Culture
Adult education
Benjamin Law: How I'm slowly learning to face my fear of death
Benjamin Law 1:41 PM I never thought of myself as a fearful kid, but I now realise my phobias were varied, myriad and batshit insane.
Geek life
An ode to dorkiness
Patrick Lenton "I was definitely a dork at school – I wasn't smart enough to be a nerd, I wasn't hated enough to be a geek," Patrick Lenton writes.
Clem Bastow
The community radio stations that are giving women and LGBT people a voice
Clem Bastow "The Federal Budget's proposed cuts of $1.4m to community radio is a potential cultural catastrophe," writes Clem Bastow.
Rape culture
This woman perfectly corrected that horrible letter from Brock Turner's dad
Rob Moran "I was always excited to buy him a big rib eye steak to grill, but it just wasn’t the same after [he raped an innocent young woman]."
Sex ed
What an STI scare reminded me about 'safe sex'
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen "The right to have upfront conversations about sexual health should be considered as essential as consent," Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen writes.
What will it take for Hollywood to drop famous, dangerous men?
Alyssa Rosenberg The industry has flailed and failed in response to serious allegations against famous men. This is why Depp could be different.
Hobby anxiety
Why women are left hankering for a hobby
Annie Stevens Do you worry that you don't have any interesting adult hobbies away from work?
Why House of Cards needs Claire Underwood
The creator of House of Cards has unravelled the mysteries of the show, including Frank's sexuality and the missed opportunity of Claire.
Clem Bastow
The problem with '#AdultingIsHard' and the internet's self-deprecating trend
Clem Bastow "I dream of a world in which the 'most shareable' content isn't the self-deprecating 'lol my whole life is a mess' stuff, but images of greatness or tales of talent," writes Clem Bastow.
#TryBeatingMeLightly
Women in Pakistan hit back at legislators over bill that would allow husbands to 'lightly beat' their wives
Jenny Noyes Pakistani women are daring men to #TryBeatingMeLightly in response to the proposed bill.
Everyday sheroes
You need to read this story about three women who stepped in to prevent a date rape
Jenny Noyes "Don't roofie someone on our watch."
Literary prize
Four women shortlisted for Australia's premier literary prize
Jason Steger Four women are on the shortlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award - and four of the listed writers are new to this stage of the award.
Racist advertising
'Jaw-droppingly racist' Chinese detergent ad provokes global condemnation
Adam Boult The ad has sparked a conversation about racially-charged Chinese beauty standards and the nation's phobia of darker skin.
Great housekeeping
The UK's 'Good Housekeeping' magazine did a study on vibrators and tabloids couldn't handle it
Jenny Noyes Yes, middle aged women still like to get their rocks off. Don't be so alarmed, everyone.
Loser generation
My theory for why we're losing things more often
Jenna Price The more we submit to the demands of connectivity, the less we can pay attention to everything else - including our belongings, writes Jenna Price.
Going viral
This teen's tweet about secretly taking his boyfriend to prom is going viral
Rob Moran "My parents told me I couldn't go to prom because I wanted to go with my boyfriend so I had to go behind their backs."
Patrick Lenton
Why I’m uncomfortable with male friendship
Patrick Lenton Patrick Lenton explains why he has always felt a kind of quivering caution around men.
Facebook fat-shaming
Facebook rejected a feminist group's body positive event ad on 'health and fitness' grounds
Jenny Noyes The image they used of plus-size model Tess Holliday was deemed "undesirable" and would apparently make viewers "feel bad about themselves."
Trans issues
White House deflects backlash over inclusive bathroom guidelines for transgender students
Gregory Korte The guidance requires schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom or locker room of their chosen gender.
Empowered emojis
Google proposes new emojis showing women doing more than painting their nails
Karen Workman When it comes to emojis, women can be brides or princesses, paint their fingernails, get a haircut and go dancing in a red dress. Google has heard your complaints about the tired stereotype and has announced a plan to fix it.
College culture
College culture is misogynistic even if it offers some women sexual freedom
Xiaoran Shi Focusing too much on individual experiences numbs us to structural faults larger than ourselves, Xiaoran Shi writes.
Uni students infiltrate massage parlour
Aparna Balakumar Students from Wesley College have apologised after a massage parlour was infiltrated during an initiation activity.
Femmo art
A beginner's guide to the new wave of feminist activist art
Neha Kale Because, as Neha Kale writes, there are few conversations as snooze-inducing as the one that insists great artists are always white, male geniuses.
Airbnb bias
The problem with using the sharing economy as a brown Muslim woman
Zeynab Gamieldien How many Airbnb rejections do I need to go through before I can stop calling it a 'coincidence'?, asks Zeynab Gamieldien.
Storrar can now buy a whiz-bang toaster
Aisha Dow A crowd funding campaign to raise money for Q&A;'s latest social media hero has raised more than $9000.
Stonewall
Obama to name Stonewall as the first LGBTI rights national monument
Juliet Eilperin "We must ensure that we never forget the legacy of Stonewall," NYC politician Jerrold Nadler said.
Comment
Why I refuse to feel sorry for torrenting Game of Thrones
Mark Serrels What Australians are expected to go through to pay for and watch this show is actually insane. It borders on anti-consumer.
Book-loving stars on Instagram: They're the new Oprah
Jocelyn McClurg The hottest Hollywood accessory of the moment is just the right size to fit snugly in a Hermes Birkin bag or a Celine Luggage tote: a book.
Good hair? Don't care
The mission to destroy 'Becky with the good hair' misses Beyonce's radical point
Neha Kale Are Beyonce's furious fans ready to accept her reimagining of female power?
