S2 Ep4 | Open Frame & The Blind Vote

This is Our Time

OPENING THE BLIND VOTE [0:00]

Fabian: So I’m wondering if having listened to what you heard. You can just trust us to have heard all the issues, and we will take this into consideration. I’m going to ask you all to close your eyes….

The Faculty Meeting [3:20]

*Footsteps walking upstairs, then into faculty meeting*

*Door closing*

Merryn: She is downstairs, basically having a full-blown panic attack. She has left in tears.

*footsteps walking back into the room*

Reporting the results [9:20]

Fabian: Ok. So, I need to tell you a bit of a story, and then it’s a lead-in to the decision. Shhh.

There’s a part of me that loves adventures. In my family, if somebody’s going to do something crazy and take a risk, it’s probably going to be me.

WAS IT DEMOCRACY OR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION? [12:55]

Sarah H: Well, I’m not a political scientist, but there are a lot of different ways of doing democracy, aren’t there. That didn’t strike me as a democracy to me, what happened, but-

THE TEND AND BEFRIEND THEORY [14:56]

Sam: This turning point marked the halfway mark of the journey. Half done, half to go. But the question that lingered was: How was this moment going to change the experience?

Back in the 1920s, groundbreaking research in psychology began, and the American psychologist Walter B Cannon published a very important paper where he identified the human response to stress. His paper gave us a phrase we all know: Fight or Flight.

And this was gospel. For about 70 years, most of the subsequent research confirmed his results.

But then, in the 1990s, a different psychologist unwrapped these old ideas. She took a different approach...her name is Shelley E Taylor, and when she analyzed these old studies, she realized something was missing.

There were no women who worked as researchers, and in fact, most of the rats used in the studies were also male.

She wondered. If she were to remount these same experiments, but this time included females, could there be a different result?

And in fact, there was.

Shelly E Taylor published her work in the year 2000. Her research confirmed the third way, an alternative reaction to stress, and she called it Tend and Befriend.

This means that when some of these rats faced stress, they cared for each other instead of fighting. Instead of fleeing, they put the needs of others before their own.

THE EMOTIONAL DECISION NOT TO GOT TO ROTHERA [20:04]

This episode was written, hosted and produced by me, Samantha Hodder.

Sound mix by Kristie Chan

Original music by Podington Bear

Original Theme song by Gabriel Corindia

For this episode, I’d like the thank:

Dr. Adriana Humans

Dr. Susan Scott

Fabian Dattner

Dr. Merryn Mckinnon

Kerryn Millar

Sarah Anderson

Dr. Justine Shaw

Marshall Cowley

Professor Mary-Anne Lea

Greg Mortimer

Dr. Sarah Hamylton

Dr. Amal-Lee Amin

Valerie Sage

Nina Earl

Tune in next week for the final episode of this series.

And if you’re not already receiving our newsletter, please head to the bottom of the page and subscribe, and then I’ll send you one minute of audio love each week.

Thanks for listening.

I’m Samantha Hodder, and This is Our Time.