"I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now. Not ever!"

[Electric Monk]

The then Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott had been needling Prime Minister Julia Gillard for months - years, even - in his 'everyman' attempt to drag politics down to the gutter and keep it whimpering there.

Nothing was off-limits for him, it seemed: particularly her sex. A woman! In politics! Who would have dreamed of such an occurrence? Certainly not Abbott and his cronies, still firmly rooted in the testosterone-laden locker room of Australian politics of the '60s and White Australia.

Women should look good, and shut up, that's the impression male throwbacks like Tony Abbott give. (He might change his policies at the drop of an opinion poll but that's one thing he's fairly solid on.) He'd also do stuff, like campaign in front of posters bearing the slogan "Ditch the witch".

Something had irked Abbott, or - more likely - he saw an opportunity to score another cheap political point, something to do with the Speaker's demeanour. It doesn't really matter what now - but Abbott decided that the House needed a lecture on sexism.

Enough was enough. Gillard rose, and famously declaimed (with more passion then she'd exhibited in her previous three years in charge): "I will not be lectured on sexism and misogyny by this man; I will not". She then proceeded to tear him apart, every which way.

more
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/9841164/Julia-Gillards-misogyny-speech-turns-musical

http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/375282,julia-gillards-misogyny-speech-gets-choral-makeover.aspx
http://boingboing.net/2014/03/17/julia-gillards-epic-anti-sex.html

EPIC

[mercuryblues]

1. text

of the epic take-down.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/transcript-of-julia-gillards-speech-20121010-27c36.html

<snip>

Let's go through the Opposition Leader's repulsive double standards, repulsive double standards when it comes to misogyny and sexism. We are now supposed to take seriously that the Leader of the Opposition is offended by Mr Slipper's text messages, when this is the Leader of the Opposition who has said, and this was when he was a minister under the last government – not when he was a student, not when he was in high school – when he was a minister under the last government.

He has said, and I quote, in a discussion about women being under-represented in institutions of power in Australia, the interviewer was a man called Stavros. The Leader of the Opposition says “If it's true, Stavros, that men have more power generally speaking than women, is that a bad thing?”


And then a discussion ensues, and another person says “I want my daughter to have as much opportunity as my son.” To which the Leader of the Opposition says “Yeah, I completely agree, but what if men are by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?”

Then ensues another discussion about women's role in modern society, and the other person participating in the discussion says “I think it's very hard to deny that there is an underrepresentation of women,” to which the Leader of the Opposition says, “But now, there's an assumption that this is a bad thing.”


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/transcript-of-julia-gillards-speech-20121010-27c36.html#ixzz2wMiegaYE

[bbgrunt]

2. so sad that our Aussie friends put Abbott in charge.

[uriel1972]

3. Every day I wake up screaming... well, not really

But sometimes, it feels like it. On the record I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM! So sad.

[Buddha2B]

11. Daily I am ashamed of being Australian.

The general public are mean spirited, spoilt, racist, sexist and generally stupid and uneducated.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

13. Try being an American. nt

[bbgrunt]

14. no need to be ashamed

I guess the lesson of the age is "you don't know what you got til it's gone" and it seems that it is rolling around the globe. I still love Oz--in so many ways so far ahead of US but determined to catch up with us.

[eggplant]

4. The original speech

I wish we would see things like this in our Congress.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. ^^^ K&R for this post and the OP. thanks for the video. ^^^

[passiveporcupine]

5. Awesome!

K&R and borrowed...thank you.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. Some say Abbott is a thug.

[tea and oranges]

7. K&R Thanks for Posting

It does my heart good to see people making art from those magical moments when people stand up & tell the truth! Yes, let us celebrate sublime acts of human courage w/ song!

[DeSwiss]

8. I'm not a big fan of Julia's....

...but Abbot's a mutant evolutionary throwback.

- If you check, I'll bet he probably has a vestigial tail too....

K&R

[hatrack]

9. This is brilliant!

Oh, and btw, WTF was Australia thinking? He's like Bush without the, uh, likability.

[Grins]

12. ...and then he changed his name to "Greg" and moved to Texas...

...where he became Texas' Attorney General! Where they love this kind of shit.