‘Sex objects’: Fiery WAG debate erupts
The Brownlow Medal may have come and gone but there’s a fiery debate has revealed there’s still much more to say.
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A fiery debate has hit Melbourne’s radio airwaves over whether one of the city’s premier events has become a judging field for women’s appearances.
Appearing as a guest on the station, former 3AW host Neil Mitchell has claimed that the Brownlow Medal has turned into an event where women are judged and objectified, but host Jacqui Felgate fervently disagreed.
The Brownlow Medal is a black-tie event that allows AFL players to celebrate their wins.
Often, they bring their girlfriends, partners, wives, and sometimes mums, and fashion becomes a big conversation.
The boys suit up, but the women always upstage them in various gowns. Who can forget Bec Judd’s plunging red dress, which helped cement her place in Aussie pop culture?
It has kind of turned into the AFL’s Logie’s red carpet, and usually, the WAG with the wildest outfit goes viral.
Mitchell explained that he didn’t want to be negative about the event, but he couldn’t help but think the women who attend are always “judged and rated how they look”.
Mitchell argued that we get “lectured” all year about not objectifying women, and then on AFL’s big night, that gets all thrown out the window.
“Why is it all year we get lectured about how it’s sexist and offensive to objectify women, and then it gets to Brownlow night and it’s, ‘Let’s objectify women’?” He asked.
Felgate didn’t even slightly agree with his opinion and replied, “I don’t think the Brownlow objectifies women at all.”
“I think the Brownlow has become this event that partners get to support players, and players get to support their female partners,” she said.
Felgate argued that the men who attend the event get real joy from seeing their partners have a chance to shine and pointed out that most players post photos of their partners on social media and are complimentary.
Mitchell wasn’t swayed, and said, ultimately, he found the night and the response to the awards night not very progressive.
“I’m really disappointed that you’ve given up the principles of feminism just to support this,” he said.
Felgate wasn’t having any of that and pointed out that “feminism is choice, and these women have made the choice to go on the red carpet”.
She also pointed out that if an attendee wanted to be private, they didn’t have to walk the red carpet; you could join your partner inside.
She also said that for some of the women attending, this is one of the “great nights of the year” for them and it is a chance for their husband or partner to let them have some limelight.
The clash kicked off debate online, which saw people divided over whether the Brownlow event was sexist or feminist.
Felgate pointed out throughout the discussion that the women weren’t being judged but rather “celebrated”. While Mitchell maintained that women were “entitled” to wear what they want, he wasn’t convinced that the event wasn’t a place where women were judged.
One argued that women weren’t being “forced to wear the outfits they wear” and added that if they were wearing revealing outfits, it was a “conscious choice”.
“Why are they there? How many goals did they kick this season?” another asked.
Another commenter said that some women who attend the event dress like “sex objects”.
One weighed in suggesting Mitchell’s argument ignored the fact that the women attending had “choices”, while another wrote that the women at the event have their “own agency” even if Mitchell doesn’t “approve” of their choices.
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