Sexism

Lack of ongoing movement allows sexist backlash against Brittany Higgins

Selective leaking of text messages and other evidence has been used to try to discredit Brittany Higgins, as part of a backlash against demands for action on sexism.

Official transphobia legitimises the far right

The appearance of a handful of Nazis at the “Let Women Speak” rally in Melbourne last weekend has caused a furore.

Gillard’s misogyny speech tainted by her hypocrisy on sexism

Sunday 9 October is the tenth anniversary of Julia Gillard’s Misogyny Speech, when she destroyed Liberal leader Tony Abbott in parliament.

The 1970s and the fight for abortion rights in Australia

Abortion became a political battleground in the 1970s, as social attitudes, court decisions and the Women’s Liberation Movement forced dramatic changes writes Judy McVey

Worldwide outrage as abortion rights overturned in US

The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade has drawn worldwide outrage.

Wave of anger as US Supreme Court to overturn right to abortion

The United States Supreme Court is set to wind back the clock after a leaked document revealed it plans to overturn the historic Roe v Wade ruling.

Can we ever get rid of sexism?

Sexism is a product of structures and institutions that benefit the rich and powerful, writes Jordi Pardoel, and to get rid of sexism we have to get rid of capitalism

Katherine Deves’ outright bigotry derails Morrison’s transphobic campaign

Scott Morrison has refused to dump Katherine Deves as his candidate for Warringah despite appalling transphobic comments.

Time for a reckoning with the system that breeds sexism

Jess Hill’s Quarterly Essay The Reckoning is an assessment of the #MeToo movement in Australia.

Morrison’s push for bigotry bill backfires

Scott Morrison has been humiliated after five Liberals crossed the floor in parliament to vote against him over amendments to the Religious Discrimination Bill.

Parliament sexism report reveals a foul system: fight for change

A federal government review into workplace culture in federal parliament has found that an astonishing one in three staffers there have experienced sexual harassment.

US marches against Texas abortion ban

Hundreds of reproductive rights rallies took place across the US, one month after Texas’s near-total ban on abortions went into effect.

High school students march against sexism in Adelaide

The Youth March Against Sexual Violence on Kaurna land (Adelaide) on 24 June saw a spirited crowd of up to 1000 take to city streets.

Will communicative consent laws keep women safe?

The NSW government has announced plans to reform sexual consent laws that it says will deliver better justice to survivors of sexual assault.

Carceral feminism—will new laws and longer sentences protect women?

New laws around coercive control have been proposed as a way to tackle violence against women. But the police can never be relied on to protect women, argues Thandi Bethune

Youth survivors on the march against Morrison’s ongoing failure on sexism

A crowd of 200 people, most of them high school students and young women, gathered at Sydney Town Hall yesterday to protest Scott Morrison’s ongoing failure to act on sexism.

Organising at work key to stopping wave of harassment against women

To fight sexual harassment at work, we need to fight for secure and well paid jobs that give women the confidence to stand up to abuse.

Sexist Liberals run a sexist system

The recent rape scandals highlight the need to smash a system that reduces women to sex objects and unpaid carers, writes Ruby Wawn

Teaching consent won’t counter the sexism all around us

Consent lessons cannot solve rape. The degradation, humiliation and objectification of women in our society have deep roots.

Sexism, rape, private schools and the Liberals: a sexist elite overseeing a sexist system

The rape allegations, harassment and cover-ups of assault within the Liberal Party, coupled with a viral petition about sexual assault by Sydney private school boys, have exposed the cesspools of sexism and misogyny within the Australian ruling class.

‘Porter must go’: Students rage against sexism and rape

A rally led by survivors and young women, many of them high school students, took to the streets in Sydney on Friday to call for an end to sexual violence and for Christian Porter’s sacking.

Hundreds protest against anti-trans website

Staff, students and members of the NTEU union are organising against a transphobic website published at the University of Melbourne.

South Australia set to finally decriminalise abortion but women still not in control

A Bill to remove abortion from the criminal law passed in South Australia’s lower house in the early hours of 19 February by 29 votes to 15.

Parliament House rape highlights sexism at the heart of the system

The rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins by a colleague at Parliament House has exposed the depth of sexism and contempt for women at the heart of the Morrison government.

A window into the upsurge for Women’s Liberation

Brazen Hussies shines a light on the Women’s Liberation Movement in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s.

Pressure on women and families during lockdowns due to sexist system

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the reliance of capitalism on the nuclear family and women’s unpaid domestic labour.

