Carlton Supporters Club

https://www.afl.com.au/video/693910/-these-are-not-sad-tears-darcy-vescio-s-emotion-on-revealing-greatest-fear?videoId=693910&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1641344400001

Worth a watch to see how this issue affects Darcy.

Agreed, no doubt about that!

But does it change the social politics of the situation, not really.

Darcy's message is important for Darcy, her family, friends and those closest to her, it gives the rest of us some wider understanding, and new found respect for Darcy, but I feel it doesn't really add clarity on the wider issue.

It does however confirm you have to tread very carefully with these issues because you never know the headspace of those affected. Some may have chosen to drive into a tree on the way to training rather than go through the reveal or confronting the pain, and doing that they wouldn't be the first!

It shows us we should tread carefully because we don't know who is listening and how it affects them. Which in turn DOES change social politics for the same reason. We don't have to understand it, but we need to respect it. We don't have to bend over backwards for it, but for something as simple as using they/them over she/her then its the least we can do. Refusing to do that, shows little respect.

Obviously  we spend a lot less time discussing the women's competition than we do the men's.
It's probably not that difficult a task to make those they/her adjustments for Darcy...especially while the season hasn't started
I'm wondering whether we'd afford a prominent  member of our AFL men's  team identifying as binary the same level of 'respect' during lengthy in season discussions.
Some of us may, but when does it become too much of a chore, and do we have different standards for biological males and females.
What if Darcy was a fringe player without the profile. Would we still make the effort because it's unlikely that Darcy will be the last player to take this position. It makes things like forum discussions very difficult with different terms for different players.
Given that it's doubtful too many players are avid readers of CSC does it matter a great deal if we stick to the He for the Male  comp and She for the female comp.

I don't know about you Lods, but i was the one who posted the darcy announcement and i would've posted it if it was player #30 on our list too.

Same with the men.

They are all human and all deserve to be treated as such, regardless of how good they are at footy.

Its a forum and people will write what they wanna write and that includes whatever pronouns they wanna use, but i'll be trying my best to get them right. Doesn't matter if players read this, or their families, or whoever, but perhaps one of our posters feels the same way as Darcy, by ignoring Darcys wishes, you are (potentially) disrespected other posters.

We all know a rival club captain used to frequent here and has family who do too, if they were thinking of following suit (just an example) how would that make their family members feel?

I don't know about you Lods, but i was the one who posted the darcy announcement and i would've posted it if it was player #30 on our list too.

It shows us we should tread carefully because we don't know who is listening and how it affects them. Which in turn DOES change social politics for the same reason. We don't have to understand it, but we need to respect it. We don't have to bend over backwards for it, but for something as simple as using they/them over she/her then its the least we can do. Refusing to do that, shows little respect.

We do not apply the pressure to Darcy, she cares nothing of your opinion, my opinion, or any of the thousands of fans, etc., etc...  Our opinions carry no weight within Darcy's frame of reference and apply next to no pressure either individually or accumulatively.

She cares about family, friends and close associates. The bulk of the pressure comes from close peers, some may come from close friends and family, but typically not much as they will love / care for Darcy unconditionally.

My first-hand experience in this issue is that the bulk of the pressure comes from politically / socially aligned peers, who do want to make a big issue of it one way or the other. They are happy or even ecstatic for Darcy to sacrifice herself on the public alter to further their own cause.

I'm dead against people who continually message and lecture me publicly about not wanting to be labelled / categorised coming out and demanding I refer to them by a label.

Refusing to 'play along' with Darcy's requests is a slap in the face for others who may not be as fortunate as Darcy to have such a close knit and supportive group.

Interesting you use that term "play", that is part of my point, the game being played by politically motived activists that applies immense pressure to their peers.

From the other perspective, whatever Darcy personally thinks of some pronoun places zero obligation on me or any other commentator, it's completely untenable for 7 billion people all to have a custom label. Some will just have to put up with having a label they do not like, and choosing an obscure label that doesn't match your outward appearance just sets you up for a world of pain. Having a position of privilege doesn't change that, Darcy's solution is untenable for 99.9999% of people, it is a solution for the privileged!

It's equally likely for some individuals to take offense at being labelled "them or they", rather than "her or she", this is were the absurdity of the request is exposed, it implies "we" like all share Darcy's opinion!

AFLW player Haneen Zreika will not be named in the Giants’ team to play against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night after deciding she could not wear the club’s pride jumper for religious reasons.