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Think

7 simple tips for being an ally in 2021

  • May 12, 2021

Girl Power

Hiatus

  • May 31, 2021

Culture

Is The Bachelor actually a feminist show?

  • Mar 29, 2021

No Filter

It’s okay to cut out toxic family members

  • Mar 16, 2021

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Now is not the time to shut up about suicide

Content note: Suicide

Suicide is something we seldom talk about. It’s a difficult conversation at the best of times. Now, as we enter our...

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Girl Power

Supporting local: NZ women-owned/operated businesses and the amazing products you can buy to show...

Supporting small businesses and our local economy has never been more important. If you’re looking to buy something new (for yourself or as a gift...

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Think

NZ Made Products: the Facebook group supporting local businesses

Small local businesses have been hit hard by Covid-19.

Most are classed “non-essential”, some depend on physical sales and others charge...

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Culture

Why the sex in Normal People is so damn hot

Normal People Trailer (Official) • A Hulu Original / YouTube

You probably don’t want to watch Normal People with your mum.

If possible,...

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No Filter

An ode to Girls Related After Dark

If you know Girls Related - After Dark (a.k.a. GRAD), then you will understand my struggle at putting the group into words. If you don’t know GRAD...

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No Filter

After Covid: what happens next?

So what happens next?

What happens when there’s no 1pm Jacinda-and-Ashley Show? When there’s no wage subsidy? When we’re allowed to go out...

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Girl Power

Women are the frontlines

If this pandemic has made one thing clear, it’s that there are certain people and professions that society simply cannot survive without, aptly...

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Think

You don’t have to be passionate about your job

What a hand we’ve been dealt, huh?

I often get to thinking that, had I been born around a decade earlier, I would have hit the sweet spot...

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Culture

Four audiobook recommendations for vicarious travel and relaxation

Whether you’re looking for ways to fill your time while social distancing, having an acute case of wanderlust within the confines of your bubble,...

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No Filter

Silver linings or ecofascism? It's not so clear...

White swans on water / Marija Zaric / Unsplash.com

When I saw a tweet that claimed dolphins had returned to the Venice canals , my heart felt the...

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Girl Power

An ode to the binge-TV queen

TIFF 2019 Sarah Paulson / John Bauld / Wikimedia Commons

It’s pretty rare for a female celebrity to be liked, universally.

I mean, no one...

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Think

The view from a bubble: inequality in Aotearoa and running in lockdown

As indisputably reckless and inexcusably selfish as it is for people to travel to their holiday homes during lockdown (#stayhomeNZ), on some level...

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Culture

#Guillotine2020: is the world turning on the upper class?

Woman shopping / Andrea Paicquadio / Pexels.com

Because of the lockdown, I’ve finally had time to get around to watching Parasite (a cinematic...

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No Filter

Coronavirus isn’t the only crisis we’ll have to change for

As the number of new cases drops each day, the consensus is pretty much clear: New Zealand has done a pretty good job so far with this whole Covid...

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Girl Power

How to be famous in a pandemic

Cover shot of Lady Gaga’s debut album The Fame / Pieter Henket / Wikimedia Commons

Let me start by addressing that headline. This article is not...

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Think

Let’s not pretend that self-isolation is easy

The messaging around COVID-19 has been crystal clear: stay at home. Don’t interact with others. It’s simple and easy to follow and everyone should...

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Culture

Why NZ’s coolest cinema just went on demand

Once upon a time, entering Auckland’s Academy Cinema was like entering a prohibition-era speakeasy. The first challenge was finding the door (and...

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No Filter

You don’t have to lose weight during a global crisis

Obviously, there’s never a good time to have body image issues or a history with eating disorders, but this feels like a particularly shitty time...

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Girl Power

Fighting misinformation: celebrating NZ’s top science communicators

We’re all being inundated with information about the novel coronavirus right now. It’s been happening for weeks, and it seems that every Tom, Dick...