Socialism and transgender liberation

Pan Karanikolas reviews a new book on transgender oppression that argues winning the working class to the fight against oppression is the key to dismantling it

Abortion: The fight that’s still to be won

A Solidarity pamphlet by Judy McVey

Abortion finally decriminalised in NSW despite right-wing mobilisation

Women’s rights advocates are celebrating after abortion was finally removed from the 119-year-old Crimes Act in NSW. After months of debate, the Abortion Law Reform Bill (previously the Reproductive Health Care...

What causes domestic violence?

Lucy Honan looks at a new book by award-winning journalist Jess Hill on the causes of domestic violence—and what can be done about it

Berejiklian pandering to anti-choice bigots on abortion bill

In an effort to appease the bigots in her party, Premier Gladys Berejiklian delayed the vote on the abortion bill and is considering amendments.

More women deserve places in STEM—no to sexism at UTS

Removing barriers for women in gaining entry to STEM courses is a welcome step in addressing entrenched sexism.

NSW set to decriminalise abortion

A bill to decriminalise abortion in NSW passed the lower house of state parliament on 8 August, overturning an archaic law written 119 years ago.

New campaign fights to decriminalise abortion in NSW

A new lobbying group, the Pro-Choice Alliance, formed by 60 medical and health organisations around NSW, has shone a light on the state’s archaic and sexist abortion laws.

Women in parliament won’t lead a fight against sexism

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young's suggestion that it was time for a women’s caucus in Parliament to combat sexual harassment and bullying completely missed the mark.

Germaine Greer—ignoring the causes of rape

Germaine Greer’s On Rape ends up trivialising rape and offering only meagre legal solutions that do nothing to tackle the system of sexist oppression, writes Lucy Honan

Abortion decriminalised in Queensland after 50-year struggle

Queensland has finally decriminalised abortion, after state parliament approved new laws on 17 October. It has taken 50 years of struggle and campaigning.

Rape, violence and the fight against the system

Blaming men for sexism and rape obscures the way women’s subordination is structured into capitalism, writes Lucy Honan, and our common interest in fighting it.

Eurydice Dixon and the sexism of the system

In the immediate aftermath of Eurydice’s murder, the Victorian police reproduced the standard victim blaming script. But focusing on changing men's behaviour in response risks taking attention away from the real causes of structural sexism and violence.

Historic vote sees overwhelming victory for abortion rights in Ireland

Ireland has once again made history, voting resoundingly to repeal its 35-year-long constitutional ban on abortion.

Zelda D’Aprano—a fighter for women workers and equal pay

Zelda D’Aprano, who died last month at the age of 90, became a symbol of the struggle for Equal Pay in Australia in October 1969 when she chained herself to the doors of the Commonwealth Building in Melbourne.

#MeToo exposes systemic problem of sexual assault

#MeToo shows how pervasive sexual harassment and abuse are in the lives of all women. The Weinstein case is just the tip of the iceberg in an industry where wealthy sexual predators operate with impunity.

Campus record of sexual assault product of a sexist society

Australia’s universities are fostering an environment where sexual assault and harassment are commonplace, a new Human Rights Commission report shows.

Ford exposes a sexist society, but how do we fight it?

Feminist and media personality Clementine Ford’s first book Fight Like a Girl has gained enormous attention since its publication in October.

Trump’s foul sexism mirrors the sexism of the system

The outrage against Donald Trump’s revolting sexism has dealt a possibly fatal blow to his presidential campaign.

Lessons from women’s liberation in the US

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, originally released in 2014, has played to dozens of sold out screenings in Australia, and is now streaming on Netflix.

Suffragettes: The vote, the war and working class women

Geraldine Fela discusses the new film Suffragette, and how the fight for the vote polarised between wealthy and working class women

Domestic violence a product of poverty and class oppression

Malcolm Turnbull and new Minister for Women Michaelia Cash have made a great show of confronting domestic violence. But politicians, celebrities, media outlets and sporting codes have already thrown their weight behind the massive White Ribbon awareness campaign, with no reduction in violence.

Eleanor Marx: A fighter for workers and women

Lucy Honan reviews two new works on the lesser known Marx and her important contributions to Marxist ideas about women’s liberation and class struggle

Position paper on Sexism and Women’s Oppression

Preamble Sexism is as alive as ever. The movements in the 1960s and 70s won gains and transformed women’s lives, but women continue to suffer from unequal pay, gendered...

SOS for women’s shelters in NSW

The NSW government is facing a community backlash over new reforms that are forcing women-only shelters and refuges to close or be taken over.

