#I got a music theory degree and a sociology degree and a master's in music ed and spent 9 years teaching music and now

[rulesforthedance]

Dear four people who followed me after reblogging that Sondheim post, you are going to be very disappointed by my usual blogging habits

[itsthelinernotes]

Do I Need To Know About Music If I Want To Write About It?

Somehow everyone likes Music, but simultaneously we can’t agree on what music we like. So what is it that we’re all in agreement about liking? This makes for a strange bit of sociology in terms of how music is approached and talked about. Since music has this odd type of universality it’s seeped deep into our culture and our discussions of it manifest in some strange ways. My love of music, and later love for philosophy and sociology is what led me to studying why music is so universal but not agreed on for six years and two degrees.

All this time studying music has led me to what I now arrogantly believe may be one of the central contradictions of music which is that it is worthless. I’m not trying to say that it’s worth is = 0 nor am I trying to misdirect with a platitude that it is “priceless” meaning that it’s worth is infinite. What I mean is that it simply cannot be defined in terms of having a worth at all. In computer terms you might consider this as being null. I don’t believe this worthlessness is necessarily bad or even good. What I do mean to point out is that it prevents us from thinking clearly about the role of music. When considering we live in a capitalist hellscape this provides a problem because we can’t assign its value at “infinite” nor can we value it at “0”. This is what I think leads to the never ending arguments surrounding the worth of music, musicians, their work.

Before I go on, I should make this clear: I support every musician in their right to get paid. I wrote my Master’s thesis on the labour rights of musicians and how they are abused. However I have a utopian vision where all music is free for everyone. That vision doesn’t jive with our world and until we have some massive societal revolution, musicians gotta eat and we have to play by the rules of capital for now.

The most frustrating way that this valuelessness manifests is that knowledge about music, be it music theory, music history, sociology of music, whatever, is always valued as a secondary skill even in the industries and structures built around music (I pause here again to remind people that I’m a recovering academic writing blogs on Tumblr, what I’m about to describe is personal, I’m mad about it, maybe that’s improper or biased but it’s how I understand my own experiences). Let me give you a few examples.

After entering the hell of the job market with two music degrees I was encountered with a great deal of false hope. There were actually fairly frequent job postings in or around the “music industries”. This was great for living in a small city, albeit one with a rich musical history. What quickly hit me though is that despite all these music jobs no one was actually looking for anyone who knew anything about music. Go ahead and search “music” on a job board, most of the jobs listed will not have “requires a knowledge of music or musical background” unless you’re teaching (I’ll get to this later). Most jobs in music require marketing, business, social media, administration, event planning, etc. Whats more they require experience in those fields so they are not open to most musicians or people who have dedicated their time to the actual music. I don’t mean to downplay those skills or say they are not relevant, I do mean to say that any actual knowledge of music is rarely prioritized. Of course people with passion for music are attracted to these positions but they can also become bloated with people who enjoy music passively. I guess the issue there is that I don’t know a single person who doesn’t enjoy music.

At this point you’re probably shrugging off my frustration as an idiot who thought studying music instead of literally anything else would help me get employed in music. Well you’re right I am frustrated because even the people I know with music degrees who work in music had to get a second degree or diploma unrelated to music to get that job. You might also say “well there are people who write about music who get hired based on their knowledge of music.” But let me dig at that point.

As someone who keeps a close eye on these job postings I can say with relative confidence that most job postings at major music publications (I recently saw one for Stereogum) require experience in journalism first. Their interest is not in proving that you actually understand the content you’ll be writing about but that you’ll be able to produce content on anything. This is most clearly shown in music reviews. Take any review of a new popular album and jot down a one sentence summary of each paragraph. You don’t have to do much to see that not only do these writers bring up the same points in each review, they often do it in the same order. I don’t say this to slander journalists, I think it’s a noble profession, one I don’t have the skills to do. I do this to point out that if you take an incredibly diverse set of information and give it to people who have been trained to write in a certain way, you’ll get largely the same output. If you don’t, you’ll encounter an editor who, having raised through the same ranks will see that it is. Of course it’s not always the case that journalists get hired to write for these publications (for instance, you may just have connections) but it is very common.

