Peter “Spida” Everitt said he never meant to promote rape with his tweets yesterday, but now he’s saying women whose rape allegations go unproven should be “named and shamed.”
Everitt, whose tweets implied that a woman who accused other footballers of rape never should have gone home with them in the first place, went on Melbourne radio show Nova 100 to, um, clarify his views. According to 9News, he told hosts Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, “If there are people … going home with somebody after they’ve known them for 20 minutes, you’ve got to take responsibility at some stage.” Then he went even further:
If you do find yourself in that situation and make allegations — like plenty have in the previous so-many years — there’s got to be ramifications for that. They’ve got to be named and shamed, just like our football players are.
To their credit, Hughes and Langbroek seemed pretty appalled by Everitt’s suggestion that women should be publicly shamed if their rape accusations don’t result in a conviction. Hughes asked, “So before a woman goes to police, she should make sure there’s enough evidence to convict the guy? She should do her own thorough investigation before she goes to police?” Everitt responded vaguely, but reiterated that if a woman goes home with a man and is raped, she needs to ask herself “what was the situation I put myself in?” The full audio interview is worth listening to, if only to hear Hughes and Langbroek rebut Everitt’s increasingly objectionable points.
Unfortunately, not everyone in Australian media is as reasonable as they are. In an interview with Everitt, TV host Kerri-Anne Kennerley said footballers “put themselves in harm’s way by picking up strays.” Her network later released a “clarification” stating, “The responsibility lies with the girls as well as with the guys when you’re talking about alcohol-fuelled situations at three o’clock in the morning.” But as Langbroek points out, “a lot of people have met people in life because they’ve had some drinks together and they’ve gone home together.” Do we really want to live in a world where all women who “put themselves in this situation” must give a blanket consent to sex?
Kerri-Anne Causes Stir With ‘Strays’ Comment [9News]
Hughesy And Kate Clash With Peter Spida Everitt Over ‘Not Going Home For Milo’ Tweet [NovaFM]
Earlier: Ex-Footballer Blames The Victim-Via Twitter-In Alleged Assault