Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette is a comedic masterpiece.
As a one-woman show, it builds to be more than a piece of comedy, smashing through those narrow parameters to make a valuable contribution to the most prominent social discussions of our day.
Given an unassuming title, after a woman Hannah felt she could create a show from, only to discover that idea was more hope than substance, the hour special spins off into something that only Hannah Gadsby’s experience as a woman, and her history as a comedian, could deliver.
The show is like few others because, for Hannah Gadsby, timing is everything.
After ten years on the comedy circuit honing her craft, she is ready to deliver one of the most insightful, moving and emotionally disturbing contributions to the #metoo debate, and she does it in a most disarming manner until you can't help feeling unprepared for how deeply into your soul she manages to transfer her pain.
It’s heart-wrenching to see and hear this extraordinary woman bravely empty her mind on stage. She admits to being damaged from her life‘s experience and shows her courage in rebuilding herself from those low-points. As Hannah builds to her finale, it’s almost hard to take the next breath.
Hannah Gadsby‘s Nanette puts to rest any sense of shared experience by those not directly affected by the relentless micro aggressions faced by those seeking nothing more than equality, respect and safe passage.
If you’re a man publishing your opinion on a woman’s response to the #Metoo movement, you need to rethink what you're doing and listen to women, like Hannah, as she explains why we are in the midst of a social revolution that has waited too long.
I have listened in frustration to the many, loud, white male voices explain away every contentious issue in our society in recent years. I've heard these loud voices with their wide reach, declare racism non-existant; sexism a figment of the female mind, and that homophobia is so marginal it doesn't need to be addressed. The unifying belief of these men seems to be that their experience is universal.
It's important for debate to take place, but when a single demographic monopolise the debate, there is no debate, just a shared opinion by those unaffected by whatever inequality is under discussion.
Hannah Gadsby is another of the many thousands of women desperately trying to tell us how threatened women feel on an almost daily basis. It's easy for men to feel helpless, or protest the sentiments are exaggerated, but how much effort does it take to change our behaviour to ease another person's mind? Cross the street, drop back, or take any other precaution to make sure it's not you sending a chill through someone walking or jogging on their own at night or existing in an area hidden from view.
If this makes you think, "Why should I change my behaviour?" or even the more commonplace protest of - “Not all men,” then you're not listening to the voices shouting loud.
Not abusing women is the very least criteria of manhood. It's not something worthy of praise. Every one of us needs to do whatever we can, no matter how small, to improve the situation.
Hannah Gadsby made me empathise with what she’s been through, but it left me feeling that I can never fully understand her experience.
As a gay man who came out thirty years ago, I related to some of what Hannah had to say. I have been attacked for being gay, and I too feel shame over my sexuality. That’s something ingrained in me from years and years of relentless ridicule and abuse towards any gay person as I came of age. That small part of Hannah's story I share and understand, but it reinforces in me a belief that I can't possibly understand the full extent of another person's experience with an issue when I don't face that particular issue from within.
That's why listening should be the first response, not protest, or denial.
Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette is important because it comes from someone with first-hand experience into being abused for being a woman; for her sexual identity; even for her appearance.
Hannah doesn’t assume or comment on other people's experiences, she speaks only from her own.
If you haven’t watched Hannah Gadsby's Nanette - go to Netflix and prepare to be awed. Nanette will soon be viral, as it should be, and it should also be part of the ongoing debate.
