The Mocker: How about a course in toxic feminism?

Clementine Ford will keep her grant money after her latest obnoxious tweet.

Why this brouhaha over writer Clementine Ford and her tweeting “Honestly the coronavirus isn’t killing men fast enough” last week?

It was meant as a joke and I thought it was hilarious. If you think otherwise, chances are you should lighten up.

Just imagine all those men across the world inflicted with the disease: struggling to breathe, their lungs inflamed, their kidneys so badly damaged they cannot cleanse the blood, their vital organs gradually shutting down. Many are dying alone, their loved ones denied the chance to be at their side during their final moments. Yes Clementine, it makes you want to slap your thigh with delight, chortle loudly and sing a feminist empowerment song.

People walk by a memorial for those who have died from the coronavirus outside Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Picture; AFP.

It should have been obvious to everyone that Ford does want not all men to die, particularly those who subsidise her lifestyle.

For example, if not for her Melbourne City Council artistic grant worth thousands of dollars which is partly funded by men, she would not be able to write her ironically titled book “How We Love”.

And only a philistine would deny she is a worthy recipient of this public largesse. As the ever-so-modest Ford herself pointed out to her detractors this week, the council was obviously inspired by the fact her books have collectively sold over 100,000 copies.

The city of Melbourne might have been swayed by the fact my other books have collectively sold more than 100,000 copies but you’re probably right eh. How many books have you written?

— Clementine Ford 🧟‍♀️ (@clementine_ford) May 4, 2020

It does raise the question, though, of why a supposedly successful author has her hand out for public dosh. I hasten to add in asking this I am not casting aspersions on Ford, and that her applying for this should not be examined in the context of an entitlement mentality but rather her ongoing and noble struggle against patriarchy. Also, as the council’s art portfolio chair and Greens councillor Rohan Leppert confirmed, Ford’s application “met the criteria strongly”.

I have been chair of the Arts portfolio at City of Melbourne for 7 years. In all of that time I have insisted on independence in arts funding assessment from politicians. The recent COVID-response arts grants program was no exception.

— Rohan Leppert (@RohanLeppert) May 25, 2020

In response to Ford’s tweet, Lord Mayor Sally Capp requested a review into the funding program on Monday, saying she found her comments “deliberately divisive and incredibly unhelpful”.

Whatever the outcome, Leppert has already said this review will not overturn the original decision. “We have never sought to regulate the speech of grants recipients unrelated to the grant in question,” he stated, assuring artists the council was “not engaging in censorship”.

Translation: the council will not engage in censorship except when deciding which arts grants will be approved.

Despite his stressing the council must avoid “becoming the arbiter [of] taste and offence,”

he as chair does exactly that. The funding guidelines for the grants expressly provide that “artists or arts organisations or applications that seek to exclude or offend parts of the community” are ineligible. Incidentally, just over two years ago Leppert was demanding that Melbourne venues not host right-wing activist Milo Yiannopoulos during his speaking tour. Spare us his tosh about not wanting to constrain expression.

White supremacists are marching the streets in Kensington/Flemington, the centre of my incredibly diverse and rich multicultural community. Disgusted. Hey venue operators (and Parliament!) - DON'T GIFT MILO A PLATFORM!

— Rohan Leppert (@RohanLeppert) December 4, 2017

In fairness to Ford, she was hardly acting out of character. She has an extensive history of hurling vile abuse at conservative figures on social media, regardless of whether they are men or women. In 2017 the ABC was forced to apologise after Ford declared on live television that Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine was a “c**t”.

In 2015, she tweeted regarding Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi, who is of Iranian descent, “No matter how hard she tries, she’ll never be a white man.”

Tony Abbott is among those who have copped abuse by Clementine Ford. Picture; Nick Klein.

In 2013, when the Coalition assumed government, she sold “F. k Tony Abbott” T-shirts. Others she has called a “c**t” on Twitter include former senator Cory Bernardi, and former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop. In 2018 she tweeted “Eat shit Dutton,” referring to the Home Affairs Minister.

For most of that period she was employed as a columnist by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, yet seemingly she was still allowed to go the full Linda Blair on social media. In 2015, Ford applauded the sacking of a Sydney hotel supervisor who had called her a “slut” on Facebook after she alerted his employer to his comment. She also searched his Facebook page and took snapshots of racist and other offensive jokes.

