This is why in the week where the AFL announced their first-ever women's league (yes!), and the Western Bulldogs and Geelong played in White Ribbon anti-violence match (yes!), we can't let the misogynist "banter" of Collingwood president Eddie McGuire slip past. Eddie McGuire's sexist comments have been criticised by Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Darrian Traynor McGuire and his guffawing mates - including North Melbourne chair James Brayshaw and Wayne Carey - were talking live on Triple M from the MCG's "Big Freeze" event last Monday, where celebrities slide into a pool of ice-cold water to raise funds for motor neurone disease. So far, so worthy. But then McGuire et al got stuck into Caroline Wilson, a Walkley-award winning football journalist at The Age. These toxic comments were highlighted in a blog post by sports journalist Erin Riley and circulated on Twitter. The transcript is so awful, you need to read it. But the audio (here in the podcast, around minute 52) also reveals everyone was laughing, together, at a violent joke about DROWNING a female journalist they all know. Hur Hur Hur.

McGuire: In fact I reckon we should start the campaign for a one-person slide next year. Caroline Wilson. And I'll put in 10 grand straight away - make it 20. [laughter] And if she stays under, 50. [louder laughter] Collingwood president Eddie McGuire at the 'Big Freeze 2' charity event last year. He came under fire for saying he would pay $50,000 to see The Age's chief football writer Caroline Wilson stay under a pool of ice water. Credit:Darrian Traynor What do you reckon guys? Who else is up there? I know you're in JB? James Brayshaw: No, yep, Straight in. Former St Kilda player and ex-Richmond coach, Danny Frawley, said he would hold Caroline Wilson under the water.

Danny Frawley: I'll be in amongst it Ed. McGuire: Is Duck there? North Melbourne president and media personality James Brayshaw. Credit:Getty Images I'll actually jump in and make sure she doesn't — I'll hold her under, Ed. Danny Frawley Wayne Carey: Yes, I'm here mate.

[and later] Frawley: I'll actually jump in and make sure she doesn't — I'll hold her under, Ed. McGuire: I reckon we could charge 10,000 for everyone to stand around the outside and bomb her. Damien Barrett: I'm on Caro's side now, Ed. I'm on Caro's side these days, Ed. [indecipherable] McGuire: She'll burn you like everyone else, mate. She's like the black widow. She just sucks you in and gets you and you start talking to her and then bang! She gets you.

And then McGuire ends: "It'll be magnificent. I think we should do that next year. It's all good for footy." No Eddie. It's no good for footy to make light of violence against women, and slag off one of the code's most senior female journalists. A toxic boy's club mentality is on regular ugly display in forums like The Footy Show, and we haven't forgotten the time Sam Newman manhandled a lingerie-clad mannequin to mock and humiliate Wilson. It's no good for a code that has finally given footy superstars like Daisy Pearce and Meg Hutchins a national platform, and wants the public to believe this change has substance. As the national anti-violence body Our Watch points out, sexist and violent jokes matter. They reflect and reinforce sexist attitudes. They excuse and perpetuate the stereotyping and discrimination against women that underpins violence. If no one speaks up when a sexist comment or joke is made, it sends the message that this behaviour is okay.

Just this week, I interviewed the family of a Melbourne woman whose violent ex threw an enormous piece of furniture at her and crushed her feet. She was an athlete and will never walk again without pain. Pretty funny huh? Today I will talk to my daughter about dinosaurs, one of her favourite topics. How these cold-blooded lizards roared and stomped across the earth, proclaiming their might and power. But their era passed, and the dinosaurs died out. I'm also going to bring home a copy of The Age's front page story on the new women's league, featuring a picture of 12-year-old Caley Ryan. Look, here come the girls.

Caley Ryan picked up footy full time this year, for the Beaumaris Football Club. Miki Perkins is Social Affairs Reporter for The Age. In 2015 she won a VicHealth award for her stories on family violence. You can follow Miki Perkins on Facebook.