15 March, 2017. 16:23
INGRID DOULTON | Lady Writer | Contact
Speaking candidly to The Advocate this afternoon, a resident student at Betoota Base Hospital has spoken about how she’s often told that she’d be fun at parties by men – for simply voicing an informed, but opposing opinion.
Rather than retreat into her shell, UQ graduate student Emma O’Donoghue says she was told from an early age that sticking up for what you believe in shouldn’t be met with ridicule.
“Honestly, the amount of times men have said that I’d be fun at parties… For nothing, for sanding slightly against the patriarchal grain of society,” said the 26-year-old.
“If being ‘fun’ at parties involves strawpedo-ing a carton of watermelon Cruisers and letting some footy boy ram his tongue down my throat then I don’t want to be ‘fun’ – sorry if that sounds blunt, but you know, it’s a fine line.”
However, Ms O’Donoghue isn’t the first young woman in town to face accusations of being a frigid fun0sucker.
Just last year, our local trainee librarian and CWA branch treasurer, Kate McGreentree, revealed that she was chastised for choosing not to take part in the Betoota Dolphins end-of-season celebrations after being leered at from the balcony of a local hotel.
“I was on the other side of the road and one of those goons asked me to come in for a drink… at 10am the morning after, they were still at it,” she told The Advocate in October.
“When I said I had to go to the library, go to work, they said I must me fun at parties while they gave me the forks. Ahhh yeah, thanks but no thanks.”
More to come.
