Hannah Gadsby specializes in revelations and epiphanies. Her most striking epiphany occurred when she realized that her self-deprecating humor wasn’t funny — it was harmful. Harmful, specifically, to her. Because in knocking herself, even doing it humorously, Gadsby was still offering consent to those who would knock her without humor.
First Lady and women’s rights icon Eleanor Roosevelt famously said “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Gadsby’s revelation was to realize that she was giving consent –and that it was eating away at her. So she stopped doing it and the power she experienced in getting out from under her self-deprecation turned her into a new person — and into a star. (See Netflix: Nanette)
Gadsby has since become a provocateur in the eyes of many, an inept characterization because she’s hardly provoking anyone — she’s merely revealing what she sees (and what she hopes we’ll all see). Her most recently shared revelation (revelatory, one hopes, to her listeners, that is) cautions that we need to be a lot more careful about who gets to draw the lines on sexual misconduct. Because creepy is not an adequate synonym for misogyny. It just isn’t.
Gadsby began her remarks at The Hollywood Reporter‘s Women in Entertainment gala with this: “I want to speak about the very big problem I have with the good men, especially the good men who take it upon themselves to talk about the bad men.” Listen to her below. But here’s a spoiler: the Jimmys are the good men, and they shouldn’t draw the line — women should draw the line. Everybody got it? Women should draw the line. Got it? Good.
really liked what Gadsby had to say today about how “good men” shift the boundaries of what falls into the “bad men” category when misogynist bullshit they’d usually call out begins happening a little too close to home https://t.co/9EaLvuUaGh pic.twitter.com/tR0s4oeU2C
— Megh Wright (@megh_wright) December 5, 2018
