2. Aussie men are too pretty? Misandry Much! – October 2014
Someone please tell me… why do people hate men all of a sudden?
***
In a recent column in The Sunday Telegraph, Ros Reines wrote, “Where oh where are the real
men on our TV screens… yes Jason Dundas, James Tobin and Luke Jacobz I’m talking to you.”
She continued to discuss that these three TV talent show hosts are too good looking and too
prim and proper to be the face of Australian men. Australia, according to her, should have
real Aussie men who are rugged and rough in the public eye as the face of Australian men.
Then I came across this headline in The Daily Telegraph…
*sigh*
A few days ago The Daily Telegraph set a beautiful woman loose on the streets of Sydney in
an attempt to get men to gawk at her and prove that all Sydney men care about are looks
and a woman’s body. However the experiment failed and no men did anything out of the
ordinary – so the next day they reported the above headline and said, “DEAR men of Sydney
– nice try, but you don’t fool us. While some may have a charitable interpretation of the
results of an experiment conducted by The Daily Telegraph that documented the subdued
reaction of male onlookers as a beautiful woman walked by, we know what’s truly going on…
You’re not really a city of highly evolved, well-mannered gentlemen – You’re just spoiled for
choice.”
This boys and girls is called misandry, the opposite of misogyny, and two instances of it have
occurred in the past week through the media.

3. Number 1: Since when did it become a problem that Australian men were too good looking?
I watched an interview with Ellen just after she ventured down under in 2013 and the one
thing she had to say was that Aussie men are amongst the best looking in the whole
world. Also, success in the media is not something that happens to many people – so for Ros
to launch a passive attack on their successful careers while shaming them for caring about
their appearance is appalling. Also, Australians do not tune in to The X Factor and Beauty and
the Geek because they aspire to look like the hosts – they’re there for the entertainment
aspect. The hosts are just something to keep the show running.
Number 2: Isn’t it a bit of a generalisation to say that Sydney men are rude, arrogant and
spoiled? Father Chris Riley would disagree. You know him, the man who founded Youth off
the Streets in Kings Cross and was nominated for Australian of the Year in 2012? I doubt he
would be impressed that he’s being put in this category.
For a second I did think I was overreacting, that my rage towards these words from Ros
Reines and The Daily Telegraph was uncalled for and that really I’m making a fuss over
nothing. It could possibly be because if I had to put myself into a category between prim and
proper and rugged and rough I would definitely not choose the latter, and neither would any
of my friends. So I went and found a stereotypically rugged and rough man and asked what
he thought of the whole situation. Bryce Spiteri, a 21-year-old mechanic from Sydney’s
South-West, said, “Of course those overpaid guys on TV are not the correct depiction of
Sydney men; go down to Milperra and you’ll see Aussie men – a bunch of hard working
tradies.”
In response, Peter Mitchell, a 20-year-old lifeguard from the Sutherland Shire and a
stereotypically prim and proper guy said, “But how is that accurate when all guys look
different? They aren’t all tradies after all.”
So maybe it is just the prim and proper guys getting defensive about all of this, yes. But, if I
were to launch an attack on the other side of the spectrum and say that all those tradies are
simply high school drop outs – I guarantee you there would be a strong reaction. I’m sorry,
but God forbid we discuss the look of women on TV. The girls on The Bachelor are the
furthest thing from a typical Aussie woman, as are our female hosts. What ever happened to
a woman with some curves being on our television screens, besides on a weight loss show
like The Biggest Loser. I’m sorry, Sonia Kruger, Dannii Minogue and Natalie Bassingthwaighte,
but the same message can be said about you… Oh wait, I’m now sinking to Ros’ level, I best
stop. But do you see my point? Where is all this man hate coming from!? – Zachary Pittas

