For those of you in other locals, the "alleged" rape of a young women by members of the Bulldogs rugby team has been omnipresent in the news here in Australia. Thanks to Miranda Devine of the Sydney Morning Herald for her fantastic article about the "moral failure" of the Bulldogs. Most interestingly, is her parallels between the homoerotic nature of group sex, and that of sports clubs:
But in the largest study of its kind, La Trobe University surveyed 20,000 people for its 2002 Australian Study of Health and Relationships and found the reality to be more prosaic. Just 2.3 per cent of men and 0.6 per cent of women reported having had group sex. Reportedly most men who engage in group sex are gay, which brings to mind the homoerotic overtones of such memorable rugby league events as the wandering finger of Manly winger John Hopoate. The cross-dressing on Channel Nine's The Footy Show is, of course, just panto.
The more I think about it, the more it makes all most too much sense.
Team sport is important to Australian life and to the upbringing of children. But it is not indispensable.
