Anette Sagen should not be grounded by sexism (or anything else).
Unlike our own s.o.a.l.g., I’ve never been much of a sports fan, in no small part because of all the sexist crap that swirled around my earliest experiences. As the only girl in the neighborhood, my childhood playmates were, by default, my older brother’s friends, who taught me that to throw “like a girl” was shameful, and that engaging in any sort of competition would inevitably end with me looking and feeling weak, cowardly, and stupid. No thanks. I liked swimming, and competed with some success at that until I was 12 or so, but the machismo of televised sports and the relentless yelling from coaches when I went on to try the city youth soccer league or church basketball team pretty much put the kibosh on my interest in athleticism–my own, and most other peoples’.
Coverage of the recently ended Olympics provided tons of stories about double standards (the Canadian women’s hockey team and their scandalous, scandalous champagne drinking!) and institutionalized sexism (no women’s ski-jumping, lest you unmoor your uterus!) didn’t do much to repair my relationship to the world of sport, though a few stories, like Johnny Weir’s dignified, articulate response to some gaybaiting comments from a few bad apples, gave me hope that change might be possible:
I think masculinity is what you believe it to be. To me, masculinity is all my perception. I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or who they like to sleep with. I think as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in and I that’s the most important thing.
Love. Him.
And then I heard about the recent winner of the Profession Bowling League’s biggest competition, Kelly Kulik. Kulik completely spanked the entire field of competititors–all men, as there is no Tournament of Champions for female bowlers–winning the final match by 70 points (265-195). And she did it gracefully, with honor and good sportswomanship. It’s great news, but DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT attempt to slog through the morass of misogynist muck that is the comment thread at ESPN. Instead, let me sum up the various hateful themes:
-a woman’s triumph over a group men means that the field of competition can no longer be considered a “sport”
-bowling never was a sport, so a woman’s success is meaningless
-Kelly Kulick’s excellence is the exception that proves the rule of women’s physical inferiority
-Kelly Kulick is HOT; or NOT HOT; either of which is far more important than her ability as a bowler
-women would have hissy fits were men allowed to compete in their tournaments; allowing a woman into a man’s event is NOT FAIR
Fortunately, one of our awesome international readers, Ane, posted something to our FB page that has left me with a better taste in my mouth. Ane provided links to a story about world-class Norwegian ski jumper Anette Sagen, who, after having been denied the chance to compete on several occasions (due to questions about whether women are “good enough”: GAAAAAH!), has been given the honor of “breaking in” the new, state-of-the-art Holmenkollen ski jump today, March 3.
I cynically wondered if this was a bone thrown to Sagen, and by extension to all female ski jumpers, rather than a sign of real progress, but Ane seems hopeful, and hoo-doggie, I hope she’s right. The World Ski Championships will be held at Holmenkollen in 2011; I’ll be watching to see if Anette Sagen and her peers will be taking flight. FB has pages (in Norwegian and English) where you can support Anette in particular and female ski-jumpers in general, if that’s the sort of thing you like to do.
Tusen takk (mega-super-ultra-thanks) to Ane for the info and links; it’s timely, it matters, it fits into a broad context, and it’s something that I never would come across as a US-media consumer. Gold star!
Insecure much, boys? I guess they needed Jesus Quintana from “The Big Lebowski to put her in her place.”
Props to Norway for getting it right! I wonder if the menz are afraid that women, being generally lighter, may stay aloft longer and thus have longer jumps. And we all know that length is everything.
Did anyone catch the coverage of the relations between members of the US women’s ski team? There was a whole subtext about the tension between Lindsay Vonn and some other woman whose name I forget, the implication being that there was some sort of catfight going on. Of course, the guys always support each other-never any conflicts there! *coughLysacheck/Weiercough*
And yeah, Johnny ftw! The coverage about him was absolutely appalling. All the snickers and snide comments…like he’s the only gay athlete at the Olympics. Grow up, sportscasters.
SIGH. That Kelly Kulik story puts me in mind of Danica Patrick. Those basic themes are repeated about her ad nausea.
Dork, you should get into watching Track and Field events. I think they do a much better job covering women athletes in a respectful manner.
…Caster Semenya notwithstanding?
Ha. Yes actually. Well, let me just say, at least the US press tends to do a better job.
Just to clarify: By “respectful manner” I mean they tend to treat them and write about them like serious athletes, not novelties.
I am so excited to read about Kelly Kulick! My lil’est sis, who is 12 and has Autism, is something of a little bowling prodigy. I just emailed the story to my mom so she can show it to her. What a great role model!
I’m always amused by what people will define as sports. I’ve seen people (dudes, mostly) try to say that poker tournaments are “sporting events” and pool games and all various sorts of things that take little to no athletic prowess. I personally never felt that bowling was really a sport (a fun game, certainly, though) but if it is a sport, it’s a sport no matter who’s playing.
Baraqiel, a sport is something at which men excel. If women excel at it, it’s a frivolous hobby.
I am bitter about the ski-jumping. A woman holds some sort of world record (I believe). So naturally she mustn’t be allowed to compete against the men. That’s what it’s really about. Can’t let a girl show up the real athletes.
@SarahMC – Yep. I’ve heard so many people say that curling isn’t a sport, presumably because women do it well (plus it’s associated with Canadians who Americans have this weird…thing about. It’s like since the US is so manly, Canada must be our wife or something). And yet golf is a sport?!
@SarahMC and baraqiel: To be fair, an awful lot of Canadians diss curling, too, though that may just be the early college-age, somewhat immature demographic that I find myself spending time with lately.
Oh boo-hoo.
Something else that apparently women are “taking from men”. Like it
was that fair to begin with to cut women out. Apparently if men aren’t the exclusive ones that are allowed to piss all over something and claim it as their own it isn’t a sport or a manly activity.
The March 6 edition of “Only A Game” on NPR (see http://www.onlyagame.org/2010/03/saturday-march-6-2010/) had some good coverage of this issue, mentioning Kulik and Sagen. The general attitude seemed quite positive, that women can and should compete on an even footing.
Too much science and too little keeping up with RSS feed, so I’m late. You’re very welcome, Dork.