ANU/The Canberra Times Meet the Author series
This event is in conjunction with the ANU Australian Studies Institute
Award-winning author, Jess Hill will be in conversation with Virginia Hausseger on Jess's Quarterly Essay, The ReckoningHow #MeToo is Changing Australia.
In 2021, Australia saw rage and revelation, as #MeToo powered an insurgency against sexism and sexual violence. From once isolated survivors to political staffers, women everywhere were refusing to keep men's secrets. In this electrifying essay, Jess Hill traces the conditions that gave birth to #MeToo and tells the stories of women who - often at great personal cost - found themselves at the centre of this movement. Hill exposes the networks of backlash against them - in government, media, schools, and in our national psyche. This is a powerful essay about shame, secrecy and, most of all, a revolutionary movement for accountability.
“Here’s what men like Scott Morrison don’t understand: political spin has no power against the rage unleashed by #MeToo. At its heart, this is an accountability movement . . . The cultural revolution of #MeToo is not just about sexual violence. It is taking aim at patriarchy’s most sacred compact: the keeping of men’s secrets.”
Jess Hill is an investigative journalist and the author of See What You Made Me Do, a deep dive into the abuse so many women and children experience, which won the 2020 Stella Prize and the ABA Booksellers' Choice Adult Non-Fiction Book of the Year. Jess has been a producer for ABC Radio and journalist for Background Briefing, and Middle East correspondent for The Global Mail. Her reporting on domestic abuse has won two Walkley awards, an Amnesty International award and three Our Watch awards.
Virginia Haussegger AM, a passionate women's advocate and journalist, is the former Chair and Founding Director of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, at the University of Canberra, where she is an Adjunct Professor. She is the host of BroadTalk, a podcast about women, power and leadership. And Guest Curator of the forthcoming exhibition, Australian Women Changemakers, at MoAD.
The vote of thanks will be given by Professor Kim Rubenstein, Director (Academic) of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation at the University of Canberra, one of Australia's a leading experts on citizenship issues and gender equality policy.
This event is in association with Harry Hartog Bookshop. Books will be available for purchase on the evening in the Cultural Centre foyer. Pre-event book signings will be available from 5.30pm, and available again after the event. Please note that the conversation will be followed by a showing, thanks to SBS, of episode one of the three part TV series See What You Made Me Do.