Eleanor Robertson
Eleanor Robertson is a fortnightly columnist for Guardian Australia. She also contributes to Daily Life, Frankie Magazine and SBS comedy.
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Feminists, get ready: pregnancy and abortion are about to be disruptedArtificial wombs, able to gestate a foetus outside the body, will completely upend feminism’s accepted arguments on bodily autonomy – for good or ill
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Why can't men stand public mothering? Let Kelly O'Dwyer breastfeed her bubIt’s not selfish to expect to breastfeed your child in public (or in parliament). Why do so many men think they can avoid having to deal with kids, though?
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Do we need Lena Dunham's newsletter when feminism itself has been Dunhamised?Lena Dunham’s Lenny newsletter is billed as ‘Goop meets Grantland’. Great – it’ll fit right in with the rest of the sassy, individualistic feminist speciality media
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Mouldy rentals are no place to raise kids. Why isn't housing a scandal?I’ve seen plenty of families inspecting grimy, tiny slum flats in recent months, while searching for a place to live myself. It’s heartbreaking
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The Herschel backpack: how Generation Y carries capitalism's mythologiesThe ubiquitous blue and brown backpacks are a genius of marketing that perfectly express the myth of the rugged individual
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The 'tampon tax' debate is a furphy. There are better ways to help womenIt’s the debate that pops up like clockwork yet remains shrouded in misunderstanding. There are greater injustices to worry about than the ‘tampon tax’
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Has Bonds killed the Aussie girl next door by endorsing Iggy Azalea?The pouting, playful girl next door has been Bonds’ archetype for years. Now they’ve switched to one of Australia’s most obnoxious exports – but why?
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Branagh's Cinderella spits in the face of every Disney princess 'remixer' on TumblrGender, race and subculture reinterpretations of Disney princesses are a staple of fan culture, not that you’d know from the live-action Cinderella film
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Give me cheap beer, or give me sobriety. Just stop this craft beer 'revolution'Beers should be the backdrop to a good pub session, not an expensive, mouth puckering and un-Australian distraction
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Nice sledge, Kim Sears. But for a lesson in swearing, look to the mastersKim Sears has joined the elite of public swearing, but we can all do better. Cover your children’s ears – this is what expletive excellence looks like
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Our obsession with humanising chimpanzees could be what dooms themChimps will never be citizens of a human community, and that’s not a problem. We just need to think harder about how we justify their protection
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On guns, David Leyonhjelm is neither a champion nor a villain. He's a libertarianHow can David Leyonhjelm support marriage equality on one hand and want us all to be armed on the other? His libertarian world view is alien to most Australians
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That 'detox' products are snake oil is irrelevant. They make us feel virtuousThe detox diet provides a compelling narrative of individual virtue. Can scientific fact ever compete with the irresistible temptation of a green smoothie as a cure all?
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The problem with emojisThe Unicode Consortium, the equivalent of the Académie Française for emojis, is part of a shameful plot to destroy the institution of marriage
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In defence of teens: they're not just small adults with zits and bad tasteAdults only like themes of adolescence that matter to us. Do the teens care? Who knows – adults are boring
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The Serial podcast shows us the sausage factory of journalism: it’s a different approach to objectivityEleanor Robertson: Since journalist Sarah Koenig is essentially re-opening a closed murder case, we are going on this journey with her – and it’s revolutionary
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Hard work, ownership and conservative deserts: Crossfit and the Protestant work ethic are oddly similarEleanor Robertson: What ambient conditions produced the widespread uptake of Crossfit, a sport that would’ve been considered indicative of possible pathology just a few years ago?
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Generation Y didn’t go crazy in a vacuum. How can we enjoy life when our future is so uncertain?Eleanor Robertson: Born into a bizarro world controlled by baby boomers who have comprehensively shafted us, it’s a credit to our resilience and adaptability that we’ve managed to get this far at all
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Amal Alamuddin took George Clooney's name? Oh please – put your torches and pitchforks awayEleanor Robertson: This fight has been on permanent loop for decades – and the feminists who fruitlessly perpetuate The Issue That Must Not Be Named are often unacceptably ignorant
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Sex-selective abortion debate is a smokescreen for an attack on women's reproductive rightsEleanor Robertson: Where are feminists on the issue of sex-selection abortion? Probably helping women with problems that are actually happening, the radical harpies
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Want to improve your personal brand®? Hire a guru for a perfect Twitter bioEleanor Robertson: Writing a social media bio is a kind of work, and it requires a skillset that many of us don’t have
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Invisible Girlfriend: a dubious service for dubious customersEleanor Robertson: Harebrained schemes like this one are supposed to die the morning after you get drunk enough to think they’re a good idea
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Let's teach men how to tackle sexism. Starting with Kyle SandilandsEleanor Robertson: The reasonable expectation that your opinions will be dismissed is experienced by many women as a real hindrance to participation in public life – just ask Erin Molan
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Richard Dawkins, what on earth happened to you?Eleanor Robertson: Dawkins in 2014 is a man so convinced that he possesses God-like powers of omniscience that he can’t understand why everyone is angry at him for pointing out the obvious
Language policing and Twitter wars: why modern feminism is failing us (again)