A man has been widely criticized for proposing to his girlfriend during her graduation ceremony at La Trobe University in Australia. Writer and feminist Clementine Ford addressed the moment on Facebook, calling it out for ‘stealing women’s moments’ and ‘making it all about him’. She also called out members of the audience who cheered for the couple, advising them to stop ‘indulging’ it. La Trobe University has since deleted the video and shared a statement apologizing for the error of judgement.
On 21 December 2022, a man was widely criticised for proposing to his girlfriend during her graduation ceremony at La Trobe University in Australia. Writer and feminist Clementine Ford addressed the moment on Facebook, slamming the man for ‘making it all about him’ and ‘stealing women’s moments from them’.
In the video, Clementine said: “That is her moment, she has graduated. We don’t know under what conditions she went to university, we don’t know how hard that was for her, but she did it by herself. That is her moment, you have taken that moment from her that she can never get back.”
She also called out members of the audience who cheered for the couple, advising them to stop ‘indulging’ it. La Trobe University has since deleted the video and shared a statement, saying: “We made an error of judgement today. Our graduation ceremonies are all about celebrating student achievement, and this event detracted from that important acknowledgement of our students’ success.”
