The Sydney Feminists

If you haven’t heard of Mona Eltahawy then you’re in for a treat, because you’re about to read about a fearless, liberal Muslim Egyptian-American feminist and be all the better for it. From Mona’s website (link: http://www.monaeltahawy. com/ ): “During the 18-day revolution that toppled Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, she appeared on most major media outlets, leading the feminist website Jezebel to describe her as "The Woman Explaining Egypt to the West". In November 2011, Egyptian riot police beat her, breaking her left arm and right hand, and sexually assaulted her and she was detained for 12 hours by the Interior Ministry and Military Intelligence. Newsweek magazine named Ms Eltahawy one of its "150 Fearless Women of 2012", Time magazine featured her along with other activists from around the world as its People of the Year and Arabian Business magazine named her one of the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women.” Many people are scared of brave feminists. O...

1939 is regarded as one of the greatest years in Hollywood’s history. Some classic films released include The Wizard of Oz , Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Stagecoach , Of Mice and Men , Wuthering Heights and Gone with the Wind . Based on the novel by Margret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind follows the relationship of Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) during the American Civil War. The film would go on to break many box office records and win countless awards, including the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Hattie McDaniel. This is special because it was the first Oscar won by a black American. Hattie McDaniel was born on June 10, 1895. She was the thirteenth child born to Henry McDaniel and Susan Holbert. Her father fought in the Civil War and had major psychological issues later in life, while McDaniel’s mother was a domestic worker. McDaniel was born in Wichita, Kansas, before moving with her family to Denver, Colorado, when she was ...

Note: For this article, I’ll be centering on women who experience sexual harassment/assault in hetero sexual encounters. We can all agree sexual assault is a crime, and that no one should be subject to it. However, when we start having conversations about consent, what it is and what it looks like, those discussions seem to take place in murkier waters. In the NSW Crimes Act ( https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1900/40 ), the meaning of consent, as it pertains to a person in a sexual encounter, is “ A person consents to sexual intercourse if the person freely and voluntarily agrees to the sexual intercourse .” Now let’s apply that definition to a story that’s been in the public space recently: yes, I’m referring to the babe.net story ( https://babe.net/2018/01/13/aziz-ansari-28355 ) about “Grace” a 22 year old woman, who went on a date with Aziz Ansari, a 33 year old celebrity. Suddenly, what consent is, and what it looks like, has gotten more complicated. ...