I’m getting a bit tired of the virtue signalling around the Sydney Swans story.
“I hope the women are okay.”
“We must respect women.”
“Think about the women involved.”
Yes. Of course.
But can we actually have a high IQ conversation about this?
The women involved were reportedly adult entertainers who had voluntarily agreed to go to a hotel room with professional footballers.
That doesn’t mean they consented to everything that happened there.
It doesn’t excuse inappropriate behaviour.
And if someone crossed a sexual or legal boundary, they should be held accountable. Simple.
But here’s the part nobody seems comfortable saying: Being a sex worker doesn’t remove your agency.
Adults make choices. Adults assess risk. Adults enter environments. Adults sometimes make decisions that have consequences.
We seem increasingly afraid to acknowledge that when the adult involved is a woman.
You can believe women deserve respect AND believe women have agency.
You can believe men should be held accountable AND believe women should be accountable for their own choices.
Those aren't contradictory positions.
And until we can hold multiple truths at once, we're not having a serious conversation about what actually happened.
We're just virtue signalling.