This article originally appeared on Hoyden About Town.
Apologies for not getting this done on time everyone, December and January turned out to be a major time crunch for me. However, I won’t keep you, on with the show!
Welcome! This post is the 44th monthly Down Under Feminists Carnival. This edition of the carnival gathers together December 2011 feminist posts from writers living in Australia and New Zealand. Thanks to all the writers and submitters for making this carnival carnilicious.
Highlighted new(er) Down Under voices
I’ve decided to highlight inline posts that come from people who began been blogging at their current home in January 2011 or later, such posts are marked with (2011 blog) after the link. I know this is a very imperfect guide to new writers, since some may have simply started new blogs or switched URLs, or be well-known as writers in other media, but hopefully this may be a quick guide to feeds you may not be following yet.
Also, this carnival observes the new rule that each writer may feature at most twice (full disclosure: I used the “three if the host really really wants to!” exemption once). Apologies to the many fine submissions that were dropped under this system, but I hope it results in a more manageable carnival size and representation of different writers.
Feminist spaces
Maia wrote On Change and Accountability: A response to Clarisse Thorn (cross-posted at Feministe and Alas! A Blog) in response to Feministe’s interview with Hugo Schwyzer and ensuing critical discussion of Schwyzer’s reception as a leading ally.
Politics and social justice
anthea encourages consideration of a charity’s ethical framework and agenda before donating.
stargazer doesn’t think identity politics and inequality politics are in conflict.
Disability
anthea deconstructs judgments about fat, laziness, energy expenditure, priorities and disability.
Maia is troubled by the presentation of the sexuality of people with disabilities in The Scarlet Road‘s trailer, and notes the conflation of the sexuality of people with disabilities and the sexuality of men with disabilities.
Ethnicity, race and racism
Chally is not happy with racially coded beauty standards about her hair.
Chrys Stevenson reflects on Aboriginal health, Meryl Dorey’s promotion of non-vaccination and that Aboriginal people have every reason not to listen to white people like Stevenson. (Later, Stevenson/Gladly writes about working with the media to publicise Dorey’s involvement in the Woodford folk festival.)
Workplace
Mentally Sexy Dad introduces Lisa Coffa and Bronwyn Sutton, co-winners of the Pam Keating Award given by the Waste Management Association of Australia. (2011 blog)
Kaylia Payne explores internalised stereotypes about women’s and men’s jobs.
Blue Milk recalls staging an office coup for the corner office.
Penelope Robinson considers the academic workforce, including workloads and casualisation.
Environment
Steph is skeptical about wind farm noise complaints being genuine, rather than a lobbying technique.
Feminist life
tallulahspankhead discusses consent issues and ethics outside the context of sex acts. (2011 blog)
Sonya Krzywoszyja rolls her eyes at feminism 101 questions sent through dating sites.
Deborah writes about the feminism of raising daughters as independent thinkers.
Sex work
Anita condemns the focus on Nuttidar Vaikaew’s sex work in the media coverage of her murder by her spouse.
Blue Milk explains how she, as an outsider, views sex worker experiences by analogy with drug culture experiences ranging from very negative to very positive. (This post is a followup to a late November post on her blog.)
LGBTQIA
Jo writes about personal explorations of asexuality. (2011 blog)
bluebec is suspicious of any claim that “It has always been that way since the dawn of humanity” and gives Joe de Bruyn of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association a lesson to that effect.
LudditeJourno thinks that the mythos of New Zealand egalitarianism is causing police to prematurely determine that Phillip Cottrell’s murder wasn’t a hate crime.
Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear makes sure the bigotry of politicians gets exposure beyond Hansard.
Religion
stargazer is pleased with a review of mosques as women’s spaces in Turkey and thinks New Zealand could benefit from the same.
Media, literature and culture
brownflotsam has a mixed review of Albert Nobbs and is keen to talk with other people who’ve seen it. (2011 blog)
IsBambi celebrates the work and thoughts of Abigail E. Disney, who makes films about women’s roles in peace processes. (2011 blog)
Jo is critical of the conflation of motherhood with womanhood in the Doctor Who Christmas special. (2011 blog)
PharaohKatt pushes back on privileged criticisms of The Australian Women Writers Challenge.
bluebec reflects on choosing to and being allowed to play female (and non-white) characters in computer games.
Anita demonstrates how an NZ Herald article unnecessarily emphasises the gender of a police officer who was assaulted.
Penelope Robinson is bothered by media talk of Nicola, Tanya and Julie instead of Roxon, Plibersek and Collins.
sleepydumpling takes Mia Freedman to task on fashion judgments as classist, ableist and sizeist, and newswithnipples examines Freedman’s denial that there’s any problem.
Violence
Jshoep got some very unhelpful “report him” and “hit him” advice after being assaulted at an Opeth gig.
ColeyTangerina explains that the prevalence of triggers and people who can be triggered is why the feminist blogosphere tends to warn for them.
Deborah observes another case of victim-blaming when police talk about sexual assault.
Mindy considers whether the fundamentals of the perception of women prisoners have changed since the Victorian era.
LudditeJourno calls on the New Zealand government to adequately fund the Auckland Sexual Abuse Help line.
Reproductive rights and justice
Alison McCulloch details the history and consequences of creating a moral hierarchy of abortions in New Zealand. (2011 blog)
Megan Clayton writes about prenatal testing and the assumptions made that terminating the pregnancy is the only choice if atypical chromosomes are found.
Beauty and body image
The End is Naenae! discovers a doozy of a comment thread about pubic hair and removal thereof in, of course, a Life and Style section. (2011 blog)
The End is Naenae! also considers the continued assumption that beauty is a woman’s or girl’s foremost aim and accomplishment. (2011 blog)
Rachel Hills writes about the special shame of trying hard and still failing to look 100% officially beautiful.
Chally analyses the telling of stories about women who lose their beauty, particularly the case of Lauren Scruggs, injured in an accident. (Cross-posted at HAT.)
Tracy Crisp writes about beauty and intercultural communication when she is diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma (and, later, how Australian women consider that news).
sleepydumpling celebrates what the fat acceptance ideas and community have led her to.
Next carnival
The 45th carnival will follow hard on our heels at Maybe it means nothing. Submit January 2012 posts as per Chally’s instructions.