There is a deeper problem. The prestige and reputation of Australia is connected with the behaviour of international athletics because Australia has made it so. The Australian government sponsors and supports the orgy of commercialism and chauvinism that interantional sports have become. Let the government get out of the business of sports. If people want to compete as amateurs let them either finance themselves or get help from non-governmental sources. Commercial sports either will make money or not. No government intervention is necessary. Support sports in the schools and provide space for sports in parks. Otherwise simply get out of the sports business. Then if two athletes, amateur or professional, get their pictures taken in a legitimate business such as a gun shop is in the US, it will simply not matter to Australia.

Thank you Dr Jocelynne Scutt for raising the deeper issues consequential to macho-ism in sport and the positive role that social networking can play in defining and upholding acceptable social standards relating to gender equity. Where does acceptance of images of men and guns defining masculinity take us as a society?? This incident immediately recalled the recent football scandal involving modern technology and sexist or macho attitudes - NRL's Joel Monaghan bestiality posing distributed online and - and again the missed opportunity for a public discussion on where such macho attitudes towards the use of the 'other' for sexual gratification actually lead when internalised and unchallenged in broader social life. Where do images of sexual dominance of the other as defining masculinity lead us as a society? Unfortunately as pointed out by Jocelynne Scutt, the focus of public reaction is more on the shame for making the private public, through social media, and avoids scrutinising accepted 'private' practices - "boys will be boys"!! Thus avoiding a wonderful opportunity to engage in a broad discussion. David I think it is you who raise a peripheral issue about regulation.

Any old excuse to have a rant against guns, those inanimate objects that just go out and kill people because they can.

Fear of guns is a psychological illness known as hoplophobia. The author should seek treatment rather than seek to impose her fears on those of us who don't suffer from it.

Dear Larita,

I raised no issue about regulation. I think sports are no business of government except in schools or public parks. I think Australia should close the Institute of Sports, abolish the Ministry of Sports and not be involved in the Olympics or other international competitions.

The macho element in sports is partially due to involving the country in competition where Australia's worth is determined by its sporting prowess. I am not advocating changes in regulation. I am advocating that the Australia government get out of the sports business.

It's not all that long ago that we compelled young men like those depicted, to learn to use and respect guns as lethal weapons.
[Any excuse by the anti gun lobby will do?]
Or any opportunity to further emasculate the Australian male, is never allowed to pass.
Of course elite adult male athletes must also have a truck load of raging hormones on board. That's what builds the muscles and or body mass they and indeed elite female athletes, need to actually compete. Get real!
Sure, sports are no longer amateur, given the amount of money now earned by elite athletes.
Not everything that young immature males or females get up to is necessarily socially acceptable. Be it stealing a flag or posing with a couple of unloaded and therefore entirely harmless guns?
And, what actual harm or hurt was actually done by a young man posing with a couple of, unloaded and therefore harmless guns, in a legitimate US gun shop?
Perhaps we might impress young people, with the lethal aspects of these items, via a return to compulsory military training.
Rhrosty.

This is nearly as funny as the toilet article.

Two young PEOPLE, doing touristy stuff in America, the land of excess. Stuff that isn't illegal. In the age of irony.

What if they posed in front of the worlds largest hamburger, or the worlds largest soda.

"However, their ‘stupidity’ for him lies in their having ‘failed to anticipate the sanctimonious, knee-jerk and hypocritical reaction back home to their high jinks’."

Amen.

Now if Stephanie "Suck on that Faggots!" Rice, had done a Femme Fatale Playboy like pose, blowing imaginary smoke from a gun in the very same shop, I suppose it would still be some reflection on 'male' culture. I'm sure anyone outraged about it would be a labelled misogynist. Three's no doubt she;d be a victim in it all, of the oppressive sexualisation of women and violence and.... don't you just get exhausted with all this?

'Sadly, a macho mentality imbues competitive sport with the perfect setting for promoting an ethos consistent with lionising gun-culture and seeing a visit to a gun shop as ‘fun’. '

What a far fetched contortion of the issue to fit the feminist lens.

Do you feel the same way about our 'back yard' culture when my little girls run around shooting each other with water pistols, their TV influence consisting solely of Play School and Hi Five? Must be my Machismo rubbing off on them, for promoting an ethos consistent with lionising gun-culture and seeing the use of a water-pistol as ‘fun’.

The idea that ‘girlhood’ is somehow acknowledged or enhanced through pistol-clutching images of my girls permeating the Internet and clogging the airwaves is not only risible, but frightening!

This episode finally killed my faith in Australian media. It is a joke. A REALLY bad one. I'm ashamed and embarrassed at the reaction to this photo.

