Category: Articles

Major Impact of Gender Discussion on Sports

German Athlete First To Wear Full-Body Suit at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Basel

Sarah Voss, a German athlete, was the first woman ever to wear a full-body suit at the European Artistic Gymnastics championship in Basel in 2021. She is glad that she did it and proud of herself for being a role model, which is shown by the athletes following her example, such as those at the multi-discipline competition in Stuttgart. It was a positive experience while she felt comfortable and good-looking, as well.

Better well-being and still aesthetic?

In gymnastics, the focus is on the athletes’ bodies as they perform. Therefore, the whole performance, including the clothes, must be elegant. This is the reason why athletes are often very lightly dressed, only wearing short and tight, swimsuit-like clothing, especially at competitions, which makes many of them feel uncomfortable and naked. People often think that these are the only outfits allowed. However, wearing full-body suits has been allowed since 2009 – but they are hardly ever worn, which is proven by the fact that Voss’ performance has become such a controversial topic in the media. Sarah Voss’ performance and the incredibly positive reactions show that even full-body suits can be aesthetic and serve their purpose in gymnastics – and, most importantly, having to worry less about wardrobe malfunctions can improve the athletes’ performances.

A Sign against Sexualisation

Gender discussions are an everyday topic these days, but nevertheless, if even just one single woman tries something new or unusual, the whole world talks about it. This is about self-determination and the bodily autonomy of women, as well. They should be free to decide how they dress in our society and to feel good about it. We live in an open-minded culture regarding the clothes worn at competitions; that much should have become clear after Voss’ brave performance. Moreover, the gymnasts practise their sport because they like it and to have fun, not because they want to present themselves or their bodies. Voss and her fellow competitors on the German national team started a new era and hope for the others to follow their example so they can finally feel safe and comfortable – not only while practising, but at competitions as well.

By now, we should have reached a point where this topic should not need to be discussed anymore but be considered normal. Sarah Voss left a mark on gymnastics with her decision. She serves as a role model for other athletes – young and old – and took a step further towards rethinking deep-rooted behaviours.

Author: Emma Ripper

OK Millennials?

How the online fight between Gen Z and the Millennials escalated

Not far ago, in 2019, millennials were mocking the baby boomer generation by using the phrase “OK Boomer“. Now the tables have turned, and the Millennials are no longer the revolutionary generation making fun of the old established attitudes. Millennials are now the target of online jokes regarding their fashion by the younger generation, Gen Z. 

Would you describe your clothing style as trendy? If so, it is likely that you can be considered as a part of Gen Z. Or do you still love to wear your skinny jeans and side-parted hair like a typical millennial? These simple preferences regarding different fashion choices have divided the internet and led to a generational conflict on various online platforms. Whereas some Gen Zs have claimed that skinny jeans are now out of fashion and should be “cancelled“, some Millennials have fought back, protesting that no one can prescribe what to wear. This whole conflict escalated quickly, leading to hate songs and mocking videos. In my opinion, the people who took part in this online fight damaged the reputation of their generation. Especially for the Millennials, regarding their age, an online fight about fashion was not the most mature idea.

Millennials vs Gen

According to the Pew Research Centre, anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is a Millennial. The generation afterwards, Gen Z, is classified between 1997 and 2012. This categorisation implies that you share experiences with other people of your generation, like major political events, the economic situation of your country or the cultural and social influences through popular culture. Millennials were often criticised in newspapers as lazy in their career, unable to commit to their relationships and even as Facebook addicted. Yet, they are seen as adaptable, tolerant and open-minded. If you compare these to the stereotypical characteristics of a Gen Z, many are relatively similar. Like Millennials, Gen Zs are connected through social media, using Instagram and TikTok. Critics perceive their multitasking abilities as a lack of focusing. Additionally, Gen Z shares the liberal tolerant political view but appears more vocal and active, as seen in the “Fridays for Future“ movement. Another difference is Gen Z’s preference in working, where not flexibility but independence is favoured. As you can see, these two differ in some areas, like fashion, but are not oppositional. 

Do you identify with your generation?

After the controversial online dispute, I asked myself if I really identify with my generation. Even though I am part of Generation Z, I often understand references only for 90s kids. So, it is possible to share certain attributes with the other generation. Especially for people born between two generations, it can be hard to be sorted into one. Besides this, you sometimes don’t want to be associated with your generation because your opinions aren’t mainstream. Of course, a generation unites lots of people, each individually and differently. It is important to remember that your generation doesn’t determine you. It is just a construct to analyse the social structures and the influences of the time you were raised.

Author: Sandra Haupt

Alcohol: pick-me-up or death trap?

An ice-cold beer or a glass of sweet wine tastes good and is fun, but can also have long term effects. Many people enjoy alcohol, be it cocktails at a party, champagne to toast on birthdays or just one beer to relax in front of the television. But people tend to forget that alcohol also has its downsides.

