Germaine Greer's Opinion of #MeToo Is Fucking Depressing

All the feminists will eventually weigh in on the #MeToo movement, and some of their takes will be extremely bad. It’s Germaine Greer’s turn.

Greer is widely known for her book The Female Eunuch and her work as a second wave feminist—though lately she has also developed a reputation for being transphobic and gender essentialist. That was perhaps the first signpost that things were going in a bad direction, but her comments in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald are still surprisingly bad or—if we’re being extremely generous—terribly conveyed:

“I want, I’ve always wanted, to see women react immediately,” she said.

“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.”

Hah, yeah, it always works out in movies, why wouldn’t it in the real world? On the other hand, when you consider the creeps who made those movies, it seems like that narrative may be a bit of a trap. But wait, it gets worse:

“What makes it different is when the man has economic power, as Harvey Weinstein has. 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.”

Jesus.

If we’re going to give Greer the benefit of the doubt (I guess), some of her comments could be construed in various ways. For instance, she said of the move to finally hold Woody Allen accountable for the alleged assault of Dylan Farrow:

“It was 20 years ago, so you want him to stop making movies now? It might be a good idea because he’s probably no good any more,” Greer said.

Is Greer pointing out the hypocrisy of actors finally acknowledging what has long been public information? Or just saying it’s in the past, which is basically what everyone else has been saying until now? She is also suggesting Allen sucks now, which is good. However, Greer’s comments have circulated and reached Farrow, who takes issue with the implication that she could have reacted in the moment as a 7-year-old:

Greer is currently working on a book title On Rape, in which she argues that rape is such a common offense it should have a lower penalty so lawyers can win cases…I think. She’s pretty confusing.

“The burden of proof is too high and that’s because the tariff is too onerous. Rape is a daily crime, it’s not spectacular. What we need is a coherent law of sexual assault,” said Greer. This woman is a hot horrible take machine.