Sexist, Insulting Obituary of Colleen McCullough Causes Backlash

Posted on February 1, 2015

Internationally bestselling novelist Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds, has died at the age of 77. But Australia's best known and best selling novelist did not get a dignified sendoff in The Australian. The newspaper is under fire today for its misogynistic and insulting obituary of the talented Ms. McCullough, who sold more than 30 million books around the world after a successful career as a neurophysiologist and researcher at Yale Medical School and at the the Royal North Shore hospital in Sydney.

The obituary begins by calling the author fat and ugly and it just gets worse from there. The tone of the obituary is one of sheer amazement that Ms. McCullough ever accomplished anything in life given her lack of beauty and thinness. The author of the obituary, who reportedly is now deceased himself, pulled quotes from her interviews out of context to illustrate his contention that she was an unattractive, profane woman who somehow beat the odds and managed to bag a husband.

The obit opens, "Colleen McCullough, Australia's best selling author, was a charmer. Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was, nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth." The response from other authors has been quick. Neil Gaiman tweeted, "It may be possible for this obituary in The Australian to have a more offensive opening & tone. I can't imagine how." Lisa Dempster, the CEO and artistic director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, tweeted, "Can't believe a supposedly leading newspaper would print an obit like the Colleen McCullough one doing the rounds. Shame, @Australian."

Other authors and journalists quickly weighed in, writing their own insulting obituaries with the hashtag #myozobituary. British author Kate Long tweeted, "Despite having very little going on in the bust department, she did her best to raise public awareness of voles. #myozobituary" Actress and comedian Katy Brand tweeted"Spotty of chin and wide of thigh, she nonetheless summoned the courage to leave the house and do things. #myozobituary"

The Washington Post's Alexandra Petri decided that it wasn't fair to leave the men out of the shaming obituary trend. Saying that she "did not realize that this was how we were doing obituary ledes, now," she immediately updated several obituaries to conform to the new journalistic standard.

For James Joyce, she wrote, "Despite a marked resemblance to Henry Bemis in that 'Time Enough At Last' episode of 'The Twilight Zone,' nevertheless, this unappetizing little fellow wrote a couple of books." Ernest Hemingway's was short and brutal: "This man looked like a big drunk cat. Contributed to literature in some way, possibly." Thomas Jefferson's was short and obtuse: "Although a ginger, this man had good handwriting."

The Australian has yet to issue an apology, but it needs to do so immediately. It is no excuse that the obituary may have been written long ago by someone who is now deceased. The current editor's job is to edit pieces before running them. It was a shocking dereliction of duty.