Feminist icon, Germaine Greer, slammed the #MeToo movement–saying that women nowadays feel too victimized to stand up for themselves.
Speaking in an interview before accepting the Australian of the Year Award, Greer, 78, explained how the concept of feminism has changed in Hollywood since she became a household name with her 1970 book The Female Eunuch.
“In the old days, there were movies – the Carry On comedies, for example – which always had a man leering after women. And the women always outwitted him – he was a fool,” she explained, referencing the British “Carry On” movie franchise from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
“[Women] weren’t afraid of [men], and we weren’t afraid to slap him down,” she added.
“What makes it different [from the films] is when the man has economic power, as Harvey Weinstein has,” she admitted.
But she wasn’t afraid to hold women accountable for their actions either: “But if you spread your legs because he said ‘be nice to me and I’ll give you a job in a movie’ then I’m afraid that’s tantamount to consent, and it’s too late now to start whingeing about that,” she said.
What Greer would like women to do? Have the agency and courage to say no.
“I want women to react here and now,” she explained. “I want the woman on a train who feels a man’s hand where it shouldn’t be… to be able to say quite clearly, ‘Stop.'”