a man hits another man
breaks his jaw
if it’d happened outside a bar
where each male body had equal power
he’d be condemned
but this happened on a football field
where the attacker stood superior
as a player for the favoured team
his actions
they’re rapidly labelled
as out of character
‘but he’s a good bloke’
they say
‘he’s sorry’
they say
‘it’s a tragedy’
they say
these statements are the chorus
of a symphony that aims to have us forget
replace guilt with regret
this narrative is poison
take the sport away
replace it with a woman
and the perpetrator-as-victim-story
is much the same
our culture accepts the despicable
as long as it’s enacted
by the person with the most power
we need new narratives
where power has no relevance to the judgement
of another’s actions
we need new symphonies
with choruses that offer no sympathy to men
who don’t control their violence
they are not victims of their masculinity
they grow from the poisonous root
that feeds the most powerful tree
Jasmin Seabrook-Benson | @jsb_writes