Jill Stark on LinkedIn: #sololiving #singlelife #writerlife | 31 comments (2024)

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I've been vocal for many months about the horrors unfolding in Gaza and my dismay at the way our political leaders have said and done so little to stop the carnage. But I haven't said much on this platform because, honestly, I was concerned about losing work and how it would impact me professionally. That's the upside down world we're living in – where people could lose their jobs for standing up for human rights, and saying they don't believe innocent children should be bombed into oblivion. The last few days have changed everything for me. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel's leaders for committing war crimes, and their response was to drop a two-ton bomb on a refugee camp they had designated as a "safe zone", burning children and their families alive.I will never be able to erase those images from my mind. They should haunt every one single one of us. But we must not look away.It is not antisemitic to say that the indiscriminate mass murder of more than 40,000 civilians goes far beyond "self-defence." You do not need a degree in geopolitical history to know that dropping bombs on hospitals and civilian tents is wrong.If I lose work for making my views known, then that's a small price to pay compared to the unimaginable grief and trauma the Palestinian people are living through right now.The person who wrote the words on this image is Jewish. And like many Jewish people, he is saying not in my name. This must stop.If we don't speak up now, we will never remove the collective stain on our conscience. We have to push through our discomfort and do the right thing, even when it's hard.

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One of the things I’m most proud of during my career as a journalist is helping Jason Ball share his coming out story with the world, and watching the Pride Cup movement that came from that moment of courage continue to grow. He was the first Australian Rules footballer at any level of the game to come out in the national media, and the impact he made was immeasurable. Today is the ten-year anniversary of the first Pride Cup game at Yarra Glen – a fixture Jason’s teammates came up with as a way to celebrate their friend and stamp out hom*ophobia in country football – sending a powerful message to every LGBTIQ+ kid watching that sport is for everyone.It’s a game that went on to inspire similar fixtures in every kind of sport at hundreds of clubs right across Australia and was the blueprint for the AFL’s annual Pride game between St Kilda Football Club and Sydney Swans.As Jason always said, pride is the opposite of shame and he didn’t want any other kid to feel they had to choose between the game they love and being themselves. The Pride Cup organisation he founded is testament to that – staging joyful, inclusive games that are a celebration of people feeling free to be who they are.As recent events in the AFL - Australian Football League show, there is still work to do to stamp out hom*ophobia and transphobia in sport, and the leaders of these codes must do more to make their games safe for all players, spectators and officials, but it’s incredible to watch country football leading the way as a beacon of what’s possible.I sadly can’t make it to the game today but I’ll be cheering on the Yarra Glen Football Netball Club from afar and feeling proud to have played a small part in this incredible movement.🌈 🏆🏉 #pridecup #prideinsport #notohom*opbia

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Question to politicians: did you forget single people exist?Every year at budget time we see policy and funding decisions focused solely on "helping families." And sure, they need support – times are tough. But are families the only people facing rising bills and cost of living pressures? Are they they only ones who deserve safety and access to jobs, training, services, sport, art and entertainment? These are just some of the media releases put out by the Victorian Government yesterday. Not a single mention of the nearly one third of the population who live alone. There was no assistance for people who have seen their bills, rents and mortgages skyrocket the same as everyone else, but with only one income to absorb the costs.This constant framing of public policy through the lens of the "family" is outdated and profoundly alienating for anyone who sits outside these traditional structures.We're not living in the 1950s anymore. There are more single person households than at any point in our history. And we pay taxes and vote.Times have changed and so have our community's demographics. It's time politicians acknowledged it.#singlepeople #sololiving #single #budget

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There is a heaviness many of us are feeling at the moment. For me, it's like a permanent weight on my chest. A dull background hum of grief.I know there's always been bad news in the world. I was a newspaper journalist for 20 years. In a way, I’d become desensitised to the scale of it all, because you have to be when your job is to report on the very worst that humans can do to each other.But there’s something about this particular moment in time that feels different. Heavier. Harder to rationalise or remove myself from. The violence, the atrocities, the cruelty people are capable of. It feels like we’re at a critical crossroads as a species, and we keep choosing the wrong way. Like we’re losing something central to our humanity. I wrote this piece in my weekly Patreon newsletter to try and make sense of these feelings, and to make sure that my heart does not become hardened by anger and despair.We can't always change the world, but we can make sure it doesn't change us. We can choose to show up with care and compassion, practicing kindness, empathy and understanding, even when that's hard.And we can give ourselves permission to carve out space for small moments of joy. Because we're no use to anyone if we’re so burnt out we let despair drive us into the ground.We need these glimmers to give us the energy to keep showing up for the stuff that matters. You can subscribe to my newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gkjjNSD3

