Author Archives

• What a transperson in science academia might tell you about sexism

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-08-06 • ( 7 )

  

  You have to read this over at The Wall Street Journal: Ben Barres had just finished giving a seminar at the prestigious Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research 10 years ago, describing to scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard… Read More ›

• Raising daughters to have high self-esteem and the problem with that

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-08-03 • ( 25 )

  

  So much good analysis in this piece from Jessica Valenti in The Nation – “The Upside of Ugly”: But this is the problem with teaching young women that the key to happiness and success is self-esteem. If our end goal… Read More ›

• Are princesses bad for girls?

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-07-07 • ( 13 )

  

  This is a fabulous response from Brenda Chapman, (@brenda_chapman) one of the main writers behind Brave, whom I discovered when she started following me on Twitter (small world), where she answers the question of whether princesses are bad for girls:… Read More ›

• Sexually objectifying men, harder than you think

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-07-06 • ( 19 )

  

  Yes, wheeeee! the title of this post is a pun. Here’s a terrific review over at Sociological Images (and the discussion that follows is interesting, too) of the new Soderbergh film, Magic Mike (which has opened to huge audience numbers),… Read More ›

• Sunday Singalong: Björk

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-24 • ( 1 )

  

  Björk possesses a soprano vocal range, apparently. She released her first solo album at the age of 11. But we all got to know her in Australia when she was in The Sugarcubes, which was pretty much the first Icelandic… Read More ›

• The real reason why you should be careful in your discussions about mothers

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-23 • ( 2 )

  

  I really like Feministe, I think the site produces some amazing writing, and I appreciate Mamamia for seeking to incorporate feminism in a mainstream, commercial motherhood site because that isn’t easy, but oh my god… We’re surprised, as feminists, that some of you are not more suspicious of lines of debate designed to isolate us and make us defensive.

• Why women can’t have it all, how they’re not to blame, and how we can make it better

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-23 • ( 13 )

  

  This is a great piece at The Atlantic by Anne-Marie Slaughter – long and jam-packed with excellent points; it is a sophisticated discussion of women’s lives and the problems we encounter balancing work and family.. and you almost never see a nuanced discussion like this in the public arena.

• About Joan’s choice

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-17 • ( 10 )

  

  (Lots of SPOILERS for season 5 of Mad Men in this post). It has been a fascinating season for the character of Joan, hasn’t it? This season Joan is a new mother and she’s very quickly also become a single… Read More ›

• Sunday Singalong: Dolly Parton

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-17 • ( 4 )

  

  Look at Dolly Parton in her Mad Men era, isn’t she beautiful? Parton is famous for her sly winking ‘dumb blonde’ routine but she is obviously incredibly talented as a recognised and award-winning singer-songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist, actor and philanthropist –… Read More ›

• Why I will go easy on the ‘save yourself’ rhetoric with my daughter

  By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-04 • ( 12 )

  

  Reading Clementine Ford’s piece in Daily Life on teenage sexuality something struck me about the young girls she was describing. The arrival of One Direction certainly took Australia by storm – mostly because nobody outside of the 12-17 year old… Read More ›