Weighing in on “Chickengate”
It’s been all over the national news in Australia this week – players for one of the national football teams made a video about a sexual relationship between a rubber chicken and whole chicken from a supermarket, posted it on YouTube, and now are facing public backlash. I decided to check out the video for myself after hearing so many people vehemently defend it as “boys being boys”.
I heard that this may be an edited version of an even more offensive video. Without weighing in on what the media is saying about this video, I will register my concerns:
The video, to me, represents these particular men’s views on women – something to be ‘picked out’ from a meat market, fucked in a bathroom stall, used at convenience, then abused and discarded callously once through with them.
I will grant that probably none of the men involved in the production of this video would outwardly state this as their perception of women. At least, not outside of the locker room. But this video gets at the root of patriarchal male-female relationships and how deeply ingrained misogyny is in society, not just here in Australia, but everywhere. The violence depicted in using and abusing the female chicken in this video comes from a place of hatred.
Additionally, this video portrays a fetishism of violence towards women that is apparent in our ‘rape culture’. Men get off on the idea that they are having an unattainable woman by force. Men get off on subjugating and humiliating women. Just look to the fact that being anally penetrated is often the worst thing a man can think to happen to himself, but the height of sexual attainment of a woman.
So, no, I don’t think it’s sufficient to excuse the video as “boys will be boys” and “you’re just being too politically correct.” Yeah, it’s attitudes they’ve been socialized into, particularly being involved in the hyper-masculine sports subculture, but it’s symptomatic of some very negative qualities about that subculture that I think society should be drawing more attention to.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:38 am
While I see a valid point in your arguments, I’ve viewed the video and I still fail to see how this is as horrendous as the media is making it out to be. It’s a chicken with another chicken. There is no proof that it was ‘rape’ and ‘abuse’ as you claim, maybe the naked chicken consented? There’s no talking, who knows? Until the so-called victim chicken comes forward to lay charges, let’s just write it down as another night of drunken, bathroom stall, chicken sex and move onto the next topic.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
It’s not about consent or lack of consent. It’s about treatment of women. It’s about the fact that violence towards women is sexualized and men get off on the idea of treating women as this chicken was treated – used at will, beaten, ran over, and fucking the dead carcass. The problem is how this video represents the deep-seated hatred men have for women. Subconsciously.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:12 am
OK LMB, I haven’t been following this story but given the last couple of sentences of your comment I’ll take the bait:
On the other hand couldn’t this be viewed as an intelligent satire on blooky football culture which is actually much more likely to make the blokes reflect on how they treat women than any of your commentary…
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”?
April 11th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
What, like a public service announcement? The problem with learning via satire, studies have shown, is that people who are like those being depicted satirically don’t see the negative message – they feel validated in their behaviour. Or that was the case with All In The Family, anyway.
Besides, if that were the intention behind the video, the club wouldn’t have made the players involved apologize to every media outlet that would give them voice.
April 19th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
[...] better look into Chickengate first. For those that don’t know what that is, here is a link to the video and a typical analysis of it. In short two members of the NM team produced a video typically [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
While I haven’t seen the video or the coverage (videos don’t fly at work) I agree that there is a disgusting subculture among professional (and even amateur) sportsmen. I personally don’t admire these men for their off field antics, but I do for their on field ones. But I resent your negative view of men as a whole, represented by these ridiculous bottom of the brain pool buffoons.
Yes, they are dicks, and there has been public outcry. Surely that stands that all men aren’t like that?