Signout
Life Top Stories
#BullyingNoWay

To my schoolyard bullies: Here's what I need to say to you 20 years later

"To all of you who bullied me in those early years, I need to say this: I carry no residual blame or ill-feelings towards you. Conversely, what you gave me was...
Surf's up

Aussie surf club wants to give kids on Manus Island free pro-surfing lessons

Manus Island might be associated with its offshore detention centre, but Aussie surfer Gerry Bobsien would like to paint a more positive picture of the island.
Young talents

Meet Matthew Smith - soon to be the world's youngest orchestra conductor

Only 11 years-old and already possessing the ability to play four instruments, the young English student is shaping up as a future star.
Fertility matters

Failed fertility treatments may increase your risk of heart disease, according to a new study

A study found women who don’t get pregnant after fertility treatments may be at risk, but researchers say that shouldn’t deter you from seeking them.
Student rights

Comment: How sexual assault on campus disproportionately affects international students

International students are highly vulnerable to sexual assault, according to a recent survivor advocacy organisation report. Jane Gilmore explains why overseas...
Establishing friendships

High school students ensure nobody sits alone at lunch

"There are so many problems in this world and the only thing that can solve it is relationships."
Menstrual musings

New study says the 'sync up' of menstrual cycles is likely a myth

Do our menstrual cycles sync? Unlikely. Here's why.

Celebrating womanhood

In recognition of International Women's Day this month, SBS celebrates inspirational women and commemorates the global movement for women's rights during March. #BeBoldForChange

Ending exploitation

Meet the woman who’s helping to empower survivors of modern slavery

“Human trafficking is a man-made issue. It’s not a disease that you get that we don’t have a cure for. It can be stopped.” Stephanie Lorenzo.
Female empowerment

Do women really hit their sexual peak in their 30s?

With age comes wisdom and perhaps, even sexual confidence.
Women to be thankful for

A letter to all the women who refused to give up

To all the women who keep charging forward, who never give up despite all that is thrown at them. You are the women who have shaped me.
a letter to myself

Dear younger me: Here's what I need you to know about being female

Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen wasn’t always a vegan or a feminist or proud of her Vietnamese heritage. In this letter to her younger self, she braces her teenage self...
The aftermath of trauma

Comment: Forgiveness is not justice. And trauma survivors don't need to forgive to heal

When it comes to rape and racism, the problem with forgiveness, writes Ruby Hamad, is that it allows society to forget.
Female career freedom

Can entrepreneurship put an end to the wage gap?

Freelancing should guarantee career freedom. But, says Neha Kale, entrepreneurship won’t let women control their own destiny unless we address the inequities that...
IWD all year round

Comment: It's no longer International Women's Day. So what happens to us females around the world now?

Women across the globe have had their one day a year, International Women's Day, dedicated to discussing issues like gender parity and human rights for females...

Opinion

Meet our columnists. They've got strong views on all things. Their words may (or may not) change the world.

Think globally

Comment: The South Sudan famine is a coalmine canary. We mustn’t ignore the warning

South Sudan is currently facing a frightening humanitarian crisis in the same vein as the Ethiopian famine of the early 1980s. But unlike the famous 1984 famine, this...
workplace meditation

Mindfulness at work: A recipe for magic or for losing your mind?

Mindfulness has gone mainstream and now often filters into everyday office life, but is there any substance behind the self-hacks?
reform & rehabilitation

Australia’s war on drugs is failing. We must change course

Medical experts are calling the recent spate of drug overdoses a "public health emergency", and demonising drug users will only fuel the problem, writes Jill Stark.
Healthy weight

Comment: You don’t have to be skinny, but you ‘should’ be healthy

"Sure, we have personal autonomy over our bodies and can decide what we put in them, but let’s be reminded that people once 'decided' to smoke. People once ...
beyond the veil

Comment: Does beautifying a veiled face really celebrate Arab women?

The cover of the first edition of Vogue Arabia features supermodel Gigi Hadid in a bejewelled veil but, says Amal Awad, the move is continuing the long-held...
What drives you?

Patrick Abboud is driven to tell stories that inspire change. 

 

SBS has teamed up with Holden to support the drivers of change. Tell us how you would drive change in your community for a chance to win a $50,000 grant. 

ENTER NOW

Health check

Breaking down the latest medical news, global health issues, research and analyses.

