The First Stone

The First Stone: Some questions about sex and power is a controversial non-fiction book by Helen Garner about a 1992 sexual harassment scandal at Ormond College, one of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne, which the author had attended in the 1960s. It was first published in Australia in 1995 and later published in the United States in 1997. The book revolves around Garner's attempts to interview the two young women at the centre of a sexual assault scandal but who declined to meet her. This sets off a narrative exploring the politics, sexual and otherwise, of the college as well as Garner's personal feelings about the original events and the people she meets in the course of her research. Aside from the events and the harassment itself, Garner explores themes of sexism, masculinity, feminism, gender wars, fraternalism in colleges, "Old Boys" and the establishment, and power balances in both educational settings and personal relationships. A national bestseller, the book was condemned by some Australian feminists for a variety of reasons. The journalist Virginia Trioli published Generation F: Sex, Power & the Young Feminist in 1996 and a collection of essays critical of The First Stone was published under the title bodyjamming (1997) by Jenna Mead, an Ormond College councillor who acted as an emissary for the two women complainants. Garner gave her first detailed response to the critics in a speech at The Sydney Institute entitled "The fate of The First Stone" (1995). Despite its controversy, it was critically acclaimed, has been discussed widely academically and sold over 100,000 copies.