Romantic comedy is not a genre beloved by women. Go ahead, survey a bunch of women. If my guess is...
Today, I am 30. I’m not generally hugely reflective, but reaching such an, ahem, advanced age has made me look back over the last few years....
It’s coming up - that time of year when our evening hours have the potential to be a little bit sparklier (and full of screen-friendly snack...
An arts or humanities degree has been the butt of so many jokes in wider media and...
I was 16 when Lady Gaga unearthed me. I was out (to myself and my friends) as...
The one thought running through my mind every second of every day at the moment is, “I’m cold. I’m cold. I’m cold.” That’s it, on repeat, all day...
In certain circles, Laura Bates is considered a legend. She founded The Everyday Sexism Project in 2012– a website touted by some...
As sometimes happens, even if only by coincidence, two vastly similar films were released within months of each other last year. Beautiful Boy and...
When I watched the piece that won Ngā Hine Pūkōrero the Word - The Front Line competition (see attached video) I felt simultaneously hollowed out...
What do you do when your friend’s substance use (of alcohol or other drugs) starts affecting their relationships, work, finances, or ability to...
In 2016, Taylor Swift suffered from a particularly niggly run of bad press. She had a messy split from...
Recently, I had the privilege of hearing Dame Margaret Sparrow, pioneer in sexual health services, speak at the New Zealand Medical Student’s...
I used to be one of them.
Even though I would never say a word against a teen mother to...
It just makes me nervous, you know? What with Hannah Tamaki taking up the reins of the Destiny Church Party (sorry, Coalition New Zealand) and...
A 2019 kiwi remake of the 2004 American classic Wife Swap has arrived on our screens, you may have seen the giant digital billboards strewn across...
New Zealand is not the easiest place to be sober. But we are increasingly questioning our attitudes towards alcohol. The 2019 Global Drug Survey...
Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, violence
Whenever I feel overwhelmed – by a feeling, a situation, an issue...
Recently, on a Waiheke ferry trip, my partner who I will call M (Filipino) and myself (Pākehā) grabbed a couple of coffees. As we waited for our...
Techweek New Zealand is an annual event to celebrate the advancements within our...
Dear parents everywhere: no matter what you think, your child has probably secretly taken drugs. Maybe it’s not all the time, maybe it was just...
I want to write a letter to the women on the edges. The mothers who allowed me to drink in their garages, their daughters who held back my hair as...
I’m going to start with the obvious: the best approach to drug law reform will be one that most effectively minimises harm.
The approach...
People from just about everywhere have come to call New Zealand home. Adjusting to their new...
I read the comments.
Oh, God. I read the comments.
It doesn’t require any further context, does it? It doesn’t matter the subject...
This year’s Auckland Writer’s Festival brought some of the brightest and best creatives of both local and international literary scenes to our...
We all remember it, the all-encompassing dread and deep-seated boredom of a school assembly with a guest speaker. Pretending to pay attention to...
It was a rant that did it. I am grateful, now fuck off , wrote Emily Writes in 2015, catapulting herself into...
As the time for university and scholarship applications draws near, my peers are voicing...
Yes, that’s right. Please stop. You’re making women feel uncomfortable about a body part that is no different from any other. Women with boobs...
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. The customer is always right.
What a...
Like just about everyone else on planet Earth, I went along to see Avengers: Endgame recently...
Our planet is in trouble. We’ve known about the climate crisis for some time, and now more than ever is the time for collective action. But there’...
If you think you don’t know Nat Puff, aka Left at London, you’re probably mistaken.
She’s the internet...
The days following the Notre Dame cathedral fire were fraught with grief and shock as the world...
Flying across the world and finding yourself (or just drinking a lot of alcohol and eating your weight in croque monsieurs) is seen by many as a...
Did you know that doctors in the United States are executing babies after birth? That’s right. Look up ‘born alive’ on Twitter and you’ll discover...
The Madonna-whore dichotomy is the epitome of compartmentalisation. It describes the perception of...
The Mirena intrauterine system is one of the best forms of contraception in the world. Unfortunately, due to our country’s current funding...
“All I’m hoping for is that it starts big conversations,” Joni Nelson tells me about her first play, 8 Reasonable Demands . The young playwright...
“It’s her choice!” has been the online battle-cry of feminists for as long as I’ve been socially aware enough to know what a feminist is (which,...
Conferences. I don’t know if I’ve ever attended one that I loved. If there’s a choice between sharing an air-conditioned room with 200 strangers...
Tall poppy syndrome has been a part of New Zealand culture for nearly as long as we’ve been a country...
After some recent hoopla around the validity of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (...
Over the years, I’ve attended numerous classes where university lecturers have passionately promoted the supposed value of mindfulness. Breathing...
No matter how comfortable we are with it, it’s undeniable that true crime is one of the most popular and lucrative sectors of pop culture ....
Joan Didion, speaking on her husband’s shock death in 2003, said she was afraid for the next year to begin. Once the next year began, her husband’...
Growing up, the people in my communities never talked about motherhood as though it were a choice. It was always a matter of figuring out the when...
If you’re reasonably in touch with the world, you may have noticed the rising sensation of KPOP, the rampant...
On There Will Be No Intermission, Amanda Palmer’s first solo album in seven years, the artist sings...
It’s bizarre that until recently skincare was an area of my life in which I’ve never taken an evidence-based approach. Over the years, I’ve bought...
In late 2017, while looking for an angsty romance to read for a hike around Stewart Island, I stumbled upon...
As the conversation around sexual assault gains worldwide traction, I’ve discovered a disturbing...
“I’m gonna get it, you’re going to get it, we’re all gonna get it.”
That was...
Being pretty is a privilege. Being pretty opens doors that are closed for so many others. Being pretty brings power and prosperity.
How?...
I’m writing this from my flat in Christchurch. Only two streets over...
There was a moment in Dirty John ’s final episode that really made the show for me. It had so far been a...
This is not us.
The words ring. As though saying them over and over again etches them into the whenua. Oh we want so badly for...
Let me just start off by saying that I have a lot of admiration for people who choose to maintain a vegan or vegetarian diet. Depending on where...
We are not the Us we...
On Saturday afternoon we commemorated the Christchurch terror attack with a vigil in Auckland. A sea of Aucklanders poured into the city. We...
According to my mum, I’m a spitfire.
She didn’t use that exact word – being a native Mandarin speaker – but I remember, somewhere in my...
