Compare the pair

Guardian headline: “Student becomes new police chief in Mexican town” SMH headline: “Just 20, young mother becomes Mexican top cop” The articles themselves are fairly comparable. The Guardian article leads with “She is a petite 20-year-old college student who paints her nails pink, has an infant son and believes in non-violence” – as if those [...]

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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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Making everything about men

The headline: All men tarred by boorish brush The summary sentence (the first sentence of the article is substantially the same): Men who sexually harass women are actually harming their whole gender, a study has found What the study is about:

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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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I’m not sure what’s worse…

A Japanese man has married his virtual girlfriend. I’m not sure what’s worst about this story. The contenders: (1) The first sentence of the article: We may occasionally wish our spouses had an “off” switch but a Japanese man will have that luxury full-time… This sentence assumes that the audience are all (a) male, (b) [...]

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18th Down Under Feminists’ Carnival!

Welcome to the 18th Down Under Feminists’ Carnival! (And apologies for the delay.) This Carnival has an optional caring theme, thanks to Australian Carers’ Week (which was October 18 to October 24). The theme for this year was “Anyone, Anytime, Across Australia”, which I modified to “Anyone, Anytime” for the purposes of the DUFC. There [...]

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Was that really necessary? Misogynistic headlines and catchphrases

Peter Hartcher, the SMH’s international editor (by which I assume they mean editor of international news) is a pretty good columnist. His articles tend to be interesting and thought-provoking. They are about politics, international politics and economics. So when I saw the headline “Attractive French model bears close watching” on Hartcher’s column today, I assumed [...]

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“Why are maternal death rates remaining stubbornly high?”

Carolyn Hardy, chief executive of UNICEF Australia, in the SMH today: Some half a million women die in childbirth each year around the world. The deaths are almost entirely contained to poor nations. It is estimated up to 80 per cent of these death are preventable. Why are we failing? Why are maternal death rates [...]

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