Julia Gillard is no shrinking violet and her part in the removal of Kevin Rudd remains an open chapter in our history. That doesn't justify ridiculing, denigrating, objectifying and discriminating against her on the basis of her gender.
Australians need to come up to speed on what constitutes sexism, misogyny, discrimination and harrassment. We need to become much better at recognising the line in the sand that separates light-hearted humor from vitriolic abuse.
The coining and usage of phrases such as 'handbag brigade' to objectify and denigrate people becomes unacceptable the moment people take exception to it. Our 11 year old grand-daughter was upset and disgusted by it, for example!
Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne have made an artform out of coining such phrases. Abbott often makes snide remarks across the Chamber and even as asides in public. It's time he got the message that mainstream Australians were outraged and disgusted by what Alan Jones said and even more so when he regurgitated that in Parliament.
