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!!

[bellinisurge]

GG sounded the alarm. I'm glad we're listening now.

[AmaryllisNightAndDay]

Well, nobody's perfect And Andrea Dworkin's not here to say whatever she would have said now. The landscape's changed since 2005 (did she really die that long ago!) and I wonder what she would have made of it. Anyway I hadn't thought of it for years but that slogan has been popping up in my head quite a lot recently.

[SoggyPaper]

Germaine Greer has had this kind of crap for years. She’s the kind of ‘difficult’ women who dares to have an opinion that is anathema to patriarchal society.

[nettie434]

@AmaryllisNightAndDay

I found "Daddy We Hardly Knew You" fascinating. And the last few pages about Greer's mother both shocking and illuminating.

Anyway, what it comes down to is that there a lot of different possible reasons for hating Germaine Greer. And for adoring her too. So you'll have to ask your friend

I think this sums GG up perfectly. I think one reason why some academics dislike her is that she doesn't hesitate to appear on mainstream media - eg Celebrity Big Brother - and indeed enjoys it. She is probably one of the few feminist writers with whom the general public is familiar.

I wouldn't automatically assume that your friend is trying to find out who is GC. It's just that GG makes no attempt to be popular or say what people want to hear.

I'm glad you posted this morescrummythanmummy. It's interesting to read the different reactions and people's own personal encounters with her.

[AmaryllisNightAndDay]

I fully agree with her that TW are not women

It's funny (remarkable) how that's become such a controversial idea. My DH is an old LGBT rights activist, Section 28 and gay marriage, putting the BT in LGBT, but hasn't been involved for many years now. When I told him about the current fight over trans he couldn't understand why I was so worried and upset. Then he said "of course I don't believe transwomen are women". I told him that was Stonewall's position and he simply didn't believe me.

He does now

[DomesticatedZombie]

Greer is also what we might think of as a rounded human being, who says a lot of stuff, some of which is definitely wrong, some of which is so spot-on it hurts, some of which is speculative.

I wish we had more people who were less worried about always getting everything perfectly right and were more interested in provoking discussion, debate, consideration, thought and dissent, tbh.

I didn't know she had commented on ragwort. I think I'd probably agree with her on that score. 😄

[LaingsAcidTab]

I don't always agree with what she says, but I thoroughly admire her. That Greer won't give a shit about how I feel about her makes me admire her even more.

[Despinetta]

I love Germaine. She saw what was coming on TWAW and what it implied for women's rights way before the rest of us.

[Abhannmor]

My favourite GG story. A young woman was being interviewed by GG about what she hoped to achieve on the course and naturally she was quite nervous. After her little presentation Germaine said ' Rubbish ! You don't want to smoke dope and have lots of sex like all the others?' That broke the ice.

[Franca123]

I love GG. She's had a really profound influence on my life and I believe a positive impact on my ultimate happiness. Every teenage girl should read her.

[Terferama]

I love her too - she’s so refreshing - and I’m pleased to have somewhere to say it, even though it’s hard to imagine she’d ever be reading this thread.

We love you GG, even though you don’t care!

[SnowWhitesSM]

I would like to bottle up her not giving a fuck attitude and the self confidence in herself and give it to every single woman.

[WifeOfTiresias]

@AmaryllisNightAndDay

I fully agree with her that TW are not women

It's funny (remarkable) how that's become such a controversial idea. My DH is an old LGBT rights activist, Section 28 and gay marriage, putting the BT in LGBT, but hasn't been involved for many years now. When I told him about the current fight over trans he couldn't understand why I was so worried and upset. Then he said "of course I don't believe transwomen are women". I told him that was Stonewall's position and he simply didn't believe me.

He does now

Yes, and the sad thing i is that GG gave me the courage to say this to my H but I would never dare say it at work

[WifeOfTiresias]

Oops post cut off! Meant to say I would never dare say this at work

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Neither like nor dislike but I do raise my eyebrows because she's

[KimikosNightmare]

I started reading The Female Eunuch for the first time only a couple of years ago and didn't finish it.

There's a sort of curious "Gone Girl, Cool Girl" vibe about Greer. She has talked about being the only groupie with a Ph.D and being a "super groupie" - the kind who gets invited backstage, not the kind who hangs around hotel corridors.

She was cool about porn and was involved, along with other cool people in the late 60s with an "arty" porn mag "Suck".

I suppose all the cool people then were cool about porn but I saw her not that long ago being interviewed in a documentary about porn. She was talking about that awful- Animal Farm video. My recollection is that she thought it was no big deal- that someone always put it on at parties and it wasn't really anything to get worked up about.

I don't know, I'm not a feminist but the filmed rape of what is now recognised was a severely disturbed woman and animal abuse for commercial exploitation seems quite a big deal.

I've said before it was a great pity Mary Whitehouse was the person speaking out against porn. Whitehouse might have been approaching it from a monogamous, married Christian point of view rather than its incompatibly with human dignity (my approach) but Whitehouse was , with the benefit of hindsight correct and Greer and her cool friends bear some responsibility for letting that genie out of the bottle.

[Peregrina]

The thing is, the Female Eunuch is now half a century old. It seemed earth shattering at the time, but I don't think it's aged all that well.

[myquicheisbetterthanyourquiche]

I can't bear GG.

I couldn't bear JK Rowling either (bloody leftie).

However, I find myself fully in support of both of them now. Funny, that.

[FinallyHere]

@KimikosNightmare

I'm not a feminist

Does that mean that you would be happy for men and women to be paid different rates for the same job ? What does feminism mean to you that you reject it ?

[KimikosNightmare]

@FinallyHere

@KimikosNightmare

I'm not a feminist

Does that mean that you would be happy for men and women to be paid different rates for the same job ? What does feminism mean to you that you reject it ?

I think "feminist" is almost meaningless. I don't found my opinions on whether they fit in with some sort of feminist theory.

[Pythian]

I was at one of her talks a few years ago where she was talking about women's invisibility as they age. She said that whenever she used the word "old" in relation to herself, somebody would immediately say "Oh, you're not old!" With a tone of horror, as if old is the worst thing a woman could be. "I'm nearly fucking 80, when am I going to be allowed to be old?" She was right about that - I have a similar thing when I factually describe myself as fat (which as we all know, is the ACTUAL worst thing a woman can be).

[AlisonDonut]

I find this sort of discussion be like 'Oh I'm really glad we have that track across the island, but the people that literally cut through the jungle with knives went the wrong way and missed that short cut through the brook, and they used the wrong kind of knife'.

Especially when you benefit from the communities and facilities that they built for you.

[5zeds]

@AlisonDonut yes I think the same. There often seems to be little context applied. It’s extraordinary to see how far we have come even in the last fifty years. It’s also terrifying to see how fast we are sliding back. There is so much talk of diversity and inclusion but very little tolerance for any differences in thought or experience. It is possible to agree with some of what someone thinks while finding other parts unacceptable.

[puffyisgood]

as others have said, the stupid comments about rape and the ridiculous paedo photo book just about cover it.

she's of course by no means all bad, it's sadly (unoriginal observation ahoy) far from uncommon that true brilliance (which she undoubtedly has or had in spades) comes hand in hand with bouts of extreme unpleasantness, see Morrissey etc.

[Ferngreen]

She is 83 and has been writing and speaking intelligent feminist stuff for all of my feminist years , I'm 68, .......but bleat bleat bleat - she said x about y boo hoo boo hoo/ what about all the other 60 years of her work would you like to comment about that??
If you have a spare month or two.....