Cartoonist Michael Leunig’s Take On Coercive Control Laws Stinks of Misogyny, Unsurprisingly
No one: is shocked.
Coercive control laws have been heavily debated in the Australian consciousness this week and notorious cartoonist, Michael Leunig, of course, has a repugnant take.
But what is coercive control? Coercive control is the deliberate pattern of abuse that isolates a partner from their friends and family, restricts their movement, and often sees them under surveillance.
Michael, please retire. https://t.co/wdddCou4Xa
— Wes Mountain (@therevmountain) May 8, 2021
Both NSW and Queensland have held separate parliamentary enquiries into possibly criminalising coercive control in the past week. Both are due to report their findings later this year. However, many survivors and experts fear that criminalising coercive control could potentially further endanger those currently in abusive partnerships.
Recognising and defining coercive control in the eyes of the law is difficult, as every case is unique to the partnership. Without a universal set of recognisable behaviours, criminalising coercive control poses the threat of cases going unrecognised, among other challenges.
Coercive control laws are about stopping women & children from being burnt, stabbed, run over, strangled, raped & lives violently extinguished.
Michael Leunig thinks not.@smh @lisazdavies why are you promoting this man's views that seek to ridicule this violence against women? pic.twitter.com/5nvV1kz5hU
— 🕯 RonniSalt 🕯 (@RonniSalt) May 8, 2021
As domestic abuse is such a sensitive and nuanced issue, affecting one woman a week and one man a month, you’d think the Sydney Morning Herald would handle the current national discussion with some empathy. Instead, the Sydney Morning Herald published a cartoon by Michael Leunig that appeared to make light of the issue.
In the cartoon, Leunig appears to compare coercive control to the systemic running of the country as a defence against criminalising it. The panel has been widely condemned for its tone-deafness and misogyny. Many have even called for Leunig to retire.
Leunig is actually onto a winning strategy here. Publish increasingly shit cartoons until they have no choice but to drop him, then become a right-wing CaNcEl CuLtUrE grifter and sell a few more books to idiots
— Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) May 8, 2021
While the cartoon could be a critique of the government’s hypocrisy in its apparent unwillingness to criminalise coercive control, it seems unlikely given Leunig’s history of misogynistic cartoons. Take this one, where Leunig appeared to be condemning the marriage equality campaign. Or how about this one, where Leunig revelled in his controversial anti-vaccination beliefs.
In moments like this, it’s easy to turn to the argument of free speech. To that, I propose: don’t those who have experienced and are experiencing domestic abuse deserve freedom from speech that belittles their suffering?