4. Drag Queens, they’re just like us – December 2014
“Dating one person is hard… but dating two is harder, when someone dates me, they’re
dating both of me.”
***
Krystal emerges from the thick red curtains, weave attached and face on. Her floor length,
sequinned dress frames her body like a picture with one shoulder exposed, showing a small
tattoo. Her waist emphasised by the tight synched corset she’s wearing over the dress. She’s
here to entertain and will stop at nothing to get a reaction from her crowd.
Krystal Kleer is a Sydney based drag queen who has worked with the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy
Perry, Kesha and Adam Lambert, just to name a few. Under the lashes and painted face,
Krystal spends her days as Jasper, a 24-year-old makeup artist from the Inner East. Krystal has
had a residence at Sydney’s popular gay bar The Midnight Shift for five years, where she
performs both solo and in a group four nights a week.
The term drag queen was first used in 1870 to refer to men who would be forced to play the
female parts in Shakespearean plays. Drag derives straight from the literal – dressing as
girl – and queen comes from the old English word quean, which also literally means woman.
The same branch of queen has since been adapted to label some gay men, who are the main
consumers and participants of drag culture.
“I first did it because I needed a way to express my artistic vision. I would see drag queens
performing and thought ‘I could do that’ and I didn’t really understand that it was a job. I
asked around and said, ‘well, what do you do in the day?’ and the drag queens all said,
‘nothing – we sleep all day and drag all night,” said Jasper.
When you think of drag queens the first thing that may come to mind is Dame Edna Everage
or the girls in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, but the art of drag is a much deeper and personal
thing than the farce portrayed in such popular cultures. Jasper and his co-performers all take
about four hours a night getting into drag, from putting their makeup on, to their clothes and
then their personality. Each drag queen has their own style of personality, whether it is a
celebrity impersonator or accent – just like people, no drag queen is the same. Some think a
drag queen is simply a female impersonator, however, in some cases that is inaccurate,
because not all drag queens are intending to act like a woman, just dramatic.
In the process of becoming Krystal, Jasper said the makeup is the most important part. “By
me contouring my cheekbones and forehead, I am moulding my face to become Krystal. My
face is my canvas essentially and every night it starts blank before I turn it into something
completely unusual and different from before.”
Drag queens have caused many a shockwave during their time in the spotlight; most notably
the Facebook incident where hundreds of drag queens protested along the streets of the
world’s capital cities because all their drag Facebook accounts were being shut down for

5. violating Facebook’s original rule that your Facebook name must be the name given to you at
birth.
“As a drag queen, my job is to be liked… simple as that,” said Jasper.
“I couldn’t care less about what I’m doing as long as people are enjoying it, and clapping and
laughing. You have to be very careful what you say as a drag queen though, especially with all
the hate going around about the Muslim community. Someone asked Krystal the other day,
‘what are your thoughts on ISIS’ and all she could say was, ‘what is ISIS? Krystal isn’t informed
on such things.’”
When in reality, Jasper was fully aware of the whole debate, but as Jasper, and Krystal was
asked the question.
If a drag queen is out on the streets entertaining crowds or performing on stage, they will not
respond to their real name – only their drag name.
“Krystal is not Jasper, and Jasper is definitely not Krystal,” he said. “There are some
similarities but most of the things that Krystal does, Jasper would never do. For example,
Krystal would flop her dick out in public for a laugh, but Jasper could never do that.”
While drag queens like to be referred to as her and she when performing, Jasper said people
should make no mistake, when he’s dressed as Jasper – he is Jasper. He doesn’t want to wear
a wig or heels or talk about make-up, if he wanted all that he would get a sex change.
“People get confused, Krystal is merely a mask, a mask with a character… you could put a
group of guys in a row, the first one being a fat, balding fifty-year-old office worker, the
second being a masculine tradie, the third being a father with four kids and a mortgage… any
one of those guys could be a drag queen, it’s what they do, not what they are.” – Zachary
Pittas

