Pope Francis has come out in support of his predecessor’s view (surprise, surprise) about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious – namely, that he is not all that impressed with them, and will pick up where Pope Benedict left off and continue to try to reform them. What exactly is he trying to reform them…
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Last weekend I found myself at a baby shower. It was held in the park on a glorious Sydney Sunday. The mother is having a girl and so we found ourselves surrounded by pink paraphernalia: cupcakes with tiny sugar shoes, cranberry juice and pink champagne, and of course, a pile of presents wrapped in candy…
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Trying to access and understand current issues is difficult when you’re young. There are few forums that encourage discussion and expression of opinion, without political partisanship. New feminist lobby group Vocal Majority was bred out of this need for stronger bodies through which young people can express their opinions about current issues. Melanie Poole, one…
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Like countless other young women, the “war on women” during the 2012 American presidential election campaign was a shock to my system. It can seem so easy to take our rights for granted in a time and culture where post-feminist discourses tell us that we can “have it all”; where Beyonce’s power-femininity dominates the all-American-male…
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The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has claimed that feminism could destroy Russia. On Tuesday last week, Patriarch Kirill denounced feminism as ‘very dangerous’ and a form of ‘pseudo-freedom’. He explained that feminism was threatening the fabric of Russian society because it ‘must appear outside of marriage and outside of the family’. ‘Man has…
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Name: Sarah McKenzie Age: 23 Occupation: Fashion Designer, Student Location: Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA Describe yourself in one word: Quirky What is your feminist philosophy? I believe that all women and men should be equal. But not just in pay. If men can be drafted then women can as well. If men can be at the…
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Monday night’s episode of Q&A featured a panel comprised entirely of women. Brooke Magnanti, Germaine Greer, Mia Freedman, Deborah Cheetham and Janet Albrechtsen answered questions put to them by Toni Jones and the audience. I was really looking forward to the show—I expected rigorous debate (and, in particular, for Germaine Greer to intellectually body-slam the…
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Many women use tattoos to indicate ownership of their bodies. Tattoos became a symbol of rebellion for women in the 1970s, amidst the fight for abortion and contraceptive rights. While tattoos apparently had a brief popularity amongst Victorian women, they have predominantly been a male arena since their introduction in Western culture into the 1700s….
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Here’s a story to make you groan on a Thursday – following the Adria Richards scandal of last week, a new subreddit emerged on popular website Reddit called ‘The Feminist Victim’s Fund’. The fund aims to ‘help struggling men in the face of adversity’ through user-donated money. For those who haven’t heard about the Twitter…
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Today is International Women’s Day, an occasion to peer back through history and say, ‘Gosh, we’ve come a long way!’ I guess it’s a day to say thanks, fellas, for letting us vote, wear trousers and earn a decent wage. You’re so good to us (sorry, I couldn’t resist). But it’s also worth considering what…
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Former politician turned blogger, Louise Mensch likes to dress up for her husband. Saying so, she writes on her blog Unfashionista, is a feminist ‘mortal sin’. Op-eds jumped on that single comment in an interview with the Guardian. Her twitter feed and inbox were flooded with comments revoking her capital F feminist card. Mensch, who…
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While seated on an overcrowded Melbourne train a few days ago, I had the pleasure of listening in to a conversation between two teenage girls. Both in their final year of high school, wearing the classic checked-dress public school uniform, they were discussing what they thought life after school would be like. ‘I can’t wait…
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Both a problem and a strength of feminism is that the label is an umbrella term, representing a multiplicity of (sometimes contradictory) views. Calling yourself a “feminist” means that you believe in the advancement of the role of women in society. What this necessarily entails could be anything. One branch of radical feminism believes that…
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Fifty years ago, Betty Friedan explained to the world ‘the problem with no name’ in The Feminine Mystique. The problem was a general ennui and a lack of direction many women felt. These women were smart – often college educated – and capable of performing any job a man could do. Yet, they felt stuck…
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