Posts by sally jones
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The vast majority of abuse and violence perpetuated in Sweden, New Zealand, and every other country in the world today is perpetrated by men against women with whom they are in some kind of a relationship. This violence is not only the product of a sexist belief system but functions as its main breeding ground, as the children of abused women grow up thinking this abuse is normal.
Society reinforces this belief system in myriad ways, such as John Key's crass endorsement of Tony Veitch on our airwaves last week. Key is going after the sexist vote and he knows just where to find it in concentrated form. Reportedly, ex-All Black Dean Lonegan said Key's broadcasting of his 'wish list' of famous women he would like to screw has made him respect the man even more. Overseas media labelled Key's comments sexist, in NZ, nah, John's just being a good Keywi bloke. Sue Kedgley, on the other hand, is a "mealy-mouthed old hag" (Kerri Woodham) for suggesting that Key's comments are 'unbecoming of a PM'. Unbecoming. How dare she. Woodham also says, "If ever there was a time to say nothing, this was it." WTF? If only she would take her own advice, or come up with something worth saying.
Of course, the blog backlash against Kedgley and feminists in general has been predictably rabid.MenHaveHad Enough (UK) commented: "NZ is the most man-hating country in the world, nothing surprises me about hate-filled feminists there."
From Anne of Auckland: "Feminists are an insult to women."
From Colin of Wellington: "Kedgley is a non-entity...she would have everyone living in caves, she's so backward." (Mail Online).
And for the last – and sadly, infinitely rarer – word, from George of Melbourne, published on the same UK site:
"The man who interviewed the NZ prime minister was found guilty of kicking his partner in the back so hard he broke her back...Within a year he was on radio again...This is the man John Key decided to have public chats with about using women for sexual fantasies. Stay classy, New Zealand."
Okay, not quite the last word. There is nothing much more important than reducing violence in the world, ipso facto, there is nothing much more important than showing equal respect for women and men in public and in private life. Assange and his defenders, Veitch and Key and their defenders, transparently do not show or share this respect. George and Jacqueline transparently do. This is the simple truth of the matter, IMHO.
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Thanks Giovanni for this link, though knowing the extent of Naomi Wolf's 'post-feminist' sell-out has hardly cheered me up. Jacqueline Friedman, who debated the Assange case with Wolf on TV and challenged her claim to represent rape victims - such as herself - offered more cause for hope. Still, I hate how feminist debates are so often reduced to a woman-on-woman battle that is about as liberating as lesbian porn. Wolf's counter claim to Friedman's sensible - you can't consent when you're pinned down or asleep - is basically that there are bigger things at stake here than women's sexual consent, with a dash of Brash (Don) rhetoric on a 'single standard of justice' thrown in for good measure. Yeah, right. There's been a double standard operating to excuse rape (of women) since rape was recognised as a crime. Up until the late 70s and 80s (in Britain), there was a so-called single standard of justice operating that said unwanted sexual contact (rape) between married persons was not a crime. Ostensibly, that law applied a single-standard of justice. Consent could be the basis of a genuine single standard but women's consent/non consent is yet to be taken seriously. Shame on Wolf for perpetuating the 'no means yes' mythology that trivialises women's consent and makes most women involved in what Wolf calls 'ambiguous' rape cases, like the Assange case, doubt their feelings of violation and not come forward to lay charges against the perpetrator. Just as the women in the Assange case did not come forward, except to try to get the law to force Assange to take an AIDS test, and even that was denied them according to the precepts of a single standard of justice.
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Up Front: Giving Me Grief, in reply to Jacqui Dunn,
He passes me in the street. It’s just something that happens. I don’t worry about it.
I'm glad you don't worry...
My father was a Kingfisher watching over me from the exact same spot on a wire every afternoon when I was busting a gut rushing to finish my thesis.
He would have been a Kingfisher had he been a bird, I thought.At the time I was quite prepared to believe this, though my father had been dead several years.
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Up Front: Giving Me Grief, in reply to Emma Hart,
clever and witty without ever being cruel.
A difficult balance indeed.
Very sorry to hear about your mum, Emma. You certainly have written a beautiful tribute.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
“For all the stuff they accuse her [Palin] of, that gun poster has not done a tenth of the damage to the political discourse as what we’re hearing right now.”
I think a bullet in the head ought to fix him
(bad joke). -
Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Extraordinary dance, especially in fast motion. I want to go to there - and get shoes like that.
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Okay, didn't read Russell's sensible suggestion. It's always fatal to leave the computer mid-post.
Forthwith (?) no more fury from this cherub face.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
John Campbell's biography of Thatcher - seriously and with an open mind -- and tell me if you really think she was just a cock-pleasing she-male with penis envy.
Okay Craig. I will do this. But I will also say that I meant to make clear my respect for Thatcher-the-pioneer. It's just that she didn't have the boobs to be a woman in the job, or so I was led to believe from the various accounts read and heard - not exhaustive accounts, needless to say.
I didn't intend to imply that women like Thatcher, or even Palin, suffer penis envy. Not at all. Just that they know how to win on men's terms and they go out there and play the game to their advantage.
I don't see how saying so denigrates women in general at all. There are very few options for women to succeed in politics. On the political right, there is just the one.My neighbourhood friend voted for Thatcher. I love her in spite of that (or thought I did).
How to ruin a summer holiday in one? read a book on Thatcher.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
as obnoxious as Kiwibogian swill about left-wing female politicians being man-haters -
Craig, you are quite right. I am obnoxious. However, I must make it clear that not for a minute am I condemning all female politicians. One of the pillars of left-wing politics and principle is equality of the sexes. The right is conservative. A woman who chooses inequality over equality is a strange woman indeed. Though Marilyn Waring is not strange.
I am odious. Obnoxious and odious. I make terrible sweeping comparisons between male and female. People are bound to take offence. But the cold-blooded assassination attempt of congresswoman Giffords has made me feel oppressed - as a woman.
Is that pathetic? probably.
Sexist? maybe.
But there it is.
Obviously other women don't react like this. That's their prerogative.
I have mentioned the preoccupation of my thesis? Quite possibly that has left me jaded. Gender-jaded.Man-haters you say?
Men make me laugh.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Wow, it's been a while since I've been simultaneously offended on so many levels. Snarky kudos to you
Not saying all men or all women. Thought that went without saying here.
Just trying to say something.
Don't like diamond rings, big or small.