“Because You’re Worthless”

Society’s wider message to women

Toni Hargis
Fourth Wave

--

Photo by horacio olavarria on Unsplash

The UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) won the prize last week for its utter dismissal of women. The Beeb, as it’s often called, has hired none other than tennis “bad boy” Nick Kyrgios as a commentator for this year’s Wimbledon Championship. As with John McEnroe, it’s bad enough that the tennis world continues to reward men who display unprofessional and belligerent behaviour on court, but they’ve gone a step further with Kyrgios.

In 2022, Kyrgios had an assault charge dismissed by a magistrate after pleading guilty to pushing his ex-girlfriend to the ground in 2021. The seriousness of the offence was described as ‘low-level’ by the presiding (female) magistrate, and Kyrgios was not thought to be a future risk. Because ladies, we all know that when they’re let off with their first known assault, they’ll never do it again.

Let’s remember, though, that no one forced him to admit his offence, and just because there were no legal consequences doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. He simply got away with it.

As MP Carolyn Noakes, the women and equalities committee chair, said:

“Not content with consistently underpaying their own female staff and forcing out women once they hit a certain age, they now bring a man who admitted assaulting a woman on…

--

--

Toni Hargis
Fourth Wave

Co-author of “How to Stand up to Sexism; Words for when enough is enough”. Helping women find their voices. @ToniHargis