Writings

A collection of 345 posts

Writings

The bald facts

WINSTON Churchill said that a fanatic was a person who couldn’t change his mind and wouldn’t change the subject. According to the dictionary, a fanatic is a person marked by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm for a cause. At times, some of Australia’s prominent civil libertarians sound like

Writings

Why are Young Women Welcoming the Return of the Bunny?

The Playboy symbol is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. What does this signify? It’s everywhere. In the smartest shops in Acland Street, and featuring in trendy Chapel Street in Prahran. On natty little terry short and the smart canvas gym-bag purses that are the currently the pinnacle of street-wear

Writings

Book Review - Night Thoughts in a Time of War - Bob Ellis

Night Thoughts in a Time of War by Bob Ellis, Viking, 2004. Most people are familiar with at least some of Bob Ellis’s long and impressive resume. The author of seventeen books, including the bestselling Goodbye Jerusalem, Goodbye Babylon and First Abolish the Customer, he’s also written and

Writings

No Sister, Feminism is Not About Choice

Airing a dream is to criticise and negate the opposing vision Ah, the good old F-word. For a while, things were looking grim. All that talk about irrelevance, betrayal of the young, even death. No one but the humourless hirsute holed up in the hallowed halls of higher-education had a

Writings

Abortion Critics Deny the Complexity of Choice

British filmmaker Julia’s Black’s documentary My Foetus won’t screen in Australia until August 8, but debate has already begun about whether the film should be censored, and the impact it will have on political debate about abortion. The film, made while Black was pregnant with her first

Writings

A Pregnant Pause for Waiters and Watchers

The budget will encourage single working women to have children – but more needs to be done Has the budget left the single and childless out in the cold? Speaking on our ABC this morning, Peter Costello said, “no.” According to the treasurer, the fact that most childless singles will one

Writings

The Difference between a Slut and a Stud

Has anyone been listening to the lyrics of Eminem lately? The man is obsessed about the sexual morays of his lady friends. And women just can’t win with this guy. First he tells them that if they don’t put out, he’d going to “put them out,” while

Writings

Much Remains Confused about Men, Women, Sex and Power

Here, there, women crying “rape” are everywhere. I worry about the sudden onslaught of rape charges. Of course, I support a woman’s right to raise her grievances publicly and have them addressed in a legitimate forum, but I worry that others might not. The men being named are sporting

Writings

Misconceptions in the Blame Cycle

Women must play and active role in protecting their sexual and reproductive health Last week the Evening Standard reported the findings of a study linking \ use of the Pill with infertility. The British study found that former Pill users took twice as long to conceive than those who had used

Writings

Deadly price of decency

WE still don’t know exactly what sparked the terrible flurry of violence that cost David Hookes his life. But if early reports are correct, it appears he may have been defending the girlfriend of one of his colleagues — a woman who had been abused or slighted by someone in

Writings

Fathers look after their children, but seek more thrills for them

USUALLY he amazes, but this time we were appalled. That’s because this time, when Steve Irwin stepped into the arena at his Sunshine Coast wildlife park and used one hand to feed a dead chicken to a 4m crocodile named Murray, clutched in the other was his tiny one-month-old

Writings

Book Review - “The End of Equality: Work, Babies and Women’s Choices in 21st Century Australia”

By Anne Summers, Random House Australia, 2003. Paperback RRP $29.95 Who better than Anne Summers, a woman who lists among her achievements the best-selling book Damned Whores and God’s Police, advisor to former Prime Minister Keating and Officer of the Order of Australia for services to journalism and

Writings

Street Prostitution in St Kilda

Read Leslie’s perspective on how St Kilda politics went wrong when trying to make the streets safer for prostitutes and residents. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/stories/s666714.htm

Writings

Staying mum’s a cop-out

Feminists expect fathers to do domestic work, so how can they tacitly exempt mothers from paid work? THIS is how I remember a conversation last week between me and two other mothers of grade 1 children: Mother 1: Does your child sleep at night? Me: Yes, why? Doesn’t yours?

Writings

The disappearing father

Women don’t turn to IVF lightly. Men are fleeing fatherhood. HAS anybody listened to what Lisa Meldrum is – and is not – saying about her decision to pursue sole motherhood using donor sperm? She notes: ``All young girls dream of a husband, a house and a family, but it’s

Writings

Child-care dinosaurs’ time is past

Dated views about women and work are deservedly dying out. What’s happening in cultural politics? All we find out is filtered through the eyes and ears of people whose formative experiences occurred at least 20 years ago. They seem to have grown conservative and dull, and are frightened of

Writings

The Horrible Dilemma of the Pregnant Woman

She is pushed to have all the tests, then damned if she terminate late Abortion is in the criminal code in many states in Australia, including the state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital. However, in 1969 the state court ruled that abortion was defensible if the doctor

Writings

Best, yes, but for whom?

BREASTFEEDING: what could be more simple? Best for mother, best for baby, the obvious and necessary feeding choice for all mums, and the only one ethical health professionals can support. Most women reading this would find such “facts’’ familiar. The gut-wrenching feelings of guilt and inadequacy that accompany such pronouncements

Writings

A mother’s birthright

A woman-centred approach to birth includes the right to choose drugs. CHILDBIRTH was the most painful experience of my life. I did it both times without any pain relief beyond nitrous oxide gas, but only the first time was by choice. The second time, had I been able to choose,

Writings

It didn’t start with a kiss…

HOW DOES this generation define a transcendent relationship, a perfect twosome, the ultimate love? In his construction of the relationship between Gen-X FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, the Australian-born creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter, has taken a leaf from the Victorian era, and added a distinctive 21st-century

Writings

It’s his baby too, give him paid leave

Both new parents, not just mum, should get time off work. Nurse to Kathy Lette, in excruciating pain from labor, and awaiting the father of her child in the ward: ``Don’t worry. Some men just don’t want to be here.’’ Lette, angrily: ``Hey. I‘d prefer not to

Writings

Calling all single childless women…

A new ruling may end discrimination in access to donor sperm. SHOULD everyone have the freedom to parent? Fitness for parenthood has been a hot topic in Victoria recently. Reports of children locked in hot cars, and the Melbourne Magistrates Court’s dismissal of charges against two gay police officers

Writings

The population debate we have to have

It’s easier to talk about immigration than about why we’re having fewer children. LAST week the Prime Minister reopened the debate about Australia’s population. After years of Hanson-inspired silence, there are even whispers of a bipartisan policy approach. Debates in Australia about population policy typically disintegrate into

Writings

Bottoms up, sister!

I LOVE The Vicar of Dibley and Dawn French’s vicar, Geraldine Granger. But after most episodes, my stomach hurts – figuratively, that is. Which may be better than the literal way the vicar’s must feel. Because at some point in each episode of the show, Geraldine does some serious

Writings

School hours: did feminism drop the ball?

Working parents may not be able to rely on the women’s movement to help them. JOHN HOWARD is no feminist. So perhaps it’s no surprise that his recently stated desire to promote a better balance between work and family by extending school hours went down like a lead