Leaving aside the general ethics and standards of the commercial Big Brother series, it appears that Greer went onto the set to earn ₤40,000 to help finance a property in Nth QLD. See http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1388383,00.html

In the past Greer has bought property in a number of countries, and it is likely that this has been at least partly financed through the sale of often contentious books and public speaking appearances. Last year she spoke at a university in Perth where she seemed to celebrate the high rate of divorce within the country, but expressed dissapointment that it was not higher.

I think this was answered well enough in the editorial section of the Australian newspaper on the 9/9/04

“GERMAINE Greer's last couple of attempts at Australian social commentary – we are a suburban cultural wasteland, and should be striving to realise our innate Aboriginality – were harmlessly daffy. Her latest bid for shock value is a little more serious. According to Dr Greer, higher divorce rates should be celebrated as a major achievement of the feminist movement because they reflect women escaping from unhappy marriages. Unfortunately, they reflect a good many other things as well. For a start, divorce is an especially appalling cause of suicide, which particularly effects men. As we know only too well, a small proportion of those suicides escalates into the greatest horror of all, when a separated or divorced parent also kills their child. Studies have shown that 90 per cent of children from broken marriages feel abandoned. And separated and sole-parent families are a major factor in the "underclass" phenomenon of intergenerational poverty and unemployment. So, while separated parents and their kids pay the highest direct price for divorce, it carries a dire cost for society as a whole, especially now there are almost a million Australian children living in separated families.”

It is ironic that Greer herself was married for 3 weeks to a builder's labourer she had just met. This also appears to have been a part of an attention seeking stunt.

In this article Rachel Hills mentions Cathrine Lumby who seems to be a great fan of Greers. Cathrine Lumby said of the marriage “She paraded him as a piece of rough trade. She really was fabulous,"

These were disgracefull sentiments to be expressed by Lumby regards a newly married couple, (particularly about the groom), and I wonder if Lumby herself could be regarded as a suitable role model for anyone.

Ooohhh Timithy - I love it when you quote the media at me to get your point across at how badly 'done to' men are in a divorce situation! This article is about 'reality' TV and Germaine Greer's purported use of it for her own ends. Its not about the inequities of divorce.

Regards

Jo - feeling waspish this morning!

Hi Jo, Jo

I thought the article was about persons such as Greer who are willing to do almost anything to get publicity, so as to try and further their own often highly distorted philosophies, and then be backed up by persons such as Lumby.

I included the divorce issue because Greer brought it up the last time she made her speeches in Australia. Lumby appears to glorify Greer, and Lumby was included in the article, so I have mentioned her too.

I didn’t put Lumby in the article, or make Greer say the many things she has said in the past. Do you want to talk about Greer and her book of nude boys, or how Greer has lambasted and maligned so many people in the past, and then claims that she so often feels like a victim.

You poor thing, you feel so waspish. Maybe you have been oppressed.