Young women today are sociaised to be very thin skinned. I don't think that encouraging this quality does anything to make them better people, or helps society as a whole to get along. While Mr Rudds comments about Ms Furnell's studies(if true) appear to be out of line, there is nothing wrong with asking young women or anyone else, to think of the nation. Asking people to think of others does not equal being controlling.

did he really say that? what a prick

go Nina..a few right wing ALP hacks at various blogs are saying you made the whole thing up or they seem so surprised someone as conservative as he could make such a statement and that you must have "miss-heard" or "miss-interpreted" him.

They seem to forget that Rudd is a rabid christian moralist regulator. His blatant sexism comes as no surprise at all to me.

How crass!

"Rudd rolled his eyes and in a terse voice lacking any sense of irony remarked that is the "excuse" that "all" young women are using nowadays to avoid starting families."

It is starting to filter through that Rudd has a few personality attributes that are less than picture-perfect. This would appear to support those mutterings.

But if we step back for a moment.

There are two distinct groupings in this discussion.

The individual. And "Society"

(Yes, I know Col Rouge, I know. But let's park Maggie for a moment).

The individual has every right to be indignant that the Prime Minister should suggest they are somehow shirking their duties.

But what of "Society"?

Apart from the fact that it is (there you go Col) made up of nothing more than a bunch of individuals, should there not be, somewhere, a collective will that a particular society should, somehow, survive?

I guess all I am saying Nina is that - crassness (and it was appalling) aside, Rudd's is a relatively understandable position for a political leader to take.

Let's face it, that's what the exhortation to "lie back and think of England" was all about.

Yes Nina, we understand you met the PM. Well done you. Even better you fitted this into your rant. I can imagine if he asked you to pass him his coffee he'd left on a table behind you you'd launch into a rant about women being considered domestic slaves.

'But there was a deeper message: young people (women in particular) are failing in their civic duty to reproduce.'

The messages in your head you mean? Please recite the actual quotes.

'Why do we assume it is the obligation of all women to reproduce? And why do we label them as selfish when they don't? We never label career-driven men as selfish.'

Who is we?

Ask yourself this question. Are the leaders of today expressing singular personal opinions that are taken out of context and extrapolated into 'deep messages' about gender double standards that will be reflected in policy, or are the feminists becoming more touchy or more desperate for some relevance than anyone ever imagined.

Tony Abbot irons badly and tells us he'd rather his children (who happen to be female) think about who they share their bodies with, and that Kevin Rudd makes a friendly (if true) jibe about a young person (who happened to be female) delaying a family for the sake of a PHD. Those dastardly misogynist scoundrels.

Do you young women have any alternatives to offer when it comes to who is going to have children?
Would you prefer that us mere men had babies instead? Any good ideas as to how that could be accomplished?
When I see the way that human beings have fallen for the global warming hoax I get to wonder if all of us should stop bearing children.