John Gordon's song "Australia (Whore of the World)" and feminism
April 8, 2011
Fellow travellers, as you all know, Western society is based upon prejudice and bigotry. Sadly, almost every established institution we have is there to serve the whims of appalling white male peenie wavers. That is why our "civilization" is rife with discrimination and oppression.
We on the left certainly have no lack of targets to subvert and ultimately destroy (in a compassionate way, of course). But the fact that there are just sooo many of them can complicate this process somewhat.
Take the example of John Gordon's searing musical denunciation of the local coal mining industry "Australia (Whore of the World)", which has been slapped with a radio ban. Now, while I applaud Gordon for penning such a courageous song, I do find his imagery a little unfortunate. I mean, by euphemistically equating mining with female sex workers - and in a not very affirming way - he does run the risk of being accused of sexism. In fact, when I was at a recent get-together of fellow travellers here in Fremantle that's actually what happened.
Our host started playing Gordon's searing song, but unfortunately some of the wimmin present felt violated and demanded he quickly take the CD off the player. They were of the view that prostitution was deeply oppressive to women, so to use the term "whore" as an insult was a classic case of blaming the victim.
There was also one other woman present who described herself as a "pro-sex feminist". She said that sex work was actually a choice, and something to be proud of, so to give that word a negative construction was another kind of insult. While she agreed with the wimmin that the CD should be shelved, things became rather heated on the more general issue of prostitution/sex work. It finally resulted in the two who were against it holding down the one who was for it and forcibly wiping off her make-up.
It was truly distressing to see such tragic violence occur between sassy sisters so committed to social change. And it revealed the disturbing extent to which society is still dominated (and divided) by coal barons. These bloated patriarchs don't just rape the Earth. They ultimately turn women against wimmin!
There seems almost no end to their sinister power. That is why we must keep campaigning for a carbon tax, fellow travellers. Not only will destroying the coal industry save the planet, it will finally liberate women as well and put an end to all disagreements between them. And won't that be a relief?
We on the left certainly have no lack of targets to subvert and ultimately destroy (in a compassionate way, of course). But the fact that there are just sooo many of them can complicate this process somewhat.
Take the example of John Gordon's searing musical denunciation of the local coal mining industry "Australia (Whore of the World)", which has been slapped with a radio ban. Now, while I applaud Gordon for penning such a courageous song, I do find his imagery a little unfortunate. I mean, by euphemistically equating mining with female sex workers - and in a not very affirming way - he does run the risk of being accused of sexism. In fact, when I was at a recent get-together of fellow travellers here in Fremantle that's actually what happened.
Our host started playing Gordon's searing song, but unfortunately some of the wimmin present felt violated and demanded he quickly take the CD off the player. They were of the view that prostitution was deeply oppressive to women, so to use the term "whore" as an insult was a classic case of blaming the victim.
There was also one other woman present who described herself as a "pro-sex feminist". She said that sex work was actually a choice, and something to be proud of, so to give that word a negative construction was another kind of insult. While she agreed with the wimmin that the CD should be shelved, things became rather heated on the more general issue of prostitution/sex work. It finally resulted in the two who were against it holding down the one who was for it and forcibly wiping off her make-up.
It was truly distressing to see such tragic violence occur between sassy sisters so committed to social change. And it revealed the disturbing extent to which society is still dominated (and divided) by coal barons. These bloated patriarchs don't just rape the Earth. They ultimately turn women against wimmin!
There seems almost no end to their sinister power. That is why we must keep campaigning for a carbon tax, fellow travellers. Not only will destroying the coal industry save the planet, it will finally liberate women as well and put an end to all disagreements between them. And won't that be a relief?
Posted by Derek Sapphire.
