Kennerley still smarting about ‘breasts out’ remark from Sharp
Kerri-Anne Kennerley
Tomorrow’s edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly tackles the hot button topic of whether women hate other women, with a particular focus on the media.
In the feature, reporter Ingrid Pyne speaks to a number of prominent women in the media including Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Leigh Sales, Jacinta Tynan and Fiona Wood who tell her it’s often other women who are the nastiest especially when it comes to choosing between motherhood and careers.
The piece cites the criticism following this year’s Logie awards by the Daily Telegraph’s Annette Sharp who, according to the feature, accused several women of “getting their breast outs in revealing dresses… in a flagrant bid to impress network executives.”
Kennerley tells the Weekly she is still smarting about the incident labelling it “hurtful, ill-informed and unresearched”.
“It was just a dirty free kick,” Kennerley told Pyne. ” She wanted to imply that we hadn’t had children because we’d been too focused on our careers. but it was cleverly worded so that she had a get-out-of-jail free card.”
Associate editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly Caroline Overington tells Mumbrella that she believe women are their own worst critics.
“Ask any woman who has managed to make something of a success of herself: her chief critics will often be other women,” said Overington.
“They’ll make snide comments about the way you look, the size of your bum, and whether or not you’ve got children. It’s vicious, and it’s nasty, and we wanted to explore the reasons why it’s so often women who try to tear other women down. It’s almost as if we think: if she’s at the top, there can’t be room for me. I better drag her down, so I can take my place.”
Overington says the piece was commissioned to help tackle the issue.
“It’s a real shame because we’re all in this together, trying to make the best lives for ourselves, in our careers and on the home front. We each want different things, and we all make different choices. Why do we have to be so catty about other women? ”
The story will be available in tomorrow’s edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Nic Christensen
As a man, I am devastated by this appalling and degrading story. To think that women might push their bosoms up, or out, or apply tassles to them, to attract male attention is simply beyond the pale, and to think that men might pay any attention to such an act, or let it influence their thinking, is well, unthinkable.
Certainly, I have no doubt that the very large number of attractive, large breasted blondes who used to frequent the Channel 9 staff bar on a Friday night had had their resumes scrutinised with just the same care and dispassionate rigour as those submitted by the plain, small breasted brunettes who mostly went on to find career positions with other companies.
Poor Kerri-Anne, I just can’t see her ‘getting her breasts out’ (what a base expression!) for any sexist prick at Channel 9, be they in the HR dept or management or not, and I wish nasty cats like Annette Sharp would just clam up and withdraw her unedifying implication that men and women use or let sexual allure in any way influence their climb to the top. I for one wouldn’t, and haven’t, and it certainly hasn’t stopped me securing my long term position as dispatch clerk.
You can’t stop people criticising you. They only criticise because they are unhappy with themselves. You can, however choose not to be offended.
Pointless article when we all know it’s all Tony Abbott’s fault….
@ Annabelle
“You can’t stop people criticising you.” True in every practical sense
“They only criticise because they are unhappy with themselves.” Not true, people criticise for a wide range of reasons.
“You can, however choose not to be offended.” Not true, you are either offended or not. If you are not offended, you can pretend to be so if you think there is mileage in it, but if you are offended then you feel it and it takes time to abate.
Competition is a strong part of the natural order of things, male or female, it makes absolutely no difference, when the advantage one is seeking is threatened by a competitor, all becomes fair in love and war.
The notion that women will automatically support other women in all cases or that women are natural allies whilst men are the natural enemy, is, I believe, naive in the extreme.
Amazing how most “slut shaming” comes from other women… not men. Another case in point.
Annette Sharp is clearly a repressed Puritan – forget her.
Kerri-Anne is one of the nicest people in the business – if anyone deserves a sledge its not her.
The column Annette Sharp writes for is supposed to be about social events, fashion & celebrities. Instead the staff dont seem to think they are doing their job unless they throw in a huge dose of spite, which says so much about their editor. A celebrity who married last year was a good example. The celeb had had a previous short lived marriage that apparently not many people knew about, so just prior to the wedding they outed the previous marriage in their column. Not content with that, it aired again this time with a photo & to the credit of the ex he had nothing bad to say.
Instead it says that the column is used for vendettas against people the columnist take a dislike to.
So according to Annette Sharp to get a job in media you need to get your bosoms ad. Is she talking about how she got a job in the media? I can assure you that most women in the media (like kerry anne kennerly) have class and only used her most important asset to get her a job (that is her brain).
She’s attractive – pretty much across the board, the women presenting the news etc., are attractive. But you also need to be talented and clever; which Kerri-Anne is.
And she’s got great boobs so why the hell not show them off. Annette is just making baseless assumptions about Kerri-Anne’s motives.