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Culture

Is The Bachelor actually a feminist show?

  • Mar 29, 2021

Think

7 simple tips for being an ally in 2021

  • May 12, 2021

Girl Power

Hiatus

  • May 31, 2021

No Filter

It’s okay to cut out toxic family members

  • Mar 16, 2021

Think.

Science and the media in a post-Covid era

Woman writing on whiteboard / Pexels

Curating my newsfeed has become a lot like putting together a balanced meal.

I follow countless news...

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Girl Power

I challenge men in the wake of International Women's Day...

Woman holding pen / Ron Lach / Pexels

It seems wrong for International Women’s Day to last for just 24 hours. One day. We’re already nearly two...

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Culture

Chelsea Jade, The Beths and more on NZ's new all-women festival...

Image shows Paige by Frances Carter

Aotearoa is bursting with talented women but, as was recently exposed by journalist Ali Mau , it...

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Think

A list of apologies owed

The way the tabloid media treated women in the 2000s is absolutely shocking. While the footage and stories from that era are less than a decade...

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No Filter

What can be done about anti-vaxxers?

Innoculation / Katja Fuhlert / Pixabay

With Auckland now in Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country escalating to Level 2, emotions are...

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Girl Power

My feminism is girly, okay?

Image supplied by the author

It’s an argument I hear with astounding frequency: how can a woman-identifying person truly be a feminist if all of...

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Culture

Why you need to read The Book of Angst

At this point, I feel as though I’ve seen the words “go to therapy” a thousand times. Whether it’s Jameela Jamil telling an anonymous Twitter user...

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Think

Gen Z wears memes like armour

Memes are a strange little thing.

I could pick up a book from the 1800s and read my way through it, no problem — maybe with a little help...

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No Filter

We don’t have to be “nice” to millionaires

Kim Kardashian West via Instagram

Everything I know about Chrissy Teigen, I learned against my will.

Seriously, I’ve never looked her up,...

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Culture

Is Promising Young Woman all that promising?

Trigger Warning: Discussion of sexual assault.

The following article contains major spoilers for Promising Young Woman.

It’s not...

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Girl Power

Stop gatekeeping girls from their fandoms

Woman in steampunk cosplay / Victoria Borodinova / Pixabay

At this point, I have lost count of all the fandoms I’m in.

Last year’s...

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Think

Decolonising science: herbs, hauora and hypotheses

Herbs on white background / Dung Thuy Vu Nguyen / Pixabay

Ever since I can remember, my mother has been a huge fan of hot drinks.

Not...

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No Filter

12 No filter goals for 2021

January 1 st is not the day for making resolutions.

I mean, technically it is, it’s actually the official day for it – but I don’t think...

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Culture

Five life-upending quotes about capitalism to take into 2021

We all need money, want money – many of us spend a large portion of our waking hours working for money. 2020 thrust our economic systems under the...

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Think

The new nature of world issues

Working on laptop / Tatiana Syrikova / Pexels

2021’s days-without-disaster counter hit five, and then dropped back to zero on January 6th....

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No Filter

It’s time to disassociate food and guilt

I feel like we’re more aware now of body shaming, eating disorders and the pressure to be perfect than we ever have been. And some things have...

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Girl Power

An ode to the wonderful women of Christmas

Mariah Carey / Wikimedia Commons

According to legend – both secular and religious – the ‘reason for the [Christmas] season’ comes from men. On the...

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Culture

Let yourself feel the magic of Christmas

I know, I know. Christmas is a capitalist scam that creates tonnes and tonnes of landfill every year. Everything about it highlights the gaping...

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Think

Five (good) lessons from (horrible) 2020

1. A quiet life is a good life. I may be casually disregarding the immense stress I was under at the time, but a part of me looks back at the...

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No Filter

2020 is the year to redefine the Kiwi Kirihimete

There is nothing inherently wrong with the giving of gifts as part of celebrating the Christmas season. For some it’s tradition, for others it’s...

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Girl Power

I will not be ashamed of loving Love Actually

"Don't sigh, don't cry!" Emma Thompson on THAT Love Actually scene / YouTube

It’s not particularly feminist, it’s not even particularly romantic,...

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Think

The Kiwi who wrote the book on calm

Journey To Wellness / Image via Instagram

Journey To Wellness may be one of the cutest Instagram accounts in the world. Filled entirely with...

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Culture

Time to reflect: A Year in Aotearoa

Exhibition / Markus Spiske / Pexels

A bit cliche, but only because it never retires, is that saying ‘a picture says a thousand words’.

It...

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Culture

Why do we love Diana so much?

Behind The Scenes: Creating The Crown Season 4 | Netflix / YouTube

Since finishing Netflix’s latest season of The Crown, I’ve slept, cooked meals...

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Girl Power

On ‘Wild Honey’ by Paula Green and the Women Poets of Aotearoa

I don’t know how I missed the publication of Paula Green’s book Wild Honey . Particularly given that the magnificent cover of this charming and...

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No Filter

Why don't we like it when women sing about sex?...

We all know I’m talking about WAP.

In a year full of juicy news, Cardi B’s raunchy single managed to hold its own against other storylines...

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Girl Power

The best books written by women I’ve read this year

At the start of 2020, I set myself one resolution: to read one book a week for the entire year. 52 books. The idea was that if I read more books,...

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Think

The world is better when women are allowed to be horny

Ariana Grande / Positions / YouTube

Ariana Grande’s new full-length LP, Positions , is something of a mixed bag. The songs are good, some are even...

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Culture

Book Review: ‘The Topeka School’ by Ben Lerner

In Ben Lerner’s coming-of-age novel The Topeka School, alternating narrators weave a complex tapestry of teenager Adam Gordan’s journey as he...

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No Filter

White women: how did we get even worse?

