You are wondering, why the hell does this goofy bastard read the paper when he is changing cat litter? A reasonable question. Availability, time, and venue! The litter boxes are set on newspaper--sometimes our cats seem to have poor aim, and often they get a bit exuberant in the covering techniques thus flinging the litter out of the box. Its not as tidy as the TV commercials would suggest. So there is a ready supply of Sunday papers that my wife insists we buy, but I never read (availability). Changing the litter, as you might imagine, is a job that I do not particularly care for, and I find it extremely easy to be distracted (time). The litter boxes are located next to the washer and dryer in the basement (venue). You are now thinking that I am completely out of my mind, but let me explain. I am changing the litter which I hate doing, I pull out a section of newspaper and on the front I see "Sex Sells Sex, Not Women's Sports." Oh cool, let's read this before we set it on the floor for the cats to crap on (you see its a last chance type of thing--I have to read it now...because I sure as hell am not going to read it next week). So I grab the paper and spread it out on top of the washer. The washer is an almost perfect stand for reading newspapers. It has a large, flat, top surface located at a convenient height for reading. I have got engrossed in articles causing my wife to call down the steps to make sure I am OK. It has actually become something of a joke, Tuesday afternoon I will tell my wife, "I am going to go read the paper."
So it was two days ago, while waiting for the foul smelling cloud of cat litter dust to disperse, that I found the article Sex Sells Sex, Not Women's Sports by Mary Jo Kane in the August 28, 2011 Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Forum Section. Well I have to read this. Fortunately for our purposes, I Googled the article and found it here:
Sex Sells Sex, Not Women's Sports, By Mary Jo Kane. The Nation, August 15 - 22, 2011
The Nation, Slide Show: 6 Ways the Media Represents Female Athletes
Last summer I read Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. One of the things that bothered me about the book was that it was very detailed in examples that tended to date the book to the late 90s and early 2000s. I wrote a post on that book here:
Navigating The Finite, July 21, 2011, Female Chauvinist Pigs Verses One Very Smart Cookie
Well this article confirms that the principles that Levy complained about are still going strong.
Shall we stop this post for a moment for a rant? DAMN IT BLOGGER! I start getting these messages that there is a problem saving my post. Oh no! I don't want lose my precious post this far in. In a state of panic I hit the publish button to not lose it. So please bear with me if you have visited during the composition of this masterpiece. Rant concluded, we now resume with our regularly scheduled post.
Dr. Kane has a very good point, why can't the media just present women athletes as athletes? Looking at and reading the captions of the slide show is very instructive. The second slide labeled Athletic Competence is how the author argues that women's sports should be depicted. It is a phenomenal on the field action shot of a goal about to be made in women's soccer. The action just wants to jump off the page. The remaining shots are showing women's sports figures in sexualized situations of varying degrees. (I do take exception to one, mentioned later.)
In photo 3, labeled Ambivalence, we have a basket ball star in a very swanky dress exiting (or perhaps entering--where ever your imagination takes you) the back seat of a car. She ain't dressed for basket ball, although she does hold one. Why the back seat? Is she not competent to drive this car, or would that change the nature of the photo. Perhaps I am reading too much into the photo. I think photographers are rather clever, the backseat is no accident.
Moving on to photo 4 we have a golfer, certainly dressed wholesomely...as she should be because she is the girl next door. Actually, I rather like this photo. She doesn't have stupid set of golf clubs, she has a lap top and books...she has brains! And I find that very attractive in women. Oh hell, I just sunk my boat...I found her attractive because she has brains. I am supposed to find her a golfer and be impressed with her golfing accomplishments. Strike one! Sextant is descending to sexist pig territory.
Shall we go to photo 5: The Hyper Heterosexual. Here I depart company from the author. What I see is a husband being there for his wife at the time of her victory. I don't see anything hyper heterosexual about it. I see a loving supporting spouse happily sharing something that is very important to the athlete. Switch roles, if the wife was about to kiss her husband after he won, would anyone think that it was blatantly sexist? I like marriage. I like the idea that rich and powerful people can have good marriages. I like that spouses are there supporting one another not in only in their moments of triumph but defeat. Sorry Dr. Kane I respectfully disagree on this photo. I am a feminist but not a radical feminist. I like women and men to be together in happy couples. Strike 2! One more strike Sextant and you are sexist pig.