6. The reality of reality talent shows – July 2013
NEWSFLASH-EXPOSÉ: They’re not reality at all!
***
The list of Australian reality TV talent shows is endless: The X Factor, Australia’s Got Talent,
Dancing with the Stars, The Voice,… the list goes on. We all know, or at least suspect, they’re
slightly scripted and sometimes we even think (and whisper) they’re rigged.
It’s not nice to think that this could be true, but when James* auditioned for one of these TV
talent shows earlier this year, it became clear that – this show at least – was most definitely
rigged.
Growing up, James was always sick. At two years old he was diagnosed with a form of blood
cancer, causing him to undergo excessive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. A few months
later he was declared cancer-free, until 1999, three years later, when the cancer returned.
Again James underwent brutal chemotherapy and months later he and his family were once
again told he was clear. Then came round three; in 2001 James was diagnosed with Acute
Myeloid Leukaemia. At this point doctors said the chance of survival was slim as he could not
receive any more radiation and chemotherapy due to the overload he had been given in the
past two cancer treatments.
He used singing and music as a way channel and forget all the pain he was experiencing. In
high school James would travel to and from doctors and hospitals, and due to his distressing
medical history, the slightest cold would be enough for him to be under constant bed rest.
Fast-forward to today and through some miracle James is still with us.
Earlier this year James, now 20, began the process of applying for one of these talent shows.
He has always wanted to pursue a singing career. What he didn’t realise however was that his
audition would be less about his talent, and more about his health.
“After completing an initial application booklet I was invited to audition in front of a panel of
producers, along with thousands of others. In the next three months, producers watch our
auditions on videos and from the thousands, it’s cut down to 250. Those top 250 are then
invited to sing in front of the celebrity judges on TV. I was lucky enough to be one of the
250,” said James.
The producers were aware of James’s childhood cancer battle and, of course, he was asked if
it could be mentioned on the show. James said yes. “When you have a dream, one you’ve
been working towards your whole life… you’ll do anything for it. So yeah, if discussing cancer
meant I could potentially win [the show] why wouldn’t I jump at it?” he explained.
On the day of the television auditions, James arrived and was filmed doing the standard
routine: arrive, register, take a number. Then he was given a body microphone, and a camera
crew and producer followed him and his family around all day, similar to what you see on

7. Keeping up with the Kardashians. He was the only contestant to receive this treatment so
obviously James was full of nerves and excitement.
Things became suspicious when the producer started asking James and his family to “break
down in tears” on camera and “discuss how difficult it was when James was young”. They
were told, “It’s what the people at home will want to see, they will want to feel what you felt
all those years ago.”
“I was already stressed about learning my lines for the song I had to sing, which I didn’t even
get to choose, and on top of that I was about to perform in front of a huge audience and
potentially the whole of Australia,” he explained.
I was in the audience that night and watched countless people walk onto the stage, be
interviewed by the panel of judges, sing, be given the yes or no through to the next round of
the competition, and then walk off.
Finally it was James’s turn and he confidently walked out. Before he started singing the
judges asked him a few questions, including “How did you get into singing?”
James replied, “Just when I was younger I would listen to mum and dad’s records and then as
I got older I started to sing to them, that sort of stuff.”
The judges looked at each other then everyone in the audience, and James saw one of the
judges subtly whisper something into their neighbouring judge’s ear. Then James sung, crowd
going wild, and amazingly was given a yes through to the next stage.
“You can imagine my excitement; I was so happy… I haven’t felt that happy in such a long
time. It was the first time I thought that my singing career will actually take off!”
After that, James and the others who were successfully through to the next round were told
they would receive a call in the next week with details for filming of the next stage of the
show.
That’s when things went awry. James – despite successfully getting through – was cut. But it
was the reason that shocked him.
“A producer rang me and basically said ‘We were all hoping you would blatantly discuss your
cancer story to the audience and judges while on the stage, but as you didn’t we’ve had to
cut you from our list. We encourage you to try again next year.’ I was devastated, I AM
devastated… it was like someone told me I had won $1 million, put it in my bank account but
then taken it out just as I was making the first purchase.”
“At first I blamed myself, I put it down to a shocking audition… but then I remembered that I
had been given a yes through to the next round, so that theory went out the window,” he
said. “It was because I didn’t discuss my cancer. I had the talent, but I’d forgotten to give my
sob story. It seems so unfair.”
It does, and it is. That’s why when I watch these shows I always spare a thought for the
immensely talented people who just don’t have the sob story to push them through.