What happens immediately when you drink?

Alcohol lifts the mood and relaxes the body, but at the same time it is poison. After you take a sip of your drink, it only takes a few minutes until the alcohol is in your blood. Most of the alcohol is absorbed by the stomach and mouth mucosa. When the alcohol reaches your liver, it begins to break down the alcohol. The liver metabolizes 0,1 permille per hour. During this time, the alcohol already unfolds its effects in your body:

Alcohol disturbs signal processing in the brain – this is the so called “alcohol frenzy”. In this state alcohol stimulates the release of hormones that make us feel relaxed, but simultaneously, leads to miscommunication between nerve cells. The results are dropouts of motor, language and thinking skills. This leads to drunk people staggering, falling down and speaking in a slurred way. It also causes memory lapses, slowed reactions, aggression, nausea, headaches and a heightened risk of accidents. Alcohol also dehydrates the body, which leads to tiredness, confusion and disorientation. If you reached three permille it could cause life-threatening unconsciousness. Alcohol doesn´t contain useful nutrients for our body. This means that we only consume empty carbohydrates that mess with blood sugar levels and eventually get stored as fat.

Long term effects

If you drink alcohol on a regular basis,  like every day, it can have many different consequences on your body that can be irreversible. In the long run, alcohol damages all organs, causes diseases from cancer to heart attacks, and heightens the risk of accidents. The liver is responsible for breaking down alcohol in your body. If you continuously drink excessive amounts of alcohol, the liver can get infected which can lead to liver cirrhosis, which means that the organ gets hard and shrinks. Detoxification is no longer possible, which also affects the rest of your body. Other than damaging the liver, alcohol can also lead to brain damage, cancer of the liver, mouth cavity, esophagus, throat or gut, as well as inflammation of your stomach or pancreas. Excessive alcohol consumption can also lead to myocardial disease, high blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmia. Besides physical damage, you can also get mental impairments such as depressions or changes in your personality which can manifest in irritability, unreliableness, restlessness or anxiety. Also, what many people don´t know, alcohol can lower your sexual potency no matter the gender.

So… should we ban alcohol forever?

I´m not telling you to never ever drink alcohol again, but would like to create awareness. Does it really have to be a beer every evening on the couch or could it be an apple spritzer or non-alcoholic beer? You can go out with friends and have fun even if you´re not completely drunk.

It´s not about bans – it´s about doing something good for your body.

Author: Amelie Biedermann

Who run the world?

A special kind of girls!

Hollywood is changing. Movements like #metoo or the Weinstein-scandal prove that actresses are still facing sexual harassment and discrimination in the show business. So, while female artists start to challenge their position in the movie metropolis, how come the characters they so often embody are still tied to old-fashioned clichés?

“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” vs. The Tomboy

First, we have the beautiful, pink, lipstick loving, girlie girl. She is totally into fashion and … well, that’s about it. Sometimes portrayed as a bit silly, always very superficial and definitely hyper-sensitive like Gossip Girls’ Serena van der Woodsen or Legally Blondes’ Elle Woods. Mean Girls’ Regina George was at least given the potential to be the villain of her movie by creating the proto-typical evil first cheerleader who embodies all the clichés and is simply unlikeable. However, this cliché does not apply to all girls and even Hollywood realized it so they decided to widen the field of female characters by creating the absolute opposite of the girlie: the tomboy. Mulan and Game of Thrones’ Aria Stark are probably two of the most prominent examples. This type of woman is portrayed with traits that society usually attributes to men, like fierceness and a thirst for adventures. Sounds like a cool character! Well, if you enjoy wearing men’s clothes and being friend-zoned by all the boys, it is. This character is nearly always bold and funny, but never anyone’s crush or even allowed a bit of sexiness. You say they are totally different? I say they have a few things in common… Sure, their interests and character traits differ massively but they have two things in common: First, every female character always looks effortlessly stunning. And second, their whole existence serves one purpose: make the female lead look better.

The Female Lead

We all know and love them: Hermione Granger, Princess Leia or Katniss Everdeen. The woman you really want to be. Obviously, they, too, look stunning and gorgeous throughout the entire movie. The difference is they are not aware of it and don’t even care about it. This character depends on its differentiation to the girls around her. She is prettier than the girlie girl without even trying, cooler than the tomboy without caring and also smart, funny and everything else. By highlighting her specialness, the other girls seem inferior, undesirable and even pathetic.

Is Netflix our Silver Lining?

