On the (Rest of the) Net.

I was on my very first panel at the Digital Writers’ Festival, talking about what it means to be a writer online away from Australia.

I wrote about volunteering for Hillary Clinton. [Daily Life]

Supporting Hillary Clinton but keeping in mind Bill’s history of sexual assault accusations. [The Cut]

What if New York City was named for its women? [New Yorker]

The black history of the nameplate necklace. [Fusion]

Two women wrestled for the first time inside Hell in a Cell so sexism in wrestling is over now, right? [Fight Booth]

World Wrestling Entertainment has an ageism problem, but it only affects women, of course. [Wrestling Sexism]

Why WWE needs women’s tag team championships:

“In WWE, women don’t really have the option to be friends. There’s no benefit to a friendship because belts can only be held by an individual, and everyone is competing for the same titles. There’s quite a sad parallel here to the real world. Women often feel that they are in competition with other women for jobs, relationships and resources that seem scarce. Has a new woman starting at your work ever filled you with irrational jealousy, even if she seems perfectly nice? Ever wonder why?” [Intergender World Champs]

In defence of Melania Trump. And if Donald Trump is as dangerous as we believe him to be, then she certainly needs it. [Melville House]

This election has taught us that “expanding roles and opportunities for women cannot usher in full gender equality unless men change.” [NYTimes]

On the (Rest of the) Net.

Why didn’t we hear about the killing of 19 disabled people in Japan, the country’s largest mass murder since WWII? [Daily Life]

We should stop listening to Sonia Kruger. [Junkee]

Barack Obama is a feminist. As if we didn’t know that already. [Glamour, ThinkProgress, Time]

Renee Zellweger is the latest celeb to pen a scathing op ed on her treatment by the media. [HuffPo]

On Korryn Gaines’ death and why we should #SayHerName. [Fusion]

Without dead women, there is no online feminist movement. [Jezebel]

Kim Kardashian benefits from feminism without having to claim the term. [Buzzfeed]

The Olympics offers a reprieve from men’s sport. [Daily Life]

Further to that, how to write about female Olympians. [The Guardian]

SBS Zela has had its funding cut. Save the site so Australian women’s sport gets the coverage it deserves. [Change.org]

The inherent sexism of method acting. [The Atlantic]

On the (Rest of the) Net.

raw6132016_womensegment (1)

I wrote about why World Wrestling Entertainment needs a women’s Money in the Bank match. [SBS Zela]

Who’s afraid of all-woman alliances on reality TV? [The Establishment]

Meghan Trainor’s blaccent and white artists talking black. [MTVNews]

How Keeping Up with the Kardashian’s is falling behind their Snapchats, Instagrams and personal apps. [MTVNews]

Also: On Edith Wharton and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. [Guernica]

On the public nature of black deaths and the need for lynching memorials. [Lenny Letter]

Blackface is the true face of racism in America. [Fusion]

What role did social media play in the murder of Christina Grimmie? [Rolling Stone]

Image via Raw Breakdown Project.

On the (Rest of the) Net.

beyonce-hold up

I wrote about how Beyoncé makes us want to be better peoplethe feminism of Bad Neighbours 2 and pop culture as a form of self-care. [The Vocal, Bitch Flicks, Feminartsy]

What Kim Kardashian learnt from the O.J. Simpson trial and how she and Nicole Brown Simpson are more alike than we realise. [Can I Live?]

How Me Before You gets disability, assisted suicide and sex wrong. [HuffPo]

The racist history of the pit bull. [Fusion]

This is why women are delaying pregnancy. [ABC]

The rise and fall of Winona Ryder. [Hazlitt]

Would the women of Jane Austen be at home on reality TV? [The Atlantic]

The alluring history of makeup application and YouTube beauty tutorials. [Kill Your Darlings]

Reconciling Zayn Malik’s Muslim heritage. [Matter]

Rocky, Superman, Muhammad Ali and white supremacy. [MTV]

We shouldn’t be asking politicians if they’re feminists: we should be asking if their policies are feminist. [Daily Life]

For more feminist reads, check out the 97th Down Under Feminists Carnival. [Zero at the Bone]

Image via BGR.

