On January 29, a short article appeared in the The Age online.
Four sentences of this article were devoted to the fact that Police have cleared two Collingwood footballers, Dayne Beams and John McCarthy, of alleged sexual assault following grand final celebrations in 2010. It stated that Mr Beams and Mr McCarthy denied wrongdoing and co-operated with the investigation.
In stark contrast to the brouhaha that erupted when allegations were made by an unnamed female in October last year, the media have by and large glossed over this story.
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A mere four sentences pales in comparison to the deluge unleashed by multiple Fairfax media commentators baying for blood and decrying the rampant misogyny of the AFL.
Prominent ex-footballer “Spida” Everitt and Kerri-Anne Kennerley questioned the legitimacy of the rape claim, and public opinion was divided. However, the academic backlash was profound.
Columns appeared describing rape experiences and the educated rushed to condemn those who ascribed some responsibility to the woman involved.
Nina Funnell opened her denunciation with outrage at anyone who questioned the validity of the anonymous female’s claims. “Woman ask to be raped … Rape victims are sluts and strays.”
Leslie Cannold eagerly told us about her own rape experiences, further adding that the Kennerleys and Everitts of the world did nothing but perpetuate the idea that if women put themselves in harm’s way, it is their own “stupid, sluttish fault.”
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Like these commentators, I do not and will never condone rape. I do not believe that men are uncontrollable animals who must be pleased physically by women who fall in their paths.
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Unfortunately, I do not believe that these commentators had the full picture.
There is no doubt that a streak of misogyny runs through football culture. The emergence of a number of measures (such as the AFL’s Respect and Responsibility Policy) to tackle this problem speaks of its severity amongst the ranks of our elite sportspeople. But men are not the only problem here.
Having grown up in country Victoria, I have direct experience of the glamorous sheen that comes off footballers and attracts women to them. Female flocks are very aware of what they are doing and also very calculating in their attempts to be noticed by footballers.
I understand the lengths these women will go to to be seen with footballers - to be invited to awards nights and have their picture in the paper - but also to sleep with footballers. Anecdotally, I have heard from two independent sources of a group of women whose sole aim is to work their way up until they reach the Brownlow medallist.
In the absence of all facts in October last year, it was only ever fair to assume that both parties were as intoxicated as each other, and I fail to see why the word of an intoxicated woman in a compromised situation was more valid than the word of an intoxicated man in that same situation.
It seems that a sportsman’s side of the story is as good as illegitimate based on the very fact that he is a man.
The commentary revealed a gross imbalance between the believability of a man’s word against a woman’s in certain situations. However, this belief is itself surely rooted in a distorted form of sexism.
If we are to believe women over men in sexual context, we are subscribing to the view that men are in fact wild beasts who must satiate their physical urges and that women are no more than unwitting victims who haplessly fall into their hands.
We ignore that women too are powerful and have the agency and ability to harm men. Ask any male teacher unfairly accused of assault by a teenage girl with an agenda - and there have been many. These men lose respect, perhaps their career, and the stink of suspicion, even when their names are cleared, will never really go away.
There is another issue at play here. We elevate sportsmen (but not sportswomen) to a status resembling divinity. Really, they are ordinary young men with an extraordinary aptitude for physical strength, speed and agility.
Many are not yet educated or have not worked a job in the ‘real world’ before finding themselves edified by men and women alike. The recent misbehaviour of four St Kilda players while in New Zealand epitomises this very issue.
None of this justifies any kind of violence, sexual or otherwise. In fact it shows that there remains an issue in the AFL, one that is not yet resolved.
However, it is dangerous to ignore women’s agency or to assume that women are always victims in cases of alleged sexual misconduct. This is perverted feminism at its very worst.