I realize this comes across as arrogant and entitled but I think the question of credentials is an important one. After all, I’ve spent six years writing about music under the scrutiny of academia to be told over and over I don’t have the qualifications to write great content like “Every Radiohead Song Ranked” because I didn’t study journalism. I hosted a campus radio show on music for four years to be told the same thing at a radio station. What seems to be happening is that obviously music is important. We’ll create an infinite amount of publications dedicated to the topic. It has worth. But it’s still second to skills that have value to the institution. What I hear from people hiring in music is “Of course music is important... it’s just not valuable”. My encyclopedic knowledge of music is not welcome in the working world unless it’s tied to another skill that can be more efficiently employed. This is because we can’t actually place value on music the way we can on skills with more quantifiable outputs.

This brings me to education. All through my time studying music I got “so you going to be a teacher?” it was something I found frustrating but I do love to teach so I always said “maybe”. Well recently I figured I might as well look into teaching. Where I live, to get a teaching degree you need to have a certain amount of course hours in “teachable” subjects. There’s band class in every school here and luckily I’ve taken a number of conducting classes and have plenty of class hours in music. When looking at the list of subjects considered “teachable” one has an asterisk next to it. It turns out music can only be your “secondary” teachable meaning you have to have majored in another topic and maybe minored in music. I talk to teachers I know in the province and they say that there are barely any music teachers and they regularly have to try and recruit from outside the province. I called one of the univeristies in my area and they assured me that my masters degree was not applicable and that I can’t even apply to be a teacher with only music credits. What I love about this is that I, as arrogant as it may sound, almost certainly know more about music than anyone teaching it in my province (there is a small program at my alma matter that gives degrees in “music education” but having spent a good deal of time with those people I’m not too worried about competition). More people would have education degrees not from the music education program and instead would all have music as a “secondary”. Meanwhile I’m not even eligible to enter most of the teaching programs here at all.

While this article certainly comes off as the complaints of a dumbass, I think there’s an importance in asking these questions. If you decide to pursue the knowledge of music academically, why is that so often viewed as a bonus to a primary knowledge? Why are our priorities in the music world on non-musical skill sets and knowledge, even in careers that are concerned with music knowledge like teaching and music writing? I don’t think it’s anything to do with the well meaning people I’ve thrown under the bus here and everything to do with our way of measuring value. Or better, our deep inability to deal with things that can’t have value assigned to them. Consider also that every LP when it came out was sold for the same price, but immediately some of them became collectable and would exponentially increase in value while others you would struggle to give away. The universality of price of a new LP in the 60s, a new CD in the 90s or an iTunes single in the 00s was because we just can’t place a value on its contents so we had to concede that every song is worth $0.99. Because a good deal of my identity and work has been put into understanding music now my skill set and that of others is in a weird non-value. Afterall everyone loves music, what’s so special about me?

[harleyquinnbluemoonlove]

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE. MY TECH JACK OF ALL TRADES 3A/8B TOOLBOX IS EXPENSIVE AND HIGHLY SOUGHT OUT BY EVERYONE IN THE WORLD..

