Does Hashtag Activism Actually Work?
On April 14 about 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist organisation in Nigeria. The girls, committing the heinous crime of desiring an education, were taken by the Islamist...
Category: Human Rights
Hobby Lobby and Buffer Zones: The Supreme Court’s Attack on Women
The Supreme Court dealt a one-two punch to women’s rights this week, first striking down the buffer zones surrounding reproductive health clinics and then affirming Hobby Lobby’s ‘right’ to...
The Obvious Child Ad Controversy: Why is Abortion Still a Taboo Subject on TV?
More than 40 years after Roe v Wade, how is abortion still a taboo subject on television? Most networks dance around it as though they’re afraid the world will collapse if abortion is discussed,...
Housing Children With Adults: Ireland’s Mental Health Shame
The child rights spotlight is firmly on Ireland at the moment. The latest harrowing news is that, in 2013, eighty-three children were placed in adult psychiatric units. The Code of Practice Relating...
How Progressive is Orange is the New Black, Really?
Everyone’s watching the latest season of Orange is the New Black, but what does that really say about US culture and society? As the thinkpieces roll out, fans fill Twitter, and roundtable...
#YesAllWomen: A Call to Action Against Misogyny
I spent all day Saturday participating in the #YesAllWomen tag, which was created in response to the Isla Vista shooting blamed on Elliot Rodgers. I woke up the next morning to discover that my...
Why We Ignore Male Terrorism: On the Santa Barbara shootings
The sounds of what I am told is a gun rally pound against the windows of my hotel room in Madison, Wisconsin, as I write. A man’s angry voice, distorted by amplification, and the sounds of a...
How Sex Workers Are Denied Banking Online
In the United States, if you’re a critically ill sex worker, society will leave you to die, as adult performer Eden Alexander has learned over the last few days. After starting a fundraiser to help...
Australia’s Budget Attack on Its Poor, Young and Vulnerable
Australians woke up this morning in bewilderment, anger, and, for many, without the secure future they’d been promised in the supposed Lucky Country. Federal Liberal Party Treasurer Joe Hockey...
Eurovision: A Referendum on Putin’s Russia
The Eurovision Song Contest, that glorious, glittery spectacle that isn’t just out of left field, but comprises the field, had quite the 2014 edition. A televised competition featuring entrants...