Ana Stevenson

'I am shocked': Unpacking One Nation's spectacular rise in the polls Pauline Hanson's One Nation has seen the fastest polling rise in modern Australian politics. What is going on?

🚨 I spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) with some colleagues about One Nation’s meteoric rise

Some really good data visualisation in this Story Lab piece

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why

Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott

Copy of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë on a table. It's dimly lit and we can see a struggling tea candle next to it on a flower tile.

A gothicist whose research includes narratives of domestic and family violence reviews the 2026 film “Wuthering Heights". A thread:
1/

AHA Conference 2026 - The Australian Historical Association Monday 29 June–Friday 3 July 2026, Macquarie University The 45th Australian Historical Association (AHA) Conference will be hosted by Macquarie University.  The organising committee are excited to…

ONE MORE WEEK to get your abstracts in for the 2026 AHA Conference! We can't wait to see you at Macquarie University in July -- don't miss out! theaha.org.au/aha-conferen...

The title page of a 1971 book by Karen DeCrow. The book is called The Young Woman’s Guide to Liberation — Alternatives to a Half-Life While the Choice is Still Yours. The publisher’s name appears at the bottom of the page: Pegasus, a division of the Bobbs-Merrill Company Incorporated Publishers.

From my vintage advice book collection: a 1971 book for young women. (I can’t get over the subtitle.)

Happy UK release day to Opera Wars! Let's celebrate with a massive book review in the London Times, shall we? 😱

"Vincent is at her most evocative — in a gloomy way — in describing the jobbing opera singer’s lot, or 'near constant rejection.'”

#operasky #booksky

Highlighted statistics: 69% disagreed that 'Senior management considers employee psychological health to be as important as productivity.' 73% disagreed that risks to their psychological health are actively monitored. 82% of participants ranked high or very high in emotional exhaustion.

Australian University Census of Staff Wellbeing is now out - some shocking stats!

Census WEBSITE for more info and full report: stresscafe.net/census/

#AcademicSky #AustralianUnis

“This isn’t a fringe issue. It goes to the heart of why housing has become so expensive, and why inequality keeps growing,” writes Kasy Chambers, Executive Director of Anglicare Australia.

Read the full piece on The Point: https://theaus.in/4rKDUBX

When Jeffrey Epstein was the world’s leading expert on getting away with it The convicted sex-criminal was obsessed with other high profile abuse cases, offering commentary, advice, and even financial help.

I wrote about all the men who flocked to Jeffrey Epstein's inbox to talk about sexual abuse allegations with an expert. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

the Epstein files are really devastating because they remind me of how many girls and women miss out on professional opportunities, mentorship and careers because of how many powerful, rich and influential men only view girls and women — and interactions with them — through the lens of sex

Fired after gender lesson, former professor sues Texas A&M Melissa McCoul, arguing she was fired to appease political critics, is seeking to get her job back and other restitution.

New: Former Texas A&M lecturer Melissa McCoul is suing the university months after Texas A&M fired her over a gender identity lesson.

McCoul alleges that administrators knowingly violated her free speech and due process rights to appease political critics.

The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report by Rosa Campbell Historian Campbell debuts with a revelatory biography of sex researcher Shere Hite (1942–2020), best known for her 1976 publicat...

Over the moon 🌙 that 'The Book that Taught the World to Orgasm and then Disappeared' received a starred review from Publishers Weekly! 🌟 🔭 🌃

www.publishersweekly.com/9781685892319

Grab a ☕ and revisit a History Australia Collection!
History in practice: Trove Special Section.
www.tandfonline.com/journals/rah...
Eight great articles from 18(4) 2021.

Human rights advocates are calling for the Australia Government to stop violating children’s rights and locking them up in “cages” as the country faces renewed calls to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

Read the full piece on The Point: https://theaus.in/4a07kEL

I am hearing that RFK Jr.’s minions are going to go after HPV vaccines. I’ve got problems with these people and now you’re going to hear about them, first from a personal perspective and then from a professional one.

It all boils down to this: WE HAVE A SAFE VACCINE THAT PREVENTS CANCER.

1. “Unreal and untrue: Refrigerator mother theory and the historic vilification of the mothers of disabled children,” by Kate McAnelly 2. “The Neptune: A Biography of Convict Women,” by Nichola Garvey 3. “Remembering Lyndall Ryan (1943-2024),” by Vera Mackie and the Australian Women’s History Network 4. “Camp Names and Vernacular: Queensland’s Lavender Language,” by Michael Stockwell 5. “The History of Objectifying Women: From Opium Use in the Japanese Empire to Contemporary Advertising,” by Ming Gao 6. “White Aprons, White Sauce, White … Supremacy? The culinary politics of internet ‘tradwives’,” by Lauren Samuelsson 7. “An Exercise in Biography-as-Frustration: The Enigma of Evdokia Petrov,” by Julie Kimber and Phillip Deery 8. “Histories of Birth Trauma and Obstetric Violence,” by Paige Donaghy 9. “‘You Can’t Wear A Red Ribbon If You’re Dead’: The Complex Rise of The Ribbon Project for People With AIDS,” by Caitlin Merlin 10. “‘Production-line baby-killing centres’: Vilification of Abortion in Queensland’s Recent History,” by Cassandra Byrnes

Congratulations to the authors of the top 10 most-read blogs for 2025! ✨

And a huge thanks to the #VIDAblog editorial team for all their stellar work in 2025.

