The worldwide outpouring of red-hot female rage sparked by the destructive #METOO crusade will only spark a misogynistic backlash

This narcissistic, irrational millennialist female revenge movement is incapable of doing anything positive for women, as the latest example of its whirlwind in Australia shows. It’s simply sowing bitterness between the sexes.

The wildly destructive tidal wave of #METOO agitation that has washed over Australian politics in the past few weeks shows no sign of abating just yet.

The politicisation of #METOO ferment that has occurred here could just as easily have occurred in the UK or America. In fact, the Sarah Everard protests and the Andrew Cuomo affair are less intense variants of the more dramatic main event that has played out in Canberra. 

What’s happened in Australia reveals the modus operandi and destructiveness of the powerful  #METOO movement – a campaign hitherto confined mainly to the entertainment industry, that has now provocatively intruded into the realm of politics.    

#METOO agitation in Australia over the past few weeks – aptly described by an ABC journalist as “an outpouring of red-hot female rage” – has rendered the federal government run by Scott Morrison temporarily impotent. 

This explosion of mass hysteria commenced when the ABC, the woke taxpayer-funded national broadcaster, published stories about two historical rape allegations. 

One, said to have occurred in 1988, involved the now-Attorney-General Christian Porter, and the other, more recently, a young Liberal female political staffer, Brittany Higgins. 

Both alleged rapes, neither of which was pursued with the police at the time they are said to have occurred, have been cynically used by the Labor opposition to relentlessly attack the Morrison government and press for an inquiry into the Porter matter.

‘Ditch the Dicks’

On Monday, large-scale #METOO demonstrations and marches took place in all Australia’s main cities, with more than 100,000 women participating.

Some 5,000 protesters gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra to condemn patriarchy, sexual harassment and gender violence. Placards with exhortations such as “Ditch the Dicks” and “The ‘Big Swinging Dick Club’ needs a kick in the nuts” abounded. There was much emotional speechmaking, together with repeated renditions of Helen Reddy’s iconic feminist anthem ‘I Am Woman’. 

When Prime Minister Morrison offered to meet with the organisers of the rally in his office they arrogantly refused, instead demanding he attend the protest. Morrison sensibly remained within the safety of Parliament House.

Opposition Labor politicians, having eagerly jumped on the #METOO bandwagon a few weeks ago, attended the rally en masse, led by opposition leader Anthony Albanese and deputy leader Richard Marles.

Both Albanese and Marles looked a trifle uneasy as they mingled with the protesters, because, on Monday morning, detailed reports appeared in the media that an anonymous online women’s group had made dozens of allegations of sexual assault and harassment against unnamed Labor politicians.

The two should have foreseen this development. In fact, the prime minister warned Albanese last month that, in joining forces with the #METOO movement, he was “playing with fire”. 

And so it has turned out.

‘They’re the guilty men… not us’

Albanese and Marles both gave train-wreck press conferences on Monday, as the female protesters vented their spleen outside.

Albanese, in front of a staged backdrop of women holding children, tried to reiterate his #METOO credentials, but was soon asked about the serious allegations made against Labor politicians. 

With a degree of hypocrisy that was astonishing even for him, Albanese said he was “not aware of any claims against members of caucus”. When asked whether he would stand down any Labor politician who was the subject of a complaint, he replied, “I am not going to deal with things hypothetically in advance ... it is hard to look into anonymous suggestions.” He then said nervously, “I believe women who come forward”, before fleeing from reporters.

Soon afterwards, deputy leader Marles told the media the allegations were “an indictment of all of us in Labor” and proclaimed, “I absolutely believe all the allegations.” It’s a toss-up as to which of these statements is more egregious – the craven admission of collective Labor guilt or the prejudgment of untested claims made against his colleagues. 

Labor’s current #METOO stance is thus as follows: one historical rape allegation (lacking in credibility) made against Attorney-General Porter warrants his standing aside and the establishment of an inquiry, but numerous detailed allegations against Labor politicians, which Albanese and Marles publicly admit are valid, require no further action.