More
dance therapy

Belly dancing to recover from cancer treatment

A breast-cancer survivor has an unlikely therapy for people looking to return to life before chemo.
living longer

Becoming a parent may add a year or two to your life

While having kids isn't always the most convenient of life choices, it may come with some unexpected advantages.
Understanding illicit drugs

While we panic about ice, we should worry about carfentanil

While the media seem embroiled in a moral panic about methamphetamine or “ice”, those of us who actually work with overdose patients are nervously watching out...
Religious healings

Islamic prayer rituals can help back pain: study

The repetitive movements can be an effective clinical treatment, a new study has found.
patriarchal science

Why ‘just relax’ has always been bad advice for women looking to get pregnant

While stress has a role to play in conception, the history of this statement is fraught with paternalism.
Paging, an online doctor

Dr Google probably isn’t the worst place to get your health advice

Who is your preferred source for health advice? Gwyneth Paltrow? Pete Evans? Dr Google is new and improved and beats these guys hands down.
Pregnancy education

Contrary to what you learned in sex ed, you can get pregnant while pregnant

It’s called “superfetation.”
More

Face Up To Racism

Join us and 'face up to racism' with a season of stories challenging preconceptions around race and prejudice. #FU2Racism

More
Culture
Demand equality

Comment: Why identity politics is the most urgent issue of our time

Identity politics is coming under fire from conservatives who say it is promotes false grievances, and progressives who call it a distraction from class issues. Omar Sakr explains why he thinks those ...
Culture
#FU2Racism

5 Aussie organisations that say no to racism

Want to help create a more culturally inclusive Australia but not sure where to start? There are plenty of organisations that are standing up to racism in 2017 that you can get involved with.
Culture
Cultural identities

Comment: I’m Greek-Cypriot. Does that make me a Person of Colour?

The term ‘Person Of Colour’ is used to designate those who aren’t ‘white’ and have been disadvantaged by their ethnic background. So where does Greek-Cypriot writer and artist Koraly Dimitri...
Relationships
Love, faith and culture

Comment: I didn’t expect to marry an Anglo Australian (and neither did my parents)

Amal Awad never imagined she would bring home a non-Muslim-but-soon-to-convert-Anglo guy to her parents. She further never envisaged the eventual acceptance of this union. But like gluten-free diets, ...
Culture
Teenage tales

Comment: What it was like to go to an Islamic school at the turn of the 21st century

Teenage 'coming of age' stories, set in the playgrounds of Anglo schoolyards, have more in common with a fictitious Neighbours script than the real-life of Aicha Marhfour. Now a 26-year-old woman, she...
Culture
Changing minds

What does a reformed racist look like?

“I was a member of the Klan for about 19 years... I lost years of love, of affection, of friendship," tells a former grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee, USA.
Culture
Speed dating with a difference

Want to better understand Islam? Follow Shepparton's lead and 'Speed date a Muslim'

'Speed Date A Muslim' is not a romantic or social event. It's a meetup with a difference, designed to provide a safe space for non-Muslims to meet Muslims, ask questions and smash racial boundaries.
More

Relationships

Let's talk about sex, love, dating, marriage, coupledom.

More
hug it out

It’s not sex that makes you healthier and happier - it’s what you do before and after

Sex itself isn’t what boosts our spirits - it’s about the snuggles we share before, during, and after that keeps us buzzing.
tough love

Dating is hard enough - try doing it with a disability

Johnny and Charlotte really hit it off on their date when all of a sudden, the love bubble burst. Was it Johnny's disability?
Tinder fail

RIP romance: How the curse of choice has ruined online dating

"This Valentine’s Day, I choose me. As trite as that may sound, it is the most important choice of all. Choosing single life is not a failure it is a celebration...
MR ALL RIGHT

Stop searching for your 'happily ever after' – fairy tales have no place in modern relationships

If you're searching for your one true love – or worse still, think it will find you – think again.
Female empowerment

Do women really hit their sexual peak in their 30s?

With age comes wisdom and perhaps, even sexual confidence.
More

Wellbeing

Optimism and eats to nourish the mind, body and soul. No empty calories here.

ADVERTORIAL

Mike Tomalaris trys his hand at kayaking on Tasmania's Derwent River.

