Being nice won’t create the rebellions that will finally give women control of their destinies. Mona Eltahawy, Tressie McMillan Cottom and Sisonke Msimang tell us how we can change the world and bring justice within reach for women everywhere.
This panel is chaired by Santilla Chingaipe.
It is the job of a revolution to shock, to provoke, and to upset, not to behave or to be polite.
How is it that we have laid bodies down in streets, challenged patriarchy in courts, bled for fair wages, and still inequalities persist?
We like our heroines to be courageous, but we don't want them to be messy. We want them to confront patriarchy, but we don't want them to have lovers half their age. We praise women for surviving abuse and torture, but when the resultant trauma and suffering make them angry and volatile, we fear and deride them.
Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and Carriageworks.
This session is supported by The Wheeler Centre.
Tickets
Standard – $29 + booking fee
UNSW Student & Under 18s – $23 + booking fee
Passes
$49 - $124 + booking fee
For the most UNTHINKABLE experience, purchase a pass and save! Choose between an Ultimate Pass, Friday Double Pass, Saturday Double Pass or Saturday Triple Pass.
Carriageworks has a wheelchair ramp and level access at all entrances. There is level access and accessible seating available in all venues along with multiple accessible toilets. Accessible parking is available at the end of Carriageworks Way. Enter via 229 Wilson Street. The closest train station with wheelchair access is Newtown Station.
Auslan & Captioning
The Centre for Ideas can provide Auslan and captioning services for selected talks upon request.
Companion Card
The Centre for Ideas supports the Companion Card program. For patrons who require assistance of a companion or carer, a second ticket is issued at no cost to the Companion Card holder.
Contact
To discuss your access requirements and to book selected access services, please call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9385 9844 or email centreforideas@unsw.edu.au.
The Centre for Ideas is happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for 02 9385 9844. Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 02 9385 9844. Internet relay users, visit relayservice.gov.au, then ask for 02 9385 9844.
Mona Eltahawy is a feminist author, commentator, and disruptor of patriarchy. She is founder and editor-in-chief of the newsletter FEMINIST GIANT. Her opinion essays have appeared in media across the world. Her first book Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution (2015) targeted patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa and her second The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls (2019) took that disruption worldwide. She is a contributor to the recent anthology This Arab is Queer and is editing the anthology Bloody Hell! And Other Stories: Adventures in Menopause from Across the Personal and Political Spectrums.
Tressie McMillan Cottom is an award-winning Associate Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Her work has been recognized nationally and internationally for the urgency and depth of her incisive critical analysis of technology, higher education, class, race, and gender. Her most recent book, THICK: And Other Essays, is a critically acclaimed Amazon best-seller that situates Black women’s intellectual tradition at its center. THICK won the 2019 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize and is a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award in nonfiction. Along with Roxane Gay, she is the co-host of Hear To Slay, providing listeners with incisive reads on politics and popular culture: a self-styled ‘black feminist podcast of your dreams’.
Sisonke Msimang is the author of The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela and Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home. She is a South African writer whose work is focussed on race, gender and democracy. Sisonke has written for a range of international publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek and Al Jazeera.
Santilla Chingaipe is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. She spent nearly a decade working for SBS World News which saw her report from across Africa and interview some of the continent’s most prominent leaders and report extensively on Australia’s diverse African communities. Her film credits include the landmark SBS documentary, DATE MY RACE and BLACK AS ME. Her latest documentary series THIRD CULTURE KIDS is currently streaming on ABC iView. She reports regularly for The Saturday Paper and is a member of the federal government’s advisory group on Australia-Africa relations.
