Rachel Macpherson reflects on her first experience at the 2023 Australian Historical Association Conference, with the conference theme of ‘Milestones’. The 2023 Australian Historical Association Conference opened avenues of research and connection that I could have never fathomed. The conference theme … Continue reading
Should We Stop Eating Meat? The Case from Victorian England
Ruby Ekkel unpacks Anna Kingsford’s arguments for feminist vegetarianism in the age of English roast beef. Life as a nineteenth-century vegetarian could be hard. Meat was held in high esteem as a sign of wealth and a promoter of British … Continue reading
Icons of the ‘Comfort Women’ Movement: Considering the Plight of Indonesian Survivor Activists
Katharine McGregor explores how Indonesian women engaged in activism after coming forward with their experiences of sexual violence during World War Two. The San Francisco Column of Strength Monument includes a statue made in the likeness of Kim Hak Sun (1924-1997), … Continue reading
Revisiting the Revolution: Voting with our feet
Elizabeth Reid reflects on gender politics and on being a revolutionary in a reformist job in the Whitlam government, 1972 to 1975, and its relevance half a century later. In December 1972 – just over half a century ago – … Continue reading
Pink and Breast Cancer Awareness: Views from Batswana Women
In the next blog in the VIDA colour series, Unaludo Sechele explores how the colour pink has influenced women’s understandings of breast cancer awareness in Botswana. Pink, like many other colours, is a colour that has been embraced all over … Continue reading
Yellow Ribbons and Yellow Butterflies
Vera Mackie considers the deployment of the colour yellow in diverse political contexts, from protest against sexual violence to protest both for and against democratic principles. No colour has intrinsically positive or negative connotations. It depends on the evolving context … Continue reading
The ‘Teal’ Community Independents: Women changing the face of Australian politics
Angelika Heurich explores the ideological influence of attributing the colour teal to define community independents as a collective political identity rather than true independents in modern Australian politics. Colours have long been used in political campaigns and by social movements to signify political … Continue reading
A Filmic History Of Harassment From 9 to 5: Disclosure to Bombshell
Susan Hopkins explores a filmic history of sexual harassment through films containing an array of representations across film culture. This filmic analysis highlights the changes and consistencies throughout time. Lived histories of feminism are reflected and reworked in films and … Continue reading
Look At Me: #WearOrange and gun violence activism in the United States
Megan Doney explores how the colour orange has come to represent the movement against gun violence and how such protests intersect with the feminisation of gun violence activism. Orange is one of the “most polarizing” colours, writes Katy Kelleher in The … Continue reading
Women, protest, and the colour black: South Africa and Israel/Palestine
In the next instalment of the Colour Series, Rebecca Swartz, Ana Stevenson and Sarah-Jane Walton engage with the representation of the colour black in protest movements to challenge the apartheid state and end gender-based violence. In September 2019, following the … Continue reading