Metior Magazine - Edition #10

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Murdoch Empire Telegraph & Indian Ocean Review

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Edition #5 October 2013

Women!

Murdoch Empire Telegraph & Indian Ocean Review – Since 1975 Edition 5, October 2013 Metior acknowledges that this is and always will be Aboriginal land.

Metior is a Murdoch University student publication.

For latest Guild news, events and info go to www.the-guild.com.au Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/metiormagazine Want to catch up on previous issues? Go to www.the-guild.com.au/metior Editor Olivia Gardner

Cover Photo Maria Bergwitz

Sub-Editor Madura McCormack

Photographers Aaron Webber Ava Mandal Gabrielle Walker Hayden Strzina Phoebe Phillips Piotrek Ziolkowski

Graphic Design Karmen Lee Our undying everlasting gratitude to...

Maria Bergwitz Amy Hoogenboom Marion Williams Beth Cole Matthew Gardner Dale Morey Michael Cadby David Salvaire Red Moir Emily Johnston Sarah-Jane Aston Gabrielle Walker Sarah Ross Harold Callaghan Lisa Townsend

Keep an eye out on the Metior facebook page www.facebook.com/metiormagazine for next year’s deadlines.

If you’d like to contribute writing, photography, poetry, illustrations or ideas please email us at metior@the-guild.com.au Editor Olivia Gardner

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Disclaimer Metior is published by the students of Murdoch University, under the governance of Murdoch University Guild of Students.

Content should not be regarded as the opinions of the Guild unless specifically stated.

1 The Guild accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any of the opinions or information contained within the magazine.

CONTENTS From The President ����������������������������������������������������������������������3 Editorial �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������3 Features Feminism: A Vision for Women to be Seen ��������������������������������6 I Am a Girl �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������8 Ella Hooper ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������12 Why Women’s Rights Are Refugee Rights ���������������������������������14 Analisa Bell ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������15 Strong Unions, Strong Women ���������������������������������������������������23 Anya Brock ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 10 Traits of an average woman �����������������������������������������������.26 Feminism and You ����������������������������������������������������������������������27 Fashion and Feminism, Figuring Does it Mix? ���������������������������28 Good to Know �����������������������������������������������������������������������������30 Dressing by Your Rules ���������������������������������������������������������������30 The Rise of The She-Jay ��������������������������������������������������������������31 Reviews Screen �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������32 Fiction Labour �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������18 The Last Girl of My Youth �����������������������������������������������������������19 Untitled ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19 Photography Maria Bergwitz ����������������������������������������������������������������������������4 Piotrek Ziolkowski ��������������������������������������������������������7, 10 & 26 Phoebe Phillips ���������������������������������������������������������������������������16 Ava Mandal ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������20 Hayden Strzina ����������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Gabrielle Walker �������������������������������������������������������������������������29 Aaron Webber ……………………………………………………………31 Visual Art Anya Brock ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������25

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FROM THE PRESIDENT Words by Bec Thompson Before I enrolled in university, as a bright-eyed and insufferably ignorant, optimistic teenager, I didn’t know much about the world. And I certainly didn’t know a thing about feminism. I suppose I’ve always carried a sense of wanting to bat for the underdog and fight injustices – it lead me to be running your Union for two years – but it took my experiences here to fully appreciate the role of feminism in my own life, as a queer woman.

The most profound experience I’ve had at Murdoch was meeting Associate Professor Bev Thiele, former Chair of the Women’s Studies program, former Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic. Bev – your achievements, your scathing wit, admirable resilience and unwavering presence have been such a huge inspiration and support to me. Thank you for being my mentor and thank you for always being a friend to myself and to the Guild.

I would not have believed I could make it through my time here without you.

Never undervalue the importance of the women in your lives. Of looking out for each other, of giving a hand up and not a put down. Of being a mentor and a mentee. We are so lucky in this country, but we have a long way to go to address significant issues like pay gaps, unequal gender representation in the workforce, our rights to bodily autonomy, and the tragedy of domestic violence – and all violence against women.

It is with great pride, a little sadness and a lot of excitement I sign off on my last ever Metior President’s Report and give you the 2013 Women’s Edition.

Thank you.

EDITORIAL Words by Olivia Gardner Sometimes in our lives we tend to forget just how much we really have. It’s all too easy to allow ourselves to get caught up in what’s going on in our lives whilst failing to notice exactly what it is that we’re taking for granted.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing the matter with this, it’s perfectly natural, but every so often it’s nice to be reminded that things aren’t always how they seem.

If you had asked me two months ago – before we embarked on this edition of Metior – what I thought about feminism, my answer would have been pretty different to what it is today. This is something retrospectively that I’m not too pleased about.

When it comes to feminism, appreciating what you have – be it a good education, lifestyle, work and wonderful friends – is nice, but it’s also a quaint notion.

Like any other human rights issue, feminism – on an international and even scarier, a national scale – is a prevalent cause to consider.

As you’ll see throughout the pages of this edition, women come from all walks of life, face different challenges and aspire to overcome them. We have put together a plethora of articles, photography and visual art that celebrates women whilst discussing relevant issues about women and women’s rights.

The articles in this edition encourage discourse, provoke your ideologies and give you an insight into the world and lives of women across Australia and internationally, from different industries of work to the different challenges faced in day to day life, it’s all there for you to soak up.

The Women’s Edition has been the most exciting edition of Metior to put together this year and is also a great way for us to say goodbye for 2013. I hope we manage to inspire, dare and entice, you, our diligent reader.

Enjoy the rest of this year and we’ll see you in 2014 for another good one, lots of love from the very awesome team behind this here publication.

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PHOTOGRAPHER Maria Bergwitz

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Feminism: A Vision For Women to be Seen Words by Amy Hoogenboom & Photography by Piotrek Ziolkowski What does it mean to be feminist today in our (allegedly) post-feminist world? Women today increasingly want to disassociate themselves from this label, while others seem to want to define who can and can’t be a feminist. Since feminism seems to be struggling to get people interested, you’d think we’d want all the people power we could muster, right?

new legislation or with ladies loos being installed on construction sites so women don’t have to use the men’s toilets. The new battles are about including all women’s voices who have a myriad of different life experiences. This means including experiences of race, class, ability, colonisation, orientation and gender expression. Mikki Kendall, of #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen fame, says “I see how cultural differences influence the tone of the conversation. I don’t think that women of any colour need to be respectable to be valuable. I want feminism to be a movement that doesn’t infantilize people who are already disenfranchised by assuming that the way people speak is an indication of the worth of what they’re saying. We’re all women, and if we’re talking about being allies, that means working together for more than one set of causes.”

