Every election cycle, we hear the same tired lamentation from politicians, media pundits and various aunts and uncles: “young people don’t show up...
Two years in writing, a lifetime in the making.
Ukraine-born and Auckland-raised, Veronika Bell — known onstage as VÏKÆ — has distilled...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about coming across a political hoarding that read: NO GENDER IDEOLOGY. I wrote at the time : “It took me a while to even...
We’ve all been there. Your lungs quit working for half a second, your eyebrows shoot up your forehead. When you live in a greenie, social justice-...
In chapter 11 of Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s extraordinary book ‘Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons’ , the authors share...
As a long-time fan of Taylor Swift, seeing her new album “folklore” receive such amazing reviews has been equal parts gratifying and frustrating...
On principle, I haven’t watched the bodycam footage of George Floyd’s murder.
Though after reading...
As the CoVID-19 unfolded across the world, media headlines featured some pretty bleak verbs with regards to world economies ( plunge , free-fall...
It’s funny how things go: when a Timaru woman launched a petition in an attempt to stop a drag duo from reading to children at the public library...
When Jacinda Ardern told us to be kind following the new community transmission of Covid-19, she was accused of being “patronising”. In my opinion...
If you’re a person who engages in sexual activities, or you know a person who does, or you’re a member of the Facebook group Girl Related After...
In 2007, when Britney Spears suffered a “mental breakdown,” tabloids...
In her first studio album, Mel Bester, known onstage as E^ST, has laid a piece of herself bare.
Recorded with producer Jim Eliot (who has...
I’m finally on annual leave after a rather intense six weeks of my first general surgical rotation as a junior doctor. “How are you going to spend...
As a nineties kid, I’m watching thirty barrel around the corner with increasing fear. I’d never really been all that afraid of aging. I hung out...
The rise of cancel culture: quarantine orders around the world definitely had something to do with it.
With people...
British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas has just released her third...
In some ways, it’s hard to think of the members of the Kardashian/Jenner family as real people. They loom so large in the public consciousness,...
My knowledge about history in general is problematically limited. But whatever small and simplistically explained fragments of history were...
In 2008, Rolling Stone ran a cover story called The Tragedy of Britney Spears. It...
On one hand I’m not a sentimental person.
I object out loud to cliches and unrealistic tropes in every rom-com I watch (which makes me a...
When it was announced that former Glee star Naya Rivera...
“Abuelita – I love girls, the way I’m...
For about a month, my social media feed was awash with #BlackoutTuesday panels, heartfelt...
When it comes to climate change, I’ve been feeling a bit deflated about my efforts to make a difference for a while. Every thing that I could buy...
According to Caroline Calloway, Instagram captions are art . At least, her Instagram captions are art. She puts a lot of time into documenting her...
One of the great myths of the palatable modern feminism that we’ve all become accustomed to is this: women should never criticise other women,...
If I hear the word ‘Avatar’ I don’t think of blue people in a jungle.
I think of my siblings and I crammed into a two square-meter study...
These last few months, we have seen nations enact a collective response in the face of a global threat, showing us similar action is possible in...
In 2018, inspired by the #MeToo movement and an onslaught of...
I’ve been a part of various feminist Facebook groups for a while now...
Know Your Place , Golriz Ghahraman’s memoir,...
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
How many times were you asked that as a child? How many times, as an adult, have you asked a...
“In university, you find your tribe.”
Among other less welcome, more invasive pieces of advice that...
You know him. One of him. If you’re involved in feminist conversations, you will have encountered a version of him.
He thinks women should...
In 2012, I was accepted for admission to Seoul National University’s College of Humanities. I never ended up going that spring, choosing instead...
I’m 23 years old, and for at least a month this year, I was an avid user of Tik Tok. Don’t judge me, okay? We all got bored in lockdown.
...
I’ve always been late to the play. Last year, deciding the time had finally come, I decided to read the Harry Potter series. It wasn’t that I’d...
There’s always a line for the fitting room on the days I shop, though I have been thrifting a lot more lately. Most...
With the Black Lives Matter movement gaining steam (and achieving results) across the globe, Black media...
Though posting on social media and showing up for protests are important ways to show solidarity, it’s important we’re mindful to not engage in...
In 2020, celebrity culture seems to be crumbling before our very eyes. What with the tone deaf videos of millionaires singing “Imagine” from their...
I know NZ likes to think that we are different.
Our government is competent, as the last two months...
Undergarments have always been about more than just fabric for your private parts. Reflecting the spirit of the times, lingerie has evolved over...
No cops, anywhere, should have guns. That much is simple. But it would take major upheaval to remove weapons from the militarized police forces...
Pop stars are constantly evolving. It’s almost like they’re human or something. I find it fascinating to watch pop stars teasing their latest...
As Aotearoa went into alert level three, and then four, a lot of medical professionals considered buying our own scrubs to wear at work. I was...
When you were young, did anyone ever tell you that they loved you? That’s a question court cultural report writer Associate Professor Khylee...
The porn industry of the 1970s, headquartered in the San Fernando Valley in California, was a...
Over the past eight weeks, I bet an awful lot of work has been completed by people wearing pyjamas. Good work. Work that would otherwise have...
I’m scared of hammers. It’s embarrassingly ridiculous, but it’s true. Over the past year or so, I’ve surprised myself by completing a few DIY...
Growing up, I understood the world in a black and white context. Things were right and wrong. Police officers were the goodest, most law-abiding...
It was a moment almost sacriligious – when many booklovers quietly and guiltily mused that perhaps Margaret Atwood didn’t deserve to win the...
“There’s no hair dye, just saying…”
Six little words that said so much. When Newshub asked...
I’m white. My family is white. A lot of my friends are white. A lot of my parents’ friends are white. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time...
At the other end of a Skype call, Em-Haley Walker — better known as homegrown superstar Theia — greets me with double Dutch braids and a small...
Let me just address this from the jump: I certainly don’t want to move back into lockdown. For one thing, I’m not sure if New Zealanders could do...
What if I told you that Survivor is the only thing getting me through these “unprecedented times”? Yes,...
I’m lucky to live near a fantastic West Auckland library. It’s one of the newer ones, with the high ceilings and glass walls. It’s not Devonport...