This has actually just made me cry

"In addition the club has suspended another player who twittered his support for Evans"

good. i am so glad to hear the club has taken this action. to not have done would have been seen as supporting the 'tweet'.

Well I've just signed the petition that is circulating on facebook.

Also, I believe that a campaign to applaud Evans last week-end at Sheffield Utd's home match fell flat on it's backside. In addition the club has suspended another player who twittered his support for Evans, and the police have arrested three people in connection with a twitter account that named the victim. Added to which, all the important people believed the victim - the police, the judiciary and the jury who had access to the evidence. Sometimes, the UK gets it right and needs to be applauded.

'The other bloke got away with it because the court decided that because the woman got into a taxi with him that meant she had consented to sex.'

The thing is she may well have been going to the hotel with him for that exact reason. However, once she is unconscious, then all that changes and consent is removed. Was the film submitted as evidence? Surely this would indicate at which points she was awake and coherent, and at which points she wasn't? Perhaps it showed her participating with the first player and not the second. Does anyone know?

Poppadum, why don't you blame the mothers?

Sanjeev you are right - what I had meant to say was that i didn't ONLY blame the mothers - I didn't want to get pounced on for suggesting that the father were absolved of any blame.

so yes, mothers are absolutely amongst the guilty parties when it comes to the upbringing of these misogynistic idiots.

Also, footballers who rape and beat women get far more sympathy and understanding than footballers who are gay. Gay footballers are still being told to shut up about it and not get caught anywhere near anything that might make them look gay.

OK, I hate football, I have never liked it but that has usually been because I am simply bored by it (and all sport). But I think there is a serious, specific problem with football as the current centrepoint of misogyny.

Yes Jux, that's exactly it.

"It is purely down to the tribal, low-IQ, uneducated nature of football fans." This.

(Many football fans anyway.)

These people are only showing themselves up for the vile people they are. It makes me very angry too, but honestly most people probably don't sympathise with these idiots, who think that they are above the law because football is practically a religion.

I'm still trying to understand why the other bloke who raped her got away with it. If she was too drunk to consent to Evans, then surely she was too drunk to consent to anyone.

Yep, I agree with you Solid, I've ranted and raved about the Stan Collymore/Ulrika Jonsson situation upthread, and have been doing so in RL since I first read this thread yesterday. I didn't mention Gascoigne coz I wasn't sure of my facts but I distinctly remember the revelations about him hitting his wife and the fans certainly didn't seem to care. The misogyny is terrifying.

I'm with Sanjeev on both points.

I do think that the phrase "No means no," and the associated campaign, is partly to blame for what has happened since Evans was convicted. It puts the onus on the victim to say "No" - and there may be many reasons why she cannot say it. She might be drunk, she might have been drugged, she might be paralysed with fear and unable to utter a sound. It allows the blame to be shifted wrongly onto the victim because she was incapable of saying "No." That doesn't mean that she consented though.

The teaching should be: in the absence of a specific "yes" or other consent, it is rape. The victim shouldn't have to refuse sex. The default should be: I don't want sex unless I specifically say so.

I haven't phrased this very coherently but I hope you understand what I mean!

Something which I find nearly as odd and unpleasant is the way in which footballers are generally excused for violence against women but vilified for consensual sexual activity eg Collymore got far more stick for going dogging (which is consensual) than for beating up Ulrkika Jonson, no one seemed to care that Gasgoine put his wife in hospital but some or other footballer (forget who, not interested in football) got into trouble for attending a fetish club (again, consensual stuff).
But the whole WAG thing around football is just misogyny cubed.

Poppadum, why don't you blame the mothers? Anybody who encourages men to think that this is acceptable is part of the problem, regardless of their sex. Excusing women, just because they are women, is shameful. All too often, feminists seem to want to absolve women of any blame in any situation (and to avoid any confusion here, I am referring to those supporting Evans, not the victim).

On a related point, I am just watching Chelsea play QPR. A Chelsea player is about to stand trial for racially abusing a QPR player. Nothing proven yet, but Chelsea fans are abusing the QPR player because he has had the cheek/guts to stand up to the abuse and take it to trial. This behaviour is not restricted to anti-women, nor does it have particularly misogynistic roots. It is purely down to the tribal, low-IQ, uneducated nature of football fans.

i clicked on the facebook link. the thing that shocked me was the number of females supporting him - i suspect here lies part of the problem - these girls are going to raise boys and tell them that 'sometimes a girl just asks for it' "...and the cycle repeats.

ignorance is breeding ignorance

just to avoid any doubt - i am NOT blaming the mothers for this - i'm just saying that amongst the myriad of influences that lead a footballer to believe he can rape a girl and that's all right - the fact his mother has been brainwashed into thinking that's acceptable is very unhelpful.

i despair.

I am so sickened by this that I cannot find the words to express my disgust.
I've reported that foul facebook page and I hope other people have as well.
How can people (women as well) call that poor young woman a slag? They are rape apologists. What the bloody hell do they think the footballer is, boasting about how many girls he can get?

Only just seen this, but I am so relieved to see that the attempt to show support for this bastard failed.

That's good to know, thank god the majority had more sense!

me too.

Thanks for the link, Hazle. I was just searching for any news on the game. I'm glad they failed.

does not change how hideous the idea and everything behind it is, but good to know that at least they failed
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/04/28/bid-for-public-show-of-support-for-ched-evans-at-sheffield-united-falls-flat-91466-30861200/

It's made me cry, too. I feel so desperately sorry for the young woman at the centre of this. I was raped when I was 19 and it was hell on earth without all the additional aftermath this victim's going through. How can you even begin to put your life back together after so much abuse?

Does anyone know what happened at the match today?

I think this is disgusting. I feel very sad that we live in a world where a rape victim is called a slag and these footballers think a) it's ok to treat a woman as some sort of object and b) get away with it because they're rich and famous. As for the "football fans" applauding a rapist...I don't even know how their attitudes can be put right because they are so wrong. I think the club needs to send a strong message to these people that they do not condone rape, and anyone involved in this clapping should be banned from buying tickets to see future games.