The Sydney Feminists

This report ( link here ) by Juliet Watson (Lecturer, Urban Housing and Homelessness, RMIT University) for the Conversation is about Melbourne women experiencing homelessness and the gendered violence they experience. In relation to sex-for-rent situations, Watson uses the term “survival sex” in her article, a description that might be new to some; let’s break it down. "Lack of money, welfare support and social capital meant, for some, their only resource was to exchange sex for somewhere to stay." ( link here ) Survival sex is a term used to describe a person engaging in/trading sexual acts out of desperate need. To be clear: this is not sex trafficking, but to push it under the sex work umbrella obscures the dynamics underpinning it. I believe it is its own category. While sex for survival is a choice a person, usually women, makes, it is not chosen for empowerment. Sometimes people have limited options, and this can make those people vulnerable to exploitation.

This week, I want to talk about feminism in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009). Not to be confused with Fullmetal Alchemis t (2003). After a grueling two months, and a roller coaster of emotions, I finally finished both TV series. Although I did enjoy the first series, I fell madly in love with Brotherhood . I know I’m a bit late to the game, as I only recently got into anime. But Brotherhood still contains important messages today. In fact, I found a lot of the political messages applied even more to a 2018 context. Brotherhood has certainly aged well, a fete not many TV series can pull off well. A quick google search will tell even the most novice of anime fans Brotherhood is one of the best known and most loved anime series to date. And for good reason. If you haven’t heard of it or watched it yet, I highly recommend it. The world is so well defined and every character (there are a lot of them) is unique and relatable. For an added bonus, the author of the manga series, wh