From the beginning, Nellie Bly was a woman not to be messed with. When she read an article in The Pittsburgh Dispatch entitled ‘What Girls Are Good For’ – which was, according to the article, making babies and doing the household chores – she was angry enough to write a response to the paper under…
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Any time her weight began to creep past 110 pounds, she enacted a “hunger cure” by fasting. When told she needed the nutrients from meat, she settled on having its juice squeezed into a soup to avoid actually eating it. She exercised obsessively – she had balance beams in her bedroom so she could work…
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In a moving ceremony on Saturday 30 November, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Monash University. The award serves as recognition of the impact she has made in the global struggle for human rights and democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the most impressive and significant political…
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A boy’s face contorts itself into a twist of anger. The left strap of his dungarees slips down over his shoulder. The dappled afternoon light skims across the path behind him. He clenches a toy grenade in his fist. A couple clutch each other on the streets. It looks cold out and they wear the…
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Feminism is often associated with evident boldness; with head-scarfed women, rolling up their sleeves to boast shapely forearms; a “We Can Do it!” speech bubble floating courageously above their heads. The figure of Joan Didion—slender to the point of frailty, a slightly anxious expression on her face—runs counter to this intrepid image. Instead, it is…
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The year is 1991: combat boots stomp along the sidewalk, the smell of freshly-Xeroxed punk zines permeates the air, and Kathleen Hanna rules supreme. You may be Le Tigre’s biggest fan; you may have Hanna’s face plastered all over your wall and may be able to recite the words to ‘Suck My Left One’ backwards….
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I have a confession to make: I love the movie You’ve Got Mail. Normally I wouldn’t tell you this, normally I would sidestep the subject or pronounce indignantly, ‘pffftromcoms, they just perpetuate the hegemonic patriarchal ideal,’ and swiftly flip my hair over my shoulder, storm off, slump down in a corner and hide my face…
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