Right: a new generation: in just a few years, women sports reporters have gone from a rarity to a common sight on television screens. Journalists like (from right) Victoria Murphy, Melanie McLaughlin, Erin Molen, Lara Pitt and Maria Naratsialis are just a few of the female journalists specialising in what were previously thought of as "men's sports".
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Arguments that the reaction to Chris Gayle's behaviour was inappropriate
1. The reaction to Chris Gayle's flirtatious behaviour was exaggerated
Those who see the fine imposed on Chris Gayle as excessive and who believe that the response to his comments as exaggerated claim that Gayle's behaviour was no more than flirtatious banter.
Bettina Arndt commented on her blog on January 7, 2016, 'Such harmless flirtation is not sexual harassment and luckily there are many in our community who resent the constant intrusion into enjoyable male/female interaction by thought police determined to stamp out any hint of what Helen Garner famously described as "Eros - the spark which connects and ignites."'
Arndt further noted, 'There are women who regret efforts to brand all compliments about their appearance as inappropriate and who want to retain the right to make their own choices about whether they enjoy male/female sexual banter and what they choose to do if it becomes offensive.'
Though Chris Gayle has apologised to Mel McLaughlin for any offence she may have taken he has also indicated that he had not intended to give offence. Gayle stated, 'There wasn't anything meant to be disrespectful or offensive to Mel. If she felt that way, I'm really sorry for that.
There wasn't any harm meant in that particular way... It was a simple joke. The game was going on. Entertainment, things get out of proportion.'
It has also been noted that even for those who may find the flirtatious comments inappropriate the media response and the fine are an excessive reaction.
On January 7, 2016, the ABC"s current affairs opinion site, The Drum, published a comment by Dale Hughes in which he stated, 'We are living in the age of the social media lynch mob, where crime and punishment is dictated via the emotions of the masses. A cricketer makes a clumsy advance on a reporter and then we are subject to an entire week's worth of analysis. The dirt file will be dug on Gayle's past exploits, and no doubt other exaggerated claims of inappropriate comments and behaviour will be offered in a fine cornucopia of disgust to feed the insatiable appetites of the Twitter brigade.'
Hughes further noted, 'The public reaction around these sorts of events is not healthy. It is, to quote from Gayle himself, blown out of proportion. Accepting that the comments were misplaced and apologising is not enough. He has to be dragged through the mud, fined, sanctioned, and sacked from contributing columns in the media. He is the modern day equivalent to the witch of Salem, forced to publicly repent his sins to satisfy the public's thirst for blood.'
2. Chris Gayle has a history of philanthropy and made an apology to Mel McLaughlin
Supporters of Chris Gayle who claim that the response to his comments is an over-reaction note that Gayle has a history of public spirited actions and that he offered McLaughlin an apology which she has accepted.
Gayle's supporters have noted that in his own country of Jamaica he has been honoured by political leaders, including the nation's female prime minister, and has a history of generous donations to advance Jamaican cricket and overcome social disadvantage.
In a comment written by 'Jack the Insider' and published in The Australian on January 20, 2016, the author notes that most media have focused on very negative constructions of Gayle, ignoring much evidence of his substantial public good works. 'Jack' states, 'What we can find if we bother to look hard enough is Chris Gayle being attributed ambassador status and given a diplomatic passport from the Jamaican Government led by Portia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica's first elected female prime minister. Simpson-Miller and Jamaica's Minister for Sport, Natalie Neita-Headley were photographed handing Gayle his shiny new diplomatic passport.'
The same opinion piece also noted '[Gayle] donated more than $500,000 to the [Lucas] club [where he first played cricket] which now boasts the Chris Gayle Nursery and has a new lease of life.
The revival of Lucas is just one of the activities associated with the Chris Gayle Academy, which in association with British-based charity organisations, Cricket For Change and Comic Relief and a raft of corporate sponsors, launched a program to train young people at risk, using sport as a tool in developing education, leadership and vocational skills, aiding them to find meaningful employment in Jamaica.'
