Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Sexist, me? Shut up man, woman!

I have so much to tell you all (like, we moved into our new house - yay!) but things are so hectic at the moment. However, I read something on the web today that tickled me so much I just had to share it.

The "Ernies" are annual sexism awards, now in their 15th year, voted by women for the most sexist remarks uttered within the public arena. Some of them are downright insulting and unfunny (such as Australian senator Bill Heffernan's comment that opposition deputy leader Julia Gillard was unfit to lead because she was "deliberately barren" which, incidentally won the Gold Ernie of 2007) ; I won't mention them here.

Others however, are so unbelievably stupid that one can't quite believe that the men (as it is mainly men who win these awards, strangely) who uttered them were in the slightest bit serious when they did so (hopefully many of them weren't). It is these comments that I wish to share. Don't worry too much about who these people are - I haven't a clue about some of them - just bear in mind that they are all men who are, to some degree, in the public eye.

  • Industrial Relations minister, Joe Hockey, on his wife's pregnancy: "It's exhausting for me, her being pregnant. I don't know why, during the birth process, they only focus on the women."
  • Warwick Capper: "Expectant father Darren Jolly needs to get his priorities in order. The birth of your first child is special, but if you're a machine like me, there's more children to be had than premierships."
  • An advertisement by Ingham's for chicken: "Breast awareness week" (Love it!)
  • Mufti, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali accused Australian women of being "uncovered meat".
  • P&O advertisement: "Seamen wanted" (Come on, girls, get a grip; these are FUNNY!)
  • Totally unfunny and inexplicably wrong, I almost daren't publish this one but I'm embarrassed to say it made me giggle, until I considered the context and then I was horrified, of course. Rene Rivkin's driver, Gordon Wood made an unusual request to a morgue attendant whilst identifying his girlfriend's body: "Do you mind if I look at her tits?" (Maybe it's fair enough that he wanted to sneak one last peek?!)
To see more (and see the photo of Warwick Capper that has me suspect he could have been serious) check out the Nine News' photo gallery.

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