Jogai Bhatt talks to Broods’ Georgia Nott on her all-female produced solo project The Venus Project, gender representation in the music industry, and why this time she’s gone for a more stripped back sound. Georgia Nott will be familiar to most as one-half of synth-pop sibling-duo Broods. With their signature sounds making waves globally and … Read more
Alex Casey introduces Raised by Wolves, a coming-of-age sitcom created by UK feminist firebrand Caitlin Moran. What’s the story? Raised by Wolves is a semi-biographical retelling of the childhoods of Caitlin and Caroline Moran, set on an estate in the working class city of Wolverhampton. Join Germaine (who I’m assuming is inspired by Caitlin via … Read more
How Māori women can find our way back to equity through the stories of the past. In 1993 a group of Māori women filed a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, now known as the Mana Wahine Claim. The claimants included a list of dream dinner party guests – all of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Lady … Read more
Turns out, we’re still TWO HUNDRED YEARS from fully closing the economic gender gap. So we asked some of our Spinoff colleagues to cast their minds into the future. Each year The World Economic Forum produces a gender gap report which measures gender equality. The report looks at gender gaps across four thematic dimensions: Economic Participation … Read more
Alex Casey has lunch with The Red Hat Society in Auckland, a group of retired women who don’t give a hoot about growing old. It was honestly like Geoff’s Emporium threw up. An orgy of red tulle and faux fur, pearls, tiny top hats stapled onto larger top hats, diamantes, glitter and feathers. Whether intentional … Read more
Sylvia Giles watches the mid-2000s soap The L Word and discovers a plethora of feminist conversations that are only starting to happen now in the mainstream. All my lesbian friends told me I should watch The L Word many, many times, and over a decade ago. First aired in 2004, the show chronicled the sapphic … Read more
With public outcry over sexual violence at music festivals increasing, Bianca Fileborn and Phillip Wadds have launched a research project to show how prevalent sexual violence at festivals is beyond the high-profile, anecdotal cases that have been picked up by the media. This year’s summer music festival season has again been marred by several incidents … Read more
A bold new book sees women rewriting historical judgments and dismantling how our legal framework is seen in indigenous and feminist terms. We hear much about the growing economic inequality in our society but rarely do we hear about how accepted frameworks, such as the rule of law and the associated legal system, contribute to … Read more
Following that Waikato Times column about blokes suffering from women’s periods (comprehensively rebutted here) Michele A’Court generously proffers some empathy advice for men. This post was first published April 27, 2017. Hey Tom O’Connor, I think you’re doing “empathy” wrong. You’re doing that thing where, instead of imagining what it is like to experience something, you just describe … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the age-old conundrum: how do you cope with Christmas without exploding? As we roll into December on a one horse open sleigh, the Christmas stress is beginning to set in. So we asked our listeners for their own festive conundrums, tips and gift ideas, in … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture. As the stardust settles and the chicky-babes stop cheeping, the On the Rag team assemble to talk about what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern means to them. Is she a Red Queen? Is she a Pink Princess? … Read more
The team from On the Rag weren’t able to get in the same room following Jacinda’s win, so here they are with their feelings. Leonie Hayden I write this from a room filled with Ngāpuhi Māori at the end of the final week of hearings in a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry that has taken seven years – … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture. This month the gang is back together to tackle the past month-ish in New Zealand media, news and general bullshit, with help from our glorious new sponsors at twenty-seven names. We dive deep into the horrific online … Read more
Today is Women’s Suffrage Day; in four days’ time, the country goes to the polls. Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue reflects on the meaning of a New Zealand woman’s vote. Kate Sheppard. Her face is on our $10 notes for a reason, but how often do we think about what that reason is? … Read more
