URN

Today on the Pulse we took an in-depth look at the plight of women and girls across the world. We looked at the case of Malala Yousafzai, the young girl who was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan on her way to school last year. Today we were looking at the impact this had had and what it has done for the promotion of education for women and girls worldwide.

We can hear an account given by Malala about the day she was shot by the Taliban. This is Malala speaking on the Andrew Marr show.

Esther Akanya is a PHD student at the University of Nottingham, who specialise in the rights of women across the world, spoke to URN and offered some interesting insight in to the issues we were discussing on the show.

We spoke to some students about their views of Malala and her campaign for education worldwide.

Malala Yousafzai spoke at the United Nations Youth Assembly earlier this year and explained the need for increased education across the world.

Anniesa Hussein is a student at the University of Nottingham and is originally from Pakistan. She spoke to us about the impact Malala has had in the country and whether she thinks Malala’s actions have produced positive change in the country.

B-eat are working to improve university support for sufferers of eating disorders

The eating disorder charity B-eat has urged Universities to offer more help to students with eating disorders, as many students struggle to get the treatment they need. They want universities to take part in a leafleting campaign, warning that without help, students with eating disorders are at risk of dropping out of University.

Beat conducted a survey of over 200 students with eating disorders, findings included:
• 32% were diagnosed after starting their course
• 18% said their condition had forced them to drop out of University
• 39% had to take a break my from their studies
• And 52% said that their University was not doing enough to support students

Six months ago Miranda and Genie interviewed two students, Jess and Mel, here at The University of Nottingham about how they coped with their eating disorders whilst being at univeristy And today I caught up with Mel, who has just graduated, to hear her thoughts on B-eat’s campaign;

Facebook decided to ban videos of people being beheaded after complaints were raised that the clips could leave viewers with long-term psychological damage. However it has since retracted the decision claiming instead that viewers should watch clips of this nature and make up their own minds. Facebook originally condemned videos of this nature after the Family Online Safety Institute – a member of its Safety Advisory Board – complained that Facebook had “crossed a line”.

Ben explained the controversy on The Pulse earlier today:

David Cameron even got in on the Debate. Hear what he said here:

The story shocked the rest of the panel. They had this to say:

An interesting twist in this story is Facebook’s decision to continue to ban naked breasts with the exception of women who are breast-feeding. Ben explains this:

The reporters react:

The story brought up issues such as censorship and freedom of speech. The listeners were equally riled up by the debate. A few of the texts sent in to the show can be seen below:

I definitely agree you shouldn't be allowed to post violent video's on facebook From Sophia, Wimbledon

Can men put their nipples on Facebook?

Swansea University's Pole Fitness society is now banned

Swansea universitys students' union have voted unanioumously to ban the union's Pole Fitness society.

The Union trustee board said in September; 'The Trustees believe that ‘pole fitness’ classes are increasingly marketed as an empowering way for young women to keep fit and regain control of their lives. This is especially true on university campuses. We asked ourselves however, is it empowering to gain fitness in a way that is inextricably linked to the multi million pound sex industry?

Pole fitness and pole dancing are a direct spin off from lap dancing. Can we separate ‘pole fitness’ from ‘pole dancing’? We believe that you cannot, because whatever you name it, pole ‘fitness’ or pole ‘dancing’, you are still participating in the social context of what the pole represents. Everyone knows where it comes from, that pole dancers are to be found in strip clubs and sex establishments and that pole dancing is a dance form specifically designed to sexually excite the watcher. Pole dancers are almost always women, and watchers almost always men.