ZEE FEED

In an era when AI is eating away at creative industries and fascism is eating away at our hope for humanity, we’ve been gifted a delicious set of horror movies of late. Some, like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, are new instalments to prominent franchises, while others, such as Backrooms and Iron Lung, are the new territory for online creators. But rising to the top of this trend is Obsession, directed by 26-year-old YouTube comedian Curry Barker.

The latest population data published this past week puts Australia’s fertility rate at about 1.43 children per woman – far below the ‘replacement rate’ of 2.1, and a continuation of years of decline. Naturally, the media set about trying to answer why Australian women are not having as many babies as they used to. It’s a fair question. This time around, journalists and commentators seemed most eager to focus on the economic factors – housing affordability in particular.

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Analysis — 3 min read Pauline Hanson and Gina Rinehart (both centre) fundraising aboard The World private residential cruise ship. This post is for subscribers only

Editor's Note: This story contains a lot of niche internet terminology. We've provided and/or linked to definitions for the more obscure references. Sorry – this is the reality of politics and culture journalism in 2026! 'Looksmaxxing'content creator Clavicular (real name Braden Peters) was hospitalised for a suspected overdose, while livestreaming from a bar in Miami, just a few days after his interview with 60 Minutes in Australia went viral for how dumb it made him look.

MAFS — 6 min read 2026 MAFS contestants Bec; Scott and Gia; show "expert" psychologist John Aiken. Source: Nine. This post is for subscribers only

“Ok, I’m probably going to get humbled, but how old do you think I look?” Women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s ask this question over and over and over on TikTok. The responses don’t go exactly how you might expect. Yes, those who look ‘younger than their age’ are complimented, showered in praise to the point of worship. And those who look ‘older than their age’ are not only insulted but openly mocked, given condescending advice on what to ‘fix’ about their face, hair and overall vibe.

Meta's 'Vibes' AI feed You’ve definitely seen your fair share of AI slop lately. Uncanny videos with too many fingers, faces that melt at the edges, hands that fuse or dissolve into props. The term 'AI slop' was even crowned people’s choice 2025 Word of the Year by Macquarie Dictionary.

Opinion — 4 min read 12 Once upon a time — specifically between 2008 and 2016 — cinema was at its peak. No, I’m not talking about Inception or Frozen (sorry to those films). I’m talking skin glistening in the sunlight. Children reaped from their districts to fight for their lives. Society categorised and divided by personality traits. That’s right. The holy trinity of film franchises: Twilight (2008 to 2012), The Hunger Games (2012 to 2015) and Divergent (2014 to 2016).

This year was Zee Feed’s fifth birthday. Can you believe it? I wanted to mark the occasion by doing something special, something I’ve wanted to do since the very beginning: put Zee Feed’s feminist journalism in print. The summer issue includes essays about political myths on the left, the AI bro to alt-right pipeline, TikTok’s obsession with age and 2026 predictions for pop culture, the media, internet culture and activism.