Marriage Equality in Parliament Lovers of philosophy and online debaters will know that the ‘slippery slope’ argument is a logical fallacy. This week, we saw one of the more absurd examples of it when Liberal senator Cory Bernadi suggested that marriage equality may lead to bestiality. As a result, Tony Abbott decided to relegate him…
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Barbara Demick tells the stories of those locked in to an unyielding series of bombings and sniper attacks in Besieged. I first became aware of Demick’s work through reading her award-winning Nothing to Envy. She provided an amazing and rare insight into the lives of North Koreans. I was excited to learn of her new…
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Adelaide women protect themselves from sexual predators A spate of sexual attacks and attempted abductions have happened recently in Adelaide. In response, self-defence classes for women have expanded and more women are walking together to avoid attacks. The city has also extended their CCTV network and police have released images of the attackers. People care…
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Women Destroy the Joint Late last week broadcaster Alan Jones accused women of ‘destroying the joint’ (presumably, he’s referring to the nation when he says ‘the joint’), pointing to Julia Gillard, Clover Moore, and Christine Nixon as examples of what a destructive force women in politics are. Who knows why policies like the carbon tax…
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Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is a classic because it’s one of the first non-fiction novels ever written. In its essence, a non-fiction novel tells a story the same way a fictional novel would, the only difference being that the non-fiction novel is true (or at least, largely so). It’s kind of an extended piece…
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Ali, the narrator of The Memory of Salt, describes drawing a line in the middle of herself (or perhaps himself, as the author never discloses the gender of the narrator), designating one side as Melburnian, the other as Turkish. While her mother is an Australian paediatrician, her father, Ahmet, is a Turkish musician who joined…
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Nursing seems like a cruelly difficult job to me. You’re on your feet all day, working all hours for little pay, and constantly exposed to disease, death, and the grossest of bodily functions. In a refreshingly honest manner, Kristy Chambers has written a memoir about her career in nursing from the premise that the job…
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Near Pyrmont Bridge in Darling Harbour on Cockle Bay sits Helm Bar, the yellow light of Madame Tussauds and the aquatic glow of the aquarium reflects onto its glass exterior. At night, this area of Darling Harbour is a reprieve. The tourist attractions are closed and the buzz gives way to some stillness. Helm bar…
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Sylvia Plath is a bit of a feminist icon. In her book The Bell Jar, there are plenty of hints as to why that might be. Set in the 1950s, Esther Greenwood, the narrator, is an ambitious character, smart and well-educated. She professes to never wanting to marry because she didn’t much like the idea…
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More women than ever have competed in the 2012 London Olympics than any previous games. For the first time, every country represented at the Olympic Games has sent women to compete in London. This includes Saudi Arabia, a country that has never previously sent any women athletes to the Olympics. Women’s boxing also made its…
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Harrods has a gender-neutral toy store Boys play with blue toys, they like soldiers and trucks and legos. Girls, on the other hand, play with pink dolls and ponies and princess fairy castles. Or so goes the stereotype, anyway. Enter Harrod’s Toy Kingdom. The 26,000 square foot is not divided or signposted on gender…
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This year, channel nine is bringing back, in a fashion reminiscent of Tim Burton, the dog which already died – Big Brother. For those who don’t know, Big Brother shows a cast of random unpaid people who are surveyed during every moment in a house filled with film cameras and microphones. The title ‘big brother’…
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Pussy Riot Punished by God We’ve previously covered some of the protests and the subsequent imprisonment of Russian feminist punk rock band, Pussy Riot. It now seems likely that Pussy Riot may be the undoing of Putin, or will at least be a memorable aspect of his rule. They currently face up to seven years’…
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‘There is nothing more beautiful in our material world than the book.’ – Patti Smith Patti Smith is a punk rock feminist icon. A songwriter, poet, visual artist, and prose writer, she has put her hands in many pies, pissing off the establishment in the process. This offering is far more folk and good…
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