This week's episode was the first in a two-part look at the state of gender equality in the Australian music industry following a bunch of research that has come out over the last few weeks, including the recently published “Skipping a Beat” Report led by Associate Professor Rae Cooper from the University of Sydney Business School.

We heard from Dr. Catherine Strong, a senior lecturer from RMIT University who recently conducted research commissioned by APRA AMCOS exploring how gender affects and is perceived by Australian screen composers. Dr. Catherine Strong spoke about the findings, and her thoughts on other similar research such as the Skipping A Beat report.

Following the research, APRA AMCOS - the music body that collects royalties for musicians in Australia - has committed to doubling the intake of new female members in three years; introduced strict 40 per cent female participation measures in its programs, judging panels and performers at its events; announced a mentorship program for emerging artists, and has called on the rest of the industry to follow their lead and commit to gender parity.

We were also joined now by Del Lumanta to talk about All Girl Electronic, a program run by Information Cultural Exchange featuring free workshops and special events for young women starting out in electronic music production.

Jordan’s Parliament has just repealed a law that allowed rapists to escape punishment if they married their victim. Article 308 pardoned rapists if they agreed to marry their victim and stay with them for 3 years. King Abdullah the 11 set up a committee in 2016 that recommended abolishing the code.

New Zealand’s opposition leader n a morning television interview, stating,  “for other women, it is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace.”

Officials in Georgia’s most populous county want Live Nation to cancel R Kelly’s upcoming Atlanta performance in the wake of accusations of sexual abuse by the musicians. 

Iconic Feminist artist Cindy Sherman is back making art. Originally noticed by Artnet, photographer Cindy Sherman suddenly has a public Instagram account with hundreds of posts in a surprise show of new material for fans of the photographer.  

Boob towels.  

Twitter users of color are now sharing stories about the first time they saw themselves represented in the media with the hashtag #FirstTimeISawMe.

This week we were joined by Sydney musician OKENYO, who spoke to us about her new single Woman's World. She spoke about equality in the corporate world, making political statements through art.

We spoke about the toxic culture of sexual violence in the music industry, from Rick Ross recently stating that he wouldn’t sign a lady to Maybach Music because he wouldnt be able to not have sex with them, to R Kelly and Dr Luke. To counter that we wanted to share NPR's list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women. 

In current politics, Trump has announced on Twitter that transgender people will be banned from serving in the US millitary, despite the military spending five times as much on Viagra as it would on transgender troops' medical care.

We rounded off the show with the new Charli XCX track Boys. The self-directed, boy-packed video, which turns the tables on gender roles and the male gaze in pop videos, has Diplo and Khalid cuddling with puppies, Joe Jonas tucking into a tall stack, Riz Ahmed getting cozy with a teddy bear, Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie in a pile of rose petals, and so on.

Women In The Arts will be hosting a panel discussion on July 29 in Erskineville as part of Island Salon's launch. Island Salon unites a band of female artists across a broad spectrum of media in an immersive, island-inspired cinema experience. We'll be hosting a panel talk with Island Salon participants Philippa Barr, Kate Brown, Jannah Quill and Eugene Choi, so come along for some live music, poetry, performance and conversation. More details here.

The Doctor is a lady, R Kelly is allegedly holding women and girls hostage in an sex cult, and China is selling anti pervert flame throwers to women. But what does it all mean? Will the music industry stop protecting predators? Will the patriarchy let an immortal, shapeshifting alien be a woman this one time? Can Chinese women walk home in peace?

...probably not, but Teen Vogue did the gender non-binary issue right, and we have to give it to Mama Vogue, who released six videos of Celine Dion living her best life.
In more great first lady news -  the Japanese first lady Akie Abe is all of us for pretending she couldn’t speak english for 2 hours to avoid talking to Trump this week.

This week we were joined by guests Lille and Madeleine Madden, who are Gadigal, Arrernte, Kalkadoon, Bundjalung sisters living in Sydney’s Inner West.

They were recently involved in the multimedia work Barangaroo Ngangamay (Barangaroo Dreaming), which explored indigenous languages through The Sydney Language project. Lille also spoke about her work as zookeeper at Taronga Zoo, working with the Australian Fauna. Maddy, who just finished shooting the adaption of Picnic at Hanging Rock, spoke about her experience being visible a black woman in mainstream media.

Yesterday was International Non-Binary People’s Day. Contrary to what Vogue published in their recent nonbinary issue, being nonbinary is a bit more complex than borrowing your boyfriend's clothes. Non-binary or Genderqueer refers to gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine‍—‌identities which are outside of the gender binary and cisnormativity.

We celebrated the 20 year anniversary of Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott's debut album Supa Dupa Fly, which still holds up as one of the greatest musical debuts of all time. Over her impressive career, Elliott’s message has had a clear feminist message that "women, whether conforming to heteronormative gender binaries or not, are equal to men, as important as men, and as powerful."

Go Home, Everything Is Terrible: The Week In News From A Feminist Perspective

Beyonce blessed us with a very strong photo of Rumi and Sir. It’s a good omen.

Twitter blew up this week when a Michigan CEO’s reply to his employee’s sick day email went viral. 

Feminist activist Sheila Michaels, who played a key role in bringing the title "Ms." from obscurity into mainstream use, has died at 78.

