Feminism and women’s rights

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 »

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 »

Two Wellington women have made news calling out Courtney Place’s Vinyl Bar, for its shockingly negligent response to sexual harassment earlier this month. Jay Thompson-Munn and Victoria Kershaw ran an inspiring ten-day campaign that is raising important questions about rape culture in Wellington’s nightlife. It’s a campaign that other bars, venues and patrons should take note of, before …

#VinylBarHarassment: Wellington women speak out on nightclub rape culture Read More »