Social media usage — whether it be Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok — is a huge staple of modern life, to the point that most of us may not think twice about the information that we consume online. But there is growing evidence to suggest that increased social media usage can be related to a variety…
Read more
I have a confession to make. I have never seen one episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. And yet, I can still name every member of the Kardashian-Jenner brood. I can tell you the brand of the dress Kylie was wearing last week on Instagram (it was Meshki), and I can tell you which…
Read more
Social media has become one of the most influential communication channels in human history. In turn, this has changed how activism works on a global level. Through that medium alone, activists have been able to meet and organise large numbers of likeminded thinkers in ways that they simply weren’t able to before. By removing the…
Read more
Social media is a battlefield crawling with landmines: people can post offensive and triggering things while using the defence ‘It’s just my opinion’; posts can go viral in mere minutes; activists who use online platforms are criticised for being ‘social justice warriors’ taking things too seriously; and don’t get me started on 4chan. Social media…
Read more
New York City comedian Lynn Bixenspan has recently been hailed as ‘one of the funniest feminists on Twitter.’ Social media has become an increasingly huge landscape of posts and opinions by comedians, artists, and celebrities that try to claim a place with the internet audience. To stand out amidst this huge crowd is definitely an…
Read more
Victim blaming: it’s not something mass media should do. On Wednesday, Channel Seven’s Sunrise breakfast show did just that as it published a Facebook post about Australian women’s nude photos being uploaded to an American revenge porn website. The post, detailing a story affecting 500 women, had the caption: ‘What’s it going to take for…
Read more
‘Here, let me hold it – my arm is longer than yours.’ Three grinning faces crowd together at the bottom of the screen, the angle tilted just enough so that the majestic Eiffel Tower looms above their floating heads in the background. Kccch goes the simulated sound of the shutter opening and closing. Kccch. Kccch….
Read more
To have revealing photos uploaded onto social media without consent is a fear of many women and a nightmarish reality for more than you would imagine. This is the premise for Handle It, a one-woman play that showed at The Street Theatre from March 13-16. Kelsey, a ‘naïve’ first year university student wakes up after a big…
Read more
There’s a new one woman show in town and it’s just jumped to the top of my ‘must see’ list! Handle It, written, produced and performed by the very talented Laura Jackson, tackles the dirty side of the internet in what promises to be a compelling and witty exploration of sexism, social media and male-female…
Read more
My name is Brianna and I am a former employee of the Australian Public Service. This may sound like a dirty little secret or admitting that I am in some kind of 12-step recovery program for an addiction, but if you are anything like me three years ago, you may not really know what it…
Read more
In Lynn Coady’s short story ‘Hellgoing’, published in the 2013 collection of the same name, the protagonist unleashes on her friends a weekend’s worth of frustration after visiting her father. Her friend Ruth leans in, ready with a ‘discussion question’ as the conversation turns to men in general. A feminist and academic, she never…
Read more
*Trigger alert: Discussion of eating disorders and self-harm* The idea of being an online celebrity has surely crossed the minds of many social media users during those lonely afternoons when a selfie with your dog only attracted one like – from your sister. Although it may seem glamorous to be followed by thousands upon thousands…
Read more
Australian middle-market clothing and home wares retailer, Country Road has come under fire from an indignant customer via social media due to its startling lack of ethnically diverse models in its catalogue. Just having a quick look through the brand’s webpage it is clear to see that the only models utilised in its campaign are…
Read more
Just when you thought you were being controlled too much, thankfully there’s Instagram. Recently the folks at Instagram decided to lift a ban on a variety of phrases such as #thinspo, #fuckbitches, #curlyheadedfuck and #hungrycunt, arguing that the lift allows ‘people to express themselves [whilst] providing protections to prevent certain content that would be against…
Read more