Let’s break down some of these ideas that people have about feminism and feminists. Probably the most pervasive is that feminists are bra-burning, man-hating, hairy lesbians who shout angrily about ‘wimmin’ things and talk about smashing the patriarchy. These are stereotypes we all know well.

I can guarantee you that I’ve never burnt my bra.

Underwear is much too expensive and a good bra is hard to find. I don’t hate men, or any gender, but I recognise that certain genders receive privileges over others. We still have this weird cultural fixation with women’s hair, and where it should be (apparently only on her head, thanks very much). This is but a microcosm of the gender stereotypes faced by women. Okay, so on occasion feminists shout, but I think most people shout about stuff. Feminists can have many sexual orientations, including lesbian, straight or pan. ‘Wimmin’ is just one of the ways you can spell ‘woman’ without including ‘man’. Feminists do still want to smash the patriarchy. This is still one of our top priorities.

On occasion people like to talk about living in the ‘post-feminist’ world. But what does that mean, really? Are we really post-feminist if there is still a gender pay gap? Are we really post-feminist when Steubenville rapists get more sympathy then their victim, who was dragged unconscious from party to party and humiliated online? When teenage girls are getting cyber-bullied and slut-shamed so badly that they turn to suicide as a means to escape?

When trans people are still excluded, victimised, and die by suicide at rates higher than their cisgendered peers? If school-girls like Malala Yousafzai are getting shot for simply asserting a right to education?

When Indigenous Australian women die twenty years younger than non-Indigenous women? If refugee women have to line up and hand over used sanitary napkins to receive a new one? When lesbians cannot legally get married? If most movies still don’t pass the Bechdel Test, even though it was created in 1985? When tampons are taxed as a ‘luxury’ item and not a necessity? When our first female PM was criticized on her gender, rather than her policies and leadership?

But didn’t we smash the patriarchy? Wasn’t that what the 1970s was all about? And what the hell is patriarchy and why the hell do we need feminism anymore anyways?

My favourite definition of feminism is that feminism is the radical notion that women are people. Its simplicity is what makes it so powerful. Until women, all women, everywhere, are treated with the human decency and respect that is afforded to them, we still need feminism. This fancy thing we call the patriarchy is a system of society or institutions in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. The patriarchy is a way to define the world we live in, the institutions, the organisations, the culture, the traditions, the societal expectations. And while this may look a lot better than it once did, there’s still work to do. Rosie the Riveter still has her sleeves rolled up.

Feminism looks different today. The battles we won are not always celebrated in courts or with

Our journey is not yet over. We have made a multitude of gains, as women and as feminists. But there is still much more that needs to be done. So we invite you, as women to lead these changes and to be allies to other women as they lead as well. Feminism is about women, and ensuring that women, all women, are treated as equal human beings.

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I AM A GIRL Words by Madura McCormack Perusing the pages of a magazine during a routine visit to her GP, Rebecca Barry came across an article about the disparities that women face. “When it fell into my lap… I knew that there were gender inequalities, but in Australia it’s a bit of an undercurrent and it rears its ugly head once in a while and you can kind of ignore it,” she says.

When asked what her most memorable experience about filming was, Barry reveals it was when she found herself overlooking a spectacular mountain range after a landscape shot in Afghanistan. “I thought to myself, ‘this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen… and I’m in the middle of a warzone!” That realization, she says, was the perfect metaphor for the film. “…they’re [the girls] smart and intelligent and they’re caught in the middle of all these gender disparities that still exist.”

But it sparked something, she says, possibly a little flame that glowed within her. She let the thought sit for a while, as we all do with our ideas. It twisted and it churned, gathered momentum and fizzled out again, haphazardly stored in a mental folder labelled ‘soon’. That small flame lay dormant for a few years before it created an internal combustion of sorts, set off ironically, by a giant wall of water.

This passion for women’s rights, mixed together with the trauma of disaster, is what pushed Barry to shine the spotlight on gender issues. Interestingly enough, Barry says one of the most delightful lessons she has gained from this journey is the impact of men.

The life threatening experience of being in Samoa during the tsunami of 2009, caused by the largest Earthquake on record for that year, was what jolted Barry’s idea out of its slumber and threw it on course. “It was frightening… That experience in the tsunami, I had absolutely no control over what was happening to me that day and when I reflected on this, I realized that many girls feel a lack of control on a daily basis,” Barry explains.

“With feminism and equality, it’s not about us and them anymore. Enough is enough. We need to have a conversation together [men and women] and keep things moving,” she says. According to Barry, she now understands the importance men can have in the discussion of women’s rights and issues.

She underlines her point through the story of Aziza, a 14-year-old Afghan girl. Aziza is one of four daughters born to a farmer, and in a country controlled to some extent by the Taliban, having that many daughters can be a burden. But Aziza’s father, according to Barry, was a pillar of support and positivity to his children. “He was determined and encouraging to his daughters… he had a real passion for them to achieve their potential.”

An idea that swam idly in the pockets of her consciousness had now fully developed into an entity that she couldn’t deny. “I couldn’t ignore it anymore… in my process of getting over the situation, I really understood that I had to focus on the important things I want to do in my life. And this film was part of that,” she says empathetically.

Aziza’s father was shot and killed by the Taliban during the war, but Barry says his legacy lived on within his children. “He was a leader in that small little microcosm of his family to inspire his daughter to realize how important an education is in your life,” she explains “it is beautiful male role models like this that can build upon the strength and resilience of a young woman.”

The right to an education, what women choose to do with their bodies, who they choose to marry, opportunities that are extended to men but not women – these are the issues that she hopes to capture with her feature documentary I Am A Girl. The film explores the everyday lives of six girls, located in different countries and cultures, following their transitional journey into womanhood.

Barry reiterates that WE need to get involved in women’s rights. It’s not about men versus women; it’s about society and equality for all. Get dialogue happening; let your ideas light up the issue - because we shouldn’t always leave it to nature to create waves of activism.

“It’s a human right that you have, to articulate your own story… this film gave these girls that opportunity,” Barry says, highlighting her point by speaking of Kimsey, a 16-year-old Cambodian girl, who is also a mother and a sex worker. “This was the first time in her life that someone had taken an interest in her story… she got to see beyond the walls she felt enclosed by.”

