Couldn’t have said it better myself

Via

p_cat

: In the corridors of power, the best woman knows her place.

This opinion piece, by Fairfax’s Catherine Deveny, is a bitter swipe at Australia’s fairly pervasive misogynist culture. It’s a funny thing: we’re moving into a new era with our new government, where Quentin Bryce can be appointed Governor-General, where both parties now have female Deputy Leaders and where Penny Wong is given responsibilities and accolades, but it takes time for the “mainstream” to catch up to that. Football culture and celebrity culture especially are still stuck in — or have returned to — a world in which men have brawn and women have beauty and those who don’t fit those moulds are reviled.

Doug remembers coming to Australia on St Patrick’s Day and being amazed at how many gorgeous, smart, available women were indicating their availability at the pub he went to while the men stared goggle-eyed at the footy on the tube above their heads. Not to suggest that there is no sexism in America or elsewhere; of course there is, and yes, we should be thankful we can drive (unlike those in Saudi Arabia), that we can wear what we want (mostly), that we can go to school (unlike those in Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan and elsewhere) and vote and all those other things. The points that ring true for me with Deveny’s article are about smart women who rock the boat and how we’re treated, and how computer systems insist I identify my marital status and how every day, in thousands of tiny ways, we are reminded of our position as inferior. Especially if we don’t see ourselves that way.