The Focus

Sex sex sex sex sex. Offended yet?

The Focus – December 26th, 2007 by Sarah

I’ve just finished reading an article about the most offensive television advertisements of 2007 (check out www.smh.com.au). According to the Advertising Standards Bureau, an ad for Nando’s chicken which depicted a pole-dancing mum brought in the most complaints, followed in no particular order by an animated ad for an energy drink which featured old people […]

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Issue overload…must expound on all of them…NOW!!

The Focus – December 21st, 2007 by Sarah

Not one but three seemingly unrelated issues are on my mind at present. For entertainment purposes and as a test of my keen intellect, I’m going to try to weave them all together into an intricate web of social justice dilemmas.
I just finished reading a fantastic Aussie book called Holding the Man. Written by Timothy […]

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Defending my right to choose…to wear a dress

The Focus – December 19th, 2007 by Sarah

You are about to witness a rare moment in history, where I publicly announce that my steadfast ideology has made a significant shift. To put it more bluntly, where I publicly announce that my previous convictions on a particular subject were, in fact, perhaps, maybe just a little bit, um, er…. wrong. Perhaps not wrong. […]

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Finally the Ultimate Big Brother Movie….and other disturbing matters..

The Focus – December 13th, 2007 by Don

Was going through the weekly Alternet newsletter in my inbox today, when I came across two disturbing items. The first one was about the cover up of the rape of a female American citizen by American contractors, working for Halliburton in the green zone in Baghdad, Iraq, by the Bush Administration, and the second was […]

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Music festivals: intriguing anthropological phenomena (or worrying displays of debauchery)

The Focus – December 10th, 2007 by Sarah

Saturday December 8 was the arrival of a highly anticipated event in my year: Homebake, a music festival of reasonably epic proportions. In my opinion, forking out a hard-earned ninety or so dollars for an entire day of great music and general frivolity is definitely worthwhile, and this year’s festival certainly lived up to my […]

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Rolling Stone saves the day…

The Focus – December 4th, 2007 by Sarah

Thought I would take this opportunity to give a big round of applause to all the celebs out there who are using their fame for a decent cause. Reading this month’s issue of Rolling Stone reinstated my faith in (some) of the tabloid fodder out there, and it’s about time.
For a while there, it appeared […]

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Gender stereotyping: as long as the media exists, women will always be pretty and men will always be tough…

The Focus – October 29th, 2007 by Sarah

To carry on with the theme of my last blog, what on earth is with the way women are portrayed on television? Within one hour of prime-time television on a commercial network last night, I witnessed almost every irritating gender stereotype relating to women there is. The squealing, ditzy blonde teen, the frustrated housewife, the […]

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Watch out for Reclaim the Night…

The Focus – October 27th, 2007 by Sarah

I just thought I would take this opportunity in amongst all this election madness to reflect on an issue that is close to my heart, and that issue is violence against women, and the treatment of women in general. Given that October is the month of the Reclaim the Night marches, what better time […]

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