Leading Feminist All Fired Up Over Holden Rodeo TV Advertisement

[JoeT]

Holden Ute Ad Drives Greer Wild

Sean Parnell
9 March 2006
www.news.com.au

Revved up ... Feminist author Germaine Greer speaks at an International Woman's Day lunch on the Gold Coast.

Greer wants Australian women to be more outspoken, reject bad female role models, take control of their future and demonstrate modern feminism through pacifism, socialism and environmentalism.

And while they're at it, Australian women should also trash Holden dealerships in protest over the company's new ad campaign.

Departing from her planned speaking points at an International Women's Day lunch on the Gold Coast, the expatriate Australian author and academic launched a wide-ranging tirade against all things anti-woman, including some of the world's most well-known women and elements of the feminist movement itself.

Greer became one the standard bearers for the feminist movement with the 1970 publication of her book The Female Eunuch. Officially retired, she lives in Britain.

Greer, who would like to "shoot" 4WD drivers, began her speech by attacking Holden over ads for the new Rodeo ute, in which a woman asks a man what his ultimate fantasy is, only to have him imagine driving off-road with a younger, slimmer and "entirely servile" woman.

"My question to you women is, why have you allowed this to happen?" Greer said. "Why haven't plate-glass windows on Holden showrooms been exploding all over Australia? How much humiliation are you up for? I promise you, they wouldn't dare do it in Europe. They would not dare."

Greer, who said Holden would have based the ad on market research, said it demonstrated the problem of Australians, regardless of sex, not speaking out.
"Australians are naturally egalitarian, direct, honest, not eaten out by envy, but lazy and too slow to anger," Greer told a crowd of 300 women at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

"Please get annoyed about this (Holden ad) because it shames us all."

A Holden spokesman last night said the ad had been tested among several groups, including women, and the company had not sought to humiliate anyone.

Greer also appeared to have departed from her pledge in 2000 not to set foot on Australian soil until traditional Aboriginal owners allowed her in.

Gold Coast Native Title Group committee member Wesley Aird said Greer had not contacted his group to seek permission to enter its land.

In her speech, Greer criticised some women in leadership roles, saying feminists would have a bittersweet victory if the next US president was female: Condoleezza Rice's best asset was her relationship with George W. Bush, while Hillary Clinton's was her marriage to Bill Clinton.

She said government leaders should not have to "lug along a receptive female" as proof of their manliness and women should not let them, particularly British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie, whose public appearances made her look hideous and demented and led her to be hated by the British public.

"Here we have our own dear Prime Minister - this big man inside a tiny man struggling to get out - who's been walking around India with his elbows out, just to prove he's really big; 'I really am a silverback, I might look like a chimp, but I am really a silverback'," Greer told the lunch.

"And there is his wife (Janette Howard), following on in case he should be overcome with conjugal passion. He might need her right there, you know, within six feet: 'Come here my dear'."

Feminist & Ex-pat Aussie Germaine Greer

[jbartley]

oh yeah, i know why she's feminist.

check out that pretty face...




if she was my wife, going off roading with rosie o'donnell next to me would be an improvement

[asim]

Oh dear...lol

[JoeT]

Don't worry about her. She's a crazy old bra burner from way back. Nobody ever takes any notice of her.

She was so unhappy with Australia years ago that she moved to the UK, but she still loves to tell us how crap we are.

She obviously never read about Holden being named 'Employer of Choice For Women' last month.
Holden Named 'Employer of Choice For Women'

I think the ads great. No sexism from what I see. Just every man fantasy!

It features one of Australia's favourite hotties, Model & TV star Suzie Wilks. Gotta love her

[2648562]

Sexism or not, there are more important issues facing the world today.

[paul3230]

She's just mad cause she ain't getting any....and probably hasn't in long time. I mean like 30 or 40 years

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

I think many women today are waking up to the fact that the femisinst movement lied to them.

Most women want to be desired.

[Butz]

Don't worry about her. She's a crazy old bra burner from way back. Nobody ever takes any notice of her.

[SCCA1995]

What a battleaxe. I think it was funniest reading where she says "Please get annoyed about this (Holden ad) because it shames us all." She's having to suggest to Aussie women what to do & beg them to do what she says.

BTW, Joe, in regards to Suzie Wilks, I'd use this.

[jwrebholz]

Just another nutball trying to tell us all how to live. Ever notice all the trouble in the world is caused by people trying to get rid of all the troublemakers?

[FISH]

Can someone post this ad.

I've looked for it, but no luck so far.

[SUPERBADD75]

i hate activists like this. feminists, environmentalists, and other extreme activists that just use hate to spread their message. it makes me insane that this woman actually would condone people vandalizing Holden showrooms. what a stupid woman. not to mention the fact that she thinks she should tell Aussie women how to respond to these ads and they should listen. i rank this wench right up there with the nuts from PETA.

[TiburonJT]

Newsflash, people in their 20s are hotter than people in their 60s. I wonder if she would be upset if an older woman were thinking about a younger man? I find it interesting that she thinks it is okay to generalize and call an entire group lazy, but she is offended by this ad.

[01cavalier]

Wow, it's no surprise someone like hergoes off like that. Get a life.

[switzner]

Originally Posted by jbartley

oh yeah, i know why she's feminist.

check out that pretty face...




if she was my wife, going off roading with rosie o'donnell next to me would be an improvement

Hilarious!!

Originally Posted by JoeT

She obviously never read about Holden being named 'Employer of Choice For Women' last month.
Holden Named 'Employer of Choice For Women'

No offense to the true left-wingers out there, but this is a typical left-wing activist...ignore the facts if they get in the way of your agenda.