Articles
I’ve been having a lot of discussions with people about the recent bashing of a friend of mine, a transwoman, an incident that received a great deal of attention in the media. For my friend, this has meant that her safety in the street is in question even more so than before, because suddenly everybody …
Archer Asks: Queenie Bon Bon, comedian, sex worker, and star of Melbourne Fringe show, Power Up
Queenie Bon Bon is a professional stripper, pleasure provider and fantasy maker. Her latest show, Power Up, is at Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Fresh from screening at both the Sydney Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival, Sean Baker’s latest indie sensation Tangerine stars trans actress Kitana Kiki Rodriguez as Sin-Dee, a sex worker scorned and on the hunt for the cisgender woman who stole her pimp boyfriend. Set on Christmas eve, it also features the fabulous …
Sex is an art. And one that lesbians in particular have apparently, according to myth, taken a few decades to get their heads and legs around. Let alone actually in their beds. Today however, lesbian women have more orgasms, better sex and sex that lasts longer than their heterosexual female counterparts. And they’ve also mastered Lesbian …
Breaking gender norms by existing as a masculine-of-centre female presents far more challenges to other people than you’d think. It contributes to awkward situations, from enthusiastic thumps on the back from blokey blokes and playful physical flirtation from women (more unnecessary and often unwanted physical contact), to an expectation to take the lead romantically, which …
Whenever we think of AIDS, we are immediately drawn back to the 80s when its emergence was at the forefront of Australian media. To say that it was a difficult period would be a major understatement – people were getting the virus left and right, casual sex received a bad reputation and our government hoped …
“She let me come inside her,” my brother said as he walked into my apartment. “Who, one of my girls? Was this last night?” I replied in shock. “No, no. This was different, some French girl I met last night,” he responded, as he sunk into the couch and turned on the television. “Ohh that’s …
Caught in the act: The ethics of watching the Ashley Madison cheating scandal unfold
There is something thrilling about watching a cheater get caught. It’s a story with all the good stuff – transgression, deception, exposure, betrayal. The recent hack of infidelity hub Ashley Madison promises all those pleasures, on an unprecedented scale, with the bonus thrill of vigilante justice. Like so many internet-savvy Batmen, the hackers responsible have …
It was a bright day in Katoomba. I was there on a trip to see my family, and I had forgotten what sunny days there looked like. I guess I had pushed that aside among the memories of all the ‘shit’ that happened while growing up, engulfing most of my recollections of the Blue Mountains …
Walter Crasshole is a US-born writer and porn performer, and founder of new men’s sex website, Dandy Dicks.
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would …
I am trans. I started hormone therapy four months ago, so I am still in the early days of my transition. This means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To me, it means I’m trying my hardest to live an open, proud and authentic life. To some people, it means …
Amy Middleton is the founding editor of Archer Magazine. One of the beautiful things about Archer Magazine is how many diverse groups and individuals it brings together through its content. I’m not only talking about the different identities and communities that make up our readership, but also the gap this publication bridges between identity politics …
Enforced sex positivity and the need for self-reflection within the queer community
The queer community has developed a tendency to enforce certain notions of sex positivity to the detriment of the true personal and sexual liberation of some of its members. This mimics the oppressive elements of the world of heteronormative dating that queer sexual politics is apparently different from. Manifestations of sex positivity, along with an …
Constance and Eric are a US based photography duo who take intimate portraits of couples, groups, and individuals.
In 2004, then-prime minister John Howard introduced the Marriage Amendment Bill, which incorporated the common law definition of marriage – “the union of a man and a woman to exclusion of all others” – into both the Marriage Act and the Family Law Act. It thereby gave Australia’s same-sex marriage movement its impetus. Australia now …
I passed by a familiar face at the top of the stairs. He smiled knowingly at me. I remembered him from a one-time fuck some months ago – a face that had popped up on apps a few times, but had never materialised in the flesh again, until now. We spoke openly, the silence …
This article contains Orange is the New Black Season Three Spoilers. The first time I can remember seeing a trans person on TV was Silence of the Lambs. It was at a movie night with friends and we gasped and laughed and hid behind our hands as Buffalo Bill sneered “it puts the lotion in …
For all its downfalls and erasures, the coming out of Caitlyn Jenner did bring the discussion between the language of medicine and transgender people into my lab. A colleague recently approached me, I’m guessing because of my gay aura, to ask some questions about transgender issues. They didn’t have any opinions or judgements. They just …
How would we feel, Nietzsche wondered, if a demon visited us in our darkest hour to deliver the message that this moment, and every other from birth to death, would be lived again and again for eternity? Would the knowledge of a life that echoed throughout time lend it a crushing weight? Or would we be able to affirm each moment’s eternal recurrence? …
Rather than retaining the gendered default with all its risk of offence and irrelevance, what if the norm were a gender-neutral pronoun?
I’m just going to say this now: Fred Nile had no place on the queer episode of ABC’s Q&A. We held our first ever In Conversation with Archer event in Sydney last week. The topic was diverse identities, and how they are shaped by our age and the society around us as we grew up. …