Articles
Happy endings, massage and exploitation: Stuck between a towel and a hard place
Sometimes the smallest shifts are the hardest to make. So you make a drastic move and opt, instead, to change everything. Moving to Australia from Turkey was that change for me. I came to Melbourne to escape an abusive relationship, the cultural codes stuck to my body from birth, my job as an art director, the prestige of my education …
“When are you going to stop writing about [Insert issue]?” An author’s guide to writing about your own oppression, part two
Charles O’Grady shares his lessons on writing about your own oppression.
HIDDEN Photography Project: Bringing LGBTIQ domestic and family violence out of the closet
The HIDDEN Photography Project is a stirring conceptual photography project that aims to raise awareness of domestic and family violence within the LGBTIQ community.
“When are you going to stop writing about [insert issue]?” – an author’s guide to writing about your own oppression
Charles O’Grady shares his lessons on writing about your own oppression.
Two years ago, Sydney’s infamous lockout laws were introduced on Mardi Gras weekend. While the official Mardi Gras party lay outside the exclusion zone, the raft of parties on Oxford St and the CBD scrambled to remind revellers to be in by 1:30, create makeshift smoking areas, and decide what to do once last drinks …
Writer/Director Julie Kalceff has created a world where intense, emotional and intimate relationships between lesbians are explored without using sexuality in a dramatic way to drive the narrative.
I became truly fearless the day I returned to the old school, no frills, male-dominated boxing gym that I had attended for years as a female. My friend had outed me to a huge, burley macho guy. But I stood strong before him without showing any fear while awaiting his reaction, even though I was terrified …
Popular TV is now littered with lesbians: Orphan Black, The L Word, Sugar Rush, Lip Service, Lost Girl, Glee… need I go on? Cheesy or not, we’re out there in prime time. What draws me to these programs is their realism: lesbians exist in their everyday ordinariness (well, and with superpowers). I can’t say the …
Pinkwashing by corporate giants, responsible as they have historically been for the erasure of queer visibility, rubs salt into the wound. Lest we forget that none of these companies support the marginalised unless they come with a profit margin.
Last week the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission launched Pride Not Prejudice, a short film marking fifteen years since sexual orientation and gender identity were included in Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act. The launch night was pretty remarkable, as those in the video and on the panel afterwards reflected on what life was like …
For a long time, I thought self-acceptance of my own bisexuality was enough. No one asked me for a label and I experienced very little overt discrimination. I toyed with the idea of telling my folks early on, but an older lesbian friend of mine advised against it. She knew that coming out to family …
“There were no women at all in that film.” This is an initial observation from a member of ‘the Queer Agenda’ – a fictionalised gay lobby who presides over the film to be screened during opening night of the Mardi Gras Film Festival. The ‘lobby’ is the central focus of writer/director Craig Boreham’s 2016 MGFF …
My first time masturbating was more awkward than my first sexual experience with someone else. Possibly because I had no idea what I was doing, uncertain as to what my body actually enjoyed, and because I was a fumbling 24 year old, alone in a sharehouse bedroom, desperately hoping nobody would hear the quiet …
Trigger warning: This article contains descriptions of homophobic behaviour and stigma around STIs. “Oi! Lez be friends! Lez hold hands! Lez be friends!” Two teenage boys followed my girlfriend and I down an empty backstreet of Glebe, heckling us. We kept walking and avoided looking back. Eventually, they yelled some final slur and ducked down an …
We’ve pored over this year’s Midsumma program to bring you a selection of events that seek to arouse debate and challenge our views on gender, sexuality and the body. Word is Out Melbourne queer bookstore Hares and Hyenas has a variety of launches, talks and performances over the course of the next month. More than …
Chances are, my parents knew something was up. The day after Mum told us she was leaving Dad, we went for a miserable walk – just the two of us. In that blank sadness, a shot of adrenalin hit me when she said: ‘and maybe soon you can start talking to me about what’s going …
Want to learn erotic yoga, navigate non-traditional relationships, or sensually tie up the babe you met on New Years Eve? You might want to try Sydney’s Festival of Really Good Sex. Entering its fifth year, the festival promises five days of interactive workshops, films and discussions spanning topics like Mindfulness, Physicality, Creativity and Imagination, Movement and …
LISTEN: In Conversation with Archer feat. Simona Castricum, Dion Kagan + Rochelle Siemienowicz
“If you’re very serious when you’re talking about taboos, you’re very unlikely to put other people at ease.” – Dion Kagan, Archer Magazine #5 launch To celebrate the launch of Archer Magazine’s fifth issue, we heard readings from three writers that appear in the new edition, and interrogated their work with a short Q&A. Their articles revolve around …
We’ve had a big year over here, at Archer HQ. We launched our ageing issue and our culture issue, expanded into the US, toured the UK and Europe, and won an award from the United Nations. Our team also doubled in size, to about 12 volunteers plus a whole heap of supporters. We always keep an eye on what our readers …
ACON, an LGBTI health organisation based in Sydney, recently unveiled their revamped Test Often campaign, which is a welcome step forward in including marginalised groups.
Following the release of her memoir, Reckoning, actor and comedian Magda Szubanski chats to us about sexuality, creativity and family.
Non-monogamy is commonly dismissed as deceitful and risky, while STIs are branded as the consequence of promiscuity.