Language
Why Merriam-Webster added 'cisgender', 'genderqueer' and 'Mx.' to the dictionary
Niraj Chokshi The addition of words such as genderqueer lends legitimacy to terms long in use by the LGBT community.
Love prevails
Widowed former senator will remarry at 90, this time to a man
Helena Andrews-Dyer "Too often, our society seeks to label people by pinning them on the wall - straight, gay or in between."
The war on sex: PM axes school sex-ed program
Jill Stark Online resource will replace program using youth educators to deliver sex education in schools and universities.
Why Purple Rain, the movie, matters
Steven Rea Prince made one great rock movie, the semi-autobiographical star-is-born psychodrama 'Purple Rain, released in 1984 in tandem with the album.
Michaelia Cash's message to men
Anna Patty It's time for a "two-way exchange" when it comes to gender and careers, says the Employment Minister.
Trans rights
Target welcomes customers in fitting rooms, bathrooms that correspond with 'gender identity'
Yanan Wang Last August, Target transformed its toy section so that toys were no longer grouped together by gender.
RIP Prince
Prince and Bowie showed there's no one right way to be a man
Alyssa Rosenberg At a time when politics is consumed by gender panic, we've lost two men who had an expansive, almost luxuriant vision of what it meant to be a man.
Splendour 2016
Splendour doesn't want your sexist camper vans
Rob Moran The festival tells prospective campers to "steer clear" of camper vans with sexist slogans.
New US $20 bill will feature civil rights activist Harriet Tubman
Megan Cassella Civil rights activist and one-time slave Harriet Tubman will replace slave-holding former President Andrew Jackson on the $US 20 bill, becoming the first African-American woman to be featured on the face of US paper currency in more than a century.
Pillow talk
This 'smart mattress' will let you know if your partner is cheating on you
Rob Moran Snitches sleep in ditches. Unless the snitch is already a mattress.
A fierce response to misogyny wins the Stella
Jason Steger Charlotte Wood's has followed up her success in the awards from independent booksellers by winning this year's Stella Prize for her novel The Natural Way of Things.
Race-based jokes
The difference between a good race joke and bad one
Kamna Muddagouni Race-based humour should make social observations not exploit stereotypes for cheap laughs, Kamna Muddagouni writes.
Clem Bastow
Letting people use their phones at the movies is a terrible idea
Clem Bastow Laugh, scream, weep openly in the cinema - just please don't stare down at your phones, writes Clem Bastow.
No Men Allowed
The top secret women-only groups on the internet
Caitlin Dewey How do you stop online harassment? Try banning the men.
The myth of the multitasking mother, or why men should do the laundry
Jessica Irvine Stereotypes of the male domestic bumbler and the female domestic goddess are just that.
It's time to go cashless
Dominic Knight Coins and notes were useful instruments in their day, but that day is over.
Social overload
Why I decided to remove my birthday from Facebook
Jenna Price Millennials are right about so much, and their approach to engagement on social media is no exception.
Secret societies
All-male Harvard club says admitting women could increase sexual assault
Justin Wm. Moyer "Forcing single gender organisations to accept members of the opposite sex could potentially increase, not decrease the potential for sexual misconduct."
Street harassment
Where is the line between normal behaviour and harassment?
Dr Bianca Fileborn "Street harassment is not a compliment. It is a form of violence and abuse with serious consequences. It has to stop."
Accidental detox
I lost my phone for a month – this is what I learnt
Cameron Nicholls Here are a few of the interesting things Cameron Nicholls got out of the whole ordeal.
Bare-knee outrage
Schoolgirls told their skirts are 'distracting' the male teachers
Forty year 11 students at Auckland's Henderson High say they were called into a meeting to be told their uniform skirts were deemed too short.
Feminist Digilantes
The problem with DIY internet justice
Emma Jane Australian women are at the frontline of the 'feminist digilante' movement and their efforts are getting results. But we need to look at the bigger picture.
Kesha
Will Kesha's case prove a tipping point for women in an industry that celebrates misogyny?
Lorraine Ali Kesha may have lost her case in New York court, but she has triggered something remarkable.
Wake up
Time to wake up! Spain's prime minister wants to end the siesta
Niraj Chokshi Under new legislation we can't imagine anyone wanting, Spain would switch the country back to Greenwich Mean Time and do away with their traditional sleepytime breaks.
Street harassment of LGBTI people rife, study finds
Alana Schetzer Many LGBTI people experience harassment, from people staring or giving disapproving looks, to more aggressive acts.
Fan fiction
In defence of fan fiction
Noah Berlatsky "Fan fiction is a way for people to talk back to narratives that exclude them, or to elaborate new possibilities in stories they already consider theirs."
Today's TV comedies are no laughing matter
Debi Enker Is awkward the new funny? So it seems thanks to a batch of contemporary comedies less concerned with laughter than looking at life and pondering about how strange the world can be.
Sex abuse scandal
Where were the 'Spotlight' journalists in my hometown?
Mary Kane Days after the Oscar victory for 'Spotlight', Mary Kane would see the story, and the scandal, from a very different perspective.
Kasey Edwards
Why we should teach young girls to code
Kasey Edwards "We need to get beyond the stereotype that the only people who are good at computer coding are guys with questionable hygiene," writes Kasey Edwards.
Changing it up
What does it really mean to 'reinvent' yourself?
Olivia Clement The kinds of people who up-end their careers, relationships or lifestyles to pursue a passion are fearless in Olivia Clement's eyes.
Cultural appropriation
Why white people need to stop saying 'namaste'
Kamna Muddagouni And have a good hard think about their yoga practise.