To be clear, I like Hermione and Katniss as much as everyone else does because they are strong and fight for what is right. But would it be so terrible if they were shown ironing their hair in the morning? 3-dimensional characters like Jess Day from New Girl are rare: she’s a bit weird but embraces it, she is not cool about sex or relationships, she dresses funny and yet she doesn’t want to change. Her character is loved by her friends not because, but despite of her sometimes annoying habits. We need more female role-models like her and Netflix is giving them to us with Set it Up’s dedicated, hard-working Harper, who is truly interested in Baseball and too nice to the people around her, or with Love and Monsters’ Aimee. She also has an impressive personality, as she not only manages to survive the apocalyptic appearance of the monsters, but also serves as the leader of an entire colony of survivors. While those women are, again, of course breathtakingly beautiful they still are fantastic characters as they struggle with insecurities and make mistakes but prove themselves through hard work and their positive character traits. So, while Hollywood kind of fails to improve their girls, Netflix shows how character development is done.

Author: Anja Sonn

An abundance of food squandered

How individuals can fight food waste with Foodsharing

It happens to all of us. Whether we bought too much stuff and can’t eat it all before it goes bad or trying out that new dish that turns out to taste awful. We all throw out an unnecessarily high amount of food.

Some data upfront

Worldwide, a third of all edible food products ends up in the trash, around 1.3 billion tons every year(1). Here in Germany, it’s 18 million tons a year(2). A study estimated that, on average, around 527 kcal per capita are wasted each day (3), which translates to an additional 2 billion people that could be fed. I know what you’re thinking, how on earth are we even able to squander this much?

Reasons for wasting edible food

A huge chunk of crops doesn’t even make its way to the stores because it is sorted out for not living up to the strict standards that supermarkets have. That means, a ton of food is left to rot because the average Joe isn’t buying that apple with some brown spots on it. On their way onto the shelves, food products suffer from exposure to weather and delivery conditions. And since Joe wants the cheap apples from Spain and not the locally grown ones that cost more, they have to be brought all the way here, so some are bound to get damaged in the process. And finally, supermarkets must throw out products that are past their expiry date, therefore Beverages, dairy products, canned goods and stuff like rice and pasta that are perfectly fine to eat land in the trash container. It goes without saying that one individual cannot stop this deep-rooted problem and save us from this food waste mess – but what can you actually do to help, besides the obvious don’t throw away so much?

Foodsharing as an option to save edible food

There is this awesome internet platform called Foodsharing that set itself the goal to end food waste in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 200,000 registered users contribute to the fight, and an estimated 7.8 million kilograms of food has been saved by the initiative already(4). So how does it work? Various supermarkets and bakeries that are part of the program give away edible goods to verified ‘Foodsavers’. To become one, you simply need to pass a test proving that you understand the dos and don’ts and you’re good to go. What’s making this whole thing even more attractive, especially to students or people in need, is that you save a lot of money in the process. You get to enjoy delicious food that you saved from landing in the trash and cut down your expenses on food, so that’s definitely a win-win in my book. I hope that I managed to generate some interest for this whole thing and maybe you will start saving food yourself. Together we can do something against this massive problem!

Author: Steven Degenkolbe

  • https://www.savefood.org/en/Projects/Studies/Global_food_losses_and_food_waste#:~:text=Roughly%20one%20third%20of%20the,Africa%20(230%20million%20tonnes).
  • https://www.wwf.de/themenprojekte/landwirtschaft/ernaehrungkonsum/lebensmittelverschwendung/dasgrossewegschmeissen#:~:text=Laut%20der%20WWF%20Studie%20%E2%80%9EDas,von%2054%2C5%20Millionen%20Tonnen.
  • https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/twice-as-much-food-being-wasted-globally-as-thought-study-6272249/
  • https://foodsharing.de/ueber-uns

Festive season in January?

Celebrating orthodox Christmas in Germany

“Merry Christmas” is a phrase I would typically say in December as me and my family celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December, just like every other Christian families does, right? Well, at least I thought so until I got to know my best friend. She and her Macedonian orthodox Christian family celebrate Christmas on the 6th of January. With the help of her real life experiences, I want to illustrate some background information and traditions of a Macedonian orthodox Christmas celebration in Germany.

What is the orthodox church?

The orthodox church alongside roman catholic and protestant church form the three main Christian groups. Orthodox beliefs don’t differ in many ways from the other two, but it is divided geographically e.g. to Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Church. Those do have theological differences within because this belief forms partly from traditions which differ around the world, even though the main beliefs in Jesus Christ as the embodiment of God and his reincarnation, crucifixion and resurrection, stay the same. The Eastern Orthodox church is again subdivided geographically, rather than divided by nations and all churches are either autocephalous (have their own head) or autonomous (self-governing). They still go by the Julian calendar which explains the time differences to our Gregorian calendar.