Re the supposed offence given to Mel McLaughlin, Gayle has noted that he attempted to apologise to McLaughlin shortly after the interview during which he made the remarks that have been objected to by many commentators and that he was unsuccessful in his bid to do so. Gayle has stated, 'No, I didn't get a chance to. I tried to reach out to her last night but it didn't happen.'
During an interview the next day Gayle stated, 'There wasn't anything meant to be disrespectful or offensive to Mel. If she felt that way, I'm really sorry for that. There wasn't any harm meant in that particular way, to harm any particular person in any particular way like that.'
Gayle's supporters also note that McLaughlin has accepted the apology and would prefer that the media and others simply moved on from the incident. After the apology McLaughlin commented, 'I love my job and I'd just rather be talking about that.'
Gayle and his supporters have claimed that he does not have a history of making such remarks. Gayle has also specifically rejected the allegation that he exposed himself to a woman in the West Indies team dressing room in Sydney last year.
3. The punishment makes no allowance for Chris Gayle's cultural background
It has been claimed that Chris Gayle's cultural background may have made him less aware of the behaviour that would be acceptable to Australian sporting journalists and the wider Australian sporting community.
The Renegades chief executive officer, Stuart Coventry, described Chris Gayle's controversial interview with a female reporter as a 'one-off scenario' which happened because of 'cultural differences'.
A similar claim was made in a letter to the editor from Gordon Graham published in the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner on January 11, 2016. Graham stated, 'This recent incident in Australia just underlines the reality that he [Gayle] lacks a sense of boundaries and an understanding of public behaviour which, while dismissed in Jamaica, is unacceptable in the wider developed world.'
Some of Gayle's supporters claim that he may need to be educated about appropriate behaviour in the different countries he tours as a cricketer, but that he should not be punished or condemned for behaving in ways that would be acceptable within his own country.
It has been suggested that the more casual and less equal nature of male-female relations in Gayle's country-of-birth may have made it more difficult for him to have realised what was appropriate during a television interview with an Australian female journalist.
A female Jamaican sports commentator has stated, 'I think it has to do with our cultural upbringing... I do feel the way that we are brought up as men and women in Jamaica does impact how female broadcasters are seen, female broadcasters are treated; the respect that we gain or not gain because of our gender.
Culturally, we have become accustomed to men behaving like Gayle. Not sure it is a good thing or bad thing, but I would laugh it off and ignore it...'
Another female Jamaican reporter commented on the role of the country's media in shaping what behaviour Jamaican woman (and by extension men) are prepared to accept as normal. She states, 'The media actually portrays women as sex objects, always in skimpy clothing, always being targeted by men; you know, in the songs we are objectified and all of that, so I guess we become so unaware that we are being treated unfairly, we actually accept it when we shouldn't. In some of the countries those things cannot happen, so I guess the media has a big role to play in that.'
4. The punishment is inconsistence as worse behaviours have been sanctioned, ignored or punished less
It has been claimed that Chris Gayle has been made an example of in a way that ignores the prevalence of fair worse instances of the type of behaviour for which he has been punished. His supporters, and others, have suggested that this is unfair.
In an opinion piece published in Euro Sport on January 5, 2016, Carrie Dunne states, 'You have to feel sorry for him because he's being treated as an isolated case, when it's not in the least. Sport and society as a whole continue to devalue women and their contributions.'
Dunne goes on to claim, 'Cricket as presented to the public tends to treat women as eye-candy. If a woman is at a cricket match and fits the 'conventionally attractive' bill, or is leaping into the air celebrating a six, or is dressed appropriately for extremely hot conditions, expect the TV cameras to linger over her face and figure, and perhaps an approving word or two from the commentator. (As yet, there are no recorded similar objectifications of men sitting in a stadium, simply wanting to watch a match.)'
Dunne concludes, 'Gayle's behaviour is a symptom, not a cause.' According to this analysis the origin of the problem is systemic. It is something which afflicts the whole sporting culture and needs to be addressed on this level, rather than the focus being artificially placed on one man.