SO, I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD AND TO BE A NICE, CLASSY WOMAN WHO HAS BEEN MISREPRESENTED FOR A LONG TIME..I LOVE TECH AND COMPUTERS. I LOVE DISCOVERING STUFF.  ITS VERY EXCITING, ESPECIALLY WHEN I KNOW THE SECRETS, TOP SECRETS TO THE WORLD. AND I AM A 3A091 INFORMATION MANAGER AND A 8B000 WITH AN AIR EDUCATION & TRAIN CMD MASTER INSTRUCTOR BADGE & A BLACK ROPE. EVERY EPR AND INSTRUCTOR EVAL RATED FIREWALL 5 OR OUTSTANDING. I GOT ONE EXCELLENT RATING AND THAT WAS FOR MY MASTER INSTR BADGE BY A E9 GIVEN A HAT. WEIRD. HE PLAYS GAMES WHEN ME AND RO MADE E-6. I STUDY SOLO. I DONT HELP OTHERS STUDY FOR TESTS BC I MAY PICK UR BRAIN FOR KEYS TO SUCCESS BUT I TELL VERY FEW PEOPLE BC I CANNOT ALLOW ANYONE TO OUTDO ME. IF I DO HELP SOMEONE, IT WAS THE GREATER GOOD OF THE ORGANIZATION BC I CARE ABOUT ORG EXCELLENCE. I LOVE HAVING A BUNCH OF RIBBONS AND MEDALS BC I EARNED THEM. I HAVE MORE THAN SOME CHIEFS IN THE AIR FORCE. SO MY RETIREMENT PAPERS I READ THEM THE OTHER DAY. AND I CARE ABOUT MY REPUTATION. REPUTATION IS A DOG EAT DOG WORLD IS EVERYTHING. IT MATTERS THATS WHY I RECEIVED THE DONATIOSN THAT WERE STOLEN BY HONESTLY, AN IDIOT. I CANNOT HELP ANYONE BROKE, LONELY AND HUNGRY. SO,TIME TO START RUNNING MY MOUTH AGAIN BC DUMMIES WANT TO GET ON MY LAPTOP WHICH IS NOT A MOBILE DEVICE. ITS SECURED BC I HAVE SEVERAL DEGREES IN INFO RESOURCE MGT ITMS, COMPUTER SECURITY, MINOR IN FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY, MINOR IN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING, IM OLD SKOOL, I CAN WRITE MY OWN CODE AND ALGORITHMS BUT SOMEBODY PROVIDED SOME ASST WITH SOME GOOD APPS AND SOME SHITTY APPS ON PURPOSE, I KNOW THE WORLD, YOU HAVE NOT TRAVELED THE WORLD WANNA BE HACKERS, THINK THEY CHEMISTS, CANT EVEN SPELL WORDS OR KNOW THEY COME FROM THE GREEK AND LATIN LANGUAGES, OUR GOVT WAS TAUGHT TO ME BY A TN STATE SENATOR IN MILLINGTON IN 1996. I KNOW OF A KILLER OF A CONSPIRACY THEORY INVOLVING A TN SENATOR’S SON AND A TN STATE HIGHWAY PATROL TROOPER WHO’S DAUGHTER WAS MY BFF, STEFANIE DAWN BURNETT RIP SEP 2001. SAID SENATOR’S SON LOST CONTROL OF THE CAR BC HE WAS PICKING UP A BLUNT AND TOOK HIS EYES OFF THE ROAD. EVERYONE IN THE CAR DIED. STEF PROJECTED FROM THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD INTO THE TREE SO VIOLENT SHE WAS DECAPTITATED. SHE REVEALS INFO BOUT PREGO SHAY SHAY. MY NEPHEW WAS BORN 2 LBS MARCH 10,2000 BC SHAY SHAY DID EVERY DRUG SHE COULD GET BC SHE DIDNT WANT HIM. AND THE GIRL THE DADDY IS A CONN OF MAN...MY 4 IS MISSING AND IM HUNGRY NO ANSWER FROM YO “moneybaggs”. SOMEDAY PEOPLE GONNA REALIZE HOS THAT SALE THEIR PUSSY FOR DOPE & 10 AINT QUALITY, LADIES YOU CANNOT CONTROL A MAN ALL YOU CAN DO IS ACCEPT OR NOT AND LET HIM GROW UP.ANYHOW WE KNOW EVERYTHING BC WE ARE EXPERTS AND KNOW IT ALLS BC WE CARE ABOUT THE LEGALITY OF IT ALL. WE ARE CHRISTIANS., WE PRAY, WE ARE NOT HYPOCRITES, THAT MEANS IN A CHRISTIAN WORLD - SIN EXISTS, YOU MUST CONFESS OR REPENT TO BE SAVED BY “GOD, ALLAH, FAIRY GODMOTHER”. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN SOMETHING TO HAVE FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, ETC. I NEED TO KNOW HOW THINGS WORK, HOW TO BUILD THEM, HOW TO CONTROL THEM, I LOVE MATH, SCIENCE, TECHNOLGY, SOCIOLOGY, RELIGON, MUSIC, ART, TATTOOS, EQUALITY TO A DEGREE, ALL JOBS ARE NOT CREATED EQUALLY BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE IN COMBAT, YOUR WISH MAY GRANTED. MR. TRUMP WANTS RE-ELECTION BC HE WANTS TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. I BELIEVE THE CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE AND I WANT TO GIVE AN OPPORTUNITY AND SEE WHAT THEY DO AND ACCOMPLISH BC I SEE A LITTLE GIRL THAT ACTS LIKE ME AND SHE IS 3 AND SMART AS A WHIP..SHE LIKES DOGS AND WATCHING ME PUT ON MAKEUP. I AM GONNA MAKE SURE SHE, HER SIBLINGS, AND HER MOMMA ARE HAVING ALL THE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WORLD BC I CAN DELIVER IT. I CAN DELIVER WORLD PEACE LIKE ALL THE MISS AMERICA WOMEN SAY AND MR TRUMP OWNS THE PAGENT. IT IS TIME FOR THE BILL CLINTONS AND MEN TO STAND UP FOR THEIR REPUTATIONS, THEMSELVES, REALIZE THE POWER AT HAND. BC IT IS FORREST GUMP & JENNY EXCEPT I AM NOT A DRUG ADDICTION SLUT. NO I DONT HAVE ANY DISEASES EXCEPT FOR CANCER CAUSED BY THE CITIZENS WHO HAVE FREEDOM THAT SOMEBODY FOUGHT FOR ONCE UPON A TIME IN A MOVIE. I HAVE FEELIINGS ON A METAPHYSICAL LEVEL. IF YOU ARE OF TERRIFIC INTELLIGENCE AND HAVE AN EXCELLENT EDUCATION, THEN - YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT, SEE FRIENDS IN LOW AND HIGH PLACES AND RICH COUNTRIES LIKE THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD AND I HAVE BEEN THERE 14 DAYS PRIOR TO 9/11..I HAD A FEELING AND I SAID HEY THE WORLD TRADE CENTER JUST GOT BOTH, 1ST ACCIDENT, SECOND HELL FUCKING NO THAT WAS ON PURPOSE. MY NEXT INSTINCT WENT TO THE BIGGEST TARGET THE PENTAGON, NO ITS THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY IN SOUTH PARKING. HOW DO I THINK? I AM INSPIRED BY FORENSICS, PSYCHOLOGY, GOVERNMENT, LAWS, FUNDAMENTALS BECAUSE EVERYTHING STARTS SOMEWHERE AND I LIKE TO BREAK IT DOWN TO THE PRIME AS IN PRIME NUMBERS, PRIMARY COLORS. WE ALL PLAY SPORTS. I TOOK ROTC SO I WOULDNT HAVE TO SHOWER WITH WOMEN STARING AT ME. I REFUSE TO WORKOUT WITHOUT GETTING A SHOWER AFTERWARDS BC IM CLEAN, I LIKE TO LOOK GOOD AND I LIKE TO SMELL GOOD. I LIKE TO LOOK LIKE AN UPTOWN GIRL BC ITS HOTT. SO I DO AND WILL WEAR FAKE DIAMONDS BUT I HAVE WORN REAL DIAMONDS AND LIKE ORIGNAL METALS. ORIG MEDALS..SILVER COMES BEFORE GOLD, AND WHITE GOLD LOOKS LIKE SILVER AND THE BEST TITLES ARE PLATINUM AND DIAMOND MINTS. RATINGS HOT OR NOT, THIS APP CREATED BY METZ. SEE PEOPLE MAY BE UNDER-RATED AT A YOUNG AGE OR THEY MAY HAVE HATERS. ME, IVE ALWAYS BEEN PRETTY AND I KNOW. LET ME SEE..QUOTE “I AM LIKE A FINE WINE, GET BETTER WITH TIME”. NEVER HAVE I EVER SLEPT WITH HIM. WHEN HE DIED, I SENT HIS SIS AND MOM $100 AND HIS FUNERA;L WAS STANDING ROOM ONLY.

