Feminists need a new target
THE outrage enthusiasts really need to find a new target for their considerable reserves of bile.
This joyless bunch of finger waggers won’t be happy until everyone else is as determinedly miserable and hypersensitive as they are.
Sam Newman neither cares nor will change his ways no matter how much the sisterhood hyperventilate with unbridled rage about his antics.
Indeed, Newman enjoys being the favourite whipping boy of the unendingly affronted feminists, male and female, who can’t stomach the fact that the “Fossil” is still on television and watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers each week.
Most of us simply opt to change the channel if there is a program or personality we don’t like but that’s not good enough for Newman’s detractors, who won’t rest until the 70year-old is sacked or bullied into retirement.
Incredibly, we now have government funded anti-violence crusaders who think the innuendo that Newman and co-host Rebecca Maddern engage in should be the subject of a workplace harassment complaint.
Never mind that Maddern doesn’t feel offended or victimised; there are no shortage of others ready to be out women raged on her behalf including Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Fiona McCormack.
“This (Newman’s comments to Maddern) actually constitutes workplace harassment and could even be unlawful,” she said.
“Some men kid themselves that want the attention and will be flattered but so many women are put in these awkward situations at work and worry that if they speak up, there’ll be a backlash.
“If we’re really serious about stopping violence against women in Australia, we need to challenge the culture that allows it to flourish.”
That comment upset some victims of domestic violence sick of the important issue of violence against women being conflated with trivial nonsense such as two well-paid professionals sharing a risqué joke on air.
The supposed links between colourful language and violence are typically based on activist research that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Ms McCormack’s comments also intimate that women can’t enjoy robust exchanges or innuendo.
Some of the funniest and, yes, smuttiest, innuendo I’ve heard has come from the mouths of empowered women who clearly missed the memo about being humourless harpies.
One of Maddern’s assets as a television presenter is that she’s confident, tough and has oodles of sass.
She’s nobody’s fool and can hold her own with anything Newman or her other co-hosts can dish up.