Mamamia Faces Backlash After Mia Freedman's Son Is Appointed CEO Of The Women's Media Company
"Hiring a male CEO is just further proof that this platform is incapable of understanding what women want."
I will admit I was once a fan of the women’s media network Mamamia. I religiously listened to their podcasts, particularly Mamamia Outloud. I once interviewed Mamamia co-founder Mia Freedman. I even wrote a few articles for the site.
But in recent years, I’ve turned away from Mamamia. The company reeks of faux feminism and their clickbait headlines are reminiscent to a Take 5 magazine. But the final nail in the coffin was the network’s continual failure to properly report on the genocide in Gaza. And Mamamia is undoubtedly aware of this push-back - you only need to spend five minutes reading the podcast reviews for Mamamia Outloud to understand their listeners' ongoing frustration.
In fact, after digging through their website, I found it has been nearly a year since Mamamia published a single article about the genocide in Gaza (or ‘conflict’ as they prefer to call it).
Considering all of this, I wasn't surprised by the controversial news that came out of the Mamamia offices this week. 28 year old Luca Lavigne was appointed as the company's new CEO. He is the son of co-founders Mia Freedman and Jason Lavigne, and is set to replace Nat Harvey. The promotion triggered immense backlash. I mean, for a platform that prides itself on being 'Australia’s largest independent women’s media group,' placing a man at the helm is a glaring contradiction. Yes, Lavigne has worked at MamaMia for 10 years, but surely Mia and co understands why so many people take issue with this.
Imagine if other women focused platforms like Shameless Media, Missing Perspectives or Women’s Agenda had male CEOs? Imagine if the Editor-In-Chief at some of our favourite magazines growing up, like Cleo or Dolly, were men? Imagine if fictional magazine icons like Miranda Priestly or Jacqueline Carlyle chose a straight, white man to succeed them? It would give off the same energy as Tony Abbott becoming the Minister for Women back in 2013. Ick!
This misstep comes at a time when Mamamia’s credibility is already in steady decline. The platform continues to prioritize easy clicks over content that aligns with their apparent feminist values - proving to readers and listeners just how hopelessly behind the times they really are.
Just this week comedian Dave "Hughesy" Hughes was platformed on Mamamia’s interview podcast, No Filter. For the past month multi-millionaire Hughesy has faced public scrutiny for blaming migrants for rising housing prices. This week he also admitted to peeing in a female comedian’s drinking glass. But rather than holding him accountable, the No Filter interview became a PR stunt to help rehabilitate Hughesy’s public image. Similar push-back happened when controversial adult content creator Bonnie Blue made an appearance on No Filter earlier this year. Before the interview even begun, the episode featured a five minute long disclaimer ensuring listeners that interviewing the controversial Bonnie Blue was not a decision made lightly. It kept being reiterated that Mamamia was all about making the world a better place for women and girls, yet they could never justify why they would choose to platform someone like Bonnie Blue. Like in all seriousness, why would a women’s media network choose to interview someone that promotes toxic masculinity and exploit “barely legal” teens? Mamamia knew Bonnie Blue would exploit their audience for her own personal gain and use the audience’s outrage as rage bait.
So, while I’m not surprised by Mamamia’s recent antics, I’m still disappointed. The network has so much power and privilege to create meaningful content that actually matters to women. Hiring a male CEO is just further proof that this platform is incapable of understanding what women want, what they're talking about, and, most importantly, HOW they’re talking about it.