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Think

Not everyone will be safe during the lockdown

Woman at window / Kate Williams / Unsplash.com

For many New Zealanders, the lockdown is starting to grind at our nerves. We’re anxious, irritable...

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Culture

TV shows to binge while in lockdown

Phoebe Waller-Bridge / Fleabag Season 2 - Official Trailer / YouTube

We’re all stuck in our houses, which leaves plenty of time for... not much,...

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No Filter

Please! Don’t go see your mates!

New Zealanders are social people. Even I, a card-carrying introvert, can attest to that.

It’s not just that we like to have a yarn – we...

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Girl Power

Let's talk about PCOS...

For something that affects 10% of people who have a uterus, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) does not get a lot of airtime. I have PCOS. I know...

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Think

Good news to cleanse your palate

We’re living in scary times, have you heard?

For the last few weeks I’ve been pretty much addicted to the news. I’ve become entirely...

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Think

A love letter to our elders

So here we are – in the middle of history.

It’s strange feeling history moan from under us, isn’t it? Knowing that the actions we take...

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Culture

Book Review: ‘The Power’ by Naomi Alderman

Trigger warning: this review includes mention of violence, sexual assault, and homicide.

When I’d previously imagined what the...

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No Filter

It’s okay to not be productive right now

I don’t know about you but for me, one hour’s worth of work is starting to feel like eight.

Turns out living through a pandemic is bloody...

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No Filter

I get tired of shallow feminists

Let me start by saying this: there’s nothing a feminist could do to halt my belief in the rights of women.

That being said, sometimes I...

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Think

A love letter to our supermarket workers

The big fangled monster coming for grocery workers was supposed to be automation.

It hasn’t taken long, relatively speaking, for us to...

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Girl Power

What kills a woman’s career is very different to what kills a man’s

Adéle Haenel / Portrait of a Lady on Fire trailer / YouTube

Adéle Haenel, star of critical hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire, was one of the first...

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Think

A leader is born

Jacinda Ardern, at the opening of Te Rau Aroha at Waitangi, on 5 February 2020 / Altered / Wikimedia Commons

Is anyone else feeling nervous? As...

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Think

Megxit is a win for feminism

Harry and Meghan / Wikimedia Commons

At the end of this month, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle will renounce their titles in favour of...

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Culture

It’s always a good time to read Feminist Theory

Bell Hooks / Montikamoss / Wikimedia Commons

I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t read bell hooks’ Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center...

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No Filter

Why is period poverty still an issue in Aotearoa?

It’s difficult for people to fathom the idea that a first world country like Aotearoa is affected by an issue like period poverty. The co-founder...

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Girl Power

Sexualising younger, young women is disgusting

Billie Eilish / Lars Crommelinck / Wikimedia Commons

Every woman likely remembers the first time she was sexualised.

Maybe you were...

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Think

We need to talk about the creep crisis

People talk about #MeToo incidents as if they are binary. This type of behaviour makes for a #MeToo. This type of behaviour doesn’t . That’s just...

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Culture

Owls Do Cry: a theatrical antidote to inertia and the barrage of modern life

Janet Frame was a “rebel, a seeker of freedom and a passionate champion of the imagination”, according to the theatremakers who adapted her...

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No Filter

Local legends talk ‘International Women’s Day’

S-heroes. Aotearoa is abundant with them. But how is International Women’s Day looking through the eyes of our legendary wāhine? I caught up with...

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Girl Power

Samantha Bee got me through the 2016 US election

Samantha Bee / Full Frontal with Samantha Bee / YouTube

When Donald Trump won the 2016 US election, my reaction was visceral. I cried. I stayed in...

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Think

Abortion shouldn’t even be a political issue

In a different world, we wouldn’t know where politicians stood on pregnancy termination.

Whenever the issue comes up in our parliament, I’...

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Culture

18x18 peers into the hilarious, terrifying and hopeful lives of young Kiwi women

18x18 launch / Suzanne Axxelson

I have a feeling no-one really knows how they felt at 18 until they’re not 18 anymore.

And it’s only a...

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No Filter

It doesn’t matter how nice someone's abuser was to you...

It happens every time.

In 2017, when Harvey Weinstein was first embroiled in his numerous sexual assault charges, it was Lindsay Lohan of...

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Girl Power

Business crush: how one local store is making a difference with conscious curation

One of my favourite brick-and-mortar stores in Auckland can be found on Karangahape Road. Crushes has been my default go-to for picking up gifts...

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Think

Being sinophobic will not protect you from the novel coronavirus

Woman on train / Vin Stratton / Unsplash

New Zealand has been sinophobic for long enough that many of us have forgotten that we are.

The...

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Culture

Eleanor Catton, Jane Austen and feminine villainy

Emma. Official Trailer / Screenshot / YouTube

If the world never produced another Jane Austen adaptation, we’d be fine. There are at least 15...

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No Filter

There's nothing we like more than hating a successful woman...

Jameela Jamil / The Daily Show / YouTube

This week, I watched in fascinated horror as the online world decided, by comparing a few interview clips...

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Girl Power

We interviewed The Guilty Feminist and it didn’t go to plan…

Image supplied

The night before I spoke to Deborah Frances-White, known and beloved the world over as The Guilty Feminist , I watched her TED talk...

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Think

Hamilton, Emilia, and the challenges of retelling history

“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” That’s the central question in Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton . But for women in history, the...

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Culture

'Have You Ever Been With An Asian Womxn?' says screw the Asian fetish...

Sometime over the summer, an Anime House opened up at my local Westfield Mall. I wandered in one day to peruse the merchandise, and came face to...

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No Filter

OPINION: Why I believe Bernie Sanders is the feminist choice

Senator Bernie Sanders' speaks at UNC-Chapel Hill's Bell Tower Amphitheater on September 19, 2019 / Jackson Lanier / Wikimedia Commons

NOTE:...

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Girl Power

Five kickass artists in the domestic art space

I’ve been on Instagram for over three years now. In that time, there have been multiple digital decluttering outbursts involving mass unfollowing...

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No Filter

Can you help us? Villainesse needs your support

Asking for help isn’t the easiest thing in the world… but here I am, asking you for your support. If you love reading Villainesse, would you...

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Think

We need to change how we raise boys

In my short lifetime, the way we think of gender and the way we rely on gender roles in everyday life has changed tremendously.

When I was...

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Culture

You need to read Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

Author photo / Penguin Random House / Elena Mudd / Wikimedia Commons

For those of us who grew up on, in or around the internet, it’ll always be...

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No Filter

What would it look like if we actually honoured te Tiriti?

Waka at Waitangi / Dirk Pons / Wikimedia Commons

Thirty years ago the Māori flag was launched at Hikoi ki Waitangi 1990 .

1990 was also...

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Girl Power

Hear me out - wrinkle representation matters

The Handmaid's Tale / Series Trailer / Hulu / YouTube

I was nineteen years old when I first noticed a vertical line starting to appear between my...

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Think

Setting up your 2020 right for flourishing personal finances

Disclaimer: I am not a personal financial or investment advisor. The advice in this article does not constitute financial, accounting, or legal...

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Culture

‘Strong is the new skinny’ is still toxic

Cheer / Official Trailer / Netflix / YouTube

The following article contains details that may be considered spoilers for the Netflix docuseries...

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No Filter

For our most vulnerable communities, every act is an act of bravery

Screenshot: Nikkie de Jager / NikkieTutorials / YouTube

NikkieTutorials has been in my periphery for several years as a super-reliable source of...

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Girl Power

How do you set resolutions in end times?

If the start of a new year is synonymous with setting resolutions, the start of the new decade multiplies the notion by a thousand (or at the very...

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Girl Power

Welcome to 2020!

Kia ora and welcome to 2020, which I’ve hopefully dubbed “Year of Dreams (or at least please-not-Year of Screams)”. To be honest, given that this...

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