You can catch I Am a Girl at Luna Leederville on the 18th, 19th and 20th of October.

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Aziza

9 Kimsey

PHOTOGRAPHER Piotrek Ziolkowski

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Jim Power

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ELLA HOOPER Words by David Salvaire Shaking off the shackles of her previous musical incarnations, Ella Hooper has returned to the Australian music scene with two cracking new singles and a long player entitled In Tongues on the way.

Talking to us from her home in North Melbourne, Hooper took some time to have a chat about her new album, growing up and going solo.

It’s been a long time between drinks for the exKilling Heidi front-woman but Hooper hasn’t been sitting around waiting for inspiration to knock on the door. “I’ve been doing so many different things but not much of my own music. I wanted to get involved in the media and help people with their music and not just force myself to quickly produce more of my own” says Hooper earnestly. “I’ve been doing a lot of hosting TV and radio and I’d been waiting for the right feeling to take me to create my own music.”

That feeling came after an emotionally intense interstate love affair and a big-ass planet returning to the place it was at the time of her birth – telling her it was time to grow up. “There’s an astrological phase called Saturn returning when you hit about 28-29 and I turned 29 and I thought, ‘ooh something feels different, I feel like I need to re-define myself that I’m not a kid anymore’… The urge finally struck me and all these songs started coming and that was the start of In Tongues.”

anything like that, I just love ritual for its symbolism, it’s just a beautiful creative tool. Romantic possession and spiritual possession can be so closely linked and because I’ve never really had religion in my life I guess I’ve always been a bit fascinated by it.”

After finding success early on with Killing Heidi then with her second outfit Verses (both with her brother Jesse) adjusting to playing solo without her own band to hide behind hasn’t been easy. “It’s definitely been a rude awakening” says Hooper. “It’s something I really wanted to do but I hadn’t thought about how much of a change it was going to be for me. There’s always been someone else backing me up.” Adapting to being a solo performer does have its upsides, “It’s been challenging but also hugely rewarding, I’ve had the chance to do a few things like play with the RockWiz band which was great because they’d learnt all my songs and I thought ‘that’s what it’s meant to be like, I can just jump up there and away we go.’ There’s just a lot more work involved in teaching all the material to the new band members who didn’t play on the record and making sure it was what I wanted. But yeah, it is really satisfying.”And will we be seeing much of Ella Hooper across the dusty plain any time soon? “Definitely, I’d love it so much! Nothing would make me happier than coming over and playing a few shows.

I might have to do it in a stripped back format, it might just be me and another musician coming over and re-interpreting the music in a bit more of an acoustic electric sense. But I’m definitely keen and I’m working on it.”

The new album, which is due for release later this year, is more mature and complex than any of Hooper’s previous work. The single Häxan delves into some darker lyrical themes with the words “and all of your blessings and the curse you pissed on me” oozing slowly over the rhythmic hum of an organ. Hooper puts this down to being open about her experiences. ”It came mostly from allowing myself to look and talk about the ups and downs. I’m perceived as a pretty up beat person, and I am, but it was more about letting myself go there and explore some of the things that haven’t been so easy, some of the things that are a bit more complicated.”

The first two singles off the soon to be released In Tongues are dripping with a dark and sultry timbre that is unlike anything we’ve heard from Ella Hooper before. The latest single Häxan (a Scandinavian word that roughly translates to “The Witches”) is a tale of spells, hexes and possession which Hopper says she explores throughout the aptly titled In Tongues. “I think (possession) is a really perfect metaphor. It is just a metaphor; I’m not calling myself a witch or

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Why Women’s Rights Are Refugee Rights Words by Sarah Ross Refugees are one of the most persecuted and vulnerable groups of people all around the world.

Within this group, women are at an increased risk – both in the countries they were persecuted but also in Australia. Women in immigration detention, particularly in Australia, experience higher concentrations of gendered oppression. They experience a pronounced lack of bodily autonomy, are placed in humiliating situations, have no access to reproductive rights and are put into situations where they are unable to care for their children.

its to the ACM nurse, who gave her panadol. Her wound continued to weep for six weeks and remains painful.” (Mares et al. 2002).

This particular woman was denied any right to bodily autonomy; she was given no right to determine how she birthed her child, nor the right to consent to a surgical procedure.

When the Gillard Labor government re-introduced offshore processing by opening detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru – among those transferred, six were pregnant women. Out of these six women, three suffered miscarriages and lost their children due to the trauma of the transfer and the rudimentary conditions of the centre.

In countries that are experiencing civil unrest women are too often the victims of sexual abuse by armed forces. It occurred during the Sri Lankan civil war which saw the displacement of thousands of Tamil refugees. These refugees over the last 5 years have composed, at various stages, over half of the population in Australian immigration detention centres.

When many of the women were transferred off Manus Island and onto the mainland – due to a flux of public exposure about the abuses that were occurring in the centre – they were transferred to Whickam Point Detention Centre where many of them still reside.

When female asylum seekers come to Australia by boat they are subject to our asylum seeker policies.

They are indefinitely detained without charge or trial in an immigration detention centre.

Whickam Point detention centre was previously used only for unaccompanied men, thus it retains many of the protocols specific to a men’s facility. You must prove that you have finished something before you can receive another, for example, by presenting your empty shampoo bottle.

Many of the rights that Australian women take for granted are denied to women in detention. One example of a woman being denied bodily autonomy and birth rights in detention featured in the psychological report: Seeking refuge, losing hope: parents and children in immigration detention by Sarah Mares, Louise Newman and Michael Dudley.

This woman, who featured in one of the case studies within the report, had given birth to a child previously in the Middle East through natural childbirth without complication and had breastfed her child for 12 months.

It is stated in the report that “Mrs Z…was too distressed to talk about the second child’s birth so the story came from her husband. Labour was induced after a period of four weeks enforced bed rest, under guard in a hospital several hours drive from the IDC, away from her husband and son. The child was born by caesarean section. No interpreters were present, nor was her husband. She says she did not understand or consent to the surgery and no medical explanation for it was given. She did not see her baby for some days and could not breastfeed when she was returned to her. Mrs Z and her baby returned to the camp one week after delivery and were given no follow up, apart from occasional vis-

This has been extended to a number of other things such as sanitary pads. Women in Whickam Point detention centre are only allowed 3 sanitary pads a day. They cannot receive all 3 at once, but must go up each time to get a new one once the old one is full. The same rule applies for nappies, babies are only allowed 3 nappies a day in this particular centre. One woman’s child had diarrhoea and was not allowed extra nappies even though she begged the guards. This is a degrading and humiliating practice.

Most unfortunately, it’s a practice that is not limited to this centre alone.

Women in detention are subjected to a number of humiliating and degrading rules and practices. The rights of refugee women everywhere, and particularly in detention, are inextricably tied with the struggle for women’s rights.

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Sarah Mares, Louise Newman, Michael Dudley and Fran Gale. 2002. Seeking refuge, losing hope: parents and children in immigration detention. Australian Psychiatry: Volume 10, No. 2. Pages: 92

ANALISA BELL

Words by Maria Bergwitz From check-out-chick to cabaret artist, Analisa Bell has come a long way since her first job at her local Mosman Park Supa Valu store. While currently living in Melbourne, Bell spends her days working at a marketing agency taking care of cultural events, and the nights as a much-loved entertainer. On September 19, 20 and 21 she was back in Perth for the 2013 season of Cabaret Soiree at Downstairs at the Maj with her show Diamonds – Marilyn Monroe Lives Inside Me. “I don’t impersonate her in any way. I mean, I do put on a wig at one point, but that’s more like a bit of a fun, little gag,” Bell will be putting her own interpretation of Marilyn on stage. “It’s more of a fun look at what makes the female, but through the eyes of Marilyn Monroe – or through the essence of her.” By Monroe’s essence, Bell refers to her confidence; the confidence to believe in one self, to be the best one can, and to really pursue that. Which is something every woman can harness, she says, and what essentially can turn any brunette into a blond bombshell. “Because I’m so not Marilyn. I’m the complete opposite. I’m short, I’m chubby, and I’m a brunette. With olive skin,” Bell firmly states the facts. But her upcoming show is also about challenging our stereotypical perceptions of a woman’s hair colour, and about turning them upside down.

“What I love about it is the opportunity to tell stories, to have a good sing and just to enjoy the music.” She wants to share stories with people, those that interest her and that she enjoys. Sometimes they are from personal experiences, other times they have been about Filipina Rose Porteous coming to marry WA mining magnate Lang Hancock, the life of Billie Holiday, and now she is taking on the iconic sex symbolism of Marilyn Monroe. Reviews from her previous shows are very different from one another. They include comments on dancing, albeit fake, poodles; politically incorrectness, though approved by relevant lawyers; free lollypops; informative biographical facts in easily digestible amounts; but they persistently celebrate her voice and promise no boredom.

Bell has been making people laugh and enjoy themselves with her solo cabaret shows for five years now, both in Australia and New York. In Perth’s cabaret venue Downstairs at the Maj she has become a featured regular. With dimmed lights, candle lit tables, wine and nibbles; the venue is perfect for cabaret. “It has that sort of feeling of being in your lounge room and you’re talking to your friends. Except you get up and you wear a nice dress and you sing,” she laughs at the odd scenario, but adds that it might not be so unusual after all: “I used to do that as a kid, and put on little performances!”

Bell appreciates performing at smaller and more intimate venues like the Downstairs at the Maj. She says it allows her to take on the stage without leaving her personal self behind, and to see who sits in the audience, recognise the familiar faces, and talk to them directly. Having dreamt about the big musicals after graduating from the Certificate of Music Theatre course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2000, she found herself stumbling into the world of cabaret by accident, but has never looked back.

Other critics over the years have been her parents.

“I still get the question about whether I will settle down soon and get a real job. Like a teaching degree or something,” she chuckles and adds it only gets worse the older she gets. But with her day job, securing a lifestyle other than the starving-artist one, she can still nurture her passion for cabaret at nighttime without getting too much scepticism about her choice of career.

As for Bell’s next step up in life, her plan is to open her own cabaret venue. But as much as she loves Perth, and as little as she wants to sound like a Melbourne snob, she feels that in terms of a business venture, she needs to stay put over east. America, on the other hand, she doesn’t exclude from the list of alternatives. “Maybe I’ll find myself in New York again, with a million dollars,” she says. I can hear her smile through the phone. “You know, the world is always a surprise.”

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PHOTOGRAPHER Phoebe Phillips

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Labour

Words by Marion Williams They had started as a feeling of pressure like a fist pushing into the base of my spine. Both the hands pushed through my flesh and grabbed my innards.

The tightness increasing on my womb like a red balloon held in a vice, not knowing if the next turn would make it explode. Pain spread like lava, burning and relentless, just a suggestion of the eruption to come.

Did you think that Joshua was the baby-daddy? No, he’s my kid brother and about the only male that’s been in my life these last nine months. He promised to bring me to the hospital when the time came and on the frantic drive here he managed to mumble, “Sis, you know I ain’t coming in with ya, don’t ya? I ain’t good with blood and stuff.”

I didn’t expect anything else. By now he would be safely ensconced in his pit of a bedsit, calf deep in dirty socks and jocks, Macca’s wrappers and choc milk cartons. Earphones installed feeding eardrum piercing death metal directly to his brain, his head and shoulders banging to the beat. His eyes glued to the harshly bright, ever flickering screen of his computer, as his fingers fly over the keyboard. His face taking on the obligatory, slack jawed rictus of the computer games addict.

The pains were coming at 3 minute intervals as Joshua brought the car to a screeching halt in the hospital car park. A wheelchair appeared, as if by magic, as I heaved my baby-laden body out of the car. Immediate thoughts of whether my bulk would fit assaulted my mind. But it was already irrelevant as the orderly, large and hirsute, barrelled me across to the emergency department. Over my shoulder I saw Joshua standing in the rain with that ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look of his, and then he got back into the car and drove off.

It was time to push, time to scream and time to curse the male of the species. Focus, they said, on something to help you ride out the pain. What could there be here in this sterile fortress that would be sufficient to take the edge of the spiralling agony? I searched the pitted, dull grey walls, the wash-faded blue curtains as the contraction worked towards its climax. In the corner of the ceiling, I saw her. She was totally still in her complex construction of sticky threads. A spider, in all her dark glory, missed in the rigours of daily cleaning. I felt an affinity with this spider-lady as she has it all worked out. She lures her arachnid lover into a one night stand and in the height of passion gives him a love bite to overshadow all others. That’s what I should have done, as soon as he had shot his load, in the few seconds before he started snoring. Nuzzling his damp, sweaty neck, my teeth, needle sharp, would plunge vampire like through his stubbled skin, my taste buds savouring the warm, iron saltiness of his blood.

