Down Under Feminist Carnival....

Ok, I have finally had 5 minutes here to get online to put the festival up... more articles will be added tomorrow when I have more time, huge thanks to Deborah for the help she gave me.... never again will I try to do this and shift too......


It's not sex, it's rape

Fuck Politeness tries to work out what the Sydney Morning Herald is on about when it says, "there was no suggestions the woman [Clare] had been sexually assaulted."

The Queen of Thorns at Ideologically Impure finds that there are instances where the media can use the word rape: hint - broad daylight, random attacker, lots of witnesses.

The ex-expat at The Hand Mirror debunks some common rape myths.


The outing of rugby league as a refuge for rapists.

The Radical Radish reflects on the program, and goes through the issues, and mscate at The Dawn Chorus summarises the issues in her reaction to the Four Corners program. These two posts are as good a place as any to start with if you're trying to work out what this whole story is about.

Audrey and the Bad Apples talks about the standard of mutual respect and enjoyment, and how it surely wasn't present on that night.

Helen at Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony fills out the bingo card.

Blue Milk describes Matthew Johns' "apology" as a textbook study in male attitudes to sexual violence and exploitation.

Fuck Politeness is ill from all the victim blaming.

The Radical Radish wonders why all the focus is on Matthew Johns - does this mean other men are off the hook?.

Lauredhel catches SMH reporter Asher Moses calling a woman who was raped "slutty."

Deborah has a take down of an academic who blames women for getting raped, just in big words.

Pavlov's Cat wonders how on earth getting together to degrade women can be team bonding.

Spilt Milk recalls the day when she found out what sixteen and seventeen year old boys really thought about women and sex and rape.

And Tigtog wonders why a man who uses clever words and compliant behaviour to get out of a bad situation is a hero, but a woman who does that when surrounded by lots of big strong rugby players absolutely, must be asking for it.


Rape

I Am Not Cake has a message: Stop policing women’s sexual choices. No. No exceptions, no ifs, buts or maybes. Just stop it.


Sex

Audrey and the Bad Apples considers the commodification of sex and the autonomy of a woman who auctioned her virginity on the internet.


Fuck Politeness writes about International Whore's Day, in response to Hexy's post at Hoyden About Town, telling the story about how International Whores Day first started.


Gender

Mikhela at Fly My Pretty thinks about her reactions to cross dressing her toddler twins.

caitlinate at The Dawn Chorus wonders why The Age insists on referring to a trans male as "she." Beppie is pleased that at least the judge got it right.

HellonHairyLegs considers why, as a radical feminist, she should think about and use the term, "trans."

Chally at Zero at the Bone reflects on the discussion of trans issues by cis people.

Wildly Parenthetical dicusses the policing of intersex bodies.

Guest posting at The Hand Mirror, Louise has a trans-101 post.


Privilege

She Who Stumbles uncovers the privilege in an environmental campaign.

Jo Tamar has written a series of posts for Reconciliation Week. They are all worth reading, slowly, several times.


Women's work

Blue Milk suddenly remembers the awful truth about "men's work" and "women's work."

Anne Else at Elsewoman reports on the National government in New Zealand axing the Pay and Employment Equity Unit, and pulls apart the government's logic in her column on Scoop.

Hexy argues the case for sex workers representing themselves, not being represented by others, and when she excluded from the discussion elsewhere, makes another response at her own place.

Spilt Milk thinks that she's kind of looking forward to not doing nurturer anymore.


Being feminist

Chally reflects on how she started to identify as feminist.

Deborah answers Blue Milk's 10 feminist motherhood questions.

anjum wonders about the correlation between having daughters and voting left.


Celebrating Women

Andragy points to a review of This Child will be Great, a book about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the newly elected president of Liberia.

HellonHairyLegs posts a poem by Sylvia Plath.

hannahcolman at The Dawn Chorus talks to Melbourne-based writer and editor Rachel Power.

Tigtog writes about Kirsty Moore, the first woman pilot to join the Red Arrows acrobatic team

Third Cat remembers her mother.



Columnists and writers and other media

Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony responds to Clive James' claim that western feminists don't really want freedom, because they don't support the US bombing various dictatorships back to the stone age.

Fuck Politeness pays tribute to her laptop which tried to save her from reading a Miranda Devine column, in which the Devine one asserts that it's all the FEMINISTS' FAULT!.

Jo Tamar has a fantastic series of posts on the duty of fiction writers to tell the truth: one, two, three, and four.

Chally has a post on Feminist science fiction, and an update on race fail.

Lauredhel comes across a poster that some people found disturbing and offensive; it shows a little girl breastfeeding her doll. And in another "it's a woman, it must be sex" moment, she is astounded that science reporters turn a paleolithic figurine into pornography.


Activism

Feminists is Australia, and elsewhere: it's time to pick up your pens and write. The Federal Government is reviewing regulations for access parking (that's parking for people with disabilities), and the proposed new regulations would create huge problems for many PWD. Lauredhel has the details here, a form letter you can print off and sign, and an open letter to disability organisations that you can sign-up to. She's also got a post about what really pisses her off about abuse of access parking, and it's not what you might think.


Celebrating

Things to celebrate: Blue Milk's beautiful baby boy; Inner City Garden has a day off with a good book; Penguin Unearthed looks forward to the end of Mothers' Day; stargazer anjum spends a day with her daughters; here at SAHM Feminist, there's a reminder about International Midwives Day; the ex-expat graduates from her cake decorating class.