Bass MP and White Ribbon ambassador Brian Paynter takes Collingwood president and media personality Eddie McGuire to task over his comments about colleague Caroline Wilson in the wake of the Freeze MND event at the MCG.
JUST what is it that you don’t understand Eddie?
I’ve listened with interest over the past week to the debate surrounding Eddie McGuire and his misguided comments directed at Carolyn Wilson.
So Eddie doesn’t understand why his comments are a problem. Eddie says “in my mind there is nothing wrong with what I said”.
Well Eddie, that is the very heart of the problem. When men like you holding leadership roles in our community think that your words and comments, your intimidation and bullying, your threatening and insensitive gestures and gang mentality towards women are acceptable then we have a real problem.
You think this is joke. Pass it off as friendly banter. Male bonding. A few blokes sitting around having a laugh. Cracking a gag.
Then explain your jokes to the families who have lost a loved one to the violent actions of a man.
You won’t need to look too far to find such a family. Currently the number stands at more than one per week.
Whilst you’re talking to the families Eddie explain why we live in a community where men’s violence against women is the highest contributor to death or injury for women aged between 15 and 44.
If we continue to accept these comments as just friendly banter then we will never make inroads into this problem.
Interestingly, when surveyed, only 60 per cent of Herald Sun readers thought that Eddie’s comments were inappropriate.
More disappointing was the view of Jeff Kennett in the same paper when he passed the comments off as a “humorous exchange”.
Would the comments have stirred such debate if the subject was a man, he asked?
Sorry Jeff, but you’re completely missing the point. They weren’t directed at a man. They were directed at a woman and were meant to be physically intimidating and threatening.
Remember the words of Ken Lay – schoolyard banter can later devolve into sexist jokes and catcalls and sink further to where it becomes sexual assault and domestic violence.
Wake up Eddie. You’ve once again displayed your ignorance and failed in your role as an influential leader in our community.
I suppose we should be thankful in one sense – that his mindless comments have at least got people talking about what is a very important issue.
