Michael Nicholson: Let’s call out sexism when we see it … this aint it

Degrading women is reprehensible, but that’s not what we’re dealing with in the TikTok video with Collingwood’s young guns, writes Michael Nicholson.

Sound the ‘footballers behaving badly’ siren.

First it was under fire Collingwood star Jordan De Goey filmed partying in Bali that set tongues wagging, and to be honest, in the middle of the season (albeit the bye), rightfully so.

Sadly for Collingwood, it has progressed from Indonesian antics to a new social media scandal – this time it’s Magpie young guns Jack Ginnivan and Isaac Quaynor who have filmed themselves “rating and disparaging” women.

Normally I’d be the first one to call out sexist, disgusting behaviour when I see it – and there’s a lot to call out on the daily, but anyone with a casual understanding of TikTok would have seen the video uploaded by Ginnivan and realised the duo was participating in a fairly harmless trend along with millions of other people around the world.

The concept is that you mention the attractive rating of a person and then add a caveat, positive or negative, and respond with how that would impact your attraction to that person. For example “she’s an 8, but chews with her mouth open … well then she’s a 3” or “he’s a 10 but runs wearing a backpack … immediate 2”.

A video from Instagram shows Collingwood footballer Jordan De Goey partying in Bali with friends. Picture: Instagram

. . . and after a game. Picture: Michael Klein

The joke isn’t so much about rating people (women in this instance), but about revealing your own personal standards (high or low). There are thousands of these videos under hashtags like #ShesA10 and #HesA10 and in almost all instances, they are funny and a satirical take on the rollercoaster world of dating.

People will cry out that footballers need to be better role models and that Ginnivan and Quaynor have brought their club, themselves and most importantly, the sponsors, into disrepute.

Jack Ginnivan at training today. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Isaac Quaynor. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Are we seriously going to punish young footy stars for partaking in wildly popular social media trends that increase their club’s ability to connect with new fans?

Rating women on their appearance or degrading women is reprehensible, but that’s not what we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing with young footballers who are active on social media engaging with the people who their club and sponsors want to reach more than ever.

If you’re going to make footballers apologise for being on TikTok you may as well tell them all to delete social media – but the clubs won’t because that’s where their new fans are.

Let’s be real, the only thing Jack Ginnivan and Isaac Quaynor should apologise for is posting the least funny version of a viral and fairly harmless TikTok trend.

Now let that be the first and last time I ever have to defend anyone who plays for Collingwood.

Michael Nicholson is The Advertiser’s Social Media editor and a long suffering Crows supporter. Do you agree with him? Leave a comment below

Originally published as Michael Nicholson: Let’s call out sexism when we see it … this aint it