The Sydney Feminists

In this piece, I will test the first of the  two premises   that underpin the wave of restrictive abortion legislative currently proliferating conservative America.   The first premise is that a fetus is a person, which leads to the second premise that killing a person is wrong.  If legislation is built on premise one, it relies on the following being true: that fertilistion is the point at which a ‘person’ comes into being (in a legal sense), and this is the only morally relevant consideration across all possible circumstances that a person could seek an abortion.  So, all cases of abortion are murder and the rights of a mass of cells trump those of the person who keeps them viable, even in cases of rape or incest. Good health and social policy should first do no harm and then preserve the freedoms of those the policy affects. Where restriction of freedoms is deemed necessary, a pragmatic  approach is always best where freedoms are limited o...

Last weekend, many of us watched in horror as Australia signed up for three more years under a Liberal Coalition government. The groups of people who will be negatively impacted by the continuation of this government's policies are numerous. They include refugees, people of colour, those who depend on a healthy environment (which would be most of us), and not least of all, women and other gender minorities. On a micro scale, Liberal governance is poor for women's representation. The past three years have seen women’s representation in parliament take a major backslide, particularly within the Liberal government itself. The Liberals have recently seen a wave of high-profile women abandoning the party for greener pastures. In a shock resignation, Kelly O’Dwyer stepped down just prior to the election, citing the workplace was not conducive to life as a mother. Former foreign minister Julie Bishop also stepped down, ostensibly after being passed over during the Liberal le...

It is no doubt a tumultuous time in our society today with politically contentious discourse emerging about women’s rights from #metoo to Dr Christine Blasey-Ford. Social media has lit up with relevant commentary either deriding or commending this movement to acknowledge and believe women’s accounts. Recently, three of the biggest modern female pop stars – Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé – have lent their powerhouse voices to the debate through varying public statements. Taylor Swift, previously known for being publicly apolitical, made the unexpected move of posting on Instagram outlining the egregious ways that Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn has acted contrary to women’s and LGBT rights and encouraging Americans to register to vote. Taylor described her fans, predominantly young women and teenage girls, as “intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people” capable of becoming agents of change. According to Vanity Fair, 65 000 new US voters registered nationally in the nex...