On the (Rest of the) Net.

eva marie art

I wrote in defence of Eva Marie.

From Sir Mix-A-Lot to Taylor Swift to LEMONADE: on the origin of Becky. [Fusion]

bell hooks’ criticisms of LEMONADE and black femininity. [bell hooks institute]

Janet Mock responded smartly. [Facebook]

Feministing hosts a roundtable on the topic. 

And with LEMONADE, Beyonce says “boy, bye” to black respectability. [Fusion]

Women-only train carriages: creating a safe space for women or not doing enough to curb the predatory behaviour of men? [Sheilas]

How Jane the Virgin deals with money. [Think Progress]

George Michael’s “black” musical history. [Slate]

How social media can increase organ donations. [NYTimes]

Why do women love Chris Evans so much? [Buzzfeed]

Ronan Farrow on why the media needs to hold Woody Allen accountable to allegations of child sex abuse against his daughter and Farrow’s sister. [THR]

Chelsea Handler writes in defence of being single. [Motto]

Justin Bieber and the surveillance of celebrities. [MTV]

On the (Rest of the) Net.

chyna women's championship

I wrote about competitors to watch on the women’s wrestling scene and Chyna’s untimely death for SBS Zela.

I’m at The Big Smoke writing about the women of American Crime Story: The People VS. OJ Simpson.

Speaking of, pop culture is portraying some of the ’90s most reviled women in a more sympathetic light. [Fusion]

Confirmation largely forgets the contributions of black feminists. [Elle]

This season Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is railing against niceness. [The Atlantic]

Celebrating Prince’s unbridled sexiness upon his passing. [NYTimes]

What Prince meant to strippers. [The Cut]

On mourning problematic celebrities. [xoJane]

Why are black erotic thrillers considered guilty pleasures while white ones get Oscar noms? [MTV]

And why do we only see black actors in top roles when their skin colour is altered or faces obscured completely? [Vulture]

Our pop cultural obsession with “girls” in books and film. I also wrote about the phenomenon here. [Bitch Flicks]

hold up beyonce smashing gif

What Beyonce’s LEMONADE and wrestling have in common. [Cageside Seats]

How LEMONADE is reclaiming the black woman’s place in rock music. [Rolling Stone]

The response to “Becky with the good hair” from the song “Sorry” reduces Beyonce to her desirability and undermines LEMONADE. [Daily Life]

Images via The Bleacher Report, Clique.

On the (Rest of the) Net.

I wrote about Twitter as a tool for feminist connectivity. [The Vocal]

The objectification of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau isn’t sexist:

“You may be disturbed or annoyed by the shirtless photos and swoony responses to our new PM, but that concern shouldn’t come from a sense of worry that Trudeau will be hurt—socially, politically or personally—by this so-called ‘sexist objectification.’ Because that is simply not what is happening. It’s not as though Canadians will now see him as a vapid, slutty, airhead with nothing to recommend him but his pecs or as someone who got ahead through either fuckability or literal fucking. The reality is that these sexy pics and the fact that so many find him physically attractive serves to enhance his power rather than diminish it. This is because he is not a woman. He is a man. And a powerful one at that.” [Feminist Current]

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Presidential race, toxic masculinity reigns supreme. [Elle]

“Why aren’t we seeing more images of Kim Kardashian in business meetings or changing her kid’s diaper?” [Time]

The inherent sexism of emojis. [NYTimes]

The sexual politics of the “brogressive” and the Manic Pixie Dream Feminist. [Daily Life]

Why are so many white people identifying as Native American?

“One of the biggest reasons it’s been acceptable for white people to posture as Native is due to a certain romanticism about Native culture and people. ‘If you go back to the journals of Christopher Columbus,’ [Taté Walker, editor of Native Peoples magazine] said, ‘it references [Natives as] these free-spirited nature sprites who dance naked in the moonlight and their kids are running wild, and it just sounds so savage, but savage was a term for free.’ As colonialism spread across the continent, so did that idea of freedom, and ‘the idea that ‘Natives have it great, so let’s take it’ has become “Natives have it great, so let’s take it as an identity,”‘ Walker said.” [Fusion]

In praise of Vin Diesel’s Facebook page. [NYTimes]

On the (Rest of the) Net.

kim kardashian instagram

In my first piece for The Vocal, I explain why the Kardashians are better than you.

