Hungarian Misogynism Weekly

The following article is an opinion piece by the author in reaction to a current incident between the Hungarian parliamentarians Dr. Zoltán Illés (Fidesz) and Bernadett Szél (LMP). Dr. Zoltán Illés is Secretary of State for Environmental Protection and Water and Associate Professor at CEU’s Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy.The CEU’s Provost and Academic Pro-Rector Katalin Farkas has stated that they „commend Dr. Illés for apologizing to the MP in question and want to emphasize that the content of the remarks was contrary to the values of the University” (www.ceu.hu).

            I wish I could say that 09.11.2013 was an extraordinarily memorable scandalous day in the life of the current, Fidesz-governed Hungarian Parliament. That would mean that the outrageous words articulated by Zoltán Illés’ (an under-secretary in Fidesz and CEU professor, by the way) on that day would have some serious consequences. However, given that it seems painfully certain that misogynism (fitting perfectly into the communicational norms of the current government) will continue to be ignored by the vast majority of the members of the Parliament, I (and many others) have deemed it crucial to inform the CEU community about the story, and so make a remembrance of this shameful case.

            Please, imagine the following: Bernadett Szél, a representative of the LMP party (Hungary’s Green Party), on the day in question, wore a T-shirt in the Parliament with the slogan “Mentsük meg Verespatakot!” (“Let’s save Verespatak!”), while she was asking the Fidesz government-party why they have not done anything to oppose the opening of goldmines that would use environmentally harmful cyanide-technology in Nagybánya and in Verespatak (both of which are located in Transylvania, Romania, and the technology, as Szél claimed, would mean an extreme risk for the partly Hungarian Tisza river, and so for the Hungarian environment, as well. Tisza has already suffered a serious catastrophe due to this technology, in 2000). Representative Szél’s question (at the same time a critique) seems to be a single one. Questions like that, in an ideal situation, could be answered either by simply highlighting why the asker’s presuppositions failed, or by simply acknowledging the omission. Nevertheless, representative Illés, who was the respondent from the Fidesz party, dismissed this long-standing “simply-answer-to-the-question” tradition as boring, and thought it was time for a change.

            The problematic fragments of Illés’ answer are the following: “(…) If I only had to speak about professional problems, I would be in a very easy situation (…) but now I have to solve a hard task, since the fact that you [referring to Szél] try to speak very angrily and very sturdily does not mean that you know what you are talking about. (…) The fact that you are pretty does not mean that you are smart, too. The fact that you state something does not mean that you are competent in it (…). And my last comment: (…) the fact that you are talking in a T-shirt does not mean that you are an environmentalist (…).”

            I would draw your attention both to the obvious words and their meaning, and the structure of Illés’ speech. You may find that the content of the brackets is more or less connected to the topic and Szél’s speech. However, Illés himself claimed at the very beginning of his speech that he would have to speak not only about professional problems, then he began to speak, highly scornfully, about Szél’s “very angry and very sturdy” tone. This is an unquestionable reference to the “tone of men”, which sounds ridiculous – even shocking – from a woman’s mouth. Therefore, he gave a misogynist overtone to the speech, and clearly felt  that even the fact that he had to answer for such a “silly and stupid” comment was derogatory for him. That was followed by the comment in connection with Szél’s looks and her intelligence, which, after all, only made Illés’ misogyny (even more) explicit. Then he referred to Szél’s incompetence, and finally, he ridiculed her clothes. It is clearly visible that Illés put these personal, humiliating parts into his speech in a very well-structured way: introduction (you are a stupid woman), body (you have only your looks but are incompetent anyway), conclusion (you are ridiculous in your T-shirt, look at my suit, that is the professional). Well, congratulations to him!

Nikolett Kormos Hungary, Gender Studies

Editors’ note: Zoltán Illés apologized to Bernadett Szél in a text message. From the part of the Parliament there was no sanction for the offending remarks at all.