Linda Reynolds’ humiliating backdown in the face of public outcry about her handling of a case of sexual abuse in Parliament showed me that things are the same now in workplaces as they were when I worked in offices. Calling a staffer a “lying cow” didn’t appear to me to be at all striking. In fact, it seemed to fit the patterns of behaviour that had been followed by the – male and female – bosses I’d worked for for decades.
Hyper-aggressive and partisan conduct is rewarded by organisations that want to succeed. So toxic masculinity is the lifeblood of the Australian workplace.
Anything except an exception for if you want to be successful in an institution you have to be able to lie convincingly and toe the line. Loyalty and duplicity are vigorously rewarded and Reynolds’ response to Brittany Higgins – the staffer who was subject to an assault in Parliament – is symptomatic of this. Deny, deny, deny. Attack, attack, attack. The funny thing is that the people who are most vocal on account of the injustice Higgins was subject to are equally dogmatic. Their method is to reward the journalists and politicians who stick most subserviently to the party line, and to attack the opposition wherever it appears.
So the same qualities that made Reynolds look so foolish are also helping her opponents to score points. There’s a lack of consideration of diversity on both sides. People who won’t conform are ignored, attacked, or vilified. Until we have a more rational response from the community – I have no hope that this will happen – the status quo will remain and Reynolds’ attitude will emerge again – fresh as a daisy because manured with so much crap – at some point in the future. There will be another opportunity for the faceless minions of whichever leader is ascendant at the time to crow and jeer, freed by anonymity from the demands of moderation and encouraged by the dynamic of social media to take the most extreme position.
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