Mamamia: There’s so much more to egg freezing than I thought.

"Ok Lizzie, we’re going to administer the anesthetic now. You’ll feel a little pinch in 3, 2, 1…"

I felt the familiar, tiny prick of a needle going into my left arm as more doctors appeared in my peripheral vision. I spotted stirrups at the end of the bed, and the last thing I remember feeling is relief that I wouldn’t be conscious when my legs were placed into them. 

You might think — after decades of pap smears, internal scans, an IUD insertion (and swift removal) — that I’d be used to the joys of women’s health by now (will we ever be?). 

Not quite.

Fashion Journal: “As we grew up, we grew apart”: 6 people share their failed engagement stories.

“I didn’t know who I was when we got engaged. If you don’t know who you are, how can you know what you want in a relationship or husband?”

Marriage. For some, it’s the pinnacle of true love and commitment; the undisputed end goal of a healthy relationship. Others question why the tradition is still upheld. While long-term commitment is in its evolutionary era, with more couples opting for non-traditional weddings and engagement rings, research indicates marriage is still the desired outcome for most Australians.

Marie Claire: The egg-freezing fear nobody is talking about.

“Shall we just pop ‘em on ice?” I ask my friend with a laugh. “Save it all for later?”

“Yeah, probably,” she sighs. “It’s all too much right now.”
Are we talking about leftover bolognese or freshly caught seafood? Yum, but alas, no. We’re talking about our eggs. The ovarian kind.

A few months ago, Jennifer Aniston sent the internet into a fertility-conscious frenzy when she opened up - after years of invasive public probing - about her IVF struggles.

Fashion Journal: The most common dating mistakes, according to your personality type.

A Google search of ‘dating mistakes’ yields several interesting – though perhaps unsurprising – results. ‘The six most common dating mistakes made by men’, ‘The seven biggest dating mistakes women do (before sex)’, and ‘The worst online dating mistakes you’re making’ are among the highest ranking. Their words of warning heed ‘asking the wrong questions’, ‘being too focused on sex’, ‘focusing on dating only one person at a time’, or ‘dating too many people at the same time’. 

Fashion Journal: Are you experiencing ‘compulsory heterosexuality’? An expert weighs in.

Sexuality is an inherently complex and personal part of every human being. It’s also one of the most judged. For some, it’s fluid and ever-changing. For others, it’s fairly fixed. While the conversation and cultural norms around sexuality are evolving, for many, exploring attraction outside the traditional confines of cis heterosexuality is still fraught with fear of judgement, rejection and discrimination.

Refinery29: Is the fertility industry empowering, or just making us broke & anxious?

Recently, I was treating myself to a mindless Sunday night scroll when I was hit with one of life’s big (sponsored) questions: ‘Do you want kids someday? We should talk’. As a 31-year-old cisgender female, I’m well acquainted with the prevailing presumption that procreation is my priority. But do I want to be targeted with the ticking clock when I’m nursing a two-day hangover? Not particularly.

I should probably get used to it, though, because baby-making is big business.

Body+Soul: Instagram fatigued? There’s a new app that might be better for mental health.

Which platform gets the most of your time?

My iPhone tells me I’m on Instagram for nine hours per week, half of which I’d spend mindlessly scrolling. My relationship status with social media would be: It’s complicated. I know filtered perfection wreaks havoc on body image and advertiser-led algorithms corrode attention spans. But I can’t disregard the positives; facilitating connection, amplifying marginalised voices, expanding creative revenue streams and audiences (Instagram is probably what brought you here).

Body+Soul: It’s not just you. The global attention-span drought is why you can’t stay focused.

Do you know how you got here? Really?

Perhaps this headline caught your attention during a social media scroll, or stood out in your infinite inbox. Your phone may have buzzed in your pocket, or lit up on your desk. Maybe you were searching for information on the topic - or a different topic entirely. Can you remember why you picked up your phone, or what you set out to do in the first place?

Fashion Journal: I asked a sex worker what she wants people to know about her industry.

“There’s so much diversity in the sex industry and our clientele, but people really dismiss that. We see people from all walks of life.”

