Why do people dislike Germaine Greer?

[morescrummythanyummy]

I have a friend who is TWAW and "be kind". I am GC. We are both aware of the other's views from a couple of discussions and have sort of tacitly mutually decided to stay away from further debates on this topic. She reads her kids Harry Potter, so she isn't rabidly activist, but works for a charity that has been stonewalled and exists in a bit of an echo chamber in her day to day life (she would probably say the same about me in looking on mumsnet!). . However, my friend has voiced a quite profound dislike for GG a couple of times in passing on related/political topics, in a way that suggests that this is what "right thinking"'people should think. I don't want to press her on it, because I don't really want to enter into a debate or open a can of worms. She is a lovely person and I really value her friendship. Is GG despised by some because she is outspoken in being GC/terfy or for other reasons? Just quite helpful to know!!

[DomesticatedZombie]

[FrangipaniBlue]

Nothing to add other than she was bloody lovely when I met her in the queue for the toilets at an airport!

[drhf]

Germaine Greer's 1995 comments about Suzanne Moore's appearance were misogynistic - I sympathised with Greer's frustration, because Moore had crossed the line during the interview, but responding by denigrating Moore's appearance was irrelevant and anything but feminist. I still remember standing in the street outside a shoe shop wondering why Greer had described another woman's attire like an unreconstructed high court judge summing up in a rape trial. That was the first time I wondered if Greer's feminism was relevant to my understanding of feminism as centring women.

I lost my remaining interest in Greer in 2003 when she wrote The Boy, eroticising the ideal male child "old enough to be capable of sexual response but not yet old enough to shave. This window of opportunity is not only narrow, it is mostly illegal." The cover photograph was of the actor Bjorn Andresen aged 15 (Andresen played the object of paedophilic desire in Visconti's Death in Venice). Andresen has been vocal about how he was sexualised by adults when he was a child and how that messed him up, and he indicated he would not have given permission if Greer had asked to use the photo, which she didn't.

OP, I wouldn't say I dislike Greer, so perhaps this doesn't address your question - but I did lose interest in her because of some of the views she expressed. I can, and do, choose to focus my attention on other feminists whose work seems more relevant to me.

[AndAsIfByMagic]

She brought me to feminism as a lecturer at my university way back when.

Amazing woman. Takes no shit from stupid people.

[DomesticatedZombie]

To answer your question, OP:

[Bideshi]

I knew her in the sixties. She was terrifying then and got even more terrifying later. She’s phenomenally clever and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She also doesn’t give a flying fuck what anyone thinks of her because she knows that she’s both cleverer and right. I admire her tremendously but still shudder at some of my immature idiocies that she was kind enough to demolish. Bruising encounters.

[MangyInseam]

I think she's quite a difficult person. Which, in my experience, is quite common with people who speak the truth in a very forthright way and are not afraid to get upset people.

It's important to have people like that but they can also be over-bearing and insensitive. You kind of end up taking the good with the bad and some people, even if they appreciate the good, do not enjoy spending time or interacting with such people.

[AmaryllisNightAndDay]

Germaine Greer has said a lot of things of things over the years, some of which are interesting, some uniquely insightful, and some are unforgiveable. She was the first feminist writer but I will never forgive her for what she said after Cherie Blair's miscarriage. (Not going to repeat it)

[AmaryllisNightAndDay]

(sorry, first feminist writer I ever read)

[Featuredcreature]

What was it? Can't find anything unsayable on Google.

[Giggorata]

@PermanentTemporary

GG has always had provocative and controversial ideas and sometimes seems to enjoy the publicity that brings. Hardly a crime but she doesn't hold back and is good at hitting nerves. She often says stuff that people aren't supposed to say - sometimes other people don't say it for a good reason.

She was famous when all those things were assets in public life and now that the media are completely different, she can sometimes be particularly shocking because she just doesn't produce the bland and ideas-free content that otherwise we consume.

