Dear Editor
Two months ago, you ran a profoundly affecting extract from a new book by former MP Craig Emerson (‘Out of the Darkness’, Weekend Australian Magazine, Feb 24). Emerson wrote candidly of the trauma and violence he suffered as a child, revealing a man in touch with his emotions and able to intimately express the devastating impact of childhood trauma.
What a contrast therefore, to see your mockery of Emerson in Cut and Paste (April 19) for his tears over the suffering of live sheep on export ships. Former trade minister Emerson was derided for crying “like a lamb” and depicted as a “big girl” who shouldn’t cry.
At a time when we are in such need of whole, well-rounded, emotionally connected men, in touch with their feelings and able to express empathy for suffering in its many manifestations (and research shows animal cruelty often relates to cruelty to humans) your editors have shown callous disregard for the significance of male sensitivity and emotional connectedness. You have come out the lesser in this story.
Sincerely
Melinda Tankard Reist
See also:
‘Young men speaking up: a tipping point for behavioural change?’, MTR