Venom gleaned from all the slights I’d received over the years would pour into his body, hot and paralysing. I would make a meal of him as he still lived, saving the tastiest parts wrapped in a silken shroud to snack on later. My eight legged friend definitely had the right idea, cannibalism over commitment was the way to go.

The ED was full of the great unwashed, or at least that’s what they looked and smelled like. A nauseating aromatic cocktail of bleach, sweat, blood and fear filled the air. Winos, with bottles in brown paper bags, propped up the walls or lay curled like ragged foetuses on the cold, tiled floor. Women in track pants and slippers were trying to placate their whimpering children, whose cheeks were flushed and eyes bright with fever. Teenage girls, clothes dishevelled and make-up running down their tearstained faces, trying to stop themselves vomiting over the floor.

No time to stop and give details of next of kin or occupation. I was propelled straight down the antiseptic corridors to the labour ward. Scooped from the wheelchair, as if a feather, by the tattooed arms of the orderly and gently deposited on a starched, white plain. The odour and sight of sweat marring the pea green tunic of my white knight made my gorge rise and spill without warning. Hot and acidic bile rose, burning my throat, my stomach clenching to eject my last meal in unison with my womb working to eject the infant.

The father of this baby, whimsically known as the sperm donor, is not around. He went AWOL just after I gave him our wonderful news. He left a note in the tea caddy saying, “I’m not ready to be a father, I know you’ll be much better off without me getting in the way....oh and by the way, I’ve taken the car and the cash in the drawer for travelling expenses.”

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A small smile stretched my lips, dry and cracked from panting and puking. Yes, there was someone here who knew exactly how I felt. Suddenly I was snapped out of my reverie by an ear splitting wail, it seems that advice about focusing on something else was good after all.

The Last Girl of My Youth Words by Michael Cadby

The last girl of my youth, she clung on to me, like I was the port and she was the sea. I’d push her away just for her to come back, but never before had I thought of the fact that the sea could run dry, and I’d be alone. Just a chump on the sofa, dialing the phone to a line that is a cut, a line that divides our old bed down the middle, now we sleep on two sides of the Earth and God Damn, my future seems bleak, like the next woman I meet will probably speak of my prospects of marriage and prospects of gold and what social standing I currently hold. She’ll be done with the pretence of flowery love and I’ll have to agree it’s a bunch of kids’ stuff. So we’ll shake hands to settle the deal of a child and I’ll paint the kids’ room a nice shade of blue.

But I won’t have a smile, though I might have a look of approximate sadness as I open the book to a chapter that’s missing its last page torn out, so the ending is clouded by the reader’s own doubt. And I’ll scribble in the margins and ask the Big Guy: is the girl of my youth now someone’s first wife. But there isn’t an eight ball in the heavenly skies that can give me an answer that doesn’t now lie in my lap if I look, instead I decide, to drive down a road that’s not on the map. And I hit the gas, I put on the mask and pretend that this sofa is really a car, the dial tone is only a truck in reverse and things might not turn out for the worse.

UNTITLED

Words by Dale Morey The sun felt like summer and I smiled as it fell on me your warm skin on mine and salt tang of ocean air when we drunk wine beaneath a Turkish sky I never thought that you would leave When you said that it would end I simply kissed your fears away until they were gone like the summer sun and the winter came to drink again as I remembered with a lonesome glass when we wandered foreign streets and I let your dreams become my own.

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PHOTOGRAPHER Ava Mandal

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Strong Unions, strong women

Words by Beth Cole & Photography by Hayden Strzina The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) represents and supports staff employed by Universities across Australia. We negotiate with Universities to ensure that your lecturers, tutors, librarians, groundskeepers and administrative supporters get fair pay and working conditions. Since its inception the NTEU has had a strong focus on the issues many women face and we have worked to advocate and lobby on behalf of staff on wider social justice issues. Not only are we continually working to achieve pay equity for women, we are also acting on domestic violence and fighting funding cuts to higher education that will adversely affect all, but especially women. We are actively involved in Blue Stocking Week which celebrates women in education.

Domestic violence protections in Universities Just as we have fought and won parental leave clauses in our negotiated Enterprise Agreements (the legal document that sets out the conditions and pay of employees) we are now pushing for domestic violence clauses. Having a legally binding clause, or at the very least a policy on domestic violence, means that the University is obligated to support those in situations of domestic violence if they are in need of it. It also acknowledges that domestic violence is a workplace issue and it is everyone’s responsibility to address this issue – not just those who are directly affected.

First, we wish to ensure those who are in or are attempting to leave a violent relationship have access to extra leave that is separate from carers or sick leave. The existence of a separate ‘pot’ of leave recognises that intimate partner violence has a real and detrimental effect on a person’s ability to attend work that goes beyond that experienced by the average person. For example, they may need to attend court appearances to apply for Violence Restraining Orders, take time off for medical or counselling appointments and they may need frequent sick days to recover from injuries. They may also suffer from financial problems, temporary homelessness, or have to move house very quickly. To protect children they may need to arrange a change in child care or schools. All this requires time away from work, and with so many non-work pressures it is easy to see that the 12 days of personal leave is insufficient and more needs to be provided.

from being penalised for their frequent absences or for any deterioration in their performance at work.

And that protection should be confidential and handled with sensitivity.

Employment in practical terms is a means of independently financially supporting yourself and your family and secure employment provides some stability and certainty in an otherwise volatile world.

For someone attempting to leave a violent relationship a supportive, flexible and compassionate response from your workplace could make all the difference.

Effect that the education cuts will have on women Both Labor and Liberal are supporting a $2.3 billion funding cut to Universities. The effects of these funding cuts are likely to be far reaching, and I’ll list a few here, but I’m going to talk about the increasing trend of casualisation in some more detail.

Class sizes will increase. University class sizes have almost doubled in a generation. Since 1990 the student-staff ratio, which is used to measure the average class size, has increased from less than 13 to over 22 in 2012. The funding cuts will cause further ballooning in class sizes, which will affect the quality of your education.

The Start-up Scholarships that some students receive through Centrelink will be converted into debt. Because many women have an interrupted career so as to care for children and pay equity has not yet been achieved, it will take longer for women to pay off their HECS debt.

Insecure work Universities will increase insecure work in response to the funding cuts. Women are disproportionately represented in insecure work so will be particularly affected by the funding cuts.