8. As for James, he’s not giving up. “It has made me more determined though, I just may have
to do it on my own, without help from any show.” – Zachary Pittas

9. Stereotypes, they affect men too – July 2014
In the wake of the #LikeaGirl video, I debate who has it worse… men or women?
***
A few days ago a video surfaced depicting a group of American adolescents and young adults
being asked to run and throw like girls. The majority of them chose to run as if they were rag
dolls, flapping their arms in the air with their legs waving from side to side as if they were
kicking to the side. When asked to demonstrate throwing, they flapped their hands in front of
themselves acting lethargic and weak. The hidden message of the video becomes apparent at
the end when a group of much younger girls are asked to perform the same actions.
Instead of following society’s expectations and doing what the other group did, they ran like
Olympians, huffing and puffing with long strides. They threw the imaginary ball like
professional baseballers, showing that the younger generation have not been exposed to the
world where it’s an insult for someone to say “you’re doing that like a girl”.
In the days since, feminists and women everywhere have jumped aboard, making the point
loud and clear that they will no longer let society impose those stereotypes: they want
women to be empowered, not offended by “what everyone else thinks”.
In conversation around the work place and at college most girls have praised the video,
saying stuff like “It’s finally a way for men and the rest of society to see how people perceive
us,” and “Men have always had it easy, no social ridicule at all!”
What women don’t understand is that men are put under just as much scrutiny, if not more,
by society if they don’t live up to their manly expectations.
Sport is a great example; I can guarantee that out of 100 men, you’ll find 10 who aren’t
interested in sport. I am one of those 10. Oh, the looks I get from other guys and girls when
they ask “Who do you go for in the NRL?” and my response is “What’s NRL?”
It’s not like I chose to not have an interest in sport. I tried, and my dad tried very hard too,
but as the saying goes “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. The social
perception of a man who doesn’t care for sport is “they’re not a man,” so it seems that
personal interests are what’s getting us in trouble! The relation to the above video is quite
clear; just as girls are perceived as acting like weak babies, guys are criticised for not “acting
like guys”.
Not long ago I asked someone “What do you think defines a man?” and they answered
“Rough and tough, loves sport, talks with a deep voice, can change a tyre, jams to rock and
owns a pair of King Gees” (a brand of tradie attire).
Seriously…? To me a man is someone who has a sense of pride about themselves, is certain
of themselves and fully accepts and promotes their interests. For the record, I own a pair of
pants that look like King Gees, but purely for fashion purposes and I wouldn’t have a clue how
to change a tyre.

10. Men also come under scrutiny for their music choices. A man idolising a pop singer? Or
worse, a FEMALE pop singer? Oh. My. God. Call the authorities right now because that is just
not natural… sense the sarcasm.
Just the other day one of my college teachers gave me the biggest eye roll because I declared
I don’t like AC/DC. I also wouldn’t know one of their songs if I heard it… shocker.
Now, I make no secret to my friends that as a male, I thoroughly enjoy listening to pop music,
say – Jessie J for example. I’m most definitely not ashamed of that (any more) and why
should I be? She is a gorgeous woman and her songs are catchy as all hell. Even as I write this
my I’ve got Price Tag blasting through my headphones. The issue here is that society deems it
unacceptable for men to enjoy listening to music by a pop star, male or female.
Why though? Girls love listening to guy singers… there aren’t many girls out there who don’t
enjoy a bit of One Direction, and 1D are a band of men. Bit of a double standard, isn’t it?
The question “But why do you care?” is thrown around all the time in relation to this issue. I
think that’s a bit of an ignorant question but to answer it I’ll say “Why do you care how
people think you run and throw? It’s only an insult if that’s how you perceive it.”
So to conclude, if we were to reverse the video and have a bunch of kids demonstrate
“change a tyre like a man” or “download a song on iTunes like a man” they should be unable
to answer because it is impossible to generalise an entire gender of people. The same applies
to that video about women: asking kids to do something “like a girl” is completely invalid and
you’d think that in 2014, it would not be an issue. I know that not everybody is going to agree
with me, and that’s fine… I am the first to admit that I am not the “typical Australian male”,
but what is? – Zachary Pittas

