Tony Abbott took advantage of a divided women’s movement to impose a brand of sexist governance on Australians prohibited elsewhere in the modern world.

Go to any thread on the Destroy the Joint Facebook site, with 36,300 members the nation’s premier women’s caucus, and the rift between those who espouse assimilation feminism, the retrogressive approach in transition from the denial of opportunity in the nineteenth century to the achievement of equal opportunity with men in the twentieth, and those who support self determination feminism, the progressive approach in celebration of difference having achieved a critical mass of equal opportunity in the twenty-first century, is stark.

DtJ commenced in 2012 with progressive feminism in response to outbursts of sexism against women who’d already achieved equal opportunity, but succumbed to the retrogressives when the politics of the parliament, the source of sexism at the core of power in the nation, came into play.

As the election which was to install Abbott approached, Eva Cox was invited on board, a retrogressive feminist who promptly espoused the view that “positive sexist discrimination can undermine gender equity, because sexism is a problem whether it is positive or negative”.

Next up, when Mark Robert Baptist asked Penny Wong days before the poll “would it be possible to get a referendum on a gender equality clause in our Constitution, and to reform parliament so that each electorate has one male and one female member?”, the good Senator responded that she “would rather we work together to tackle the persistent sexism that is still too present in our community than have an argument around constitutional reform”.

I was one of those cleaned out in the purge when recently arrived moderator D28 blocked me from contributing on grounds I was being repetitive in explaining my support for the provision of a women’s legislature in the parliament in response to enquiries I'd received from Destroyers.

Meanwhile, progressive feminists like Anne Summers were promoting Labor Women.

Abbott waltzed straight through.

Feminists divided are feminists conquered, albeit the progressives will eventually prevail.

Philip Arts

philip@2mf.net

17 September, 2012

2mf.net