Posts Tagged: gender

  • A young girl holding an educational plastic skeleton

    Anatomy—Male names for female anatomy

    Anatomical naming of the bones and organs of humans was nearly always done by men. The medical profession in the 19th century was almost entirely male so female anatomy was nearly always named by men. In a recent episode of the ABC’s Late Night Live (19 June) Dr Adam Taor (author of Bodypedia) and Dr […]

  • Image of an attractive catlady surrounded by cats.

    Is cat lady so offensive?

    Donald Trump’s, running mate for the 2024 US election, JD Vance, has proven a liability after his criticism of prominent Democrats as “childless cat ladies” has resurfaced. The expression (and resulting meme) has unleashed anger from childless celebrities and cat-owning single women. The US election again is generating memes around words as we discussed with […]

  • International Women's Day 2023 on the UN's digital theme, how much of this is virtual feminism or what is often called femwashing

    Virtual feminism—femwashing

    It is International Women’s Day today (8 March 2023). The UN observes the day each year and highlights a theme in women’s rights that they think should be addressed. This year the theme is DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. However, in Australia the day is largely “socio-cultural” and centred on a celebration of […]

  • It all started with the manbag, the man-purse in the 1960s. It was the first of the mancessories. (male accessory)

    Mancessories for the new man

    It all started with the manbag, the man purse in the 1960s. It was the first mancessory (male accessory) that crossed over from the female fashion world and created a new word and a new market. And now the marketers have a new male demographic firmly in their sights. The prime segment of the demographic […]

  • Head of the Diversity Council of Australia, David Morrison (Australian of the Year and former Chief of Army) has just launched a campaign (1 June 2016) that asks us to consider dropping inappropriate gender words and phrases from our workplaces.

    Get with it guys

    Head of the Diversity Council of Australia, David Morrison (Australian of the Year and former Chief of Army), launched a campaign (1 June 2016) that asked us to consider dropping inappropriate gender words and phrases from our workplaces. The #WordsAtWork campaign has singled out “guys”, which is commonly used to refer to a group including […]

  • Bette Davis in Now Voyager—spinster or bachelorette?

    Is bachelorette any less gender damaging than spinster?

    I was slightly appalled by The Bachelor on our television this year (2015). A young man gets to choose which of eighteen girls get the benefit of his company from week to week; slowly reducing the number of eligible girls each week until the last girl remaining gets to marry him. My wife and daughter were […]

  • We all hate misogyny

    We all hate misogyny

    Misogyny is all over the news. It is a topic that  Julia Gillard, the Australian Labor Prime Minister, has used to discredit the Leader of the Liberal Opposition, Tony Abbott. She has managed to get traction in the media both in Australia and internationally by painting Abbott as a misogynist. The issue follows from the resignation […]

  • Exposing tasteless pornification

    I read a story recently (this was originally written in 2009) about outrage over a former children’s performer appearing in Ralph magazine. Kellie Crawford, who had appeared on the children’s program Hi5 for ten years, had posed in lingerie for the May Edition of Ralph magazine. It caused great concern to Julia Gale from Kids Free 2B Kids who […]