Pole Dancing for Empowerment: What Happened to Feminism? February 1, 2011

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/09/22/IQ2_Feminism_Has_Failed

Australian journalist Gay Alcorn claims that feminism has fallen short at significantly influencing pop culture. "I'd argue that in Australia, sexism is so embedded we barely notice it," says Alcorn, and "even if we do, most people have stopped fighting it."

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Here, as part of Melbourne's IQ2 Debate Series, six very passionate feminists, including one male, go head to head.

After generations of effort, it's still very much a man's world. Women continue to bear a disproportionate burden of domestic labor, are under-represented in the senior ranks of politics, business and the professions, and they're still often denied equal pay for equal work.

But do women really only have themselves to blame? Is it female acquiescence that has prolonged male domination rather than macho-suppressive tendencies? Or should we be taking a different perspective altogether and instead be celebrating a wider victory, where concerns for equality have less to do with gender and are more driven by a concern for justice for all?

Regardless of the competing arguments, one thing both sides agreed on: there's much more work to be done. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Gay Alcorn began her career in Queensland, and joined The Sunday Age before its launch in 1989. She went on to become The Age's Washington correspondent from 1999-2002, where she covered both the 2000 presidential election and the September 11 terrorist attacks. She has won three Walkley Awards. Alcorn is currently the editor for The Sunday Age.