Do you know what should be the target of our jokes at the moment?
Our obsession with reputation.
We're obsessed. We think reputation is more important than anything else,
including humanity.
And do you know who takes the mantle of this myopic adulation
of reputation?
Celebrities. And comedians are not immune.
They're all cut from the same cloth.
Donald Trump, Pablo Picasso,
Harvey Weinstein,
Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski.
These men are not exceptions, they are the rule.
And they are not individuals, they are our stories.
And the moral of our story is, "We don't give a shit.
We don't give a fuck... about women or children.
We only care about a man's reputation."
What about his humanity?
These men control our stories!
And yet they have a diminishing connection to their own humanity,
and we don't seem to mind
so long as they get to hold onto their precious reputation.
Fuck reputation. Hindsight is a gift.
Stop wasting my time!
If you...
Look, I am angry.
I apologize.
I do, I apologize. I know...
I know there's a few people in the room going, "Now, look...
I think... she's lost control of the tension."
That's correct. I went on it a bit there.
So, I'm not very experienced in controlling anger.
It's not my place to be angry on a comedy stage. I'm meant to be doing...
self-deprecating humor.
People feel safer when men do the angry comedy.
They're the kings of the genre.
When I do it, I'm a miserable lesbian, ruining all the fun and the banter.
When men do it, heroes of free speech.
I love... angry white man comedy.
It's so funny, it's hilarious.
They're adorable. Why are they angry?
What's up, little fella?
What are they angry about? Gosh, can't work it out.
They're like the canaries in the mine, aren't they?
If they're having a tough time...
the rest of us are goners.
Do you remember that story about that young man who almost beat me up?
It was a very funny story.
It was very funny, I made a lot of people laugh about his ignorance,
and the reason I could do that is because I'm very good at this job.
I actually am pretty good at controlling the tension.
And I know how to balance that to get the laugh at the right place.
But in order to balance the tension in the room with that story,
I couldn't tell that story as it actually happened.
Because I couldn't tell the part of the story where that man realized his mistake.
And he came back.
And he said, "Oh, no, I get it.
You're a lady faggot.
I'm allowed to beat the shit out of you," and he did!
He beat the shit out of me and nobody stopped him.
And I didn't... report that to the police,
and I did not take myself to hospital, and I should have.
And you know why I didn't?
It's because I thought that was all I was worth.
And that is what happens when you soak one child in shame
and give permission to another to hate.
And that was not homophobia, pure and simple, people. That was gendered.
If I'd been feminine, that would not have happened.
I am incorrectly female.
I am incorrect, and that is a punishable offense.
And this tension, it's yours. I am not helping you anymore.
You need to learn what this feels like because this... this tension
is what not-normals carry inside of them all of the time
because it is dangerous to be different!
To the men...
to the men in the room, I speak to you now, particularly the white men,
especially the straight white men.
Pull your fucking socks up!
How humiliating!
Fashion advice from a lesbian.
That is your last joke.
All my life,
I've been told that I'm a man-hater.
I don't hate men, I honestly do not.
I don't hate men.
But...
there's a problem.
See, I don't even believe that women are better than men.
I believe women are just as corruptible by power as men,
because you know what, fellas, you don't have a monopoly on the human condition,
you arrogant fucks.
But the story is as you have told it.
Power belongs to you.
And if you can't handle criticism,
take a joke,
or deal with your own tension without violence,
you have to wonder if you are up to the task
of being in charge.
I'm not a man-hater. But I'm afraid of men.
If I'm the only woman in a room full of men, I am afraid.
And if you think that's unusual, you're not speaking to the women in your life.
I don't hate men, but I wonder how a man would feel if they'd lived my life.
Because it was a man who sexually abused me when I was a child.
It was a man who beat the shit out of me when I was 17, my prime.
It was two men who raped me when I was barely in my twenties.
Tell me why is that okay.
Why was it okay to pick me off the pack like that and do that to me?
It would have been more humane to just take me out to the back paddock
and put a bullet in my head
if it is that much of a crime to be different!
I don't tell you this...
so you think of me as a victim.
I am not a victim. I tell you this because my story has value.
My story has value.
I tell you this 'cause I want you to know, I need you to know, what I know.
To be rendered powerless does not destroy your humanity.
Your resilience is your humanity.
The only people who lose their humanity are those who believe they have the right
to render another human being powerless.
They are the weak.
To yield and not break, that is incredible strength.
You destroy the woman, you destroy the past she represents.
I will not allow my story...
to be destroyed.
What I would have done to have heard a story like mine.
Not for blame.
Not for reputation, not for money, not for power.
But to feel less alone.
To feel connected.
I want my story... heard.
Because, ironically, I believe Picasso was right.
I believe we could paint a better world
if we learned how to see it from all perspectives,
as many perspectives as we possibly could.
Because diversity is strength.
Difference is a teacher.
Fear difference, you learn nothing.
Picasso's mistake was his arrogance.
He assumed he could represent all of the perspectives.
And our mistake was to invalidate
the perspective of a 17-year-old girl, because we believed
her potential... was never going to equal his.
Hindsight is a gift.
Can you stop wasting my time?
A 17-year-old girl is just never, ever, ever in her prime!
Ever!
I am in my prime!
Would you test your strength out on me?
[audience applauds]
There is no way, there is no way anyone would dare...
Dare! test their strength out on me,
because you all know... there is nothing stronger
then a broken woman who has rebuilt herself.
[audience cheers]