In the introduction to her Quarterly Essay Unfinished Business: Sex, Freedom and Misogyny, Anna Goldsworthy opines that it’s never been a better time to be a woman in this country ‘on the surface’. Surface is the key word here. Despite the ascendency of women to key positions in government, big business and higher education, women are still held to impossible standards in what Goldsworthy labels an ‘image-centric culture’.

This superficial barometer, argues Goldsworthy, limits the power and achievements of women who dare to break through the ever-present glass ceiling. It’s what allows the Prime Minister to be ridiculed on national television for having a ‘fat arse’, or physically threatened on commercial radio, or called a ‘witch’ and other unprintable, gender-specific slurs.

Women, of course, have long been held to oppressive physical standards and Goldsworthy is well aware of this. She sees the internet, particularly social media, as a double-edged sword for female empowerment. While the web facilitates the spread of important footage such as Julia Gillard’s historic misogyny speech, it also creates unsafe spaces rife with trolls and exploitative avenues. Goldsworthy then segues into the ideology underpinning the pornography industry and what lies behind the success of pop-cultural phenomena such as Girls and Fifty Shades of Grey, showing how sexism is all-pervasive.

One refreshing but sure-to-be-controversial point she raises is that ‘feminists are very good at telling other feminists what they should think – almost as good as men’. Thankfully, Goldsworthy has no such intentions. Effortlessly researched, Goldsworthy’s essay is a clever conversation starter to mark this election year and QE’s fiftieth issue.

Emily Laidlaw is a freelance reviewer.