Welcome to Monday ~ 18 August 2014

Welcome to Monday dear feminausts! Hope you had a glorious weekend and are all ready to tackle the week ahead – feminsty style!

On to the links…

Domestic violence is probably in your office

Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist gives us… It’s the “Recognise” thing that REALLY gets me

“My past,” she told the room, “is littered with the bones of men who were foolish enough to think I was someone they could sleep on.”

Head over to Fair Agenda to sign their petition asking Australian senators to stand against changes the university system that could see women pay up to $45,000 more for their degrees than men. This is serious stuff peeps!

Melbourne school students form ‘feminist collective’ to crowdfund curriculum resource

This has been doing the rounds: Next Time Someone Says Women Aren’t Victims Of Harassment, Show Them This.

Church’s Melbourne Response to be focus of child sex abuse inquiry

Indian prime minister delivers statement about men’s responsibility when it comes to rape

Welcome to Monday ~ 28 July 2014

Welcome to Monday dear feminausts. Here we go, lots of feministy links to get you started on this Monday morning!

Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist discusses the diverse views on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal Australians.

Clem Ford nails it again with Jacqui Lambie, sexism and the problem with men.

Interested in the saga surrounding Robin Thicke’s latest album? The Scarlett Woman has you covered.

Test your knowledge, take UN Women’s quiz on Women in Power and Decision-making. 

Welcome to Monday ~ 7 July 2014

Research by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling and AMP says mothers on minimum wage may only keep a fraction of their earnings, with some effectively working for just $3.50 an hour.

There’s no such thing as the perfect vagina.

Lena Dunham explains birth control to a 10 year old.

The Scarlett Woman’s On the (Rest of the) Net.

For those of you weighing into the debate on babies in bars…

Sally Baxter reflects on life as a single mum and on $2.50 a day.

Hoyden About Town channels feminist rage very well in commenting about this article “School bans sex victim from ball … but offender can go”

Welcome to Monday ~ 23 June 2014

Welcome to Monday dear feminausts! I hope you’ve had a great weekend. I successfully installed (with a lot of guidance) a new hard drive and some more RAM into my ageing laptop today! I feel 10% more useful now. It’s a great feeling. Also, I went to MONA (in Hobart) last weekend for the start of the Dark MOFO festival. It was so much fun and so over the top. This photo is from one of my favourite pieces at MONA, it’s a large cubed box full of TV screens showing people singing to Madonna songs. Brilliant.

On to the links…

Sarah Capper and Judy Horacek being great: Feminist Frightbats Unite!

Twilight of the Assholes: Goodbye to Dov Charney, Terry Richardson, and Hipster Misogyny

11 Hilarious Women in Pop Culture (Who Aren’t Comedians)

titog (Hoyden About Town) writes: Media Circus: HILDA Report Refutes Hockey Edition

Geek Feminism asks: What would a feminist payment/funding site look like?

The Clever Stunt Four Professors Just Pulled to Expose the Outrageous Pay Gap in Academia

We Hunted the Mammoth lists the 5 most ridiculous things causing misogynists to lose their sh*t this week

Eat the Damn Cake writes her last post and says farewell.

We shouldn’t let Tony Abbott turn us into feminists

We got this delightful comment from Wayne the other day (he commented on this post). Pause to think feminausts, and think carefully, about what our hatred of Tony Abbott is making us capable of…

Listen is there anyone here that does not personally hate Tony Abbot?. I do not agree with everything Tony Abbott does but supporting feminism or any other cause does not mean you can personally hate Tony Abbott or any other man or woman, or hate men because they are men.

Wayne

friday feminaust ~ Bec Blurton

Feminism to me means equality. Equal opportunity and equal access for women.

I’m not an expert. I don’t have a degree in gender studies or anything social or political for that matter. This contribution is based on my experience and perception in the workplace so far. I understand what it’s like to try to make something of yourself as a woman in a ‘man’s world’. I haven’t always been a feminist. To be brutally honest, I used to think feminists were ridiculous and embarrassing to the entire sex.

SIT AT THE TABLE

I grew up as one of the boys. I was my dad’s favourite ‘son’ for most of my childhood. I ran around hunting lizards, catching frogs and climbing trees (conquering castles) with my cousins, mostly boys. I loved the girly things too. Make-up, my dress-up chest and Barbie dolls (I had the best collection in school!). I was raised to do what I want, whatever made me happy. I was raised to be independent. My parents shared chores and responsibilities equally so I was never taught ‘traditional roles’. I lived the best of both worlds. Childhood was bliss. 

Welcome to Monday ~ 26 May 2014

Welcome to Monday feminausts. A short round up this week! Enjoy the links.

Should Paid ‘Menstrual Leave’ Be a Thing?

Laura Boyd reminds us the problem with sexist jokes… This is a fantastic rant, you all should read it.

Judith Butler Explained with Cats.

Black Twitter shouldn’t be dismissed because it’s not useful to white activists

The federal budget

Jenna Price writes about how the cuts to community legal services will impact women experiencing domestic violence.

Mick Gooda writes about how the federal budget could devastate Indigenous Australians.

Women who have a child ‘face paying 30% more interest on student loans’ as a result of this federal budget.

Welcome to the Age of Opportunity?

BY ALYSON GALE

A couple of days ago I had tea with my neighbour. She is disabled and has to visit the doctor frequently. She is on a range of medications. She can’t walk so she catches taxis everywhere.

We were having tea when she asked me “is the government were really going to cut the disability pension?”

It hit me how devastating that would be for her.

She could hardly afford food some weeks. She had no savings and she had never been able to afford a holiday in her adult life. I told her I didn’t know, but we would cross that bridge when we came to it. Then she asked me “will they really charge us to go to the doctor and put prescriptions prices up?” And then asked “if fuel prices would increase?” because that would mean that taxi prices would go up and “food will be more expensive too because the costs of transporting the food will be past on to the buyer”.

I literally didn’t know what to say.

After a few moments she started crying. I hugged her and said it would be okay. And when the federal budget was released it broke my heart. She was dealt such a hard life already. A life of suffering beyond anything I have ever experienced. Her only ‘entitlement’ was having enough money to live. She smiled when she told me if she had $6 left over from her pension it had been a good fortnight.

This budget will affect disabled people like my neighbour so drastically. People who find it hard to express their voice politically. The most vulnerable members of our community. The disabled who’s already low pensions will be cut. The people who ‘must’ see doctors regularly, who ‘must’ take medication to live.

If this is the ‘age of opportunity’ where is the opportunity for her?

Welcome to Monday ~ 12 May 2014

Welcome to Monday dear feminausts!

So, as we saw in NSW and as we’re now seeing in Victoria, women’s right to abortion services is under threat. Please act.

On to the links…

20 inspiring Indigenous Australians we should all know about.

A Life Unexamined finds progressive reporting about an incident of sexual assault *trigger warning*

blue milk shares a terrific example of a public breastfeeding poster. 

Geoff Shaw – Girl Protector

Read more about Geoff Shaw’s proposed changes to abortion services in Victoria.

Now join this Fair Agenda campaign to safeguard Victoria’s abortion laws.