Columnist Van Badham Had The Perfect Response After Steve Price Called Her “Hysterical” On ‘Q&A’

In the first post-election Q&A, it was the two non-politicians on the panel who made the night worth watching. On the one hand, there was Steve Price, the 2GB presenter and Project co-host whose two functions in life seem to be giving voice to the imaginary grievances of his fellow rich old white blokes and looking like a French bulldog furious at being dressed up in people clothes.

On the other, there was Guardian columnist and progressive activist Van Badham, who most recently made headlines when she famously dismissed an attack by Mark Latham on Weekend Sunrise with that now-iconic eyeroll.

Price and Badham were at loggerheads for most of the night, mainly because Badham is a progressive feminist and Price is an old copy of ZOO stuck to the bottom of a skip bin out the back of Frankston Coles.

But Price managed to surpass even his high standards of terrible behaviour when the night’s conversation turned to violence against women. Audience member Tarang Chawla revealed that his 23-year-old sister was stabbed to death by her partner last year and asked how public figures can help overturn a culture that casualises and trivialises violence against women.

Price’s initial response was to offer a defence of figures like Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman, both of whom have been in the news over comments about drowning female AFL journalist Caroline Wilson, as “a bunch of blokes laughing about something they shouldn’t have laughed about”, before claiming that “far too much was then made of it”.

Badham, understandably, took exception to this, arguing that the incident was evidence that “we have to look at attitudes around the different treatment of women in our society”, but was repeatedly interrupted by Price as she spoke.

“Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you’re the only one who can get upset about it”, Price said to audible gasps from the audience.

“You’re proving my point very excellently about the attitudes that create this kind of culture”, Badham responded to applause, prompting Price to offer this pearl of wisdom: “I think you’re just being hysterical”.

At this point, Badham would have been well within her rights to spend the rest of the show repeating the phrase “in the bin, Steve. Steve, in the bin. The bin, Steve. STEVE. THE BIN. STEVE IN THE BIN.” Seeing an entitled, wilfully stupid pile of human garbage like Price smirk and insult his way through a discussion about violence against women — while a loved one of a victim of that violence sat not 20 metres away, remember — proves how far we have to go as a society when a bottom-feeder like him is regularly given airtime and a platform.

To her credit, though, Badham managed to demonstrate the worthlessness of Price’s opinion in a single sentence:

“It’s probably my ovaries making me do it, Steve.”

How will politicians & media play a better role in shifting the language of VAW? @StevePriceMedia @vanbadham #QandA https://t.co/74wqYGM9jA

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) July 11, 2016

There will come a day, hopefully soon, when bullies and walking mediocrities like Price are taken off the pedestals they have erected for themselves. But the more times, like last night, where they’re shown up as the bags of stale oxygen they are, the sooner they’ll come to realise just how long ago the world passed them by.