A school district in the American state of Mississippi has foregone discussion of condoms in sex education to go on a slut shaming lesson using the confection York’s Peppermint Pattie. In possibly the worst metaphor ever, students shared the chocolate by putting it in their mouth and then passing it on to their classmates. This…
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A study by the US Women’s Media Centre (WMC) has found the majority of print, broadcast, internet and wires content is produced by male journalists. The WMC surveyed 27,000 articles, bulletins and the like to find across all platforms 63.4 per cent was man-made. News anchor positions are mainly held by men with the…
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A liberal arts college in Saratoga, New York will offer a course analysing Miley Cyrus this year. Skidmore College will offer ‘The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media’ as part of its Summer courses, alongside a range of other creative arts and humanities subjects. The classes, headed by Associate Professor Carolyn Chernoff,…
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A Chinese travel company that runs trips to North Korea has set its sights on a new market: Western ‘pickup artists’ (or PUAs). Koryo Tours has explained on its website why this ‘love tourism’ isn’t illegal and why foreigners shouldn’t be dissuaded from taking the journey… or ‘challenge’ is probably how they’d choose to frame…
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If you heard out-and-proud ‘feminist’ Tony Abbott’s speech this International Women’s Day, you would think that – bar room for improvement in parental leave – ladies across the nation should be cheering. ‘Anyone who is an Australian has won the lottery of life and if you look at our country and the deal that it…
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Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is set to undergo more surgery to reduce her risk of cancer. The 38-year-old underwent a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction last year, after being diagnosed with the gene BRCA1 which put her at an 87 per cent risk of developing breast cancer. This risk was much higher than the average…
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A 16-year-old British girl has been banned from her high school amid fears hear eating disorder could inspire copycat behaviour from peers. Lottie Twiselton spent one year in a clinic after almost succumbing to anorexia nervosa, before being cleared to start studying again. But she was barred from re-enrolling at the school she’d attended since…
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Reproductive health care provider, Planned Parenthood has taken to social media to assert women’s rights to safe and adequate sexual healthcare to US Secretary of State John Kerry this International Women’s Day. Using the hashtag #WorldWeWant, the organisation is calling on Kerry to work towards a world where access to good reproductive and sexual healthcare…
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There are calls for New South Wales primary schools to introduce lessons to identify and stop sexism and domestic violence in its tracks. Domestic Violence NSW chief executive, Tracey Howe told the Sydney Morning Herald there are wider social issues to be tackled in the community, but the earlier they are targeted the better. ‘We…
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A recent study has shown men’s aggressive behaviour is not influenced by their own drunkenness. The joint research by University of Toronto and University of Washington trained and hired 140 young people to document incidents of aggression in Toronto bars. The study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that while alcohol was no…
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An injunction has been issued in the American state of Texas to stop a law banning gay marriage from coming into effect. The voter-driven ban has been deemed unconstitutional by US District judge Orlando Garcia, who wrote that its ‘state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in [the] United States Constitution’. ‘These Texas laws deny Plaintiffs…
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The Federal government will put $4.2 million into two programs aimed at helping empower the women of Vietnam. Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop announced during her visit of the country that the money will be distributed equally between Vietnamese Women’s Union projects to end gender-based violence and for agricultural development. The funds for ending gender-based violence…
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Feminist punk rockers, Pussy Riot have been attacked in Sochi by the region’s Cossack militia. Video footage clearly shows members beginning to perform a song, when Cossacks cover singer Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (blue balaclava) with pepper spray and then proceed to whip, shove and unmask members. It additionally shows the militia – utilised by local police…
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Actor-comedian Rosie O’Donnell has revealed she would have come out ten years earlier if late US Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown hadn’t canned parts of a 1992 magazine article. She told web series Mondays with Marlo she believed Gurley Brown was trying to protect her. ‘At that time it would have been a huge issue,…
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