NEWS | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n “Nobody is entitled to their own seat,” says Ricardo Menéndez March with the confidence that he can steal Mount Albert from White and turn it green just as the party has pulled off before. Unlike White and Lee, both of whom are stuck in the risky thirties of their party lists, Menéndez March is steadfast in the top ten of the Green Party, allowing him to continue navigating their work again

NEWS | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n The Opportunity Party is a strange little beast. It runs on the lines of radical centrism, having been founded as the Opportunities Party in 2016 by Gareth Morgan and since running in an attempt to distance themselves from how much he hates cats. There were rumblings of a TOP victory last election, with party leader Raf Manji staking everything on winning Ilam in Christchurch before losing

NEWS | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n I met Helen White at Crave in Morningside, and immediately apologised for embarrassing myself when our tables were next to each other at the Sem 2 Clubs day and I couldn’t properly respond to her korero as I had a Musashi mint chocolate protein bar taking up every corner of my mouth. It was good to catch up properly - I’ve seen her across billiards for years, and despite conservative leani

COMIC | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Created by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor

EDITORIAL | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor In 1959, a New Zealand writer published a novel about gay love. Two years later, that novel was banned in New Zealand for being indecent. Now, 67 years after its original publication, A Way of Love is being republished, and its story is an important piece of Aotearoa’s queer literary history. Written by James Courage (1903–1963), A Way of Love was first published by Jonathan Cap

COMIC | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Created Sophia He (she/her) | @meoskyan_art | Graphic Designer

COMIC | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Created by Emannuel Telea (he/him) | @eman_drawsart | Contributing Artist

NEWS | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Liam Hansen (they/them) | @liamhanse.n On the western side of the Auckland Isthmus, the electorate of Mount Albert stands as the culmination of its namesake suburb, Point Chevalier, Waterview, Wesley, Ōwairaka, Sandringham, Morningside, Kingsland, and a chunk of Mount Eden and Balmoral taken out of Epsom’s back side. I, and many of you, live in this area, owing to its proximity between the relaxed Waitakere Ranges and bustling

COLUMN | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Ricky Lai (he/him) | @rickthelai on IG & Letterboxd | Columnist Toute Une Nuit (Chantal Akerman, 1982) Belgian pioneer of avant-garde film, Chantal Akerman, left behind a legacy of stillness in both domestic (kitchens and bedrooms) and transitory (train platforms and corridors) spaces, with critics' appeal commonly bestowed on her career centrepiece, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). And yet I find th

DEGENERATE GUIDES & ALTERED STATES COLUMN | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Isaac Tenzing | Drugs Columnist Illustrated by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor-in-Chief Holstered within his work belt: 4 Asahi Super Dry cans and a singular joint. My friend tottered into the living room of this particular North Shore house party and proclaimed, “I DON'T WANT TO DIE TILL I'VE HAD SEX ON METH.” He might not have been a wise man, but at this moment, to me, he was

FEATURE | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Froth (any/all) | Contributing Writer Illustrated by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor-in-Chief Kink. There are many different perceptions of that word. Some see it as a BookTok staple: muscular men in scream masks pinning you down. Maybe it’s something to try out on an adventurous weekend. Others see it as taboo, “weird sex shit.” Personally, kink is a staple part of my life and of my identity. It isn’t a hat I p

FEATURE | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Mathilde Redamare (they/them) | @MathildeRedamare on YouTube | Contributing Writer The Secret of the Night 1897, by Alphonse Osbert As a sucker for classic romance literature, I find the word chaser compelling. Romance stories told from a woman’s perspective are often built around the hunter-and-prey dynamic: the endorphin-producing high of pursuit, the glint of something animalistic in the pursuer’s eye, the chest heaving wi

THE HOT LESBIAN COLUMN | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Bella den Boogert (they/them) | @belladbb | Contributing Lesbian Illustrated by Tashi Donnelly (she/her) | @tashi_rd | Editor-in-Chief “Lesbian Bed Death” is a term I’ve encountered many times throughout my years dating women, mostly through online forums or the occasional inside joke with a fellow sapphic about our personal relationships. When I first encountered the term, I pictured my partner and me lying a

FEATURE | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Grace Hunter (she/her) | @gracee_hunter | Contributing Writer It’s easy to judge my participants. After all, 75% of them call themselves progressive yet still hold rigid assumptions about gender, sexuality, and consent. Perhaps they aren’t as evolved as you and I. We’re so evolved – we know not to force tea on an unconscious person. We get consent … right? Sure, we can pretend we’re immune, or we can do the hard, helpful thin

FEATURE | ISSUE ELEVEN | MAHIMAHI / SEX Written by Wren Probett (she/her) | @wrenneso | Contributing Writer I noticed I was being devoured, something I’d long desired above anything else. Two beautiful people were kissing along my neck and torso one Friday night, touching me, biting my ear, making me moan; I realised something. My whole life I’ve been composed of two parts, nerve and soft flesh. All action and interaction have been nothing more than a careful balancing act be