Oh, wait …

I was gravely concerned by the “boys being boys” and “she deserved it” brand of commentary… it would hardly surprise me if these comments issued from the same people who would have (rightly) criticized the defenses of those Muslim youths who were convicted of raping young caucasian women. We can only be certain that someone is “asking for it” if they explicitly and unambiguously ask for it (and even then consent should not automatically be taken as such; as anyone who has been blind drunk can attest to). Furthermore, the kind of behaviour exhibited would suggest to me that one should think twice even if it is asked for. The idea that sexual assault can be excusable given some natural animalistic/predatory urges in the male condition degrades and devalues the humanity of men as equally as it degrades the status, dignity and security of the female.

I think we should throw a few cats into the BB house and see how it changes the dynamic.

Throw in the cats and get rid of the people. Someone’s already done this, actually.

Could it be that it’s the men who are finding discussion of sexualised contempt too uncomfortable?

I think we should throw a few cats into the BB house and see how it changes the dynamic. I mean, enough with last year’s llamas already!

More seriously, the posts from Mel, tigtog, dogpossum and Kate are superb. Coming back to this debate after a week up in the rainforest where it was the last thing on my mind I’m stunned by how few people stopped to think about how Cam might actually be feeling. And let’s not do the whole “she’s fine now” thing. How often does sexual harrassment take time for its effects to be felt, and as a number of people have said, how fragile was she to start with? Mark is quite right – this debate has gone way off couse, and it’s a thousand miles away from anything to do with what’s harmful in current teen and 20 something behavioural norms – just as I was a thousand miles away from the debate…

Don’t get me wrong either – I took it as a meow of approval!

Cliff’s and St Catnip’s gravatars are indeed very fine, but that is my actual piano with my actual cat sitting on top of it, looking as though she is about to burst into song. In combat, however, as you both suggest, she would (and does) run away and hide under the big armchair.

when you are 18 and have an IQ of 90?

To be fair to them, I think they’re 20 and 22.

What odds the two most immature beta males, the ones who didn’t score any babes, both homophobic, would choose to approach the most ambivalent and unstable single female in a coercive manner, after a drinking session and after 70 nights listening to the hetero alpha males having near-sex in the same bedroom? Same odds, as NRL players on an end of season trip visiting prostitutes and vomiting on the team bus/plane.

Do Ash & John deserve to be seen as sex offenders by the whole nation, or should they be viewed as yet another bunch of disposable dupes of the BB franchise, who knowingly cast these third rate yobs and stooges in the first place?

After BB04, the producers chose to cast young, single, exhibitionist, ‘good-looking’ housemates to absolutely ensure live sex on the telly and high ratings. They created the group dynamics for both BB05 & BB06, and wilfully continue/d to manage/manipulate situations/relationships all the way along. With advanced psychological testing, a long audition process etc, producers are easily able to weed out contestants who have poor impulse control, show any anti-social behaviour traits and misogynist/homophobic tendencies. That these pre-selected dupes ‘act out’ after many BB manipulations, should be more closely analysed, especially when the contestants are young and immature. Some of them actually say after being ‘released’ that they had completely forgotten they were on camera/tv. How much consent are you giving, when you are 18 and have an IQ of 90?