of drag queens in sharing their stigmatisation experiences and so contribute to shifting public opinion of stigmatised groups.
While the reach of drag as entertainment allows people to be visible and spread important messages, this does not come without sanctions. RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants are often insulted, threatened, and trolled offline and online. However, the representations on the show remain unapologetic, speaking to many LGBTQ+ people who are still finding their feet and need encouragement.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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