National Fuckery League

[Trigger warning.]

I don't guess I'm the only person who's noticed that the NFL has a violent fuckneck problem. There are, to be sure, a lot of good guys in the NFL, but holy hell are there a lot of bad ones, too. And I'm not even talking about the guys with gun charges, or criminal mischief charges, or DUIs, or drug busts. Or even the guy with the dogfighting ring. I'm talking about the alleged rapists and domestic abusers. The guys who hurt women, and hurt them badly.

Today, there are two more stories of NFL players being accused of violent acts against women. Angelina Mavilia, a trans woman, alleges that NFL cornerback Eric Green sexually assaulted her

then got "extremely agitated and threatening," according to court documents, and warned: "This never happened. You'd better not tell."

And Supriya Harris alleges that running back Steven Jackson attacked her while she was nine months pregnant (with his child) and then instructed her to tell hospital staff that her injuries were the result of falling in the shower.

Naturally, I do not know the veracity of these individual allegations. But I do know that the NFL has a problem. And I also know that all their ostensible efforts to change the culture don't mean shit, as long as the culture includes transmisogynist/homophobic hazing and banter like coaches still calling their players "ladies" and players still calling each other "fags."

These men spent egregious amounts of time in an environment in which anything considered feminine is dehumanized. And pretending that subjecting oneself to, and participating in, such ritualistic dehumanization doesn't have any practical consequences only increases the number of people who are going to get hurt.

If the NFL wants to get serious about its violent fuckneck problem, they can start with banning hate speech on the field and in the locker rooms. And follow that with a zero tolerance policy on sexual violence and domestic assault.

Because right now? Your policy sucks. And everyone knows it.