Editor’s letter:
from the desk of The Weekly’s Kim Doherty
Back in 1964, The Australian Women’s Weekly took the risky step of reporting the good and bad effects of the contraceptive pill to the women of Australia. No other media outlet had ever been so bold. Outrage ensued across the country. While the mailbag exploded with complaints from upright citizens who were yet to step away from their Hills Hoists and their solid ’50s suburban sensibilities, so did the magazine’s copy sales. The young women of Australia (more than half of Australia’s girls aged 14-19 read The Weekly at the time) were keen to know more. They gave the magazine its biggest circulation number of the decade.
The editor at the time – Esme Fenston – was, by all reports, a rather conservative soul. It may have caused her hot-rollered hair to stand on end, but she recognised what her readers wanted and followed up with an investigation, asking readers what they tell their daughters about sex, and what their mothers told them. (She also published a story which suggested women approach the delicate task of explaining sex to children by using cosy photos of farm animals. If you are a child of this era whose mother relied on this sort of hazy advice, you may be rather lucky to have been born at all.)
In a daring 1970 cover story titled, “Is It Sex Or Love?”, Dr John Rich mused about whether a woman’s sex drive existed, a fact Melburnian Germaine Greer had no qualms about. She was controversially interviewed by The Weekly on her return to Australia in 1972, having fuelled the flames of a sexual revolution and terrified men worldwide with her Cambridge University
PhD thesis-turned-book, The Female Eunuch.
More adventurous features followed under The Weekly’s new and youngest-ever editor,
Ita Buttrose, including the “Sex And The Working Woman” report in November 1974, which found: “There’s good news and bad news about the sex life of the working woman. The good news is she’s never been as free to enjoy it, however, whenever, wherever and presumably with whomever she pleases. The bad news is she seems not to be taking advantage of the good news ...”
The experts concluded that working women were giving more time and effort to their jobs, and “less and less to the joys of sex”.
Sound familiar? It seems that even in this era of Tinder and Fifty Shades of Grey, some things don’t change. Our sex survey this issue (page 116) indicates most of us are having less sex than we were in 2007 and 1980. Why? The experts are blaming the pressures of our busy lives. (We’re also apparently faking more orgasms than ever before – now what do you make of that?) On the upside, 39 per cent of us rate our sex life as good-excellent.
Our researchers say they were nearly bowled over in the rush of readers keen to respond to this survey. Thank you for being part of the tradition of Australian women being honest with each other on the pages of The Weekly. In the long shadows of my esteemed predecessors (I particularly tip my hat to Esme), it’s an honour to bring this edition to
you. Happy reading.
We are holding
High Tea parties across Australia, with tastings, workshops and shopping at boutique market stalls – plus you could win an
APT cruise package worth up to $45,980. Details on page 180. Come join us!