By Dr聽Joanne Mayoh, Senior Lecturer in Sport,聽Physical Activity & Health.
Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that mate.
This utterly appalling statement was directed at Stanislas Wawrinka during their Rogers Cup match on Wednesday. On-court microphones recorded Kyrgios making the lewd and disparaging comment with reference to Stan Wawrinka鈥檚 girlfriend , the Croatian tennis player and women鈥檚 world No. 129.
The media has been swift to identify these comments as a critical example of , an extremely topical psychological strategy made famous within the sport of cricket, which can help a player gain an advantage by verbally launching an attack on an opposing athlete. This form of psychological combat, an equally ugly relation to 鈥渢rash talk鈥� in basketball and 鈥渃hirping鈥� in ice hockey, has recently become the of surrounding the ethics of psychological sporting strategies.
While public discussions surrounding the , and broader considerations of athlete welfare are an extremely worthwhile pursuit, the endless stream of articles questioning the legitimacy of the claims fail to address the glaringly obvious issue with the statement made by Kyrgios: the fact that his slur is a blatant example of the pervasive misogyny which is rampant within the culture of men鈥檚 sport.
Sexism, not sledging
The fundamental issue here is one of sexism, not sledging. While and Vekic are both victims in this recent attack, the nature of the statements specifically highlight oppressive attitudes towards women which exist within sport.
Vekic: the real victim in this sorry saga. Reuters/Vincent Kessler
The overt reference to Vekic鈥檚 sexual exploits include her as an innocuous victim in the messy game of psychological manipulation which is prevalent within modern competitive sport. Of greater concern, the choice of language demonstrates an example of violent and aggressive attitudes towards heterosexual sex, which are closely tied with the discourse of sexual violence and abuse.
Not only does this statement relegate Vekic to the status of a mere vessel for sex, it highlights the damaging attitude that women are conquests, the spoils of men, or sexual possessions. The nature of Kyrgios鈥檚 statement also advocates the misogynistic notion that by allegedly 鈥渂anging鈥� someone, Vekic is somehow cheapened for her next male possessor. The lack of focus on the sexist core of this issue is an explicit example of the failure for social commentators to question the widespread sexist discourse that exists within sport.
Fuel to the fire
Not only does the initial slur reek of 鈥渟lut shaming鈥�, using a women鈥檚 sexuality as an insult, the chauvinistic tone of the debate was worsened by the proceeding statements made by Kyrgios鈥檚 family. Nick鈥檚 brother Cristos further fuelled the inappropriate display by . His remarks were reportedly deemed so offensive that they were prevented from being broadcast.
It is somewhat reassuring that despite the widespread neglect of the media to recognise the broader social issue lurking under the surface of Kyrgios鈥檚 verbal attack, the producers of this radio programme deemed Cristos Kyrgios鈥檚 attitude as extremely disturbing, and made a stand not to air his statements. This provides an example of the kind of active resistance needed in order to promote social justice within sport.
Unfortunately Cristos was not the only member of the Kyrgios family to wade into the debate. Nick鈥檚 on-court behavior was further who in a statement showing no critical awareness of the oppressive practices at play proclaimed 鈥渋t鈥檚 not a nice thing to say, it鈥檚 not, but you can鈥檛 always cop it on the chin from other people without retaliating鈥�.
Her response focusing on the tit-for-tat nature of sledging demonstrates a disturbing lack of empathy for Vekic, and a complete failure to recognise the gendered context of her son鈥檚 statement. Such neglect demonstrates how women as well as men play a role in policing damaging negative attitudes about gender.
Vekic remains the invisible victim of an attack that symbolises the abuse experienced by female athletes on a daily basis. Reader comments to blind-sighted articles and to the event predictably demonstrate a backlash against Vekic, questioning her morals and character for supposedly being sexually active. Kyrgios has , however no reference in this apology was made to Vekic. We must not forget the real victim of this unprincipled attack.
This article was originally published on . Read the .
