‘Get out of the way, you fat fuck’. These are the words a young bloke yelled at me from his moving car as I walked across a carpark in suburban Canberra. He swerved his car toward me, I assume to...
Category: Body
“You can’t judge someone’s health by their appearance”
Fresh from casually dancing and singing with the Bee Gees offstage at the Whitehouse during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s State visit to the US (true story!), Australian of the Year Taryn...
Terrible sleep and bad sex? It’s the menopause.
More than 2.5 million Australians are approaching perimenopause or in menopause. But so many women in their 40s and 50s suffer symptoms FOR YEARS without realising these are related. Beloved author...
Changing how we think and talk about our bodies
Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfiit is bringing her message of body positivity to Canberra when she delivers the National Press Club Address on Tuesday 31 October. Admittedly, the speech is five...
How the gendered body is constructed in physical education
The following article is a condensed version of a book chapter of mine that was published in June 2023. This is part of a book entitled Gender, feminist and queer studies: Power, privilege and...
Aimee’s story: A feminist perspective on sex work
Feminism, advocacy, and facing stigma Yes, there are plenty of people who think sex work is anti-feminist and that it degrades women. But 28 year old Aimee (that’s the name she uses online),...
Women, inequity and getting the right diagnosis
“Gender bias in health care, whether conscious or not, is rampant and insidious. It is often harmful, sometime fatal, and always unacceptable,” says patient safety advocate and researcher Jen...
The Roe v Wade fallout. What can Australia do?
A few days ago, the President and CEO of global reproductive justice organisation, Ipas, Dr Anu Kumar was in conversation with Honorary Associate Professor Sally Moyle from the ANU Gender Institute....
Asthma in pregnancy: Breathing well for baby
More than 300 million people worldwide are living with asthma, and post-puberty, more women have asthma than men. In Australia, around 12% of women have the condition, and for Indigenous Australian...