11. Fashion’s most iconic looks – August 2014
You know the looks, but do you know the story behind the looks?
***
Celebrities are known for the clothes they wear; after all they
are seen in them by millions of people when the pap shots hit
the internet. Once in a while, a celebrity will rock a look that is
remembered for years and years for its outrageously short
hem line or it’s intruding colours… But what is the story
behind those iconic looks?
Next to the white jumpsuit from Can’t Get You Out of My
Head, simply saying the words “hot pants” makes you think of
Kylie Minogue and her tiny posterior quite literally Spinning
Around.
In 2000 Kylie made a remarkable return to the top of the
global music charts with the hit Spinning Around, after
performing to 4 billion people at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. The hot pants
that she wore in the music video were originally purchased for 50 pence (approx. $1 AUD) at
a flea market in the early nineties by Kylie’s best friend Kat. For a decade, they collected dust
at the bottom of her wardrobe. The night before the video shoot Kylie and her stylist, William
Baker, were stressing about what she would wear for the shoot a few hours away. He came
across the wrinkled gold hot pants, Kylie threw them on and millions of record sales later,
they’re a symbol of Kylie’s success and the rest of pop music.
Last week they were voted the most iconic fashion moment of all time. The hot pants beat
Sarah Jessica Parker’s white tutu from the opening
credits of Sex and the City and the double denim
ensemble worn by Justin Timberlake and Britney
Spears at the 2001 MTV VMAs. Kylie was once
offered £500,000 (approx. $980,000 AUD) for the
hot pants but politely declined, donating them to the
Arts Centre, Melbourne, where they are in storage
along with the rest of her tour costumes and music
video outfits.
When you see the image to the left, the first thing
you think is Madonna, correct?
Madonna wore this cone-shaped brassiere on her
1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. It was designed by
Jean Paul Gaultier and is valued at over $40,000.
Jean Paul Gaultier made his first cone-shaped

12. brasserie as an experiment on his teddy bear out of newspaper, as a child. Funnily enough,
that childhood experiment became the inspiration for the corset Madonna wore. Gaultier
said that his designs corresponded to the desires of the time, and this particular look was to
correlate with the reinvention of a woman’s undergarments.
Anyone born before the new millennium will relate the term Ginger Spice to Gerri Halliwell,
and then match it with her famous Union Jack micro dress that she wore for the Spice Girls
performance at the 1997 Brit Awards.
Before the awards ceremony, Halliwell was presented
with a black Gucci mini dress to wear for her
performance with the Spice Girls but thought it was too
boring. Geri then decided that she wanted to celebrate
being British, so she had her sister sew a Union Jack tea
towel on the front of the dress. During the dress
rehearsal for the performance the organisers told Geri
that the Union Jack on the dress was racist and asked
her to change. She pulled the old “say we did, but
don’t” trick and stepped on stage in front of the whole
of UK and performed wearing the tea-towel mini. That
dress became headlines for days following the Brit
Awards and now, it’s probably more famous than Geri
is. A year after the brits Geri auctioned off the dress
for £41,320 (approx. $73,000 AUD) and it currently
holds the world record for the most expensive piece of
pop star clothing dealt at auction.
Lady Gaga is known for stunning audiences with her red carpet looks, but took it to the next
level when she rocked up to the
2010 MTV Music Video Awards
wearing a dress made of
entirely raw meat.
Designed by Franc Fernandez
and styled by Nicola
Formichetti, the meat dress was
worn by Lady Gaga to accept
her Video of the Year award
for Bad Romance. The dress was
slammed by animal rights
activists, especially when she
wore the same ensemble
on The Ellen DeGeneres
Show post the ceremony in

13. front of Ellen, who is a strict vegan. Lady Gaga went on to say that her wearing the dress in
front of Ellen was no worse than another celebrity wearing leather shoes on the show. She
said that she wore the dress as a statement for human rights saying, “If we don’t stand up for
what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as
much rights as the meat on our bones.” – Zachary Pittas