Mike Tomalaris took on Tasmania's picturesque Derwent River and managed to tick off a few health and fitness goals in the process.
Adult rites of passage

Why I’m taking adult swimming lessons

Not being able to swim well as an adult feels shameful. But what happens when you admit it and take lessons to learn how?
A gluten love affair

Why I quit gluten and then quit gluten-free diets

I quit gluten to feel better after eating bread and survived. But was that whole dieting episode really necessary?
Phone hygiene tips

Why you should stop using your phone on the loo

When it’s time to go, it’s time to let the phone go (if you want to stay healthy and infection-free)
moving mindfully

5 ways to meditate for people who hate sitting still

Get squeamish at the thought of being still and breathing deeply for hours? Give one of these alternative 'moving meditations' a try.

Stairway to Spirituality

We celebrate and explore a multiplicity of spiritual beliefs from around the world. 

More
Culture
Maybe baby

Atheists could die out because religious people have more babies

Faith in contraception could spell the end of atheism, according to a new study.
Relationships
Love, faith and culture

Comment: I didn’t expect to marry an Anglo Australian (and neither did my parents)

Amal Awad never imagined she would bring home a non-Muslim-but-soon-to-convert-Anglo guy to her parents. She further never envisaged the eventual acceptance of this union. But like gluten-free diets, ...
Culture
When faith meets food

Food of the faithful: Keeping Kosher

What is Kosher and how does one actually keep it?
Culture
Marriage and religion

Our faithful love: Life as a Pentecostal couple in the modern world

What's it like to have a relationship, guided by values of faith, chastity and patience? Hillsong couple, Tristan and Renee Scifo, tell SBS how they have overcome modern-day dating challenges by first...
Culture
Circle of life

Reincarnation explained: YOLO means so much more to a Hindu

You Only Live Once is a pretty powerful phrase. But not if you're Hindu.
More

#WalkWithUs

Stories bringing Indigenous into Australia’s identity. Celebrating inspiring groups and individuals. #WalkWithUs

More
Innovation

Indigenous producers lead the way in new 360/VR technology

Maoriland festival goers gets an insight into how 360 technology is being adapted and used in Australia for social and political development for Indigenous Australians.
A shared identity

Here's how every Australian can weave Indigenous culture into their identity

It really isn't hard to incorporate Indigenous culture into our national identity, in an appropriate way. Myles Russell-Cook suggests a few simple ways that every Australian can weave Indigenous ways ...
16 Mar 2017 - 5:45pm

Indigenous Conversations: How to make a healing garden #WalkWithUs

Indigenous Conversations: How to make a healing garden? - Indigenous plant consultant and founder of Garawana Creative, Charles Solomon tells SBS how we can bring some Aboriginal knowledge into our...

Yoga fusions

Weaving Indigenous sounds and stories into yoga

A Sydney-based yoga organisation is fusing Indian and Indigenous yoga traditions, incorporating the spirit of Aboriginal Australia into the ancient practice.
14 Mar 2017 - 5:29pm

Woman's Way; a collection of stories, poems and short essays by First Nations' women

Our country's leading writers and authors explore womanhood from an Indigenous perspective. Bold, honest and powerful - this here, is Woman's Way.
More

Family

Parenting for modern families: new rules for a new age.

More
YOUNG PUNTING BOOM

Kids as young as eight are at risk of developing gambling problems

Almost half of Australian children have gambled according to new research. So what can parents do to prevent this?
A mother's love

What it’s like to have a child with heart disease

The love between mother and child is unbreakable and instinctive. Soon after Jacintha gave birth to a beautiful girl in 2014, she knew something was seriously...
sibling superiority

Eldest child might be more intelligent than siblings, new study shows

The firstborn child in a family may have superior thinking skills compared to their younger siblings, new international research has found.
ANONYMOUS NO MORE

Victorian sperm and egg donors will now have their identities revealed to children

The world-first changes to legislation will allow people born before 1998 to find out their donor's name and date of birth.
community vs. institution

It took a whole Greek village to raise Billy, my brother with a disability

As a Greek baby, Peter Papathanasiou was adopted by his biological aunt and uncle in Australia while his brother, who had an intellectual disability, was raised...
More

#HaveYourSay

Experts and passionate individuals weigh in on Life topics. Share your story at pitchtolife@sbs.com.au.

