Review: Sex, Lies and Question Time by Kate Ellis

Former member for Adelaide Kate Ellis explores what it means to be a woman inside one of the most volatile workplaces in Australia--Parliament House, Canberra. Leveraging on her own experiences as a Member of Parliament in Opposition, in Cabinet and as a Backbencher, and with interviews with other MPs past and present across all parties, Kate Ellis paints a picture of the unique struggles faced by female politicians--sexism, malicious gossip and the expectations by the public and the media of how each individual juggles their career with motherhood (or the choice not to be a mother at all.)

My interest in this one was piqued in part by the recent, disgraceful scandals that have rocked Parliament in recent times, ones that I'm sure need no introduction or further commentary here. I was keen to see what a former politician, one who left on her own terms, would have to say about working in Parliament House. The picture Ellis paints isn't pretty. There is sleaze, the expectations of the public and the media, rumours and some nasty internet trolls. However, the work is a long way from being a scandal rag. Ellis offers insight into her experiences, has accompanied it with research and most important of all, she interviewed a number of other female politicians, from across parties, eras and all who have their own unique experiences, stories and coping methods. 

Although written in an intelligent, conversational style, this one isn't always the easiest of reads due to the heavy subject matter. Still, it's an important subject and one well worth educating yourself about--don't forget, these are the people who are essentially running the country.

Recommended.

This book counts toward my reading goal for the Aussie Author Challenge 2021

This book counts toward my reading goal for the Non-Fiction Reader Challenge

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peppermint Patty: I Cried and Cried and Cried

Image
Unrequited love is a common theme in the Peanuts Comics and is one that I have previously explored on this blog. We know that Lucy loves Schroeder, Sally loves Linus and Charlie Brown has a crush on the unseen, unnamed and utterly unattainable Little Redhaired Girl. But perhaps the saddest unrequited love stories from the comic is that which ran in late June 1972. It was the series of strips where the usually self-confident Peppermint Patty came face-to-face with the Little Redhaired Girl with the intention of thumping her and then something surprising happened: Here we have a usually self-confident girl, who is funny, unashamedly herself and talented at sports reduced to tears by the realisation of who she is not and never can be. I really feel for her in this series of comic strips. She knows that Charlie Brown can never love her, when he is so hung up over a girl who represents a supposedly ideal feminine beauty. Fortunately Linus, the most spiritual member of the Pean...
Read more

Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt and the Football

Image
One of the longest, and arguably, most infuriating, running gags in Charles Schulz's otherwise brilliant Peanuts comic strip, is where Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown and then pulls it away at the last minute, causing Charlie Brown to fall flat on his back. A typical strip looks like this: Source: Go Comics The gag is one of the darker themes in the strip. It works on the concept that every year, Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown. Every year, Charlie Brown is initially filled with doubt but is eventually pushed on by a kind of optimism that perhaps, this time, Lucy might just let him kick it after all. As a metaphor for life, it is pretty simple. It talks of the moments when we choose to put our trust in people who have let us down only to be taken by surprise when they let us down, again. Lucy is, arguably, one of the crueller characters in the comic. Described as crabby by the other characters, she is often selfish, takes delight in wilfully hu...
Read more

Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself: (Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself.  He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that. I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from. A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of A...
Read more