14. A private school flies the rainbow flag – December 2013
Sydney’s Macquarie Grammar School will have a float in 2014 Mardi Gras on March 1. What’s
more, it’s their fourth time!
Flicking through the promotional pamphlet for the school, an independent non-selective high
school located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, you’ll find a bright, colourful page showing
Macquarie students marching in this year’s Mardi Gras.
Yes, it is extraordinary. The school is proudly anti-discrimination, anti-bullying and believes in
equality across all boards. That defies all my and, I am sure, your preconceived thoughts of a
private school.
Macquarie Grammar’s principal, 57-year-old Dr Darryl Gauld, marched for equality in 1977
and is horrified that almost half a century since his schooling “we have not moved forward”.
At his position as principal of 120 students, he’s fighting for change and sees it as his
responsibility to educate the students about the importance of equality and anti-
discrimination. “It is my job to demonstrate that there is a school that does walk the talk and
enforce inclusivity and respect, and I am very proud of that,” he says.
“It’s our nation’s largest parade and by being involved, together we’re showing the world we
believe in equality.”
This year, 80 students will march. But does he worry that Macquarie’s involvement may
cause a backlash among their parents? In short, no. “It has never, will never and should never
cause any damage to the school’s reputation. If anything it will strengthen it,” he says.
The assistant principal, Mr Paul Hagan, agrees: “All families show support and believe it is
such a fantastic thing how equal the school is.”

15. If they don’t agree, it doesn’t take them long to come round. As 13-year-old year 8 student
Josh explains, his mum didn’t want him to march last year. “I guess she didn’t want me to be
exposed to all of that [at 11 years old], but I went anyway and she is now okay with me
marching again for the second year in a row.”
Other pupils feel similarly. As 14-year-old year 11 student John says, “Rights are pointless
unless applied to everyone. It is 10 times better we have a float than if we didn’t.”
The reaction of the gay population towards students marching in the parade has been very
positive. “Last year, during the parade, heaps of gay people (covered in glitter no doubt)
came up to us saying how touched they were a school was marching for them,” says year 11
student Nell.
Macquarie Grammar School students interact with the crowds during the 2013 Mardi Gras
parade.
“Are there bullies in this school?” I asked the students.
In unison, all replied “NO!”
It seems the students really do live by the message Dr Gauld’s delivers after each assembly:
“Enjoy your week and put love in your heart!”
If you can’t get to the City route to watch the parade on March 1, you can catch all the action
on SBS2 on Sunday, March 2 2014, from 8:30pm. – Zachary Pittas

16. Fashion has no gender – October 2014
The line between menswear and womenswear is becoming more blurred with every season
and collection.
Black booty shorts and a cropped white tee layered with a grey tunic opened to your navel
paired with brown gladiator sandals. This sounds like the it outfit for women this season,
right? WRONG. It’s actually the look men everywhere are going to be sporting any day now.
It has been said that fashion has no gender and seeing a male model wear a feminine outfit
on a high fashion runway wasn’t a baffling concept, but when the looks started to hit the
mainstream shops that’s when we have to stop and ask; where is the line between menswear
and womenswear? If we’re going by the above images from J.W. Anderson’s collection, it
seems to have disappeared.

17. Celebrity stylist Basilia Ramsey believes these new men’s clothing lines are a result of the lack
of growth in menswear. “Men have the basics to work with all year round,” she says. “Shorts,
pants, tee-shirts, button ups, jackets, jumpers – there isn’t really anything else for men to
wear. So designers are looking to womenswear for inspiration to grow menswear, it’s just
going to take time to adjust.”
It’s true, and compare men’s basics to women’s basics – on top of the standard tees, shorts
and pants they’ve got skirts, dresses, crop tees, high waisted this and that, camisoles, maxis,
boleros, vests, shoestring singlets, midriffs, capes, not to mention the accessories.
It’s all well and good to see feminine menswear and think that no one will wear what’s on
offer – and when talking about runway looks it’s all too true, but for a different reason. The
designer will only make a very small quantity of an outfit, and sell them for thousands and
thousands of dollars, which puts them out of reach for most bar celebrities. However, these
runway looks inspire mainstream fashion store collections and in as little as a few weeks, will
be hitting the mass market at a far cheaper cost.
While you might think men won’t buy these looks, men buying womenswear is already
happening. According to popular menswear shops, one in 10 guys choose a women’s pair of
jeans in a store over the menswear equivalent. Staff at Topshop revealed that when some
men come into the store and ask for a pair of jeans they are directed to the menswear
section and upon trying said jeans on, they discover that they aren’t as tight around the legs
as they wanted. “Whenever this happens, a member of staff will suggest the man try on the
women jeans in either a 12 or 14. These jeans will usually fit perfectly around the ankles and
waist so after some convincing on our part that they look exactly the same as the men’s one,
the customer will buy them and the rest of society is none the wiser,” said jean-fitter and
staff member Rachel.
Menswear lecturer at the University of Arts London believes that menswear is in fact
growing. “Small detail changes drive menswear forward, but authenticity is key.
Contemporary menswear design is driven by obsession to reinvention and subversion of the
traditional, and sensitive attention to fabrication, scale and proportion, where in some cases,
the width of trouser or a lapel can become a life changing event, it just so happens that this
look has been mastered my womenswear for years,” she said. – Zachary Pittas

