Eva Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence. This is a long-standing tactic, based on sexist assumptions that women can be classified as either Madonna or whore, frigid or slut: View from The Hill: Parliament should care about its reputation even if Leyonhjelm doesn't value his.
As academic and author Jessalynn Keller has written:. In this spirit, Hanson-Young has hit back. Leyonhjelm has refused to apologise for his comments, and Hanson-Young is now seeking further action. The so-called sexual revolution, catalysed by the availability of reliable female contraception in the s, does not seem to have freed women in the same way it freed men.
Interestingly, there is still no male pill that would reduce the risks for women, so we still carry that responsibility far too often. All of this raises questions of how far real equality for women has come. We wanted to change what was valued and by whom, to balance the emphasis on macho material goals, tastes, attitudes and ambitions. Current evidence suggests that, despite having more women in the senior ranks of most institutions, these are still there as parvenus, subjected to male criteria of what they think matters.
So women who do not fit the designated behaviour of Madonnas or whores are likely to be targeted for sledging. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard copped it and there is no evidence the culture has improved.
For his part, Leyonhjelm is unrepentant. When asked whether his reaction was too personal, regardless of what he thought Hanson-Young, he said:. This just reinforces the idea that she is promiscuous, which he must know will reduce her wider credibility.
