Opinion
I love you Bailey Smith but not the double standards
Kate Halfpenny
Regular columnistThe perfect winter Friday night looks like this for me right now: an original beef burger and prosecco piccolo at the Piping Hot Chicken Shop in Ocean Grove, then a dash home to put on the uggies and the Doggies.
I don’t barrack for the Western Bulldogs (they’re my second team – probably yours too) but seeing them play is a grand kick-off to any weekend. Mostly because of Bailey Smith. Yes, I could write a haiku about his supernatural eyes, but it’s really about the way he plays. Fast, powerful, brutal, entertaining.
Bailey Smith: Fast, powerful, brutal, entertaining.Credit:Getty Images
I love Bailey in the way suburban matrons love bright tops made from thin material and everyone loves a golden retriever puppy. You don’t question it. It’s just there.
This week, I’m also loving the way his club, supporters and the media have gotten around the 21-year-old since he admitted a descent into an “illicit substance” after last year’s grand final.
Immediately owning his indulgence – he was captured on video and in photos literally holding the bag – and explaining his mental health battles without using them as an excuse was a PR masterstroke. It showed courage and elan from Smith and those who advise him.
One of the controversial images of Bailey Smith circulated on social media.
The admission he suffers from anxiety was rightly called refreshing. I did it, I’m sorry for hurting people, no cover up so no more to uncover. He shifted the narrative from salacious to human and authentic.
So Bailey, I can’t wait to see you in action again. In the meantime, go for cold water swims, choose confidantes carefully and know most fans have also stuffed up at some point and will welcome you back.
But. I’m actually sighing while typing because of frustration that it still needs to be said in 2022, a year when women became noticeable forces in Australian politics and the 96-year-old head of our Commonwealth is being globally celebrated as the original unstoppable Girl Boss.
Bailey Smith – the AFL’s most marketable player – is exposed on social media in a “white powder” scandal. His privacy is respected, his situation is largely met with compassion and his sponsors including Cotton On stand by him.
Nadia Bartel – former top AFL WAG and businesswoman – is exposed on social media in a “white powder” scandal. Photographers lie in wait outside her house, she is called a “moron” by former police commissioner Kel Glare and loses sponsors and reputation.
When she fell from grace last September, I asked if the punishment fits the crime for women like her and the similarly cancelled Georgia Love (who killed her TV career with a lame cat in Chinese restaurant joke).
I asked about double standards and why some men get second chances while women like Nadia, or former Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate who spent $20k on watches for colleagues, get piled on.
I’m asking now why there’s still an ongoing disparity.
I’m asking why Amber Heard was demonised on social media and faced calls to have her axed from Aquaman II for being half of the most toxic union on the planet, while her ghastly marital co-conspirator Johnny Depp was celebrated.
Why armchair critics said Heard, an actor, was acting during her testimony but Depp, an actor, was not during his.
I ask again why are women held up to higher standards of legal and moral behaviour, and when we falter, the punishment is excessive ridicule and a limited shot at redemption?
Wonder what would have happened if Nadia had said she “let people down” because of mental health problems. Smart money is on her being told she has beauty, wealth, fame and should get over herself.
I feel like saying women, let’s test the waters. Let’s all get on the bags, iPhones at the ready, and see if friends, family and colleagues have evolved enough to let us off with a cuddle. Sounds sort of fun. Problem is we’re smarter than that.