Our new feminist bestie, 7 year old, Charlotte Brown, has penned a scathing letter to giant toy machine, Lego, calling them on their sexist bullshit. Charlotte was understandably irate about the blatant gender binarism in the marketing of Lego toys, reflected in department store layouts that segregate the pink/girls from the blue/boys and the stereotypically…
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We all know by now that in this scary modern world kids these days have a bit of a hard time. (LOL JK where was my iPhone at age 9??) Apart from practically slipping out of the womb onto a pile of Apple devices, screens a-glow with Angry Birds and Minecraft, the more world-weary among…
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Ice Design slammed for sexist/racist ‘Property of an Aussie Boy’ t-shirts. Aussies head to NZ for gay marriage. $200 ‘marriage vouchers’ to start in July, will be available to gay couples. Indian woman gang-raped on orders of council. EU regulators investigating whether morning after pill works for obese women. Anti-abortion nurse reports former employers for…
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You may not have known that, until this week, in Italy, children of married couples were required by law to take their father’s surname. Required. By. Law. None of this ‘aww it’d be a nice nod to tradition for the kids to have his name’/ ‘his name sounds all sexy and Germanic and we’d obvs…
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Happy New Year, and Welcome Back, Lipsters! If you’re anything like me, you will have spent the last week-and-a-bit pretty much inebriated and therefore, too indisposed to know/care about current events, let alone form eloquent opinions on them. You will no doubt be wondering what’s been happening out there in the real world while the…
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Abbott to married same-sex couples: you knew the ‘risk.’ Michigan passes a bill requiring women to purchase ‘Rape Insurance.’ Democratic elections in Honduras may mean peace, stability and better conditions for women. California becomes first American state to legislate against revenge porn, arrests of website creeps ensue. Pussy Riot could be free by the end…
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The awesome art collective that recently enlightened us all to the glory of vaginal knitting has an early Christmas present for you. Melbourne based ‘craftivist’ group, Craft Cartel, want to challenge the shame and censorship around women’s genitalia, in particular, through the word – “cunt”. They claim that the word, ‘despite being the descriptor of…
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The findings from Mission Australia’s annual youth survey of the concerns of around 15 000 young people aged 15-19 have been released. The aim of the survey is to ‘explore what young people value, their issues of concern, where they turn for support, their engagement in community activities and feelings about the future.’ And this…
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The annual ARIA awards took place on Sunday, with all the big names of Australian music frocking up and hitting the red carpet. Indie dance/electro goodness provider, Flume (AKA Harley Streten) took out the awards for best male artist, best dance album, breakthrough artist and producer of the year. Tame Impala won best group, best rock…
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In what is becoming an international legal row, it has become apparent that an Italian woman visiting Britain was forcibly sedated and given an caesarean section after experiencing a mental breakdown. Last year, while visiting the UK on a two-week business trip, a pregnant Italian woman with a preexisting bipolar disorder experienced panic attacks, and…
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In order to address high rates of abortion in Australia, the government has approved a new long-lasting intra-uterine contraceptive. Recent studies have found that approximately 70 000 women undergo abortions in Australia each year, 60 per cent of whom were using a form of contraception at the time. Data from South Australia and Western Australia…
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A New South Wales primary school has come under fire after it banned girls from wearing shorts as part of the school uniform, only allowing them to wear dresses. Parents of students at Bathurst Primary School were unhappy when the school updated its uniform policy, removing the option of navy shorts and a white polo…
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After months of campaigning and debates, Tasmania is set to become the third Australian state to decriminalise abortion. The Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013 has passed the Legislative Council, in amended form, after extensive late night debates. The bill passed this afternoon with nine votes in favour and five against. The Reproductive Health…
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Rapunzel fashioned it into a handy grappling cable. Mary Magdalene used it to wash the feet of Jesus. Clearly, hair is among the most versatile parts of the human body and because of this, it is oft imbued with a myriad of socio-cultural meanings. In 1957, anthropologist E.R Leach published an essay entitled ‘Magical Hair,’…
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