Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website.
Michele A’Court: Stop saying dumb shit, and other top tips for all the Kevins of the world
“I reckon I might be able to throw a bit of light on this. I actually think you do get it – you come close to it when you have an imaginary woman say to you: ‘We are not judging ourselves by those standards that you idiotic dinosaur-like men judge yourself by.’ Yes, maybe they don’t want to be a leader like you. But – ponder this, Kevin – they might still want to be leaders. You might need to let go of the idea that women have to be like you to succeed. Maybe we should find out what that looks like.”
Andrew Geddis: A million dollars for David Bain – just don’t call it compensation
“I think this is a tacit acknowledgment that the compensation process in his case was badly stuffed up. After all, if the 13 years he spent in jail for a crime the courts found he did not commit is not thought worthy of any compensation, then why does the government consider payment is appropriate for the more-than six years he spent pursuing the matter following his acquittal? The only answer can be that the government is content that the system ‘worked’ as it was supposed to in regards the former issue – but that errors for which it is responsible occurred in relation to the latter.”
Alex Casey: It’s 2016 and a rugby exec only just found out that strippers are people too
“This is not the first and certainly not the last time a woman in New Zealand has been denigrated in the name of ‘boys-will-be-boys’, and then had her credibility questioned after questioning it. I’m really sick of writing these types of pieces – I’ve run out of ways to say the same thing over and over again. But all it takes is a trip to the comments on the New Zealand Herald Facebook page to be reminded just how fucked we are.”
Melanie Spencer: ‘The attack lasted a few hours – the trauma lasts a lifetime’
“I wish there was more education around the meaning of consent. I wish it was ingrained into everyone that they should look after drunk, incapacitated people as opposed to having sex with them. I don’t know about anyone else, but I certainly would never want to have sex with anyone who showed signs of serious inebriation. I guess that is the difference between those who rape and those who don’t.”
Alex Casey: Hooray! One woman is trying to stop us all from hating our bodies!
“Sharing these stories gives hope that you can feel a certain way at one moment, but you don’t always have to. You can make positive change because many people have done it and are doing it. I think as individuals we can endure the messages from the media, endure this pain, but collectively we can come together and empower one another and get on with it. It’s really exciting.”
Toni: Bruce: The Olympics: or the Festival of Sporting Women
“More recently we’ve also seen female athletes embraced as pretty and powerful. In this coverage, power and beauty are seen as complementary. And that’s a big step forward from the days when femininity and athletic skill were seen as opposites.”
Joseph Harper: A moving tribute video to the best personalised plates in the country
“For the past 28 years, Kiwis have been funkying up their bumpers via the plate gods at Personalised Plates NZ. Though at times controversial, there’s no doubting the public service the company has performed over the years has been absolutely vital.”
The Spinoff: Run for your lives, O leafy Aucklanders! The bulldozers are coming (they’re not)
“To repeat, no matter what you might read in the newspaper, the Unitary Plan will not force you to raze your house to the ground. Why do these people seem to think it will? Did Orsman tell these people the plan was going to force them to tearfully bulldoze their houses before a horde of cackling council planners? Did he produce a slideshow showing a maniacal Len Brown slamming wrecking balls into Mt Eden? Did he destroy little plastic Monopoly houses on their doorsteps under his steelcap boots?”
Charlotte Graham: Harry Potter and the cursed script: An expert assesses the new adventure
“It’s not boring or bad; the script speeds along. But at its worst, you sort of wish JK Rowling had just left it alone, let people kept reimagining her universe if they wanted (she’s always been chill about that), and not stamped her ‘this is official’ mark on any one version.”
Jazial Crossley: Where would I grow up today?
“Imagining the life my mum and I might have lived in Auckland now, today, with its sky high and ever-climbing rents, makes me shudder.
If we were in the situation now that we were then, would we be living in a car or someone’s garage? Probably. We certainly wouldn’t be living in Ponsonby. Would we have been able to afford transport into town, or out to Piha to soothe stress? That seems unlikely – even back then, there were dark times when we couldn’t afford basic necessities.”