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Downsy


Henry

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45 minutes ago, Taz said:

I couldn't care less to be honest, whether it's about his sexuality or the actual post/tweet.

There's a lot of people getting offended on behalf of other people, but in this day and age I can't say I'm overly surprised.

Is it really that different though to a video of a promotion winning team celebrating in the dressing rooms afterwards? The times we've seen that through the years with players running around in their pants, there is no comparison really.

The suggestive comments from Downsy however, probably in hindsight shouldn't have been included. If it weren't for those, I doubt much would be being mentioned about it.

Your last part, of course it wouldn’t be, as he wouldn’t be sexualising other employees/humans. 

You are basically saying, it’s fine for a male to do that on other males, but not males on other females etc. 

 

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First off, what Downsy has done is inappropriate. It is inappropriate for a member of staff/representative of the club to be or appear to be sexualising other employees. Absolutely no doubt on that.

However I completely disagree that him doing this is identical to if a male member of staff did it to female athletes/sportswomen. There are two key differences.

1) Generally speaking, male athletes/sportsmen tend to be talked about in the media and on social media in terms of their ability and merit whereas there is a long history of female athletes in the media or social media being talked about primarily in terms of their attractiveness with their sporting ability being ignored or trivialised. Yes, Downsy is objectifying male athletes but he isn't contributing to a continual narrative of sportswomen's achievements being trivialised or ignored in the way that people are when they objectify women.

2) As we've seen in US Gymnastics, US Football and in aspects of the women's game here, there is a long and unfortunate history of female athletes being exploited or abused by male coaches or other employees. A female footballer who is leered at (in person or on social media) by a male employee has utterly reasonable grounds to fear for her own safety as that male employee may well be bigger than her and able to physically assault her if she is alone with them. The rugby players may find Downsy's comments uncomfortable or inappropriate - and should of course complain if they do so - but is unlikely any of them will physically fear Downsy, which a sportswoman might reasonably do.

I absolutely agree someone should remind Downsy of the expectations for a member of staff and, if a member of the rugby team chose to complain, that should be taken seriously. But I think drawing a direct equivalence to lewd comments made about women ignores both the actual level of physical danger women may feel when drooled over by men and also the historical exploitation and oppression that plays into. Neither are right but nor are they equivalent. 

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7 minutes ago, OneTeamInBristol said:

Thanks for the explanation.

Although to be honest it raises more questions than it answers!

 

Well I'm sure 99.9% of us knew what we were from an early age.  For me, I had a flash of inspiration at the age of 8 in Backwell Primary School playing field: "Why am I running from the girls in kiss chase? I WANT to be caught by them. Especially that Louise Owen!!"

There are people who find things not so clear cut however. Not so binary.  Different strokes for different blokes, n'all that. 

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3 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Well I'm sure 99.9% of us knew what we were from an early age.  For me, I had a flash of inspiration at the age of 8 in Backwell Primary School playing field: "Why am I running from the girls in kiss chase? I WANT to be caught by them. Especially that Louise Owen!!"

There are people who find things not so clear cut however. Not so binary.  Different strokes for different blokes, n'all that. 

psmf-watcha-talking-about-willis.jpg

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Looking forward to a similar video from the womens team changing rooms. That is if Bristol Sport deem Downsys post to be ok. Like many have said, if we are striving for equality, thats exactly what it has to be

Had my arse pinched by a female colleague at the photocopier last week. Didnt bother me in the slightest. Was just workmates mucking about. Would i think of doing it myself, not a chance as I know the shitstorm it could potentially create

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28 minutes ago, Colombo Robin said:

Looking forward to a similar video from the womens team changing rooms. That is if Bristol Sport deem Downsys post to be ok. Like many have said, if we are striving for equality, thats exactly what it has to be

Had my arse pinched by a female colleague at the photocopier last week. Didnt bother me in the slightest. Was just workmates mucking about. Would i think of doing it myself, not a chance as I know the shitstorm it could potentially create

Alright no need to show off 

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2 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

A) Consider themselves a bit male and a bit female  B) Consider themselves to have no gender and are not interested in physical sex.

 

Not quite right as far as I know. 

Intersex is generally linked to physical anatomy. https://www.healthline.com/health/baby/what-does-intersex-look-like

A as you described it would be gender fluid I think. 

Asexuals you are right aren't necessarily interested in sex (there are branches off of this) though they can be any gender. You can be male and asexual for example. 

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It’s a difficult one. I wonder if any of the rugby players give a monkeys about his tweet? Probably not, I wouldn’t.

However, if it was the women’s team and a male employee had made a comment I’m guessing the feelings would be very different. Maybe it’s an historical thing that women have had to put up with for years and rightly want to stamp out but us men don’t have that worry so it’s ok?

I don’t know the answer, it just feels different.

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14 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

It’s a difficult one. I wonder if any of the rugby players give a monkeys about his tweet? Probably not, I wouldn’t.

However, if it was the women’s team and a male employee had made a comment I’m guessing the feelings would be very different. Maybe it’s an historical thing that women have had to put up with for years and rightly want to stamp out but us men don’t have that worry so it’s ok?

