Australian Prime Minister Speech About Misogyny

[luckystone]

http://media.smh.com.au/selections/juli ... 01787.html

 

I haven't seen this posted already. For a bit of background, this is our first female Prime Minister and she came to power somewhat controversially before winning an election on her own (well, with a minority government). There have been a lot of nasty comments directed to her purely for being a woman (as well as a childless, unmarried one) and while having a female in charge was a great achievement, it was sad I think how many people were secretly upset by it and vocal about it. She has been the victim of a lot of nasty sexist cartoons etc. and things which really focus on her being a woman, rather than her policies or anything else like with a male politician. It's very subtle and a lot of people probably don't even realise they're doing it.

 

The leader of the Opposition is a rather nasty religious misogynist, amongst other gems he's said that women should save their virginity because it's a "precious gift" (actually, he might have been talking about men as well, but it was weird). He's also made various disparaging comments about housewives etc. A recent scandal was when a misogynist radio broadcaster said the Prime Minister's father who recently died "died of shame".

 

It's great to see him finally told off and I think she makes a lot of important points about the modern face of misogyny.

[luckystone]

Oops, meant to post this in Chatter. Can someone move it please? :oops:

[Guest Anonymous]

I think this makes for good Snark, myself.

If you click on the red ! in the left hand corner of any post, you can report it to the admin/mods and add a note to ask for it to be moved to the appropriate section of the forum.

[crassy]

Tony Abbot is a scary right-wing, christian fundie-lite. Good on Julia for this speech. I'm just surprised she didn't do it earlier.

[luckystone]

I think she was waiting until it seemed relevant rather than just blurting it out....or maybe she just snapped after the father comment. I would have snapped long ago and slapped him not given such an eloquent speech lol.

I think the reaction to it in Australia has been a bit depressing. It seems to have drawn a lot of misogynists out of the woodwork further as people express disgust that a WOMAN is TALKING for so long. I even heard someone on the radio say "Julia Gillard and her handbag hit squad", which is just breathtakingly offensive.

I heard the overseas media was more positive, but I haven't read any foreign articles yet.

[crassy]

I think she was waiting until it seemed relevant rather than just blurting it out....or maybe she just snapped after the father comment. I would have snapped long ago and slapped him not given such an eloquent speech lol.

I think the reaction to it in Australia has been a bit depressing. It seems to have drawn a lot of misogynists out of the woodwork further as people express disgust that a WOMAN is TALKING for so long. I even heard someone on the radio say "Julia Gillard and her handbag hit squad", which is just breathtakingly offensive.

I heard the overseas media was more positive, but I haven't read any foreign articles yet.

I am doing a specialised MA in poli-sci at a university in Perth. The misogynist comments in my Australian Foreign Policy class are eye-opening. The sad thing is that it is both men and women making these remarks and not even realising what they are doing.

[luckystone]

Totally true...I have heard it from a lot of women as well and yes, some don't even realise. It's built-in and totally bizarre. I assume at least part of it is always associating politicians with being male for your whole life and getting confused.

So you probably know a lot about this, any particular opinions/thoughts on the content of the speech or the reaction to it? (I know next to nothing about politics, and I only heard about this one because I have some good facebook friends.)

[rock_girl]

I love our PM even more after this speech! So sick of seeing her copping 10x the abuse and far less respect than previous male leaders. Yes, she's made some mistakes, yes she's had to govern with a minority government and make some compromises, but creepy Abbot's hero flat out lied about the implementing the GST. It's ok, though, because a tax implemented by a man with curious eyebrows and an adoring wife is a-ok.

[crassy]

Totally true...I have heard it from a lot of women as well and yes, some don't even realise. It's built-in and totally bizarre. I assume at least part of it is always associating politicians with being male for your whole life and getting confused.

So you probably know a lot about this, any particular opinions/thoughts on the content of the speech or the reaction to it? (I know next to nothing about politics, and I only heard about this one because I have some good facebook friends.)

I will be completely honest and say I don't really know all that much about Australian politics. I have to take this foreign policy class and that is about the extent of my knowledge. I'm actually a Canadian and I am just going to school here. I know far more about Canadian politics than I do Australian. What I do concern myself with is Australia's abysmal asylum seeker policy in the form of mandatory indefinite detention. My main focus right now, other than counter-terrorism, is community aid and development and human rights.