18. REVIEW: Sexpo 2014
It’s like the Easter Show, but for sex.
***
If you’re offended by the following words, now is the time to stop reading: penis, vagina,
bum, boobs, nipples, clit, dildo, vibrator, fleshlight, cock, stripper, sex… No? Good…
I didn’t know what to expect from Sexpo, I mean sure I had seen the ads on the sides of buses
and on YouTube, and it has the word Sex in the name so I didn’t expect it to be as tame as a
bible convention, but I sure as hell didn’t expect it to be as graphic as it was.
For those who have never been to Sexpo or even heard of it – imagine the Easter show, but
for sex. Sex toys, sex show bags, sex stalls, sex rides (in the form of strippers) and sex shows.
I’m no prude so I was well informed about everything I was going to see and touch long
before entering the event, but when I walked through the door and the first thing I saw was a
naked man painting a beautiful portrait with his flaccid penis, I knew my mind was going to
be blown.
For all the heterosexual men, Sexpo would have been a tad boring. All the girls were in
skimpy outfits, sure, but none had their vaginas on display and hardly any had their boobs
out. It was like you were wandering around a Kings Cross night club just before lock out.
There were also limited stalls for men – the majority of
the stalls were selling vibrators (oh so many vibrators)
and dildos and slutty outfits and bondage gear for
women to wear. The toys available for men were limited
to simple fleshlights and fleshjacks (Google it – on
incognito mode) and cock rings – some of which
vibrated. The male orientated showbags were expensive
and sexist compared to the female ones: about $70 and
containing a remote control car or helicopter… Female
showbags ranged from a shady $20 to upward of $100
and were full of sex toys.
Most of the males manning sex-related stalls or in the
strip shows were simply wearing a toolbelt and not
much else. A few toolbelts were somewhat elevated: I’ll let you figure out why. Private shows
were held in the “ladies lounge” where men literally dry-humped audience members before
stripping down to a towel. They would then expose their hair free, pink genitals to select
female audience members before flashing the audience quickly and exiting the stage… no
such female display for men.
As at the Easter Show, there was a main stage with dancers on display for everyone to see at
once, another point I thought was odd. The men got completely nude – usually either

19. covering their naughty bits with a hand, not usually their own. Yes, the women stripped, but
all we saw was nice little g-strings and some stars on their nipples.
Even female guests commented on the lack of boob.
Overall it was incredibly eye-opening and, as in all aspects of life, everyone was trying to sell
you something. The stall holders enjoyed letting you test the vibrators on your hand
before purchasing. Let me tell you, most of them would have burnt your clit off, so props to
the women who bought them.
And, oh, leave the expensive suit at home when you visit Sexpo. I was covered in lube by the
end of the day, which made eating lunch interesting. But it was well worth the $24 entry fee
and, as with the Easter Show, I left with a show bag. – Zachary Pittas