The Grammys hates black women. [Kevin Allred]

Is Deadpool pansexual? [Fusion] 

Women in Zika-affected countries are writing Women on Web for abortion pills. [WaPo]

How do we talk about David Bowie’s statutory rape of Lori Maddox? [Jezebel]

Shonda Rhimes’ shows are depicting abortion in groundbreaking ways. [RH Reality Check]

Kanye West is a modern-day Martin Luther King… but also a black Donald Trump. [Vulture]

How we teach girls to be scared and why we should stop. [NYTimes]

The media is turning Kesha’s rape and legal battle into a celebrity feud between Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato. [Bust]

And enough with all the feminist in-fighting: we should be asking men to speak up about Kesha. [Junkee]

And now for the Hillary Clinton portion of the program…

Let’s not pretend that Clinton being elected as the first woman president wouldn’t be a big fucking deal. [The Establishment]

How treatment of women in the workplace and treatment of Clinton on the campaign trail intersect. [NYTimes]

Representations of Clinton in pop culture. [Broadly]

ICYMI: In the wake of Gloria Steinem’s comments about young women not voting for Hillary Clinton because we’re more interested in who boys are voting for than radical activism, I just had to write in defence of millennials.

Image via Instagram.

On the (Rest of the) Net.

If we’re tiring of Jennifer Lawrence’s “cool girl” persona, it’s because we turned it and her into a monster. [HuffPo]

In the age of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown The Cosby Show‘s moralising and respectability politics are irrelevant. [HuffPo]

The funny side of intimate partner violence. This is a harrowing but important read. [The Cut]

Having a parent in prison can be a struggle, but sometimes their release is just as hard. [Fusion]

Why are we so transfixed with the idea that sex says something profound about us?

To touch or not to touch on live TV. [TV Tonight]

In praise of the dick clip (SFW). [The Cut]

What is disability appropriation? [Daily Life]

When you realise your success makes you more of a Gwyneth than a Winona. [Medium]

The patron saint of single ladies. [NYTimes]

If you’re after even more reads check out the 92nd Down Under Feminists Carnival in which some of my previous work is featured. [Hoyden About Town]

On the (Rest of the) Net.

I’m getting straight back into it in the New Year, with pieces about abuse in Jessica Jones, what World Wrestling Entertainment can learn from Jem & the Holograms‘ flop and why its spate of injuries might be a good thing for other wrestlers. [Bitch Flicks, The Spectacle of Excess, Cageside Seats]

On selfies. [Matter]

Forget the manbun. The latest in men’s hair styling are manbraids. And they’re cultural appropriation. [Ms. Magazine]

Why is there a statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault? [NYTimes]

Erin Riley kicking goals (mixing metaphors, I know) with her piece on the Chris Gayle incident being a symptom of a much larger problem with sexism in sport. [Daily Life]

Mens mental health is important but not at the expense of the women and children they abuse and kill. [Daily Life]

There’s been plenty of coverage of Cole Miller’s death by one punch, but what about Indigenous man Trevor Duroux’s death of the same? [New Matilda]

The history of glitter. [Broadly]

The history of toplessness. [Broadly]

And the history of the crystal ball. [Broadly]

2015 was the year of interracial relationships on TV. [Fusion]

Has Clive Palmer had a feminist awakening? [Junkee]

Even teaching a course on Beyonce doesn’t guarantee job security. [WaPo]

Why we need to talk about the sexual assaults in Germany over New Years—and the race of the attackers. [New Statesman]

Should wives be held accountable for their husband’s bad behaviour? [The Cut]

And what about Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual assault of a woman in 1978? [Jezebel]

It’s great that you want to read books by more diverse authors, but do you have to tell the whole world about it? Just do it. [Jezebel]