Just desserts or misogynistic bullying?

I agree that this constant reference to her sexuality and appearance was unacceptable to most people, but of course not unusual for this type of tabloid. She does, however, appear to have been part of the very system of which she was complaining, so perhaps she truly has been hoist with her own petard.

But is it a higher petard than it would be for a man?

Probably, although there is a lot of nudge-nudging about men's sexuality, too. Of course, the paper in question was our old friend The DM!

yes but the don't go round accusing people of being "mincing queers' or something like that in the paper these days do they. Too many powerful gay men in the media and it is no longer the done thing. But it is Ok it seems to call lesbians names. and to insult women on the basis of not being congenitally attractive. Are you home now GN?

Yes, home in France with my lovely sister - I took her to Annecy today and we had lunch overlooking the lake. Sunshine, good food, great company!

Has anybody checked what a petard is? Apparently it is a bomb so "Hoist by your own petard" means blown up by your own (presumably home made) bomb!!
Just deserts indeed.

I thought it was the tarred pigtail worn by sailors?

Oh thought it was a flag used to identify soldiers! Will google!

A suitable epitaph for a suicide bomber, certainly, gracesmum....

Definitely an exploding device! So basically to be hoist by your own petard is to have something backfire on you..you learn something new everday!

re original thread think the woman was victim of lazy journalism and subject to inappropriate comments by some folk in the media. However think she should have realised when you play with fire you can get burnt!

I think the woman was guilty of rank hypocrisy! Nothing printed about her was untrue.

I think that, like so many other sayings, 'hoist with one's own petard' comes from Hamlet.

There were some inappropriate comments about her appearance not about her actions so technically not essential to report. But she was not an innocent abroad think she knew how the system worked!

I'm sure its French slang for a fart, also the noise a car makes when its backfiring!

Yes, "peter" (can't do accents on laptop) means to fart. An explosive sound!

Interesting about the petard. Good old Will, I thought it was a flagpole or something.
The point is though - would the DM have attacked her in this way if she had been a man?
e.g. if a government minister had an affair with a gay man - would the DM have run dozens of articles in which they criticised the man for the sin of being both unattractive and queer? Unlikely I think.

I am sorry my Hamlet quote derailed us for a while! Another quote which might be apt, though, is from Matthew 26:52 (Yes, some atheists have studied the bible as well as Shakespeare!): He that lives by the sword dies by the sword.

Of course I agree that the DM is likely to be biased against women and would almost certainly have not printed story after story about a man's sexuality, but she is no shrinking violet.

Not a home-made bomb, but an iron engine of war that was filled with gunpowder. It was fastened to barricades or gates to blow them up. The engineer who fired the petard was at risk of being blow up himself. The quote from Act 3 of Hamlet is:

For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard.

Doesn't seem very sporty to me.

No!

Graanylin I think there are some French cakes called "pets de nonne" or something similar - means nun's farts, anyway. They are very light and delicate (the cakes)

They could become a habit....

(Sorry!)