Insecure work includes those who are employed casually or on a fixed term contract. Casual employees are paid by the hour, have no access to paid sick leave or annual leave and they don’t know if they will be working from one semester to the next.

They are often left in unpaid limbo for weeks over the long Christmas and New Year holiday break, wondering if they will be re-engaged for all or part of the next academic year.

Those on fixed term contracts fare a little better, though they have reduced super payments and have no assurances that they will be offered a further contract when their current contract ends.

Second, we aim to safeguard those affected by intimate partner violence from any adverse action if their performance at work suffers. We need to pre23 vent those staff suffering intimate partner violence For more information visit www.nteu.org.au

Anya brock

Words by Olivia Gardner & Visual Art by Anya Brock Anya Brock is the fun young artist responsible for those striking images that you see on the adjacent page and many more that you would have noticed around Perth – from giant technicolour birds swooping across café windows to the covers of the Urban Walkabout flyers – this somewhat self-taught artist has been making a name for herself around town, and she went about it her own way.

Brock originally began her career in fashion, studying and then working in the industry for seven years running her own label. She later moved to London to work in high end fashion but realised ultimately that “it’s so exhausting and so hard to make money in it these days – it was fine when I was doing it but it’s such a tough market now for young designers – I don’t want to be super horrible but I just found it really uncomfortable to be in that industry,” she explains.

So what is it about Brock that has made her such a successful artist? “It’s funny, I have a problem with authority I think, I’ve never really been interested in other people teaching me how to do things, I never read instructions or anything like that, I just go straight into doing things,” she says.

“Even when I was in fashion – I didn’t really pay any attention in the pattern making classes – so then when I did my own label I just made up all of the pattern making techniques that were totally not industry standard,” she reveals. “I just avoided putting bits in everything but because of that everyone was like ‘wow, these are all really great new shapes!’ and I was like ‘…I know right?’ I think that’s the whole thing with my painting, I just experiment constantly and try new things. Nobody tells me how to do it so it kind of just ends up being unique in my own way.”

Brock’s success lies in her ability to experiment and work with what is true to herself. Her female portraits combine her love of fashion with a great deal of internal reflection. “It’s all magazine images and they change depending on what I’m going through in my life – sometimes I choose really strong courageous women that look like they’re really powerful and other times I choose really doe-eyed sexual faces where it’s totally all about that sensual look, other times I choose almost loved up young girl looking images – so it’s funny, it’s all an unconscious thing,” explains Brock.

But the success of her paintings has come at a price. Brock recently moved to Sydney from Perth to try something different over there. “I’m only just realising as an artist how important it is to give yourself enough space to create new ideas and that whole thing of being in Sydney has allowed me so much creative space because nobody is expecting anything of me so I find I can do whatever I want,” she explains. “I find the pressure of the money thing – because I do make good money in Perth – it’s really hard to resist that and go ‘no, I’m not doing that anymore’ and focus on something new.”

“I want to do symmetrical floral and abstract floral compositions with lots of patterns and do a lot more with the paint as opposed to what the image actually is. I think it’s just a matter of courage for me to do that because I’ve always thought that abstract can be such a small market and a very distinct market but I think that the market for that sort of stuff is a lot bigger in Sydney and Melbourne anyway,” she says.

Regardless of where the artist is or what she’s working on, Brock realises the benefits of her candid nature.

“I’m pretty transparent; I like the idea of people being able to see that I don’t know what I’m doing either.

That it was never this big plan for me to do what I’m doing, it was basically just that I’ve lived my life according to instinct and intuition and that is how I’ve kind of gotten to where I am because I just do what I feel like doing and take risks.”

Brock has taught classes at a number of institutions and mentored numerous artists alike, adding “I think I like the idea of talking more about the psychological process of creating and living, in terms of just going for it, instead of this is a how to – this is my how to but it’s not necessarily anyone else’s.”

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‘A Dark Turn of Mind’

25 ‘There’s Still A Hope In My Heart’

10 Traits of an average Woman

Words by Sarah-Jane Aston and Photography by Piotrek Ziolkowski 1 2.

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Hard-working Resilient Imaginative Determined Reliable Understanding Alert/unruffled Loyal Selfless Talented

When I thought about writing for this METIOR women’s edition. My first thought was of the many well-known, famous heroines of our world. But I felt all too often the Michelle Obamas, the Marie Curies, J.K Rowlings of our world are spoken of as inspirational. Of course they are, but I began to think.

What about the average women? What about the women all around us? They may not be first ladies, saving millions of lives, or encouraging a generation to read, nonetheless they are heroes too. I wrote the list thinking of the women in this world, who live their lives, fight for their dreams and face adversity, unnoticed, unheralded and unknown.

I realised the women I admire most in my life are the women I know. The women I know are all or some of the above. From my Grandma whose battle with cancer and determination to paint despite of it inspired my own creativity, to the resilient women who face disaster and war with strong hearts and minds.

I don’t know any of the women I mentioned before, beyond what I’ve read. However, my friends are some of the most loyal and reliable people I’ve met. They are understanding and they are always, always there for me when I need them. Some of them are at uni, and maybe some of them too will be talked of with the likes of Angelina Jolie or Michelle Obama. Maybe one day, but for now they are just my heroes.

The un-sung inspirational women of this world are just as hard working as the ones we know so well, our Mothers who worked so selflessly to raise us, our lecturers, tutors, doctors and bosses. I can think of so many women who have worked hard for what they have and at what they do. One of my close friends volunteers several hours a week at Lifeline, she works hard helping people, comes home and doesn’t ask for anything in return.

There are many inspirational women in the world. Through all of history they are there shaping, changing, making the world, but it is the quiet average women who I see as most inspiring. My friends, my family and the women who do the things they do for nothing in return.

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FEMINISM AND YOU Words by Red Moir

Does feminism have a place in modern society?

Wait! Don’t answer just yet! Have a think about it first. This isn’t some horrific questionnaire you have to fill out it’s a tough question, no matter how clear cut and black and white your current views might be. No? Yes? There’s never going to be just one answer, but that’s a good thing! I want to get you thinking, I want you on your toes!

When asked to write a piece based around this topic – I. Got. Excited – not because I love feminism and not because I hate it, but because it’s such an excellent thought provoking topic and you can get yourself involved in so many fantastic discussions and debates because of it. Over the years the casual pub debate has been lost in a sea of mobile phones and Facebook, but questions like this can bring it back at the snap of a finger.