[ieltsformyself]

Questions and vocabulary about studing

The government wants to make it possible for most people to g onto higher education. (education at a university)

2. He went to Oxford University, but I don’t know which college he was at. (an independent institution which has its own teachers, students, and buildings)

3. I’m in the department of sociology. (one of the parts into which a university is divided)

4. You should start revising for your exam as soon as possible. Any delay will result in vital time being lost. (to read or study again something that you have learnt, especially when preparing for an exam)

5. The candidate paced nervously up and down waiting to be called for the interview. (a person who is taking an exam)

6. Unless you pull your socks up, you’ve got no chance of passing the exam. (to achieve necessary standard in an exam, test, etc.)

7. He is the dean of the Arts Faculty. (the head of a faculty [a group of related departments in a university])

8. The academic year begins in October. (the part of a year at university when students have classes and exams)

9. They’re advertising a lectureship in the Sociology Department. (the position of a lecturer)

10. I’ve just been appointed to the chair of/professorship of European History. (the position of a professor)

11. She’s giving a series of lectures on molecular biology. (to talk to a group of people on a particular subject)

12. All the students have to give a seminar paper at least once. (a talk which is given for a seminar)

13. She was my tutor at Durham. (a person who teaches a small group of students)

14. My dissertation is being supervised by professor Holroyd. (to work as a supervisor)

15. I’m not happy with the supervision I’m getting. (when you supervise someone)

16. I’m doing some research into animal behavior. (to study something carefully and in detail)

17. I’m a university student. (a person who is studying at a college or university)

18. I’m doing an undergraduate course. (a student who has not yet taken his or her first degree)

19. They have brought new computer facilities for the postgraduates in the department. (a student who is studying for a second degree at a university)

20. I’m planning to spend a year abroad before I go to university. (to attend universe y regularly as a student)

21. I got a place ace at Manchester University. (an opportunity to study at university)

22. I live in hall. (to live in a hall of residence [university building where some students live])

23. This course consists of six modules. (a part of a course [a complete series of lessons or classes])

24. I need another four credits to complete this course. (a part of a course that a student has completed and that appears on his / her record)

25. I have to take a Maths exam. (to take a written, spoken, or practical test of what you know or can do)

26. I have to hand in an essay on biology. (a short piece of writing on one subject)

27. You need to do well in your assignments as well as in the exam. (a piece of work that you are given to do by university teachers which counts towards your final degree)

28. I’m writing my thesis at the moment. (a long piece of writing on something which you have studied or researched, especially as part of a university degree)

29. I’ve got a degree in psychology. (a qualification gained by successfully completing an academic course at a university)

30. I’m majoring in English. (to study something as your main subject at college or University)

31. I’ve got a diploma in hotel management. (a qualification of a lower level than a degree)

32. I’m a graduate in engineering. (a person who holds a (first) degree from a university)

33. I graduated in History from Sussex University. (to receive an academic degree or diploma)

34. After graduation, I plan to do a postgraduate degree. (the time when you complete a university degree course)

35. I’ve got an upper second in politics from Surrey University. (grades for a university degree in Britain: first (class), (upper) second (class), third (class) e.g.: a first class honours degree)

36. I’ve got an MA (Master of Arts) in English literature. (a degree taken after a first degree in an arts subject)

37. MSc (Master of Science) (a degree taken after a first degree in a science subject)

38. BA (Bachelor of Arts) (a first university degree in an arts subject)

39. BSc (Bachelor of Science) (a first degree in a science subject)

40. PhD, Dphill (Doctor-of Philosophy) / (doctorate) (the highest university degree e.g. to get a PhD, to work for a doctorate)

41. I’m hoping to get a student grant. (money that is given (by the government) to help you for a university or college education)

42. She’s won a scholarship, to study music. (an amount of money that is given to a person who has passed an exam or won a competition in order to help pay for their studies)

43. He started university but dropped out after two years. (to leave university without finishing your studies)

44. I’ll have to read up on (informal) the third chapter for my exam. (to read a lot about something so that you learn about it)

45. I did (informal) Archaeology for two years at university. (to study a particular subject)

46. I’m afraid I don’t know much about that. It isn’t my field. (a general area of study or knowledge)

47. There are a lot of people with expertise in this field. (special knowledge or skill which a person has)

48. She specializes in family law. (to give most of your attention to one subject)

49. I’ve done a study of modern American society. (a piece of scientific research into a particular subject)

50. I’ve collected a lot of statistics relating to air pollution. (information about something in the form of numbers)

51. We are gathering data on graduates without jobs. (facts or information used in research)

52. Data collection has already finished; I’m doing the analysis now. (studying or thinking about the different parts or details of something in order to understand it better)

