From today’s Australian comes this story:
Liberal[1] Senator and colossal asshat Bill Heffernan says he stands by comments that Labor Deputy Leader Julia Gillard is not qualified to lead the country because she is deliberately “barren”. […] “If you’re a leader, you’ve got to understand your community. One of the great understandings in a community is family, and the relationship between mum, dads and a bucket of nappies. Women who haven’t reproduced are subhuman and should be kicked to the curb accordingly. Of course, mothers should stay in the home, so mothers are also unwelcome in Parliament. Wo-men out! Wo-men out! Wo-men out! Oh, and gays scare me.”
I may have embellished a little, but only for clarification purposes. It doesn’t change the meaning significantly.
[1] For overseas Hoydenistas unfamiliar with our two-party system, the “Liberal” party here is the one stuffed full o’ Christianist conservatives and forced birthers. They’re currently in Federal power, but not for long.
Categories: culture wars, gender & feminism, Politics
96th Down Under Feminists Carnival 
Are cultural politics worse than no politics at all? 
Today in Tangential Learning: the smell of chloroform 
Hoyden About Town 
Wheeling out Heffernan is a blatant attempt to smear the ALP while avoiding the bad look of Ministerial bods getting crass and nasty, seeing as people were starting to get glazed eyes whenever Abbott, Dolly and Ruddock tried to once more tap-dance around the truth. Howard has slightly more plausible deniability when it’s just crazy old Heff doing the attack-dogging (if you’re a blind man in a coalmine).
A shining example of the patriarchy laying claim to women’s bodies, as well as a perfect double-standard: If Woman doesn’t have babies, she can’t be a leader; if she had had babies, she’d know that her place was in the home, and wouldn’t worry her silly little head about politics.
We get that on the other side of the IDL, too. *sigh* Thanks for the *headdesk* moment. ^^
How effective is the smearing? Are there not swing voters (and, come to that, Liberal voters) who think that this sort of crap is completely out of line?
I don’t know if I even want an answer to that, as I fear it might be too depressing to contemplate.
Amusing typo humour: the news.com.au followup story today reads:
That is v. amusing.
The outcry today from all parties in Parliament has been heartening, actually.