[Shasta ODonegal]

That speech was damned near heroic. Sometimes I think women here work on the principle that they have to prove they can take it. Sometimes you have put the boot in with bullies.

[Vex]

Her speech was great. Did any of you guys see Penny Wong's response on (I think) the 7:30 report? It was excellent, and spot-on. I'm not a labour supporter (go Greens!) but I am proud to have her as our leader. She's such a strong woman to put up with the bullshit that's constantly flung her way. She was absolutely right about Tony Abbott, he might not hate women, but he sure hates women in power. At best he's ignorant and sexist, at worst a blatant and unapologetic misogynist.

Frankly, I am stunned he didn't suggest she was on her period. That's why women get mad, right?

[crazyforkate]

I post this on facebook and instantly my aunt (a Canadian living in Australia with Australian husband) starts going on and on about how Abbott is a "stand-up guy" and how the PM was victimizing him. Ugh.

[Vex]

Please post this picture on her FB page immediately and set her straight:

[Antipodes]

:lol: Tony in his budgie smugglers, gold!

[CynicMom]

Holy shit... this is a must-watch video. Is it normal in Australia for everyone to be yelling things out during a speech? And is it just me or was the opposition leader looking her up and down dismissively during the whole speech? She was insulting him left and right and it was like he didn't take her seriously enough to be offended. Like she was dirt beneath his feet.

[blatantlyeggplant]

Holy shit... this is a must-watch video. Is it normal in Australia for everyone to be yelling things out during a speech? And is it just me or was the opposition leader looking her up and down dismissively during the whole speech? She was insulting him left and right and it was like he didn't take her seriously enough to be offended. Like she was dirt beneath his feet.

I haven't watched the video in full yet, but I watch/listen to a lot of Parliament question time, and yes, all of that, the shouting and Abbott's behaviour, sounds like business as usual.

[luckystone]

Yes, it is sadly normal. Our politicians are like children.

Don't parliamentarians in other countries shout all the time? That's restrained of them!

crazyforkate your aunt sucks! Sorry but it's true.

[Patsy]

Last night's "Q&A" (panel show) had an extended discussion on how "misogynist" is a harsh word. Poor Abbott, being victimised by a woman standing up for herself and challenging him. So harsh!

[Inky]

Wow...just wow. I watched the whole thing - I can't imagine what kind of crap she's had to put up with.

Can you tell us, has there been much fall-out because of this? Did the bill in question get passed, or denied?

As much as our politicians (in Canada) act like loudmouthed little children sometimes in parliament, I haven't heard very much of this sort of sexist comments from them. Just the odd big-mouth that lets something slip, and then ends up publicly apologizing.

[crassy]

A postgrad student from my school has written about the situation surrounding Julia Gillard and the misogyny she faces, It has been published in The British Journal of Social Psychology. The paper is called ‘Nice girls don’t carry knives: Constructions of ambition in the media coverage of Australia’s first female prime minister’. If you have access to JSTOR or other sites that carry academic sources, I would highly suggest reading it. If you don't have access and want to read it, feel free to PM me and I'll see what I can do about getting it to you.

http://media.murdoch.edu.au/researcher- ... sadvantage

ETA: Apparently the paper isn't available until the next publication. I thought it was already out. :(

[Inky]

Thanks, I read the intro & abstract - not sure if I can access the rest or not. I'll get my daughter to take a look - she's more familiar with university papers than I am. Plus she'd find it very interesting.

[Vex]

The volume of yelling and the shouting over the top of each other is (embarrassingly) 100% normal.

I am so dismayed by how backwards we are. There are times where I'm so proud to live here, and proud of my fellow Australians. We're generous to those in need, most people can take a joke and laugh at their own expense, and we don't have any elected officials trying to ban the theory of evolution in our schools. However, men are still overwhelmingly sexist here and a lot of women are no better. So often I've heard women being pleased that a man has done something patronising for them, like ordering her meal on a date, or slapping her on the ass 'in appreciation', or insisting on driving. To me, there's a difference between a gentleman (who is, imo, a man who respects women and treats them as equals) and a man who thinks women need to be 'looked after'.

