There’s a new one woman show in town and it’s just jumped to the top of my ‘must see’ list! Handle It, written, produced and performed by the very talented Laura Jackson, tackles the dirty side of the internet in what promises to be a compelling and witty exploration of sexism, social media and male-female…
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In yet another episode of Social Media Double Standards, a woman has been temporarily banned from accessing her organisation’s Facebook page after sharing a photo of a water birth. Why? The image posted to the Positive Birth Movement page featured buttocks and was removed because it ‘doesn’t follow the Facebook Community Standards regarding nudity’. Milli…
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A recent update to social media site Facebook has resulted in approximately 50 different terms which users can use to describe their gender. The update signifies a move away from traditional gender binary discussion of ‘male’ or ‘female’, and aims to make the site more inclusive for the LGBTIQ members of its 159 million monthly…
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I think it’s fair to say ‘thank God Facebook wasn’t around when I was in high school’ is a popular statement among 20-something year olds. Sure, we had MSN and MySpace, but we were spared Facebook’s procrastination-friendly bevy of games, fan pages, chats and snooping opportunities. We were also spared some of the more latent…
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**Trigger warning: discussion of rape, rape culture and assault** Offensive humour: it almost always goes wrong, and it’s pretty obvious why. Most of the time it’s just not funny. Offensive humour is a way for people to justify saying things that are at the very least insensitive, and at worst are racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic,…
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It’s been a long time coming but Facebook has finally put on some big boy panties and got serious when it comes to gender-based hate speech online. In an official blog post released on Wednesday the social networking page announced that ‘it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have…
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Chime for Change concert promotes female empowerment The Chime for Change campaign brought feminism to the centre stage in the UK on Saturday through the Sound of Change Live concert. Headlined by Beyoncé, the concert raised $4m to support approximately 200 projects in 70 countries, while raising awareness of maternal death, domestic violence, and female…
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ABC’s Radio National program Bush Telegraph is giving the public the chance to determine the quality of life for a newborn piglet over the next six months. Bush Telegraph are allowing the public to vote on Facebook about key decisions relating to various free range rearing practices which will ultimately determine how Wilbur 101, a…
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Agent Denton Sparks is good at his job, so long as there is nothing on his favourite social network, TweetFacester, to distract him. Status Kill is a web series created by New Yorker Jesse Cowell who, much like his protagonist, is obsessed with social media of all kinds. Through nine episodes released at fortnightly intervals,…
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I really must give a shout out to one of my dearest social networking sites, Facebook. What a challenge it can be, every day to connect into the hearts, minds and walls of so many friends, colleagues, and often strangers whom you’ve befriended and now know many of their private details. But despite the potential…
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Friend requests are more exciting online than they are in real life. It is hardly surprising; if you translate the scenario to a real world example, things are more likely to be creepy and awkward than anything else. There you are in your pyjamas, sitting at home, when all of a sudden there is a…
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I think of myself as a “baby feminist.” It wasn’t until I had started reading Katie’s blog that I became aware of the intricacies behind the movement, and what a huge role it played in something as complex and important as the social media phenomenon. Surfing through my Facebook newsfeed, I noticed at least two…
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There are lots of fashion labels and companies that have savvy fashion marketing and do it well. Domino Dollhouse, an independent American plus size brand is one such company I can think of. Autograph, an Australian brand, does a relatively decent job too. Then, there are the companies that make you think, at best, that…
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Where do we draw the line when it comes to social media? In the past few years, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a person under the age of 30 who doesn’t have at least one social media account. Tales of these bizarre creatures seem to circulate amongst my friends in hushed voices: ‘…and…
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