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It’s been a really heavy week but today I’m reminded of this moment – the safest I’ve ever felt inside a sports stadium. The collective joy, the connection, and the unadulterated freedom to let go. Women and girls’ feeling safe to have fun and express themselves without fear of judgement, harassment or intimidation. You don’t have to be a fan of Taylor Swift’s music to recognise that there is something special about these shared experiences. They give us a glimpse into what life could feel like if we weren’t quietened by fear. If we didn’t have to constantly look over our shoulder for the next threat. If we could just live. Happy Tay Day to all who celebrate. And especially to my friend, Madeleine Starling who I shared this life-affirming experience with. I hope today brings all of you great joy. 🩷#tayday #torturedpoetsdepartment

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I sat down to write yesterday about the heaviness I’m feeling and 1500 words poured out of me. It was prompted by something the father of the man who carried out the Bondi stabbings said that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.He was asked if he could think of a reason why his son targeted women. He said, “Because he wanted a girlfriend. He’s got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain.”It was an honest answer from a heartbroken parent trying to make sense of an unthinkable crime. But it speaks to a problem our political leaders and law enforcement agencies seem slow to acknowledge.Frustrated, isolated, socially marginalised men are a target demographic for the Incel (involuntary celibate) movement – a dark and misogynistic online subculture that radicalises disaffected young men who are frustrated by their lack of sexual experiences and blame women for their unsatisfying lives. We don’t know that’s what happened here, but we do know that in this world view – propagated on the dark web and chat forums like Reddit and 4chan – men are entitled to women’s bodies and their attention. If they don’t get it, the results can be deadly. The Incel movement has been implicated in at least a dozen mass shootings and stabbings in the US, Canada and the UK, carried out by young men driven by a deep resentment towards women.It’s the very definition of a terrorist movement – acts of violence underpinned by a dangerous ideology. And it’s burgeoning around the world.In the UK, there has been a sharp rise in the number of young men referred to national counter-terrorism agency, Prevent, after being radicalised by Incel ideology.Monash University’s research on the influence of misogynist and accused sex trafficker, Andrew Tate, on boys’ attitudes and behaviours in Australian schools, has revealed widespread sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment, forcing many female teachers out of the profession.There is no funding to stamp out these dangerous movements. No acknowledgement that women are being terrorised.The rush from our political leaders and police to blame mental illness and rule out terrorism when crimes are committed by a young white man is matched only by the speed with which they label violent acts carried out by young Islamic men as terrorism.Men’s violence towards women is a national crisis. Where is the sense of urgency?Read more: https://lnkd.in/gXtkaVkx

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Today Justice Michael Lee threw out Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten, finding that on the balance of probabilities, he raped Brittany Higgins.I hope this brings her some semblance of peace after everything this man has put her through. I watched the verdict being delivered live and I was holding my breath. To hear a senior judge say the words, “Mr Lehrmann raped Miss Higgins” was more emotional than I had expected. Here was a woman being believed. A woman speaking her truth. A woman carrying herself with grace and dignity through the most extraordinary and protracted ordeal. A woman who has become symbolic of the fight for justice for so many survivors, finally seeing some justice for herself. It felt like women everywhere needed to know that the system wasn’t entirely stacked against them.Finally some accountability for a man who thought he was above the law. A man who thought he was smarter than everyone but was so arrogant he brought about his own downfall. Let’s not forget, this is a case that Lehrmann himself chose to launch. This verdict does not erase the damage he’s caused, nor does it hold him criminally responsible, but at least everyone will know what he did and that will reduce the risk of him hurting anyone else. It makes women safer.

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I’m so tired of “thoughts and prayers.” I’m so tired of people in positions of power wringing their hands and talking about these acts as “random tragedies”, as if each one is an aberration, not the latest horror in a growing epidemic of gendered violence.I’m so tired of the way authorities are quick to point to mental illness as the sole cause, conveniently absolving themselves of any responsibility to tackle a much bigger problem they have consistently failed to take seriously.I’m so tired of the shame and stigma that one in five Australians who live with a mental health condition – myself included – are forced to wear when the media draws these one-dimensional conclusions, despite people living with mental illness being far more likely to be the victims of crime than perpetrators.And even if mental illness could solely be blamed, why are our political leaders not immediately talking about a boost to mental health services? Instead, they have chronically underfunded our broken mental health system and ripped out the social supports people need to stay well.We think we’re better when America suffers yet another mass shooting and their leaders blame everything but the guns.And yet, that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We’re being urged to focus on anything other than the underlying cancer at the root of it all – male violence.We don’t want your thoughts and prayers. We want you to do something.

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