Boris The Rooster: North Melbourne Players Need Help

Posted Apr 08 in Opinion tagged ,

I love AFL, but must comment on the ‘Boris The Rooster’ affair. Some players from North Melbourne football club posted a video on YouTube of a toy rooster wining and dining a ‘woman’ chicken, having sex with it, violently beating the woman chicken up, killing the woman, and then having sex with the now dead carcass again.

North Melbourne CEO Eugene Arocca, says it wasn’t intentionally meant to harm people. He also said “we have been treated unfairly”. He also claimed it was an aberration (as did their captain in what was obviously a PR fed line). Worse, he then had the team stand together – supposedly, to take responsibility. Have they seen Spartacus -(looks like they have). The unified team stands together so the real culprits can’t be identified. Shameful.

Seemingly under pressure from the AFL Fritz Simpson (their former captain!) and D Pratt then come clean (ironically on The misogynistic Footy Show) exclaiming it was not meant for other peoples eyes – just their own as if that somehow makes it right.

Here’s the real issue. The video wasn’t an aberration. People develop, over time, patterns of behaviour. These patterns of behaviour are driven by thoughts and beliefs that are formed over a lifetime of experience. The boys who made these videos have very distorted cognitions – they most likely see women as disposable, inferior, and worthless. Something to exploit. Further, their behavior would suggest they harbour aggressive thoughts towards women – they simply must if they think depicting women in this light is ok!
Further, as they read this, they may say things to themselves such as ‘it was just a joke’, or ‘It was a chicken – not a real woman’, and so on. They will justify their behaviour to themselves to see themselves in the best possible light (no one wants to see themselves as a monster – even people who commit monstrous acts).
The scary thing is these distorted cognitions are – if left unchecked, dangerous. They can be the precursor to actual abusive behaviour towards women. And even worse their hopelessly out of his depth CEO is unwittingly condoning their behaviour – probably because he too, to some degree has similar beliefs.

It’s encouraging to hear that the AFL wants to step in and punish those involved. The punishment may change those involved behaviour, but more importantly it sends the message of ‘Guys what you did was sick. You may not be able to see it yet – but with a lot of education, psychological intervention, and effort, you may’. The AFL is still a long way from really understanding the problem. However, they appear sincere in their desire to eliminate this kind of behaviour. Well done to the guys who owned up to the video – I hope they get the help they need to change their thoughts, beliefs and behaviour.

Share this post

Comments

  1. Anonymous

    Apr 9th, 2009

    Utterly disgusting – and an interesting analysis.

  2. Anonymous

    Apr 9th, 2009

    LOL. What a load of crap! This is the biggest media blowup of the century.

  3. Kelly

    Apr 9th, 2009

    I overheard someone I know (a female) talking about the young woman that Brett Stewart has been charged with assaulting as “asking for it”. I was appalled that a) anyone would say that, b) a WOMAN would say that and c) it is still being said in 2009.
    It appears that not only is there an in-bred culture amongst some groups of men that this stuff is a “joke” and is “harmless”, but also seen that way by women as well – somehow trivial, and not something to be angry or worried about. It’s worrying and sadens me. That not only do men have these ingrained behaviours, but women as well. That a women could condone disrespectful (and in some cases violent) actions towards women as somehow being OK. So it’s not juts the fellas, but the ladies as well. It’s like we need another sexual revolution to remind people how far we have come so they don’t take anything for granted.

  4. MMC

    Apr 9th, 2009

    sick behaviour and unfortunately a lot of people wont even see the problem with it, which is even more scary………..

  5. Fritz Bachen

    Apr 9th, 2009

    Anon 1. thanks
    Anon 2. You are probably part of the problem
    Kelly Agree with you. It feels that we have taken a step backwards in terms of equality and women are now again being objectified. Very sad that they are propagating the opression.
    MCC – Exactly.

  6. Anonymous

    Apr 9th, 2009

    Get over it there are much worse things out there and Yes I am a Female

  7. derek

    Apr 9th, 2009

    Its a bloody chicken for christs sake,did you know some movies that make it to cinemas, actually rape scenes in them?Based on your analysis, in theory all involved directors,actors,producers etc. think that this is an ok practise,and need counselling,correct?
    The take that alot of people got out of it,was it was juvenile and a joke as you said because that is what it was plain and simple,there was no deep seeded psycological behavioural issues with it, id find it hard to believe 18 blokes would all think that violence to women is acceptable,this was a clear case of doing something before thinking about the repurcussions of politically correct morons.

  8. Bluedog

    Apr 10th, 2009

    What a joke, this is political correctness gone mad. What ever happened to freedom of speech. The do gooders of the world have a lot to answer for.

  9. Anonymous

    Apr 11th, 2009

    To the people that can see these acts are aimed at women maybe you have some distorted and diturbing thoughts. So many real problems in the world and you are worried about a rubber chook sums up nicely the way our world is headed. Get over it.

  10. Fritz Bachen

    Apr 12th, 2009

    OK so the last 4 comments have now got me a little worried, as have other footballers reviews of the incident in the papers over the weekend.

    Dereck – did you know that censorship standards apply to the movies you see? For example, you cannot show a sex scene within a few moments of a scene of extreme violence. As linkign sex and violence is bad (do I need to explain why). This little video would not make it past the censorship board for mainstream release. Why? Becuase the themes are so shocking and out of sync with everyday standards.

  11. The PR Lab

    Apr 13th, 2009

    Most insightful, Fritz. Pity most people simply rubbish educated analysis (they must watch the Footy Show). The culture/s in our society that allow this (and other forms of loutish and violent behaviour) are becoming more predominant. Patrick Smith’s views in this weekend Australian were spot-on.

  12. Fritz Bachen

    Apr 18th, 2009

    Cheers PR Lab, seems to have all died away now – very quickly – until the next event!

  13. SM

    Apr 21st, 2009

    Sorry I’m late to this and I know it’s old news but I wanted to write my support for your comments Fritz.

    If it wasn’t so revolting I would be amused at Bluedog’s resorting to the good old ‘political correctness gone mad’. Thank goodness for that term, how else would the dinosaurs of the world excuse/express themselves these days when backed into a corner.

  14. Fritz Bachen

    Apr 21st, 2009

    HI SM – politcal correctness gone made I tell you!! What’s wrong with a bit of sex, tourture, murder and rape! Some people just are not getting it.

  15. Kamagra

    May 17th, 2011

    I have few things about this video, and one of then is the next, the person who made this video is totally sick or is have a strange humor sense.

  16. david

    Sep 2nd, 2011

    Hi… that was great stuff.. I really like reading on this subject Could you tell me more on that… I love to explore

    Psychologist Melbourne

  17. www.muebles-en-vallecas.com

    Oct 11th, 2011

    I found so much useful data in this post!

  18. xlpharmacy

    Dec 14th, 2011

    Poor Boris he is not gonna be able to drink the glass of wine he wanted to share with his alive friend.

Trackbacks and Pingbacks

    Leave a Comment