Jenna Love is a full-service sex worker dialing in from her home in regional NSW, where she lives with her husband and pet cat. Yes, Jenna is married and completely open about it. As she states in the FAQs on her website: “I don’t really agree with the ‘buying a fantasy’ idea of sex work. When you pay to spend time with me, you don’t get a fantasy – you get me. A married woman who is a sex worker.”

Time Out Amsterdam: The 24-hour city that knows how to party.

Multi-disciplinary, high quality, and long-lasting is how Amsterdam’s nachtburgermeester (night mayor) describe’s the city’s offering when the sun goes down. Once typecast by tales of debauchery and crude excess, the city’s nocturnal scene is not mentioned in the same breath as New York, London and Berlin, despite being a fraction of their size. Whether it’s for the stereotypical red light-centered stag do or to dance for three days straight, Amsterdam’s nightlife is a major draw for the millions who visit each year.

Cosmopolitan: Where did the spark go?

“What am I going to say?” I asked my housemate as I was preparing to cut ties with the (once perfectly eligible) bachelor I’d been seeing with keen interest… until recently. “Is a casual, ‘sorry, I’ve changed my mind’ acceptable after five months?” Our romance had started with a familiar scenario for twentysomething singles: girl meets boy in club, girl goes home with boy, girl and boy have enough of a spark to meet again and again until it becomes ‘a thing’. It was a nice, natural progression and there weren’t even any dating apps involved. Romantic, right?

Medium: Why western masculinity needs our attention.

Let me be clear: I’m an unequivocal believer in equal rights and opportunity. Like too many women, I know from various personal experiences of invasive powerlessness how necessary the #MeToo movement is. The easiest way to trigger me is to infer women are less capable than men or joke about us belonging in the kitchen (not just because I’m an average-at-best cook), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s evisceration of the ‘structure of power that supports violent language against women’ is one of my favourite moments from the shitshow that is 2020.

*Smiles politely* — nice to meet you.

Huffpost UK: Life beyond the lens: travel blogger Brooke Saward reveals reality behind World of Wanderlust.

Many would say that Brooke Saward has the best job in the world, and the statement is pretty hard to argue. At just 24 years of age, the Australian-born beauty has turned her curiosity and taste for adventure into a profitable business. World of Wanderlust is a digital destination for those who appreciate travel and seek new experiences; it inspires people to not only wonder what lies beyond their immediate horizon, but to go and find out what it is.

Sexography: Are we too attached to monogamy?

How do you feel about long-term monogamy? It’s the kind of question that can really split a room. In my experience, the sentiment of the majority is that sexual temptation will come and go, but acting on it isn’t worth the risk of damaging the relationship — or losing ‘their’ person. Many will reason that the imagined thrill of an encounter with someone new is eradicated by the thought of their partner having one of their own — and threatening their co-created safe space in the meantime.

But numbers in the West paint a different, less-than-loyal picture. And by now, we’re pretty familiar with them.

Express UK: This generation will be going to Mars: NASA astronaut reveals future of space tourism

“People ask if it was everything I thought it would be and I say oh, it was so much more. They ask if it was worth it - all the hard work - and I tell them a million times over.”  Don Thomas was 39 years of age when he first launched into space. His mission was 15 days long, which was the record longest space shuttle mission when it launched in 1994.

Don recalls: “I had dreamed of it since I was six years old and 33 years later it was happening… You have no idea how you’re going to feel up there. To see the earth and to experience a launch, there’s nothing quite like it.”

Moments: The great divide: has finger-pointing become our coping mechanism?

I’ve become acquainted with a lesser-known part of myself recently. It’s not a part I’m particularly proud of. It’s less tolerant, more judgemental, reactive and generally righteous. It’s a part that feels compelled to share Instagram posts validating my viewpoint with people who are probably (and understandably) just really fatigued by now.

Does it help anyone other than me? Probably not. But I find it hard to stop. Because the world is on fire. Quite literally — in Algeria, Turkey and Greece; as horror scenes continue to be ignited in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine.