This morning I woke up to an email from a reader. It said:
Please write about Grace. We were all Grace on...
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...
It feels like I write a piece like this once every few months. Another day, another cringe-worthy example of cultural appropriation, this time...
A few years ago I had no idea what the term ‘TERF’ meant. It popped up occasionally in my Twitter feed...
I’ve recently rediscovered Hailee Steinfield’s Most Girls . It’s the song I’m most likely to be singing at the top of my lungs while I’m sitting...
Adulting. The older you get, the more unavoidable it becomes. Sadly, there comes a day for all of us when we are forced to realise that we have...
I remember hearing the lyric, ‘I was 27 surviving my return to Saturn’ in Katy Perry’s By The Grace Of God some years ago. I thought it was some...
For the first time ever, this Queen’s Birthday weekend, the number of women receiving honours outnumbered the...
Honestly, drunk Pākehā doing the haka in London on Waitangi Day was bad enough. As a...
I vividly remember the moment when I first discovered Zara. I was 19, on a trip to the UK, when I stumbled into an alternative universe of...
Language note: Possum uses they/them pronouns.
How many pop punk stars do you know who fly to Wellington specially to see the Muppets in...
The justice system is the skeleton of our society. Without it, everything would fall apart. When it’s broken, it causes pain, and requires...
Imagine this: you’ve come home from uni, you’re ready to start your kickass, girl power-fuelled career – #LeanIn #GirlBoss – and you suddenly...
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 ....
Let’s talk about love and sex in 2018. What is it? Where do we find it? Does love mean romance? And how has our increased ‘wokeness’ impacted upon...
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...
LinkedIn wants me to connect with my ex.
God knows why. It wasn’t exactly a good idea the first time round.
Gone are the days of...
I sometimes wish that real sex were like movie sex. A shared lustful look followed by a bit of kissing, hastily removed clothing, instant...
When I was at school, the only time I heard the word ‘consent’ was when we had to get parental permission to go on a school trip. Somewhere...
Body Double is a play about female sexual pleasure. Have I got your attention now? It certainly grabbed mine, when I went...
New Zealand comedian Louise Beuvink was frustrated with gender roles and society’s expectations of women, so she created Ladylike: A Modern Guide...
Waitangi Day is just around the corner, which means that thinly-veiled racism season has...
Like death and taxes, Don Brash is one of life’s inevitabilities. No year is complete...
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...
Aaaaaand we’re back!
Did you miss us? We missed you!
Happy New Year and all that stuff – if it’s still okay to say that on the 22...
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.
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First published on Saturday the 24th of July, 2017, this piece comes in at number 13 in the...
First published on Thursday the 12th of October, 2017, this piece comes in at number 15 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017....
First published on Tuesday the 11th of April, 2017, this piece comes in at number 16 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017....
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 Sunday the 19th of November, 2017, this piece comes in at number 24 in...
First published on Friday the 21st of April, 2017, this piece comes in at number 25 in the top 30 most read Villainesse stories of 2017.
It’s hard to know how to describe 2017. The year of female anger? The year when shitty things that have been happening to women for time...
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...
1. Does the New Zealand Defence Force have a sexual assault problem? Victims speak out about the handling of sexual assault in the Defence Force...
1. Does a man being discharged without conviction after grabbing his daughter by the neck and holding her down, kicking his wife in the ribs and...
1. Will you be eligible for free tertiary education? Government releases details about its free education scheme.
2. What the fuck,...
Christmas songs hold a special place in my heart. I’m one of those strange people who start listening to them well before it is decent to do so,...
1. Is this the end for Angela Merkel? Coalition talks collapse in Germany.
2. Should...
1. Who came up with the ridiculous idea to punish women for not naming the fathers of their children anyway? New Government moves to scrap law...
1. When will the link between domestic violence and mass shootings be taken seriously...
1. OMGYES
Who likes orgasms? OMGYES is basically the Oprah of sexual pleasure. You get an orgasm! You get an orgasm! You get an orgasm!...
An astounding thing happened last night. Jacinda Ardern became the Prime Minister Elect...
1. How prevalent is sexual harassment in New Zealand? Kiwi women start speaking out after Weinstein scandal.
2. Who killed Panama Papers...
1. Why won’t the men of Hollywood speak out against Weinstein? The Guardian reached out to 20 men. All of them...
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...
Sometimes, a text of encouragement is all you need. Even when you’re creating a brand new show that is due to go on stage in less than a week. No...
1. Can Dame Tariana Turia save the Māori Party? Iconic politician announces return from retirement after shock election result.
2. Were...
1. Did you vote on Suffrage...
Tomorrow, the 19 th of September...
1. Do you think New Zealand history should be better taught in New Zealand schools? Two former...
Māori Language Week fills me with all kinds of emotions. As a Māori woman who is now learning her language in her...
1. Will this election finally bring about the legalisation of...
1. How long have women known that the pay gap is because of sexism? New research finally shows...
Young Māori designer Adrienne Whitewood is staging her first...
1. Is Australia finally going to confront its awful history? Two councils take a stand against Australia...
The story of Cinderella is...
