The media and women's rights

The media and women's rights

By Alana Kerr and Kathy Seaone MELBOURNE — On January 24, Wayne Carey, captain of the North Melbourne football team, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault of a woman. Carey, who has the status of a demigod amongst football fans, was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and released without being convicted. Magistrate Jack Tobin said that Carey had done a "bucketful" of work for the community. The front page of the February 4 Sunday Age featured a photo of Carey posing bare chested. The accompanying article argued, through the mouths of two unnamed fellow footballers, that Carey had been victimised. It asked the reader to question whose rights had been violated. The assault occurred when Carey and a group of friends were walking down King Street after a night out. They approached the woman, who was with a female friend. Carey grabbed her breast and said, "Why don't you get a bigger set of tits?". Carey's two footballer friends argued: "That sort of thing happens a hundred times a night in a night club. I'm not saying I condone it but ... I've seen how blokes act with women." The article later stated that the general view amongst Carey's colleagues was that he had been victimised by the media because he is a high profile football star. The fact that sexual harassment is so widespread does not make it acceptable. The article also ignored that it was the woman whose rights had been violated, not Carey. Women have fought, long and hard, for the legal right to live without being sexually abused, and the right to seek legal redress when they are. "It's like we can't go out any more", complained one footballer, obviously concerned that he may have to refrain from violating other people's rights. What has been ignored is that women face the fear of rape and sexual assault in their homes and when they go out; it can also be dangerous to walk down the street with a friend at nine on a Sunday morning. A concern in the article was that Carey had been crucified. Yet he was not convicted or even fined, and the penalty he incurred was one of the most minimal for sexual assault. It is a sad fact that Carey's endorsements, sponsorships and earning potential now look set to increase. The profile given to such articles in the establishment media promotes the normalising of sexual assault by calling into question a woman's right to defend herself and seek redress through the legal system. Such articles feed into the backlash myth that women's rights have gone too far.