Featured Image Credit: Facebook/La Trobe University/Clementine Ford
Topics: Life
Lucy Devine
A man has been criticised after he proposed to his girlfriend at her graduation ceremony.
Writer and feminist Clementine Ford addressed the moment on Facebook, slamming the Australian man for 'making it all about him' after a clip of the proposal was shared on the La Trobe University's social media.
You can watch the video below:
"Stop fu**ing stealing women's moments from them. They do not belong to you. They are not yours to have," said Clementine.
"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.
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"That is her moment, you have taken that moment from her that she can never get back.
"Why do men look at situations where women have achieved something for themselves, where they are about to receive praise and admiration from their friends, their community, their family members, praise and admiration that is nothing to do with those men, that is not theirs, that they did not create.
"And they think, 'you know what? I'm going to make this moment about me. I'm going to make it so that she remembers, always, that the day she graduated was the day I proposed to her. That was the most important thing that happened to her that day'.
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"And everyone who came to support her will be congratulating her on that instead... don't marry this man."
Clementine also called out members of the audience who cheered for the couple, advising them to stop 'indulging' it.
Other social media users were also unhappy over the video, with one person writing: "The focus should've been on her and her achievement. Now it will forever be remembered as the day he proposed."
While another commented: "Watching men pull this kind of thing infuriates me. They are so threatened by a woman's accomplishments, they feel the need to photobomb the moment."
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And a third said: "Not only did he steal her moment, but he stole the moment for all the other graduates."
La Trobe University has since deleted the video and shared a statement following the backlash online.
It reads: "We made an error of judgement today.
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"Our graduation ceremonies are all about celebrating student achievement, and this event detracted from that important acknowledgement of our students' success."