'I've been trying to decide which of my encounters with doctors, the ones from the early days of my illness, was the most mortifying, the most frustrating, the most burdened with assumptions about young women and their bodies and brains...' In the lead essay for the Winter issue of Meanjin, titled The Woman is Hysterical, author Fiona Wright argues that it's high time we trusted women to know their own bodies and minds and that 'when women speak, is it important to actually listen'. Katharine Murphy reflects on how the country's next government might begin to heal our sadly sickened politics. Lauren Rosewarne looks at the brave new world of human sexuality ushered in by sexbots. Alexis Wright muses on her life's 'journey in writing place'. Kevin Brophy mixes poetry with life on a remote Aboriginal community. Nauru doctor Nick Martin paints a vivid picture of his time in Afghanistan. Plus non-fiction and memoir from Melanie Cheng, Ben Pobjie, Cordelia Rice, Tanya Vavilova and more. There's new fiction from Jo Cumberland, Raaza Jamshed Butt, M.L. Siemienowicz and Azhar Abidi. A fresh crop of Australian poetry too, of course, including new work from: Corey Wakeling, Jonathan Dunk, Belinda Rule and more. And beginning in this edition a new review section, featuring critical writing from Alison Croggon, Jeff Sparrow, Karen Wyld and Ruby Hamad.