• Thanks jack... a very interesting response and, from my conversations with Sonya I think this is exactly the conversation she's hoping for. Be very interested to hear your response after viewing the doco. - Wendy Harmer
  • As someone who doesn't follow the Australian Vaccination schedule, I already feel like I am risking ridicule and worse posting here. We have been hassled and hounded by doctors, nurses (one of us is a nurse) and other parents. Blamed for the resurgence Whooping cough and related deaths, etc. Our stance is that we immunise based on our own needs and intelligence. As a for instance, we are not convinced that our children needed to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B at birth, especially given that the vaccine contained Thiomersal when it was recommended to us. I'm not sure how aware you are of the Japanese experience with the DTP vaccinations in the mid 1970's, but as a result of many adverse reactions and over 30 deaths as a direct result of the vaccine, the schedule was altered and children were vaccinated later. I am aware that the vaccine is no longer a whole cell vaccine, however it is worth considering the delicate balance of the immune system in infants below 6 months of age. So we immunise roughly to the Japanese schedule. There is no Hep B or vericella. And MMR is given as MR and Mumps separately. We will make the call on Japanese when we visit next month. I note that the tone in the promotion of the doco appears to depict the non vaccination school as driven by emotion with the pro vaccination argument being driven by Science (which is a pretty broad concept). Our decision to vaccinate alternatively has been based on a lot of careful research and is based on risk mitigation considering that vaccinations do carry a percentage of risk, however small. We have the advantage of also being Japanese citizens, (myself a spouse resident) and can access the differently combined vaccines and scheduling. When recently discussing this on a facebook post I was branded an anti Vaccinator. Abused and blamed. My response is that I think there is a better way. A much better way. And the heavy handed pressure to Immunise to schedule, which then elicits a strong anti response from those who question, but are discouraged strongly and frowned upon for questioning, has created a climate of 'for or against', emotion or science, us against them. All pretty narrow reductive way to explore a whole collection of different diseases, risks, and vaccines (including their varieties of compositions, combinations and timing). So we have attempted to immunise the best way that we can ascertain. It's a tricky time consuming task to get all the info on each different vaccine from the manufacturers, to research each and every disease to ascertain the risks of actually contracting it and then what the risks associated with the disease are, but it has been worthwhile. I think that the community could benefit from a less doctrinal approach to the current immunisation schedule and regular review of disease risks and the vaccination schedule response. - Jackdan
  • I'm an E cup. When I was younger and skinnier I was only a C cup and could handle underwires. Then I got pregnant and discovered the bliss of maternity bras. Post babies and breastfeeding I went back to the wires only to find they poked me and now I've got 'birdseyes' in my cleavage. I cannot fathom the underwire. Obviously the person who designed it has never had to wear one. Having big boobs we're all encouraged to wear them, but now I'm old and fat they're far too uncomfortable to contemplate. I'm happy with my 'wirefree' bras. I figured that if manufacturers could make a maternity bra without wires that fitted perfectly and provided excellent support to lactating breasts, they could do the same for large, non-lactating breasts too. I found the perfect fit for me at a large chain store and bought the same type for years. Not terribly sexy, but comfortable and serviceable. Now I've discovered same large chain has a moulded cotton bra in large sizes. Better still, you can order them online when the sales are on and collect them from the store. Bliss! - BeansGran
  • Well put Sonya. I am so glad that you have created this documentary. Also, you have put forward a voice of reason backed up by compelling evidence & your own credibility. I am pro-vaccination, but I understand why it is an delicate decision for many parents. I haven't come across the anti-vax theories (I'd never even heard of the AVN until Mamamia kept writing & tweeting about them). I'd always just followed the immunisation schedule. But I have come across a lot of pushy pro-vaxxers and I have to say, it is a turn off. I understand that it's a passionate issue. But is it an effective way of increasing immunisation rates? Of course not. Some pro-vaxxers make it their full time job to name, shame & harass people opposed to vaccination. Is harassment going to change their position, heck no! Is it going to galvanise their anti-vac position, quite probably! I just think we need to be smarter about this. I know it is not a "debate" in the sense that the science is in on the benefits & general safety of vaccines. But it completely normal to feel uneasy about purposely injecting your child with something most of us know very little about. And then watching their every breath that evening as they process that vaccine. Sonya, I hope that your documentary is the beginning of the change in the way we talk about immunisation. Well done. - Kasey
