The 58th Down Under Feminists Carnival!

Welcome, welcome, to the 74th annual Hunger Games!
*Ahem* …to the 58th Down Under Feminists’ Carnival, hosted by Johanna, Emma and Madeline from the UQ Women’s Collective in our zine Wom*news’ blog.

Without futher ado:

Geek Grrrls

• Can Be Bitter at Can Be Bitter looks at The Monkey Island in a review about feminism in this video game series; a refreshing piece considering last year’s sexism overdrive in gaming.
• QOT at Ideologically Impure gets passionate about male responses to women’s geekiness, specifically Doctor Who cosplay.

Packed To The Rafters

• Chris Miller at The Little Pakeha talks about the recent twitter trend #INeedMasculinismBecause and explores the statistical truth behind fathers who complain about child custody court rulings.
• QOT at Ideologically Impure emphasises Miller’s ideas, showing that the low percentage of fathers who file for custody of their children, and how fathers are socialised to parent, is another case of how the patriarchy hurts men too through gender roles.
• Liz from Liz’s Stuff About Stuff writes in defense of being a try-hard mum.
• Samantha Jenkinson writes about being a mother with a disability, and the constant scrutiny it places you under on the ABC’s Ramp Up website.
• Scarlett Harris at Early Bird Catches The Worm criticises the TV Show Modern Family for it’s stereotypical portrayals of minority characters and rightfully argues that a few redeeming episodes doesn’t give you a free pass!
• Deborah Russell from Telling It Left looks at the case study of Germany and how, if you wish to include more women in the workforce, childcare is required.
• Blue Milk looks at the recent article by Roasabeth Moss Kanter, which presumes  stay-at-home parenting is easy and parents re-entering the workforce put ‘nappy-changing’ on their resumes.

 Judgement Day

• Mindy at Hoyden About Town writes a short but compelling expansion on BlueMilk’s post about others judging parents, and in particular, mothers. (Unfortunately, it happens a lot in our society, and even in feminism!)
• Kim at News With Nipples looks at the body-shaming of pregnant women who wear maternity clothes.

Miss Representation

• Orlando at Hoyden About Town chronicles their responses to some of their favourite dark, fantastical heroines and storyworlds.
• Jo at A Life Unexamined talks intelligently about the representation and interpretation of classical female figures of antiquity.
• Kim at News With Nipples looks at the horrendous, dehumanizing way Reeva Steenkamp, a woman recently murdered by her boyfriend and Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, was portrayed in the media twenty-four hours after her death.
  
• Tallulahspankhead from The Lady Garden, emphasises how the media chose to report women in the workforce not through a female expert on the subject, but through an arrogant misogynist of a journalist.
• Stargazer, from The Hand Mirror reports upon the recent case of Oscar Pistorius and how Reeva Steenkamp, the women allegedly murdered at his hand, has become simply a side story to the tragedy Pistorius’ life has become.

Difference of Opinion

• Chrys at Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear questions why politicians keep denying that creationism is being taught in Australian science classes when it obviously still is.
• Opinions @ Bluebec discusses Geert Wilders recent visit to Australia and the blatant Islamaphobia he espouses, before debunking all his theories surrounding ‘The Muslim Invasion’. 

Somewhere, Over The Rainbow

• EJ Cook from Settle Petal discusses her recent experiences talking to a friend about her new roller-derby obsession, as well as how roller-derby does not necessarily denote a particular sexuality. 
• Over at The Stirrer, Chrys points out that all those people saying that Tony Abbott has all these GLBT friends just makes him look a whole lot worse.

Love The Skin You’re In

• Tallulahspankhead, from The Lady Garden, after witnessing the fat-shaming of a manatee, emphasises and espouses the beauty of embracing your own body, of being someone awesome not in spite of your body, but because of it. 
• Ariane’s Little World features the bodily autonomy of children and how her second son, Charlie, embraces the literal meaning of ‘My Body, My Rules’.

Equality? Muuuum, are we there yet?

• Alison Wonderwound, writing for the NUS Women’s Department explores whether ‘Angry Feminists’ should disappear (and arrives at a resounding ‘No!’).
• LudditeJourno from The Hand Mirror examines the common argument in relation to gender inequality ‘what about teh menz?’, before focussing on the case of male rights and sexual abuse activist Ken Clearwater.
• Blue Milk focuses on how parenting expert Steve Biddulph, in his new book ‘Raising Girls’ has essentially ‘created’ feminism. Because, well, it just didn’t exist before.
• Lorelei Links, writing for NUS Women’s Department considers how the 90’s ideal of ‘Girl Power’ has morphed into a sexualised movement for empowering women.
• Deborah at A Bee of a Certain Age has more news on that pesky pay gap: the jobs with the biggest discrepancies between men and women are also those with the highest wages. Anyone surprised?

This DUFC is brought to you by Johanna Qualmann, Madeline Price and Emma Di Bernardo.
Jo blogs at A Life Unexamined.
Madeline blogs at The Feminist Agenda.
Emma doesn’t blog, yo.
But you can read our zines here!