Australian Female Senator Tries To Lower Import Tax On Pepper Spray; Australian Male Senator Tells Her To Just "Stop Shagging Men"
NY Times- Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, a Greens Party member who was once the youngest woman elected to Parliament, has said that Senator David Leyonhjelm, a Liberal Democrat, told her to “stop shagging men” during a June debate on relaxing import restrictions for pepper spray, a change that advocates say would allow women to better protect themselves.
Mr. Leyonhjelm has acknowledged making the remark.
“That Senator Hanson-Young took offense from my comments is an issue for her, not me,” Mr. Leyonhjelm told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in June. “However, I am prepared to rephrase my comments. I strongly urge Senator Hanson-Young to continue shagging men as she pleases.”
The suit contends that Mr. Leyonhjelm defamed Ms. Hanson-Young by doubling down on his comment in a series of news interviews. In those interviews, according to the complaint, Mr. Leyonhjelm suggested that Ms. Hanson-Young was a “hypocrite” and “misandrist” because she attacked men in public but had sex with them in private.
Australia remains the final frontier of good old-fashioned bare knuckle politickin’. That which we might call sexual harassment in America is used as a fundraising tactic down under. In the left corner, you have a greens party member who wants to ease import restrictions on pepper spray so that women will be better able to defend themselves against assailants. Seems reasonable? I don’t know much about pepper spray or how hard it is to purchase in Australia, but I do know that it stings the eyeballs so intensely that would-be rapists change plans quick.
In the other corner, we have a liberal democrat. The Lib-Dem party in Australia is exactly the opposite of what Americans would expect it to be from its name. They’re libertarians, and quite conservative. So when their sole senator–David Leyonhjelm–heard a proposal for reduced import restrictions, he offered his own solution. “Stop shagging men.” Very simple, really. Foolproof. If you don’t want to be a victim of sexual assault, then stop having sex. No need to bring trade policy and eye-destroying mist into the equation. Not sure how the broads couldn’t come up with this on their own.
The problem with his suggestion is that it implies that her (and, by extension, women’s) untamed promiscuity is somehow to blame for sexual assault. It’s the old “she was asking for it” defense. Typically, this doesn’t play well. But I guess the rules are different in Australia because he seems to have some support? And not only that, but he comes back with an all-time back-handed apology:
“I am prepared to rephrase my comments. I strongly urge Senator Hanson-Young to continue shagging men as she pleases.”
Ah, good, glad that’s clear. In other words, “please continue to ho it up, you ho.” The words of a gentleman, these are not! Some of his logic is simply breathtaking. She says that he called her a hypocrite and a misandrist (someone who hates men) because she attacks men at work but sleeps with them later on. lol. WHAT?! Dude, it’s perfectly fine to speak out against dickheads and still date them in private. You don’t have to become a lesbian just because you don’t approve of your male colleague’s voting records or rhetoric. And while his logic is so backwards that it actually made me laugh out loud, it’s a little bit scary to think that he genuinely believes himself.
We’ll see how it plays it. They’re taking it to court. I guess it’s nice to know that there’s a first-world democracy out there that makes our treatment of women look exemplary by comparison? Grasping at straws here.