Pop Culture.
I wrote about Katy Perry’s insistence on appropriating other cultures.
I’m also at Bitch Flicks writing about physical and mental health on Orange is the New Black.
Still with OITNB, Morello has such a fractured relationship with romance she’s in prison for stalking her faux-fiancé.
“I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Feminism!” [Bitch Flicks]
The racial and sexual politics of Hitch. [The Hairpin]
Clementine Ford writes about the Girls on Film Festival in Melbourne from the 12th to 14th of September: “Where are the men’s film festivals?!” [Daily Life]
Race & Religion.
Racism in the job network. [The Koori Woman]
Where was the Native American representation at this years’ San Diego ComicCon? [The Travelling Unicorn]
Racism in the digital age. [The Anti-Bogan]
Qantas’ Recognise campaign “seems to be little more than corporate endorsements and photo opportunities for powerful figures to prove how much they like us.” [Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist]
And she’s not the only one who’s got a problem with the campaign. [New Matilda]
Struggling to be a “traditional” Sudanese woman by a woman who has Sudanese heritage but was not raised there. [Redefining the Narrative]
“What is a Moderate Muslim, Anyway?” [Redefining the Narrative]
Navigating Islam and feminism in the 21st century. [Days Like Crazy Paving]
Evelyn Enduatta writes about “a pivotal time in the local history of my adoptive Yolŋu family…. [and] the introduction of wage labour relations in north-east Arnhem Land[;]… a case study in the nature and violence of alienation.” [Upswell]
“Just because you’re Aboriginal doesn’t mean you have to have an ‘Aboriginal’ job.” [ The Travelling Unicorn]
Violence Against Women. *trigger warning*
Clementine Ford sheds light on the savage beating of adult actress Christy Mack by her mixed martial arts fighter ex-boyfriend War Machine. [Daily Life]
There’s probably domestic violence in your workplace. [Women’s Agenda]
Examining the link between animal abuse and intimate partner violence. [SMH]
How liveable are our cities if women aren’t safe? [Daily Life]
Rape culture in politics. [The Hand Mirror]
Instead of devising beauty products that help women prevent their rapes, maybe we should be telling men not to rape. [National Union of Students Women’s Department]
LGBTQI*.
The tragic tale of Australia’s (alleged) first trans man. [Daily Life]
Thinking about trans identities in primary school. [Sal Gold Said So]
Sex & Relationships.
Are you putting out enough to justify your cost per (male partner’s) orgasm? [Daily Life]
“The kids are [having anal sex], let’s make sure they’re alright.” [Daily Life]
The infamous Brocklesnitch (aka Rebecca Shaw) on those “marriage vouchers”:
“Perhaps it might be more useful for the Government to focus more on things like housing affordability, availability of jobs, and letting young people access the welfare system rather than funnel millions of dollars into a counselling voucher scheme.” [SBS]
So Sam de Brito wrote a column about seeking the female orgasm and Junkee ridiculed it thusly.
Asexuality: the next sexual orientation frontier. [Cosmopolitan]
Physical & Mental Health *trigger warning*.
Going undercover as a surrogate mother. [Daily Life]
Correlating breast cancer with abortion discourages women from pursuing their reproductive rights and diminishes the devastation of breast cancer. [New Matilda]
Working with ichthyosis. [Carly Findlay]
In the wake of Robin Williams’ suicide asking RUOK is not the answer. [Culture, Nurture, Nature: Views, Reviews, Rants]
Another thoughtful response to Williams’ death. [The Hand Mirror]
Clem Bastow writes heartbreakingly about never being “enough”:
“You don’t tell your boyfriend, or your parents, or your friends, or your kind therapist that you’re thinking about all these things, because you figure it’s not worth being upset about after all these years, even though you are. You see people go through far worse things and continue the ‘It could have been much worse!’ charade, even though some days you feel so sad you want to lie down on the carpet for a week. Why can’t you just get over it? Why can’t you Think Positive About It All? Why would anyone write you a letter about such small things that it’s not worth being upset about, Dear Young Person?
“Young Person, you think a lot about all of these things. There are so many others: you laugh off your Bipolar 2 diagnosis as ‘the straight-to-video sequel to a real mental illness’; your plummeting weight during a two-year spell overseas is just ‘Los Angeles, lol!’; the nights you eat Vitamin C tablets for dinner are fine because ‘Other people are poorer’; the guy who makes you wear a horse-bit to bed is ‘great comedy material!’; the death of your dear dog at just five years of his young life ‘isn’t as bad as it would have been if he’d been around for 15 years, I guess.’ It never seems to be quite enough to be upset about, not really, truly upset, like some people have the right to be. Not poor enough, not depressed enough, not beset by grief enough, not abused enough.” [I Believe You, It’s Not Your Fault]
Blindness in speculative fiction. [ A.C. Buchanan]
My Decision/Kei a au te Whakataunga is a New Zealand-based campaign to shed light on health care professionals who refuse to provide or refer productive health services. [The Hand Mirror]
And there’s no shame in making these health care professionals known so that people in need of reproductive health care don’t make the mistake of visiting them. [The Hand Mirror]
“Abortions Don’t Cause Cancer Any More Than Parties Do.” [The Conversation]
Women in the Workplace.
The problem with Lean In:
“There’s a bigger debate to be had here about whether care work is valued enough (it’s not), whether the needs of children are prioritised appropriately (they’re not), and whether the desire by both men and women to spend time with their children is accepted (it’s not), but let’s at least agree that eliminating child care struggles is crucial for undoing sexist gender-role divisions. Where women can’t get to work they can’t achieve personal career goals, but nor can they claim the kind of decision making power that comes with income.” [Daily Life]
Australia still has an equal pay problem. [Women’s Agenda]
On the persistence of the pay gap: from penal colony to glass ceiling. [UNSW School of Business]
Ban bossy, be the boss. [Daily Beast]
It’s all well and good to feature a panel about the politics of sex work as part of Sydney’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas, but perhaps it should, I don’t know, feature some sex workers? [Sex, Lies & Duct Tape]
Miscellaneous & General Feminism.
“Do not hold me to the standards that you have internalised. Do. Fucking. Not.” [Facebook]
Deborra-Lee Furness on Australia’s anti-adoption culture. [The Hoopla]
Melbourne schoolgirls were inspired to Kickstart their own “feminist collective” in the wake of Women Against Feminism and after “studying the character of ‘Curly’s Wife’ in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice & Men.” [ABC]
Helpful hints for overcoming Tall Poppy Syndrome. [No Award]
Friday Hoyden: Emma Goldman. [Hoyden About Town]
Diversity and rebellion in Life at 9. [Hoyden About Town]
How to home school a preschooler. [Free Range in Suburbia]
Five reasons why Women Against Feminism actually need feminism. [The Conversation]
Are men better writers than women? No, they just have more time to write. [Overland]
“Political correctness gone mad” is more about not being an asshole. [TheVine]
What Kevin Andrews’ speech at the World Congress of Families might have sounded like. [Brocklesnitch]
More on protesting the World Congress of Families. [Gladly, The Cross-Eyed Bear]
The problem with limited-edition, girl-focused Lego. [Hoyden About Town]
The Scarlett Woman 