Monday, March 23, 2015

feminist reading club: mansplaining



Yesterday my friend Kat and I hosted our first ever Feminist Reading Club. We started the group because we spend 90% of our time together discussing feminism and we knew a lot of our friends were doing the same, so we thought we'd bring everyone together to a safe, accepting space where we can all share our ideas and be challenged.

This month's theme was 'mansplaining', specifically as explored in Rebecca Solnit's essay 'Men Explain Things to Me'. Going into it I thought I was already quite familiar with the topic, but I got so much out of our discussion - everyone had brilliant points and the varying skill sets and personal histories brought lots of great new ideas (new to me!) to the topic. My brain was buzzing!

We're keeping it small and women-only for now, because that feels most conducive to open, unfiltered discussion, but if you'd maybe like to join the next one (it's monthly), send me a message. We don't really know what we're doing, so we're just going with what feels right and figuring things out as we go along. 

Sunday, March 22, 2015

link-up

Louis Vuitton's set for their Fall 2015 collection.

 - How to be a good mentee.

 - "All I know is that if I want to experience this show, I have to do these things I do. I never think it’s difficult—it’s just what I have to do." - On going to shows when you have a disability.

 - Rihanna is the first black person to front a Dior campaign. Here, Dazed Magazine explores what this means for the fashion industry.

 - While the X Factor thing was a complete eye-roll on so many levels, watching the public's reaction and the viral-ity of the story has been fascinating. What was it about this situation that caused such a huge witch-hunt when other situations with wider-reaching consequences haven't received the same attention? Two of the best articles I read about it came from Duncan Greive, and Duncan Greive's TV website, The Spinoff.

 - Drake and the problem with ageing rappers.

 - Charlie Porter, one of my favourite fashion writers, asks: Where are the discussions about gender in womenswear?

 - I was addicted to Neopets as a tween and it served as an introduction to HTML, so I am glad that 15 years later, they're committed to getting girls into coding.

 - Rookie magazine contributor Minna Gilligan on reconciling her fine art and commercial practices, and why people should just shut up about it and let her live.

 - Mark Broatch from the NZ Listener on book reviewing in NZ.

- Emoji praise hands for Monica Lewinski, who shares her experience of being publicly humiliated and why we need to put an end to cyberbullying: "You're looking at a woman who was publicly silent for a decade. Obviously, that's changed."



 - With a neck that cranes under the weight of her extraordinary brain, Notorious RBG shares what feminism means to her: