Feminism and hypocricy within the media

During the 1970s, feminists fought for and eventually achieved, favourable attention from the media. As Larson points out, the National Organisation for Women (NOW) “reveal that the media either ignored or stigmatised feminism prior to 1970." There is little doubt that both the ABC's Ferguson and Nine's Grimshaw are using their positions as prominent journalists to push for the exposure of degrading acts on women. Whilst something needs to be done about the group-sex culture that still exists within rugby league, the character assassination of Johns is not the answer. If anything, the media has to accept part of the blame for the constant sexualisation of athletes, particularly footballers. On an episode of ‘A Current Affair’ aired earlier in this year, titled “God’s of Football”, Grimshaw provided an example of the hypocritical nature of the media. Despite the program being aired to promote a calendar for charity, the depiction of half-naked footballers and Grimshaw’s concluding comment, “now that’s something to look at”, is lacking in responsibility. Footballers are expected to be sexual icons, and are then condemned by the media for acting on the advances of often persistent female adorers.