Guardian:
Dutton calling Albanese ‘limp-wristed’ over Chinese ships ‘unsurprising’, Wong says
Opposition leader criticised for using historical slur against gay men, with a spokesperson for Dutton saying ‘no offence was intended’
Thu 20 Mar 2025 19.41 AEDT
Penny Wong says it’s “unsurprising” Peter Dutton would use an historical slur to attack the prime minister’s response to China, noting the opposition leader had opposed marriage equality.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Dutton said: “It was a phrase that shouldn’t have been used, and no offence was intended from Mr Dutton.”
At an event in Sydney on Thursday, Dutton was asked what message Chinese president, Xi Jinping, was trying to send to Australia last month when the Chinese navy conducted live-fire drills in Australian waters.
The opposition leader agreed with the event’s host, Michael Fullilove, that it was a “show of force” before launching into a tirade against Anthony Albanese.
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“[Albanese’s response] was the weakest, most limp-wrist response you could see from a leader,” Dutton said.
“I think what was being tested was our response time, how we would engage, what we would say and I think the prime minister, frankly, failed every one of those tests.”
The term “limp-wrist” has been used historically as a slur against homosexual men. The Cambridge dictionary describes it as “an extremely offensive word used to describe a man whose behaviour is thought to be typical of a gay person”.
Speaking on ABC on Thursday afternoon, Wong defended Albanese’s response to China before turning to the nature of Dutton’s comments.
“We made very clear our views to the Chinese and publicly. We were very upfront about that. Defence put a number of statements out, the minister for defence and the prime minister and I all gave very public comments about it. And I raised directly with Foreign Minister Wang Yi our concerns about the lack of adequate notice,” Wong said.
“But in terms of Mr Dutton’s choice of language, what I would say is this is a bloke who opposed marriage equality, so it’s an unsurprising use of language from him.”skip past newsletter promotion
Independent MP Allegra Spender also criticised Dutton’s choice of words, writing on X his use of the term to characterise Albanese’s response was “completely inappropriate” and “offensive to many in the LGBTQ+ community”.
“By all means criticise the govt response, but don’t do so in a way that plays into offensive stereotypes about gay men,” Spender wrote.
A spokesperson for Just.Equal Australia, Rodney Croome, condemned the comment from the opposition leader.
Croome suggested the term limp-wrist “is widely known as a derogatory term for gay men” and that its use by Dutton may be heard as a “Trump-style dog whistle to homophobic prejudice”.
“I call on Mr Dutton to apologise for using the term and commit to an election campaign free of prejudice against LGBTIQA+ Australians,” he said.
Calling someone Limp-wristed can mean attacking them as weak and ineffectual, without any overtones about gay men.
ReplyDeleteI have read the word used in 19th Century and 20th century novels, yes , intentionally derogatory or disrespectful , but with no double meaning about homosexuality.
For example, an unprincipled man whose words twist and turn and change depending on situation may be described as Limp-wristed.
A widespread problem today is many people, even if they had gone through higher education, simply do not read books on a regular basis.
So much of the population have narrow, 1-track viewpoints.
Many words, especially Anglo-Saxon origin, have evoluted from their original purposed meaning.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Shakespeare himself had created many of these precedences in his works just to suit the literature intentions he wanted.
Today many people, even if they had gone through higher education, simply do not read books on a regular basis.
So much of the population have narrow, 1-track viewpoints based on their self indulgence!