Author Archives: Maia

Step by Step

I was reading about abortion and birth control int he 1930s, and I read this quote: I have three living well grown loving daughters and have always had a reasonable rest between, thanks due entirely to my husband who never … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc | 15 Comments

Review: No Future For You: Part 1 (SPOILERS)

I’m in. I was undecided about whether the comic book was ‘Buffy’. I accepted it was cannon, Joss says goes. But I just wasn’t sure whether I was going to treat it like Buffy. I’m not a comic book person, … Continue reading

Posted in Buffy, Whedon, etc., Cartooning & comics, Gender and the Body | 3 Comments

The Greatest?

When I post New Zealand centred posts here I usually do a lot of translation, explaining things that aren’t well known outside of this corner of the world. I’m not going to do that this time, it’s just too complicated … Continue reading

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Feminism, sexism, etc | 3 Comments

A mistake I hope to only make once

I’m going to retell a story I’ve written about before. A few years back some friends of mine dragged me to a feminist meeting at the house of a woman I didn’t know, although I realised when I got there … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues | 7 Comments

Abortions also make women skinnier….

The Health Select Committee has just recommended extending paid parental leave to six months, to encourage breast feeding. As a supporter of paid parental leave (or, more accurately, as someone who believes that paid parental leave doesn’t go nearly far … Continue reading

Posted in Breastfeeding & Lactivism, Fat, fat and more fat, Gender and the Body | 5 Comments

Teacher's on strike

I have very fond memories of teachers’ pay negotiations. My sixth form maths teacher was a staunch unionist and also very distractable. We could get a good half hour off calculus with a well-timed question like “What’s happening with the … Continue reading

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Feminism, sexism, etc | 95 Comments

Money and Blood

What I mind, of course, is that my time is getting short, that I won’t see my youngest grandchild grow up — those things that you’re gonna miss. I remember my father feeling like that. I have a poem about … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc | Comments Off on Money and Blood

Feminism and prisons

There’s a really interesting post at Feministe on tensions between feminist attitudes towards violence against women and a radical (or liberal, or progressive) analysis of the prison system. It’s certainly been a tension I’ve felt as I’ve cheered some men … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues | 17 Comments

If only people would just die of the shame like they're supposed to

While I write a bit about bodies, fat and ‘the obesity epidemic’ I don’t write that much about the health aspects of this. Mostly because I largely find them irrelevant. Other people can do very good jobs of proving that … Continue reading

Posted in Fat, fat and more fat, Gender and the Body | 4 Comments

What could be more of a challenge?

Project Runway has got everything you’d want in a reality show, interesting challenges, weird people and a look at a different world. In the most recent episode here in NZ the challenge was to design for another contestant’s mother or … Continue reading

Posted in Fat, fat and more fat, Feminism, sexism, etc, Gender and the Body | 15 Comments