Harvey Weinstein and Woody Allen have found an unlikely defender in the influential feminist Germaine Greer, who has criticised the “whingeing” #MeToo movement.

In an interview with Australian media before she was named Australian of the year in London, Greer said she had “always wanted to see women react immediately” when they were faced with sexual abuse or harassment.

“In the old days,” she continued, “there were movies – the Carry On comedies, for example – which always had a man leering after women. And the women always outwitted him – he was a fool. We weren’t afraid of him and we weren’t afraid to slap him down.”

Acknowledging to the Sydney Morning Herald that “what makes it different is when the man has economic power, as Harvey Weinstein has”, Greer said that “if you spread your legs because he said ‘be nice to me and I’ll give you a job in a movie’ then I’m afraid that’s tantamount to consent, and it’s too late now to start whingeing about that”.

Greer also commented on Allen’s alleged sexual abuse of his daughter Dylan Farrow when she was seven, in 1992, saying: “It was 20 years ago, so you want him to stop making movies now? It might be a good idea because he’s probably no good any more.”

The author of The Female Eunuch went on to raise concerns that what she called the #MeToo “business” would not work, “because all the powerful men who are now in all sorts of trouble are already briefing their lawyers”.

“It’s going to be the OJ Simpson trial all over again in spades, it will go on and on, and it will pit woman against woman. And I’m really concerned that the women who have given testimony now will be taken to pieces,” she said, according to news.com.au. “Because power is power, ultimately, and the people protesting are people who don’t have the power.”

Greer also spoke of her regret that the movement was failing to address the abuse of minority women in ordinary jobs, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

She revealed that she is currently writing a new book, which will be called On Rape, a follow-up to her previous essay, On Rage. “My feeling is we ditch rape altogether [as a crime] because it’s hopeless. I have seen the police working up a rape case trying desperately hard to build it up so it will stand up in court – and wasting their time,” she said. “The burden of proof is too high and that’s because the tariff is too onerous. Rape is a daily crime, it’s not spectacular. What we need is a coherent law of sexual assault.”