"I want to be a woman, it's my right as a man," says Eric Idle as Stan, to the baffled incomprehension of his fellow fighters against tyranny.

"From now on, I want you to call me Loretta," Stan adds.

Yet it is when Stan (sorry Loretta), bluntly announces: "I want to have babies" that Reg, the high priest character played so ably by John Cleese, explodes.

"You haven't got a womb, where's the baby going to gestate?" Reg shouts.

We see spooky parallels between Life of Brian, the 1979 British comedy designed to offend nearly all forces of religion and political correctness, and the recent imbroglio over the Tasmanian University Union's search for a woman's officer.

Especially satisfying in the TUU case was the reaction of ideology-raddled feminists blindsided by a popularly-elected bloke getting the gig as the Northern campus female spokesthingy.

What would a male know about women's problems, the gender junkies wanted to know?

And if a trifle defensively.

Indeed, a 1000-strong petition from excitable persons, as opposed to the 200 who voted, saw James Ritchie bow to pressure and resign.

Then the TUU bafflingly declared that the job had to go "to someone who identifies as a woman".

Hmm, not necessarily a woman, we're thinking, but someone who felt like one and perhaps spoke and dressed like a chick.

A blogger wondered whether "a man with a beard could still identify as a woman".

"Would female clothes be enough to get him across the line?" he queried provocatively.

Your columnist mused on whether we once might have qualified on the basis of not necessarily being a member of the gentler sex but once being branded as a bit of a girl.

It occurred as a 12-year-old Pommie import soccer player attempted to master the new-fangled and manly Godzone game.

More used to the "no contact" round ball situation, this writer was granted a certain mark — and nimbly stepped to one side to avoid grabbing the Sherrin.

The tactic led to a bloke behind the railing yelling: "Geez, mate, grab the ball, what are ya, a big sheila?"

These days, social engineering has led us to accept "identify as a woman" without so much as a knowing snigger.

We recall some 10 years ago when a roo-shootin', beer-drinkin', ute-steerin' University of New England student Dave Allen was appointed the uni's first "heterosexual officer".

Posing in front of his blue ute, the wide-brim and be-hatted bloke told of his pastimes including killing anything that was furry and twitched its cute little nose, undertaking ute "circle work", and acting in an overtly heterosexual manner towards members of the opposite sex.

You could imagine how horrified TUU delegates would be to learn of such testosterone-driven stuff.

We wonder whether other organisations should get with the project.

The RSPCA, for example, may like to hire a dachshund as its media bark-person.

Would that the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers' Association board appoints at least one horned and hoofed beast to promote the bovine point of view.

We must lobby the Children's Commissioner to get a brat on board.

Meanwhile, there appears much work to be done at the Launceston uni campus.

We recall in 2005 when the National Union of Students' then-duly appointed queer officer, Craig Comrie, got very annoyed over the UNE appointing that heterosexual officer.

Does the uni's Northern campus have a queer officer?

If not, why not?