Feminism is defined as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”. The broad spectrum of feminist ideologies (from radical, Marxist to liberal) have different expressions of this core belief, but they are all fighting to create an egalitarian society. Many branches of feminism also place emphasis on intersectionality, which considers…
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In 1967, literary critic Roland Barthes wrote in his seminal essay The Death of the Author that writing is the destruction of every voice, of every point of origin. Writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very identity of…
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Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s The Love of a Bad Man begins with tenderness: ‘Baby, wake up,’ he says, and he’s kissing my eyelids, my cheeks, trailing his fingers over the bib of my nightgown and it’s so soft it must be a dream. Woolett’s short-story collection focuses on the lives of twelve women (or in the…
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This article contains spoilers for Season 4 of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, along with discussions of potentially upsetting content, including rape, torture and violence. Our favourite Litchfield inmates are back, with June 17 heralding the season four premiere of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. Season four is arguably the most enthralling, witty, and…
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This is a review of a session held at the 2016 Sydney Writers’ Festival. * What is it that we find so fascinating about a reclusive novelist? There are plenty of writers who have attempted anonymity, with varying degrees of success: Harper Lee and Thomas Pynchon both spring to mind. These authors have chosen…
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This is a review of a session held at the 2016 Sydney Writers’ Festival. * When I first entered the room and upon seeing so many older women, I was unsure if I would feel comfortable as a member of the new generation of feminism. I wondered whether Gloria Steinem, a prominent 82-year-old American…
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Journalists can change the world. At least that was once true, when in 2001 the “Spotlight” team of The Boston Globe – through months of investigation – exposed the systematic child abuse of over 70 priests in the highly Catholic Boston area. If true stories of Pulitzer-winning journalism are your cup of tea, you’ll find…
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Every day in Australia, police face 657 cases of violence against women. Every week, 2 women are murdered, often by somebody they know. While watching Hitting Home, Sarah Ferguson’s new documentary on Australian domestic violence, my friend wonders aloud, ‘Has it always been this bad?’ I answer: ‘Yes.’ It’s just that this year, we’re paying…
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Elizabeth Harrower’s ‘new’ collection of short stories, A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories, is enchanting. By which I do not mean that it contains magic, or the promises of happy endings. No; Harrower’s writing is pure, unadulterated realism. Her stories occupy the real world, and make an effort to reveal the lives…
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‘When are you planning to have kids?’ I’d bet you good money that every woman has been asked this question at some point in her life. More than once. This question is almost always well-intentioned but, at the same time, works on the assumption that not only is procreation inevitable, but something that every rational…
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There are many aspects of London Road that are just plain weird. This musical-turned-film is based on the true events surrounding the serial murders of five female sex workers in 2006 by Steve Wright, taking interviews about the crimes verbatim and turning them into snazzy show-tunes. But perhaps what is most unique about London Road…
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YOU BEAUTIFUL, RULE-BREAKING MOTH: The Top 10 Moments of Parks and Recreation After seven seasons of adventures, laughter, and warm-hearted storylines, Parks and Recreation left our television screens last week. The show was, in words of Leslie Knope, a ‘beautiful, rule-breaking moth.’ Not only was Parks and Recreation hilarious, it was unrelentingly positive: driven…
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The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards came out last week. Amongst the deserving successes for films like Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Boyhood, there is a certain noticeable pattern emerging from the nominees in the major categories. For the first time in almost 20 years every single person nominated in the acting categories…
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She is the sensational Diva of Afghanistan and the only female artist/activist of Afghanistan with over 300,000 fans on Facebook. A multiple award winning artist, Aryana Sayeed is one of the rare singers that only performs live in her concerts. Her outstanding performances, her fight for women’s rights, and her beauty have won millions of…
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