  • I am very impressed by what you've set out to achieve and how you've come about it. Much of my work these days is in vaccination and I work hard to break down the myths and false beliefs people have about vaccines. I find listening to concerns, empathy and responding with good evidence based information has been the most successful manner I've had so far. I also reassure parents that it is always their choice, but I also share that I am a mum too and that I choose to vaccinate my child fully. And funnily enough that's usually the clincher. Respect, good information and empathy can go a long way. I really hope that many people watch your documentary and help absolve the many concerns and myths surrounding vaccination that are out there. You must be proud of your work :) - The Huntress
  • Not everyone has access too or any interest in the internet, you cannot drive a tractor and watch the internet but you can listen to radio, you cannot drive a car and watch the internet but you can listen to radio, you cannot wash the dishes, the clothes, yourself and watch the internet but you can listen to the radio, you can also lie in bed with Phillip Adams, half my University of the Third Age students go to bed with Phillip. Australia's best journalists were trained by the ABC. What I don't understand Gee is your palpable hatred, how can you be so angry all the time, just relax and learn that we are all different and some of us prefer the quiet nature of the ABC compared with the ranting and rage of radio shock jocks and commercial TV. Your phrase 'slash and burn' is shocking to me, no one I know hates anything, no one I know wants to destroy things or institutions, not even the IPA, why such violence of language? - sue Bell
  • [...] Science says vaccinate! [...] - LET'S TALK (NOT SHOUT) VACCINATION
  • Thankyou Emma for your good work and humanistic attitude towards others. I could not do your job and be nice to others at the same time, i'v e realized. The other ABC journo's et al should be taking notes.......all the best in your career! - louise
  • Why censor the pictures, Ro? Don't call them "young men" either. They are "vicious animals" as their act so clearly evidences. They are not human at all. Are you saying it is "justifiable" for ethnic Nigerians, who have never been to either Afghanistan or Iraq but grew up on the teat of the British Welfare State, to run down and then Halal butcher a complete stranger walking along the street and minding his own business? How can you possibly draw any connection between what happened in London and the alleged mistreatment of Aborigines in Australia? What a fine example of the "straw man" argument! Do you think NATO and other allies were "unjustified" in invading Afghanistan and liberating it from the Taliban? That same Taliban that banned girls going to school; regularly indulge in female genital mutilation and the sodomising of "dancing boys"; blew up ancient Buddhist monuments; regularly carried out executions by stoning and beheading as half-time entertainment at football matches in Kabul and Kandahar; undertook ethnic cleansing against Hazara muslims; banned music and dancing on pain of death; and provided a base for the racist extremists of Al Qaeda to operate completely unfettered? Do you think it was wrong to overthrow Saddam Hussein who had used poisonous gas on the Kurds of Iraq? Whose two mongrel sons crawled the streets of Baghdad looking for women to rape; who executed his own son-in-law after promising "forgiveness' if he returned from exile; who gained power in a coup and then personally executed scores of his own "party"? The problems in Iraq today have nothing to do with Saddam's overthrow and everything to do with the seething sectarian and ethnic hatreds that have plagued Mesopotamia since the Babylonian Empire. Why didn't those two vicious animals condemn the latest round of sunni-shia bombings and murders in Iraq? If muslim women are subjected to the regular sight of dismembered bodies, those bodies were provided by other muslims. Why is it that only this week we saw Syrian women asking Bob Carr why it is that the USA and the non-Islamic world is not interfering in their current civil war? The war is yet another essentially religious/sectarian conflict between a Sunni majority and an Alawi-Shia minority. Why should any young Americans, Britons or Australians risk their lives for these benighted, backward bastards who regularly tell us how much they hate us? Have you forgotten the spontaneous eruption of glee and happiness that occurred in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the "Islamic world" when the 9/11 attack was carried out? It seems to me that you, like so many others, have forgotten the lessons of the period from 1919-1939. Appeasement never works. Trying to trivialise this disgraceful crime; saying that ...well, maybe, it was Britain's fault and maybe if Britain hadn't been and Imperial power 200 years ago and ... really, when you look at that and what happened to the Aborigines here, maybe they were justified in running over a total stranger, who'd done nothing to them or any of their family or relatives, and then hacking off his head with a meat cleaver. The white-washing, the diminution, the trivialising, the justifying has already started in media and the blogosphere. The appeasers and the white-hating racists are already talking this whole thing around so that in a few weeks they'll be wanting to give these two mongrels a medal and have them treated as Prisoners of War. I am so glad the British cops didn't shoot them dead. I want them to suffer in HM Prison System for the rest of their lives. But, knowing the way the British EHRC led by that treacherous hater, Trevor Phillips, operate, they'll probably be named and shamed and given 20 hours community service. - Jack Richards
  • Anyway. So long Latin. I know there will be people close to Hazel who will be feeling sad and confused today. Sad for who she was and confused because she is perhaps better off dead now. And then there is everyone else who were touched by Hazel's contribution to our lives. Thank you Hazel and her supporters. - ro.watson
 
23
Categories:  News and Opinion

MY LEATHER SKIRT. WTF? REALLY?

By The Hoopla
August 10, 2012

This is the South Australian Education Minister for Education, Grace Portolesi.

 

Education Minister Grace Portolesi helping load Year 12 SACE results. Picture: Mark Brake Source: AdelaideNow

She appears to be wearing a skirt. It may be leather, vinyl, some kind of nice drapey jersey or, indeed, a durable easy-wash non-iron cotton twill.

You may ask yourself: what the f%@k does it matter?

And you would be right.

So how did it come to be that the choice of a woman’s skirt fabric is the issue of the day in the great state of South Australia?

Here’s how:

Yesterday, SA shadow Education spokesperson, Liberal David Pisconi, sent out a newsletter criticising the Minister, which ended: “If schools received a dollar every time Education Minister Grace Portolesi wore her black leather skirt it would raise thousands.”

He then sent it to Channel 9.

Good move!

Then the SA Premier, Jay Weatherill, said: 

“I am very angry with the pattern of behaviour which is emerging from the SA Liberals.

“We have seen Liberals calling people dogs, talking about catfights and in this particular instance referring to a woman’s dress.”

The attitudes from a previous century and the use of this “locker room humour” beggared belief, he said.

“What we are seeing here is an expression by the Liberal Party that some of its members are uncomfortable with women in positions of power.This demonstrates utter and complete political incompetence.”

For her part, Ms Portolesi said: “It is disappointing, clearly, but what I think it demonstrates very strongly is that the Liberals appear to have a problem with women.”

So, do the Liberals have a problem with a woman in charge?

The Leader of the Opposition in SA is a woman – Isobel Redmond.

Deputy Opposition Leader Mitch Williams said on 5AA radio that the Premier was being hypocritical and “trying to use this to undermine Isobel Redmond as a female”.

The inadvertent release of the comment was an “unfortunate mistake” and Mr Weatherill was: “trying to make something out of this that it just isn’t”.

“Of course, those sorts of things shouldn’t happen. He is just playing politics with this and I think it is the measure of the man.”

Here’s what we at The Hoopla reckon…

a) If we had a dollar for every time a bloke politician has donned a hard hat,flak jacket, footy jumper or BBQ apron and waved a pair of tongs  for a photo call and looked like a pinhead, we would be rich, (rich… I tells ya). And don’t even mention shiny, ill-fitting suits and hideous ties that men wear to work Every. Single. Day. (That’s not their fault. They work for nongs.)

b) We do not need blokes, of any political stripe, to fight our battles for us and tell us we are offended… we know a knob when we see one.

c) We support women to wear whatever they like when they are working (and one of us is wearing lycra running pants as we speak!) And at least two of us recall the days women were forbidden to wear trousers to work. ( BTW. Get stuffed John Laws and your stupid, insulting  “handmaiden” era. )

d) We would have voted the late, great Anna Piaggi (left) for PM and insisted she wear this rig to COAG.

Finally, how does this crap (and Hillary Clinton’s scrunchie) keep making news?

Apparently some people have taken offence at Margaret Thatcher’s voice, Julia Gillard’s hair, Tracy Grimshaw’s blouses, Jessica Rowe’s laugh or ABC newsreader, Juanita Phillip’s glasses*.

Bog off, will you?

Some of us are trying to think!

 

 

*From The Australian: The Spectator Australia editor Tom Switzer is nothing if not resourceful when it comes to kicking the national broadcaster. His talent for sniffing out a springboard leaves just about every other Aunty critic for dead. To wit, the opening to an editorial in the latest issue: “This week, attractive ABC newsreader Juanita Phillips suddenly started wearing glasses. But it’s her employer who is clearly having problems seeing straight.”

 

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23 Responses to this article

  1. Bernadette August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I wonder what they would have said about the black leather pants often worn by Kate Carnell, former Liberal ACT Chief Minister? Or does misogynist comments only get directed at non-Liberal politicians?

     
  2. Lyn August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Maybe the Liberals need to concentrate on policies and not on what a person wears.

     
  3. The Huntress August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I’m with Lyn. If the Liberals actually stopped being fashion critics of women in politics and actually concentrated on developing some credible policies, then maybe they wouldn’t be viewed as such a perverse joke.

     
    • Mez August 9, 2012 Reply
       
       

      Here you go, Huntress, a list of the Liberal Patry’s policies. It’s important to familiarise yourself with them. As for being a perverse joke! Ha! Remember that truism about he who laughs last? Well, if Gillardgate blows up as predicted, it’ll be ringing in your ears sooner than you think.

      http://www.liberal.org.au/Policies.aspx/

       
  4. Liz Brooks August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Could a female politician of any persuasion start wearing a see-through black lace cat-suit ( a la Cher) so that when someone complains, the photo would at least be A BIT INTERESTING! Seriously, WOULD THE REAL POLITICIANS PLEASE STAND UP, so we can identify you and get rid of the rest of the useless no-hopers?