So, here we go. I scoured the halls of Murdoch asking for people’s opinions, getting some juice so that I wasn’t writing solely based on one opinion, and I definitely got what I asked for. So many different opinions were presented, some people were plain for, some people were plain against, and some people just weren’t sure.

From a sample population of over sixty students asked, over 40% of them had a slightly skewed definition of the word feminism itself. The handy-dandy Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as the “advocacy of equality of the sexes.” Meaning, equal rights for every gender across the board, ten out of ten, five stars, one-hundred percent. Unfortunately, as with every socio-political movement, there will always be a handful of people that cross a line that wasn’t really painted very clearly to begin with, giving the entire movement a certain reputation.

From the same sample population, just fewer than 30% of the participants weren’t sure whether they would call themselves feminists, but agreed to the statements “Feminism is a predominant issue in contemporary society.” And “Feminism has a place within our community, and has not yet been achieved.” Many of these people were under the impression that because they weren’t attending rallies or outwardly and aggressively fighting for the rights of the female populace, they couldn’t coin the term.

The great thing about a social debate is that no one can tell you if you’re wrong or right or somewhere in between, and I’m not going to either. It’s all about provoking the thoughts in that head of yours and making the wheels turn, instead of simply waiting for someone else to tell you what to think like so many of us do.

We need to start thinking for ourselves again.

Approximately 25% of the students asked assumed a link between being a feminist and feminism as a predominant issue in society, as in, they weren’t feminists because they believe equal rights for all genders have already been achieved. We live in a society where fortunately this is very nearly true; however, there are women worldwide who struggle daily against gender biased discrimination – from unequal pay to sexualisation. So equality for males and females may have been achieved in certain areas, but one of the things we might need to think about could be the geographical limitation of our own community.

Something I was pulled up on multiple times was the fact that men also face discrimination both in public standing and within the media. It’s true that this is nowhere near weighted as much or as ongoing as the discrimination against the female gender, but it does exist. So if feminism is defined as the advocacy of equality of the sexes, should this include supporting the equality of men in our society as well, despite what the name suggests?

That’s the thing about feminism. There are so many different definitions floating around that no one really knows what’s what, like the in-home rules of Monopoly your parents teach you. There’s always that one friend who was taught slightly differently, and it skews the entire game. Assumptions and connotations will always be around, so maybe be need to think a little more before just deciding what we’re told is the definitive truth. So, what do you think?

Does feminism have a place in modern society?

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Fashion and feminism, figuring does it mix?

Words & Photography by Gabrielle Walker I get slightly upset when my contemporaries make passing comments about feminism and fashion not mixing – I can’t be a feminist because they aren’t ‘feminine’, ‘feminists don’t support my love of fashion’ – I confess… I like (ok love) fashion, AND I class myself as a feminist... So where does that leave me (and many others like me) in terms of navigating these two seemingly contradictory elements?

Someone who professes a passion for feminism and fashion are often labelled ‘lipstick feminists’ or ‘stiletto feminists’, and these labels are usually associated with the practice of ‘raunchy’ culture (among a plethora of other sexually empowered acts). I just don’t know if the available terms fit my identity, let alone my practice of feminism.

The fashion industry works hard to create these stereotypes of a ‘desired’ beauty. The oft-unobtainable image of a thin and non-practical stiletto tottering model – probably Photoshopped – can cause mild stress for the most rational woman.

The growing bank of images is intense and inconsistent, and female subjects are constantly sexualised.

Fashion images are both artistically symbolic and restrictive examples of a historical preoccupation with the female form. These discussions are no secret to those of us who are female identifying. We have navigated the highs and lows of our varied fashion choices. Too attractive or too proud of your appearance; you must be a bimbo or a slut. Too plain and you must be in need of a makeover, or lack self-confidence. Accidently mixed that pink ballet skirt you love with a big comfy hoodie – you must be plain clueless!

Practicing fashion is neither purely a celebration of an empowered practice, nor a monolithic medium for the sexualisation of women. My own enjoyment of fashion exists around the social moments occurring within the space. Blogs such as The Satorialist that capture fashion moments of ordinary people on the street, can publish a thrown together ‘look’ in Brick Lane, London, or a sub-cultural movement in New York and this everyday look in turn influences high fashion.

I revel in the fact that fashion combines the practical with the impractical and the artistic, that when I take a picture at a fashion show, I am capturing a cultural image we are unlikely to see again in the same manifestation. I bask in the ability to express how I am feeling through clothing; trousers one day and skirts another, make-up or barefaced, flats, heels, thongs, the list goes on.

From what I am writing here, you are probably beginning to see there may be no coherent theoretical or symbolic position in regards to combining fashion and feminism. Each opinion regarding fashion images and their impact on women brings with it a new wave of implications. A feminist sensibility, I feel, depends largely on the interest of the analyser; if a symbol is examined in isolation, like bra burning. The reliability of any analysis begins to depend on how such an analysis meets a user’s interests.

Today fashion remains a medium for feminists; we use blue stockings to celebrate the first generations of University women and we burn and ditch bras to show the desire for equality.

Like many females, I am located on both sides of the influence spectrum. A leader and a follower of a culture obsessed with fashion, where the multiple identities involved with being woman intertwine. The things that I love about ‘feminising’ is that we come in all shapes and sizes, a myriad of backgrounds, ages, levels of education, desires, and fashion choices. The beauty of females is the diversity of women, the hair, the expressions, the body shapes, the ideological choices, and of course the minds.

And my ultimate question is not if fashion and feminism go together, it is how will we as females begin to support each other, no matter what our interests. It is how will we walk alongside males and the media and state, I (the female) am neither the object of your ministrations, nor the ruler of the boudoir whose will you must submit to, but your equal accomplice in this life we explore together.

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Raspberry + Pop Show

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GOOD TO KNOW

Words by Madura McCormack This edition we’ve explored the inner psyche of the woman, female societal debates and attempted to traverse the complex movement that is feminism.

Let’s take a step back, enough with the philosophical matters, lets get down and dirty.

up’ of the lady bits down south. Note, this procedure is separate from vaginal rejuvenation or vaginaplasty, which are best left for another discussion.

There are always medical reasons behind going under the knife, but labiaplasty is increasingly being done for aesthetic reasons. Sounds like a new reality TV show idea; Primp up my Peepee. Getting the surgery done is cringe worthy enough and only made extra frightening by the $4500-$6000 price tag. But with Medicare, that burden can be reduced slightly (yes, it’s partially claimable).

