Germaine Greer author of The Female Eunuch, was named Australia’s Person of the Year in the UK, and in an interview took that opportunity to remind the world that despite being a feminist, she is still not as progressive as she appears.
According to the Independent, when discussing Harvey Weinstein, Greer considered women “spreading their legs” for roles to be consent. Classy. “If you spread your legs because he said ‘be nice to me and I’ll give you a job in a movie’ then I’m afraid that’s tantamount to consent, and it’s too late now to start whingeing about that,” Greer explained.
To be fair, Greer also fears that women will be pit against each other and the trials will drag on. However, I would say that after watching the testimony against Larry Nassar, there is something powerful about letting women speak their truth so that everyone can hear it.
Furthermore, if that wasn’t enough, Greer also defended Woody Allen. “It was 20 years ago, so you want [Woody Allen] to stop making movies now?” Then she said, “It might be a good idea because he’s probably no good any more.” Yes, because all that matters is making good movies.
Oh yes, what could Dylan Farrow want? Acknowledgement from her alleged molester. Acknowledgement from a system that allowed this behavior to continue. A recognition that many of the people who are now supporting #MeToo and #TimesUp, also worked with her alleged molester after she wrote a detailed article about her account. The fact that people are quicker to believe that her mother “coached her” rather than her father could have molested her. The same father who is married to an ex-stepdaughter. But no, it is about the movies.
Did you think Greer was done with the sexual shaming, oh no, in fact, Greer continued to say that she wanted women to react immediately to shut down down their attackers and that in the “In the old days there were movies – the Carry On comedies, for example – which always had a man leering after women. And the women always outwitted him – he was a fool. We weren’t afraid of him and we weren’t afraid to slap him down.”
Really? Is that what Anita Hill did? Women who were sexually assaulted back in the day just slapped men down constantly without fear? Did domestic abuse just appear in the last decade or so? Her feelings on rape, which she plans to explore in an upcoming book On Rage consists of the following:
“My feeling is we ditch rape altogether [as a crime] because it’s hopeless. I have seen the police working up a rape case trying desperately hard to build it up so it will stand up in court – and wasting their time,” she said. “The burden of proof is too high and that’s because the tariff is too onerous. Rape is a daily crime, it’s not spectacular. What we need is a coherent law of sexual assault.”
This sort of shaming and problematic behavior should not be surprising from Greer since she has been long exposed to be extremely transphobic.
She first took aim at Caitlyn Jenner when she was appointed one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year saying, “Just because you lop off your d**k and then wear a dress doesn’t make you a f***ing woman. I’ve asked my doctor to give me long ears and liver spots and I’m going to wear a brown coat but that won’t turn me into a f***ing cocker spaniel.”
She then continued to explain that intersex people “deserve support” but “it’s not the same thing” as being transgender.
“A man who gets his d*** chopped off is actually inflicting an extraordinary act of violence on himself.”
So Australia, if you can, take your award back. Give it to Margot Robbie, she’s been doing well for you guys for the last few years. Greer has proven herself to be an intellect whose ideas were modern and progressive in the 1970s but has failed to adapt and evolve with the changing political climate. Feminism doesn’t need to be a place where transphobia is spread or women coming forward about abuse are shamed. There are plenty of other spaces for that.
(via The Independent, image: Mihai Surdu/Shutterstock)
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Published: Jan 23, 2018 11:53 am