astra_nomer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astra_nomer) wrote2005-07-20 09:32 am
astra_nomer) wrote2005-07-20 09:32 am
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Rant. You've been warned.
I found myself offended by this story I heard on Morning Edition today.
Basically, Frank Deford argues that Michelle Wie's playing against male golfers is bad for women's sports as a whole. By playing against and beating men, she draws attention to herself perhaps, but also draws attention away from women's sports, which already suffer from lack of audiences. And he trotted out the usual arguments about smaller muscle mass and physical differences leading to women being unable to compete fairly with men.
Of course, being a woman who competes with men on a daily basis (careerwise anyway), I felt like he might as well have said that since women's brains are smaller, they can't fairly compete again men intellectually, so why not set up a parallel women's career ladder in the sciences. Then you can systematically marginalize women scientists the way women athletes have been.
Okay, so maybe it's not a fair comparison. But the attitude about the inferiority of women's bodies is all too similar to attitudes about the inferiority of women's brains.
Grrr.
Basically, Frank Deford argues that Michelle Wie's playing against male golfers is bad for women's sports as a whole. By playing against and beating men, she draws attention to herself perhaps, but also draws attention away from women's sports, which already suffer from lack of audiences. And he trotted out the usual arguments about smaller muscle mass and physical differences leading to women being unable to compete fairly with men.
Of course, being a woman who competes with men on a daily basis (careerwise anyway), I felt like he might as well have said that since women's brains are smaller, they can't fairly compete again men intellectually, so why not set up a parallel women's career ladder in the sciences. Then you can systematically marginalize women scientists the way women athletes have been.
Okay, so maybe it's not a fair comparison. But the attitude about the inferiority of women's bodies is all too similar to attitudes about the inferiority of women's brains.
Grrr.
no subject
Actually, lots of people object to women playing in the PGA. And yeah, most of them are pig-headed sexist bastards. And it's those attitudes that I'm fighting.
The PGA is a fairly accurate representation of the tippy top of golf regardless of sex.
I simply don't buy that. Surely you'll agree that there is some overlap between the tippity-top of the LPGA and the middle-of-the-pack PGA. Heck, Michelle Wie missed the cut-off for the PGA Tour by *one* stroke. And she's currently tied for 23rd in the LPGA tour. I think the reason why women are excluded from the PGA is simply because there is a separate LPGA, and so they're all directed to go play over there.
no subject
None of those wackos are here, and Frank DeFord isn't one of them, as is clear from his piece. "[I]t would be nice if Michelle Wie qualified for the Masters and made the cut on a PGA Tour."
I think that your energy would be infinitely better spent fighting sexism in a field a) that matters and b) where there's no obvious reason to expect women to be worse. E.G., science.
Can we at least agree that women are at a disadvantage in strength, size, speed? That there may be differences in the way men and women think, with advantages and disadvantages for each, but that women have no inherent biological advantage in any sport?
If we can agree on that, then I would say that the implication is that statements about the physical inferiority of women are qualitatively different from statements about mental inferiority. They are not exemplary of the same underlying attitude.
....he might as well have said that since women's brains are smaller, they can't fairly compete again men intellectually, so why not set up a parallel women's career ladder in the sciences.
I am going to make the assumption that you don't want a parallel career ladder. If you really believe that "he might as well have said", etc., then it would seem that you're arguing for the abolition of sex-based segregation of any kind, including in sports. I don't think you actually believe this, but it would be the logical conclusion. Otherwise "the attitude about the inferiority of women's bodies" is not at all "similar to attitudes about the inferiority of women's brains".
Fascinating discussion, and I hate to sound like I'm dissing it, but my sister-in-law just called to let me know that she's having contractions (nine days early), so I'm probably pretty busy for a while.