"I hope you are not going to say I am a sexist misogynist" - Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann

The problem that the Labor Party has today is that Bill Shorten is an economic girlie man. [Australian Finance Minister Senator Mathias Cormann, Sky News Agenda, 18 October 2014]

On 18 October 2014 another Liberal Party politician was caught dragging his knuckles along the ground, when Finance Minister Mathias Cormann called Opposition Leader Bill Shorten an economic girlie man.

He obviously wasn't expecting the reaction to this comment and sought to douse the flames in a somewhat unusual manner:

The Belgian-born MP argued that “girlie man’’ was a gender free zone. “I am not talking about girls. I am talking about economic girlie men,’’ he said.

“I don’t think there’s anything gender specific here. Not girls, girlies, it’s very different. I hope you are not going to say I am a sexist misogynist.’’

[Mathias Cormann, Herald Sun, 18 October 2014]

Mathias Cormann's hope he would not seen as a sexist misogynist was short-lived.

As women reacted negatively to his initial insult and subsequent 'excuse', Cormann decided to try another tack the next day:

"It is not in any way intended as a reflection on girls, it is entirely intended as a reflection on Bill Shorten".

“Girlie” according to my Australian dictionary is a colloquial term for girl (a female child or young female) and, when this word is combined with “man”  the user is implying that a man is acting like the stereotypical weak young girl - a characterization which seems to uniquely inhabit the minds of chauvinistic individuals.

Even lexicographers don't support Cormann's assertion that the term is not linked negatively to the female gender:

girlie man. noun. A male who is wimpy or soft; a male who likes to participate in activities or events thought to be mainly feminine: That girly man loves chick flicks. [The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.]

In the aftermath of his bizarre and unsuccessful attempts to characterize the derogatory term “girlie man” as having nothing to do with a sexist view of females, perhaps he would rather be seen as an ignorant excuse for a member of parliament instead.

* Photograph found at Google Images

Sexism in the National Party of Australia - why am I not surprised?

It’s boys behaving badly again in a political party – this time the NSW Nationals.

The Sydney Morning Herald 4 July 2014:

A NSW Nationals MP verbally attacked a female cabinet minister, threatening to "tear her a new orifice" and saying she had "never had a real man", because he was angry at her department's decision.

The attack on then environment minister Robyn Parker was made by Murray-Darling MP John Williams in front of about 100 Nationals members during his bid for preselection for the upper house in April. 

Ms Parker was raped as a teenager, and had spoken about her ordeal in parliament in 2004, recalling she nailed her bedroom windows shut in the aftermath.

Multiple sources who attended the Nationals preselection meeting on April 4 at Parliament House said they were offended by Mr Williams' comments. The event was filmed, but the slurs went uncensured by party leaders in the room, including deputy premier Andrew Stoner.

Mr Williams emerged as an endorsed candidate, albeit in the almost unwinnable fourth position.

Critics said the attack highlighted a "boys' club" culture within the Nationals that was alienating women from politics. The leak of the incident comes as the number of women in the NSW upper house from all parties is set to plummet…..

Liberal Party candidate for Charlton Kevin Baker, who withdrew from Abbott's Army this afternoon, has been on the nose for years

ABC News 20 August 2013:

Kevin Baker, who is contesting former minister Greg Combet's NSW seat of Charlton, was forced to shut down the personal website after it was revealed he had "posted hundreds of lewd jokes about women and had links to pornography", the Daily Telegraph has reported.

"Some of that banter, it has now been discovered, included jokes about the Pope being a paedophile, women having sex on pool tables and what Mr Baker himself calls 'Tit-banter',"…..

The Daily Telegraph quoted Mr Baker as saying in a statement last night:

"I set up an online forum for Mini Cooper enthusiasts several years ago.

"On the site I made comments that were inappropriate, which I deeply regret and for which I apologise unreservedly.

"In the last few years I have also failed to moderate the site properly.

"A number of statements have been made by participants that are also completely inappropriate.

"I have now shut the offending site down."

Kevin Baker states that in the last few years he has failed to properly moderate the website he created and registered.

In fact one can see that Mr. Baker has been failing to stop offensive comment since at least 2006 if one has a peek at forums.mini-mods.com using the Wayback Machine:

With the writing on the wall Kevin Baker issued this statement: