"History will be kind to us, because we will write it"
[First filed: January 02, 2009 @ 08:57]
Summernats 2009 has, it seems, commenced.
So dear reader what Summernats experiences have you had this year?
Good, bad, indifferent, just leave them all in the comments. But make sure they’re about this year, and not ancient history.
If you’ve got pictures email them in to images@the-riotact.com
UPDATED: Thank to Hidiho for the picture he took yesterday.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The radio reports Chic Henry was caught doing 77 in a special Summernats 40km zone. Somehow he drove away with a warning.
Further UPDATE: Slideshow provided by NFP below:
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I took the kids(8,7 and 4) yesterday to see what this “demo day” was all about and I must admit, we had a fantastic day.
The kids were given a ride in a couple of really decent cars, the drivers all had impeccable manners.Highlight of the day for them.
I found that the general behaviour of the crowd was also outstanding. No boobs, nor any chanting for boobs-although some of the little girls in there needed clothing donations,bit sparse.
All in all, if this alcohol free day continues, I will take the kids every year.
There’s an intriguing article in today’s CT by one of their reporters, who did up her own car with her dad, and who outlines why she doesn’t go to the ‘nats, because of the booze and anti-female culture.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/louts-ruin-summernats-for-all/1397935.aspx?storypage=0
If no-grog day is successful (and Missalli’s comments above suggest that it was), there’ll be more pressure for grog and strip shows to be dispensed with altogether.
I hear that his royal summnernat highness, Mr Chic Henry, leads by example (NOT) by being caught speeding on New Years Day near the Summernats venue at Epic. 30K+ over the limit as I hear it. If the organiser, who brags of a safe and family friendly event is not responsible enough himself to do the right thing, what chance do we have of others being sensible. As I understand it, 30k + means four points off his licence, doubled to eight at this time of the year. I wonder if Mr Henry will now have to walk? No Mr Henry, you and your event are not above the law. It was thug security guards last year and your irresponsible driving this year that leaves a sour taste in my and many other Canberran mouths.
ant said :
There’s another article in today’s edition, this time from a bloke who markets Summernats. Apparently only a small minority of women (1% of “tens of thousands”) who attend Summernats will attract unwanted harrassment. I’d love to know where his stats come from!
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/unfair-bias-against-car-lovers/1398415.aspx?storypage=0
I live in Watson and am in a pretty good/bad (depending on your viewpoint) position to view Summernats. So far, it has been quite tolerable. Other than the smoke from the burnouts yesterday, things have been OK. Mind you, things generally start to get bad from this afternoon onwards.
gun street girl said :
Or how he defines ‘unwanted harassment’ as opposed to the wanted type. Perhaps he’s one of the ‘she was dressed as a tart so she must have wanted/deserved it’ brigade.
BerraBoy – harassment of women is never acceptable, but the girls who parade around Summernats wearing bikinis and flashing their breasts from the back of utes, you don’t think they’re inviting wolf whistles and cheers from the boys?
One percent of tens of thousands of women harrassed is still hundreds of women harrassed – and this stat comes from within Summernats, so it is probably much higher.
And I somehow doubt they are counting the flashing bikini wearers as being harrassed.
Still – so far so good in teh surrounding suburbs this year.
For the love of God, Sepi, get some perspective. Go to Civic on a Friday night or weekend, or a League match, or a one-day cricket match, or any nightclub and check out the harassment of women.
The horror! the horror!!! exterminate all the brutes!
Duke said :
I witnessed the very thing happening the other day! A young lady in a car, was kind enough to expose her breasts to a group of passing boys; “Thank you,” they cried in unison, “we deeply respect your ability to be proud if your mammary glands, and think no less of your intellectual or other prowess for doing so. We would genuinely like to engage with you in a non threatening environment, in order to get to know you as a person”
Very heartening I found it.
So….harrassment of women at Summernats is fine cos they get harrassed at all sporting events and nightclubs and should be used to it??
Anyway, I’ve never heard anyone say they got so harrassed at a nightclub they’re never going out again. Yet plenty of women won’t go to Summernats. From today’s paper:
“And each year I go, I am hassled.
Not by the car owners. They are the perfect picture of polite enthusiast, explaining and re-explaining, if need be the work they have done to their cars.
It is the 30-something-year-old male patrons, sunburnt and drunk, who think whenever they see a woman they can make lewd and crude comments, and try to grope her behind.
It is like they see Summernats as a chance to unleash their inner bogan for the weekend free of any kind of reprimand.
The cars are a mere backdrop to the boozing and breast-watching. Any woman at Summernats surely couldn’t be there because she likes cars, she must have a burning desire to rip her shirt off. All we have to do is hound her and humiliate her enough.
Last year a male friend had to step in front of me as a particularly drunk and semi-clothed man repeatedly grabbed at me to be in a photo with him, despite polite refusals.
The result? Getting spat at and a being called a string of expletives ending in ”stuck-up bitch”.
It was 3pm.”
Ahem, yesterdays paper
No, sepi, you need to read again what I said. I have already stated that harassment of women is unacceptable, whatever the place or situation.
What I object to is people who single out Summernats but who, in all their arguments, make no mention of the commonplace harassment that exists at many other venues and public spaces.
I have to agree with Duke. It seems many Canberrans (and probably non-Canberrans) believe that Summernats is the cause of harrassment and sexual assault. I don’t believe this is the case. Yes, some women attend Summernats and are subjected to abuse. But like Duke points out the same happens at many other places, possibly even on a greater scale. Attend a rock concert. Stand in amongst the crowd close to the stage and see how many women, or in some cases girls, are assulted. Why do we never read about this sort of thing?
I doubt banning alcohol will help much either. Log in to an internet chat room where a teenage girl is on webcam. Do you really think the hundreds of men and boys asking her to expose herself are all drunk? If a person does not have any respect for others, keeping them sober is not going to make any sort of difference.
Each year these discussions come up and everyone acts as though women would be free of assult and harrassment if not for Summernats. These crimes occur every day. Unfortunately most of them go unreported.
Duke said :
Hey Duke, I certainly do. But I’m sure they wouldn’t argue that they are being ‘harrassed’, but rather ‘appreciated’. Appreciated as what exactly, I don’t know…
And you’re spot on that ‘harrassment of women, or anybody for that matter, is never acceptable.
I agree that harrassment of anyone is not acceptable-however I do also believe that some of these young ladies could help the situation.
Every year there is media reports of women being harrassed at the summernats, yet every year girls turn up to the summernats wearing very little.
In the line to buy my season pass yesterday, there was a couple,maybe mid 30′s, also waiting in the line. The conversation I overheard shocked me. He was telling his mate that “if any c*&t looks at my missus ,I’m gonna flog them”. Yet he was happy to let his ‘missus’ walk out of the house in what I could only describe as a piece of cloth barely covering anything.
I just dont get it. Back in my younger(leaner) days, I was always whistled,cheered and leered at-and no I didnt get any part of my body out. Now that Im a bit wiser I wear sensible clothing-jean shorts,3/4 pants etc. I have in the last 3 years been asked once for a chest show.
I guess what I am trying to say is whilst we cant stop it, there is a little bit of prevention that can be carried out.
Driving solo along Aspinall St near Carotel Motel at 8.30pm last night and was forced to slow down (from about 45kph) to about 20kph to dodge the possibly inebriated but clearly staggering group of young men all wearing dark clothing and walking in the middle of the road and heading in the direction of EPIC. As I slowed down to avoid hitting any of them they gestured at me for a lift and began to approach the car (Audi A3) in a somewhat threatening manner. Yes, I could have just sped up and hoped I didn’t hit any of them but then I would have been the one in the wrong if one of them had staggered the wrong way. Managed to avoid and evade. Summernats tools – and not the good kind . Luv’em.
i have never been subjected to harassment at a rock gig… and i am up front for most of them. that statement is beyond stupid. i have been to summernats once, and found it an entirely tiring and boring experience. We much prefer to go and stand in braddon and watch the cars go back and forth up lonsdale st. (and being busted for trying burnouts) far more entertaining!