It's so discouraging. I hate it when people make fun of us for being backwards, but in this respect we absolutely are.

[rock_girl]

The volume of yelling and the shouting over the top of each other is (embarrassingly) 100% normal.

I am so dismayed by how backwards we are. There are times where I'm so proud to live here, and proud of my fellow Australians. We're generous to those in need, most people can take a joke and laugh at their own expense, and we don't have any elected officials trying to ban the theory of evolution in our schools. However, men are still overwhelmingly sexist here and a lot of women are no better. So often I've heard women being pleased that a man has done something patronising for them, like ordering her meal on a date, or slapping her on the ass 'in appreciation', or insisting on driving. To me, there's a difference between a gentleman (who is, imo, a man who respects women and treats them as equals) and a man who thinks women need to be 'looked after'.

It's so discouraging. I hate it when people make fun of us for being backwards, but in this respect we absolutely are.

We're just a very unpleasant country. I was in Auckland last week and walked down Queen St in the evening without once hearing some feral scream comments about my hair. I totally get that having 'different' hair is just one of those things, and people tend to stare, but in my experience they also tend to yell things out very loudly. And I live in a very nice Sydney suburb. My entire trip, though (all two days worth!), I was just overwhelmed with the politeness of my fellow Kiwis.

Seriously, wtf is wrong with Australia? It's definitely a recent thing. I've been back and forth to NZ many times and have never noticed such a difference in attitude.

I love this country, and doubt I'd be happy living anywhere else, but it seems that we're going backward, not forward. No money for education, plenty of money for middle-class welfare. No interest in encouraging alternative energy sources, but let's do everything we can to make coal mining appealing. We can't figure out a humane solution to the refugee problem, but QLD can elect a government which cuts funding to tenancy services while building a 100m racetrack as a favour to the gambling industry.

Australia is very rapidly becoming the world's ugly, redneck cousin.

[Antipodes]

We're just a very unpleasant country. I was in Auckland last week and walked down Queen St in the evening without once hearing some feral scream comments about my hair. I totally get that having 'different' hair is just one of those things, and people tend to stare, but in my experience they also tend to yell things out very loudly. And I live in a very nice Sydney suburb. My entire trip, though (all two days worth!), I was just overwhelmed with the politeness of my fellow Kiwis.

Seriously, wtf is wrong with Australia? It's definitely a recent thing. I've been back and forth to NZ many times and have never noticed such a difference in attitude.

I love this country, and doubt I'd be happy living anywhere else, but it seems that we're going backward, not forward. No money for education, plenty of money for middle-class welfare. No interest in encouraging alternative energy sources, but let's do everything we can to make coal mining appealing. We can't figure out a humane solution to the refugee problem, but QLD can elect a government which cuts funding to tenancy services while building a 100m racetrack as a favour to the gambling industry.

Australia is very rapidly becoming the world's ugly, redneck cousin.[/

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Like any other country in the world one can have very different experiences depending on the locale.

I live in Melbourne. We don't bat an eyelid at tatts, imaginative hair,peircings, earlobe plugs, transgender clothing etc. it's a normal part of everyday life. I'm suprised it's an issue in Sydney and I'm sorry that you've born the brunt of people's judgement.

I don't mind a bit of argy bargy in parliment. It's the speakers job to keep it under control. It's a mark of a civilized society that healthy open debate can occur in parliment.

It gives our prime minister Julia Gillard the opportunity to showcase one of her strengths. She is brilliant when heckled. She never loses her humour or her cool and often shows her wits as you have seen.

[rock_girl]

Eh, I'm a redhead (not especially wild or unique in my style) and I live near one of the city's main roads. The dregs come in from the suburbs and love to yell out things, particularly sexual, to me at the same time as they make fun of my hair.

Yes, I get it, fanta pants, red headed rat r*, very funny.

I'm not sure what it is, but I know my hair hasn't gotten any redder in the past few years. What has happened, though, is that talk radio and the gutter press have become more vile and misogynistic, which seems to be reflected in the insults I receive on a regular basis. It frustrates me that a large percentage of Australians receive their news almost exclusively from trash tv and shock jocks. What's the point of treating other people, particularly women and minorities, like human beings when you're being told that to do so is weak and unaustralian?

Wankers.