Cat Fight

Gwen Halley article, “Browned off with sexist two-faced Village mentality” appeared in the Sunday Independent a few weeks ago. I found the title amusing, as the kind of person she describes Browne as, is very similar to how she comes across herself. I am aware that the word ‘village’ is used as a pun in reference to Browne’s magazine.I found this ironic, as there is defiantly a ‘village’ mentality in her opinion.
The article is a pathetic rant involving tit-of-tat stories. For an adult to be recalling tails of what Vincent Browne said while she was studying in Griffith College seems a little juvenile. Her argument is so petty that you would be forgiven to think that maybe she is trying to get revenge for a bad mark she got. Or maybe she is embarrassed about the “gushy teenage fan letter” she sent him!
The main issue that irritates me in this article is that of sexism. Halley opens with the question, “do I really want to be a woman working in journalism?” She is asking herself this as she feels there is a lot of sexism in journalism.
As a woman I am passionate about equal rights between men and women, but I actual find her attitude damaging to a woman’s argument. Just because Dana started to cry when Browne interviewed her does not mean he is sexist. This could be telling us more about Dana than Browne.
She describes Browne, O’ Toole and Waters as the “smug male club”. Maybe it is justified for O’Toole and Waters to challenge Geraldine Kennedy’s salary? For Halley to question whether they would have challenged Conor Brady’s salary is hypocritical. If women want to be taken as equal to men, then what sex a person is, has to be seen as irrelevant to everyone.

Anyway, I have wasted enough of my time thinking about this. Instead I’m going to write about something more important. Maybe Mrs. Halley should think about doing the same!