Recent reforms and policy decisions related to maternity leave may be to the delight of women throughout Australia, but new research shows that such policies do not overcome the serious wage toll suffered by women who decide to take time off work in order to be the primary carer of a child. Paid parental leave…
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In the 1970s, Robin Morgan said that ‘pornography is the theory, rape is the practice’. She was an integral part of the Women Against Pornography association, which had set-up an office in New York City, setting up tours to show interested people, even high school students, the places around the city which exploited the bodies…
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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about having a heterosexual, feminist relationship. My boyfriend identifies himself as a feminist and I’m quite proud of that. It made me wonder how that might affect the practicalities of our relationship. I do believe that we have a ‘feminist relationship’ despite that we do navigate issues like ‘who…
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Feminist blogger and freelance writer Lena Chen talks to me about coming out as a feminist, as well as discussions and conflicts between feminists and how we can live out our ideological perspective. Lena is a really thoughtful woman. I’ve been reading her blog, the Ch!cktionary, for a while now and she deals with a…
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Earlier this month, Australia was alerted to an incident involving two girls who wanted to go to their school’s ball together. The school subsequently banned the couple from going to the ball. One of the girls was told either to go with a boy or go alone. The school allegedly gave a number of reasons…
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We see the words ‘kids are having to grow up faster than ever before’ all the time in magazines, books and on TV. They especially refer to girls in saying this. Apparently, it’s the case that children are forced out of their precious childhood years too early. They should be free to enjoy themselves more…
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This year is the fortieth anniversary of Germaine Greer’s seminal and very important book, The Female Eunuch. She argued, at its most basic, that men hate women and that because women don’t realise that men have this hatred, they learn to hate themselves. Most famously, she gives the following example of female self-hatred. If you…
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Recently, some cast members of Fox TV show, Glee have posed for racy photographs for GQ magazine. For the assumedly very few who don’t know, Glee is a comedy/drama set in an American high school. The characters in the ‘glee club’ are often unpopular so they use the club to find friends, and presumably find…
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‘Facebook stalking’ isn’t much like real stalking. Real stalking is where you follow someone around, look through their windows, trawl through their garbage cans and whisper their name until you fall asleep. Facebook stalking, however, involves looking up someone on Facebook, either by looking at their profile (if you’re their ‘friend’) or by looking at…
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Recently, my university residential hall has established a men’s officer. Reading through blogs and opinion news sites, I feel conflicted about what role an officer supporting men has to play in this setting. For a very long time we’ve had a women’s officer whose role was never really clear in the first place. Once a…
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Growing up one of my favourite shows on television was Daria, and heck, I still watch downloaded episodes of it, and am asking for the complete 5 seasons for my birthday this year (my birthday is in October, if you’re feeling generous). It’s compelling stuff. I identified a lot with Daria, given that I didn’t…
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Dolly and Seventeen are both magazines aimed at teenage girls. Dolly though, is sold to girls in Australia and Seventeen is sold to American girls. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two, as a way to see the disparities in American and Australian media. Curious, and enticed by the extremely low sales…
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Recently, the French government has banned all religious veils that covers the face. So, while the hijab is still fine, other modes of covering up one’s body such as the burqa is not allowed. In the midst of debate as to whether certain cover-ups common in the Islamic world oppress women, is this an empowering…
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Female circumcision or female genital cutting (FGC) seems to be quite a grisly business. It’s often categorised alongside the many different acts of violence against women, made all the worse by the fact that, in some cultures, it’s ritualised. It is the unnecessary cutting or removal of female genitalia that is medically unnecessary – done…
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