Three Leicester City footballers have apologised for their behaviour on a tour to Thailand after a video of them flinging racist and sexist insults at some Thai women while in an ‘orgy’ has been released by The Mirror.
In the video, they call the women ‘slit eye,' and this is the bit that’s made the headlines in what’s become known as a ‘racist orgy video,’ with *The Mirror *claiming: ‘The footage heaps shame on a club which has tried to take a strong stance against racism.’
While the apologies have already come in from Leicester City, a club that’s got a partnership with the Tourism Authority Of Thailand, which is now going to be put into question: ‘Tom Hopper, James Pearson and Adam Smith would like to convey their sincere apologies for their behaviour – to the women involved in the incident, to the club and its owners, to the club's fans and to their families.'
We’d like to talk about something else at play here. Because the video isn’t just racist, it’s sexist, and it’s a shame that the sexism, let alone the intersection of the two, hasn’t been recognised. One player says a woman is: ‘fucking minging… an absolute one out of 10,’ from what we can hear (The Mirror have blanked out the swear words, and wow, there’s loads), but the guys also say stuff like: ‘Go on, spit on it you slut’ and ‘chew on that [blank], eat shit, love’ (our estimate is this is when one player’s being rimmed), ‘lick it lick it lick it you slit-eye’ and ‘Oi, shut up and suck my fucking balls.’
We’re sort of grateful that this video’s been edited, but while Kick It Out, a group that works to stop racism in football has been able to comment on the horrific racism, there’s no equivalent group with the goal of kicking out sexism that can make a comment here. This is in spite of several sexist incidences in the beautiful game, from a Chelsea doctor having ‘get your tits out for the lads’ screamed at her by fans, to hundreds of disgruntled losers thinking that the inclusion of women’s teams in FIFA 2016 is the end of humanity.
It’s not for anyone to say that the sexism was worse than the racism, but the implication – so far – seems to be that the sexism of this video, the bits where men call women they’re having sex with ‘sluts’ and ‘mingers’ and bark orders at them, is absolutely fine, it’s only the racism that crosses the line. We’d kind of like to see a media – and a football industry – that appreciates that both racism and sexism deserve no place in the world. Oh, and that calling a woman a 'slut' while you're both having sex with each other really shouldn't be a thing.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.