The Sydney Feminists

A few weeks ago, young women in Australia and around the globe discovered a new role model in sports superstar Tayla Harris, when a photograph of Harris appearing to defy gravity went viral. People were inspired by the fantastic photo, which captured the skill, dedication and physical fitness of an athlete in her prime. The photo and its reception said so much about the state of female athletes in today’s world. Image Description: Photo of Tayla Harris on a turf soccer/ football field. She is shown mid-jump, with her left leg bent behind her at a 90-degree angle and her right leg stretched almost straight up towards the sky (with a very slight bend at the knee). Her right arm is hanging down by her side and her left arm is stretched straight across her chest and behind her leg. She is wearing a black jersey with a multi-colored patch at the bottom (red, yellow, blue, green), a pair of white shorts and bright orange cleats. Her hair is blonde and pulled up in a high ponytail. ...

I recently came across an interesting Facebook group which, contrary to most Facebook groups, really got me thinking. “The Misogyny is Coming from Inside the House” shows examples of women who exhibit misogyny, both towards themselves and other women. But, more than that, it’s a place where women who realise they harbour internalised misogyny can come to grips with that realisation, talk out their feelings and grow and learn. Browsing this Facebook group’s posts made for incredible reading. Countless women recounted the moments they understood why they held the views about women they did and the efforts they were making to change their ways. It also made me realise internalised misogyny is a “trend” that never went away. Don ’ t believe me? Let ’ s look at some commonly expressed sentiments among women and engage with their underlying meanings. Image Description: A dark photo of a person sitting sideways on a window sill looking down, out the window. Their back is resting ...

KORADFEM is a South Korean twitter account. I first became aware of the when they tweeted about the abuse of a woman in South Korea, assaulted for “looking like a feminist” ( click here for link ). I reached out to KORADFEM to ask some questions about feminism in South Korea: how it works, how their culture reacts and how they think they’re doing in their battle for liberation. KORADFEM is part of the radical feminist movement in South Korea. Radical Feminism can sound alarming if you don’t know what it is. Radical Feminism is basically a root-cause analysis of the structures of power which oppress females. Analysis of patriarchy and male violence, for instance, often come from a radical feminist lens. If you’ve thought that perhaps female oppression might be even partially due to our bodies or our reproductive abilities, you’ve applied radical feminist thinking. I will put a disclaimer here that many liberal or mainstream feminists do not agree with radical ...

Electronic dance music (EDM) emerged out of the disco scene of the seventies, and was later influenced by techno culture of the eighties and rave culture in the nineties. Dance music culture today retains aspects of the alternative politics of its predecessors, and asserts itself as a welcoming and progressive space, particularly with respect to gendered identities and sexual orientations.  It has been claimed that EDM culture is a potential feminist, or post-feminist space as it provides freedom from gender discrimination. However, there are limits to the progressive potential of EDM cultures, and continued experiences of gender discrimination among female Disc Jockey’s (DJs), suggest alternative politics may be more imagined than real. EDM is a broad term, and encompasses many forms of electronic dance music. Generally speaking it can be defined as any form of electronically produced music that is intended to be danced to, and is often performed by DJs in clubs, at parti...