Anita Sarkeesian and Roxane Gay Lead A Kickass Lineup Of Ladies For All About Women 2015
She schooled Colbert on Gamergate and now she's coming for you.
First Stephen Colbert and now Australia; I think it’s safe to say that Anita Sarkeesian is on some kind of legendary mission to school the entire world on the often conflicting worlds of feminism and gaming. And really, we couldn’t be happier about it. It’s just been announced that this incredible lady will be taking her fight against #Gamergate and all-round misogynist douchebags to All About Women next year — the annual feminist program of events taking place in Sydney as part of Ideas At The House.
Let’s just take a minute to digest how good this will be.
Packed full of writers, thinkers, and trailblazers, AAW is a one-day event that somehow packs in a brain-busting 19 sessions. Through the means of panels, readings and talks Sarkeesian will be matched by a stellar list of objectively excellent people.
Roxane Gay will be bringing your summer reading list to life with some smarts from her recently released books Bad Feminist and An Untamed State; US writers Brigid Schulte and Kate Bolick will be offering some life advice from their respective works about feeling overwhelmed with everything and rocking the single life; Sigmund Freud’s great-granddaughter Esther will be in town talking about her work and childhood; and there’ll also be a bunch of your favourite locals. Think: Annabel Crabb, Germaine Greer, Helen Garner, Jane Caro, and Rosie Batty to name just a few.
With the exception of Sarkeesian, most of the speakers seem to have a focus on the examination of the self. With talks such as ‘How To Be A Feminist’ lined up, you should expect a lot of self-reflection and interrogation about the idea of feminism at large. Even Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame will be jumping on board with an abridged version of her much-loved TED talk about “creative genius”.
Previous Ideas at the House programs have included international heavyweights such as Yoko Ono and Tavi Gevinson — and Ann Mosop, curator of next year’s All About Women, is already billing this as their most exciting AAW yet. With sessions titled ‘Conversations With Muslim Women‘, ‘How To Save The Planet‘, and ‘Women In Popular Culture: Gamergate and Beyond‘ it certainly does seem timely.
As always, it’ll nicely coincide with International Women’s Day too — the event will take place on March 8, 2015. Check out the full program here, and start making a shortlist of events. All tickets will go on sale via the website next Monday, December 15 at 9am; dates for the speakers in other Australian cities are yet to be announced.
