This article can be read in Spanish here. In a February 11 Radio New Zealand (RNZ) interview, Wallace Chapman called the gender pay gap “the issue that never seems to go away”. He pointed out that on average, women are paid $7 per hour less than men, and asked a very good question. Why? A new […]
Treat Her Right: We won't close the pay gap if we don't discuss prostitution Read More »
Female socialization is a process of psychologically constructing and breaking girls, otherwise known as ‘grooming’, to create a class of compliant victims… Femininity is just a traumatized psyche displaying acquiescence. This is not natural. It was not created by God. It’s a corrupt and brutal arrangement of power. – Lierre Keith From female genital mutilation
Sexism, sadism and side shows: Cindy Sherman at the City Gallery Read More »
This article can be read in German here, and in Spanish here. The real brilliance of patriarchy… it doesn’t just naturalise oppression. It sexualises acts of oppression. It eroticises domination and subordination. It institutionalises them as masculinity and femininity. So, it naturalises, it eroticises and it institutionalises domination and subordination. The brilliance of feminism is
A call to feminists to remember the history and sex-based nature of women's oppression Read More »
Prue Hyman is a feminist economist, and the author of Women and Economics: a New Zealand Feminist Perspective. She was an economic consultant to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in the late 1980s and early 90s, and later Associate Professor of Economics and Gender and Women’s Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. Recently I asked
Prue Hyman: The struggle for equal pay Read More »
In New Zealand, 85% of people who are prostituted in the sex trade are women. By contrast, 99% of johns (who the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective refer to as “clients”) are men. Although NZPC is generously government funded, it effectively promotes itself as a union, existing to advocate for “labour rights” and safety. Since the
Why is a man running the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective? Read More »
I don’t normally do content warnings, but this piece contains some pretty offensive material; I would certainly recommend sitting down for it with a hot drink. * In her online talk The Sexy Lie, Caroline Heldman discusses objectification, questioning the idea that “sex sells”. This is an idea that many advertisers and publishers leverage, but
Grooming literature: Cosmo, Dolly, pimping and the "Sex Worker Starter Kit" Read More »
One of the key, stated motivations driving liberal transactivists is to end unjust violence and discrimination inflicted on a marginalised group: violence that should never be condoned. Many transactivists I know are community-minded liberals who want to make life easier for a minority group suffering discrimination – and that is fair enough. I would be
Dear transactivists: stop no-platforming feminists Read More »
Equal opportunity is a cornerstone of education. That all children have the same birthright to education – regardless of their background – is a fundamental democratic premise. Wherever a child is disadvantaged, then, schools should ensure that it doesn’t affect his or her opportunities for learning. Wherever patterns reveal themselves – for instance, if whole communities appear
Public education: a women's domain, a feminist issue Read More »
Though I’ve never had a stall before, I love the Wellington Zinefest and look forward to it each year. I’ve got a pile of zines at home that I’ve bought, swapped, collected and enjoyed from markets over the years. Through the art supply shop I work at, I sponsored the Wellington Zinefest 2015 gladly, with free
Dear Meow, InsideOUT, New Zealand Portrait Gallery and Slow Boat Records, I’m writing regarding your upcoming Darkmatter events on 9 and 10 October. Darkmatter have made clear statements that justify rape and pedophilia. They can be read here. The statements include calling little girls – children – “kinky” and “deviant”. They suggest that culturally, society places
Darkmatter should not be welcome in Wellington Read More »
