Sandilands: offensive, and more

So here’s the thing. It is quite possible to be rude and offensive to everyone, at the same time as that part of the offensiveness that is racially targeted can constitute discrimination. Or that part that is sexually targeted. Sandilands’ attack on Alison Stephenson was offensive. As David Penberthy noted, ‘He’s a cretin, a hate-filled belligerent whose talent is in inverse proportion to his offensiveness.’ But Sandilands’ attack was more than offensive, given the terms in which it was publicly made. Sandilands said,

Some fat slag.... What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re deputy editor of an online thing. You’ve got a nothing job anyway. Just so you know, you’re a piece of shit…. Alison, I can tell you, you are supposed to be impartial, you little troll….You’re a bullshit artist, girl. That’s what you are. You should be fired from your job. And your hair, your hair is very 90s. Yeah, and your blouse, you haven’t got that much titty to be having that low cut a blouse. Change your image girl, and watch your mouth, or I will hunt you down.

This is not robust criticism, but an attack and a threat. Here’s what he is saying: uppity women got it coming to them.

Sandilands could not even manage an apology when faced with advertising flight, saying to Stephenson that he had replied to her criticism of his tv show ‘like any normal Australian would do’. And he reiterated that she should take care not to make him angry by getting above her station: ‘If you took a personal offence to it Ali I'm sorry to you, but maybe you should think again before you start going [against] different people.’

Sandilands managed to find some female defenders – so presumably he can’t be sexist. Jackie O predictably came to his defence, although she didn’t close off her options entirely, saying, ‘I don’t think I could ever work with someone who was a woman hater.’ And Wendy Harmer claimed that people were misguidedly ‘playing the gender card’: ‘If Kyle is removed on the charge that he is disrespectful to women, that’s only the half of it and, I believe, merely serves to reinforce the view of males that they are being “got at” by females: “Drink a cup of cement and harden the f***k up!” will be a common response. “Piss off, you ugly old bags,” will be another.’ In other words, pretend to be good girls and try not to make them any more angry with us than they already are.

Intimidation and threats on the basis of race or sex are not just offensive. And pretending that they are simply and only offensive is no path to equality.