In an opinion piece published in The Roar on January 6, 2016, sports commentator Debbie Spillane noted, 'The problem is... a multitude of idiots who think it's funny to watch a woman have to deal with an unwanted sexual advance in the workplace.'
The Big Bash League organisers, in particular, have been accused of sending mixed messages and of developing a competition where overtly sexual and indeed sexist behaviour is encouraged.
In an opinion piece published in The Footy Almanac on January 24, 2016, Michael Viljoen focused on the extent to which the Big Bash organisers have used sex to promote their product. Viljoen describes their sales ploys and the confusion such techniques may have created in Gayle's mind. Viljoen states of their strategies 'Focus the BBL cameras on fans in the crowd and encourage them to kiss the person next to them. The Channel 10 commentary team can join the fun. They offered a joke about the "over use" of his groin as Gayle bends over showing some discomfort during his innings in Hobart. With all this and the summer sea breeze coming in off the Derwent River, Gayle could be excused for believing he might be somewhere near Jamaica's Montego Bay, where beach goers don't get uptight about too much.'
A number of commentators have compared Gayle's comment to McLaughlin with far worse conduct which has gone unreprimanded. Some have mentioned former footballer and current Footy Show commentator Sam Newman who in 2008 stapled a photograph of Age leading football commentator Caroline Wilson onto the body of a bikini-clad cardboard mannequin which he then handled suggestively while dressing. Newman refused to apologise for this behaviour, though called on to do so by a number of key women in AFL management, and remains a member of the Footy Show to the present.
Some of Gayle's defenders have condemned the furore surrounding his behaviour as confected and misplaced given the general culture of disrespect and objectification which they claim has been allowed to threaten women who venture into traditionally male-dominated sports in any capacity.
It has also been noted that the criticism directed at Gayle is sexist in its own right as a number of sportswomen have made sexual overtures to male reports with apparent impunity. In January 2014, tennis player Maria Sharapova flattered an Australian presenter, saying to him on television, 'You have so much good self-esteem when you speak, it's really nice', before adding, 'I was just admiring your form'. Sharapova's comments were treated as humorous and no reprimand or penalty was given.
5. There has been a racist component in the criticism that Chris Gayle has received
It has been claimed that a number of those who have criticised Chris Gayle's behaviour have done so in racist terms, as though suggesting that his offence was in some way compounded by his being a black man trying to flirt with a white woman.
The Sydney Morning Herald published a comment by one of its sports writers, Malcolm Knox, in which he criticises Gayle's conduct using a parody of Jamaican patois.
Some commentators have found this offensive.
On January 9, 2016, Dr Zuleyka Zevallos published a response to Knox's comments on her blog, The Other Sociologist. Zevallos states, '"Satire" does not mean that White people get to be racist to teach Black men a lesson. The fact that this was published in a national paper is yet another daily reminder that racism is both reproduced and celebrated by the media.'
It has further been suggested that there is an element of racism in the objections to Gayle's behaviour. It has been claimed that Gayle's dark skin has caused some bigots to regard his attempts to attract a white woman as particularly offensive. According to this line of argument, some criticisms have been made not because Gayle was sexist but because his critics were racist.
On January 8, 2016, the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner, published an opinion piece by Chelan Smith titled 'White Beauty and the Black Beast'.
Smith claims, '[A]t the base of this uproar is the disbelief that a rich, black athlete would have the audacity to flirt with a white woman, on air at that! How dare he?!
The ugly fact is that throughout history, society has constantly positioned the white woman as someone to be protected from the powerful and harmful black man. We've seen it with Emmett Till in 1955, who was killed for flirting with a cashier, and we see it today in 2016 with Chris Gayle.'
A similar comment was made in a reader's post in The Australian on January 20, 2016. The poster 'Gerald' noted, 'I am convinced that what was at play here was not male chauvinism, against feminism but racism.
I will ask the simple question would the furore have been so widespread, indeed would there have even been any, if Chris Gayle was a white male cricketer and used the same words? Not one of Australia's finest moments...'