A Russian socialite and magazine has apologised for a photo shoot featuring a chair condemned as racist. Magazine Buro 24/7 published images on its website of art magazine editor, Dasha Zukhova sitting on a chair sculpted as a crushed and bound woman of African appearance. The chair’s artist, Bjarne Melgaard, crafted the work as homage…
Read more
Perhaps some Americans had a bit too much turkey and stuffing last week, or maybe the Republican Party just needs to hire an intern to check spelling and grammar mistakes on social media. Nonetheless, Sunday proved to be an interesting day on Twitter with the GOP tweeting a photo of Rosa Parks with the…
Read more
The 2013 American Music Awards took place on Sunday night, Lady Gaga arrived on a horse, Miley Cyrus wore clothes and Katy Perry, who performed her new song, ‘Unconditional,’ has now been labelled a racist. Why? Because she dressed as a geisha. The star’s costume included a kimono (well, actually, it was a cheongsam), traditional…
Read more
Last week, pop singer Lily Allen posted online a music video of her latest song ‘Hard Out Here.’ Within two days, video received over 2 million hits on YouTube and consequently, a whirlwind of articles, tweets and ‘WTF?’ exasperations have been voiced from fans and haters all over the globe. The premise is that Allen…
Read more
Attorney-General George Brandis announced last week that his first act of legislation would be to lift a ban on racial vilification that was put into place almost two decades ago. In 1995, laws were put into place to give people who were effected by racial slurs and harmful language to seek action, which could lead…
Read more
It has not been a good year for US retail giant Forever21. The trendy chain store found itself in hot water earlier in the year for a leaked company memo that indicated the ‘slashing’ of work hours and health care benefits for all retail employees. More recently, Forever21 came under fire on Twitter for releasing…
Read more
In case you missed it: ACT becomes first Australian state/territory to pass same-sex marriage bill! Earlier today the ACT became a lot more hip and happening when it became the first Australian state/territory to pass a bill that, if it doesn’t get overturned by the high court, could legalise same sex marriage! Very impressed, Canberra,…
Read more
This post was first published on Zoya’s blog, The Coconut Chronicles, where she muses on the difficulties of toeing the line between two cultures as an Indian-Australian. I’ll just put it out there – I’ve never been a big makeup fan. Not just for feminist reasons (and even then, my biggest issue is with hair…
Read more
In case we weren’t convinced yet that she’s the queen of controversy, a recently leaked song from Lady Gaga’s forthcoming album, ARTPOP, has the pop singer regaling us with half-formed, ignorant lyrics about the burqa. The song, either entitled ‘Aura’, or ‘Burqa’, includes the lyrics ‘I’m not a wandering slave I am a woman of…
Read more
The 1960s is associated with many things; flower power, great music, Woodstock and free love. There was also a darker side which is equally well documented, the Vietnam War, political movements and the racial and social tensions of this period. Many of these elements were explored in the Australian movie The Sapphires, based on…
Read more
When you write about controversial topics, you soon become used to being vilified for your opinions. As a feminist writer and editor, I have become used to being labeled a ‘man-hater’ or a harpie, being accused of low intelligence or of blatant lies, and generally being maligned and ridiculed by anti-feminists across the internet (and…
Read more
“Have you heard a comment that you wanted to call out, but not felt comfortable articulating your discomfort? Have you been called out on a remark and felt less than proud about your response? Are you struggling to balance the affirmation of anger with the opportunity to educate? How do you keep the doors to…
Read more
This article was first published on PortWhine.com. So, we all know what’s up with Django Unchained (and if you don’t, read this). Tarantino has another hit on his hands: the reviews are good, the best actor/script/picture nominations are in, and the internet is abuzz with cool film cats singing the praises of the film’s “awesome…
Read more
For a large percentage of my childhood I dreamed of being in the Secret Seven. I’d imagine having meetings in my shed, call all bread “jammy buns” and look for evidence of nefarious crimes everywhere. Laughing neighbours were smugglers, the man driving down my street a painting thief, and any abandoned wrappers or cigarette butts…
Read more