@paigedonaghy.bsky.social | @dranastevenson.bsky.social | @veramackie.bsky.social

Read these blogs + more here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/

My Last Day at the Centers for Disease Control - Pittsburgh Review of Books Sixteen years ago, I became part of what Donald Trump has called “the Deep State.”

“On April Fool’s Day—bonus points for DOGE’s sense of humor—I wake up at 4:45 AM and check my email. I’ve been RIFed, along with the rest of my Division. There is no proposal to Congress; no 'bump and retreat'.” pghrev.com/my-last-day-...

The Work Behind the Writing: On Writers and Their Day Jobs For nineteen years, until his retirement in 1885, Herman Melville would awake, slick back his dark hair and unsnarl the snags from his beard, don a uniform of dark navy pilot cloth and affix to his…

Ed Simon explores the complex relationships between writers and their day jobs.

Renfrew Christie Dies at 76; Sabotaged Racist Regime’s Nuclear Program

Holy hell, what an obituary

It’s funny how Wikipedia used to seem relatively unreliable, because it was written by regular people instead of encyclopedia experts, and now it seems relatively reliable, because it’s written by regular people instead of glib CliffsNotes robots

“Writers perform a crucial national service. For this service they are underpaid and undervalued. The Adelaide Writers’ Week Festival has just made them pay the price for a problem they didn’t create."

Read Leanne Minshull’s full piece on The Point: thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

Screenshot of journal article. Title: Making an Entrance on a Man’s Stage: Pioneer Women Flautists in Australia. Authors: Karen Anne Lonsdale (University of Southern Queensland) and Ana Stevenson (University of Southern Queensland and University of the Free State). Abstract: Flute playing was primarily a male domain during the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. Whereas the piano and singing were traditionally considered acceptable musical pursuits for women, the flute was not thought to be an appropriate choice of instrument. As women were not included in orchestras, they formed their own. Despite facing strong opposition and public criticism, Australia’s trailblazing women flautists pursued music as both amateurs and professionals. Against a backdrop of changing trends in women’s work in 20th-century Australia, some women musicians first broke into the profession as replacements for men who were serving during World War II. This article uses newspapers to uncover women flautists’ entry into the classical music scene of the early 20th century, highlighting the achievements of five pioneering women: Constance Pether, June Lindsay, Florence Elkin, Linda Vogt and Audrey Walklate.

Next in 49.4:
Lonsdale and Stevenson highlight five pioneering women flautists breaking the glass ceiling of Australia's professional music scene.

#OzMusic #WomensHistory #flutes #OzStudies #OpenAccess

tinyurl.com/3ypwd9xc

Invisible Illness by Emily Mendenhall - Hardcover Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

Another day, another ECG. Life with heart damage from covid.

Having long covid feels like living in an alternate reality where I've been left behind. My friend @emendenhall.bsky.social makes the invisible visible in her powerful new book

Framing the Humanities - Pittsburgh Review of Books Contemporary discussions of the humanities tend to focus either on its perceived decline in status (conceived mainly with respect to numbers of majors and the

“The sense that work in the humanities is subjective or ungrounded in relation to the sciences occludes the more fundamental distinctions between the two forms of research.”

Read an excerpt from HUMANITIES THEORY by Amanda Anderson and Simon During (@academic.oup.com). pghrev.com/framing-the-...

English Majors at Work English Majors at Work: Career and Life Pathways details the professional superpowers—the many marketable skills—gained from studying literature, creative writing, film, and popular culture. It prepar...

Very excited about this first online sighting of ENGLISH MAJORS AT WORK: CAREER AND LIFE PATHWAYS:

www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/english-majo...

Can the Archive Make a Monster of a Historian? A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster...

"My sources broke categories: they were monstrous. Studying them meant integrating methods from several disciplines — and being marginalized by the more conservative practitioners in all of them."

The final piece in our monsters series, from @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social

Montage of creative works entering the public domain in the US in 2026.

👀 WATCH THIS SPACE! 🚨
Have plans right after the ball drops in Times Square? 🪩 Join us here!

At 12:01am ET, we’ll start rolling out highlights for #PublicDomainDay2026 — iconic books, films & music newly free for reuse + where you can find them.

Learn more ➡️ blog.archive.org/public-domai...

Hey Jon Stewart, jokes about wearing masks aren't funny Critics of the Daily Show host say he's a hypocrite.

Dear Jon Stewart,

No one randomly owes you information about their health, their loved one’s health, or, understandably, just wanting to avoid Covid, which is the only way to prevent Long Covid.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy

The Future That Was How Third World women seized the means of knowledge production to fight against rising authoritarianism and imagine a future freer than our present

The Introduction, “What is the Future We Yearn For?,” to my book, *The Future That Was*, is now live and freely available to all on the book’s @princetonupress.bsky.social website

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...