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Australian senators face-off in defamation suit over sexual slur
02 Aug 2018 03:10PM (Updated: 02 Aug 2018 03:45PM) Share this content
SYDNEY: An Australian senator has sued a male counterpart for defamation for making sexually offensive remarks, in a landmark case that brings the spirit of the #MeToo movement to the heart of Australia's democracy.
During a debate a month ago in parliament over a ban on the use of pepper spray, Senator David Leyonhjelm had heckled Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, telling her to "stop shagging men", a vulgar colloquial term for sexual intercourse.
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Comments made in the chamber are subject to legal protections. But Leyonhjelm repeated the remark, using the same term, in subsequent media appearances.
Responding in a series of emotional interviews in the days that followed, Hanson-Young accused Leyonhjelm of "slut shaming" and bullying, gaining sympathy among the public in a country where strict defamation laws have stymied the kind of harassment claims that have galvanised the #MeToo movement elsewhere in the world.
"The defamatory statements Senator Leyonhjelm made and continues to make are an attack on my character, and have done considerable harm to me and my family," Hanson-Young said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Thursday (Aug 2).
"I'm calling this out because it is wrong. No woman, whether she be working behind a bar, in an office or in the parliament, deserves to be treated this way, and it needs to stop."
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...-in-defamation-suit-over-sexual-slur-10583142
02 Aug 2018 03:10PM (Updated: 02 Aug 2018 03:45PM) Share this content
SYDNEY: An Australian senator has sued a male counterpart for defamation for making sexually offensive remarks, in a landmark case that brings the spirit of the #MeToo movement to the heart of Australia's democracy.
During a debate a month ago in parliament over a ban on the use of pepper spray, Senator David Leyonhjelm had heckled Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, telling her to "stop shagging men", a vulgar colloquial term for sexual intercourse.
Advertisement
Comments made in the chamber are subject to legal protections. But Leyonhjelm repeated the remark, using the same term, in subsequent media appearances.
Responding in a series of emotional interviews in the days that followed, Hanson-Young accused Leyonhjelm of "slut shaming" and bullying, gaining sympathy among the public in a country where strict defamation laws have stymied the kind of harassment claims that have galvanised the #MeToo movement elsewhere in the world.
"The defamatory statements Senator Leyonhjelm made and continues to make are an attack on my character, and have done considerable harm to me and my family," Hanson-Young said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Thursday (Aug 2).
"I'm calling this out because it is wrong. No woman, whether she be working behind a bar, in an office or in the parliament, deserves to be treated this way, and it needs to stop."
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...-in-defamation-suit-over-sexual-slur-10583142