Louise Roberts: Why I want my daughter to idolise Erin Molan
We’ve become so conditioned to prominent females playing the gender victim card, writes Louise Roberts. This is why Erin Molan’s courage barely registers. But it shouldn’t be so hard to support women like Erin.
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I would rather it was the Erin Molans of this world calling the shots, rather than a familiar parade of high profile women defining themselves by victimhood and bleating about how life is so unfair — because they are female.
And this is why.
When an internet troll gleefully told Molan that he hoped the TV host would die giving birth, it became a new metric for bravery.
Molan helped police locate and prosecute the monstrously sick individual who tapped out hatred to the young mum.
“I wish u a f***** still born I wish u a f***** still born I wish u a f***** still born AND U DIE IN THE PROCESS … hip hip hooray hip hip HOORAY,” he wrote.
In an interview later, the Channel 9 star didn’t take a backward step and went for the keyboard coward’s jugular: “You deserve to be called out publicly, you deserve to be humiliated, you deserve to potentially lose your job.”
But never ‘poor me’.
Molan dealt with this creep, one of the many impotent sickos crawling through the fringes of her life.
The death threats, the personal insults — endless.
The 36-year-old reporter also told News Corp journalist Jessica Halloran: “I am used to copping nasty comments, I am not a snowflake.”
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But still the baiting continues. This week with critics on social media sticking the boot in again because of Molan’s alleged feud with her former league commentary partner Andrew Johns.
The Footy Show, the once top rating Channel 9 NRL program, bit the dust. Also Molan’s fault, apparently because she replaced Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin as host.
The 36-year-old would be one of the most vilified women on Australian TV — but never the whingeing, never the pity party.
Tears in private maybe, but always the class, the steely reserve. She sees a problem and acts on it.
Her attitude seems to be: “Don’t like that I’m blonde, attractive and successful? That’s your issue, not mine. I’ll focus my kindness and skill on those who deserve it, like the young wannabe sports reporter waiting on the chilly sidelines.”
I wouldn’t blame Molan if she lost it in the supermarket, having a meltdown as a way of releasing that insanely unfair pressure.
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Stoicism is her legacy. But we’ve become so conditioned to prominent women playing the gender card when life doesn’t go as planned that Molan’s courage barely registers.
Compare it to our first female prime minister Julia Gillard and her infamous misogyny speech.
Reflecting on it, Gillard later said: “The dominant ethos in the press during my time in office was that gender was completely irrelevant to the reception of my premiership. In actual fact, I was treated very differently to how men would be.”
Or our first female foreign minister Julie Bishop skilfully navigated Canberra only later to whine that the place was full of career-crippling chauvinists.
Bishop defended then prime minister Tony Abbott when Gillard targeted him, telling reporters: “I lament the lost opportunity that Julia Gillard had to be a role model for young women.
“Instead, when her own inability to perform the job well became apparent, she resorted to a victim status and I thought that was a most unfortunate message to send to young women in particular.
“She had the most powerful position in the country. She was the most powerful elected representative in Australia and yet she chose to play a victim instead of face up to her own incompetence and misjudgements and miscalculations.”
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Bishop said she never played the gender game, but in May she complained of “gender deafness” when she raised an idea in a room full of male MPs.
“If I spoke in a room of 20 men, if I would put forward my idea, there was sort of silence,” she recalled.
“It was as if I hadn’t spoken and then somebody would say precisely what I said or come up with precisely the same idea. And then they’d all say, ‘Oh that’s a great idea. Why don’t we do that?’”
This week, Molan’s co-host Beau Ryan didn’t mince words, telling News Corp it was “bullshit” for her to be blamed for the decisions of Channel 9 management.
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He said he saw his friend “broken” after years of social media trolling.
“That’s what happens to these reality stars … they get on there and think everything’s going to be rosy and then they get trolled and can get really down and dark. I saw that happen to Erin,” Ryan said.
“She’s got a journalism background, she’s done nothing wrong and been trolled for her looks or what she’s done or said, or the show she’s working on, or the team she supports. And it took a toll on her.”
Isn’t Molan the sort of woman you want talk to your daughter about? A woman who can show how to be strong, independent, respectful, honest, educated, genuine and generous of her time and effort.
As a society, why are we afraid to embrace and support women like this?
This is female empowerment, this is leadership and inspiration for young women.
Or to part reference Ms Bishop: do not resort to victim status.
That is a most unfortunate message to send to young women in particular. And one I will never tell my daughter.