MIKIVERSE HEADLINE NEWS

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Alarming number of young men, women feel sympathy towards players in sex scandals

AN alarming number of young men and women feel sympathy towards footballers caught up in sex scandals.

They express the view that the women involved "knew what they were getting into".

The finding was one of several from a survey of more than 2000 people aged 12-24 commissioned by the Department of Women as part of a social marketing campaign promoting respectful relationships among Australia's youth.

Facebook, text messaging and spreading Lara Bingle-style intimate pictures of women will be the focus of The Line campaign, which recognises teenagers experiencing their first relationships are often confused about what is and isn't appropriate.

The research also found:

ALMOST one in five youths aged 12-24 think a female should not be able to claim she was sexually assaulted if she was drunk or drug-affected and leading people on.

ALMOST one in six thinks that if a female is wearing provocative clothing she is "definitely looking for it".

THE same number thinks that pushing and shoving in a relationship is understandable in some circumstances.

Minister for the Status of Women Tanya Plibersek will launch the $17 million, four-year campaign in an effort to reduce the incidence of violence, with particular attention paid to social and online media.

The campaign - estimated to reach 2.5 million Australians, including nearly a million teenagers in its first 10 days of operation - will be launched tomorrow by the minister and recording artists Lisa Mitchell, Maya Jupiter, and Pez and Tenielle Muslin.

In March, footballer Brendan Fevola was forced to deny he had distributed naked pictures of model Lara Bingle.

The episode clouded a $400,000 grant presented by Ms Plibersek to the AFL's respect and responsibility program, designed to improve men's behaviour towards women.

"Footballers are heroes and role models to kids - they look up to them and forgive them their mistakes," Ms Plibersek said.

"That's why it is so important that footy players lead by example when it comes to respecting women.

"This study shows that when footballers are involved in a sexual incident, impressionable kids side with them rather than the victim. Nobody wants this and it should be a wake-up call to players."

The site will go live from 1pm on Sunday at australia.gov.au/theline or can be accessed at news.com.

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