I think if you've never disagreed with GG you probably don't listen to her much. But I heard a speaker once dismiss what she said on transgender issues because 'she isn't qualified to comment' and I thought, hang on a minute.

Agree with the above. GG is the business, intelligent, fearless, uncompromising and the opposite of bland.
I don't agree with everything she says by any means, especially the couple of things mentioned by drhf, but she gets so much right. Reading the Female Eunuch in 1971 was like opening a door for my younger self, and she was GC and firmly centring women in that debate very early on.
I am so glad she is around to say it, piss us off, make us think, make us laugh, whatever. Long may she continue.

[Featuredcreature]

Sorry that was in reply to @AmaryllisNightAndDay

[ForensicFlossy]

She is the rudest person I have ever met. I admire her greatly for some of her words but she was awful.

[Featuredcreature]

I kind of love that, one aspect of British society I hate is faffing and fannying around and circling around things until nobody knows what anyone means, just fucking state your thoughts for God's sake.

[AmaryllisNightAndDay]

Germaine Greer's 1995 comments about Suzanne Moore's appearance were misogynistic

Oh the "fuck-me shoes" remark? Pity Suzanne Moore wasn't quick enough to stick her feet on the table and tell Greer they were fuck-you shoes.

[luciatrope]

She's fantastic.

[KimikosNightmare]

@Featuredcreature

What was it? Can't find anything unsayable on Google.

It's easy enough to find. It was pretty crass.

[nepeta]

I read the Female Eunuch, liked parts of it, felt that she lacked a wider frame applicable to women who were not quite like her, but I still have that book so must have liked it on balance.

The Whole Woman I wasn't that keen on so it has been passed on.

But then no writer covers everything or agrees with me on everything (heh). I think her strong opinions are valuable as she gets things talked about during this era of faux-woke censorship. But she was deplatformed herself somewhere.

[5zeds]

I think she’s interesting and would be excellent company if you were stuck in a blizzard or a lift. (I say this because unless she was trapped I very much doubt she’d find me interesting in the same way). What a marvellous granny she would have been if I was twenty years younger.
your friend wants to talk about TWAW etc and is using her hatred of GG as an opener. Don’t bite.

[DifficultBloodyWoman]

Why is Germaine Greer a witch who ought to be burned?

• she is female
• she is intelligent
• she has her own opinions
• she can hold her own in a debate
• she is comfortable in her own skin
• she doesn’t do ‘be kind’

These are all reasons to burn a witch.
Or to admire and respect a person.

Your call.

[mirax]

Maybe it is best to respect and acknowledge feminist thinkers but not to idolise them? GG was spot on about many things but she left me a bit cold on topics like FGM and rape. I appreciate that she wants woman to be strong and resilient, to not give in to the comfort of female victimhood, to laugh at one's rapist rather than cower but not everyone is like her. She was absolutely right on the trans issue.

[Snowraingain]

Years ago after some controversy my mum wrote her a letter of support. Just that nothing more - she simply wanted to give her support. But the reply she got back from Greer was horrible. Calling her a patronising idiot. It was just nasty.
So no one in my family is a fan.

[mirax]

@Snowraingain

Years ago after some controversy my mum wrote her a letter of support. Just that nothing more - she simply wanted to give her support. But the reply she got back from Greer was horrible. Calling her a patronising idiot. It was just nasty.
So no one in my family is a fan.

Such unnecessary aggression. She could have ignored it. It was just a random letter, not really anything important.

[Fitterbyfifty]

@mirax

Maybe it is best to respect and acknowledge feminist thinkers but not to idolise them? GG was spot on about many things but she left me a bit cold on topics like FGM and rape. I appreciate that she wants woman to be strong and resilient, to not give in to the comfort of female victimhood, to laugh at one's rapist rather than cower but not everyone is like her. She was absolutely right on the trans issue.

I think this is very true. I admire Greer very much but I don't think she is a particularly nice person. Does it matter? Not really but women are really expected to be nice (and beautiful) more than anything else which explains why some don't like her. Abrasive men are tolerated, women not so much, especially when they are no longer young.