I was talking with a friend recently about the perpetual debate regarding whether or not women should be able to serve as front-line soldiers. This argument has always been a particularly interesting one for me, as for many self-described progressives, humanitarians and feminists the issue can bring core beliefs into direct conflict. A resounding “yes”…
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I recently purchased my first bikini since god remembers when. I definitely haven’t worn one since I started developing boobs and hips. It is retro-fab, which lately is the only type of swim suit I own. My one-pieces (apart from the sturdy black racerback I wear swimming laps) are all along these lines. Think skirted,…
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The Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard is a great book to read if you haven’t yet read any other feminist non-fiction. I say this because while it was well written, powerful and convincing, overall it didn’t give me anything I hadn’t already read about elsewhere. If I had read this before everything else though, I…
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I know scores of people are not comfortable with describing themselves or other people as fat. I understand why – fat is still considered a bad word. “But I don’t see you as fat!” isn’t mean to be a compliment so much as a rejection of the way society ascribes and describes fat on people….
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I love Tumblr for many reasons. It has opened me up to new worlds, educated me on concepts I previously had difficulty understanding or not even thought about at all, and introduced me to many new friends. But, like every form of social media, it can have its dark side. I’m mostly in my little…
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Finding something that makes you laugh hysterically, clutch your chest at a shared painful memory and then reminisce fondly on the way you fumbled through it is really quite difficult. It’s pretty hard to write something that one person, let alone thousands, can relate to like this, but Caitlin Moran has done just that in…
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Women face a lot of pressure, from themselves, from friends, from family, even from outside sources. And none seems more harsh and critical than when a woman is pregnant. Recently, a friend who just became pregnant went to her in-laws with her husband and the first thing the mother-in-law said to her? “Wow, you’re fat!”…
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Today my father told me he wanted to walk to our local café for coffee. We’ve both been walking a lot more recently because my parents have downsized to one car and, as my mum is still working, she has the car the vast majority of the time. I thought it would take the both…
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Name: Melissa Wellham Age: 22 Occupation: Student / Freelance Writer / Blogger How would you describe yourself and your life? I’m a movie buff, word nerd, music snob, mag hag, comic book aficionado and political hack – and like to write about all these things, for various publications and on my blog. I studied…
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The news has been rife with stories recently of women making cruel or nasty comments towards other women. It all started with Germaine Greer criticising Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s choice of jackets on the ABC’s Q and A. Later, we saw British Daily Mail columnist, Samantha Brick, claim that women are nasty to her because…
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Name: Andre Pant Age: 27 Occupation: Engineer/Physicist How would you describe yourself and your life? I like to think I enjoy a pretty well rounded life. I’m a pretty big science nut, with a background in space engineering and plasma physics. I also care about the social side of humanity, and have been involved in…
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Bingo wings, tuckshop lady, truck drivers. Fat arms. I can remember the first time I was made aware that apparently fat chicks should cover up their arms. It was in the last year of primary school and the women who worked at the tuckshop had the unfortunate aforementioned nicknames, usually with ‘arms’ added on to…
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Name: Monica Dux Age: 39 Occupation: Writer How would you describe yourself and your life? I’m a feminist, a writer, a mother of two small kids. I’d like to say a feminist “trouble-maker” but I’m usually too over-tired and busy to muster more than a few grunts and some fist waving at the world’s many…
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Australian comedian, Wendy Harmer has been approached (more than once) by diet giant Jenny Craig to star in their campaigns. This made her embarrassed and not a little offended. What made her feel even worse though, was the news that a Jenny Craig representative was invited (as part of a group of other invitees) to…
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