Senator Jacqui Lambie recently spoke in parliament about her vaginal and bladder prolapse, which required surgery and five months off work. She argued that the Department of Veterans' Affairs does not adequately compensate for such conditions linked to military service. "You want us to have babies for the country," Lambie said, "but you're not interested in supporting our reproductive systems ... Australian women's vaginas are not made of Australian steel."
A cartoon on Pauline Hanson's "Please Explain" program later mocked Lambie's condition, depicting an animated Lambie clutching her crotch and saying she could not laugh because of her prolapse. Hanson initially dismissed criticism, telling Lambie to "get over it." After a backlash, Hanson apologised, saying the cartoon went up without her seeing it. "I respect people's views and opinions out there," she said, "and it wasn't as tastefully done as it could've been and I do apologise for that."
Baird, who has written a biography of Queen Victoria, notes that the queen's prolapsed uterus was discovered only on her deathbed. She argues it likely contributed to her reliance on a rolling chair and her use of a hand-operated lift at Osborne House. "No wonder she decried childbirth, how it made her feel like 'a cow or a dog'," Baird writes.
Connecting the Haines attack to a broader pattern, Baird cites NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn, who said, "Rape and death threats shouldn't be dismissed as a normal part of my job." Baird concludes that violence against female MPs is more frequent and brutal than against male colleagues, and that answers lie in a long history of insisting women quietly endure.