Being asked to speak on ABC TV’s Q&A is a horrifying prospect. Well, at least it was for me. Going on that show is like engaging in a blood sport where audience members yearn to see you die on national television, mainly so they can tweet about it. Think The Hunger Games, with less blood (usually) and worse costumes, but similar amounts of sadism. So when the show’s producers summoned me in March I merrily said “yes”. Inside, though, my intestines felt like soup. What made things worse was being told one of my fellow panellists would be Germaine Greer.
Now, I’ve always been a fan of Greer. The woman has had her own goddamned postage stamp, for starters. Plus, anyone who has: (1) written such fiercely intelligent volumes of polemic; (2) blisteringly communicated complex ideas to global audiences; (3) posed nude in their youth with their ankles behind their head; and (4) posed nude in old age while looking magnificent, gets my vote. Sure, Greer has said some ridiculous stuff in her time, but when people dismiss her as a mad old cow, Greer wins, not the nay-sayers. Plus: people seem to forget there’s never been a time when Greer hasn’t said ridiculous things. She’s cantankerous and contrary, wild and rude. Even if those traits are considered negative, why should they cancel out all the times she’s been incandescently brilliant?
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