Articles by Shakira Hussein

After Julia Gillard tripped on her high heels during a visit to the Gandhi memorial in New Delhi last year, New Limited put together a list of the “Five Best Political Falls”. John Howard’s 2007 slip in Perth came in at number two, behind Fidel Castro falling off stage at the end of a speech [...]

In the aftermath of the attack on the Boston marathon, commentators such as Jonathan Green on The Drum and Rafia Zakaria at Guernica have discussed the disparity of media attention towards the small number of casualties in the Boston compared to the routine slaughter in locations like Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria. I remembered introducing a yoga [...]

I was out of town for most of the Melbourne Comedy Festival, but I was back in time to catch the final session of Aamer Rahman’s “The Truth Hurts”. Given that the show was very heavily booked, it seems likely to have a repeat airing. I was about to recommend it with a proviso about [...]

If the opinion polls are anywhere near the ballpark, by next International Women’s Day Australia will no longer have a female Prime Minister. It’s time to start thinking about feminism after Julia Gillard. And we could start by acknowledging that her Prime Ministership was no feminist victory. Of course, women had to fight for the [...]

“Join us for an evening with an exceptional politician, author, and very brave man.” That’s the message on the Q society flyer, although another way of putting it would be “Pay $66 to a shadowy fringe organisation for the dubious privilege of listening to a visiting racist hate-monger”. Next week, Dutch MP and far-right figurehead [...]

Tim Mathieson is keen to encourage men to take responsibility for their health, and he knows that it’s an uphill battle. So he tries to make a prostate examination sound like fun. “We can get a blood test for it, but the digital examination is the only true way to get a correct reading on [...]

Oh, Dilbert. From Afghan religious extremists to silver-haired Melbourne cyber-hipsters – you know us so well.

Dictionaries are seldom headline news, but the Macquarie dictionary is at the centre of political debate today after deciding to revise its definition of the word “misogyny” in the wake of recent political events. Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop do not approve. In their opinion, words do not change on a Prime Ministerial whim. Perhaps they [...]

Gillard’s eloquence on the subject of misogyny was not the most important feminist issue in federal parliament yesterday.

Articles by various Muslim writers this week have displayed differing impulses, sometimes within the same article. I’m hedging my bets and trying both.