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| Advantage, Maria Miller – for her John Inverdale protest | Advantage, Maria Miller – for her John Inverdale protest |
| (2 months later) | |
| When John Inverdale made his idiotic comment about Marion Bartoli not being a "looker", I wonder whether Maria Miller did a little Henman fist pump. Some people were scathing when Miller became the minister for culture, media and sport, and women and equalities. It looked like all the jobs the government didn't care to have done properly had been rounded up and handed to one person. But Inverdale's shitty shot landed right in Miller's court: culture, media, sport, women and equalities, all contained in one lazy, irrelevant and inaccurate slight. And Miller has played the ball, writing to the director general of the BBC to protest at the inadequacy of the BBC's response and demand more action to improve the coverage of women's sport. | When John Inverdale made his idiotic comment about Marion Bartoli not being a "looker", I wonder whether Maria Miller did a little Henman fist pump. Some people were scathing when Miller became the minister for culture, media and sport, and women and equalities. It looked like all the jobs the government didn't care to have done properly had been rounded up and handed to one person. But Inverdale's shitty shot landed right in Miller's court: culture, media, sport, women and equalities, all contained in one lazy, irrelevant and inaccurate slight. And Miller has played the ball, writing to the director general of the BBC to protest at the inadequacy of the BBC's response and demand more action to improve the coverage of women's sport. |
| It's a timely intervention, because Inverdale is leading the BBC's commentary of the Open from the men-only club of Muirfield today. In some areas of sport, the lazy acceptance persists that female endeavour is there to be patronised, if it can even be tolerated on the same ground the men use. But Miller's letter shows that in wider public life, it's no longer considered OK to say unconscionably rude things about a woman because she isn't blonde, then shrug it off as making fun "in a nice way". | It's a timely intervention, because Inverdale is leading the BBC's commentary of the Open from the men-only club of Muirfield today. In some areas of sport, the lazy acceptance persists that female endeavour is there to be patronised, if it can even be tolerated on the same ground the men use. But Miller's letter shows that in wider public life, it's no longer considered OK to say unconscionably rude things about a woman because she isn't blonde, then shrug it off as making fun "in a nice way". |
| Obviously it's peculiar to have a minister whose portfolios align only when Inverdale says something dumb, even if his career suggests that this might give her more to do than you'd originally imagine. All the same, I find myself tempted to give a holler of "Come on, Miller!" | Obviously it's peculiar to have a minister whose portfolios align only when Inverdale says something dumb, even if his career suggests that this might give her more to do than you'd originally imagine. All the same, I find myself tempted to give a holler of "Come on, Miller!" |
| That's an unfamiliar feeling, because it's fair to say that Miller has not made herself overwhelmingly beloved by the (many) interests she's supposed to represent. She narked the culture sector by proposing that the arts be seen as a "commodity", her voting record alarmed equality campaigners, and her bizarrely inaccurate comments about abortion made her unpopular with feminists like, um, me. | That's an unfamiliar feeling, because it's fair to say that Miller has not made herself overwhelmingly beloved by the (many) interests she's supposed to represent. She narked the culture sector by proposing that the arts be seen as a "commodity", her voting record alarmed equality campaigners, and her bizarrely inaccurate comments about abortion made her unpopular with feminists like, um, me. |
| I'm not saying this is a turnaround like when Andy Murray blubbed and the nation learned to love him. But when Tories stand up against sexism, it's a good thing: it means that impatience with gender prejudice as part of the smart-casual dress code of respectable Brits has gone mainstream. And this shows that feminism is winning this argument. | I'm not saying this is a turnaround like when Andy Murray blubbed and the nation learned to love him. But when Tories stand up against sexism, it's a good thing: it means that impatience with gender prejudice as part of the smart-casual dress code of respectable Brits has gone mainstream. And this shows that feminism is winning this argument. |
| What a difference from Margaret Thatcher saying "I owe nothing to women's lib." Miller has tacitly acknowledged that how women are presented in public life – where our presence is deemed to be acceptable, and what kinds of scrutiny may be applied to us as a tax on our existence – matters to all our prospects, rather than casting herself as the golden daughter of exceptionalism. | What a difference from Margaret Thatcher saying "I owe nothing to women's lib." Miller has tacitly acknowledged that how women are presented in public life – where our presence is deemed to be acceptable, and what kinds of scrutiny may be applied to us as a tax on our existence – matters to all our prospects, rather than casting herself as the golden daughter of exceptionalism. |
| Does that make Miller a feminist champion? Of course not, no more than one tidy rally can win Wimbledon. She's still got nothing to say about the structural horrors that blight prospects for equality of all kinds in the UK. But on this point, she hit well, and she deserves a polite murmur of applause from the pleasantly surprised spectators. | Does that make Miller a feminist champion? Of course not, no more than one tidy rally can win Wimbledon. She's still got nothing to say about the structural horrors that blight prospects for equality of all kinds in the UK. But on this point, she hit well, and she deserves a polite murmur of applause from the pleasantly surprised spectators. |
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