Sexist Obituary of Author Colleen McCullough Causes Backlash

Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds, was an internationally bestselling author and a neurophysiologist. Before selling more than 30 million books worldwide, she led a successful scientific career featuring stints at Yale Medical School and at the the Royal North Shore hospital in Sydney, Australia. It’s safe to say that in her 77 years of life, she accomplished remarkable feats.

Yet, upon her passing last week, among the first things The Australian mentioned in McCullough’s obituary were that she was “plain of feature” and “certainly overweight.”