Culture

People Are Not Happy A Mens Rights Activist Was Given An Australia Day Award

"If they set the bar any lower it will be on the ground".

Bettina Arndt Australia Day Award

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

When it comes to gender equity, there is still a long way to go in Australia. On average, women are paid 14% less than men. Women are three times more likely than men to experience domestic violence. Women make up only 17.1% of CEOs. I could go on.

But there’s some good news!

On Sunday, a woman named Bettina Arndt was given an Australia Day honour for working to achieve gender equity, but it wasn’t for working to address any of the above reasons.

Instead, Bettina believes “men aren’t getting fair treatment” and her work focuses on ripping down what she sees as an “anti-male culture” — which apparently means doing what she can to discredit sexual assault survivors.

Her honour notes referenced her 2018 “Fake Rape Crisis” university speaking tour, where she dismissed high rates of sexual assault on campuses as a “scare campaign”.

Other recent highlights include a 2017 interview with a convicted paedophile Nicolaas Bester, where she joked with him that young female students were “exploiting their seductive power to ruin the lives of men”.

She refers to modern feminism as “poisonous” and recently released a book titled #MenToo about discrimination against men.

Bettina became a Member of the Order of Australia on Sunday, awarded for her “significant service to the community as a social commentator, and to gender equity through advocacy for men”.

Unsurprisingly, many Australians are furious that she was chosen for our third highest civic honour.

Advocate Grace Tame, who was groomed by Bester, slammed the decision.

“I believe that honouring someone who actively defended a paedophile on a public platform is a blatant example of the protracted, systemic moral corruption that still hampers our society,” she told news.com.au.

Former Australian of the Year Rosie Battie was worried the award would legitimise Arndt’s views, saying she felt sickened.

“Bettina Arndt represents who we are trying to educate and bring on the journey with us and I can’t believe someone with her thinking is being publicly rewarded and acknowledged in this way. How could this happen? How could we get to this place. I am in utter dismay,” she said.

Bettina appeared on Studio 10 this morning to defend herself.

“Gender equity is about fair treatment for men and women and I’m trying to redress the imbalance of what’s emerged in recent years, where men aren’t getting fair treatment in a whole range of areas, but I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that,” she said.

“What this is showing is the poisonous side of modern feminism and their determination to shut down anyone who challenges the orthodoxy.”

So Who Decides These Awards?

The Order of Australia recognises Australians who have “demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement”.

Anyone can nominate a candidate. That nomination is then assessed by the Honours and Awards Secretariat, considered by the Council of the Order of Australia, and then recommended to the Governor-General.

The Council is an independent body made up of 19 people, with representatives recommended by the Prime Minister.

Lovely.


Feature image: Bettina Arndt/ Twitter