Justin Smith: If a man made Clementine Ford’s coronavirus jab there would be uproar
Feminist Clementine Ford’s divisive quip that “coronavirus isn’t killing men fast enough” has sparked calls for her public funding to be revoked, but if she were a man the consequences would be much more severe, writes Justin Smith.
Opinion
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A couple of weeks ago, I read that Clementine Ford had received a grant from the City of Melbourne to do some artistic endeavour around COVID-19.
And to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less. If I was pressed on the issue, I’d have thought there would be better ways to spend Melbourne’s money, but art is important.
And so is free opinion.
We always need to hear from both the right and the left. And anyone who carries on about fruitcake “lefties” are usually just fruitcakes themselves, only with a different variety of nuts.
Clementine Ford is a bit wacky for me. I find her presentation of feminism to be disconnected from the smart and powerful women I know.
Honestly, I think she just lights fires so she can watch the usual clan of conservative commentators run around with buckets.
This kind of thing is boring and matters very little to people who are trying to keep their jobs, stay connected to their families, and not catch a disease that’s killed hundreds of thousands.
So I didn’t care about the grant. But now I do. Because on the weekend, Ford sent out a tweet that read “Honestly, the coronavirus isn’t killing men fast enough”.
It was supposed to be a joke, I imagine, but it was a crap one, and it would cause pain to the families of any male taken by the virus.
Even though Twitter has become a receptacle for unfunny nastiness, it was the weak response that followed that made me angry.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp — who I like, and has been a good face for the city — was on 3AW on Sunday being questioned about Ford getting the grant, and her answers were just not good enough.
She condemned the tweet, but only in a very general fashion. She said that statements like this by “anyone” were terrible, but she said she would do nothing to remove the money from Ford.
“I’m not going to interfere with an independent process,” she said. This is staggering.
Quite rightly, in the last few years, men have been forced to change their behaviours towards women. For far too long, men were the untouchable bullies and predators.
I’m proud that there’s been change. But while we’ve been tinkering with males to make them better men, an appalling double standard has been allowed to blossom.
If a man, funded by a local government, had wished that more women were dying of the virus, the response would not have been so vague.
Every councillor would have spoken against him. The money would have been withdrawn. Public statements would have been drafted condemning the words. And every person who refused to condemn would be condemned themselves.
Let’s just imagine that someone like Mark Latham had made the comment. He wouldn’t have been able to breath through the attacks, and any public money that had been paid would have been returned quicker than you could say “Bloody hell, that guy was almost the prime minister”.
Capp’s predecessor was removed from the job for his treatment of women. And whatever you think about the demise of Robert Doyle, you’d have to say his case was pursued with inexhaustible passion.
Where is that passion now for Ford?
Four years ago, Eddie McGuire was attacked for his comments about journalist Caroline Wilson, and holding her head under water. The attacks came fast and the issue lasted for weeks.
The condemnation was justified and very important lessons were learned.
Also, only a couple of weeks ago, footballer Joel Selwood and his wife Brit were mucking around in their home and he picked her up and used her as a mop.
These two consenting adults posted the jape on social media, but were forced to take it down after a backlash likening it to family violence.
Certainly, men carry out the vast majority of attacks in a domestic violence situation. But that’s not what this was. Not even close. But the link was still made because Joel is a man.
If his wife were able to pick him up, this would not have made news.
And I just don’t buy Capp’s defence that the decision is “independent”.
The grant panel is made up of council officers and some independents, and the money still belongs to the city’s ratepayers.
And it doesn’t matter how the decision was first made — Ford has since done something that should have the grant rescinded.
Now, I’ not a ratepayer of the City of Melbourne — but neither is Ford — so it’s not my money. But we have homeless people who are cold and hungry in the street, and I’d rather see the money used for them.
But if they insist on it going to the arts, there are plenty of professional artists who were excluded from Scott Morrison’s JobKeeper package who are struggling.
Surely we can give the money to someone who doesn’t seem to want people dead.
If Ford is allowed to keep this grant, then we have learnt nothing. All we’ve done is transfer the bullying power from the men to the women.
It’s like freeing slaves only to give them the whips to make slaves of others.
Justin Smith is a 3AW presenter, Herald Sun columnist, and host of The Columnist podcast
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