Aussies Go Under To VUW

–Debating

Taking the negative side to debate the motion "Modern women are overdeveloped and underexpoesd," Victoria defeated Australia on August 29.

Opening for Australia, Ian Lawry (Sydney University) said that though the subject had strong sexual overtones, his team intended to talk solely about the political and social aspects. The subject "has far greater significance than meets the eye," he said.

The foundation of his case was the contention that modern women were over-developed because they were underexposed—they didn't have to use all the training in their domestic lives.

Just as the female breast, when overdeveloped did not produce more or better milk, so the woman who is overtrained does not use her excess training to any advantage.

F. A. Hamlin, opening for Victoria, outlined the way his side would present their case. They would speak of Strontium-90, taxation, and advertising.

The reference to Strontium-90 was an illustration of how women were overexposed—everyone was overexposed to Strontium-90, and therefore women were also.

Hamlin pointed out that the affirmative had to prove both that modern women were over-developed, and that they were underexposed. He claimed that the negative team only had to disprove one of them to have won their case. His team intended to concentrate on over-development.

In his adjudication, Mr. Patterson said that he had been partieularly impressed by this point, and had had it in mind throughout the rest of the debate.

For Australia, Terry Coulthard said that women were overdeveloped because they were not able to use their full intellectual potential in modern society.

T. A. Roberts claimed that Lawry's dissertation on the female breast "gave women the personality of the WCC milk department."

In support of his argument that women were underdeveloped politically and socially, he cited reports from the UN Commission on women.

In his summing-up, the leader of the Australian team claimed that Victoria had only proved that women were underprivileged not that they were underexposed.

Hamlin had the audience rocking with laughter when he brushed aside a comparison between women and hedgehogs, which had come up earlier.

"I have handled hedgehogs, and I think it is obvious that the Australians have not handled hedgehogs."

The adjudicator placed Hamlin first, and Lawry second, and paid a tribute to Coulthard, who had spoken well even though he had been quite sick the night before.

He concluded with a plea to the organisers of the debate "There were too many unders and overs in the overdeveloped or underdeveloped, and underexposed. Have a thought for the adjudicator, and please don't do it again."