The biology of a female is as intricate and complex as the mind itself, so it’s important that we arm ourselves with pearls of knowledge about the clam.

Being self-conscious about certain aspects of the body comes with the territory of being human, and in women this extends to everything that a spotlight can reach. That’s probably why breast augmentation and rhinoplasty exist. But if worrying about the way you look, dress and act wasn’t enough, the wonderful world of cosmetic surgery has brought upon us something else to think about; Labiaplasty.

Before you grab a mirror, it’s important to note that with all other parts of the human body, nothing is symmetrical and appearance varies widely from one individual to the next. Awareness plays a huge role in topics such as these and that’s the very purpose of the Labia Library (www.labialibrary.org.au), set up

by Women’s Health Victoria to “show the natural diversity of women’s genitals.” It has all the information we need about the female flaps, packaged in a neat pink website. So there, your neurons just gave birth to a supple pink pearl of general knowledge to store in the deep flaps of the brain.

Yes, it’s a thing. Not only is it a thing, it’s a popular thing, with 1588 women undergoing the surgery between July 2012 and June 2013 in Australia alone.

It’s also the 3rd most popular cosmetic surgery in the UK. Without plunging ourselves into a biology lesson, labiaplasty in the simplest of terms is the ‘neatening

Dressing by Your Rules Words by Zoe Miller

My cousin’s wedding is in a month, and I need a dress to wear. I have two options: a dainty, knee length swing dress, or a fitted, short red peplum dress. If I were to ask my Aunt she would tell me to wear my swing dress, not because it’s cuter but because my peplum dress is not flattering.

It might not be obvious that we’re being told what to wear and how to wear it. After all, this idea of wearing flattering clothing is to help us right? Help us look good, but to whom? Who is the audience that we are dressing for? It seems flattering clothing is another ploy to control our choice of expression, and if you’re someone who is fat like me, it’s also a means of making us blend into the crowd.

The idea of flattering clothing has infiltrated the fashion scene with big, bright stickers crying adjectives like: controls, slims, and flattens. Glossy tags reading: Hide your tummy! Minimise your waist!

Add a cup size!

This notion has crossed over into plus sized fashion with deep, scooped necklines designed to distract attention from bulbous breasts, baggy shapeless tunics that hang like curtains to block bulging bellies, 3/4 sleeves to conceal bat-wing arms, skirt fabric that falls down to your toes, loud wallpaper prints and a haze of vertical stripes. Therefore, dressing flattering means to either camouflage in with your grandma’s sofa or become a walking optical illusion.

The idea of flattering clothing is inherently restrictive, and makes inclusivity of all body sizes a total non-issue. It is means of policing others bodies, establishing and reinforcing predominate standards of beauty. The idea of flattering is detrimental to the self-love of women everywhere. So! When it comes to summertime, get out those short-shorts, put on a bikini, pop on a crop-top, and rock those mid-drifts!

It is scary – it does take guts to do what you want, to live by your own rules rather than someone else’s – but liberation has always required courage.

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RISE OF THE SHE-JAY

Words by Harold Callaghan & Photography by Aaron Webber It’s fair to say that a woman in the DJ booth is no longer the exception to the rule of a traditionally maledominated industry, but unfortunately for those of the fairer sex, it’s a career-path often rife with sexism and battling against gender stereotypes. Even worse, women are often their own worst enemy when it comes to playing up to these stereotypes in order to take up the profession, gain notoriety and travel the globe on the back of being a ‘fully sick DJ’.

Traditionally speaking, sex has never really been a selling point for male DJs; they let their skills behind the decks do the talking. Sure there are your Pauly D’s and the like who use their fame as a selling point to bypass their awful ability, but by-and-large people don’t go and see DJ Awesome Man play a set because he’s good looking.

Conversely, DJ Playboy Bunny’s ability to fill up a venue full of the general club-going public is generally not based her ability to ‘read the room’, select the most on-point tracks or mix smoothly between different music. It’s because she’s wearing a bikini, something sexy, or has a photo portfolio filled with racey photos that extend far longer than her playlist.

That’s not to say there aren’t she-jays out there who can hold their own with the big names – far from it.

And they do so without their sole hook based on being attractive. For many, it’s toeing the line. People in Australia like Alison Wonderland and Nina Las Vegas have found a happy medium – sure they’re attractive, but that also comes pre-loaded with a mountain of smarts, savvy and skill, honed via years of practice, learning from – and working with – the best in the business.

Unfortunately, even they’re faced with mindless sexism on a daily basis – you can bet your sweet bassshaking booty that whenever Alison posts a press pic or gig photo on her social media you’ll find a comment along the lines of “Oh Alison, the things I would do to you given half a chance.” (And that’s putting it way nicer than most of the drivel on there.)

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Alison Wonderland

So where does this leave the femme-DJ? I’ve no doubt the tides of change are constantly in motion. There’ll always be mindless fucktards who’ve nothing better to contribute than a sexist comment, but the cream will always rise to (and above) the top. And eventually the phrase ‘female DJ’ will become redundant, because a lot of them are doing it a shitload better than the fellas out there – and that’s something to celebrate.

SCREEN REVIEW Blue Jasmine Words by Matthew Gardner If the prospect of incredible acting is something you look for in a film, then Blue Jasmine is one of this year’s must-see movies.

Blue Jasmine is not only Woody Allen’s best recent film, but also features one of the year’s finest performances; Cate Blanchett as Jasmine is a narcissistic socialite, who heads to San Francisco to reconnect with her sister Ginger. Trying to piece her life back together following a financial crisis caused by her previous husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin), Jasmine undergoes many rude awakenings as she battles being on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

For one character, this does sound like a lot of problems to undergo, but Woody Allen’s clever and intelligent script handles this barrage of character issues very well. Blue Jasmine also handles a cast full of acting talent (although quite small in size compared to some of Allen’s other films) including Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard (if you are willing to forgive him for taking part in 2011’s Green Lantern), and Louis C.K. The cinematography and score for the film is just as impressive, capturing the essence of San Francisco, giving the viewer a direct portal into the characters lives. Blue Jasmine is just as hilarious as it is heart-breaking, with many a moment to leave you in stitches, but really, this is Cate Blanchett’s film, and even if you are not a fan of her work, this is a performance that deserves all the praise it receives.

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