Romantic comedy is not a genre beloved by women. Go ahead, survey a bunch of women. If my guess is...
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...
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...
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...
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’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...
As the time for university and scholarship applications draws near, my peers are voicing...
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’...
The days following the Notre Dame cathedral fire were fraught with grief and shock as the world watched...
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...
“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...
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 (...
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...
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...
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...
I’m writing this from my flat in Christchurch. Only two streets over...
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...
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...
Remember when Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, confessed to grabbing people by their...
A tone-deaf Hollywood actor, an up-and-coming British director and a Northern Irish playwright with very different ideas try to put on a play… It...
I stayed in a three-year relationship out of fear that my partner would harm himself if I left....
Women have historically been excluded from the world of finance, and a significant amount of stigma persists around women having conversations...
Happy International Women’s Day!
…Or is it? Happy, I mean...
Allow me to tell you about my quintessentially kiwi adolescence. From the ages...
Māori music is at the very heart of the Auckland Arts Festival this year, with Tōku Reo Waiata taking centre stage as the centrepiece festival...
We need to talk about our attitude towards food. The body positivity movement has made impressive changes to the way we think about our bodies –...
Let’s be honest – pop culture hasn’t always been kind to women. Or...
They may not have won gold tonight, but these are the women, and women-led films, that truly deserve our applause...
I’m excited. The Oscars, only the most important event in the global film industry, are a week away tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Debra Granik...
Unless you have been living under a pop culture rock...
Jack Kerouac went to Mexico and slept with lots of women. Yawn. He road tripped across the country; he did...
I kept diaries when I was younger. I leaned them against my knees and wrote in them nightly. When I was a child I wrote about my friends at school...
I feel so stupid when it happens. The ‘you’re-a-phony’ siren goes off at such a high screech inside my head - it almost surprises me the...
Social media is messing with young women. I’m not saying that as a baby boomer who thinks technology is evil. I’m saying that as a young woman...
As screen awards season continues, fans and those in the industry...
Hey, sister with a heavy heart.
I’m so sorry about the things you’ve been through.
Know that I feel you, and I hold you in my...
Find me a TV show that shows teenage girls in all their raucous yet insecure high-school glory. Go on, ya...
