Amy King, from the Macquarie University Liberal Club, responds to a think piece from issue 1.
The distinction between the satirical and the offensive has long been a point of conflict in the trenches of the so-called ‘culture wars’. The first 2022 issue of Grapeshot featured an article by the co-president of the Macquarie University Women’s Collective titled ‘Misogyny Under the Guise of Satire’. The author cites the ‘Wheel of Punishment’ at the Macquarie University Liberal Club O-Week stall as an example of satire which enables ‘dangerously misogynistic’ individuals to promote bigotry.
The purpose of the Wheel was to humorously point out everyday scenarios which are seen as insidious by the radical left. These included: Eating meat, being patriotic, and talking to women. Evidently it is the latter which has aggrieved the Women’s Collective.
Although feminism promotes issues of importance for women, it has gone beyond its initial purpose of facitating equality. It divides the genders by highlighting grievances and demanding special rights in the name of ultimate equality. This ultimate equality lies on an infinitely receding horizon; on a day-to-day level, the result is inequality, and a movement which appears openly hostile to men.
Students, including women, appreciate our satire not because of a culture of sexism but because of the excesses of a feminism whose emphasis on victimhood does little to empower women to face the challenges of modernity.
Despite the author’s claims of a misogynistic culture, women command significant power at Macquarie, with dedicated spaces and courses of study for women. The Collective should be proud to call Macquarie a place which nurtures women. Instead, it adopts a battleground mentality which pits it against a ravening horde of sexist white males. But those of us—including women and minorities—who are Liberal or traditionalist must listen as our views are mocked by lecturers and tutors in a manner that would cause outrage or even disciplinary action if directed against leftwing or feminist ideology.
Nobody should be above satire. All ideas can and should be made fun of in a light-hearted way, and not just for comedy; satire is a perennial means of speaking truth to power and must always hold a place in the cultural dialogue.
Grapeshot is not affiliated with any student political groups and the views expressed by the author are not those of the publisher
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