Heather Mallick

Toronto

Staff Columnist at The (Toronto) Star

Born female, backs women's rights, other things . Currently staff columnist at Toronto Star, author, winner of feminist Landsberg Award. @hmallick.bsky.social

Articles

Like women, men are now being told how to be

1 day ago | stcatharinesstandard.ca | Heather Mallick

The world has always been full of prophets telling women How to Be. Social media created a logjam. But decades ago you had to write a book to be heard and Erica Jong’s 1973 feminist novel “Fear of Flying,” which advised young women to seize power by having more sex with men, was a massive bestseller. It was the “All Fours” of its time, Miranda July’s 2024 novel about a woman who dismantles her life out of panic that mid-life will soon render her sexually undesirable.
This is what happens when you ask an AI slop factory to write like me

3 days ago | stcatharinesstandard.ca | Heather Mallick

Could AI steal my writing job? A month ago, skeptical of almost everything American AI tech bros promise, and watching AI produce enough word slop to raise sea levels even further, I asked ChatGPT to imitate my work. Be me, I said. “Please write a 650-word column on modern feminism in the style of Heather Mallick.”It responded personally, which will never not be creepy.
Wayne Gretzky, hockey and our stomach for Trump-adjacency

Mar 2, 2025 | thespec.com | Heather Mallick

As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes forward, his sanity dubious and his urge to punish almost Stalinesque, Canadians reject him in ever greater numbers. Canada is our nation. It will remain so. Which brings us to a new phase in Canadian life: who has let us down. We don’t like Trump. And we don’t like Trump-adjacency. When we see it, we speak up. Wayne Gretzky was always Trump-adjacent.
Wayne Gretzky, hockey and our stomach for Trump-adjacency

Mar 2, 2025 | wellandtribune.ca | Heather Mallick

As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes forward, his sanity dubious and his urge to punish almost Stalinesque, Canadians reject him in ever greater numbers. Canada is our nation. It will remain so. Which brings us to a new phase in Canadian life: who has let us down. We don’t like Trump. And we don’t like Trump-adjacency. When we see it, we speak up. Wayne Gretzky was always Trump-adjacent.
Trump is threatening invasion of our country. Should you panic? Yes of course. But it won’t help

Feb 21, 2025 | stcatharinesstandard.ca | Heather Mallick

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Trump is threatening invasion of our country. Should you panic? Yes of course. But it won’t help

Feb 21, 2025 | thespec.com | Heather Mallick

If Canadians seem worried right now, the avalanche that the Trusk/Mump administration has set rolling down the mountain towards us suggests it would really be more rational to panic. Who wants to be the orchestra playing as the Titanic broke in two? Unhook those lifeboats.
This is our country. I took a late-night walk in the snow to remember just how lucky we are

Feb 14, 2025 | thespec.com | Heather Mallick

Snowstorm alert! Snow calls out to me. Because I am Canadian. Canadians wholly of Toronto — all flat roads and right angles — think of shovelling and driving conditions, of meetings missed and near-misses, of heated car seats and road rage nursed as your rear fatly warms. But Torontonians from northern Canada like me — call me a local yokel and I’ll happily answer “here!” — look at snowstorms differently. Snow is not a surprise but a gift.
Here’s the first thing you should ditch in this Trump era

Feb 12, 2025 | wellandtribune.ca | Heather Mallick

The first thing to ditch in the Trump era is wishful thinking. What a pleasant and useful habit it was, buffering us from reality like those padded blankets that line the freight elevator at work. Ditch it. U.S. President Donald Trump doesn’t like any individual, favours no foreign nation, and takes only a brief pleasure in seeing them all grovel.
Here’s the first thing you should ditch in this Trump era

Feb 12, 2025 | thespec.com | Heather Mallick

The first thing to ditch in the Trump era is wishful thinking. What a pleasant and useful habit it was, buffering us from reality like those padded blankets that line the freight elevator at work. Ditch it. U.S. President Donald Trump doesn’t like any individual, favours no foreign nation, and takes only a brief pleasure in seeing them all grovel.
Here’s the first thing you should ditch in this Trump era

Feb 12, 2025 | stcatharinesstandard.ca | Heather Mallick

Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services developmentStore and/or access information on a deviceYou can choose how your personal data is used.