20. Artist of the week: Kylie Minogue – February 2014
The life of our very own Queen of Pop.
***
In the last few months, Australia’s Kylie Minogue has shot back into the world wide spotlight
in spectacular form. Recently she has been credited for revamping The Voice UK as the
newsiest coach, success which is thought to carry over to our shores when she appears
on The Voice Australia later in the year, she has also appeared on the cover of GQ
Australia’s 15th anniversary issue with the Stenmark twins (below) and has been spotted
around the globe promoting her new album set for release next month, Kiss Me Once and
latest single Into The Blue, which reached the top 10 in the UK and US. To recap this
extraordinary performer’s career, we thought we’d start at the very beginning…
1986 – Neighbours aired for the first time
on Channel 10 after failing to succeed on
Channel 7 a year earlier. The new Channel
10 team re-cast some of the younger
characters, the most notable addition
being Kylie Minogue as Charlene Mitchell.
This was the first time Australia laid eyes
on the girl who would go on to become
one of the biggest female pop-stars we’ve
ever seen.
The first year she appeared
on Neighbours she managed to win 4
Logie awards, but nothing would’ve
prepared her for the fame she was about
to achieve the following year. In 1987, at a
benefit concert for Fitzroy Football Club, Kylie and a band of other musically talented
Neighbours co-stars performed a cover of I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher
and Locomotion by Little Eva. After Locomotion, she was approached by Pete Waterman from
Mushroom Records and was offered a record deal, she politely accepted. Soon after, she
released her cover of Locomotion which rocketed into the #1 position on the charts in over
20 countries and held the position for seven consecutive weeks, becoming Australia’s highest
selling single of the 1980’s.
Powering her success was the considerable amount of viewership Neighbours had in the
UK. “The Wedding” episode of Neighbours was watched by over 20 million viewers in the UK.
When her debut album Kylie came out, it reached #2 on the Australian charts for four weeks
and #1 in the UK, where it remained for a whole year and gained platinum status. The album

21. also contained a duet with her on-screen lover Jason Donovan for the song Especially for
You which sold over a million records worldwide.
She then faced a slight decline in sales as she went through the “good girl needs to prove
herself bad” era (that’s right, Miley Cyrus didn’t invent that), releasing four albums in four
years, which contained singles such as ‘Better the devil you know’ and ‘Confide in me’. Her
fourth album Let’s Get to It was released in 1991 and is still her least successful album to
date.
The change of record labels from PWL to Deconstruction Records in the late 90s, gave her
the opportunity to explore other genres that weren’t quite in the same vein as her regular
pop tracks. Although she maintained top 10 status in UK and Australian charts, her record
sales in other countries deteriorated. However, she was applauded by critics for the changes
she had gone through, and her 1997 album, Impossible Princess was compared to
Madonna’s Ray of Light album by one American music journalist Larry Flick.
But it wasn’t until she signed with Parlophone Records and made her seventh studio
album Light Years (2000), that she was able to return to her chart topping form. Light
Years was when the world first saw those gold hot pants in Spinning Around, which reached
platinum sales in Australia and silver certification in the UK. It seems kind of strange, really….
it makes one wonder if starting to date INXS front man Michael Hutchence had anything to
do with her comeback. Musically, it brought her back into the pop/dance genre and Light
Years marked her first #1 album in Australia since her debut album.
Momentum built once again in the lead up to her next release, Fever in 2001, featuring the
song Can’t Get You Out of My Head – her most recognisable song to date, selling over 10
million copies worldwide. It was the first album to have both positive critical response and
enormous commercial success. With even Pitchfork Media praising her for the mature sound
of the record. Her popularity reached such a height that by 2003 even the queen of pop
Madonna, was seen wearing a Kylie Minogue t-shirt at the MTV awards, and Destiny’s Child
released a cover of CGYOMH.
Despite having gone through treatment for breast cancer
back in 2005, she has continued to do well in the charts.
Kylie Minogue has won 16 Aria Music Awards, three Brit
Awards, one Grammy Award, two NME Awards and two BT
Digital Music Awards through the course of her career.
Since 2003, she has released three #1 albums; Body
Language (Slow), X (2 Hearts) and Aphrodite (All the
Lovers) with a fourth, Kiss Me Once (left), to be released in a
month, you can check out my review on Friday March
21. – Zachary Pittas