Black Mirror’s ‘San Junipero’ has been nominated for two Emmys in a win for the visibility of queer women on television.

Selma director Ava DuVernay has a new film in the works featuring Mindy Kalling, Reese Witherspoon and none other than Oprah. A Wrinkle In Time is the upcoming adaption of the 1963 science/fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle.

Tyler, the Creator may have come out as gay or bisexual in a newly leaked track from album Flower Boy. Fans have noticed a line in track I Ain't Got Time! where Tyler raps: "Next line will have them like woah / I been kissing white boys since 2004."

Trump has come under fire (again) for his comments about the first lady of France Brigitte Macron, telling her that she was “in good shape” and “beautiful”. 

What hasn’t received the same kind of attention is the French President Emmanuel Macron giving his wife a “butt tap”during a Paris tour with Donald and Melania Trump. Playful PDA or a display of ownership?

In an update on the Rob Kardashian revenge porn incident, Chyna appeared outside of a courthouse Monday, where a judge had issued an order that prohibits Kardashian from “coming near her and restraining him from cyber bullying,” including posting anything about her online of “a personal nature,” according to her attorney Lisa Bloom.

The Daily Telegraph has outdone itself, with an article published earlier this week depicting being LGBT as a “health concern”. In the infographic, the stats pulled from a recent survey detail behaviour by young Aussies that apparently "contribute" to their unhealthiness, under the headline of "Fat Chance Of Being Healthy". Included in this are alcohol/cannabis/drug consumption, overweight/obesity levels, "psychological distress", and the percentage of young people that are either same-sex or multiple-sex attracted.

This week we heard from Grey Jones, the teenage co-founder of Arts Not Parts, an initative using art to protest against bigotry. Co-founded along with Irregular Labs, artists such as Sia and Peaches have designed posters in support of transgender and non-binary youth using their bathroom of choice in schools. Find out more info about the project and download your own poster: www.artsnotparts.com

Grey spoke to us in depth about how the initiative started, the current "bathroom bills" in the US, and how she navigates gender identity in an online space. We were also lucky enough to hear from Grey's unreleased EP "Clown In Residence" with her track "Boy Online".

We took a look at news from a feminist perspective in Go Home, Everything Is Terrible.

In good news...

And in bad news...

Sweden's biggest music festival Bravalla was cancelled for 2018 earlier this month after 27 sexual assaults were reported this year. Swedish comedian Emma Knyckare is organising a "man-free" music festival in response to the cancellation.

This week we spoke about diversity in Australian TV. The recent census results showed us that Australia continues to be a diverse country, but do our TV shows reflect this? We chatted about our fav shows telling new and diverse stories, from ABC's You Can't Ask That to the Netflix series GLOW.

We had a look a the week in news from a feminist perspective with our new segment Go Home, Everything Is Terrible*.

We were also joined by Sydney filmmaker Diana Popovska, who directed, co-wrote and stars in her upcoming webseries PLANS, and Angelika Alana who also stars in the show. Dealing with issues of sex, violence, addiction, mental health issues, love and heartbreak, the series tells the stories of culturally diverse and queer young people in Sydney.

*Segment title subject to change.

-This week we explored the week in feminism with the best and worst of current affairs and news from a feminist angle.

-We also took a deeper look at the recent Sam Newman controversy on the Footy Show, and Giegling Festival co-founder Konstantin's comments on female DJs.

-We were joined by the incredible Brisbane rapper Miss Blanks who just wrapped up her Clap Clap single tour with a bunch of Sydney shows at the Women In Electronic Music Showcase, Heaps Gay and Club 77. She spoke about visibility, allyship and the importance of being uncomfortable. Listen to Ayabatonye Abrakasa's excellent talk on Decolonising Club Culture for more.

This episode we spoke about the recent Roxanne Gay and Mia Freedman controversy and cultural appriopriation blunders in celebrity culture.

Check out this great talk by Princess Nokia for more on cultural appropriation.

We also explore our first online experiences from overly-polite questions on Ask Jeeves to cyberbullying on Neopets with Sydney artist Sabella D'Souza, who shared her early experiences with feminism and her current research on online autonomous spaces.

Sabella will be speaking on Women In The Arts' event, Contemporary Art, Feminism and the Internet at the MCA from 3pm on June 17.

This episode we practised what we preached with a bit of self-care, taking a break from the usual feminist news reporting and focusing on our two incredible guests, Emma Size and Hannah Bronte.

We were joined by emerging writer and performance artist Emma Size who spoke with us about drag kings, erotic fanfictionand her upcoming work at Masculinity_Megamix at 3Merge.

Brisbane based artist Hannah Bronte, whose work centers on resilience, Indigenous politics, matriarchal futures and challenging current societal structures. Hannah recently curated After party for Vivid Sydney and is DJing at the upcoming Heaps Gay Festival for Vivid Sydney: The Kaleidoscope.

This episode, we broke the taboo around periods, exploring how the silence around menstruation affects people around the world, from education and sanitation to emojis.

We were also joined by Elvis Richardson, founder of CoUNTess - the organisation researching gender representation in Australian contemporary art. Elvis spoke about the challenges around collecting data, and how research methodologies have evolved as conversations around gender and intersectionality have become more diverse. You can donate to the cause here.