Did you know she’s a LESBIAN?
If you search on Google for images of AA Gill, the second on the list is one entitled AA Gill basking in his own radiance. This is a man for whom the word ‘arrogant’ is an understatement, who is driven mad by his own brilliance. But he is also a man who makes his living from words, many of which are cruel, nasty and prejudiced. Over the years, Gill has fallen out with many people and groups, from Gordon Ramsay, the Welsh and the Isle of Man, brushing off criticism with the dismissive air of one who cannot understand how others do not share his clever sense of ‘humour’.
Last week, Gill used his Sunday Times review to poke his idea of fun at Clare Balding. Clare’s new series ‘Britain by Bike’ seems an ideal subject for The Times: good, wholesome exercise in the British countryside, at a deficit-busting low cost. But Gill didn’t really want to review the programme, he was interested in only one thing.
“Some time ago, I made a cheap and frankly unnecessary joke about Clare Balding looking like a big lesbian. And afterwards somebody tugged my sleeve to point out that she is a big lesbian, and I felt foolish and guilty. So I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise. Sorry.
“Now back to the dyke on a bike, puffing up the nooks and crannies at the bottom end of the nation.”
Translated, this seems to mean,
“In order to ensure you all laugh at my wit I need to make sure that you all understand that Clare Balding is a LESBIAN. You might not know that because she doesn’t fit the stereotype of wearing dungarees, having a bad hairstyle, lacking a sense of humour or hating men. I hope you have forgotten that a year ago, Clare successfully fought thyroid cancer and understandably didn’t look her best for a bit, so I can also get in a jibe about her weight, because let’s face it, she’s no stick insect. Just in case you think I’m being a little too rude, I’ll throw in a faux apology.
“Now for a blatant bit of homophobia and a little double entendre about bottoms and lady bits.”
Later in the article, Gill attempts to demostrate that he does really admire Clare, describing her ‘muscular back-side’ and ‘heroically assertive nipples’. Of course being a LESBIAN she must be muscular and assertive; there is no way that she could possibly be attractive or well-dressed. Gill himself obviously feels that he has not been able to be nice enough about Clare to show he didn’t mean all those previous comments, so he adds:
“I warm to Clare as a presenter. Away from sport she has a comfortable, no-nonsense enthusiasm; when every other girl on television is winsome and coquettish, it’s a relief to be talked to by someone who isn’t flirting down the lens.”
So, just to ensure you, the reader, have understood, Clare, being a LESBIAN (did you hear me, a LESBIAN) couldn’t possibly be showing any signs of her of attractiveness or belief in her own ability. And just to make sure no-one has managed to miss the large hammer, Gill moves on to his next review with the words:
“And now, without a hint of double entendre or innuendo, we’re off camping,”
Clare Balding is no shrinking violet. She’s made a pretty good living in a male-dominated world: first horse racing, then sport in general. But she was so incensed by the comments about her sexuality that she complained to the Sunday Times. Her complaint drew an amazing response from the editor, John Witherow, who dismissed her anger, saying:
“In my view some members of the gay community need to stop regarding themselves as having a special victim status and behave like any other sensible group that is accepted by society. Not having a privileged status means, of course, one must accept occasionally being the butt of jokes .
“A person’s sexuality should not give them a protected status. Jeremy Clarkson, perhaps the epitome of the heterosexual male, is constantly jeered at for his dress sense (lack of), adolescent mind-set and hair style. He puts up with it as a presenter’s lot and in this context I hardly think that AA Gill’s remarks were particularly cruel, especially as he ended by so warmly endorsing you as a presenter.”
Ms Balding was dismayed at the attitudes of the editor and the columnist and decided it was time to take a public stand. “She said:
“There have been plenty of occasions where my sexuality has been mentioned. You live with that. I’m quite prepared to deal with the fact that being on television means you get criticised for your hair, the wrong dress sense and whatever, but to use anyone’s sexuality as a stick to beat them isn’t the same and isn’t acceptable. When the day comes that people stop resigning from high office, being disowned by their families, getting beaten up and in some instances committing suicide because of their sexuality, you may have a point.
“This is not about me putting up with having the piss taken out of me, something I have been quite able to withstand, it is about you legitimising name calling. ‘Dyke’ is not shouted out in school playgrounds (or as I’ve had it at an airport) as a compliment, believe me. It may be your job to defend your writer and your editorial team but if you really think that homophobia does not exist and was not demonstrated beyond being ‘the butt of a joke’ then we have a problem.”
Ms Balding added: “I’m not being a victim but I despair because we should be beyond this. Progress is meant to be about getting beyond that. It [sexuality] shouldn’t matter. I don’t want it to matter.” She has since lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission
Just for the record, I think Clare Balding’s a damned good sports presenter, who does her research and sounds professional. I’ve never found her in the slightest attractive and am sure she would feel the same about me if we were ever to meet. I am sure the same goes for Ms Balding and Mr Gill. But all that’s irrelevant. Making comments like those above about someone’s sexuality is on the same level as describing the facial features of a non-white person in a allegedly humorous way, or talking about witch doctors and cannibals. There are still people who do that too, but thankfully not usually on the pages of a national broadsheet newspaper. When homophobia becomes a way to earn a living, there’s something wrong with the world.
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