Panel: 'What I Couldn't Say' (All About Women 2015)

The global conversation about women’s lives has opened up, women’s voices are heard more than ever before, and social media has brought a huge range of public conversations to life. But when you can reach more people, there are more people to offend, and discussions are often curtailed by capital-O Outrage; a Twitter mob can descend on an unwitting provocateur in minutes. There are still some things that women want to say at home, at work and online that they know to keep to themselves if they don’t want to be trolled, or written off as whingers. Talking about the most intimate fears and insecurities, accusations of “playing the gender card”, “first-world problems”, jokes made ‘too soon’ – why are some topics still too hard to talk about, and what are women losing by keeping them to themselves.

Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She is a writer, passionate human rights advocate, and a spokesperson on issues relating to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. Her articles have been published in The Australian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Le Monde (France).

Larissa Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman. She is the Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is the author of the novels Home and Legacy and her most recent book is Indigenous Australia for Dummies.

Jane Caro is a renowned journalist, broadcaster and author. She has appeared on ABC television's Q&A, as a regular panelist on The Gruen Transfer, and at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Jane has worked in the advertising industry and lectured in advertising at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney.

Mia Freedman is the co-founder and Content Director of the Mamamia Women's Network. She is an author, TV and radio commentator, podcast host, mother of three and writer for MWN websites Mamamia, The Glow, The Motherish and Debrief Daily. She is the former Chair of the National Body Image Advisory Group and in 2014 she was named by the Australian Financial Review as one of Australia's 100 Most Influential Women.

Tara Moss is a novelist, journalist, blogger and TV presenter. Since 1999 she has written 9 bestselling novels, published in 18 countries and 12 languages. Her first non-fiction book, The Fictional Woman was published in May 2014. She is a long-term advocate for the rights of women and children and is UNICEF’s National Ambassador for Child Survival.

Anita Sarkeesian is a media critic, blogger and the creator of Feminist Frequency, a video web series that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. In particular, her work highlights issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces.

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