Analyst,
Has in my mind missed the whole point. The truth of the girl's "rape" is irrelevant.

What is at stake here is the unholy pursuit of MORE profit(aka ratings) and which toilet bowl of humanity they're prepared to lead the public in this search.

The problem is that the way the program was done. The show is a serial offender to proffering the public humiliation of people for entertainment (sic).
As I've said else where we all defecate but do we really need to roll in it in the search for ratings.

The child every child goes through real pain during adolescence we as assumed adults shouldn't add to that for our perverse voyeurism.

Ask yourselves the questions.
Did you really NEED to know about that girls pain real or imagined?
Are your lives better for it?
Is the girls life better for the experience of the show.?
Then where are the winners...The progenitors of the program?

Sorry if there are victims then the program is simply as called predatory and we don't need it.
Finally why pander to the lesser of society why not concentrate on raising their circumstances to levels WE would want for ourselves?
Simply put Do unto others as we would have done to us.

To prove I too have a dark side If it had been my daughter. KS etc would be now recovering from emergency maxofacial surgery

While finding the truth always matters, the question of whether or not the girl was actually raped is irrelevant when judging everyone involved in creating this program.

The truth of the girl's claims is a very relevant consideration when considering the 14 year old boy. Perhaps he is the forgotten victim in this affair. Perhaps he isn't.

Y'know when I grow up I'm gonna be a 'social commentator' or opinion columnist!

What a great job! You get to be the master of hindsight, and pour down judgement from your high horse, and get patted on the back for being righteous and perceptive. What a laugh!

'Apparently no one involved in this “stunt” took even a moment to consider what effect their actions might have on a young girl.'

And apparently you didn't either.

'We can hook young girls up to lie detectors and ask them about their sex lives.'

Well actually the mother did the asking about sex lives. A mere inconvenience to your sermon...

'including the adult who allegedly raped her when she was 12.'
Adult? I thought the guy was 14?

'Had she not revealed the earlier sexual assault, presumably the “stunt” would have never made the headlines'
Exactly. Masters of hindsight you all are. You knew the show was rating, getting awards, you knew the format, you now drag out other examples. It's a comfy bandwagon now isn't it!

'This is the cultural climate in which we currently dwell.'
Yes it is. And it rates the roof off apparently. We live in a democracy, where the majority have ruled!

'Clearly there is some disturbance in the family dynamic for a mother to publicly collude with others against her young daughter’s best interests. Having no knowledge of this particular family and its dynamics, there’s nothing further to be said by me about it.'

How nice. So you spare your wrath for the people providing the medium. I suppose you blame the road when you crash your car.

'The onus for changing society’s attitudes to sexual assault is not on the victims, it is on all those who have the strength and the ability to take on the task.'
So let's leave it to the master of hindsight social commentators, who do their work for free. They're not profiting from this at all are they?

'we are barbarians.'
Speak for yourself. I take no responsibility for someone else's entertainment. I didn't even know about the show.

'How many ears must one human have before s/he can hear people cry?'
Now it's sounding like a year 10 english assignment. You get paid for this stuff? Such poetry!

'If Ms Funnell is to protest Ms Johnston’s outing of her daughter, then she must accept that she herself has now outed that daughter to me and to everybody else in my household.'
As you're now responsible for spreading this girls pain.

'And how have we allowed them to turn our young into public objects of prey?'
See it works like this. Young people buy stuff. They also have interests and their own culture. Perhaps we can chain them up and make them listen to Jesus instead. Only allow 'suitable' entertainment, that you have OK'd. You seem like a good judge of what's dangerous or in poor taste. Yep, I think your morality is 100% representitive of the community. And if it isn't it surely should be.

What an opportunity for grandstanding and pushing barrows. I can almost feel the excitement as the opportunists join the travelling circus!

examinator,

'which toilet bowl of humanity they're prepared to lead the public in this search.'

It's always toilets and faeces and excrement with you isn't it. A strange scat fetish you have perhaps?

I think 'the public' can decide things for themselves

This member of 'the public' knows nothing but the extracts shown on ABC TV of this and other Sandilands/O games with people's lives.

My feet have voted. I won't be listening to that radio station in a long time and won't be watching a TV station that backs either of them in a long time. Not hard you might think if I mainly watch ABC, but I do watch many other shows as well.

We can't do much, but we can vote with our feet.

I agree with you that the onus should not be on victims to change public attitudes... this is a task that already traumatised people should not have to take on. That was not the point in my article. I was simple stating that it's problematic not to give space and encouragement if and when victims, of their own volition for their own reasons, choose to disclose. It's also problematic to view all disclosure through a lens which implies it that it is always inherently re-victimising. I'm not suggesting that disclosure has been easy, fun or always cathartic, but I am saying that it would be easier if attitudes towards sexual assault survivors were more progressive and informed.

Also in relation to Hetty J, I was aware of the paradox of further outing the daughter, but weighing up what is already in the public domain I decided it was a point worth making. Hetty J has a lot to answer for on many fronts. Anyway, healthy debate is always welcome and I was pleased to see you engage with my article. I didn't mean to offend you and apologise if this has been the case.

Nina Funnell