Earshot - Abc Radio National

A gay family story with a twist. Gay couples John and Charlie, and Ruth and Betty hit some very modern day family dilemmas.

About twenty years ago two gay couples met by chance in Sydney. Betty and Ruth wanted to have children, so did Charlie and John. But the boys didn't just want to be sperm donors, they wanted a family. Four parents two gaybies tracks the foursome over the next two decades, as their unconventional family plan hatches

What if instead of looking at the world through complex systems like politics, economics, community health, we observed the world through the lens of ice?

The All Blacks have taunted their opponents with haka for more than a century. But the world saw haka in a new light after the Christchurch terror attacks in 2019 triggered spontaneous haka performances in streets, parks and outside the Al Noor mosque.

What can dinosaurs and giant worms tell us about the meaning of time?

Chinese-Australia singer, Rainbow Chan, returns to her mother’s village in Hong Kong. She meets some charismatic grannies who sing surprisingly subversive and feminist protest songs, known as bridal laments.

The Ashkenazi Jewish population have a much higher risk of cancer than other people. In this story three families talk about receiving the news that could drastically change their lives.  

Landays is a powerful and subversive form of poetry in Afghanistan, performed by women. Part of traditional folk culture, the poems are oral and improvised. And for the women who give voice to them, there's a price to pay.

On the 30th birthday of Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth we do a deep dive into the multi-billion dollar world of the beauty vlogger and the young feminists who love it.

Anyier Yuol has been a soccer star, beauty queen and a refugee. She's on a mission to change the face of Australian fashion and the lives of young African-Australian women.

Take a near empty tram through Melbourne in curfew and meet the people behind the masks who are keeping the city alive.

Before the tumours on her auditory nerve turn Kylie Webb’s world silent, she has a few sounds she’d like to hear one more time.

A documentary maker can’t forget the hopes and dreams of a 14-year-old boy he interviewed and returns to the same rural town nine years later to track him down.

Australia is facing a shortage in shearers — long hours, injury, poor working conditions, and extended trips away from home are making the job a difficult proposition for the next generation.

Have you been having more vivid dreams lately? You’re not alone. We delve into the collective unconscious to find out what’s behind these ‘quarantine dreams’.

What does your voice say about you? Not your choice of words, but all the extra information the voice carries, like our emotions, accents, even apparently our identity. Details that big tech and governments are more and more interested in each day.

Every month many young Australians pack their bags and travel to Israel to join the Israeli Defence Force. And when they do, the army calls them lone soldiers.

A family receives devastating news that changes their lives and propels them into a future they never imagined.

As New Year's Eve approached, the crossroads town of Cann River in the heart of East Gippsland was facing the flames of an unprecedented bushfire season. Three residents describe their response to the threat.

During the pandemic lockdown a documentary maker grows increasingly obsessed with his neighbours and sets out to meet them all.