What a ‘Boo’ Can Do: Adam Goodes, Discrimination, and Norm (R)evolution

ABSTRACT

In this commentary I evaluate what McGowan’s project would conclude with respect to the treatment of professional Australian Football League player Adam Goodes, who was incessantly ‘booed’ by crowds for the final two years of his career. Analysing Goodes’ case in light of McGowan’s argument leads me to two observations. First, McGowan’s norm-enactment approach is incredibly useful because it explains how words like ‘boo’ (with unstable meaning) can constitute actionable discrimination. Second, however, I wonder if a narrow focus on whether such speech is legally actionable might encourage an overestimation of the power of laws to shepherd new g-norms into social practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• discrimination
• norms
• Adam Goodes
• speech

Notes

1 See Neldaughter v. Dickeyville Athletic Club, State of Wisconsin, Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, Equal Rights Division. Case no. 9132522 (June 26, 1992). Available at http://labor.hawaii.gov/hcrc/files/2013/01/DOCWhite_HE_Findings.pdf (Appendix B).

2 However, the triggering incident involved Goodes’ response to a slur, discussed below.

3 Following Miranda Fricker’s [2007: 35] definition, stereotypes are ‘widely held disparaging associations between a social group and one or more attributes’.

4 Two documentaries detail this saga: The Final Quarter (Ian Darling, Village Roadshow, 2019, film), and The Australian Dream (Daniel Gordon, Madman Films, 2019, Film).

5 Another case of individual-specific booing is that of Stephen Milne, another AFL player, who was targeted because of his indecent assault of a woman.

6 Granted, Goodes is a professional sportsperson and Neldaughter and her teammates were not, but it is not clear that professional status would alter the facts of the case.

7 I concede that it is likewise true that no corporation can stop its employees from creating a hostile environment. However, what distinguishes Neldaughter and Goodes’ cases from the others discussed by McGowan is control. A company can fire its workers, and a manager can eject individual patrons. The League and the Club have considerably less control over crowds.