Misogyny

Spanish women's football team

The #ItsOver (#SeAcabó) movement has erupted in Spain to demand the resignation of national football chief Luis Rubiales, over his sexist behaviour following the Spanish women's team's World Cup victory, reports Dick Nichols.

Grace Tame signalled that women are not happy with the system, bravely pulling off her widely acclaimed, and criticised, protest. Markela Panegyres argues women have a lot to be angry about. 

Reporting a male Coalition staffer's bad behaviour as “lewd” downplays the systematic nature of sexism and misogyny, argues Alison Pennington.

The Christchurch massacre has prompted many to reflect on the times we live in.

Reclaim the Night marches were held around Australia to demand an end to violence against women.

Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi must have been furious when, in the space of less than 24 hours, White Ribbon Australia (WRA) back flipped on its decision to drop support for what he claimed was a “radical abortion policy”.

In online communities celebrating misogyny and decrying men's so-called “involuntary celibacy”, the suspect in the April 23 van attack in Toronto was being lauded as a “new saint”. This caused some on social media to urge a closer look at the link between such groups and mass violence.

Don Burke, a television host and “family man”, is the latest celebrity to be outed as a serial sexual harasser. A joint investigation by Fairfax Media and the ABC has uncovered multiple claims of Burke committing indecent assault, sexual harassment and bullying of women in the late 1980s and 1990s. 

As more women come forward with their horrific experiences with this particular monster, we need to ask what more can be done? Do we just expose more perpetrators, or is there something else?

A new report, entitled Don’t send me that pic, has reaffirmed what most women and girls already knew: sexual abuse and harassment are incessant, it starts young and it is on the rise.

Commissioned by Plan Australia and Our Watch, the survey collected responses from 600 girls and young women aged 15–19 across Australia.

In the wake of US film producer and former studio executive Harvey Weinstein’s outing as a sexual predator, who infamously preyed on young actresses, the hashtag #MeToo, which women are sharing to say that they too have experienced sexual assault or harassment, is now trending as an international discussion ensues about sexual violence and power.

So far more than 12 million women have shared the hashtag.

For millennia, women have had to contend with the ideology that because of their biology, women’s second class status is part of some “natural order”. This has been perpetuated by the state, the church, the family, and reflected in laws and through education.

But this is bullshit. Throughout many millennia of human history, women occupied a status at least equal to men’s. The problem is that you won’t hear about this reality in school, you won’t see it reflected in the media or in film.

Legislation passed in the Queensland parliament on February 14 could mean that Wicked Campers’ vehicles with misogynist slogans that vilify women and promote rape culture are taken off the road from March 31.

The legislation says operators who refuse to remove “inappropriate” words or pictures within 14 days will have their vehicles deregistered. The Advertising Standards Board (ASB) will be responsible for determining if a slogan is inappropriate on receipt of a citizen’s complaint.