'Blah, blah......well if you put in a little more effort, maybe you could do better next time and produce a boy. I'm sure you are at least capable of finding a suitable name for Miss Chrisp' (my 'maiden' name - and I hate that terminology too).
My mother who was definitely not a submissive female, even in 1960, would have been livid. My father always had me on a pedestal so I'm struggling to understand why he kept that card in the first place.
Anyway - moving on. The fury is not subsiding. Women in Australia are really, REALLY pissed off. They are probably always pissed off but the Patriarchy's dismissive attitude to historical and current rape allegations against serving parliamentary members and staff, and accusations of sexism and misogyny have been the tipping point.
Our Prime Minister - the self-appointed 'dad' of the nation - and we know because that's how he speaks to us - is expecting all of this to just go away. It won't. This man has to be coached by his wife on how to identify with the distress of a woman who has been raped - basically just 'imagine it was your daughter'. The fact, proudly expressed by the PM himself as some kind or epiphany, may well have been the moment the tide turned against him. This guy was unable to see Brittany Higgins as a person against whom a dreadful violation had been perpetrated and needed his wife to make it 'real' for him. As Sarah Toa would say, and as I do often - 'Oh FFS!!!' If I had been coaching my male partner I would have been far less subtle: Imagine it was YOUR ARSE'. Maybe that would have had more impact on the PM.
Our PM has since dug the hole deeper for himself by 1. refusing to go and address the thousands of women who gathered at parliament house the other day and 2. stating in parliament that:
That might just be the single most stupid comment of many to bring him down. Let's hope so.
There's just too much going on to deal with here - I can't type fast enough to keep up with the anger that rises up. A question: who's surprised at the upwelling of fury? I can categorically say it isn't women. None of this is new to us. If there has been perceived silence on these issues it is just that - 'perceived'. We HAVE spoken over and over again but once again, the responsibility lies with the men - they have not been listening. Even the good men have underestimated how brutal this issue is for women. If they are wise they will concede that and will be respected for it. If they try to be too supportive and 'empathise' I don't think this will turn out well for them, which will confuse the poor bastards even more.
How is it that society has operated so well (on the surface) while this very ugly social problem has been festering? Basically because women simply 'get on with it'. We have to. We've had to do that ALL our lives. I venture to say that without exception - we have all been sexually harrassed, often, and we have all been considered less than equal by the majority of the male population. This is worldwide, this applies to the whole human species. This applies to generations of women, from the end of the Sumerian matriarchal culture to now.
We have had enough.
* Elders was established in 1839 and is an iconic agri-business that still operates in rural Australia, now with international affiliations.
Image: https://www.redbubble.com/i/wood-print/Time-to-Smash-the-Patriarchy-by-xanaduriffic/
PM Scott Morrison's quote: ABC News
Really interesting moment in the Albany march was the organiser preferencing Noongar women to speak as blak women on the coal face of gendered violence. It's a colonial history people. We've been covering up this shit for 200 years.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Sarah. The lack of acknowledgement of the colonial history is a source of great frustration for me also because I see the direct results of it in the prison system - 200+ years on. And still little appetite to deal with the truth by most of those who have benefitted from the violent displacement of indigenous people. Let's hope the Age of Aquarius shines light into this dark history as well.
DeleteHe's the epitome of the priviledged white man and he likes it in that little bubble of comfort.
ReplyDeleteYes I think that is becoming more and more obvious Kylie. I feel a bit sorry for him actually - he is completely out of his depth. But not sorry enough to stop hoping he loses his privileged position at the next election.
Deletehaha, yea, I'm not that sorry, either
DeleteWow, excellent post. I'd like to draft like this too - taking time and real hard work to make a great article. This post has encouraged me to write some posts that I am going to write soon. Indiai-orvosi-vízum
ReplyDelete