AU: Femi-nazis cheers divorcing women

Greer cheers divorcing women
By Amanda Banks
September 8, 2004

The high rate of divorce should be celebrated as the major sign of progress
in the feminist movement, an ever-passionate Germaine Greer said at the
start of a national speaking tour.

A woman's refusal to remain in an unloving relationship, and a description
of soccer star David Beckham as an interesting but confusing "boy", were
among the many thoughts shared by the 65-year-old during a seminar in Perth.

Greer said the main thing to have changed since her early feminist days was
the mass exodus of women walking out on their marriages.

"The big change is the divorce rate," she said.

"Exactly the thing that people tear their hair out about is exactly the
thing I am very proud of. But life for these women is very difficult. The
price of their liberty has been taking on a massive amount of toil.

"This is because women misunderstand the corporate world. They think you are
meant to work in the corporate world, when you are in fact meant to take
credit for other people's work."

More than three decades after shooting to fame with The Female Eunuch, the
controversial author left a 1000-strong, sell-out crowd with no doubt about
her continuing passion for feminism and the ills of Australian culture.

The hour-long lecture on "Shakespeare and sexual difference" at the
University of Western Australia, prompted many of her devotees to rise in a
standing ovation.

Afterwards, she was quizzed about the future of feminism and was quick to
lament that the movement of the 60s had been largely generated by the media
and involved little direct action.

"We did not win things so much as they were given to us," Greer announced.

A young fan's suggestion that English superstar David Beckham was a
metrosexual who could signal a return to the Elizabethan male was all too
much for Greer.

She confessed to being bemused by the interesting soccer star, but was
convinced he did not signify a major change in male sexuality.

But when it came to her provocative views on Australia as an Aboriginal
republic - first mooted in her essay White Fella Jump Up - Greer was
unwavering.

"For 200 years (Australia) has been going through the nightmare of trying to
be something it cannot be. It has developed itself for what? For an economy
valued at $800 billion on John Howard's assessment," she said.

The Australian


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Eliminate the impossible and whatever
remains, no matter how improbable, must
be the truth.

---- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ---