Fair game or out of bounds?
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Watching the cricket with the sports journos in the office (yes, life is hard here at BT) and I'm bowled over by a blog topic (get it? Bowled! HAH! Yeah, talk about a maiden over!... OK, I'll stop now). Australia is a sporting nation, but when it comes to sex and love, just what is fair game? The little sister of your best mate... fair game? The lonely guy with love to give and not a leg to stand on... fair game? The ex hooking up with one of your close friends or family... fair game? My venerable sports editor and fellow blogger described more than one occasion when former flames of his have hooked up with blokes he was mates with, some even settling down with a wedding, kids and mortgage. He had no problem with it - but recounting the story to some folks at a function after work and opinions differed. For some people, it seems that once an ex, always an ex, not to be touched by your immediate friends and family. One gent made it an issue of respect - a principle that also motivated his foul call on the sister subject too. He did concede that an ex you're no longer in touch with doesn't t count, having no major issue with his buddies winding up with women he only knew from weddings in the pre-school playground. What really got me thinking was that all the guys present seemed to agree that family was off limits always, the difference being which loop of the extended family circles was the cut off point. Is this because blokes secretly don't trust each other? That they recognise, deep down within themselves, primal urges they know dwell within other males in their packs they seek to 'protect' their womenfolk from? Are men really all just competing to be top of the pack, king of the heap? One guy nearly said as much... well he used the word protection in any case - poor sod didn't know what was coming to him as I suited up, bat in hand, ready to knock his perspective for six (in the most sportsmanlike of fashions of course). Why was my goat got? Well, I guess I feel that attitude is out of date. Gone are the days when men should feel the need to guard over their women with a stick - surely girls, be they sisters or friends, should be allowed to make up their own minds? I didn't hear one woman admit to banning her friends from her brothers - but then again, I'm sure they're out there. (And look - I will agree that if the concerned sibling is privy to information that may indeed threaten the welfare of their loved one, then they have a right to communicate said anxiety to both parties). But really, when it comes to assessing fair game from foul, what are the best rules to play by? What codes exist when it comes to love and sex? And what's the penalty for going offside?