If ever you were tempted to think that women in Australia or indeed in the West generally had finally gained some sort of equality in public life, ask yourself this simple question.
Can you imagine how it would have gone down with Australia's (these days) almost uniformly conservative MSM journalists -- and, alas, with the bulk of the populace -- if Julia Gillard rather than Tony Abbott had been photographed in Afghanistan firing an automatic rifle?
They'd be blithering and drooling for weeks. They'd start with Hanoi Jane, and they'd go downwards from there. And in the meantime, Abbott's petulant whingeing about being made to look silly is dominating the papers, most of which are ignoring Abbott's puerile narcissism and instead using this massive non-event to attack what he's calling (and calling, and calling, and calling -- if there's one thing Abbott does love, it's a bit of repetition, a bit of repetition) Gillard's 'low bastardry'.
See, it's okay for the Leader of the Opposition to call the Prime Minister a low bastard, publicly and repeatedly, but it's not okay for a woman to shoot a gun.
The rules are baroque and Byzantine, Grasshopper, and nor do they make any sense, but you break them at your peril.
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What I'm reading
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James Meek, Nobody Wants To Hear This, London Review of Books, v46 n22, 21
November 2024
Something like this is happening in the Kharkiv of 2024. Vladimi...
2 hours ago
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Sky news crossed to something called the Australia-Israel luncheon today where La Gillarde was appearing with some other prominent ladeez.
The moderator started a long spiel about how he'd researched her history to prepare for the function and I thought "Here we go, it's a tough crowd. How's she going to justify those ancient anti-Israel comments" but no, it was how did she feel to be insulted in such a traditionally macho way. So the gender difference is STILL the story.
As an aside. I don't understand why opposition leaders get to visit the troops these days. Before an election sure but not now.
Yeah, too true. But looking on the bright side—and only catching occasional glimpses of this story from afar—I’m relieved to see Gillard playing the politics of it well, and Abbott seeming to have lost what MSM commentators kept calling his ‘discipline’ during the election campaign. Presumably, in the public eye, she wins when he swears at her, wins when he again admits to lying at the drop of a hat, wins by going to Afghanistan first, and wins by his so obviously playing catch-up.
For anyone with feminist or pacifist sympathies it’s a horrible story from start to finish, by my inner Pollyanna has plenty to work with.
Philby
One word for all of this - 'depressing'
Mind you if I'd of had my prehistoric Rogethaurus at the ready there would have been many. many more.
Christ, Tony Abbott with a gun. That's so disturbing.
I know many of us keep saying that with Julia G getting over the prime ministerial line we dodged a bullet.
Now it seems that wasn't just a turn of phrase.
For some reason I just got a flash of Julia G in Elizabeth I regalia, knighting Abbot to head off to fight in Afghanistan. Must be the redhead effect.
I recall when Skeptic Lawyer told us she shoots guns it was the po-faced sisterhood that snorted and wheezed in disgust. All the libertarian boys went ape droppings with unmitigated delight.
And what of the squillions of hate filled references to Mr Abbott/The Mad Monk/Mr Rabbit and his budgie smugglers and hairy chest?
Now the despicable Pyne is getting in on the act, apparently comparing Gillard to an alley cat - at least that's how I read it.
The Coalition's misogyny is well out in the open.
Why do we still need feminism?
Because half the cabinet aren't women.
Because half of the politicians in any Australian parliament aren't women.
Because half of the Fortune 200 Company Directors and Board members aren't women.
Because half the senior managers in the federal and state public services aren't women.
Because I'm tired of the tokenism that implies that one or two women in positions of power is good enough.
Keep at 'em, Pavlov's Cat.
Apologies if my ire exceeds my grammatical (in)abilities.
She gave him the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan together, bipartasan-like. Showing grace, common sense and a willingness to share. He on other hand acted like a recalcitrant five year old. Wanted a boy's own adventure sans 'she who must be obeyed'. He is not a mature man. We need feminism because women tend to act a little more adult-like and certainly seem to be a little more fully human sometimes.
The whole Afghanistan visit thing is silly anyway. These are pathetic, predictable media-driven events.
When winter is coming, we are driven nuts by media histrionics about flu 'pandemics'.
When we've just had an election, the newly-anointed PM is beamed off to spend 45 minutes in a warzone canteen chowing down with the troops.
Predictable, pointless, trite.
And why oh why we had to subject the poor sods to Angry Abbott as well is a mystery.
All of which is missing the point of your post. Had JG picked up a machine gun, yes, we'd have had it (or we'd even of had it) all over the front pages with pithy captions about getting your man with your gun, or having someone in her sights, or target practice, or aiming high, or shooting straight, or hair trigger, or ...
Slightly off the political topic but I happened upon the CommGames (as they're now being called) the other day just in time to hear the Channel 10 commentator giving some background on the mens English long jumper. I quote:
"His wife is the current Miss Newcastle so at least he's got that to look forward to".
'Scuse me...
I am relieved for the Brisbane couple whose verdict was today -
ABC Online - 35 minutes ago
MARK COLVIN: The couple at the centre of a landmark abortion case in far north Queensland have been found not guilty. Twenty-one-year-old Tegan*Leach is the first woman in Queensland to go on trial for procuring her own ab*rtion. '
George Monbiot on why we're getting more conservative (I was about to type 'nastier' but thought better of it) http://tiny.cc/qmcd3
As an aside, I still don't know why they gave Tony Abbott a real gun with live ammunition - I wouldn't have trusted the prick with a waterpistol on any range I've been responsible for.
"... but it's not okay for a woman to shoot a gun".
Why would anyone - of whatever gender - want to shoot a gun? They might want to fire a gun, they might even want to shoot (at) something or someone, but why would the target of any shooting necessarily be a gun?
Oh hardy har.
This is exactly the kind of smartypants comment I make about other people's infelicities from time to time, so live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess.
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