By Claira Prider
Sydney Opera House, 8 March 2025
Presented by the Sydney Opera House
Feminist Roast returned to the All About Women Festival in the Sydney Opera House last weekend, filled with nostalgic walks down memory lane, subversive takes and confronting realities.
All About Women is the Sydney Opera House’s centrepiece talks festival about gender, justice, and equality, held annually in the week of International Women’s Day. For over a decade, the celebrated event has filled our venues with inspiring moments and buzzy, agenda-setting conversations.
Returning after great success last year, Feminist Roast sees 5 speakers, each given 7-10 minutes to speak to a topic. On this occasion, roast refers to a dry humoured style of comedy which makes fun of something, in this case – feminism. Stuck interstate thanks to cyclone Alfred, Steph Tisdel couldn’t moderate as originally planned, so broadcaster, author and public speaker Yumi Stynes stepped in to facilitate the night.
TV presenter, comedian and actor Alex Lee took the audience through a look at some female icons she loved as a kid, making fun of the problematic pop culture and celebs from the 90s and 00s.
Writer, actor, director and Gomeroi/Torres Strait Islander woman Nakkiah Lui structured her speech like an awards ceremony, announcing nominees and winners for different categories. Captain James Cook won the category of unsung male advocates and feminists– “when he declared terra nullius, he didn’t see gender, he didn’t see colour, he didn’t see people at all!” In the last half of her talk, she dropped the roast and comedy and got very real with the audience. Talking about the impact that white feminism has on women of colour, she highlighted prevalence of white feminists undermining the most marginalised women by only focusing on issues that affect themselves, or if they do address issues around racism and other cultures, they regularly do so without platforming or even consulting women of colour with expertise and lived experience.
Lui discussed the experience of being Indigenous in a place that doesn’t care about the safety of her culture, community and family history, but more recently so, the shattering impact that the referendum vote had on her family, community and other loved ones. A witty, confronting, thought provoking, eye-opening and heart wrenching speech.
Lucinda Froomes Price, a writer, comedian and author, activated her inner Elle Woods, sharing the history and etymology of the term bimbo as well as tips and tricks on how to become a feminist icon like Elle…what like it’s hard?
Winner of the 50 metre side-eye, Grace Tame needs no introduction and was as unapologetically bold, articulate and impactful as ever. She worked the stage, reading an extremely funny poem she’d written, an ode to a particular anti-feminist to the tune of Incy Wincy Spider.
Michelle Brasier was the final speaker of the night, known for her comedy writing and performing. She focused her talk on her own feminist failings, specifically, a Facebook marketplace encounter that she’d turned into a song and performed to the audience complete with a backing track, lighting and a powerpoint presentation.
Undoing of progress, healthcare rights, wage gaps, triple M radio hosts, the cost of being desirable to men and our social conditioning to be way too nice were just some of the topics covered at this year’s roast. An hilarious and subversive interrogation of feminism, the festival runs in person and online and features more than fifty artists, advocates, writers and storytellers.
Watch the 2024 Feminist Roast here
