feminism and testicles: women won’t be silenced by men
Earlier this week I attended the launch of The Peach, an online magazine that is all about acceptance, inclusiveness and telling it like it is. The magazine is written by women for women and its content ranges from articles on contemporary issues to more traditional areas such as beauty and fashion.
Considering the recent issues surrounding Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott (there are many), diversity of opinion and more content written by women can only be a good thing. For instance, when Julia Gillard made that speech labelling Tony Abbott as a misogynist, social media was abuzz with praise.
‘I will not be lectured on sexism and misogyny by this man,’ Ms Gillard said. ‘Not now, not ever.’
However the reaction from newspapers around the country could not have been more different. Even Michelle Grattan from The Age called the speech ‘desperate’ and the entire political episode a ‘poisonous argument over misogyny’.
The simple fact of the matter is that calling someone out for being sexist does not have to involve a political agenda. It is an issue of common sense and human decency.
To compound the situation there is a worrying tendency in the media to silence women’s views when it comes to important issues. Take, for example, the sacking of journalist Jill Singer from The Herald Sun earlier this year.
Jill wrote a weekly column for 15 years and often received backlash whenever she wrote about ‘women’s issues’.
Indeed, when Ms Singer wrote an article criticising Tony Abbott when he said women should give their virginity as a gift to men, Andrew Bolt was quick to show his condemnation.
‘If I ran this paper I’d sack Singer,’ he said, labelling her as the ‘resident feminist ideologue’.
Well, Mr Bolt, if I was in charge of The Herald Sun I’d sack you for being the resident idiot.
Angry, right-wing Caucasian men in ill-fitting suits have no right to tell women what they should or should not write about. No man does. Not now, not ever.
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