It would be easy to dismiss Rachel Smalley's on-air comments describing New Zealand women as "heifers" and "lardos" as a storm-in-an-E-cup, another attraction in the sideshow alley that is the 24/7 news cycle.
But it has shone a light on a more pernicious attitude. In the same week that we're proudly crowing that when it comes to social progressiveness we are number one in the world, it seems the old rules still apply — at least when it comes to women. Smalley's gaffe, private banter that went suddenly public, bought out the usual suspects lined up on the gender divide.
The ensuing girl-on-girl verbal catfight on Twitter and in Mainstream Media, often by Smalley's journalistic peers, only proved that when it comes to who is the cruellest gender, women win by a country mile. As someone whose private online chat became public, I can sympathise with Smalley. That kind of take-it-to-the-max comment oils the daily grind but when it becomes public brings out the purse-lipped biddies ready to upbraid and scold.
More importantly, in a country that proudly proclaims we were the first to give women the vote more than 120 years ago, we are still shackling women by one criterion - the way we look. Even worse, it's women doing the defining. The only people who can redefine those stereotypes are women. We have to give society an attitude readjustment on who women are and what we do. As a self-confessed lardo myself, it's time to step out and proclaim: "Enough of the denigration! I'm lardo and proud! Step aside, this heifer is coming through."