Intersectionality, sexism and the left

Jasmine Ali examines the renewed interest in the idea of intersectionality associated with the revival of feminism

Sexism and the myth of male benefits

The resurgence of feminist organising has led to renewed debate about who benefits from sexism, and who has an interest in fighting it, writes Amy Thomas

Was misogyny to blame for Gillard’s demise?

The Misogyny Factor by Anne Summers, New South Publishing, $19.99 Feminist Anne Summers has argued that unprecedented misogyny was key to Julia Gillard’s demise as Prime Minister. Many are convinced that...

Protests in India take on sexism and rape

The horrific gang rape of a woman by six men on a public bus in Delhi, India, sparked angry protests across the country in December. In New Delhi, thousands defied...

On that speech: Julia Gillard, sexism and women in power

It was a speech that stunned the nation and went viral on social media. But what does Gillard’s anti-sexism represent, asks Judy McVey Julia Gillard's speech on October 8 left...

Sexual liberation and the politics of pornography

Money Shot: A Journey into Porn and Censorship By Jeff Sparrow $29.95, Scribe The left is tangled up in knots over the politics of pornography. Left-wing academics like Clive Hamilton are trying...

Gillard’s anti-sexism hypocrisy

Was it the “real Julia” on display or was it a politician desperately trying to cover up an inglorious political history and her own hypocrisy? But, then, that is...

The murder of Jill Meagher and the fight against sexism

There was an outpouring of community concern at the rape and murder of ABC journalist, Jill Meagher. The circumstances of her death—while walking home after a night out—were shocking....

Sexism, psychology and pseudo-science

Review: Delusions of Gender By Cordelia Fine, Allen and Unwin, $29.99 In Delusions of Gender, neuro-scientist Cordelia Fine takes an axe to the drivel of biological determinism that self-help books...

Time to fight the rise of sexism

The thousands taking to the streets for “slutwalk” rallies show the anger at the widespread and growing sexism in society—exemplified in the efforts to blame women for rape. Solidarity...

‘SlutWalk’: Women refuse to take the blame for rape

Protests, billed as “SlutWalks”, are spreading after a cop’s sexist comment to Toronto students. Our society promotes and constantly reinforces the idea that women are to blame if they...

Army’s rotten sexism: a product of training killers

New scandals have again exposed the extreme sexism in the Australian military. Jasmine Ali looks at whether promoting more women into combat roles will make any difference Defence minister Stephen...

One million protest sexism in Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” Italy

In early February, over one million people rallied across Italy asking “se non ora quando?” (if not now, when?), demanding an end to the rampant sexism characterising Italian politics...

Alexandra Kollontai: revolution and women’s liberation

Solidarity continues a series on the lives and struggle of revolutionary women The 1917 Russian Revolution saw women win greater political, civil and legal equality with men than in any other...

Exposing raunch culture and the new sexism

Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism By Natasha Walter Virago, $35 Living Dolls is a compelling must-read for all those interested in understanding sexism today. Through interviews and research, author Natasha Walter...

Equal love, equal rights: rediscovering the red in the rainbow

Amy Thomas reviews Hannah Dee’s The Red in the Rainbow, an essential look at why fighting homophobia means fighting the system Since the federal election Julia Gillard has continued to...

Fighting sexism back on the agenda, but how do we do it?

Touted as the first feminist conference in Sydney in 15 years, “F: the conference” was a reminder of how far governments have wound back women’s rights over the same...

Abortion laws on trial in Queensland

The horrible ordeal faced by the Cairns couple, Tegan Leach and her partner Sergie Brennan, charged “for procuring an abortion” is set to continue after they were committed to...

Sex, sexism and sport: the Caster Semenya case

Caster Semenya, world champion South African runner, is both “a woman… and a man!” So said the New York Daily News, days after the results of “gender tests” had...

Campaigners oppose Queensland charges and call for repeal of anti-abortion laws

Pro-abortion activists are rallying in Queensland to defend a Cairns couple, Tegan Leach and Sergie Brennan, who have been charged under Queensland’s Criminal Code with attempting to procure an...

NRL scandal: why will no one call it rape?

On May 11, the ABC’s Four Corners ran a program exposing numerous cases of sexual abuse by National Rugby League (NRL) football players. The ensuing media frenzy unleashed a...

Shopping, sex and the city

Review of Sex and the City, directed by Michael Patrick King Coming to DVD SEX AND the City (SATC), the film based on the television series of the same name, has...

Fear and fantasy in the ‘war on terror’

The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America Susan Faludi Scribe Publications, $35 COULD SEPTEMBER 11 really be blamed on the women's movement? Why did the US respond to the...

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