After accusing Senator David Leyonhjelm of “slut shaming” her when he told her to “stop shagging men”, Sarah Hanson-Young says she won’t be backing down on the issue.
Speaking in Adelaide, the Greens senator says she refuses to be “bullied into silence” as Senator Leyonhjelm declared he would only apologise if she met three demands.
Senator Leyonhjelm has refused to withdraw his explicit comments about Senator Hanson-Young’s sex life, despite the threat of potential legal action and calls from the prime minister to do so.
Leyonhjelm wants Hanson-Young to say she “no longer believes men are collectively responsible for the actions of those men who commit violence" – she denies that was ever her belief.
He also wants her to declare individuals are responsible for their own actions and that women should have the right to carry pepper spray or mace to protect themselves.
Leyonhjelm says if he hears those three things he will declare he “misjudged her”.
“I will forgive her for her previous comments and I will apologise for my previous comments," he said.
But Hanson-Young isn’t backing down, saying it was about time someone spoke up about sexism in parliament.
"You don't, because you're losing a political argument, reduce the discussion or the debate down to sexist slurs and sexual innuendo, and that's what David Leyonhjelm has done," she told Radio National, saying she’d “had enough” of men in parliament using sexism “as part of their intimidation and bullying on the floor”.
Speaking in Adelaide on Tuesday, the senator said she claimed she had been the subject of rumours and remarks during her ten years in parliament and it was hard to ignore.
“I’ve tried to ignore the mutterings… the rumour mill: “Did you hear she slept with such and such?”… “I heard you had a good night… What are you wearing that for?”
“There's one particular senator who says to me every time I'm in an argument, every time I am stripping his argument to pieces: ‘Why don't you smile at me, Sarah?’,” she alleged.
While she stressed most members of parliament are “decent people” she said some were “absolute cowards”.
She claimed during a debate one senator sat next to her and began to sing nursery rhymes while she was speaking.
“I didn’t know what to do. I regret that I didn’t call it out right there and then at the time,” she said.
Turning focus to Leyonhjelm’s comments, she said she refused to be bullied into silence.
“This is how men like him get away with this. They expect women to stay silent. That’s why sexist comments and slurs are used to intimidate and bully. They’re used to silencing their opponents. If you stay silent you let them win. I’m not going to let them win.”
