Rugby Championship: Gender stereotypes reinforced in Wallabies-Boks game

While critiquing bad behaviour in one part of the Rugby Championship tie, let’s not equate dramatic antics with femininity.

Sep 2, 2022 - 14:15
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Rugby Championship: Gender stereotypes reinforced in Wallabies-Boks game

About 40 minutes into last Saturday’s round three Rugby Championship clash between Australia and South Africa, Wallaby scrum-half Nic White became a catalyst for gender stereotyping from fans when he had his face tackled by Faf de Klerk’s go-go-gadget arm, for which De Klerk received a yellow card.

This prompted many people watching the Rugby Championship tie to weigh in via social media regarding what a “little girl” White was and how he needed to “change his tampon” during the half-time break.

ALSO READ: Wallabies scrumhalf Nic White labeled ‘absolutely pathetic’ after milking yellow card at Rugby Championship

White’s Rugby Championship antics will be debated widely but as many quarters consider whether rugby is flirting with the worst of football or if the repercussions of De Klerk’s actions were valid, there is a conversation we don’t seem to think is worth having: the acceptance of masculinity being seen as strength and femininity as weakness.

PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ABOUT RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP TIE

It is easy to sit on the couch and think that “it’s just words” without recognising that women get more harassed in a grocery shop queue than most men may ever understand. Shouting and screaming doesn’t seem to help because “it’s just a joke” or “compliment”.

Disagreements aren’t seen as valid but rather as “sensitivity” so often these comments and invasions are internalised and the cycle continues.

ALSO READ: Nic White’s Rugby Championship actions a disgrace to rugby – Butch James

RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP COMMENTATORS

White’s conduct is going to be spoken about in colourful terms for the foreseeable future but to their credit, the Rugby Championship commentators discussed the incident in gender-neutral terms. However, their hands aren’t clean.

ALSO READ: Fan chirps Nic White: ‘We thought you were in the ICU’

When things get testy and fists start flying, Rugby Championship commentators are quick to call it “handbags”, which reduces violence to something that’s just an everyday part of life as a woman. The connection is a stretch, but one must wonder why those scuffles don’t have masculine connotations.

HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD?

First, let’s agree that women have a place in sport. Then we need to consciously note that times have changed and that our language needs to follow suit.

Sport is amazing in the ways it can unite, uplift and inspire. So while we are critiquing bad behaviour in one sphere at the Rugby Championship tournament, let’s work hard not to reinforce it in another.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Was Nic White guilty of gamesmanship or cheating?