For many women, Facebook is a platform where they can air their concerns about gender inequality and sexual harassment in a relatively safe...
Imagine cramps so bad that you can’t get out of bed. Every month. Followed by people dismissing the...
The Kavanaugh hearings and the #MeToo movement have revealed one depressing fact about the world: that no matter how terrible the abuse suffered,...
If you were too busy watching Jacinda win over the world with her maiden speech to the UN yesterday, you may have missed the most talked about...
By 2020, New Zealand’s refugee quota will rise by 500, to a total of 1500 refugees per year. That’s progress, but it’s nowhere near enough....
In 1893, we were not classified as people in New Zealand. Personhood hadn’t yet been extended to women. We were non-entities; vital to the future...
First, a humble disclaimer: This story is not about consensual dick pics that people ask for, or that are exchanged during some consensual steamy...
I’m old enough (read: not that old) to remember when people said ‘kiwi comedy’ was an oxymoron. The quip still pops up in the rubbish dump that is...
Trigger warning: This article contains anti-trans hate speech.
Glossary: TERF – Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. See here for...
I love doing my makeup.
I also rarely, if ever, wear it.
That’s less the smug statement it may seem, and more a testament to my...
A few weeks ago, New Zealand’s warrior princess Lucy Lawless fired off a tweet stating she wouldn’t be bothered if she saw someone burning the New...
Whenever we, as a society, discuss allegations about sexual assault, a story about false rape complaints is told. And that story is distorting the...
Drop the word Millennial and you’re guaranteed a response. Whether the response will be positive or negative is hard to say. But you’ll get one....
We need to talk about free speech. More specifically, who it protects and who it doesn’t. Human rights are a good thing, and free speech is...
Feminism is a broad concept, right? Recent efforts to make feminism mainstream (which have been relatively successful) have expanded the...
The Kiwi OE is a fantasy that I was brought up to believe in. In my pākehā, upper-middle-class world, your 20s are not complete without wandering...
How is this happening? Do I even want to do this anymore? As a female law student, revelations of sexual assault in legal workplaces throughout...
Satire. In which the writer imagines life from another perspective.
There is nothing worse than political correctness. Cancer, famine,...
Imagine yourself finishing {insert relevant high school/university/graduate course etc} and you’re about to enter the workforce. You’re feeling...
It seems like New Zealand is falling behind. Irish citizens have spoken and they want abortion...
“Today was so unproductive. I got nothing done.” I often find myself measuring my days in terms of how productive I’ve been. In other words: if I...
There are some words that are only ever used to describe women: Ditsy, feisty, frumpy, loose, and hysterical are just a few that spring to mind,...
Sometimes I love New Zealand’s ‘she’ll be right’ attitude. Not stressing over the details is great for things like playing sports or planning a...
I first heard the word ‘incel’ (involuntary celibate) four or five years ago. I’d come across the term before infamous loser Elliot Rodger went on...
When I was a little girl, I used to purposefully hate on the colour pink. I was a purple girl, thank you very much. Pink was far too girly ....
When did you first see porn? I vividly remember stumbling across a grainy old website circa 2001 (okay, I didn’t exactly ‘stumble’… I may have...
Let’s face it, New Zealand’s sex ed is generally pretty terrible when it comes to gender and sexuality. I don’t think the word ‘lesbian’ was...
The first time gets a lot of sensationalised press. The mixture of expectation and anxiety make it an experience like no other. Whatever happens,...
In my experience, the first few trips to get contraception and protection from Family Planning or the doctor require a whole team of girls....
Do you remember how you learnt about sex and relationships? Was it a cosy, friendly chat with one or both of your parents about navigating your...
Women are creatures of wisdom. Call it intuition, experience, insight, a hunch, whatever… the...
If you based your knowledge of sexual consent on popular movies, books, and songs, you would probably be a rapist. So why is Western pop culture...
I regret taking the pill. Not because I’m against contraception, or I didn’t like taking medication daily, but because my enjoyment of life was...
Ata mārie diary!
Watercress and avocado on toast for...
Waitangi Day is just around the corner, which means that thinly-veiled racism season has...
It starts when we’re babies ourselves. We can barely walk, and we’re presented with a tiny plastic humanoid dressed in a cute onesie that, truth...
First published on Thursday the 16th of March, 2017, this piece comes in at number 4 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017....
First published on Wednesday the 3rd of May, 2017, this piece comes in at number 5 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017.
...
First published on Wednesday the 28th of June, 2017, this piece comes in at number 8 in the top 30 most read...
By Ben Mack, Lizzie Marvelly and Jo Raj
First published on Friday the 24th of March, 2017, this piece comes in at number 10 in the top...
First published on Saturday the 11th of November, 2017, this piece comes in at number 12 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017....
First published on Friday the 19th of May, 2017, this piece comes in at number 14 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017.
A...
First published on Tuesday the 25th of April, 2017, this piece comes in at number 17 in the...
First published on Saturday the 22nd of July, 2017, this piece comes in at number 20 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017....
First published on Wednesday the 8th of March, 2017, this piece comes in at number 21 in...
First published on Tuesday the 4th of July, 2017, this piece comes in at number 23 in the top...
First published on Sunday the 19th of November, 2017, this piece comes in at number 24 in...
First published on Saturday the 4th of February, 2017, this...
First published on Friday the 11th of August, 2017, this piece comes in at number 28 in the...
It’s been a long time since I wrote a letter to Santa. Now I think back, letters to the North Pole are somewhat wasted on the young. I’m quite...
Sex on the beach. It’s either AMAZING, or the most horrendous experience ever. Opinion at Villainesse is passionately divided. So we came up with...
I really think Don Brash might be Australian.
It’s just a feeling I’m getting in my waters, and I have good...
We’re quite familiar with how women’s genitals are often depicted in porn and other media (when they’re depicted at all). Smooth. Hairless. Petite...
Aaaah .. parents. You can’t choose ‘em. You can’t blame them for everything. You can’t dump them.
Or can you?
If the relationship...
Every year, usually around September, there is a marked change in the air. ‘Is it spring?’ you think to yourself. Maybe. Possibly.
All...
#MeToo .
#BelieveWomen .
#WomenBoycottTwitter .
Most of us know what these hashtags are, and the unspeakable vileness...
It’s been an interesting evolution of the demise of Hollywood producer and studio head, Harvey Weinstein. In case you’ve been living under a rock...
There comes a time in every year when I want to crawl into bed with a bottle of wine, a full season of my current Netflix addiction, a tub of ice...
Thank f*ck it’s finally finished. It’s been a dirty, long-winded, teeth-grinding, soul-destroying few months, but...
This year, on September 23, New Zealand will vote on who gets to lead the country for the next three years. Over the past few months, Villainesse...