I don’t know the answer, it just feels different.

Nail on the head I think, blokes have held power over women since time immemorial. That asymmetry doesn’t exist in the other direction, by & large. Not to say that tweet was overly professional but possibly why there is no uproar when compared to what would happen if it was a heterosexual male employee commenting similarly on our women‘s team. 

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I’m still confused who is supposed to be offended by this:

a) the rugby team for having a video of them topless circulated on twitter

b) the ruby team for having someone leer and comment at their semi naked bodies

c) the rest of the world for having it brought to their attention than a homosexual man might like the look of another man’s muscular body?

if it were to happen the other way around, with a video circulated from the Ladies changing rooms, I’m sure the comments on Twitter would have been a lot more direct.

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9 minutes ago, HitchinRed said:

I’m still confused who is supposed to be offended by this:

a) the rugby team for having a video of them topless circulated on twitter

b) the ruby team for having someone leer and comment at their semi naked bodies

c) the rest of the world for having it brought to their attention than a homosexual man might like the look of another man’s muscular body?

if it were to happen the other way around, with a video circulated from the Ladies changing rooms, I’m sure the comments on Twitter would have been a lot more direct.

So it’s fine for an employee of Bristol sport, to sexualise in public other employees of Bristol sport? Or anyone else for that matter.

Just as it’s male on male shouldn't matter, it’s exactly the same. 

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12 minutes ago, S25loyal said:

So it’s fine for an employee of Bristol sport, to sexualise in public other employees of Bristol sport? Or anyone else for that matter.

Just as it’s male on male shouldn't matter, it’s exactly the same. 

I can make no comment on the emojis and whether I would choose not to have used them in an employee capacity, but I can say I have studied the video in minute detail and in slow motion and zoomed in, multiple times. I can find no fault with it…

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People seem desperate to think people discussing this are ‘offended’. I don’t think that’s the case at all - just fairly adult discussion on whether it’s appropriate.

I don’t think anyone cares whether Downsy is gay or not - just whether, in his position, it’s a double standard. Personally - and I note the very well written posts from @LondonBristolianet al above - I think it is at the very least highly unprofessional. 

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24 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

People seem desperate to think people discussing this are ‘offended’. I don’t think that’s the case at all - just fairly adult discussion on whether it’s appropriate.

I don’t think anyone cares whether Downsy is gay or not - just whether, in his position, it’s a double standard. Personally - and I note the very well written posts from @LondonBristolianet al above - I think it is at the very least highly unprofessional. 

And there we go. I think that’s a perfect way to end things. 

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5 hours ago, Henry said:

That’s the follow up.

Im not offended by it, I just feel it’s inappropriate for a club employee to refer to follow employees.

69FFF158-8A37-458B-8E3E-31E0D6FFD943.png

What if the club asked the players how they felt about it before the tweet went out? And all the players are fine with it because they are not complete ******* misarable trout faced Quiches! 
then would it be ok? 
 

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9 minutes ago, S25loyal said:

He’s even replied to one comment with

”I don’t meet men in toilets, it’s not my style”

Probably because someone proposed a meeting in the toilets just across the road from AG:

https://twitter.com/00BAR2/status/1455192364855742473

10 minutes ago, S25loyal said:

@JerrySLO I’ve seen you have been online since I tagged you, is this honestly the professional level Bristol sport expects? I’m genuinely bemused they think it’s acceptable for an employee to be like this on social media. 

Do you really think that you're going to get a club response on here? If you've got an issue, make a formal complaint - you're being beyond naive if you expect some kind of disciplinary trial to take place on here with an audience/baying mob.

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8 minutes ago, View from the Dolman said:

Probably because someone proposed a meeting in the toilets just across the road from AG:

https://twitter.com/00BAR2/status/1455192364855742473

Do you really think that you're going to get a club response on here? If you've got an issue, make a formal complaint - you're being beyond naive if you expect some kind of disciplinary trial to take place on here with an audience/baying mob.

Fair enough, didn’t see the toilet comment. 

A lot of you are completely failing to see the point, why does a formal complaint have to be made? It’s clearly not acceptable. 

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13 minutes ago, S25loyal said:

Fair enough, didn’t see the toilet comment. 

A lot of you are completely failing to see the point, why does a formal complaint have to be made? It’s clearly not acceptable. 

Says who? 
you? 
you can’t please everybody so if only a handful of people complain but the vast majority couldn’t give two shits and this includes the players and staff in the video why is being made into such a big deal?

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Just now, IdliketoRogerMoore said:

Says who? 
you? 
you can’t please everybody so if only a handful of people complain but the vast majority couldn’t give to shits and this includes the players and staff in the video why is being made into such a big deal?

Ah, the great “I’m alright jack” attitude.

Racism only affects a small portion of the UK population, does that not matter either? 

Covid only kills a small % does that not matter? 

There’s a massive list of what only affects a small %, that many don’t care about, that doesn’t mean it’s ok.

What a wonderful outlook you have. 

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