Women on top? Yup ‘ol daddy, the political props are moving
The use of women as a prime- prop-in-politics reached dizzying heights this week. And we’re still all starry eyed, wondering where it’s going to lead. If you happened to have been asleep for the past several decades and woke up yesterday, the world would look upside down. Suddenly women seem to be on top.
An encounter with the door bitches of Club Feminism
I didn’t really think it could be Mink, but it’s always best to ask. Flipping through a second-hand rack of coats, the old woman running the store beamed at me. “Oh, no dear. That’s not fake, it’s faux fur”. She pronounced it “fax”. And she seemed to think I’d struck gold. “It’s a lovely faux fur”.
If the hat fits: mayor’s mouth runs off with the misogynists
Mount Isa’s Mayor, John Molony, has a big mouth. He may have trouble getting a coherent sentence out of it. And he may struggle to form a logical argument in his big head. But none of that bothered the marketing men at Akubra. They chose to name a hat after him. They called it ”The Honest John”.
Handling power, not power-dressing, makes Condi a model
To focus on the superficial will erode a powerful woman’s authority. So I’ll be quick about it. Here it is: Condoleezza Rice wears fabulous shoes. There. I’ve said it.
It’s child’s play: we’re happier without pitter patter of little feet
Do your children make you happy? Of course, we’d like to think they do. But the truth is, most of the time they probably don’t.
God lives at Bondi Junction and Pilgrim Girl is full of joy
In the city ”invaded by joy” it seems God can be found just about everywhere. According to one 17-year-old pilgrim from Melbourne, God resides at Bondi Junction: ”God, the shops are good there,” she told me, breathless with joy.
Wrong when mob rules centre stage even in the face of evil
Dennis Ferguson looks every bit the monster he is. Balding on top, greasy hair strands down his neck, thick glasses and beady eyes. In fact more than beady, they’re nasty eyes. His mouth is hard set and ready to snarl. One community website even has a photo of him with his tongue hanging out.
Scorned women bind in fury and males suffer in lonely hell
Female friendships can be fierce. And for all its fashion, frippery and product placements, the movie Sex and the City is a welcome celebration of just how deeply fierce and enduring those female bonds can be.
Alarm over polygamy as Muslim women suffer in silence
Consider this scene: a husband and wife in suburban Sydney step out on to the porch of their brown brick home, to pose for a news photographer. She chats away, trying to make them feel relaxed as she takes several snaps; even cracks a few jokes trying to get them to laugh. And why not? This is, after all, supposed to be a happy scene. A modern-day couple going public about their modern-day marriage.
Time to put some life back into Canberra’s public buildings
The fact that some well positioned people hate going to work has always been an abstract concept to me.
Gloom in personal loss as Hillary’s hopes go up in smoke
Erica Jong says she “feels like shit”. She’s taking Hillary’s loss hard and reckons it feels much worse than she’d expected.
Love & Money: Correspondence
Quarterly Essay Issue 30
‘Slut power’ and cover-girl views bust-up the sexist offence
If the young woman’s intention was to shock and silence me, she succeeded. Only for a moment mind you. But it was a jaw-dropping moment. I had just delivered a speech at a Sydney weekend conference titled “Let’s Talk About Sex”, run by the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance. My theme was a call to arms against the increasingly overt use of sexism in media advertising and popular culture, particularly music videos.
Defending against virus of moral panic is a whore of a job
A moral panic over sex gripped Australia this week. And like a wooden doll with a wobbly head our Charlie Brown PM was – as always – at the ready with something earnest to say.
