The Sydney Feminists

We often ridicule the Victorians for their backward views, conservative ways, and blatantly sexist mindsets. However, studying Victorian literature, there are some notable parallels between their attitudes then and our attitudes now. Fiction is a vision into the past– it shows opinions, both personal and public, and manages to convey the wider context in a way studying statistics cannot. It is important to remember that literature is of its time. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ would not be considered   a pioneering feminist novel nowadays, but in 1813 Elizabeth Bennet’s character completely defied the perfect, ‘angel of the house’ archetype that women were expected to strive for; intelligent and fiercely independent, she turned down marriage proposals for her own sake, rather than accepting them as she was expected to. The point is that in an ever-progressing society, these views should have changed. We view ourselves as superior to the Victorians, but in fact, these examples from ...

To many, 2017 will be remembered as a very bad year. To me, 2017 will be remembered as the year women got together to start a series of revolutions against structural inequality. 2017 was the year of women’s anger. 2017 was the year of the Women’s March on Jan 21st, a worldwide protest led by women. It was in reaction to Trump’s inauguration, but the goal was to protect hard-won rights, to safety, to health, to the right of existence for diverse communities. That goal echoed around the world, including here in Sydney, pinked and pussy-hatted women gathered around the world, together. 2017 was also the year of the #metoo silence breakers .  Post Weinstein, the long-silenced discussions of sexual harassment began to have a space, and women and men started sharing stories of sexual harassment and assault. There were questions thrown up about the movement, challenging power structures always brings questions, but there are more people within the movement still pushing back....