Islamophobia

What Lebanese-Australian Muslims want Peter Dutton to know

Because of the alleged actions of 22 Lebanese-Australian youths, the Minister of Immigration has said it was "a mistake" to have allowed Lebanese refugees into the...
word up

Comment: I say the wrong things all the time

Should we always say what we think and just deal with the consequences? Writer and performer Koraly Dimitriadis shares how learning to speak her mind was the best...
migrant tales

I'm a Russian immigrant with an Arabic husband: Donald Trump, your hate has no place here

Comment: Islamic terrorism and diplomatic relations with Russia have become divisive points in all three US presidential debates. But is the racially and...
Stories of belonging

"My experience is a constant longing for connection"

I am forever a tourist in my homeland and a foreigner in my birthplace.
Victory

Life lessons from winning a quiz show

Sunil Badami reveals how winning a popular game show helped him in the untrivial pursuit of leading a happy life.

More dispatches from Life

2097results
#BullyingNoWay

To my schoolyard bullies: Here's what I need to say to you 20 years later

"To all of you who bullied me in those early years, I need to say this: I carry no residual blame or ill-feelings towards you. Conversely, what you gave me was the gift of adversity."
As a young girl, there was no way I could have known you had it in you to become my schoolyard bullies. There was no way that, given we were all so close through almost all of our primary school years that just near the end of that chapter...
Surf's up

Aussie surf club wants to give kids on Manus Island free pro-surfing lessons

Manus Island might be associated with its offshore detention centre, but Aussie surfer Gerry Bobsien would like to paint a more positive picture of the island.
After being hosted by Manus Island’s Chopon Surf Club last October, Gerry Bobsein a surfer and writer based in Newcastle, has launched a campaign to have young Chopon groms to come to Australia for an in-depth surfing workshop.   She belie...
Young talents

Meet Matthew Smith - soon to be the world's youngest orchestra conductor

Only 11 years-old and already possessing the ability to play four instruments, the young English student is shaping up as a future star.
While open to a future career as an engineer, the student from Nottingham is set to become the youngest person to conduct a 75-piece orchestra when he leads the city's Symphony Orchestra as part of their 'Animal Magic' show at the Royal Co...
Unmake a bully

This program helps students 'unmake a bully' by creating their own anti-bullying movies

"We can inspire others to change for the better; we can help those who need it; we can make a difference by sharing our own stories and working with others to find solutions.”
On Australia's National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence, it's important to think about not only how we can eradicate bullying, but also how we can better support those who have experienced bullying first-hand in the past and pr...
Student rights

Comment: How sexual assault on campus disproportionately affects international students

International students are highly vulnerable to sexual assault, according to a recent survivor advocacy organisation report. Jane Gilmore explains why overseas students need more support and in some cases, justice.
In 2016, there were over 300,000 international students in Australian universities. Education is Australia’s third largest export after coal and iron ore, and brings in nearly $20 billion per year. Despite being so vital to our economy, in...
Fertility matters

Failed fertility treatments may increase your risk of heart disease, according to a new study

A study found women who don’t get pregnant after fertility treatments may be at risk, but researchers say that shouldn’t deter you from seeking them.
Having to endure fertility treatments without becoming pregnant afterward can be emotionally devastating for a woman. Now, according to a new study, failed fertility therapy has also been linked to a higher risk of developing cardiovascula...
Establishing friendships

High school students ensure nobody sits alone at lunch

"There are so many problems in this world and the only thing that can solve it is relationships."
Secondary school students in Florida, USA have created a new club called 'We Dine Together', where members take on the personal responsibility to walk around the school cafeteria at lunchtime and ensure that no one looks lonely. Started at...
Good Boy

A hospital in Canada is using a dog to sniff out deadly infections

Discontent with the current state of doggy workplace integration, one particular pup has gone beyond the cop shops, airports and farms and landed himself and his powerful schnoz a position in a Canadian hospital.
What have we done to deserve dogs? In addition to being our best four-legged friends, dogs can be trained to do all sorts of things to help us—like sniff out danger. Dogs have much better senses of smell than we do. Although estimates vary...
Ending exploitation

Meet the woman who’s helping to empower survivors of modern slavery

“Human trafficking is a man-made issue. It’s not a disease that you get that we don’t have a cure for. It can be stopped.” Stephanie Lorenzo.
It was in March 2009, on International Women’s Day, that Stephanie Lorenzo first visited a safe house for survivors of human trafficking in Cambodia. “I was in a room with 40-50 women who had been through some horrendous experiences, women...
Global fashions

Tunisians celebrate their heritage with stunning traditional costumes

Every year in March, Tunisians commemorate their history by wearing traditional dress to ensure that their past is not forgotten.
As fashion lovers can attest, the clothes we wear represent so much more than the mere thread they are made with. Your attire can make a strong social statement, portray your individual character and, in countries like Tunisia, link you to...