Musings of an Inappropriate Woman

Was Abbott the only choice the Liberals had?

Like most other Australians to the left of, well, the far right, I don’t think the Liberal Party made a great choice when they made Tony Abbott their leader yesterday - whether you’re talking in terms of policy (just when you’d forgotten what it was like to have them in government, they give you a friendly reminder…), or in terms of their short-term electoral chances.

I’m not sure that - electorally, at least - they could have made a better one, though.

Abbott’s unappealing, but Hockey - likeable as he apparently is (I don’t see it, but then, I didn’t see it with Rudd either until he was made leader) - probably wasn’t going to win the 2010 election either. Costello’s gone. Turnbull has a big intellect and even bigger personality but, intra-party differences over the emissions trading scheme aside, I’m pretty sure he screwed up any chance he had of being elected PM any time soon back when Ozcar happened. (Big personality is often not a strong point in politics. See Latham, Mark.) It’s probably best for him, PR and political strategy wise, to be relegated to the back bench for a while.

This isn’t a particular diss on the Liberal Party - the same could be said of Labor throughout most of this decade. I’m sure there’s someone in the Liberal Party with the talent and nous to be an effective leader, but whoever they are, neither the press nor the public is aware of them yet. And they’re probably not at the point in their intellectual and professional development where should be contemplating filling the leader’s shoes (see also: Downer, Alexander, circa 1994).

In the meantime, it’s possible the machinations of the last couple of weeks will actually be good for the ETS - or at least for climate change policy generally. While most people don’t like listening to politicians bicker, political drama also has the potential to make policy debate more digestible. Perhaps the leadership spill will lead to increased public interest in - and better media coverage of - the upcoming negotiations at Copenhagen.

Image: Saturday Night Sessions, but Caesar Sebastian.

From the fetishisation of the appearance of youth one day, to the fetishisation of youthful behaviours the next.

My name’s Rachel, and I feel guilty whenever I spend a Friday or Saturday night at home. I also feel a teensy bit ashamed when I head home to fall into bed before midnight, or turn down the opportunity to go to that Amazingly Super Fun Afterparty. (Which I almost always do, because as a writer and thesis student, I always have the spectre of all the work I have to do the next day hanging over my head. And because I’ve been to enough Amazingly Super Fun Afterparties to know that most of them aren’t that amazingly super fun.)

Okay, I exaggerate a little. I clearly don’t feel that bad about it, or I’d be out until 5am munching on kebabs every Saturday morning. And it’s not like I’m a social recluse, either: the past 6 weeks or so in particular have been full of fun and creative nights (albeit nights when I was almost invariably in bed by 1am).

But I am getting older (if not old), and while that doesn’t mean getting boring, it does mean that the things that seemed new and exciting when you were 18 (like, say, Berry Street Tavern or Kings Cross), now seem boring, tacky, or downright insufferable. In the case of Berry Street, boring, tacky, insufferable and no longer in existence.

I’m no longer interested in partying for the sake of partying - although if there’s something with an interesting twist or novel thrill I’ll be there in a flash. I understand that this is just part of ‘growing up’. Some people go through it at 21. Others are still going at 40.

In any case, the reason I bring this up is because I’m working on an article on the subject, and I’m interested in how others feel about this extremely important issue. (The ‘extremely important issue’ bit was me being facetious, in case you couldn’t tell. I know this is a fluff piece, especially compared to the last feature I worked on, but that doesn’t mean fluff pieces can’t be interesting, or contain the odd gem of insight.)

Are you 22, and more interested in snuggling up to your significant other on the couch than heading to a party? Are you 38, and still getting the same thrill from dancing til 3am that you did when you were 18? (And if so, is it frustrating for you that most of your friends probably dropped out of the ‘scene’ years ago? I was annoyed when my friends lost their enthusiasm at 22!) Were you just never ‘into’ this stuff full stop?

Do you, like me, feel like a bit of loser on those night when your flatmates head out and you’re stuck at your desk studying? Or do you (also like me, on those nights) own up to your homebody-ness and say “screw it - I’d rather be watching Mad Men DVDs!”?

And perhaps the most key question here: do you think there’s an overemphasis on “being young and hip” in a certain type of aforementioned way - and on “being young and hip” full stop?

Can going out become duty and expectation as much as a pleasure?

Hey, I have an article over at ABC Unleashed. Can you go read it?

Here’s a taster:

But just as real adult women bear little resemblance - physical or otherwise - to their cartoon caricatures in men’s magazines, so too does the fabled “teen hottie” have little in common with her flesh and blood counterparts.

Few teenagers of either sex are glossy, dewy sex-bombs. To the contrary: most are physically and emotionally awkward.

Nor are most high school aged girls particularly keen on playing sex objects for men in their 20s, 30s and beyond.

So why the fascination with barely legal - and flat out illegal - flesh? It’s not just Corby - it’s websites dedicated to “the countdown to legality” of young celebrities like the Olsen Twins, Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan.

I also talk about Britney Spears’s ye olde 1999 Rolling Stone cover, if that helps.