Clem Ford Nonchalantly Swats Away New Matilda Piece Like A Pesky Fly


In what can only be classified as the natural order of things, Clementine Ford has responded to a piece published on New Matilda that went batshit this morning, in which she was accused of being misguided in her attempts to promote feminism.

The piece, entitled ‘Why Courageous Clementine Ford Is Not The Answer, was written by University of Melbourne student Jack Kilbride, and essentially says that by calling out misogyny, abuse, and sexism, Clem Ford is effectively alienating the very people she – and the rest of us feminists – “need on our side”.

“The problem with writers like Clementine Ford is although their sentiment is justified, their vitriolic writing style means that people will always get offended. Unfortunately, those getting offended are usually the ones who need to read it the most.”

To say it did not go down well with the internet is an understatement.

(At the time of writing, New Matilda was preparing an explainer as to why they published it in the first place.) 

Look, okay – feminism + equality + sexism + misogyny are complex concepts that take more than an ‘equal work, equal pay’ approach to equality. (Although, FYI, we’re on track for closing the gender pay gap in barely one-hundred-and-eighteen-fucking-years. Booya.)

Granted, Jack Kilbride has an opinion, and he’s not alone in that opinion. Plenty of men AND women take offence at Clem Ford’s brash, in-your-face style. (That’s right, folks, we read ya comments. Hi! ) Conversations are important, etc.

But – oh fuck it – if you were commissioned to write something that encapsulated both ‘mainsplaining’ and #NotAllMen, his piece would *literally* be it.

Clementine swatted it away in a FB post today: 

I woke up to a bunch of FB alerts for this New Matilda article. While is obviously ridiculous, I’m not even offended by…

Posted by Clementine Ford on Monday, 7 December 2015

SOME NOT PRO BUT MAYBE KINDA HELPFUL TIPS FOR WRITING ABOUT FEMINISM: easy on the ownership vibes, easy on the #NotAllMen vibes, just easy on the ‘this type of feminism is the right kind’ vibes, ja feel?

IN CONCLUSION: ‘Including Men In Feminism’ is an important conversation to have, but Clem Ford has been having it for YEARS, and at the end of the day, it’s like a dog having a a fight with its own tail: it goes round in fucking circles to no end whatsoever.

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