There are 11 posts in this category
September 23rd, 2016
“How was it for you when your daughter came out as lesbian?” my friend asked. I was a little taken aback by the question (my daughter having been out for years) but did my best to recall some memories. Really, I summed up in the end, it was less of an adjustment for me than when she became vegetarian.
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August 28th, 2015
The myth of ‘merit’ as a measure of women’s ‘success’ is a convenient fiction that ignores structural inequalities. Six articles from one edition of a daily paper illustrate the point…Joan Beckwith.
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April 24th, 2015
A woman is killed in a park – women are advised to stay out of parks. A woman is killed on the street – women are told to stay home. Women are killed at home – they should have left, the pundits say. Women are assaulted in immigration detention – they must have been “too provocative” it seems. This post suggests four ways to reshape the dominant narrative about violence against women…Joan Beckwith.
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March 8th, 2015
Elizabeth Potter’s father controlled her mother “with fists and madness”. When she tried to leave he had her committed. Kathryn Heyman’s mother could not escape, and decades later Kathryn fears we are heading back to “that dark country of the past”. On the other hand, a royal commission into violence is underway in Victoria, a significant report has been handed down in Queensland, and Rosie Batty is Australian of the Year. Are we making progress?
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February 15th, 2015
What sort of journey has feminism been on over the last five decades? No doubt volumes could be written on this topic, and I’m not silly enough to attempt an answer in a few hundred words of blogpost. All I really want to do is put the question on record as it arose for me from a video on transgender (2014) juxtaposed against another on (1960s) feminism…Joan Beckwith.
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November 26th, 2014
Have you heard of the Gish Gallop? I hadn’t either until I was complaining to a friend about the sweeping generalisations and jaw-dropping assertions made by Mark Latham (former leader of the Labor Party) in his recent polemic against “left feminists” and their putative dislike of children. The main point, though, is to raise an alert on the Gish Gallop and its popularity with current policy-makers…Joan Beckwith.
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November 1st, 2014
With a title like that, who needs an excerpt?
Don’t forget to add your comments at the end of the post…Joan Beckwith.
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April 11th, 2014
I first wrote about the tension between feminism and science some years ago, after a conference dinner at which the person next to me asked what sort of psychologist I was – probably expecting to hear about my ‘specialty’. My response, no doubt naive, was to describe myself as a feminist psychologist. The effect could not have been more dramatic…Joan Beckwith.
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March 16th, 2014
Guest post by Brett Allen, winner of inaugural 2020socialjustice student award 2013-14.
Children raised by gay and lesbian parents develop in much the same way as children raised by a mother and a father. So, why does the law discriminate? Same-sex parents and their children would be better placed if they did not have to deal with prejudice and stigma and could choose to marry, argues Brett Allen.
(NOTE: Essay on same topic by Talia Meltzer, award winner 2016-17, added subsequently.)
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March 8th, 2013
International Women’s Day…a day for celebrating and validating women all over the world…and for wearing our red hats…Joan Beckwith.
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