This morning during a Senate committee meeting, Senator Katy Gallagher interrupted Senator Mitch Fifield who was answering a question regarding welfare bills, stating “I’m loving the mansplaining. I’m enjoying it.”
Confused, Sen. Fifield asked, “you’re loving what? What’s mansplaining senator?
Senator Gallagher was all too happy to provide Sen. Fifield with the definition of the word which apparently first appeared in the Macquarie Dictionary in 2014.
Of course, this kind sexist and unparliamentary behavior is A-Okay, so long as the sexist implication is being made to the male of the species. As such, Sen. Gallagher was completely unrepentant of her remarks.
As Fifiled rightly retored, “Imagine, senator, if I said you were womansplaining? Imagine the reaction!”
There is no question what the reaction would be. If such sexist remark was made to a female senator, a retraction and apology would be immediately demanded, followed by calls for the sacking or resignation of the member. Remember the unceasing outrage which occurred when Tony Abbott stood in front of the “ditch the witch” placard? How could we ever forget…
There goes the hypocrisy of gender politics. But to be perfectly honest, this kind of hypocrisy towards men seems to me more foolish and self-defeating that outright offensive, given the implications it actually makes towards women.
Such inconsistent treatment of women and men only reinforces a strict gender binary. What’s more, it promotes the rather anachronistic view that women require ‘special’ treatment in order to succeed in traditionally masculine domains.
Photo by Morning theft 