It’s a measure of Albanese’s and Marles’ gross political stupidity, a product of of their recent embrace of the #METOO cause, that they could even for a moment think that such a position is politically tenable.

And it will only get worse for Labor.

Albanese will probably have to enquire into the serious allegations made against Labor politicians this week – but how can any inquiry he establishes fairly investigate these claims in circumstances where he and Marles have already prejudged the issue?

On Wednesday, Labor’s legal affairs spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, ludicrously urged all guilty Labor politicians to “out themselves”. None have yet done so.

Many whose reputations and careers the current leaders have blithely thrown under the #METOO bus are furious with Albanese and Marles. 

A leadership challenge when the current furore dies down is on the cards, and it may be that the most important political casualties of the current #METOO agitation turn out to be the two inept Labor leaders that so fervently embraced it. 

Morrison and Porter are determined to tough things out, and that will become much easier as scrutiny inexorably shifts to the alleged sexual conduct of Labor politicians. 

On Tuesday, the prime minister attacked a dishevelled-looking Albanese in Parliament with renewed vigour, telling him he was “unworthy of the office he holds now”.

Morrison went on to lecture Albanese on the need for consistency in dealing with allegations of serious sexual assault. He accused Labor of “galling double standards” and contemptuously advised Albanese to “get his own house in order”. 

On Monday, Porter went on the attack, announcing he had sued ABC for defamation in relation to the historical rape story the broadcaster broke, alleging the story was published maliciously.

Porter has retained a female lawyer, who said, “The trial by media should now end with the commencement of these proceedings.”

Havoc and destruction

Many of the placards waved around outside Parliament House on Monday read, “Justice for Women”. 

But is the #METOO movement capable of securing justice for women?

What occurred in Canberra this week suggests it is not.

The Brittany Higgins alleged rape case is now with the police and, if charges are laid, it will play out in the courts – where it should have been in the first place.

Porter’s defamation action against the ABC will also be resolved in the courts. 

Women making anonymous complaints to an inquiry into the workplace culture in Parliament House, established by the prime minister, will not have binding determinations made in respect of their claims.

The inquiry will make recommendations about improving that culture, but similar reports have been commissioned in the past with little or no effect. This week, one former Labor staffer, who claims a male colleague sexually assaulted her, said she “had little faith in the review process”.

So, why is it that the current #METOO agitation in Australia has failed to achieve anything worthwhile, let alone “justice for women”?   

In short, it’s because the movement is a narcissistic, destructive and irrational millennialist crusade that is inherently incapable of achieving anything positive for women. 

It can wreak only havoc and destruction – not only on those men it seeks to destroy, but also on the individuals and institutions that join forces with it.

The #METOO movement’s flawed solution to the very real problem of sexual assault and harassment in Western societies is to destroy the careers of alleged perpetrators. 

Its modus operandi involves making accusations of improper conduct in the media, often anonymously, in tandem with social media campaigns designed to ‘cancel’ the targeted males.

#METOO activists despise the legal system and have nothing but contempt for the rule of law – the only mechanisms, by the way, capable of delivering actual justice for women. They irrationally assert that all female accusers must be believed, and that all men are potential transgressors. The irrationality of this worldview is compounded by the #METOO stratagem of denying the distinction between serious sexual assault and mere boorish behaviour. 

The narcissism underlying the #METOO movement reveals itself in its activists’ grandiose illusions of power, their need to be universally admired, their inability to compromise with reality, and, most importantly, in their destructive rage.

The movement is also deeply anti-intellectual – in stark contrast to 1960s and 1970s feminism, which was led by genuine intellectuals who produced sophisticated analyses of the causes of female oppression. 

The #METOO movement is led by rage-fuelled millennial celebrities, and, unfortunately, rage and blame are no substitutes for rational analysis of the serious problem of violence against women.

The current #METOO agitation will gradually dissipate, leaving in its wake a few wrecked careers, a heightened level of bitterness and distrust between men and women, and a misogynistic backlash engineered by men who really despise women.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.