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Australian PM attacks opposition leader on sexism, misogyny

By | October 10, 2012, 8:43 AM PDT

On Tuesday Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke passionately for in a 15-minute speech during which she confronted opposition leader Tony Abbott, accusing him of sexism and misogyny. Watch here:

“Misogyny, sexism, every day from the leader of the opposition,” Gillard yelled in response to Abbott’s motion to dismiss the speaker of parliament, Peter Slipper, on those grounds. Slipper was under scrutiny for sending inappropriate and offensive text messages to a staff member and eventually resigned. But the real story of the day was Gillard’s tirade, which went viral shortly after it concluded.

“If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia he doesn’t need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror, that’s what he needs,” Gillard said, standing directly across from Abbott and going on for 15 minutes to accuse him of hypocrisy.”What I won’t stand for is the leader of the opposition coming into this place and peddling a double standard,” she said.

In reference to the text messages in question Gillard said, “I am offended by those things in the same way that I have been offended by things that the leader of the opposition has said and no doubt will continue to say in the future.”

It did not take long for this speech to start circling the Internet, with several international news outlets picking it up. The Australian Broadcasting Company has gotten over 300,000 views on their website and YouTube, and that number is sure to keep rising.

[via Al Jazeera, The Guardian]

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Jenny Wilson

About Jenny Wilson

Jenny Wilson was a contributing editor for SmartPlanet from 2011 to 2012.

Jenny Wilson

Jenny Wilson

Contributing Editor

Jenny Wilson is a freelance journalist based in Chicago. She has written for Time.com and Swimming World Magazine and served stints at The American Prospect and The Atlantic Monthly magazines. She is currently pursuing a degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Follow her on Twitter.

Jenny Wilson

Jenny Wilson

Jenny Wilson does not hold any investments in the technology companies she covers.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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-2 Votes
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Good on you, Ms Gillard!
She spoke for women today... it's really good to hear the truth spoken in a place like Parliament. Tony sat there like he'd been spanked.
Seems this isn't the first time for him, either. "People in glass houses..." ... wonder if he really knows what the term "misogynist" means?
Posted by Robynsveil
11th Oct
-2 Votes
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Gillard Speech
She did a fantastic job in her objections. She went right to the point, gave all the details, and proved her statements with the dates, times, and quotes. Evidently she was correct because Abbott at first started to rebut, but then realized she had her facts in a row and she could not be found at fault.

It still amazes me when I read about the attitudes of some men and their feelings against women. In today's society, women have proven themselves to be just as smart and energetic as men in business, medicine, and politics.
Posted by soapy123
11th Oct
+2 Votes
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But...
... I can read this in my newspaper and see it on the news. What's it doing on SmartPlanet?
Posted by Brian Luff
11th Oct
0 Votes
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But..??
1) We don't get those papers here in South Africa.
2) He got roasted flamed and grilled by a red head. Never pick a fight with a red head. Seems he got of lightly for calling her a witch and a *****. That's slander, disrespectful, and really bad taste.
3) how can he forget that "slipper" was his mate and at his wedding ??
What a toad
LOL happy
Posted by Leostargazer
11th Oct
0 Votes
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Australian PM attacks...
It seems an endless affair. We are now well into the XXI Century and still carry on these old conflicts. Why can't we live a free life without prejudices of all kinds? Respect other opinions and yours will be respected.
But it doesn't seem to work that way. It'll be too easy. Better to provoke and challenge no matter how wrong we can be. It puts us in the foreground, and it's nice to be there.
In the short time women have had some freedom of expression (considering the length of human history) they have proven once and again that they can be equal (and more) to any man.
Does that feeling hurt many men? maybe they are not as manly as they think of themselves if they are so threatened by female competition, since competition has no gender in itself.
Posted by David Traversa
11th Oct
+1 Vote
+ -
One note.
She is a hypocrite for claiming the opposition leader has a double standard while she has one in this speech.

While she was attacking the opposition leader she defended similar offensive behavior by her party mate.

She should have shown real leadership and thrown both under the bus.
Posted by Hates Idiots
11th Oct
+3 Votes
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Australia's Priminister
Jenny
You and some of the respondents have missed the point. Her tirade had nothing to do with his so-called misoginist and sexist attitudes. It was to cover the fact that she preferred to defend a misoginist and sexist Speaker of the House rather than loose her majority in Parliament.
Posted by dmabiz
Updated - 11th Oct
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