i think the majority of women who go to summernats go for the attention, especially if they dress in a prevocative manner. those that sit up the back of the ute and flash when asked are clearly doing it because they want to, not because they are being asked to by drunken morons. there are women who go for the cars, dress appropriately and still get jeered and harassed. of course its not acceptable, but its the summernats culture. good, bad or ugly, its the way it is. i know several guys who wont let their wives/daughters go to the nats after dark. i think the alcohol free day is the way to go if you want to go for the cars. if you dont, then stop your whinging. it aint gonna change in a hurry.
grunge_hippy said :
We should respect them for having liberated their sexuality from the control of men, and treat them as good people. After all who are we to say in which way they should behave, women should have equal rights with men to bare their chests.
The shooters thread convinced me that no matter how a woman dresses or acts we should NEVER speak of them in anything other than polite terms, and allow them to be semi naked in public if that is their choice.
If they choose to be near naked, then that is their right, and good on them for maintaining a figure which they are proud to
flauntput, not on display, but to be exposed in a non sexual manner.Where’s Jim Jones when you need him?
It seems the problem is men who think that:
“I saw a girl in a bikini on a ute yesterday = i can harrass solo women in cars throughout Watson.”
Anyone who witnesses any form of bad behaviour by Summernats patrons should record it, note it, and forward the information to the police AND Jon Stanhope, as well as posting it here. Remember, accosting you with bad language or even just attitude can be a form of assault, not just intimidation. Also, if you refrain from carrying out your normal activities during Summernats, write to John Stanhope and let the government know. I definitely curtail my movements during Summernats – I keep away from Woollies, Dickson, avoid Civic, and don’t sleep as well due to late-night street noise throughout the inner north, not just near Downer …
sepi said :
And you really do think that men think like that?
Or isn’t it more true that the sort of men who would “harrass solo women in cars throughout Watson”, do not need any inspiration or permission?
I-filed said :
Can I report girls flashing their breasts as it is a form of intimation/incitement to bad behaviour.
Or is it just naughty boys who you want reported?
Of course, absolutely – if girls flashing their breasts intimidates you or makes you feel uncomfortable, report it!
pb…. if girls flashing their titties at you intimidates/threatens you then you need a can of harden the f#ck up!!! (girlyboy)
So there we have the fundamental dichotomy engendered by “Summernats”: if young ladies expose their breasts, whether bidden or unbidden, then we are/are not to find offense/not find offense in it.
And not matter what the circumstance, women are innocent of all wrongdoing,while men are guilty of being men.
PB you have got something of a victim mentality going on here.
Face it – Summernats is an event where many women are scared to go.
I am not Blaming you for that. I canunderstand that you aren’t all men.
Please also understand that not all women are in their wet t-shirts offending you at summernats.
The ABC is also now reporting on Mr. Henry’s gassy inclinations…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/02/2458242.htm
Have been avoiding Civic and Dickson so all is well. Oh and last night I heard a few burnouts somewhere in and around Turner… 2 of them followed by sirens immediately afterwards
And not matter what the circumstance, women are innocent of all wrongdoing,while men are guilty of being men.
Of course – because that’s the easy answer that doesn’t require any real thinking.
What we need to do is understand that men are biologically wired for reproduction. Most of the time, this doesn’t cause a problem as we have well established social constructs for interacting with each other. Of course, there are always some men who don’t practice self control as well as they could, but once you add alcohol into the mix, together with the crowd mentality, seeing a woman laugh and flash her breasts can easily be interpreted as an invitation. Realistically, it probably isn’t.
So where does that leave us? Firstly, we need to recognise that running an event where we allow people to drink heavily and girls to wear very little and lift their shirts is conducive to unwanted behaviours that we wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) tolerate. For the girls, this really means that if you don’t want to get hassled, dress conservatively, and go with male company. It isn’t right, but it’s the way things are (and I don’t condone it).
That said, we seem to accept sex and drug education for kiddies when neither is something a 15 year old should be doing. Perhaps we need education for for people in this aspect also.