The Project airs MFW's fight against toxic masculinity ... then diminishes it

Managing editor Michelle Pini discusses The Project's recent segment on MFW's grassroots activism and the response from the show's panel.

ON MONDAY (17 March), Network Ten'sThe Project aired an informative piece about the power of grassroots activism achieved by feminist group Mad Fucking Witches (MFW) in fighting proponents of toxic masculinity, such as the Kyle and Jackie O radio program.

Toxic masculinity is not simply "naughty" behaviour, such as name-calling or sexist jokes. It is a reactionary dogma that lauds a culture of male supremacy and contributes to gender-based violence by normalising hostile attitudes towards women and marginalised males. It is the type of mindset promoted by society’s most powerful people – mostly men – to keep women in their place. It is nothing new, of course.

Violence against women is at global epidemic proportions. So far this year, in Australia alone, 14 women have been murdered, while in 2025, 103 women died at the hands of men.

If you didn’t catch the piece on MFW on The Project last night, witches, please do below. It’s 8 minutes of important information on our movement:https://t.co/M6yfFRn6uI?

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We thank our Founder Jennie Hill for her leadership and The Project for being one of…
— MFWitches (@MFWitches) March 17, 2025

The Project's report discussed MFW's use of consumer boycotts to protest against misogynistic content, in this case on the Kyle and Jackie O drive-time radio program. Then The Project's panel of Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton and Steve Price discussed their reactions.

Steve Price, who on a 2016 episode of Q&A said Van Badham was “just being hysterical” about domestic violence – and who once threatened to sue MFW for defamation – was predictably opposed to MFW.

According to Steve (IA emphasis):

“The witches spokesperson [Jennie Hill] … she doesn’t mention Jackie O at all, so I don’t know if this is about targeting male presenters and presumably they [MFW] don’t have a problem with Jackie O endorsing it — I don’t quite get that."

It appears Steve Price had limited information about the subject matter being discussed, however, as MFW spokesperson Jennie Hill told IA:

"Steve was incorrect. Jackie was referred to in the interview, but the comments weren’t broadcast...

We also mention Jackie’s disgusting behaviour regularly — we have never limited our criticism to Kyle."

Price added (IA emphasis):

"They [MFW] had a go at me a while back, many years back and on a petty issue, I thought… I mean good luck to them…

I think she [Jennie Hill] needs to get a life… I mean really, she’s a bit obsessed.”

While Price was less than complimentary, it was The Project's female co-host, Sarah Harris, who was the most outspoken detractor of the MFW interview (IA emphasis):

“We just heard it’s the audience that’s tired of this behaviour [on Kyle and Jackie O]. Is it really the audience that’s tired when you’ve got a group that’s pushing that kind of policing of language?"

Interestingly, Sarah refers to MFW’s “policing of language”, making it sound as though a few "naughty" words shocked a group of wowsers into unfair targeting of an otherwise acceptable program.

Alan Jones’ touching story

Former shock jock, ruthless powerbroker and alleged sexual predator Alan Jones has been pretty much untouchable for decades.

Perhaps Sarah didn’t pick up the clue of the “naughty” word in the name, Mad Fucking Witches. Nonetheless, even a cursory glance at the Kyle and Jackie O show’s ongoing degrading content, indicates that the inherent issues have nothing to do with the “policing of language” but that MFW is calling out rampant misogyny and bigotry.

As she continued, it soon became obvious that Harris was also ignorant about Kyle and Jackie O’s content (IA emphasis):

... and they [MFW] probably haven’t even listened to the show… or they’ve cherry-picked parts of the show out of what, a four-hour daily show?

I don’t know. I don’t know if I feel very comfortable with that.

Harris, a mother of two young boys, felt compelled to tell us she “doesn’t feel very comfortable” with people protesting violent, misogynistic content. It follows she is presumably comfortable for her sons to tune in to the Kyle and Jackie O show and listen to said violent, misogynistic content.

On a typical morning episode, the radio program – whose main demographic consists of teenage boys and young men – treats its listeners to anecdotes and advice (admittedly "cherry-picked" here), such as when Kyle told Jackie:

‘...a man who was not prepared to say he would “smash you anally” [to a woman], regardless of her political views, was not worth knowing.’

Then there’s the one where a caller shared his favourite sexual position:

'A “butcher’s wheelbarrow” — holding a woman’s arms from behind like a wheelbarrow, “and then you go to town and just butcher the pussy”.'

Or the time Kyle appraised a quiz contestant:

“Wow, this girl is clever and she loves it in the arse, she’s a bit big for my liking, but!”

One can only assume that Sarah, who accused MFW of “cherry-picking” and “never even listen[ing] to the show”, has herself never even listened to the Kyle and Jackie O program. Indeed, it is likely she has not even familiarised herself with the subject matter being discussed on this episode of her own program.

Jennie Hill told IA:

"It is absolutely true that we take certain quotes from the show, but even one or two of these comments are beyond the pale. It is never okay to say those things."

Sarah Harris’ boys may never listen to the Kyle and Jackie O show, but presumably, Sarah is okay with the demeaning behaviour towards women espoused by the show – such as the examples we "cherry-picked" above. The Kyle and Jackie O show continues to promote the worst aspects of our deeply patriarchal society and propels hatred and violence towards women and marginalised men.

Alan Jones and Andrew Tate: The cancel culture mates

This week in Romania, infamous misogynist Andrew Tate lost his appeal to end his detention there and, closer to home, Alan Jones is having a garage sale.

Jennie Hill explains it is not about bad language or sex:

We don’t object to sexual content. We are not wowsers. We only object to degrading and demeaning content against women and other marginalised groups.

And we say to men like Kyle, you may not be a violent man, but what you say on air encourages men who are violent, to be violent.

Sarah also has a problem with MFW being an organised group of activists:

"I mean it’s one thing if it happens organically, right? And the fans and the listeners revolt [against the program], but when you’ve got a group, an organised group of people targeting advertisers..."

Jennie Hill is quite surprised by this argument, telling IA:

"Of course, the complaints aren’t coming from within the show's supporters. It's just ludicrous that anyone would think you cant object to the content unless you're a regular listener."

So, if we follow Sarah’s argument to its logical conclusion, the only people who should be protesting about Trump's behaviour, for example, are MAGA supporters. And the only people entitled to object to gender-based violence would be the people involved in it — the victims, or the perpetrators.

The Project segment ended with the following wise words from Waleed Aly:

“I just wonder if, in the end, we’re all a bit hypocritical." Sarah nods effusively, “Yep.”

Um (unless you're including MFW), no argument there, Waleed.