I was seated in a small, sunny room that smelled of dusty carpet. Across the table from me, looking at my upturned palms, was a man with a long beard and thinning hair around his temples. He traced a line along the meaty part of my palm, just below my fingers. ‘You’re not money-minded,’ he…
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If you live in England, you would undoubtedly have heard of the Channel 4 documentary My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, which explores the lives of gypsy travellers all over Great Britain. The series follows various teenage girls in the weeks and months leading up to a big event in their young lives, whether it’s their…
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Lego has just announced the creation of a set of female scientists ready to be sold in their Series 11 Lego Minifigures. The toys will feature female scientists and their lab tools will be devoid of the colour pink. The idea had been submitted by Stockholm geochemist Dr. Ellen Kooijman and won over many other…
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This was not the first time my father had expressed an opinion which had bothered me, but for some reason this particular incident has stayed in my mind over the last few months. I was watching the phenomenal 2011 film by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi titled A Separation, which follows the lives of two startlingly…
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Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg started a nonprofit organisation, LeanIn.org, to educate, inspire and support women who feel pressured by the media to be skinnier, sexier and prettier. On 9 February, she announced that the organisation would be partnering with Getty Images to create a ‘collection of images that it says represent women and families in…
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Carousel: the Little Battle is a devised piece of physical theatre currently showing at South Melbourne’s Gasworks as part of the Midsumma Festival. The sixty minute piece follows the antics of two female-bodies circus performers who move through scenes that touch on almost all the big feelings that humans experience: love, jealousy, anxiety and…
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Before I moved out of home, we would take my car to a local guy to get it serviced, and whenever we’d pick it up, the mechanic would always address my Dad when reporting on his progress with the car that was in my name – that I drove. This same guy would not let…
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When I tell people I’m looking for gender-neutral baby clothes, they assume it’s because I’m not going to find out the sex of my child before the birth. This isn’t the case at all. I fully intend to find out if it’s a boy or a girl at our next scan. But just because I’ll…
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It seems as though one old chestnut is still flourishing in Australia, and that’s the male breadwinner—female homemaker dichotomy. Recent research has found that, in comparison with other countries of similar economic standing, Australia has the more “traditional” statistic of men being more dominant in the full-time workforce. This is somewhat surprising given that the…
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There is a scene in the headline act of the Fremantle Street Arts Festival, a show by French company Bilbobasso, where the leading lady dances for the leading man, trying to convince him to come back to her. She dances with what look like the bones of two enormous metal fans, a series of lit…
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On Wednesday 20 March, the owner of the popular facebook page ‘I fucking love science’ (an excellent page – check it out!) revealed their true identity over Twitter — and it turns out her name is Elise Andrews … and she’s a woman! [Cue gasps of surprise] And there certainly must have been gasps of…
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I have never before given a shit about a fish. I grew up with goldfish after goldfish and even named some of them, but barely cared or even noticed when they died. I had somewhat more sentiment for my rabbits, but my reaction to their deaths was also pretty cavalier. The prospect of my dog…
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Lately I have discovered a new passion of mine. One that I really shouldn’t be admitting to in public, but what can I say, I have no shame. And that passion is terrible B-Grade television shows. The cheesier the better. You know the type – bad acting, bad storylines, and even worse, fake tans. But…
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Name: Thomas Bailey Age:19 Occupation: Number-cruncher How would you describe yourself and your life? In a nutshell, I work, study and play in Melbourne. I’m at Melbourne University doing Actuarial Studies (a fancy kind of Commerce) and in my spare time I go to the gym, make lentil soup and tutor schoolkids in Maths. I…
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