It goes like this: A glossy lifestyle mag interviews a swish “It” girl. She’s at the top of her field. She’s worked hard to get there, and has plenty of tips for goal setting, confidence and “keeping calm, carrying on”. The journalist fawns over this success, and asks if maybe the equal rights movement had…
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Dear Bettina, I’m not sure if I form part of your key demographic, but now and then Facebook links me to your typings on men and what they want from us in bed, so I’m operating by the logic that if Mark Zuckerberg’s programming thinks it’s relevant to me, it is. I have to say…
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When I was of a teen mag consuming age, there was a competition that was run by a skincare brand. Centred on the theme of ‘best friends’, it asked pairs of perfectly tanned thirteen year olds to write in about their friendship with the chance of winning a glossy fashion shoot. Now, I was a…
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If you’ve finished your high school education, one thing you probably wouldn’t have asked for more of in retrospect is court room drama. No matter how you go about it, there’s no real beating around the bush to be done on this one: year twelve is a rather monstrous experience. This is maybe why we’re…
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If the concept of two weeks of Olympic coverage sends you hurtling towards your hard drive ready to demolish five seasons of HBO drama programming, don’t fret – the soap opera that is the lives of professional athletes could entertain you yet. Pop media interviews with young female sports stars have been problematic in the…
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The Good Wife has put a fair bit on our plates issues-wise. And amongst all that tightly written wit and too-clever law talk, this season offered up a new tech miracle capable of solving crimes and protecting women – the humble personal safety app. The question of ‘safety’ of women in party or date situations…
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Craft and community are intertwined concepts, but both are under threat. Our affection for all things handmade has not been enough to preserve the fringes of arts education during tough economic times. Artist Jasmine Targett noticed this, and from it sprang a sprawling, delicate project that brought countless crafters together. What emerged was her series…
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It can be a little hit-and-miss, but every couple of weeks Australia is sent into a minor tizz over words spoken on Q&A. The national panel show, now in its second full year of embracing the tweet-giest, can pull the odd controversial statement out and influence the tone of debates. Late last week we saw…
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Feminism. Harry Potter. Two concepts that may tickle the fancy of a Lip reader. How are these two connected, if at all? In the spirit of making feminism fun, is Hermione the answer? We spend a fair chunk of time on Lip discussing the F word, and it isn’t always a case of warm and…
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Two weeks ago, ultra conservative American radio man Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves in criticism. The subject of his critique was Sandra Fluke, a law student who had testified at a Steering Committee hearing in support of having health coverage for contraceptives. Limbaugh’s analysis almost exploded social media, from the moment that he called…
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You may have noticed that Julia Gillard is of the female persuasion. Perhaps you’ve also seen that her government has received a fair chunk of disgruntlement from the Australian people lately. Leaving the ‘faceless men’ and leadership worries aside, is there actually sexism hiding within the walloping that Ms. Gillard has received? How do we…
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Do we have low standards? The past few weeks have had us questioning the popularity (or lack thereof) of Australian film, literature and culture generally. There’s talk of us still subscribing to ‘Cultural Cringe’, and failing to value Australian cultural products. This analysis has been largely related to film and literature, but does it apply…
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Weight loss and wedding bells seem to be waltzing hand in hand to the theme song of the Ten Network’s Biggest Loser Singles.The program’s enthusiastic press release claims that this year the contestants will be ‘seeking the companionship that their weight has long denied them’. Whether or not you find the equation of obesity and…
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When life gets me down, I flee to Youtube and drag up Baz Luhrmann’s musical take on Mary Schmich’s 1999 piece Sunscreen. Sure, I like electro-pop beats and I support amateur photo montage makers, but really my motives for this are more selfish. Basically, it’s just soothing to hear the opening lines of advice, which…
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