The morality of group sex

Every man and his dog is giving up their 2c on this topic (your humble author included thanks to this post), yet this column had an 'interesting' take.

Clearly not satisfied with the explicit details available thanks to round-the-clock media coverage, he opens his column taking a swipe at what Matthew Johns' told his wife:

"I don't know what rugby league legend Matthew Johns told his missus about the night he and a bunch of drunken no-necks showed their true form in New Zealand seven years ago.

But on the strength of it, she's sticking around. "

Given the fact that his wife could pickup any Australian newspaper and find out all the details she wants, one would think that by insulting Johns and his wife on this moot point is a little more spiteful than necessary.

A little bit further on, he talks about the "victim" (being the woman) at the centre of this scandal and how the Rugby players treated her:

"Of course, they didn't love her. They didn't like her. They didn't know her."

So now "love" is an essential ingredient for (group) sex?? This is an interesting moral standpoint, albeit an old fashioned one. But I digress; his hatred for this kind of professional sporting culture screams at you and I believe it colours what sensible points he could have made, and forces him to make an extraordinary claim:

"Trish Johns, who clearly has a strong stomach, says her now jobless husband "told me very specifically every last detail of his involvement in the incident and I believed him".
...
"Trish Johns should come clean about the other names. Her contemptibly weak husband refuses to. "

Does a wife or partner, not directly implicated in this issue, have any 'moral' directive in airing other couples dirty laundry?!? Would Mr Howe be happy if his wife/partner came forward to the media to help put the boot in if he was accused of a crime? It's a bloody stupid thing to say and if Trish Johns wants to stay with her husband and keep mum about charges brought forward in the court of public opinion by a disturbed woman, then that's her business.

Professional footy/rugby culture has a real problem in Australia, as pretty much any institution that gives 20 year olds 6 figure salaries and no oversight. There are plenty of good arguments to be made on reforming the culture and criticising the boys locker room mentality that seems to grab all the headlines. However taking shots at Trish Johns is not acceptable, and Mr Howe should keep his nose out the Johns' bedroom.