53. The theory needs to be tested by experiment. (a thorough test using scientific methods to discover how someone or something reacts under certain conditions)

54. Joule carried out / performed a series of simple experiments to test his theory. (to do a task or something)

What are you studying? Do you have higher education? What do you like about your studies? How often do you use English? What languages can you speak? What subject would you like to study at university? When does the academic year begin? Have you ever lectured at university? Can you tell me about it? Have you ever done a research? What was your research on? What’s your field of study? What do you find difficult about your field of study? What do you like about it? What subjects will you take when you go to university? Which courses are you doing this term? How do you find them? How’s your course going? How many modules does the course consist of? How many other credits do you need to complete this course? Do you think you’re going to do them successfully? Which exams do you usually find difficult? Do you need to do well in your assignments during the course? Do they count towards your final degree? Have you started writing your thesis? What’s it about? Do you have to give a seminar paper during the term? When have you got to hand in your essays? What marks did you use to get at university? Have you ever won a university scholarship? What are your future plans after graduation? What are you majoring in? Have you got any other diplomas or degrees? Which subject did you study at university? Are there many people with expertise in your field in the country? Can you tell me about the education system in your country? What types of school are there in your country? What different exams must students take in your country? What’s the reason you’re taking this exam? Are you studying now? Describe the course you are studying? What do you most dislike about your study / course? What are the best things about where you study?

[theory-in-a-story-blog]

Reading through the lenses of Karen Horney

Karen Horney was the first women to present a paper on psychology at an international conference. She’s one of the most influential figures in the development of feminine psychology. There’s no personality textbook that does not talk about Karen Horney. So what shaped her personality? To answer that you need to have a brief context of her early life.

Karen Horney was born as Karen Danielson; she was the second child of her father’s second marriage. The first child was her older brother; she has observed that her father was always supportive of her brother’s endeavours more than her just because she was a girl. She saw this as an obstacle and decided to overcome it by being smart, as a compensation for her looks and gender. She’s one of the first women to enter a medical school in Germany. It is here, she learned about Psychoanalysis the buzz term of that time. She was guided and trained by Karl Abraham. She soon began to question Freud’s idea of Psychoanalysis. Certain concepts showed how andocentric the entire theory was. For example the concept of Penis envy; she believed that penis envy does not literally translate to envying the penis rather it is the envy that stems out of the importance the society and various cultures have associated with it.  She coined the term womb envy which explains a man’s need to succeed in everything and create a legacy for themselves stems from their inability to bear and conceive a child.

The affects of growing anti-Semitism and her differences with Freud persuaded her to move to U.S.A, where she expanded the horizons of feminine psychology and psychoanalysis. She has contributed extensively to the research in the respective fields. Her efforts were recognised by her colleagues and they have opened a clinic in her name to promote her efforts in the advancements of feminine psychology and a broader understanding of psychoanalytic approach.

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 Graduation day was tomorrow, three women sat in sparsely decorated room with cups of tea in their hands. Amara, Nira and Noor were reminiscing over the time spent in college, over the last two years when they had been completing their master’s degree.

These three women made a very peculiar trio. They were extremely different from each other and it was very unlikely that you would find such a group anywhere else. They were thought to be lucky to have been assigned the same room in the girls hostel of their college and had surprisingly taken a liking towards each other.

Noor was the most timid of them all; always feeling like she had to go an extra mile to keep her friends. She often felt homesick, but thanked her stars for finding friends like Nira and Amara, who made her, feel secure in the new city. She would time and again give up her space for Nira’s things as she had too much stuff. She felt slightly more insecure about Amara, but she kept those feelings to herself. Noor felt that Sociology had been a great choice for a master’s degree as she could get to help people. As a child she had been very attached to her mother and till date would do anything to make her mother happy.

Noor shows a Compliant personality. She strives for other’s affection and would do anything that may help her in achieving it, even if it caused her discomfort. She often tries to behave the way others want her to as evidenced by her relationship with Nira and her mother. She feels the need for attention to feel loved and secure in her own environment. She shows movement towards people and displays to neurotic needs- Affection and Approval, a dominant partner.

