Namatjira at Belvoir Street Theatre

Last year, I wrote a post about the Aboriginal Australian stories I’d had around me when I was growing up (as far as I know, none of the stories I was exposed to were stories of Torres Strait Islanders). I also wrote about Indigenous Australian characters, and an interesting comment thread developed about stories about [...]

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What rape culture? I don’t see no rape culture?

I actually wouldn’t have read this SMH article about the release of the iPad were it not for the quote on the link to the story from the front page, which, as it turns out, is also the headline: “Like a gorgeous woman”. I decided to go looking for context. It was worse than I [...]

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Dog whistle politics

Yet another reason I can’t see myself bringing myself to vote for the Libs at the next NSW election (not that I think I’ll be able to bring myself to vote ALP, either): Barry O’Farrell’s interesting take on the criminal justice system: If he (Williams) had a criminal record, what’s he doing on the street [...]

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Regulation, safety and risk

Let’s unpack an interesting social phenomenon, shall we? Many people alive today live in highly regulated societies. Australia is one such society, so is the UK. Many regulations are aimed at keeping people safe. Other regulations are ostensibly aimed at keeping people safe, but are either ineffective or have some other purpose. It is possible [...]

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Rape is not kinky

TRIGGER WARNINGS The SMH has an article about the inquiry into the awful culture on the HMAS Success. The article is headlined, in part, “HMAS Kinky”. The ABC has a similar story, headlined “Sailors accused of public sex act: inquiry”. First of all, let’s get something clear: I have no problem with kink. I also [...]

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An article with which I sympathise entirely

Me too, Ariane, me too. (Although I do think the question is racist, or shows the questioner’s susceptibility to racist culture, or something.)

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Talking about mansplaining…

… I ran into a charming mansplainer this week. I have just acquired a new computer for work, so I thought I should go best practice and get some surge protection, too. I dropped into my local hardware store a couple of weeks ago, and was shocked at the price difference between the top and [...]

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Is it just me …

… or is anyone else slightly frustrated by the assumptions which are just absolutely loaded into Panasonic’s current catchphrase, which is “The smartest guys in the room”? I know, I know, there are assumptions loaded into every statement, but these ones really get my goat. In particular, the following assumptions: – Panasonic’s stuff was conceived/designed/built/sold/etc [...]

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