{"id":16854,"date":"2022-07-02T09:59:16","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T05:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/?p=16854"},"modified":"2022-07-03T12:54:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T08:54:46","slug":"boris-johnson-says-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-is-toxic-masculinity-pot-kettle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/boris-johnson-says-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-is-toxic-masculinity-pot-kettle\/","title":{"rendered":"Boris Johnson says Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine is \u2018toxic masculinity\u2019 \u2013 pot, kettle?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Boris Johnson<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 that well-known champion of women\u2019s rights and outspoken advocate for\u00a0gender equality<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 has declared, while attending the G7 summit in Germany, that Russian president Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0is a\u00a0\u201cperfect example of toxic masculinity\u201d<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I just take a moment to say: pot, kettle, black? Because I don\u2019t know where the Partygate prime minister has got this soundbite from, but it\u2019s very much reminiscent of that guy at uni who once read a Caitlin Moran book and now lectures his female coursemates on the importance of \u201csisterhood\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think I\u2019m being unfair, then bear in mind that this \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d comment is coming from the man who allegedly allowed a \u201cSexist of the Year\u201d award<\/a> to be presented at one of the illegal Downing Street shindigs at Christmas, 2020 \u2013 the Christmas where so many of us were locked down, separated from our loved ones, grieving and anxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not the first time Johnson has proved himself fond of sexist insults, either. Remember when he called former prime minister David Cameron a \u201cgirly swot\u201d<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His now-infamous Telegraph<\/em> column, in which Johnson compared Muslim women to \u201cletterboxes\u201d, resulted in a 375 per cent rise <\/a>in racist, Islamophobic incidents in the week following. To my mind, someone who has \u2013 through their arguably bigoted and deeply irresponsible actions \u2013 put women in harm\u2019s way, doesn\u2019t get to use buzz phrases like \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d and be taken seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the comments from an unnamed Tory MP about deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner <\/a>and her distracting working-class legs <\/a>were published, the prime minister said there can be \u201cabsolutely no place\u201d for misogyny in parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet this is the same prime minister who \u2013 in 1996 \u2013 wrote a column in the Daily Telegraph<\/em> in which he reviewed the \u201chot totty\u201d<\/a> at the Labour Party conference. The same prime minister who \u2013 in 2012 \u2013 was accused by a group of cross-party female MPs of being \u201cdisrespectful and patronising<\/a>\u201d towards women in the chamber in an open letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, of course people can change. But it\u2019s hard to take Johnson\u2019s \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201dremarks as anything other than virtue signalling when you consider some of the \u201cjokes\u201d he\u2019s made publicly in the past, like how voting Tory can\u00a0\u201ccause your wife to have bigger breasts\u201d.<\/a>\u00a0Or when he admired professional volleyball players, describing them as \u201csemi-naked\u201d and\u00a0\u201cglistening like wet otters\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when it comes to change, we have to ask ourselves if Johnson is really capable of it. After all, following double by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton last week, he refused to accept any responsibility and said some \u201csort of psychological transformation\u201d<\/a> of his character was \u201cnot going to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was the vote on 22 June to expand abortion services in Northern Ireland, where he bravely stood up for the reproductive rights of women by\u2026 abstaining<\/a>. It passed anyway, no thanks to Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the G7 summit<\/a>, Johnson also remarked that Putin would not have started a \u201ccrazy, macho\u201d conflict in Ukraine if he were a woman. And sure, virtually all of history\u2019s bloody, wasteful wars can be laid at the door of powerful men. But it\u2019s not enough to have a few more women at the table or \u201cmore women in positions of power\u201d<\/a>, as Johnson suggested \u2013 it\u2019s about dismantling the structural inequalities that hold back all women, and particularly those who are marginalised in multiple ways, due to race, sexuality, disability and gender presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by <\/em><\/strong>clicking here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means robustly challenging and using your whacking great privilege to actually change <\/em>cultures of sexism and misogyny \u2013 which Westminster, in my view, undoubtedly has<\/a>. And, for the main part, thanks to Tory sleaze<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having women in top jobs doesn\u2019t guarantee that things will change for the better, that there will be more compassion or any real justice for other women \u2013 just look at Thatcher. Look at Johnson\u2019s predecessor, Theresa May, architect of the\u00a0\u201chostile environment\u201d policy<\/a>\u00a0and devastating\u00a0Windrush scandal.<\/a>\u00a0Look at Priti Patel, who\u00a0smirks as she fights to deport<\/a>\u00a0traumatised refugees to Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems to me that these are women who pull up the ladder behind them. They\u2019ll make a hole in the glass ceiling big enough to squeeze themselves, and themselves only, through, then brick up the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson\u2019s G7 comments are meaningless \u2013 and as such, they\u2019re insulting to anyone with even a shred of awareness about gender equality. We know exactly who he is, and when he co-opts the language of feminism, he\u2019s fooling precisely no one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boris Johnson\u00a0\u2013 that well-known champion of women\u2019s rights and outspoken advocate for\u00a0gender equality\u00a0\u2013 has declared, while attending the G7 summit in Germany, that Russian president Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0is a\u00a0\u201cperfect example of toxic masculinity\u201d. Can I just take a moment to say: pot, kettle, black? Because I don\u2019t know where the Partygate prime minister has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16856,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16854\/revisions\/16856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geworld.ge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}