Jesper Nielson is a photographer hailing from Denmark who has started a photography project in the hopes of raising awareness about the increasing prevalence of domestic violence in Australia. He is currently working hair and make-up artist Natalie Burley, who specialises in creating injuries for film and television, in shooting some confronting images of women who…
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Photography, a medium which can often be in-your-face but also incredibly personal, is the medium in which artist and student Suzanne Brown has decide to use to tackle some huge issues. Her project ‘Were My Pajamas Too Short?’ is a brave and bold artistic venture that sets out to fly in the face of rape…
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When Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie told graduates at Wellesley College to forget likeability, it made headlines. Not only because when Adichie, a prolific novelist and feminist, speaks people tend to listen, but also because this is not something young women hear often. ‘All over the world, girls are raised to be make themselves likeable, to twist…
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It wasn’t until a self-righteous contributor for the site ‘Return of Kings’, Aaron Clarey, penned a tantrum about feminist Trojan horses taking over Hollywood film that I had any interest in seeing Mad Max: Fury Road. Good action films with well developed plots and at least one complicated and compelling female character are both joys…
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In an unashamed defiance of the rigid conventions associated with female identity, anonymous artist Ambivalently Yours’ witty illustrations celebrate the colour pink, ‘cuteness’, cats and being a badass who “doesn’t take shit from anyone”. These seemingly incongruous identities are reconciled in seamless pastel works that speak to women from all walks of life through its…
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A recent dinner party I attended left quite a foul taste in my mouth. Well, not a literal taste in my mouth. Nothing was wrong with the food, or the drink. Actually, there was no food or drink. You see, the dinner party was not real. But the reality of said dinner party has lurched…
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Mad Max: Fury Road is the gift that keeps on giving. The first gift was, of course, an action film that smashed sexist stereotypes. The latest offering in the franchise of post-apocalyptic action films, Mad Max features a diverse and fascinating cast of female characters who are central to the plot, including Charlize Theron’s kick-ass…
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Everyone knows that complex and empowering female characters are difficult to find in mainstream films. But there are some who have stood out and become the changing faces of feminism in cinema. In this regular column, Jade Bate looks at her favourite film heroines who are strong, empowering and kickass. Chinese cinema has had a…
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Will a self-conscious AI ever exist? Will we one day be surpassed by machines that are much smarter than us, machines that we made ourselves, machines that look in a mirror and recognise who they are? These are the never-ending questions that sci-fi keeps trying to answer, with novel adaptations like Blade Runner and I,…
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Alan Clark, owner of SABMiller – a company responsible for Grolsch and Peroni, bought Australian beer brand, Fosters in 2011. Clark would rather women be consumers of the product nowadays than co-star scantily clad in television commercials and has blamed the common advertisements that frequented television sets throughout the 1980s for their lack of women…
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Tampon tax protest outside Parliament House On Thursday, approximately 50 people (including five dressed as tampons) gathered on the lawns outside Parliament House to lobby against the tampon tax. National debate about the tampon tax was reignited last Monday after campaigner Subeta Vimalarajah confronted Joe Hockey on Q&A, resulting in Mr Hockey pledging to push…
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Clouds of Sils Maria displays the best of what French cinema can offer – the ability to tell a multi-layered story through the leanest of means. This is not a fast paced film; it is a thoughtful, complex story that shows rather than tells its takeaway messages. This film tells the story of a love…
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Many people will recall the appearance of Emer O’Toole on This Morning in 2012, where she participated in a friendly debate over the importance of shaving body hair. For those who haven’t seen it, you can watch it here. This video went viral, and O’Toole’s surprise at her fame led to the writing of…
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Are you sick and tired of the constant imagery of skinny models with perfect skin plastered all over media? Well, we have all been sick of it for a while. But artist Mikhaila Nodel has decided to make images and put them into a zine, and these images inspire confidence for all girls and…
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