Beyoncé is one. So is Daniel Radcliffe. The only woman in federal cabinet says she isn’t. At some point in the last few years, we began talking about public figures “coming out” as feminists. Others affirm their belief in “gender equality”, but don’t find value in the F-word itself. With so many conflicting ideas about what a feminist looks like – or, more crucially, what a feminist does – anyone curious about the modern women’s movement can have a hard time separating the signal from the noise. Is “feminism” a political agenda, a social identity, a set of behaviours, a lifestyle choice, a Twitter mob or a branding exercise? This vital, varied panel will flatten common stereotypes, and delve into what feminism really means – and can achieve – in 2015 and beyond.Clementine Ford is a freelance writer, broadcaster and public speaker based in Melbourne. She is a Writer and Contributor for Daily Life and writes on feminism, pop culture and social issues.Roxane Gay is the co-editor of PANK. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Los Angeles Times, and many others. She is also the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, Bad Feminist, and Hunger, forthcoming in 2016.Germaine Greer is a writer and academic and is best known for her work as a key figure in modern feminism. Her ideas about gender and sexuality have provoked controversy since the release of her 1970 book The Female Eunuch. Her other works include Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility, The Change: Women, Aging and the Menopause, The Whole Woman, and Shakespeare's Wife.Celeste Liddle is a proud Arrernte woman, feminist, trade unionist and vegetarian. In 2012, Celeste started her blog Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist and since then has developed a career as a freelance opinion writer with her work being published in The Guardian, Daily Life and Tracker, amongst others. Celeste has also frequently provided guest commentary on such channels as ABC radio, NITV and the National Indigenous Radio Service.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A father drives his car across a highway and into a dam, his children in the back seat. They drown, he walks away. A writer sits through the trial of this ordinary man for the murder of his three young sons, and from this tragedy, Helen Garner creates a compelling story of Australian life and death: her new book, This House of Grief. What happened behind that wheel? Can it be explained or understood?As the legal process grinds on, she knits together a story of love, death and sadness that is impossible to resist. One of Australia’s most determined, compassionate storytellers examines why we can’t look away from what unfolds – and asks whether we should look away at all.Helen Garner has published many works of fiction including Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Children's Bach. Her fiction has won numerous awards, including the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She is also one of Australia's most respected non-fiction writers, and received a Walkley Award for journalism in 1993. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fighting forces have been some of the last all-male workplaces. The Australian Defence Force will remove all gender restrictions on combat roles from 2016 onwards, but there are no women in the senior leadership group, and of all personnel serving now, women are only about 14%. Women have gradually infiltrated the ranks, but the hurdles have been high: from scandals about the treatment of women, to the particular challenges of work-life balance.In 2013, a speech by the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison went viral as he stood firm against outdated attitudes to female personnel. But what is it really like to be a woman in the military? How difficult is it for women to become soldiers or sailors or pilots? What motivates women to join, and what does their service mean to them?Major Charmaine Benfield's most recent command position was as the Officer Commanding of the Logistic Support Company within the Combat Service Support Battalion in the 1st Brigade, Darwin. Her operational experience includes Operations Officer of the Force Support Unit - Seven in the Middle East in 2012-2013 for which she was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service.Catherine Fox is one of Australia’s leading commentators on women and the workforce. She is co-chair of the Westpac/Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Awards and is on several advisory boards, including the Defence Force Gender Equality Advisory Board.Commander Cath Hayes has served in the Navy for 23 years, she is a maritime warfare officer and air warfare specialist who has served in a variety of Command, leadership and staff roles ashore and at sea. Currently the Commanding Officer of ANZAC Class Frigate HMAS Toowoomba, in 2014 Commander Hayes was the first women to Command an Australian warship on operations in the Middle East.Wing Commander Fleur James was a member of the first contingent of air traffic controllers to deploy to Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993. In recent years, she has had two six-month deployments to Dili, East Timor and Kabul, Afghanistan and assisted Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick with her Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force.Alex Shehadie is the Director of Cultural Reform in the Australian Defence Force at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Previously she was the Director of the Review into the Treatment of Women in Australian Defence Force. She was recently named in The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence for her work in this area. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone knows something needs to be done – but when facts are twisted to fit agendas, complex processes dumbed down for pop-science clickbait and research funding decimated, how on earth do we talk about how to save the earth? Legendary American marine biologist, Sylvia Earle speaks with environmental journalist and educator Simran Sethi about the environmental crises looming ahead - from the bottom of the oceans to the topsoil - and how to inspire people to get stuff done.Simran Sethi: Named “the environmental messenger” by Vanity Fair & a top ten eco-hero of the planet by the UK’s Independent, Simran Sethi is a journalist and educator focused on environmentalism, sustainability & social change. She is writing a book on the loss of biodiversity in our food system, is a visiting scholar at the Cocoa Research Centre in Trinidad, and is also an associate at the University of Melbourne’s Sustainable Society Institute in Australia.Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. Earle has led more than a hundred expeditions and logged more than 7,000 hours underwater, including leading the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Syria, moving to Detroit as a child, and running away to New York in her twenties to become a rock star: Rayya Elias built up a lifetime of stories by the time she was 25, and a few more in the decades after.Her brash, brutal memoir Harley Loco – probably the only book you’ll read this year titled after the author’s prison nickname – doesn’t stop there. Elias’s book stomps through a lifetime’s worth of self-discovery: identity in migrant communities, an addiction story with a happy ending, and how to support yourself as an amateur hairdresser in the old, dirty anddangerous NYC. She’ll be joined by her friend Elizabeth Gilbert, who encouraged Elias to tell her story. Rayya Elias is a hair stylist, filmmaker, musician and most recently, author. Her first book is Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side.Elizabeth Gilbert is an author and journalist, best known for her international bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Time Magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She went on to write two other books, Committed and The Signature of All Things, which also became widely acclaimed bestsellers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shakespeare wrote challenging, glorious roles for female characters well before women were allowed on stage. With often fewer lines than the men, Shakespeare’s women pack a dramatic punch, from cross dressing girls to bloodthirsty villains, and everything in between. Two Australian icons take the stage to discuss what 21st-century audiences want from 16th-century heroines.John Bell’s passion for Shakespeare resulted in an audacious idea 25 years ago, when he founded Bell Shakespeare - a theatre company dedicated to performing Shakespeare in a way that’s relevant and exciting to Australian audiences. Inimitable feminist icon Germaine Greer has been writing about Shakespeare since 1967. When it comes to the artistic and political puzzle of Shakespeare’s women, it’s hard to imagine a more qualified (and entertaining) duo.”John Bell is one of the nation’s most illustrious theatre personalities. Award-winning actor, acclaimed director, risk-taking impressario and torch-bearing educationalist, Bell has been a key figure in shaping the nation’s theatrical identity over the past 50 years. He is the founder of Bell Shakespeare theatre company, which is celebrating its 25th year.Germaine Greer is a writer and academic and is best known for her work as a key figure in modern feminism. Her ideas about gender and sexuality have provoked controversy since the release of her 1970 book The Female Eunuch. Her other works include Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility, The Change: Women, Aging and the Menopause, The Whole Woman, Shakespeare's Wife and most recently White Beech: The Rainforest Years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When two young men lose their lives in drunken assaults in the space of a few weeks, governments declare ‘Enough is enough’, and enact strict regulation to prevent another incident. But despite one Australian woman being killed by a current or former partner every week, family violence doesn’t attract anywhere near an equivalent amount of airtime, or popular outrage.Rosie Batty awed Australians with her eloquence and compassion after her 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his estranged father in February 2014. In the intervening year she’s shown that that extraordinary resolve was no fluke, as she’s worked tirelessly to encourage a conversation about family violence in Australia – one that might help us work out what we can do to stop it.Rosie Batty's 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father Greg Anderson at cricket practice in Tyabb in February 2014. She has since become a domestic violence campaigner and has eloquently spoken out against family violence. She was named Victorian of the Year in October 2014, Daily Life Woman of the Year 2014 and was recently awarded Australian of the Year 2015. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a background in journalism and philosophy, Yotam Ottolenghi was never going to be your average chef. Starting out as a pastry chef, Ottolenghi delicatessens and restaurants followed, as did cook books includingOttolenghi and Jerusalem, both with Sami Tamimi, Plenty, and his latest book Plenty More (Random House/Ebury Press). With his close-knit team of collaborators, he has created a style of food that is vibrant and bold, bursting with the flavours and spices of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and beyond. Join him in conversation with Joanna Savill to find out more about his food and philosophy. Yotam Ottolenghi appears as a guest of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month presented by Citi. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sydney Writers’ Festival and Ideas at the House presents one of Australia’s finest writers Peter Carey. The only Australian to have twice won the Booker Prize, Peter speaks with Jennifer Byrne about his extraordinary career and new novel Amnesia.With uncanny timeliness, Amnesia explores the relationship between Australia and America, from the Battle of Brisbane to computer hackers, via the Dismissal, Pine Gap and the great Australian forgetfulness.Amnesia is Peter at his best: dark, funny, profound and clearly one of our most engaged and radical writers.“Mr Carey is one of the finest living writers in English. His best books satisfy both intellectually and emotionally; he is lyrical yet never forgets the imperative to entertain.”- The EconomistPeter Carey has published 18 books and his work has been translated into 24 languages. Since his first collection of short-stories, The Fat Man in History, was published, Carey has won numerous awards including the Miles Franklin Award three times (for Bliss, Oscar and Lucinda and Jack Maggs); the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (for Jack Maggs and True History of the Kelly Gang); and the Booker Prize (for both Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.