#myozobituary is trending because author’s obituary, though stupid and funny, is actually terribly sexist pic.twitter.com/rjMUucJTQ7
— Felicity Morse (@FelicityMorse) January 30, 2015
Australian author and accomplished neurophysiologist Colleen McCullough published twenty-five books in her time, including the best-selling The Thorn Birds. She passed away at age seventy-seven on Thursday—but whomever wrote her obituary didn’t seem particularly interested in McCullough’s accomplishments.
Instead, her obit in this morning’s edition of The Australian began like this:
COLLEEN McCullough, Australia’s best selling author, was a charmer. Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was, nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth. In one interview, she said: “I’ve never been into clothes or figure and the interesting thing is I never had any trouble attracting men.”
Ah, so she was a prolific writer and a talented scientist, but let’s definitely all talk about her weight after she dies! They don’t even seem particularly concerned about it; the obit is still up on their website. Other gems from the piece include calling McCullough a “supreme egotist” and mentioning that “[h]er novels consistently received patronising reviews from the highbrow critics.”
The incredible classiness and inarguable misogyny of the obituary did not go ignored by the internet, and #MyOzObituary has been trending on Twitter to some fairly hilarious results:
Although his beard looked like someone had glued it on & his hair would have been unconvincing as a wig, he married a rockstar #MyOzObituary
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 30, 2015
Having learnt the art of eating with one hand whilst typing with the other, she managed to become both fat and a best seller #myozobituary
— Thane Prince (@ThanePrince) January 30, 2015
Though her eyebrows resembled Fangorn Forest, she had no elegance, and she wore men’s clothing, at least she had kids. #myozobituary
— Ellie Ann (@elliesoderstrom) January 30, 2015
#myozobituary would be “Although she grew a disappointing arse, she nonetheless got laid & won awards.”
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) January 30, 2015
With a decent rack but meh around the face, she nevertheless managed to land a man! She also wrote books, we hear. #MyOzObituary
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) January 30, 2015
Strongly resembling the wombats of which she wrote, she nevertheless was somehow not universally reviled by readers. #myozobituary
— Nightjar UrsulaV (@UrsulaV) January 30, 2015
“Hopeless, but at least he wasn’t a girl.” #myozobituary
— Hugh Riminton (@hughriminton) January 30, 2015
Overweight and with a tendency towards 5 o’clock shadow on the legs, she was able to science nearly as well as the men. #myozobituary
— Nicole Cloonan (@ncloonan) January 30, 2015
Here’s mine:
Despite her large nose & thighs, she still managed to hold down a man with his own TV show. She was a competent typist. #myozobituary
— Samquisitor (@SamMaggs) January 30, 2015
It is apparently still difficult for women to be respected for their accomplishments over their appearance even after death. What an absolute disgusting shame.
(via Daily Dot)
Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
Published: Jan 30, 2015 01:25 pm