– PLUS MARY CARR’S COLUMN

AS George Hook returns to the airwaves today, bruised but not broken by controversy, let’s hope that he owns up to his disgrace, like a man. The 76-year-old broadcaster whose attitudes hark back to the Fifties, when men were men and women were taken, will know exactly what that means.

His appalling comments about the rape case in Wales, where a young woman who had sex with a British swimming star alleged that she was subsequently raped by another member of the team, are laced with anti-woman prejudice.

They are based on the unspoken assumption that a woman who drinks her head off, is scantily clad, behaves flirtatiously or goes to bed with a man who she hardly knows is somehow ‘asking for it’.

That only ‘real’ ladies who sip on their sherry all night and are covered up nicely in twinsets and pearls can make a valid claim of rape is the corollary.

As Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said about the comments in yesterday’s Irish Mail on Sunday, they are ‘a matter of concern given that George Hook holds a position of very high responsibility in Irish public and broadcasting life’.

George’s suggestion that the alleged rape victim should share the blame for what happened to her echoes the attitudes that prevailed when he was a young blade, growing up in Cork in the Forties and Fifties, master of all he surveyed.

Humiliating

In the macho films and literature of that era, real men had natural hormonal urges that sometimes escaped their command but the supposed pay off for women was that men were also their providers and protectors, strong silent shoulders for the weaker sex to cry on.

Given the crucible of male-orientated double standards that helped form George, it should be second nature for him to stand up today on air like a real man and issue a further mea culpa for the grief and offence he has caused.

His humiliating statement of apology at the weekend may have been an exercise in damage limitation, a move to keep the sponsors of his shows, who have already signalled their intention to review their association with Mr Hook, on board as well as his bosses at Newstalk.

Now he needs to address rape victims who were brutally reminded of their ordeal by the suggestion that they might have been somehow culpable.

He also must address members of his male audience, who may have interpreted his comments as an invitation to take advantage of women who are inebriated, rather than check their own behaviour.

While he’s at it, George could also put his money where his mouth is. He should make a generous financial contribution to the Rape Crisis Centre or indeed any organisation that supports victims of violent crime.

His bosses at Newstalk could also do more than simply distance themselves from one of their most popular broadcasters.

They should consider giving female broadcasters some prominence in the daily schedule, and dilute the boys’ club flavour of the station.

Critics of gender quotas often argue that merit should be the only criteria for advancement. However, this heated controversy shows that gender balance is not merely about headcounts; it’s about creating a workplace culture of shared values and mutual respect between men and women, that both mirrors and influences wider society.

A male-dominated workforce may be fine and dandy in Silicon Valley or in a nuclear power plant in Tennessee but in broadcasting, the effect can be to obliterate the experience of half the population and cause grave offence.

It’s highly unlikely, for example, that had Hook explained his shallow and knee-jerk analysis of rape to a female producer or researcher before he went on air, that he would have repeated his odious musings when the studio light went on.

Hook is an old fogey, a throwback to the dark ages when Church-sanctioned sexual repression kept women in their place and encouraged men to see them as their property or vassals.

The residue of that belief system gave him permission to scrutinise the woman in Wales for fault and reckless behaviour, rather than turn his attention to the sort of man who gets his thrills from raping a helpless and senselessly drunk woman.

Granted the swimmer was acquitted of one count of rape but he could face a retrial on a second charge after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

In any event, this sort of rape case involving drink and opportunism are sadly far from rare.

But rather than wag his finger at violent and animalistic male behaviour, Hook directed his fire at the woman, and behind the shield of ‘personal responsibility’, indulged in a spot of old-fashioned victim blaming.

He said: ‘When you then look deeper into the story, you have to ask certain questions. Why does a girl who just meets a fella in a bar go back to a hotel room? She’s only just barely met him.

‘She has no idea of his health conditions, she has no idea who he is, she has no idea of what dangers he might pose. But modern-day social activity means that she goes back with him, then is surprised when somebody else comes into the room and rapes her. Should she be raped? Course she shouldn’t. Is she entitled to say “no”? Certainly. Should he go to jail? Of course... But is there no blame now to the person who puts themselves in danger?’

Endemic

Despite what George Hook seems to think, there is nothing that is in any way frontier-blazing about preaching about personal responsibility.

Rape statistics show that drink or drugs are usually a factor, both for the victims and the aggressors.

From the age of 13, young teenage girls are lectured in schools and, hopefully, at home about the perils of alcohol, of binge drinking, of not straying from their friends when they are socialising.

The idea of personal responsibility is drummed into them, and of taking precautions to ensure their safety.

But Hook, and those who share his mindset, seem to think that women also are responsible for male behaviour.

The way he sees it, women are obliged to not dress or behave in a manner that might provoke men to assault them or take advantage sexually. From that position, it’s only a small step to actually blaming women if they are raped.

Hook ignores the fact that there would never be any rape if every man treated women with respect; if they helped women find their pals when they were drunk, rather than taking their clouded judgment as an opportunity for a grope or worse.

Perhaps George Hook could sound off about that ugly predatory side of, admittedly a minority of male behaviour in work today, or when the next rape case hits the courts.

If he wants to show that he has learned anything from this debacle, he should get mad about the endemic rape culture that, despite progress, in women’s rights and equality, stubbornly refuses to go away.