The Language of Rape
On Sunday evening, Match of the Day 2 saw stand-in pundit Alan Pardew controversially compare a passage of play to a rape scene. Analysing a piece of play where Chelsea’s Michael Essien used his strength to hold off a challenge from his opponent, Pardew said: “He’s timed it perfectly. He’s a strong boy. He knocks him off – he absolutely rapes him.” Unsurprisingly, this has caused some concern.
To make matters worse, no attempt was made during the show to apologise for the comparison and neither co-presenter even acknowledged it, although both Alan Hansen and Adrian Chiles appeared less than comfortable when the camera panned back to them. Pardew has since apologised for any offence caused by his comments, but it is unlikely that he will be seen on the Match of the Day couch again any time soon.
Women’s Groups have roundly condemned the scenes. Lee Eggleston, the chairwoman of Rape Crisis England and Wales, described Pardew’s actions as “completely inappropriate”. She said: “That something as serious as sexual assault has been misused to describe football is appalling. He has trivialised and undermined the seriousness of rape and anyone who has suffered sexual violence will rightly be angry.”
She is quite correct too. Rape is such an emotive term and it carries such negative connotations that it seems obscene to use it to describe a sporting scene. Rape is a horrific crime; there is no argument to deny that. What makes this particular use seem even worse is that the two meanings are not even so different. Pardew used it to describe a footballer using physical strength to get the better of his opponent, eerily similar to its more common definition.
Thankfully, 35 Match of the Day viewers also agreed with her, registering their formal complaints. It has been confirmed that no on-screen apology was offered as the team assumed that Pardew had said ‘rakes.’ This would have been a much more appropriate term, not just in terms of political correctness, but also to actually describe the action on-screen.
Yet it seems that the use of the word ‘rape’ in this whole new context is not restricted to former football managers and could even be a common occurrence in sporting environments. Urban Dictionary has the following alternative definition for the term:
To utterly defeat another person in any form of competitive activities.
Impressively, this is the second entry for ‘rape’ on this website, having received more votes than ‘To force someone to ingage (sic) in unwanted sexual activities’ which would seem a far more accepted definition of the word. Using this evidence then, the use of the term makes complete sense, if not exactly an appropriate comment for BBC television.
To make matters worse, the comments come just days after John Worboys was convicted for a string of sexual attacks on women that he picked up in his black cab. Only days ago, Joan Smith argued that rape is not taken seriously enough, citing the fact that only 6% of rape complaints result in a conviction in this country. Rape Crisis England and Wales think that this trivialises the matter even further.
The transformation of language is no new phenomenon though. Negative words have frequently been turned around and used in a positive manner. Bad regularly means good. Even the word ‘murder’ is frequently used in musical terms. I tend to murder a different song every morning and I don’t mean in the iconic Pyscho shower scene sense of the word.
However, this is different to the murder comparison. Pardew uses the word in an approving tone. It is not only acceptable to rape somebody, it is seen as aspirational. It’s a particularly nasty usage. You can almost imagine hoards of supporters on the sidelines screaming “Go on, rape him.” As far as I’m aware, they don’t already. I’ve been fortunate enough not to have witnessed it at any of the football matches I have attended at least.
What can be done about it though? We are not language police, after all. There is little that can be done to stop it being used out of the public eye, between friends and social groups. What we can do, however, is stop people like Pardew from using it on our screens. The media coverage has shown that it is not acceptable. Now we need to stop it becoming commonplace.
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Tags: alan pardew rape, bbc complaints, football language, match of the day, rape alternative definitions, rape definition
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