In a very special edition of On the Rag, Alex, Leonie and Michele are joined by author and columnist Clementine Ford. This month’s episode of On the Rag is blessed with the presence of Clementine Ford, Fight Like a Girl author, proud feminist and dedicated “life-ruiner”. Over orange juice and avocado on toast, the team … Read more
Australian feminist author Clementine Ford is in town this week for Shifting Points Of View at WORD Christchurch. Leonie Hayden talked to her about feminist parenting, the power of the Twitter thread and how to start a revolution on your own. Golden Girl Betty White once questioned why people say ‘grow some balls’. “Balls are … Read more
More than 13,000 abortions were performed in New Zealand last year. Despite this, abortion in this country is enshrined in the Crimes Act. Jessica Hammond Doube doesn’t think it should be, and she’s doing her best to do something about it. The kaupapa of The Spinoff Parents is to uplift, love, and support parents – … Read more
Thalia Kehoe Rowden imagines a future where we have mothers of young children and babies in Parliament. What a world it could be… Today in Parliament, the House passed a unanimous motion of congratulations to Prime Minister Golriz Ghahraman, on the birth of her third child. In a statement to the House, Acting Prime Minister, … Read more
New Zealand was spoiled for choice of after school anime shows in the early 2000s. Lucy Zee remembers the female heroes who shaped her childhood. Cartoons rule my life. You name it and I’ve probably watched it, seen the comic, bought the merch and read the fan fiction crossover. My love of cartoons and anime … Read more
BBC have announced that the 13th Doctor in Doctor Who will be played by a mere human woman and men are not happy. Sadly, this isn’t the first time a woman has committed an act of violence against thousands of men. Madeleine Chapman ranks the worst of them. There’s nothing worse than blatantly miscasting a fictional … Read more
Is Cars 3 a stealth feminist smash hit? Mum of three Angela Cuming gives her verdict on a franchise that has never been very good in the past. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Pixar films. As in I’ve hated how much people have loved them because to me they’ve always been a testimony … Read more
All this week the Spinoff Review of Books looks at the new memoir by former Green MP Holly Walker. Today: we asked author Tessa Duder to respond to the chapter which credits her classic YA novel Alex as a formative influence. During the winter of 1986, I wrote the first book of the Alex quartet. … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews If There’s No Dancing at the Revolution, I’m Not Coming and Power Ballad, two plays by rising star dramturgist Julia Croft on now at The Basement. Winter brings us many things. It’s the weather for holding your hot water bottle tight, for drinking coffee for warmth as well as staying awake and … Read more
Eamonn Marra infiltrates the ‘Men’s Summit’ in Wellington, and finds a group of damaged men. They seem like sympathetic characters. Then the presentations start… Update, May 30 2017: Hans Laven, the clinical psychologist who appears in this story, has contacted The Spinoff contesting the account of his speech. Please scroll to the foot of the article … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’s biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss women and gender. “The feminist movement…sometimes it takes a bit of that feminine radiance of out them” Click here … Read more
In the midst of Techweek’17, Alex Casey talks to The Next Billion’s Priti Ambani about shining a light on the women in tech. We had only been talking for five minutes, but engineer and company co-founder Priti Ambani had already taken me on a journey into exponential technologies, big data and the future of work. … Read more
Leonie Hayden has an announcement to make to the masculinists in this country: chill out, dudes, feminism can help everyone. As someone who felt sorry for Rachel Dolezal and cries at videos of dogs on a regular basis, it’s safe to say I’m highly emotional and empathetic to a fault. I find it hard to … Read more
Host Alex Casey is joined by comedian/writer Michele A’Court and Mana magazine editor Leonie Hayden to discuss what happened in the world of women over the past month, with help from their legendary sponsors at BON tampons. With a delicious box of Munchkins in the safety of The Spinoff podcast studio, the On the Rag team huddle together to … Read more
Hundreds of NZ women are told every year that their request for an abortion is ‘not justified’. One woman describes the response she encountered, and why she feels betrayed by a system that continues to view women seeking termination through a lens of criminality Are you not with the father? Were you ever together? Had … Read more