Shipwrecked: women and children first?

Romantic notions of heroism - the captain refusing to leave his sinking ship, women and children being ushered to safety - have been shattered by reports emerging from the Costa Concordia. Cambridge University academic Lucy Delap sets last week's tragic events within a historical context of shipwreck that encompasses changing perceptions of class and gender. 'Women and children first' was much more contested in the past than today's news coverage would have us believe." - Barely three months short of the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic , which went down on 15 April 1912, another shipwreck has galvanised the world's attention. With tragic stories of loss, chaos and fear, shipwrecks have always fascinated onlookers, and been used to convey moral lessons. The Costa Concordia has reignited the potent debates over how one should behave in an emergency shipwreck situation. It is clear from the media response that the old question of whether 'women and children' should go first remains just as significant in 2012 as it seemed in 1912. The world's press has dwelt on the lack of precedence of women and children aboard the 21st century sinking ship, with particular emphasis on the failures of professionalism and chivalry shown by the Italian captain, and his crew.