When women who speak fear for the repercussions their daughters may face — This is one of my daughter’s doodles, rescued from the bin years ago and now more appropriately housed in a frame. The next image in a more recent self-portrait that I loved so much for how she captured her own essence that it hurt not to share it.

Positive attention? Negative attention? Accept it with a smile… not. — A few stories emerged recently that really highlighted to me the often extreme reactions men have to women online. In one, Australian feminist Clementine Ford was contacted on her private phone by a man who possessed such arrogance, such audacious stupidity, that he thought it was ok to do so…

Using hate to cover the lack of support struggling mothers receive in a deeply patriarchal and racist society — Oh, how society loves to hate an imperfect woman, and an imperfect mother even more so. If she’s an imperfect mother at the bottom of the socio-economic pile then more hate is considered appropriate. …

Unpacking America’s most polarising reality show to date — It’s been quite the spectacle — American reality TV on an epic scale with Johnny Depp putting on what I hope will be his last great performance of the kind he is so well known; this time a quirky, pot-bellied P. T. …

Stalking, intimidation, and the two faces of an Australian MRA troll — Troll. Dictionaries define this modern manifestation of an arsehole as a person who intentionally leaves inflammatory or insulting comments on the internet in order to upset, offend, harass and seek attention. Once upon another time, they were a less tangible thing. In fairytales they were depicted as grotesque and predatory…

Misogyny, American culture, and the endless abuse of women who speak — This is gonna be a bit of reactive writing right here. The kind where you just punch it out on the keyboard with little thought to anything in terms of writing style, grammar, or meeting anyone's publishing guidelines. It’s the kind of ragey writing that is born from the need…

Are they ever too young (or too old) to be seen and recognised as predators? — Content warning: descriptions of rape and sexual assault. Boys My first experience of male predation was at the age of eight at the hands of two boys; twelve and fourteen. They took me to the woods not far from where I lived demanding I show them my vagina. They explored with…

Adam James: convicted yet not constrained — There are a few things you might expect if you’re a domestic violence survivor starting a new life in a reportedly friendly layback country like Australia. Being placed in employment in a small charity owned by a “good Christian man” only to be abused, threatened, harassed, and stalked by that…

A response in support of men who want to address the violence against them — September 6th and 7th saw a much-lauded Women’s Safety Summit in Australia, the purpose of which was to bring together hundreds of survivors, experts and advocates, with a goal to design our nations plan to reduce violence against women and children. Naturally, as a feminist writer and activist, I tuned…