     
  5. Julie August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Thought I read a few days ago the SA Libs were about to dump Isobel Redmond because she’s a woman!

     
  6. Kirsten August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I really hope that one day, when I tell my now 3 year old about the words being used in 2012 to talk about women MPs, she thinks it’s ridiculous and appalling what used to happen in the bad old days.

    The last week has been truly awful.

     
  7. anna August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Maybe he is jealous he wants to wear one!

     
  8. Colin August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Diversion tactics in politics again? Create ‘news’ to take focus away from the real issues if the day.

     
  9. Colin August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    How I hate my own typos – that should of course be issues ‘of’ the day.

     
  10. Rhoda August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    LOL – you gave me a good laugh.

    That sort of personal comment always reveals a good deal about the person saying it and I too wish the lot of them would bog off.

     
  11. TMH August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses!

     
    • Sam W August 10, 2012 Reply
       
       

      Assuming of course that women want said passes to be made

       
  12. Mez August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Don Dunstan, anyone?

     
  13. Robert Smissen August 9, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I wouldn’t bag because of what she wears but I’d bag her for her rudeness & inability to come even close to being able to do her job

     
  14. @FergDelight August 10, 2012 Reply
     
     

    She looks amazing! Where can I get a skirt like that?

     
  15. Heather August 10, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Wow- A woman has a staple garment that gets her through winter and it is up for discussion? Well while it’s up for discussion- how about comemending her commitment to the environement , with minimal clothing purchaases, and not being a slave to fashion.

     
  16. Sam W August 10, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Good article – Too many of our politicians behave like petulant idiots with grandiose delusions of self-importance. Stop the fashion bagging of female poiticians and get on with what you’re paid for – making a positive contribution to our society through sound policy, not taking us all back 100 years. The lucky country it seems, is still bogged down in the mire of sexism. Just take a look at some of the ads on TV right now, they’d never make the cut in a lot of countries due to the way they potray women. Maybe some male Aussie pollies just can’t handle it when strong women are in positions of power and so react by abusing their own privileged positions with petty school boy tactics. Unprofessional and embarrassing. Shame on you David Pisconi!

     
  17. Dorothy @ Singular Insanity August 10, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Well said :-)

     
  18. Lisa August 10, 2012 Reply
     
     

    “If we had a dollar for every time a bloke politician has donned a hard hat,flak jacket, footy jumper or BBQ apron and waved a pair of tongs for a photo call and looked like a pinhead, we would be rich” bwahahahahahahahahahahaha – so true! So sick of the bullshit photo opportunities! So sick of women’s dress being commented on! We deserve some actual intellectual debate, some displays of mental brilliance, not this sexist crap. For the love of god, MAKE THEM STOP

     
  19. dramaqueen75 August 10, 2012 Reply
     
     

    It’s bizarre really – I am sure the men wear a handful of suits over and over again!
    This continuous commentary on women in leadership is disturbing – I don’t care what a woman wears, her hair style, her marriage status or whether or not she has kids. Ditto for the blokes. Just let them get on with doing their jobs!

    Having said that, I did see Julie Bishop waling through the terminal at Sydney airport about three weeks ago. She had on the most spectacular pair or skinny fitted pants – I thought they were leather my travelling friends were not sure. Now, whilst I am not a fan of her political demeanour, I have to give the woman credit for looking awesome – fit, healthy, energetic and (dare I say it) kind of hot, lol!

     
  20. MoniqueN August 14, 2012 Reply
     
     

    It’s the political version of making a series of reasonable points in an argument with a member of the opposite sex and receiving the reply ‘F**** off you fat slag!’ and it’s pretty much universal. They can’t refute the points she makes so they go personal – her shoes, her hair, her skirt and so on and so forth.

    Her outfit by the way is fine, it’s elegant and appropriate, I like the splash of red and I think it’s sad that the Liberals so often have to resort to these antiquated bully boy tactics because they don’t have any rebuttal or policies of their own…

     

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Comments

  • Wendy Harmer: Thanks jack... a very interesting response and, from my conversations with Sonya I think this is exactly the conversatio...

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  • Jackdan: As someone who doesn't follow the Australian Vaccination schedule, I already feel like I am risking ridicule and worse p...

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  • BeansGran: I'm an E cup. When I was younger and skinnier I was only a C cup and could handle underwires. Then I got pregnant and d...

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  • Kasey: Well put Sonya. I am so glad that you have created this documentary. Also, you have put forward a voice of reason backed...

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