“There are basically no consequences for men who behave like this, so we have to start making consequences for them,” she wrote.

If you need a wry laugh, just consider that Ford appeared on ABC that year to talk about “sexist double standards”.

It was only in September 2018 she was finally forced to curb her abuse of others following her suspension with pay after tweeting that Prime Minister Scott Morrison was a “f**king disgrace”. She terminated her arrangements with those newspapers in a Twitter huff in 2019, claiming the impetus was Nine’s takeover of the former Fairfax.

She remains unrepentant for all these vituperative tweets, yet uncharacteristically she apologised for her latest outburst, saying it was a case of misjudgment.

THREAD: I’m a big enough person to admit when I’ve misjudged something. I still stand 100% behind my fury at men exploiting women’s unpaid labour (exacerbated by the global pandemic), but I’ve reconsidered my flippancy in discussing it. I’ve always maintained that the difference

— Clementine Ford 🧟‍♀️ (@clementine_ford) May 24, 2020

Given this immediately preceded mayoral intervention concerning her grant, it is not difficult to infer why she suddenly relented.

Clementine Ford’s recent comments on social media were deliberately divisive and incredibly unhelpful when we are trying to keep our community together during COVID-19. (1/3)

— Sally Capp (@SallyCapp_) May 24, 2020

Now compare this with what she wrote for 10 Daily about 2GB presenter Alan Jones in 2019 and his comments about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, specifically, his calls to “shove a sock down her throat.

“Management at 2GB has a lot to answer for, prioritising profits at the expense of human dignity and protecting men who don’t deserve to be protected. In doing so, they’ve made it clear exactly where they stand – on the wrong side of history,” she wrote. “[Jones] has offered an apology to Ardern, but it seems to me that it was likely offered unwillingly and in a nod to damage control.”

But no doubt she would maintain her apology was both sincere and the act of a righteous woman.

As for Ford’s little solecisms, she need not worry too much about the media holding her to account.

Conduct a search of ABC’s online screen tool using her name and it will retrieve hundreds of entries relating to Ford, including shows promoting her books “Fight Like a Girl” and “Boys Will Be Boys”. Yet none of them mention this latest outburst. There is a reason for that and it has everything do with ABC’s championing of Ford and its contempt for conservatives.

For example, consider this excerpt from an interview Sunday Extra presenter Jonathan Green did with Ford in 2017. “You cop a lot of hate, especially online,” said a sympathetic Green. “I reckon this is the trademark of modern conservative argument: this is the logical inversion – the people who hate accuse you of doing the hating.”

Not only is that an inane generalisation; it falsely portrays Ford as an innocent victim of harassment and bullying.

As 3AW Drive host Tom Elliott said this week: “She put out this vitriol, this bile, to get a

reaction”. He also labelled her a “man-hater”, saying: “Most women I know would have nothing to do with Clementine Ford”.

When interviewed on ABC’s One Plus One in 2018, Ford claimed she did not conflate the phrase “toxic masculinity” with masculinity.

“Some people make the mistake when they hear the phrase ‘toxic masculinity’ of thinking that what it means is that all masculinity is toxic,” she said. “Which is not the case. Toxic masculinity refers to the aspects and elements of masculinity that are weaponised by the patriarchy to cause harm to other people, sometimes to cause harm to men themselves.”

One might similarly observe that some people make the mistake when they hear the phrase “toxic feminism” of thinking what it means is that all feminism is toxic. That is not the case. Toxic feminism refers to the aspects and elements of feminism that are weaponised by misandrists to cause harm to other people, sometimes to cause harm to women themselves – especially those who publicly reject its parasitic and spiteful mantra of entitlement, victimhood and hatred of men.

Now there is a project worthy of a generous grant by a council – a course in detoxifying feminism.

Consider the composition. Day 1: “Misogyny is not the default position for every setback you

experience”. Day 2: “Victimhood and self-respect, two mutually exclusive concepts”. Day 3: “How to debate without resorting to expletives or platitudes”. Day 4: “Should I write for Daily Life or get a life?” Day 5: “What do male and female chauvinists want in common? Answer: a meek and subservient spouse”.

It is an amusing thought, but the chances of Ford and her ilk even considering such notions are zilch.

After all, bores will be bores.