Edition 22
MoneySexPower
- Published 2nd December, 2008
- ISBN: 9780733323935
- Extent: 264 pp
- Paperback (234 x 153mm)
This edition explores how power is wielded, how it can evaporate and can be renegotiated in unexpected ways.
In the lead essay the influential thinker and writer Marcia Langton dissects the abusive nature of ‘big men politics’ in Indigenous communities and the grave effects of lateral violence.
The heady mix of MoneySexPower is unravelled with flair and insight. From Faustian banking deals to prison codes, virtual identities to the culture of coal mines, the reign of the image and the price of privacy to brothels and the raw edge of political power.
This is contrasted with the intimate choices of desire and exchange and lifts the lid on the potent forces of human ambition and longing.
In this Edition
Bonus
I'M THINKING OF of a long weekend in Margaret River, of a heater for the lounge room. I'm thinking of a new bicycle for Ben. I'm thinking of a visit to my favourite bookshop, dinner and an evening at the theatre, a new pair...
Just two clicks
AS BARACK OBAMA never tires of saying, America is a country where ‘ordinary people can do extraordinary things'. In January 2006, Neil Entwistle, a seemingly ordinary twenty-seven-year-old Englishman with an honours degree from the University of York who had been living in the United...
The story of George
THIS IS THE story of George, who thinks art can change the world. To do this, he tells a tale of conflict where different visions of life struggle to survive and fundamentalists of Islam show that they have more in common with the fundamentalists...
The birth wars
BEFORE CHLOROFORM WAS was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century, women had no relief in childbirth. They died during forceps and caesarean deliveries; they died from pain. The uptake of chloroform was slow through the later nineteenth century. At times the debate turned not, as...
Keeping secrets
THE UNIQUELY AUSTRALIAN colloquialism ‘secret women's business' has taken on the character of an incantation, often unrelated to Aboriginal women's secrets. Newspaper headlines declare: ‘And it's not secret women's business as the quest begins to crown a new king, swimming' or ‘Winning trust is...
The end of ‘big men’ politics
Shortlisted, 2009 John Button Prize, Essay Advancing DebateEARLY THIS YEAR I was approached by many young women, mothers, grandmothers, and those who work with them. At first I was nervous about what they may say: I knew I had stepped beyond what was expected...
Getting to grips with naked
WHAT IS IT to be naked? To others. And to ourselves. I suppose most of us know nakedness from various experiences of loving and being loved. Or from some childhood memory, perhaps going back to the moments of birth. Or from the experience of...
Cities of money
SYDNEY 2008: TO make it to the offices of a project team at Macquarie Capital in Sydney's Martin Place, you must pass a security desk and swipe through a couple of card checks. The security gives rise to expectations about what you might find...
The last taboo
Sex is what you do, sexuality is who you are.– Anna Freud I MET J in a bathroom in the winter of 1994. It was 4pm on the start of my first shift in a brand new job, a time I would later come to...
The heaviness of keys
‘YOU N ME Miss, 2 gether, 4 eva.' Dylan is just finishing the chalk heart around this message when I walk into the classroom, books under my arm, keys jangling. He shouldn't be here at all – I'm supposed to unlock the door. One...
My mother, my monster
REALITY TV: A phenomenon whose lure I had resisted until late last year when, in my search for shows to write about for the TV guide, I came across Wife Swap USA. In fact, I was already curious about it – a show dumped in...
My three beggars
LATELY I'VE BEEN haggling over money with Terry. I tell him that I'm quite prepared to give him one payment per week instead of spreading my money over four or five nights. He shakes his head when I offer him the deal. ‘I don't...
Magic and me
MANY THINGS CHANGED changed for me on November 7, 1991. I was ten and watching Magic Johnson speak at his most famous press conference.‘Because of the HIV virus I have obtained, I will have to announce my retirement from the Lakers today,' he said.Magic...
Friend for all times
IT WAS THE summer of 1969. I had just scraped through my first year at the University of Belgrade. I felt like a complete failure. Instead of studying for the final exams, I had discovered the charms of Belgrade's bohemian life and the thrill...
China on my mind
CHINA SHINES. IT radiates possibility. If it were a fashion it would be the new black. My problem is that I remember the old darkness. At least I think I do. Memory is an unreliable companion. All I really know is that until now...
Something for the weekend
WHEN FORMULA ONE ‘supremo' Max Mosley successfully sued Britain's News of the World (NoW) for its invasion of his ‘privacy' in 2008 (he was secretly filmed in the company of five hired handmaidens administering stern discipline in fetish underwear), it confirmed my suspicion that privacy is...
Love thy neighbour
Thoughts lead on to purposes, purposes go forth in action, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.– Tryon Edwards (1809-94)ABANG'S EYES FLASH from side to side. He seems rattled, nervous, unsure. It's 8pm on a Saturday night and we're on...
Black gold and big girls’ toys
DRIVE ALONG THE Peak Downs Highway from Moranbah in Central Queensland to coastal Mackay, and you will almost certainly come across a train carrying highly prized cargo: lumps of hard, black gold. Each wagon carries at least $12,000 worth. By the time the 2.1...
My banker
MONEY ISN"T EVERYTHING!''Bloody nice when it just falls out of the sky, though.''You're still doing alright.''I won't starve. Only one thing, mate. I never appreciated how bloody good I had it.''People never do.''I will next time.''No y'won't.'The weather in Amsterdam in 2006 was unseasonably...
Featured Contributors
Marcia Langton
Professor Marcia Langton was appointed Foundation Professor of Australian Indigenous Studies at University of Melbourne in 2000. She has...
Barry Hill
Barry Hill was born in Melbourne and grew up in a politically active working-class household. He has worked as...
Louis Nowra
Louis Nowra was born in Melbourne and studied at La Trobe University without taking a degree. Nowra worked at...
Jonathan Raban (June 1942–January 2023)
Jonathan Raban is the author of Soft City, Arabia, Foreign Land, Old Glory, For Love and Money, Hunting Mister Heartbreak,...
