• And if the male minders would let go of there grip of Julia like in her "mysogyny parliament speech, and not like her 'women for Julia' launch speech she will shine through even more. Julia is brilliant always when they do not speech write for her. I have a feeling Germaine you know exactly what Julia is going through with the constant media attacks . You are an amazing women who comes through as always comes through for the sisterhood. Cheers. - Emily C
  • There is a distinction between saying “it is inadvisable to do X (because it may lead to or increase the risk of Y)” and saying “you are not entitled to do X, and if Y happens to you then you’ve got what you deserve.” Reasonable people have no problem with the first type of statement: it’s not victim blaming and you have to be deliberately obtuse or stupid to claim otherwise. To assert that a person has, ex ante, alternative courses of action open to them that can reduce or increase their chance of being attacked isn’t to reduce the culpability of the perpetrator for attacking them, and it doesn’t thereby imply that the victim is themselves liable for being attacked. Besides showing intellectual dishonesty and/or infirmity, the “don’t blame the victim” campaigners show an unpleasant willingness to use the tragic misfortune of other people as an opportunity to push political barrows and grind axes. - MicheleS
  • Tracey: “So it’s her fault because she was drunk.” That’s your interpretation. Two footballers had evil intentions and a 16 year old girl was drunk. Serena Williams stated she did not blame the girl and most of her comment was concern about how it had happened, quote “your parents should teach you
”. Her parents probably did teach her but like many teenagers she ignored their wise advice and took a risk. What a marvellous reminder to young people that bad things can happen. - MicheleS
  • I think many women's rape stories get twisted by others no matter what they do. Not being believed would be the worst. - katie
  • Last week, when the criminal record of Meagher's killer was made public, everyone seemed amazed person like him could be out of prison. While I was disgusted he was free, I wasn't surprised and it's because of attitudes like the ones Tracey describes. As a society we place blame on the victims of sexual assault, and therefore mitigate the responsibility of the attacker. There is some underlying idea that men are unable (or unwilling) to control themselves, which is rather insulting to the vast majority of men who do act decently. As I was buying my morning coffee today I was scanning the front of the paper and read the story of Milne's arrest for rape. The barista noticed and I said it was interesting the arrest had happened so long after the crime. The barista asked what did the girl expect, going back to some guy's hotel room. You hear stuff like this whenever these topics come up. Having no desire to start a fight with a virtual stranger I just replied that I had had people I didn't really know sleep at my house in the past and not once did I find it necessary to rape them. I will be buying my coffee elsewhere in the future. - kage
  • Thank you Germaine for the article. I do not need to be persuaded to vote for the PM and not just because she is a woman, but because she is a leader, a leader under extremely difficult and distressing circumstances; a leader with vision; sometimes having to compromise and take a smaller step forward than envisaged, however, any step forward in policy and reform is a step in the right direction. I try to use my voice against shock jocks on stations I despise, just to get up their noses, and get totally put down and ridiculed when objecting to their tactics, BUT Germaine YOU have a voice and a voice to be listened to. Please use YOUR VOICE as well as your writing skills to spread this message. - Vickie
  • Sometimes I just want to give up and call everyone who does not get how wrong such assaults are pigs. - ro.watson
  • Given that i wish to see the continuation of carbon pricing and allied green policies, the roll out of the (real) NBN, the funding of the NDIS and the Gonski education reforms, i have no hesitation in voting Labor on September 14th. I will be extremely happy to see PM Gillard retain her position. - sally b
  • Show me your policies Tony Abbott. I judge Gillard on her strengths already, not as some putative enduring barricade against the shock jocks here or there, Germaine. - ro.watson
  • This is so much like my own story. I have so much trouble getting people to understand, even 6 years after separation that he will always be the father of my kids, that he is deserving of respect, even if he has not been the best husband, that I cannot live with him, I do not feel romantic any more but I want him to be the best person he can be because my kids love him and he is their hero, no matter what I say. And I worry so much about the kids and I hope they don't grow up without the skills for a beautiful relationship. So I hope all goes well. I look forward to seeing how you manage. - Bron
 
Categories:  Must see, News and Opinion, Your Stories

ROLLER DERBY XTREME!

All of us are given a name at birth. Whether it’s Anna, Amanda, Apple or something not starting with the letter ‘A’, we learn to like or loathe it. Either way, we live with it.

But there’s a whole subculture of women out there who have taken on a second name. Like Breakface At Tiffany’s. Or Iron Maven. How about Florence Night-in-Jail or Ziggy Skullbust?

Then there’s me, Barack Oharmher.

At 20-years old I decided to enter the world of roller derby by signing up to a newly formed team on the Gold Coast. I became what they call “fresh meat”: a term used to describe new roller derby recruits. And boy was it appropriate!

In 12 months I learned how to skate, how to stack, how to slam and how to verbalise falling on my ass with an array of colourful language. I also adopted a new name. Since the original ones I wanted – Alfred Bitchblock and Mariah Scary – had already been registered on the International Roller Derby Name Registry (it’s a thing), I let myself get swept up in the excitement of Barack Obama’s 2008 victory and became Barack Oharmher.

A punny alter ego is just the beginning.

When you want to become a roller derby girl you need to grow some lady balls. You need to be okay with taking a shove from another woman, and then accepting her hand to get back up on your skates afterwards.

You need to become confident competing in fishnet stockings and bike pants, when really all you want to do is tug your singlet down to your knees.

You need to be able to bite down on your bottom lip and strangle out the words “I’m fine” after taking a particularly brutal tumble on to your tailbone. Most importantly, you need to be brave.

At my first-ever training session I knew no one, which is daunting enough in and of itself (let alone adding spinning wheels into the equation). I squeezed into line besides a tall woman with a tattoo sleeve and green and blue-tipped hair. She introduced herself as Sandy, a single mum looking for a new hobby.

The woman on the other side of me was Beth, a librarian-looking accountant who had always wanted to take up the sport since watching it on TV as a kid. What followed was so close to the “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” scene in Dodgeball that I looked over my shoulder to check if Vince Vaughn wasn’t laughing quietly in the corner.

Alas, no. The coaches were serious as they had us skate the circuit while throwing witches hats, (small) spanners, balls and roller skates as we tried to dodge them and the falling bodies of our comrades.

At the time it was terrifying.

A few hours later we were laughing about it over red snakes and Gatorade, which perfectly sums up the nature of a sport that is equal parts hard-core and humorous.

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4 Responses to this article

  1. Olive October 28, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I’d seriously LOVE to do derby – perfect mix of fitness, fun, competitiveness and roller skating. Gotta get the dicky knees under control first though…

     
  2. Lucy October 28, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I love this story, best derby name. Although Breakface At Tiffany’s might be a good rival. If I had to have a derby name I’d go with Lucy in the Eye (instead of Sky, always been a big Beatles fan)

     
  3. Heather October 29, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I wanna see this!!!

     
  4. RobynMarie October 30, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I wanna do this!!!I

     

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Comments

  • Emily C: And if the male minders would let go of there grip of Julia like in her "mysogyny parliament speech, and not like her 'w...

  • MicheleS: There is a distinction between saying “it is inadvisable to do X (because it may lead to or increase the risk of Y)”...

  • MicheleS: Tracey: “So it’s her fault because she was drunk.” That’s your interpretation. Two footballers had evil intentio...

  • katie: I think many women's rape stories get twisted by others no matter what they do. Not being believed would be the worst.

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