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May 24, 2006
I have trouble with this cartoon, which refers to this context
Bill Leak
It is the aboriginal stereotype that is being used. It makes me uncomfortable. Why not play around with the role played by traditional cultural and law? That is where the current bone of contention is.
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No, the cartoon doesn't refer to the situation in Wadeye, but to recent debates over the use of the so-called 'customary law defense' - a defense constructed in the courts by lawyers, with anthropologists in tow, seeking to defend their clients from rape charges.
In other words, there are two stereotypes in play. The first being the one that circulates in the courtroom, and according to which judges are willing to beleive it is customary (or perhaps natural) that rape is a feature of and, under certain circumstances, allowed in indigeneous cultures. The second being that of the cartoon, the figure of the otherwise 'noble savage' corrupted by contact with the colonial culture (note the beer in hand).
Both are highly dodgy.