The idea that we should discount Germaine Greer's work because of her comments on #MeToo isn't just wrong – it's sexist

Just as Charles Darwin’s belief that women were intellectually inferior to men isn’t a reason to embrace creationism, Germaine Greer’s comments on #MeToo are not a reason to reject the entire back catalogue of modern feminist thought

To say Greer is problematic would be an understatement. (Getty Images)

Finally, the mask has slipped. In dismissing #MeToo as a “whingeing” movement, Germaine Greer has revealed the view of all true feminists. Or maybe it’s that of all older feminists. Or that of all feminists who share her views on trans rights. Whatever it is, it can’t just be the view of Germaine Greer.

Feminists, you understand, can’t be right about some things and wrong about others. Nor can their views be theirs alone. You’re either a goodie or a baddie, and unless you’re prepared to denounce anything and everything Germaine Greer-related – expressing controversial opinions, speaking with an Australian accent, daring to exist beyond the menopause – you’ve outed yourself as a bad ‘un.

I realise that this may sound unfair to some. Given the amount of abuse a woman gets for being any sort of feminist, it does feel tremendously unsisterly to single out one individual and say “not in my name”.

With Greer, however, it’s hard not to make an exception. You know – and she must have known, long before she shared her opinion on #MeToo with the Sydney Morning Herald – the way in which her words would be used against others.

To say Greer is problematic would be an understatement. It isn’t just her utter failure to understand power dynamics when insisting that to “spread your legs” for Harvey Weinstein is “tantamount to consent”. It’s not even the sheer callousness of suggesting Dylan Farrow should get over her abuse as “it was 20 years ago”. It’s that all this is done after years of experience of how the media works. A famous feminist who embraces anti-feminist views will always be seized on and used to take down other women.

The older I get, the less I want to be the cool girl feminist denouncing those who went before me, not least because I’m passing my sell-by date, too. I hate myself for having the feeling that Greer is that embarrassing auntie who’s stayed too long at the feminist party, drunk too much sherry and needs taking home before she starts insisting it’s 1970 again. And yet … And yet I do feel angry that, in a world where women do not get to speak as freely as men, some individuals seem set on using this imbalance for the purposes of self-promotion.

When Greer is right, she can be so, so right, but this does not seem to be the priority. Perhaps she is sincere, but I can’t help thinking sisterhood comes second to playing the enfant terrible.

The views Greer is expressing today shouldn’t come as a surprise. In 1999’s The Whole Woman she argues that “if women are to reject the role of natural-born victim, they will have to reject the ludicrous elevation of the humble penis to the status of devastating weapon”. I can see the point she is trying to make, but given the trauma that rape victims experience, this crudeness is entirely unnecessary. In the same book she compares FGM to genital piercings and episiotomies in childbirth. It’s very difficult to read this without feeling that the intention is to provoke outrage, not at the patriarchy, but at the author herself.

It’s especially disappointing since there are parts of The Whole Woman – for instance, on the failures of equal pay legislation – which I think are simply brilliant. What’s more, I’d recommend you read them. The insistence that a woman’s entire work, or that of her entire generation of feminists, or even that of all feminists, should be discredited because she’s expressed some offensive or even harmful views isn’t just wrong – it’s sexist.

Just as Charles Darwin’s belief that women were intellectually inferior to men isn’t a reason to embrace creationism, Germaine Greer’s comments on #MeToo are not a reason to reject the entire back catalogue of Andrea Dworkin, Audre Lorde, bel hooks, Shulamith Firestone, Gloria Steinem, Simone de Beauvoir – or indeed Greer herself.

Germaine Greer offends. It’s what she does, sometimes for the right reasons, sometimes the wrong ones. It’s necessary for feminists to make people uncomfortable; this does not mean that making people uncomfortable is a feminist act.

We need anger and bravery, but we also need kindness and compassion. Right now it saddens me to see so many angry, brave and huge-hearted feminists written off as being “just like Greer” because nuance feels too much of a reach.

#MeToo isn’t about whingeing. It’s never too late to ask for justice. Feminists can share widely differing views on all sorts of issues but still get behind this.

Greer wants the attention. We’ve given her more than enough. Now let’s get back to work.