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By Kelly Cvetkova Still nursing their wounds from a humiliating defeat in the marriage equality survey, Christian conservatives have launched a new crusade against the rights of LGBTI people. Pentecostal Prime Minister Scott Morrison has wasted no time after the Coalition’s successful re-election to strengthen the legal discrimination against LGBTI people with his recent announcement of a Religious Discrimination Bill. Compiling policies proposed by the Australian Christian Lobby and Philip Ruddock – a veteran of state-sanctioned homophobia, having introduced the 2004 amendment restricting marriage to a man and a woman, the Coalition’s proposed law seeks only to enshrine a right

by Britt Munro   As a serious journalist who investigates the pressing issues of our time (please see my recent piece ‘Dogs vs Cats: The Ultimate Showdown’), when delving into the world of interviewing, I was shocked that so many celebs rudely ignored my calls. Rami Malek, if you’re reading this, I was particularly disappointed in you. After seeing Bohemian Rhapsody eight times over summer (I am NOT crazy!) I have practically funded your retirement. So, in no way a last resort (let’s be honest — it helps she can’t refuse), who better to interview for her take on the

By Milly Downing  During at least one point in our lives we’ve all imagined what having kids will be like, with varying degrees of romanticism. It’s the most natural human instinct we’ve got, to bump and grind and reproduce.  But if you’re someone like me, a proud LGBTQ+ member, having kids means imagining going down routes like IVF, sperm donations, egg donations and surrogacy.  Obviously it’s early to be thinking about kids, you don’t have to tell me that. But when it comes to alternative fertility, our largest exposure is Kim and Kanye’s second surrogate baby on the way. It isn’t

A few weeks ago, I read an opinion piece in The Age that was deeply critical of liberal Western forth-wave feminism. The writer argues that the ‘Free the Nipple’ movement, protesting against things such as the removal of pictures of nipples from Facebook, distracts from ‘real’ issues for women, such as domestic violence, and serious physical and sexual violence. For a few reasons, this article upset me. For one, it misses the point about the ‘Free the Nipple’ movement. Secondly, the author demeans other women’s experiences by arguing that just because the author enjoyed being wolf whistled, that it was

By Jaclyn Holland If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my time in Melbourne, it’s that everyone has a story to tell from an experience using PTV. Whether the situation was funny, gross or downright frustrating, the story is always guaranteed to be entertaining. That being said, I almost can’t believe no one made this show earlier. Starring an ordinary group of PTO’s with a disconcerting obsession for fining as many unfortunate souls as possible, Spunk Collective’s sketch comedy Law and Order: PTV portrays a hilarious collection of utterly relatable scenes straight from Melbourne’s public transport system. With the help

Student publications like this are often replete with reflective pieces about life-changing semesters abroad. Often students describe finding themselves through the challenges presented by life in a new cultural context. What I found was politics—real politics. The politics of the street.  On exchange in an obscure university town in southwest Germany, I took a four-hour train ride every weekend for over a month, to join the gilets jaunes in France as they attempted to overthrow their government.  For several months now, thousands of ordinary people across France have been revolting against President Emmanuel Macron, the poster boy for neoliberal reform.

With the latest film in her oeuvre You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay has revealed a royal flush to modern Hollywood. To describe the film as a thriller would be a gross injustice. Ramsay mixes elements of horror, both psychological and visceral, but fundamentally refutes any simplistic labelling of the film's genre. It has similar bones to the excellent 2012 Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, and 1978's seminal Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese. But that is where the comparisons end. Based on a novel by Jonathan Ames, You Were Never Really Here delivers a somewhat simplistic plot: a

 and some days all this air in my lungs feels less like a gift and more like a burden,   a challenge to prove I am deserving of each and every lungful,  and I am far too tired to live in order to prove a point.    and I have come to realise that 'loving' and 'understanding' are not always twins,   sometimes they are simply strangers sitting at the same bus stop,  and perhaps the only one who can offer me both is the person blinking back at me in the mirror,  she who breathes in time with me, through that

Sorry you’re not getting your regular dose of informative Jane Doe goodness this issue, but my brain was pretty fried after exams. Instead I thought we could have a little bit of a chat about two of my least (and most) favourite things: Twitter and Tinder. Tinder can be a great way of meeting new people and having fun (sexy) times, but it also often makes users feel unsafe. Therefore, I decided to compile a set of twisters based on my own Tinder Survival Tales to raise awareness about how we talk about sex on social media. Hope you enjoy! 

Australia is a breeding ground for amazing music. The 20th century saw the likes of INXS, ACDC, Nick Cave, and the Bee Gees rise to the global stage, but even the stature of these legends cannot cast a shadow over the artists emerging from the Aussie music scene today. A number of these artists are making their marks on the psychedelic rock resurgence through their marriage of 60’s sounds with modern music-making technologies and techniques. This has made neo-psychedelia a focal point in Australian music in recent years. Psychedelic music is typically characterised by its ability to reproduce or stimulate

Few outside the LGBTQIA+ community or uninitiated into the Freudian slip that is student politics would have heard of Queer Collaborations conference (QC). As its name suggests, QC is a national conference for queer people, mainly attended by students. The conference has existed since 1991 and usually occurs in mid-July with at least 200 delegates in attendance from all across Australia. While conference registration is unrestricted, the majority of attendees are university students who are active members of their respective institutions' queer collectives or clubs. QC enables queer people from across Australia to engage in community building, work on campaigns

For years I would struggle to stay afloat as wave after wave of hopeless panic hit me square in the chest, sweeping me further away from the shore of reality. Lying in bed, paralysed by every anxious thought my mind could conjure up, I would sweat with fear as each minute passed. Each night felt like a nightmare, one which many people would recognise all too well. Anxiety. I had always had a passion for writing, ever since primary school. I had a vivid and overly active imagination, and also loved words. When I began to fall into a pattern