Sex Party calls for NRL players to organise group sex at brothels #fb

I've just been sent a media release by the Australian Sex Party, thanks to Michael Meloni of the Somebody Think of the Children blog, who passed it on to me after getting it from them.

The release says that the NRL should make all players get educated about brothels, and that NRL clubs should arrange legal group sex sessions for players who want them.

The release comes after a week and a half of allegations that former Rugby League star and now TV personality Matthew Johns helped to gang rape a young woman in New Zealand in 2002.

The release says:

Sex Party Calls for Brothel Education in NRL

Footballers who wanted to engage in group sex should be educated by their clubs about how to organise these liaisons as legal, commercial arrangements.

Australian Sex Party convenor Fiona Patten, said that most Rugby League clubs had made brothels and escort agencies ‘no go’ areas for their players thinking that they were enhancing the moral standing of their teams. “In reality, these prudish bans on commercial sex have inadvertently led to an increase in group sex with groupies who try to access popular players”, she said.

 “ The NRL needs to set up a brothel liaison office and to conduct brothel information sessions with all players, including those who profess to be religious.”

Ms Patten said that most teams in the NRL would have a local brothel they could adopt as their own and which would bend over backwards to help them learn about how to use its many services. “If players are away on tour, they could ring a local brothel or escort agency and arrange a service with a qualified sex worker for five or six players. Strict times would be adhered to, numbers of clients would be checked and fees would be paid up front.”

There are approximately 200 legal brothels and up to 6,000 sex workers in NSW. Commercial sex has been legal since 1995 and one of the main reasons that state governments went down this road was to ensure the safety of workers and clients alike. Rugby League clubs which actively discourage their players from seeking out legal commercial sexual services on moral grounds have inadvertently contributed to sexual violence and bad behaviour in the code.

Ms Patten said she would be happy to broker a meeting with NRL officials and representatives of the sex industry to establish a discreet and professional relationship between the two. “This relationship could then become a model for other sporting organisations who have to coordinate large numbers of sexually active men who sometimes drink to excess with groupies and fans around them”, she said.

The Australian Sex Party was in the process of developing policies on sex and gender in the sport.

Some other articles worth reading about a culture that punishes the victims of rape while supporting the men who rape women:

Sleepydumpling on just what rape is, exactly, with a classic example of a woman doing the "slut shaming" in the comments, following on from this comment of hers on Twitter.


This article by Zomb1etron.

This article at Hoyden About Town by Lauredhel, about Sydney Morning Herald reporter Asher Moses who called the woman involved in the group sex with Matthew Johns and others a "slutty groupy", and claimed on Twitter the group sex was consensual even though he is in no position to know the truth:



Moses has since deleted this post on Twitter but this screenshot is from Twitter Search, which archives Twitter messages for 55 days.

And finally this article from Sydney's Daily Telegraph, about the reaction of gay former Rugby League player Ian Roberts to the way The Footy Show rallied around its star Matthew Johns, and how this is similar to the way the Footy Show has consistently mocked him:

He'd tuned into The Footy Show to see what Johns would say, and was disappointed that the apology, and Johns' subsequent remarks, have focused mainly on the pain of his own wife and family.

About the girl involved, Johns has repeatedly said he's sorry for her "embarrassment and pain" - implying that although she was an entirely willing participant at the time, she is now motivated by shame and anger.

"It was almost like he was the victim, that she asked for it," Roberts told me. "My God - that poor woman has suffered for all this time.

I've been hearing talkback callers this week saying she's being vindictive, that she asked for it. My God, she was 19!

"It's taken her seven years to mature. She was totally outnumbered in the room. She was a defenceless human being.

She was alone with all those men, and none of them said, 'Come on, guys, that's enough.' Not one of them was man enough to admit to this before now, and none of the other men who were in that room are brave enough to own their actions, to step up now and say 'Yeah, it was me.'

"And anyone who says she asked for it - shame on you. She was just a kid."