Somerville Residents Respond to Sexist Obituary with #myozobituary

It’s not common to open an obituary and read a description of the deceased’s appearance. Obituaries are meant to be a celebration of a person’s life and a record of the people they have touched through life and work, which rarely has to do with how a person looks.

But an Australian newspaper caused an outcry when it chose to open an obituary for Colleen McCullough, Australia’s best-selling author, with a backhanded compliment that focused more on her appearance than her work as a scientist and writer.

McCullough, a former neurophysiological researcher at Yale and author of international bestseller “The Thorn Birds,” passed away on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 77 years old.

A resulting obituary, printed in The Australian around 6 p.m. Thursday, has sparked debate and backlash on social media for a comment which critics have called sexist.

The second line of the obituary reads, “Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was, nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth.”

People on twitter reacted to the Australian’s description of McCullough by posting their own backhanded obituaries, using #myozobituary.

Some have posted obituaries for themselves, others for famous men in history who they say would never have had an obituary focus on their appearance.

>>Have you written a #myozobituary? Share it in the comments.

People around the world, including some celebrities like Neil Gaiman, have been using the hashtag to speak out against sexism The Australian obituary highlighted. And at least two Somerville area residents have joined the movement.

Kate Bowers, a Harvard archivist who lives in Cambridge, mentioned Somerville in her obituary, which she posted early Friday, Jan. 30.

Somerville resident Mary Mangan also posted an obituary, striking a comparison between her housekeeping skills and work as a scientist.

More than a parody of the newspaper’s unfortunate choice of words, the hashtag comments also reflect how a woman’s life is valued, The Guardian reports.

The phenomenon is summed up nicely with a quote from McCullough herself: “We’ll celebrate a woman for anything, as long as it’s not her talent.”