The relatively small Republic of North Macedonia shares borders with Serbia in the north, Bulgaria in the east, Greece in the south and Albania in the west and is therefore landlocked in the eastern part of Europe. The Macedonian orthodox church is a belief which about two-thirds of the North Macedonian population professes, but it isn’t recognized autonomously by all of the other churches.

What does a typical Christmas look like?

The orthodox church puts a lot more emphasis on family and Jesus than the typical German Christian family. When I was a kid, Christmas was mainly about the presents and good food, but as my friend told me, her family doesn’t exchange gifts at all on Christmas. However, food is an important part in their traditions as well. In the time before Christmas, they fast, which means in this case following a vegan diet. Fish, however, is still allowed in this diet and the fasting lasts up until and including the 6th of January, so effectively their Christmas Eve.

Another important tradition is the coin in the bread. They put a coin in the bread dough and when it’s time for dinner the bread gets separated between the family members, including a piece for Jesus and Maria and other people or things that are important and loved by the family. All the bread must be eaten or else it allegedly means bad luck and whoever finds the coin in their piece is to have good luck during the next year. If, for example, the kid gets the coin, he or she also gets a little money from the parents and if the coin is for example in the piece for their house, the family is supposed to buy or do something for the house, like giving it a fresh paint or buy some sort of accessory for the house.

A very interesting aspect of their dinner is that once a person sat down at the table, they are not allowed to stand back up or if they do and then sit back down, they are not allowed to eat anymore. Because of that, the family gathers everything they might need during dinner on the table before sitting down, which always ends in an awfully full table, as my friend states.

What does it feel like to celebrate Christmas later than all of your friends?

In this section I can only speak for my friend who told me all of this and I know that it is probably different for everyone experiencing it. First of all, she states that celebrating later has pros and cons. She never has to argue about which family dinner to attend with her roman catholic boyfriend, as they have separate dates for celebrating Christmas and can subsequently simply do it twice. Generally, she says that when it comes to the 6th of January, she is usually not in a festive mood anymore because all of the people around her already throw out their Christmas trees and are done with the festive season. It sometimes feels weird to still celebrate Christmas. Also, because it is usually the last day of the holidays, her parents have to work the next day and she has to attend to university the next day, they only have one day to celebrate and almost no opportunity to visit relatives the following day like I have when I celebrate on the 24th.

After all, please don’t forget to wish your orthodox friends a Merry Christmas on the 6th of January, I know that they will appreciate your consciousness about their culture very much!

Author: Sandra Rieger

One breath away

Endorphin-rush is guaranteed

Spit in your goggles, one last check if the air is flowing, confirm with your buddy and jump right in. Let the cold water enter your soul, taste the salty water on your lips, feel the pressure surrounding your body. If your buddy and you are ready – the adventure may begin.

You start to go down and the deep blue finally surrounds you, feeling weightless. It’s a completely different world you need to get used to. Weird noises – where do they come from? You try to touch the rock in front of you but completely miss him. Is the fish red, orange or yellow, or might it even be just brown? Humans are used to be surrounded by air. The behavior of light, sounds and movements is normal. But being surrounded by water: it is like being a child again, that needs to learn everything from scratch.

The new and unknown world

Breathtaking views, unique encounters with unfamiliar animals, a rush of adrenalin, getting in touch with nature on a new level, exploring sunken secrets, finding hidden treasures – who knows what’s behind the next rock or after the next wave. The sea is a place of innumerable astonishing, wild, raw and of inestimable value moments, which actually can’t be described in a few words. It simply has to be experienced. Where to go? The lake around the corner? Or how about a freezing cold lake in the alps? Or maybe the Mediterranean Sea where you surely won’t meet any sharks? The cyan, aquatic, turquoise blue sea is filled with exotic fishes and beautiful coral reefs. Another option is to drive with a boat away from the shore, out to the big wide ocean, not being able to see the beach or any houses – out there awaits the most precious, awe-inspiring, unbelievably, once-in-a-lifetime moment: a rendezvous with whales.

DON’T EVER STOP BREATHING!

That is the most important rule for diving. Without having internalized that specific rule, diving won’t be possible. But there are also other things that need to be taken into account. Diving is not a sport or hobby that can simply be started out of a feeling or a mood. Certain things need be considered.

Respect, appreciation, decency and concinnity are mandatory and unavoidable traits of a diver. The new world needs to be valued and secured not polluted, destroyed or treated without careful consideration. Just as important and fundamental is the proper education and qualification. A diving partner, so called buddy,is a crucial factor. Also, you may never go diving without the correct equipment, it is indispensable. (So, find a trustworthy, authentic and dependable diving-school or -club!) A sadly bitter aftertaste: none of it is super cheap.

But be sure of one fact: it is absolutely worth it, as it is an outrageous, unprecedented and pure happiness bringing experience, which will never be forgotten!

Author: Manja Klauschenz