Whereas Noor was the dependent one, Nira was fiercely self-regulating. She had finished her master’s in Business Management and could not wait to start working and putting in her knowledge to use in the working world. She was convinced that she would climb the corporate ladder rapidly. While growing up she was an only child and one could say that she was used to getting her way. But Nira was not only known for her loud personality, but for her sharp mind and efficient working skills. She had won at several fests throughout college and was the perfect student by her professors. Once she found something she was good at, she did not stop until she achieved all there was to achieve in that field. She was extremely competitive and confident about her abilities.

Nira moves against people in order to alleviate basic anxiety. She has an Aggressive personality. She is driven to suppress others in order to come out on top. She often took on leadership roles for the feel f power in her hands. She got a thrill out of being praised and admired for her achievements and abilities.

  Amara was the combination of her roommates. She was quiet yet an independent person. At the start of the year, she used to feel extremely annoyed by her loud and talkative roommates but overtime learnt to live with them as she went and purchased noise cancelling earphones to listen to her music. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her roommates, she was thankful for them, but she felt that they did not understand the concept of ‘personal space’. She had done her masters in English Literature and felt that her work had quality and charm that the rest of her course mates failed to imbibe in their style of writing.  

Amara exhibits a Detached personality. She avoids forming intimate relationships, and enjoys her independence. She relied heavily on herself and felt that her achievements should be recognised and accepted as they were. She shows a movement away from people, and sees herself as a self-sufficient perfectionist and she refused to look beyond her comfort zone.

As their degree had come to an end, the inevitable topic of their future surfaced in their conversation. ‘What were we going to do now?’

“I really want to work and get to the top of my game and show the world what im really capable of”, Nira began.

“But what about marriage?” Noor questioned her.

“Huh, who needs men?” commented Amara.

Nira didn’t completely agree with Amara, she and her boyfriend had recently spoken about marriage and they would make a great functioning couple. “For me, personally, it’s on the table but definitely after a few years, I must get on my own two feet first”.

“Yeah even I would like to do that but my parents have already found a nice guy for me and when I spoke with him, he was extremely supportive of my working” Noor chimed in.

“Well girls, you have a fun time; I’ve nearly finished my book and I sure as hell don’t need a man to keep me happy in my life. I’m never going to get married, imagine sharing a bed every night, goodness! I need my space.” Amara really let them know what she felt.

Horney would analyse this scene with a lot of interest. Being an early feminist, she dismissed the orthodox psychoanalytical theories that supported men’s dominance over women. Even amongst these three women, we see a drive to establish and not be trapped in the patriarchal system. Some women choose motherhood and some, a career. But many manage to balance both simultaneously and successfully.

An awkward silence followed Amara’s comment. Uncharacteristically Amara spoke up, “Dude those boys in my class are so immature anyway. Imagine, even in 2017, I heard one of them whisper to the other about how the girls in class were too emotional to ever be able to write objectively.”

“Wow, you’ve got some misogynistic pigs in your class! They sound like they are jealous.” Nira said in shock.

Horney countered Freud’s concept of penis envy, where he said that women were jealous of men which caused to be inferior to men. She turned the tables on Freud. While agreeing that women did feel inferior to men, she classified that it was because of the cultural environment and the society they were raised in, where men were given more importance. There was no biological reasoning behind such feelings. To strengthen her argument, she went on to say that men were extremely envious of a woman’s ability to give birth to another human and called it ‘Womb Envy’.

Nira suddenly got on the bed and raised her cup of tea in the air, “Girls, I would like to toast to the both of you and also to this generation of women! We are stronger than we ever have been before and there is nothing that can between what we want to achieve in life and who we want to become. I really hope that we are able to become the women we deserve and have the ability to become. There will be obstacles, but we have the power in ourselves to overcome them!”

Most ‘normal’ people have so called ideal and perfect pictures of themselves, built on a flexible assessment of their abilities. But for neurotics, this self image is inflexible and unrealistic. They construct a ‘Tyranny of shoulds’ which is an attempt to realise this ideal self image, by going along with the ideals which they should embody. They often defend themselves by projecting these conflicts onto the outside world in a process called Externalisation.