Footballers behaving badly on RN
I love an ambiguous headline. Actually it’s Kim Toffoletti talking about footballers behaving badly in her recent
2010 Pamela Denoon lecture.
Allegations of sexual misconduct by sportsmen seem to appear in the Australian news media on a disturbingly regular basis. Using the 2004 allegations of sexual assault made against AFL and NRL players as a starting point, this talk asks why it is that male athletes of major sports like football and rugby are often linked to incidents of bad behaviour toward women. Do men’s sports breed a negative attitude toward women? And what can be done to change how players relate to women in off-field situations? Drawing on my own research into women sports fans’ perceptions of player misconduct, I reflect on the consequences of ‘footballers behaving badly’ for women within and beyond the sporting sphere, and consider how feminist thinking and action can play a role in changing the way that we, as a community, respond to sportsmen’s attitudes toward women.
Listen to it here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigideas/stories/2010/2849820.htm
