Was that really necessary? Misogynistic headlines and catchphrases

Peter Hartcher, the SMH’s international editor (by which I assume they mean editor of international news) is a pretty good columnist. His articles tend to be interesting and thought-provoking. They are about politics, international politics and economics.

So when I saw the headline “Attractive French model bears close watching” on Hartcher’s column today, I assumed that this was a sub-editor’s attempt to get more readers to read Hartcher’s column, and that it was about the French economic model.

I considered not clicking through, in a tiny protest at the headline, but Hartcher’s columns are interesting enough – and I learn enough from them – that I figured I could overlook it this time.

However, here is how Hartcher’s column begins:

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The duty of fiction writers to tell the truth: Part IV

This is the fourth in a series of posts about Jodi Picoult’s use of false rape allegations as a plot device. The first is here, the second is here and the third is here. In this post, I attempt to draw the discussion to some kind of conclusion.

In the second post and the third one I’ve outlined some of the messages which I think come out of Picoult’s books. I’ve also alluded to the reasons why I find some of them troubling. In my first post on this topic, I also noted that I perceived two main problems: (1) it suggests that false allegations are common and problematic; and (2) it hides the horrendous way in which many complainants of rape are actually treated.

In today’s post, I’m going to talk about some of the many other real ethical problems surrounding the way complaints and charges of rape are treated in our society – and how I think the stories Picoult wrote could have been tweaked a bit to explore these issues, rather than the fake issue of false rape allegations.

First, here’s a list of some of these real ethical problems surrounding the reporting of rape and the criminal process which may follow:

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The duty of fiction writers to tell the truth: Part III

This is the third in a series of posts about Jodi Picoult’s use of false rape allegations as a plot device. The first is here, the second is here and you will find the fourth here when it goes up tomorrow. In this post, I address the specific ethical issues raised by Salem Falls.

As with yesterday’s post: SPOILER ALERT!

I have even more problems with this book than I do with The Tenth Circle. It opens with Jack (from whose point of view a lot of the book is written) walking along a deserted road in the snow. He’s just got out of prison. He can’t go back to wherever it was he came from before that, he knows that teaching is out of the question, he doesn’t care where he goes. Someone gives him a lift, and he gets out at a friendly-looking small town. That town is Salem Falls.

By the time he’s there, we’ve already guessed he was in prison for some kind of sex crime, and we’ve also had a couple of parts of the story from the point of view of the owner of a diner in town and the point of view of a teenage girl with a very protective and loving father.

Jack gets a job at the diner, and goes to the police station to report – confirming our guess he was in prison for a sex crime.

There are a few threads drawn through the book. The relevant ones are:

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The duty of fiction writers to tell the truth: Part II

This is the second in a series of posts about Jodi Picoult’s use of false rape allegations as a plot device. The first is here, you will find the third here when it goes up tomorrow and the fourth here the day after. In this post, I address the specific issues raised by The Tenth Circle, which I think is the least offensive of the two books I’m going to talk about.

It’s been a while since I read the book, and I’m writing this post from memory, because I’m really disinclined to go back and re-read the book. Apologies for any errors. By the way: SPOILER ALERT!

The book is largely written from the perspective of a man who is the father of a teenage daughter (who I think is called Tracy). His wife is a lecturer on Dante (and maybe Italian poetry in general?) at the local university (I think her name is Laura). I can’t remember if they have children other than Tracy.

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The duty of fiction writers to tell the truth: Part I

This is the first in a series of posts about Jodi Picoult’s use of false rape allegations as a plot device. There will be three more, and they will be posted daily. You will find the second here tomorrow, the third here the day after and the fourth here the day after that. In this post, I introduce the topic, Jodi Picoult, the books I’m talking about and a few of the issues.

The post title might seem like a bit of an oxymoron. After all, one may ask: isn’t the point of fiction that it’s not true?

Actually, I’d argue the opposite. I’d argue that one of the purposes of literature is to tell the truth about life, without necessarily telling the reality of life.

Where this duty really comes into play is where an author uses assumptions and stereotypes as if they are real.

Much fiction does this, and sometimes it is reasonably unobjectionable as a plot device or tool.

Where I really start to get angry is when someone does something like what Jodi Picoult has done in at least two of her books (and I’ve only read four!) and premises the entire plot on a false rape allegation.

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“Bipolarity pills”?!?!?!?!

I noticed the SMH review for Observe & Report was up, with a hook line about the reviewer wanting to “vomit on his shoes”. Figuring that meant he didn’t like it, I was curious to see whether he’d picked up the problems it has from a feminist point of view (for which, see Sady: Um., Observe & Report: On Real Rape, I Lost It at the Movies and Important Announcement) or whether he just thought it was a bad movie.

Probably as I should have expected: more the latter than the former.

The review itself doesn’t show all that much sensitivity to anyone.

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What do all those examples have in common, Paul?

From the headline of Paul Sheehan’s latest column – “I married an Ascham bully” – I just knew, just knew there was going to be something in there minimising the harm done by bullying.

Yes, well. Just like there’s a reason I don’t usually read Andrew Bolt, there’s a reason I don’t usually read Paul Sheehan.

First of all, for those non-Sydney-siders amongst you: Ascham is an elite private girls’ school. It’s located in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, has a reputation for being academic (ie students perform well in tests), and is generally considered to be one of the most (if not the most) exclusive girls’ schools in Sydney.

Sheehan’s column is about the recent expulsion of two year nine girls (so they’d be approximately 14-15 years old) because of a course of bullying carried out through MySpace. Sheehan quotes the school’s principal (who he calls the “headmistress”), Louise Robert-Smith, as calling the behaviour for which the girls have been expelled a “serious incident of cyber-bullying”.

Sheehan also says that a mother of a girl who left the school years ago because of bullying-by-text-message has come forward about that, apparently as a direct result of the news of the recent expulsion.

So far, so “good on Ascham for taking action”. Right? Right?

Or maybe not, according to Paul Sheehan.

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Humourous feminism in the MSM

I’m rather happy about this: a few times in the past week or so, the SMH’s Heckler column has had a feminist overtone.

Today’s column is probably the most obvious (although if there was a comments section, I’d be expecting many comments that showed many people missing the sarcasm).

There have also been two recent columns about ads I’d seen on bus stops, thought about posting about, and didn’t get around to it.

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