Unfairly questioned: Tim Mathieson and Julia Gillard. Credit:Andrew Meares Electorally stricken, Gillard is now, apparently, fair game. Nobody ever aimed such insults at Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard or Kevin Rudd. Nor has what goes on behind the bedroom door in The Lodge been considered an appropriate subject for discussion. But, nine days short of the third anniversary of being sworn in as prime minister, Gillard is like a woman being stoned to death in an ancient ritual. Indignities have been heaped on her by an Australia where men behaving badly suddenly seems to have been exposed as the secret default position of many. Nothing signified it more than the Perth broadcaster Howard Sattler asking the Prime Minister to her face in a radio interview if her partner, Tim Mathieson, was gay. The outrage was immediate. Veteran feminist Eva Cox thinks something broke in Australian public life this week.

Only a joke: Holger Osieck's defence for his sexist jibe that "women should shut up in public." Credit:AP ''What happened to all the legislation, the education programs? Civil discourse has been swept aside in a brutal race to be the most repugnant,'' she says. ''A few days ago, it was racism. Now it's women. It's almost as if they're saying 'we can do and say what we like - try and stop us'. Illustration: Dionne Gain ''Seriously, it looks like we've learnt very little. The level of abuse is worse than it was 10 years ago. Just join the dots.''

Years of effort to bring equality into the Australian Defence Force appear to have come to nought, with high-ranking army officers accused of distributing footage of soldiers engaged in sex after a long investigation by NSW police. In the sports world, Osieck's remark came hard on the heels of Eddie McGuire's racist comments about Sydney Swans champion Adam Goodes. Osieck was caught at a Socceroos post-victory news conference telling a male Football Federation Australia official he was pushing him around like a woman, telling him where to sit. Classically educated, the German made a comment in Latin and then translated it for the sporting media. ''Women should shut up in public … I say it to my wife at home, it is a private one, OK,'' he told the Melbourne news conference. ''And you record that one as well? I am going to be the darling of all Australian wives.'' Not quite. On Wednesday, the 64-year-old apologised, saying his comment was intended as a joke before going all biblical.

''I translated that quote and, in order to clarify, the quote was from the apostle St Paul, which he used in one of the of the early writings of Christianity in his parish in Anatolia,'' he said. In a postscript, Jason Hickson, president of the Cessnock Hunter Young Liberals branch, was suspended from the party after he tweeted Osieck's comments should apply to the Prime Minister. And then the Gillard menu arrived. For years, cartoonist Larry Pickering has had a lucrative little Christmas earner turning out calendars featuring nude drawings of politicians of the day. Grotesques, the members often were in inverse proportion to the power of their owners. In any case, they belonged to another era, a sort of Playboy centrefold for policy wonks. But when the crassly worded menu for a dinner organised by Howard government minister and Queensland Liberal National Party candidate Mal Brough surfaced on Wednesday, in terms of disrespect and ability to wound and repulse, the words were worth a thousand Pickering cartoons.

The MP for Fisher, Peter Slipper, as speaker of the House of Representatives, compared a shellfish to a vagina in private text messages entered as evidence during a tacky sexual harassment case. ''They look like a mussel removed from its shell. Look at a bottle of mussel meat! Salty C**** in brine!'' The judge dismissed the case last December, saying Brough and others ''conspired'' to ''cause Slipper as much political and public damage as they could inflict upon him''. The Gillard insult was part of a banquet, a public occasion in March to raise funds for Brough's tilt at Fisher. Slipper lost his job partly due to the texts. Brough looks like replacing him in Fisher, despite having insulted the person holding Australia's highest elected post.

The revelation of the menu came at a fortuitous time for Gillard. She was taking heavy flak for her speech to the Women for Gillard group, during which she raised abortion as being ''the political plaything of men who think they know better''. She also tossed in a few gags about men in blue ties that somehow enraged commentators who pilloried her for skewering Australia's sexist culture. It also inspired rivals Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd to defiantly don blue ties. The menu had been lying doggo on the internet since March but roared into national headlines to underscore Gillard's point about women being banished from the centre of Australia's political life. It hardly mattered that Joe Richards, the Brisbane businessman who organised the dinner, was eventually wheeled out to claim the menu never made it to the dinner. Richards apologised to Brough but not Gillard. Brough's belated explanation that he did not see the menu but acknowledged it was ''deeply regrettable, offensive and sexist'' was less than convincing. On 2GB, the Sydney broadcaster Ray Hadley said the menu was an old ''joke'' made with slight variations about Hillary Clinton - ''two fat thighs with small breast and left wing''. Such poor-taste jokes, Hadley said, were part of the urban myths circulating the planet.

The rolling news cycle kicked on on Thursday when another sex scandal engulfed the Defence Force. Seventeen high-ranking defence personnel are under investigation in relation to explicit emails and photos that denigrate women. Announcing the investigation at a news conference in Canberra, the Chief of the Army, Lieutenant-General David Morrison, said the allegations were ''worse than the Skype scandal'' that hit Defence in 2011. Morrison had apologised to four of the women. He lamented that the email scandal followed significant efforts to encourage women to join and stay in the army. Hours later, Gillard was at the centre again.

In Perth, broadcaster Howard Sattler had Gillard on his drive show, telling her she should move on from ''menugate'' and deal with the defence scandal. He then questioned her about atheism, abortion laws, same-sex marriage and her de facto relationship before going behind closed doors at The Lodge and asking about partner Tim Mathieson's sexuality. Here's an edited transcript: Sattler: ''Myths, rumours, snide jokes and innuendoes, you've been the butt of them many times.'' Gillard: ''Well, I think that's probably right. We've certainly seen that this week.''

Sattler: ''Can I test a few out?'' Gillard: ''In what way?'' Sattler: ''Tim's gay.'' Gillard: ''Well …'' Sattler: ''No, that's not me saying it. It's a myth.''

Gillard: ''Well that's absurd.'' Sattler: ''But you hear it. He must be gay, he's a hairdresser.'' Gillard: ''Oh, isn't that … '' Sattler: ''But you've heard it? It's not me saying it. It's what people …'' Gillard: ''Well, I mean Howard, I don't know whether every silly thing that gets said is going to be repeated to me now.''

Sattler: ''No, no, no …'' Gillard: ''But, you know, to all the hairdressers out there, including the men who are listening, I don't think in life one can actually look at a whole profession full of different human beings and say 'gee, we know something about every one of those human beings'. I mean, it's absurd, isn't it?'' Sattler: ''You can confirm that he's not?'' Gillard: ''Howard, don't be ridiculous. Of course not.'' Sattler: ''No, but in a heterosexual relationship? That's all I'm asking.''

Gillard: ''Howard, you and I have just talked about that. So now that is bordering …'' Sattler: ''No, I wanted to get rid of it.'' Gillard: ''Howard, let me just bring you back to earth.'' Sattler: ''I'm not saying it.'' Gillard: ''Right, well, let me just bring you back to earth. You and I have just talked about me and Tim living at The Lodge. We live there together as a couple. You know that. Yes, on the internet there are lots of what I've referred to in the past as nutjobs and I'm happy to use the expression again.''

Fairfax Radio sacked Sattler on Friday. Loading Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says there have been many incidents where women office-holders have been asked inappropriate questions. ''There is still a significant demeaning attitude, sexist questions, invasive questioning,'' she says. ''It's got to stop because we want women in public office.''