Woman must take responsibility for Matthew Johns 'scandal'
LiveNews | Alan Jones
What about women's disrespect for themselves, chasing unknown men simply because they like the look of their flesh?
Alan Jones
Let me say at the outset, I barely know Matthew Johns. I suppose I've spoken to him in passing twice.
One or two things seem to be missing in this so-called Matthew Johns affair.
In the first instance, Matthew Johns, nor anybody, is answerable to the ABC or Tracey Grimshaw, no matter how much both those parties might think they have an overwhelming responsibility to secure what they think is the truth.
There is a problem here. It's not new. And it's not the problem now pursued by what many might call the feminazis.
There has in sport, not just in Rugby League, been a long term culture that if you have a game or more so a win, you can fill yourself up with grog and then prowl the town, sniffing the streets like some stray dog. But I haven't heard one comment made about the responsibility of this 19-year-old girl.
If Matthew Johns is a so-called role model, every teenager is a role model for his or her friends.
What we know to date is that there are clearly girls who pursue Rugby League players and boast about it. Boast about how many they've slept with and how many they've procured for their friends.
Matthew Johns has made it quite clear that the girl in question was a "willing participant" to everything that occurred.
Yet now we're talking about male disrespect for women.
What about women's disrespect for themselves, chasing unknown men simply because they like the look of their flesh?
Matthew Johns said, "At no point did she object to what was going on".
He also said, "I did not commit an act of abuse to that woman".
He also said that she asked for others with whom she could have sex.
And when one person accepted the invitation she reportedly described him as "No, you're too ugly, I want you ...", pointing again at Matthew Johns who apparently left the room.
So now we have a woman who pursued the man in question, Matthew Johns, embraced and encouraged the behaviour, in Matthew Johns' words, a willing participant, now years on saying she's been humiliated and degraded and wants to kill him.
That which she sought out and embraced, she now seeks to disown. The man whom she sought out seven years ago, she now purportedly wants to kill.
Seven years ago she got the man she wanted.
Indeed, last night on television a former workmate said, and I quote, "She was absolutely excited about the fact. She was bragging about it to the staff and quite willing, openly saying how she had sex with several players... we were quite disgusted about it but there was no trauma whatsoever."
The colleague said, "I'm disgusted that a woman can all of a sudden change her story from having a great time to then turning it into a terrible crime".
Matthew Johns has certainly been foolish, but that isn't a crime.
He was unfaithful to his wife, but that's a matter between Matthew Johns and his wife. And if women are going to seek respect from men, they must first have respect for themselves.
But now the mob mentality is prevailing.
Sponsors are saying that there's something wrong with Rugby League as a product.
Then there's this notion that because the media says so, others in that room must be named.
Seven years on, when it's clear from the New Zealand police investigation no crime has been committed. And it's also clear that the woman in question was inviting not one but several people to have sex with her, and boasting about it.
The workmate said on television last night, "She was bragging about it to the staff and quite willing, openly saying how she had sex with several players".
Now there are many people who call themselves ordinary people who would find this notion of group sex, group anything, group violence, repugnant.
But the reality is from the internet down, these things go on.
Having sex with a woman against her will or taking advantage of her weakness or her state of mind at the time, that is, she might be drunk or something such, that is a crime.
It's clear to the New Zealand police that none of this happened, unless of course having sex is a crime.
But because some people have a view that Matthew Johns must answer to an ABC programme and must reveal all to Tracey Grimshaw to the point of public humiliation, unless we believe that then it seems that this has got completely off the rails.
As the colleague said last night, that a woman can all of a sudden change her story from having a great time to turning it into a terrible crime, the colleague found that disgusting.
So, I would have thought, do most fair-minded people.
This woman went of her own volition to the hotel. She could have left at any time. She could have shown some respect for herself by not inviting these people to have sex with her.
But if every extramarital affair is to be dealt with in this way, then there'll be people running for cover from here to the end of the world including, I suspect, some people writing about this very incident.
It seems trite to say there are no winners here.
But the ruthless pursuit of Matthew Johns, independently of the facts, seems to stand fair-mindedness on its head.
The ruthless pursuit of Matthew Johns and the blind failure to even analyse the girl's behaviour seems to suggest that part of the culture that needs changing is the culture of reporting on these matters.
If a girl such as this seeks respect from her peers and from others, she must begin by respecting herself.
The notion of girls chasing sports players for sex and boasting about it is part of the problem.
The other part is the inability of sports players to walk away from it.
The standards expected of sports people on the field must simply be replicated off the field.
It really is as simple as that.
But the culture of a fair go in Australia has been completely thrown overboard in relation to Matthew Johns.
