If you weren’t aware that King Charles and Queen Camillia were visiting Australia the events of yesterday would have put in on your radar.
The King and Queen were in Canberra yesterday visiting Australia’s Parliament House for a Ceremonial Welcome and Parliamentary Reception. The King had finished his speech (Senator Thorpe did not interrupt it as being reported) when Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe moved forward and started shouting at the King:
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist. This is not your land. This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king. Fuck the colony. Fuck the colony. Fuck the colony.”
Many may choose to agree or disagree with the Senator’s words however, there is embedded generational truth and trauma in every word. Only last week we acknowledged it was a year on from the failed Voice referendum that caused much divisive and hurtful rhetoric in our communities and country.
I am not here to reflect on the history and truth of Senator Thorpe’s words but rather the sexist and misogynistic rhetoric that has followed since her ‘outburst’ yesterday.
If you are on any social media, you would have read the words “vile”, “banshee in heels”, “no manners”, “condescending parasite”, “prostitute who sold her soul for money”, “angry white female” and “skank”. Let me give you some context around some of these quotes.
Neil Mitchell wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “what Lidia Thorpe did was show appalling manners towards a guest in this country” – plenty pointed out to Neil that the King rules over us and is in fact not a guest. Women always seem to have ‘no manners’ when we dare voice our opinions as there is a ‘polite’ way to do this.
Others are calling Senator Thorpe a “prostitute who sold herself for money” since she swore allegiance to the King to become a member of parliament. The fact that someone wants to become a politician to try and bring about change but can only do so by swearing allegiance to the King as our head of State, says more about us as a country than the Senator.
Peter Ford, a Channel 7 entertainment reporter, was leading the way in displaying Channel 7’s commitment to changing their well detailed toxic workplace culture, by writing a post on X (formerly twitter) “She’s such a skank” and in a subsequent post deserves “no respect”. When called out, he buckled down even further. This is an employee of a TV station that has been embroiled in controversy and has committed to changing its ways. This is in wake of the abhorrent Channel 9 report released last week detailing rampant workplace sexual harassment and bullying.
Also, Senator Thorpe is, apparently, not ‘Aboriginal enough’ to comment on such atrocities committed to the First Nations people of this land. Since she is part ‘white’ she is not ‘black enough’. Where have we heard this before? I am sure Kamala Harris has something to say about this.
I was curious to know if a man had behaved in the same way as Senator Thorpe yesterday, if they would be described in the same way. I spent hours scrolling through social media and could not find any language being used to describe any man who displayed similar actions.
Regardless if you agree or disagree with Senator’s Thorpe’s actions or words, why must we continue to use such sexist and misogynistic tropes to describe women who show emotion, passion or believe in a cause? Why are we always angry, ill mannered, diva’s, bitches or need to get laid? Why are we called skanks, prostitutes and sluts, even if we could still be virgins and have never discussed our sexual pasts or futures?
The rhetoric in the media, news and social media in the past 17 or so hours, reinforces the fact that despite great strides in gender equality, we as a society, still have a long way to go.
Argue the facts and debate the issues but don’t call us ‘skanks’ and ‘sluts’ for having a voice and choosing to use it.
Whatever you think of Senator Thorpe, she displayed courage yesterday and chose to use her voice.
Change never comes about if you don’t sit in the uncomfortable and yesterday, many felt a little uncomfortable, especially privileged white men on social media it seems.