Men AND women have hunted since the dawn of time. Grow up you ridiculous people. You're an embarrassment.

Houe,
You have it right, the author has tried to blow it into a men verses women feminist episode.

The reality is that the anti gun mob just used the pic to push their cause and a gullible media beat it up. Then the idiots at the AOC decided to punish the blokes about absolutely nothing. Claiming the blokes put the sport in disrepute, what rubbish!

The AOC now has egg all over their faces after it was revealed that swimmers from the AIS had a bonding session at a Canberra gun range, which included firing guns, not just holding them.

The best the AOC can now come up with is they did not like the way the blokes were holding the guns. How pathetic.

Nit picking idiots, AOC world wide laughing stock.

Firstly I read Ms Scutts article - twice - and still can't follow her logic. Secondly - so what if 2 young men posed with firearms in a USA gunshop? Did they do anything illegal? NO. Immoral? I don't think so. I tend to agree with the poster who remarks on the stupidity of the media and the kneejerk reaction of some people who ought to have more intelligence.

Also Ms Scutt quotes old statistics - which I do not dispute. However she does not touch on more recent history of firearm related violence, which at the rate it is being reported, is surely on the rise. Nor does she reveal that the vast majority of firearm deaths quoted were indeed suicides, > 75% I believe, and of the remaining 25% quite a few accidental deaths. It was a large drop in the incidence of suicide by gunshot that dropped the stats by nearly half in the years following John Howards gun control reforms. Whether this had any impact on rates of suicide or whether desperate souls simply chose another method to off themselves, don't know, haven't searched the stats. Maybe later ...

Firearms are not the 'devil'. Bad and or irresponsible people with guns are. The rest of us who have firearms for occupational or sporting purposes, all registered and above board, are sometimes made to feel like criminals for daring to own them. HELLO - we're not. But there is a thriving market out there in illegal weapons driven by criminal gangs which our laws and police force seem to find increasingly difficult to control. Possibly because police resources get used up by BS like checks on legit gun owners? Some people ought to wake up to themselves and find a few REAL issues to tackle.

The phrase 'storm in a teacup' springs to mind. Slow opinion day Graham?

Cheers,

Tony

The biggest offenders are our own Govts.One million dead Iraqis.US backed Pol Pot 3 million.Russian revolution 20 million,China 60 million,180 million during WW2 and we are still counting.

Take the weapons away from our Govts and we will have peace.

Spot On Houellie, Rhrosty, Stg, Banjo, Divine and Tony.
This article is a total beat-up, and a blatantly opportunistic attempt to draw fantasmagorical relevance to women's rights and gun control hysteria. Imagination and shadow-chasing run riot. To the waste bin, foul Spot, and cower in shame!

All the same, one point I would have to agree with:
>>..‘to ensure that anyone with a history of domestic abuse is denied access to a firearm, and has their license revoked’.<<
This is a sound and worthy objective (and Nick D'Arcy could be a contender?). I would be inclined to go further, however, and suggest that such individuals should also have restrictions placed on their access to spouses/partners and children. However, that is really another matter.

As for Olympic shooting sports, I would be surprised if many of the individuals involved ever took a shot at anything more vulnerable than a piece of paper or an empty tin can. Shooting sports are a legitimate pastime - and a serious sport for the gifted few and the many hopefuls - and all the individuals involved, either seriously or as a pastime or leisure pursuit, would have a very healthy respect for firearms and the dangers they can pose in the wrong hands or when taken lightly. Lock up your women if you must, but always make sure your firearm is stored safely and securely! (Water pistols exempted.)

Also, does Jocelynne not realise that there are quite a few women involved in shooting sports (including some active hunters, I would presume)? Might they be in danger of growing humungous biceps or unsightly chest hair? Or should we 'boys' perhaps be quaking in our boots?

Nick and Kenrick should show better common sense of course, but then athletes are not necessarily known for the mental prowess, are they? (No disrespect intended to the graduates, masters and PhD's among them of course.)

David f, as for Aus not actively supporting our athletes, I think that horse has well and truly bolted.

Whew!

What a breath taking ride to enlightenment J Scutt's opinion piece and website take us on.

I have most likely got this entirely wrong but I think I may have figured it out.

Rational law abiding citizens who happen to use firearms for recreation are not entitled to any form of progressive tolerance. Ever. Critical theory must be applied to every tangential topic no matter how trivial. After all, the undisputed fact is that most are men.

This is of course is in stark contrast to criminals who carry out despicable acts based in religion. Who are mostly men.

These individuals must be extended tolerance, compassion and understanding but never confronted with violence.

Wax on wax off Grasshopper.