One of the most significant disappointments of the 2016 US Presidential Election, aside from the fact that Donald Trump won, was just how many...

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Girl Power

Are we finally over the Kardashians?

Kim Kardashian West / Image via Twitter

There was no blueprint for Kim Kardashian’s genre of fame – aside from the obvious. A slew of socialites,...

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Think

Data feminism: confronting systemic biases

The pursuit of science is one of the most noble there is.

That is coming from a woman studying Physics, from someone who loves being...

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No Filter

Now it’s time to do the work

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris / Image via Twitter

I’ll never forget the day Barack Obama won the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. I was in high...

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Culture

Is it possible to disengage from the news?

It feels like bad stuff is happening all the time at the moment. Part of that is because it is, I mean, 2020, right? The global pandemic, hellish...

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Girl Power

Give your favourite movies the Bechdel test

Cinema sign / Clem Onojeghuo / Pexels

What makes a feminist film?

Representation in film and the media has been increasingly topical, with...

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Think

Whakataukī: a door into aroha and the cognitive universe of te reo

For some, it may be a little too early for talk of Kirihemete. But every year, there is a book that I love so much that I want to buy a hundred...

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Culture

The pop girls are saving 2020

Miley Ray Cyrus / via Twitter

Okay, nothing is going to save this year – too much tragedy has struck for 2020 to ever be redeemed. Be it wildfires...

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Culture

I don’t know how to explain Lovecraft Country

Screenshot: Lovecraft Country / Season 1 Episode 4 Promo / YouTube

When I first started Lovecraft Country , the latest must-see TV show plastered...

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No Filter

The husband stitch: worse than a myth

Woman in bed / Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels

When it comes to researching the husband stitch — a.k.a. daddy stitch, daddy tuck, husband knot and all...

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Girl Power

Legalising cannabis would keep girls safe

I was thirteen the first time I smoked weed.

There’s a funny little anecdote I like to tell about this experience. My boyfriend at the...

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Girl Power

In celebration of Nobel Laureates Charpentier and Doudna, and of their discovery of genetic scissors

This year, for the first time in history, a science Nobel Prize was won by two women. Scientists Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier and Jennifer A....

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Think

Does Chlöe represent a new political era?

Swarbrick campaigns in Auckland Central / Facebook

A week ago today, the nation watched as a giant red wave swept the country. It was stunning and...

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No Filter

The abuse facing girls who game

Games arcade / Carl Raw / Unsplash

In many parts of society, feminism has made impressive changes for the better.

Other parts of society...

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Think

Schadenfreude: not just harmful to the tall poppy

Following the news about President Trump contracting CoVID-19, an outbreak of a different kind took hold of our digital sphere. Schadenfreude -...

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Culture

Better Things is the best show you’ve never seen

Screenshot: Better Things Season 3 Trailer / YouTube

Honestly, I get kind of sick of watching TV shows that don’t look or sound anything like real...

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No Filter

She's no one's 'dear' - stop patronising the PM...

Prime Minister Ardern speaking at Otago University / Facebook

If someone as accomplished and resilient as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern can be...

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Think

You can love a person of colour and still be a racist

Girls holding hands / Anna Shvets / Pexels

Have you ever heard something so absurd that you can only blink?

“I understand actually. My...

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Culture

Book review: ‘The Lying Life of Adults’ by Elena Ferrante

As a rule, all coming-of-age stories include the protagonist’s realisation that the world of adults is founded on lies of many shapes and sizes....

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No Filter

Grappling with climate anxiety

Reminders of the dire state of our climate are seemingly everywhere.

“We’re all gonna die” my friends often say to me, casually, over a...

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Girl Power

Sorry, but we need to stop stanning politicians

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court justice / Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Photographer: Steve Petteway / Wikimedia...
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Culture

In memory of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In the days since her passing, long serving liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been described as a: champion; defender; feminist icon;...

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No Filter

I would love to quit social media

I can go a long time without checking my social media. I can go ages.

At least, that is what my brain thinks.

And, when I do hop...

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Girl Power

Why you should listen to Leah Remini’s podcast, “Fair Game”

Everything I know about Scientology, I learnt from Leah Remini, an actress who was raised in Scientology from the age of nine, but ended up...

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Think

Facing the facts: what leading academics, clinicians, and science communicators are saying about...

This month, a patient sincerely asked me if I thought it was bad to catch coronavirus. With the world so many months into a global pandemic, that...

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Culture

We caught up with the girl from Revolution Road

Ainsley Duyvestyn / Image Supplied

Before her serene, defiant (illustrated) face could be found in bookstores across the nation, the girl from...

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No Filter

We need more billionaires like MacKenzie Scott

I’m of the personal opinion that the world shouldn’t have any billionaires.

It might sound radical, but to me, the more radical belief is...

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Girl Power

I'm sick of feminism being used to sell things...

You know those tampon ads that tell you girls can do anything? The make-up ads that talk about the importance of realising your self-worth? The...

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Think

Our relationship with food is (still, mostly) unhealthy

I remember once when I was in high school, sometime during the dirty late-2000s, the teachers gathered my peers and I for one of those annual “...

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Culture

Book Review: ‘More Than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran

“I know that unless you are spirited and beautiful heiress, life is essentially a to-do list. Which begins with ‘escape this vagina’ and ends with...

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No Filter

South Auckland bears the burden of Covid-19 in NZ

Bird's eye view of houses / Jeswin Thomas / Pexels

Living through Covid-19 has presented tough challenges for everyone in NZ.

Many elderly...

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Girl Power

On the pure joy of being a Stan

Best of VMA Acceptance Speeches ft. Lady Gaga, BTS, Doja Cat & More | 2020 MTV VMAs | YouTube

When Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album ( Chromatica...

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