Jenny Stramilos is a second year student at La Trobe, she works as one of the La Trobe Student Union Women’s Officers and is a proud feminist.
Karl Stefanovic is a misogynist. Now please understand I do not make a point of calling
TV ‘celebrities’ misogynists or sexists every time I feel the fancy, however Karl wholeheartedly
deserves the title in light of his recent comments on the popular Channel Nine morning
program ‘Today’.
Anyway, if you can’t view that at the moment, here is the transcript of his outrageous,
sexist comments with the responses from co-host Lisa Wilkinson.
Karl: “if you pay for someone’s dinner, don’t you expect something in return?”
Lisa: “Like what?
Karl: “Like some action?”
Lisa: “What sort of action?”
Karl: “Action, action”
Lisa: “Be specific”
Karl: “Sex!”
He continues to repeat, “sex, sex, S-E-X with a capital S” while getting an incredulous look from Georgie Gardner, a news reporter until Lisa Wilkinson is made uncomfortable to the point where she is shuffling her notes and it is pointed out by Karl and throughout all of this, in the background you can hear raucous laughter from male camera crew.
I think it is a good idea to point out how outraged I am by this blatant sexism. The idea that a man can say this on national TV and it be posted to YouTube without so much of a protest from anyone is shocking to me. It has only 400 views.
Nothing has been done about this. It’s time to act. This man is a media official, a national TV presenter on a popular TV show and has a daily influence on a wide audience. It is not acceptable. It is unjust. It is sexist, it is misogynistic and I personally, with many other women and men who are just as outraged about this man’s behaviour, demand better. I want an apology Karl.
#apologiseKarl – trend this on twitter and demand better standards from a man who evidently does not care for women’s rights.
NUS Women's Department 