FRIDAY FORUM
YOUR VIEWS ON THE NEWS
This week we celebrated International Women’s Day – the theme being Pledge for Parity. And if women were looking for parity in the news, they certainly achieved it. The release of Niki Sava’s book The Road to Ruin: how Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin destroyed their own government has dominated headlines, opinion pieces, gossip columns and talk shows.
Some have said Peta Credlin has provided a convenient scapegoat for the failing of the Abbott government. Others have pointed to blatant misogyny (what if she were Peter not Peta?) in analysis of Credlin’s role.
From the time Eve waved a piece of fruit under Adam’s nose, it would seem women have provided a convenient scapegoat for the foibles of men. The phenomenon even has its own name – the Delilah Effect – again referencing a biblical tale of a man succumbing to a woman’s seductive powers.
Under the heading ‘Delilah effect: when women bring down great men’ an article in online newspaper The Observer provides a list of men whose fall from ‘greatness’ is attributed to women. The article quotes American pastor, Martin Ssempa, who warns that powerful men must develop mechanisms to resist the seductive influence of the Delilah effect.
Is Tony Abbott ‘Samson’ to Peta Credlin’s ‘Delilah’? Or are women convenient scapegoats for the failings of men?
Image sourced from The Age via Twitter.
Comments are closed.