Dear reader, from her: Who doesn’t love a gossip?

Dear Reader,

Gossip is inevitable.

It is the one thing that won’t die, that can’t be replaced by AI and keeps people close through whispers and secrets. The other week I walked into a book shop and was immediately drawn to a particular book with an illustration of two women gossiping. Each of them had a hand placed over their faces, leaning in close as they looked over to the side. Below read, “A Defence of Gossip and the Women Who Do It”.  Now, it is silly to think that gossip is gendered when I myself know countless men who adore a good gossip, hearing all the details about situations that don’t involve them. However, I thought the concept of the book was intriguing, defending gossip due to its very negative connotations and how gossip, in fact, builds relationships and connections.

It is human to love a bit of gossip

So, what about the gossip that thrives on campus? At the end of the day, regardless of who you are or who you know, it is human to love a bit of gossip. Especially gossip at university: there are so many potential stories, experiences, or rumours that grow in the centre of it all.

If we break it down, you might begin to realise why gossip especially thrives here. To begin, we are in the middle of nowhere. Physically, the university is situated away from towns like Kenilworth and Leamington Spa or the members of the public, making campus your entire world. As someone who has grown up in the busy London scene, the quiet of fields and greenery makes the scene for gossip all the more exciting.

Almost everyone is on social media. That means almost everyone has a platform to gossip on. There are countless anonymous gossip accounts that have more than eight thousand followers, posting weekly confessions or stories that students have sent in. The posts tend to have many recurring themes or topics. Some of the most popular are expressions of unrequited affection in Pop, distant admiration in a lecture hall or some very silly attempt to have someone contact them, even though it is anonymous. Then some are a little more exciting – scandals of society execs, warnings to others to stay away from certain individuals, or noise complaints from music or people in the flat above and below…

It would be naive to think that every story is true; exaggeration goes hand in hand with gossip, after all

On average, the accounts do pretty well, gaining several thousand followers and between 400 and 800 likes per post. Perhaps there is a guilty pleasure in swiping through the countless slides, reading through submissions in the hopes of recognising initials and deciphering the origin of a story.

Now, it would be naive to think that every story is true; exaggeration goes hand in hand with gossip, after all. Submissions of humorous and graphic stories are created to make people laugh, and sent to others in disbelief at the contents of the story and those involved. You will have clichés of “I once heard…”, “Did you know that…” or “Oh, I forgot to tell you!” that immediately send a burst of excitement as we reply, “tell me”.

It has always been seen as a female-led social bonding mechanism and labelled as ‘women-talk’

Historically, gossip had originated from a term for women supporting one another during childbirth. It has always been seen as a female-led social bonding mechanism and labelled as ‘women-talk’. From the endless world of whispers in Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice to the “Burn Book” in the 2004 Mean Girls film, gossip is and always has been a powerful tool. There are numerous dangers with gossip, misinformation or misinterpretation of who said what or how they said it. However, that factor is always inevitable and something that we must just come to accept.

But gossip occurs online. It is well and alive in the staircases of the library, as you hear phone calls, arguments or disputes, angry footsteps and echoes of catch-ups from friends who lost one another in the club the night prior. Gossip creeps in as you walk past groups of people, hearing fragments of conversations that could easily be taken out of context. Coffee shops are the birthplace for gossip, crawling with layered conversation of situations that may have been growing for months or years. It is the place where you suddenly realise your voice is a little too loud and perhaps the waitress who gave you a look wasn’t noticing the spilt coffee stain on your t-shirt but listening to the gossip you had kindly placed in front of her.

P.S: Lower your voice next time, you never know who is listening.

From Her