I love denial. I always have. If I don’t think that anything really happened, is it really true? I blatantly ignored the fact that I got my period for the first time, to the point my mother had to convince me I had with some interesting bathroom evidence. This was made even worse by my…
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Remember the feeling of the sun on your back, the wind blowing through your hair, the sense of freedom as you journey through life bare-chested and liberated? Free from the constraints of the demon bra cage? No? With the rise of a highly critical and socially progressive young generation, the conventions of Western society are…
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It’s October. No, I didn’t think I would just remind you for the sake of it. I have mentioned it because October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s okay; I’m not going to go on about statistics or campaigns or death. Instead I’m going to ramble on about some interesting things about boobs. Think…
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Young girls in the West feel pressure to have large breasts, but in the West African nation of Cameroon, girls on the cusp of puberty are having their breasts ironed by family members to stop them developing. Breast ironing has emerged as a result of victim blaming and poor sex education in the country. Unlike…
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Now, I’ll be honest. I was always a FEMEN-naysayer. I found their protest methods bizarre from the beginning, and couldn’t shake the feeling that just ‘raising awareness’ of issues through the use of bare breasts and sensationalist news stories isn’t entirely effective when it comes to the broader feminist movement. I have had many an…
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Department store Target is copping it for its new advertising campaign featuring the fabulous British-Chinese TV fashion guru, Gok Wan. The particular advertisement causing such criticism is a bra ad in which Wan states that if you have a bra professionally fitted (at Target), ‘your bangers will never feel more loved.’ (Bri-ish accent for effect)….
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Online networking is undoubtedly the way of the future; but is crowdsourcing to raise funds for cosmetic surgery innovative or troubling? A recent article by news.com.au reveals that Australian women are one of the largest groups to accept funds from donors on website myfreeimplants.com to increase their cup size. Operating since 2005, the website has been host to…
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My hometown of Hobart, Tasmania, has been seeing red this month with globally-acclaimed contemporary arts awesome-machine, MONA’s (Museum of Old and New Art)new winter festival, Dark MoFo, giving the sleepy state capital a much-needed winter shake up. During what is usually the dead season in terms of tourism and, well, anything else, really, the contemporary…
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The topless, anti-patriarchy protests of Femen have brought up some fascinating issues for modern feminists to consider. On the one hand, there’s Femen’s point that women in Tunisia are second class citizens and that this should change. But the point that most English speaking, Western columnists have been making the last couple of weeks is…
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Christina Hendricks shut down an interview with Sun-Herald journalist Kate Waterhouse after being asked, twice, about her ‘full figure’. Specifically how her body has inspired other women. The Emmy-nominated actress uncomfortably laughed off the question at first, attempted to answer before shaking her head and saying, ‘I don’t know. I’m sorry.’ Waterhouse tried to broach…
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Bras happen around the age of ten. While I don’t know what the experience is like for others, for me it was something I was dragged into almost kicking and screaming. In my mind, the ‘b’ word was something taboo, awkward, only to be mentioned on pain of death. One girl with no such restrictions,…
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Boobs. Tits. Jugs. Breasts. This is what the uproar is about? A body part? A Lane Bryant in the USA, a plus sized retailer. Apparently it was considered too risqué for television. Honestly, I have to worry about the values dissonance here. So, it’s totally ok to show violence and swearing, even in television shows…
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