Can Sextant carefully navigate the troubled shoals of male chauvinist pigdom? Read on.
Photo 6 America's best woman skier ever and she has her rather shapely keester at a problematic angle. Sexy Babe this category is labeled, and I would have to agree that this pose suggests far more than skiing. Arguments could made that the pose is somewhat accurate for a skiing. I have no idea. I have to agree with the author on this shot. They could have used an actual action shot or had the woman in a far less suggestive (of skiing or what ever comes to mind) pose. I do find the claims of the phallic mountain to be a bit far fetched, but if your looking to find fault with photo, sure what the hell its a phallus. America's best woman skier is about to have consensual relations with a mountain. Nah nah, I accept no strike on this one.
OK onto photo 7 Soft Porno. Takes me back to my stereo buying days! Well I think we can all agree that the magazine in question, Playboy, and the cover photo depicted is not interested in advancing women's football in Germany.
OK I managed to navigate all 6 photos (photo 1 I don't believe is worth discussing) with only two strikes. I very much find that I am sympathetic to Dr. Kane's arguments that the media does not accurately depict women's sports as a serious athletic endeavor. Sexism is live and well and the photos are good evidence of the points that Dr. Kane makes, but subtly she missed a point. Kane complains about the media, but where is the criticism of the athletes that allowed themselves to be manipulated by these photos...which was exactly one of Ms. Levy's points in Female Chauvinist Pigs. So I agree the media does not portray women athletes as sports figures, but rather have sexualized them into beautiful attractive women who just happen to play sports. I also feel that the sports figures themselves should be objecting.
That said, I find something troubling with this article. Certainly not in terms of the argument that sex sells sex and that these depictions cause people, especially men not to regard women's sports seriously. No I thoroughly agree with the author, this is not right and it is a travesty to women's athletics.
Objectively I don't care about sports. I don't follow any sport, could care less who wins or who loses. I don't much care for opera either. I don't follow it, and could care less who sings what and when a certain company is coming to town. But I don't find myself getting irritated by opera. Live and let live...it is of no concern of mine what so ever. I do find myself getting actually quite pissed off at the impact that sports has on this country.
I don't much care for the notion of gangs of men going out on a football field or other arenas and beating the hell out of each other. Some of the players in the NFL participate in 15 years of organized violence and lose their minds in their 50s due to all the impact traumas that they have endured. This whole ass patting, ball scratching, grunting, sweat soaked, displays of excessive macho charisma with fights and gestures just leaves me cold. Then we go and make damned heroes out of these people, pay them obscene wages, and turn our heads at any misbehavior as long as they can bring home the win. Heroes? More like gods. They are like knights in shining armor and we are the dung encrusted peasants looking up to them to save us from our paltry boring lives.
Bullshit! It pisses me off. I don't like it. So I come along to this article and I was struck by one statement that Kane made:
These findings are no trivial matter. Scholars have long argued that a major consequence of the media’s tendency to sexualize women’s athletic accomplishments is the reinforcement of their status as second-class citizens in one of the most powerful economic, social and political institutions on the planet. In doing so, media images that emphasize femininity/sexuality actually suppress interest in, not to mention respect for, women’s sports.I agree entirely with Kane's argument here. What pisses me off is the bolded part. It's just sports for God's sake, why is it one of the most powerful economic, social and political institutions on the planet, men's or women's? Opera is not a force on this planet and by God if it was up to me neither would sports. So that is one element of what troubles me about this article. Yes women are not getting their fair shake, but doesn't anyone think that sports in general has a little too much horsepower in our society?
Mary Jo Kane, PhD, is the director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota.
EDIT 7-15-2012: Leave it to ESPN to be more egalitarian in pushing sex in sports. We have here a collection of photos of your favorite sports figures, both male and female, in the buff. There is something here for everyone.
ESPN The Magazine, Bodies We Want 2012
IMAGE CREDITS:
The Nation, Slide Show: 6 Ways the Media Represents Female Athletes
I agree with you about sports. Why should games be so important in our society? Not that there's anything wrong with games per se. There's also nothing wrong with admiring those who are the best at their games-- male or female. Or admiring fine, strong, beautifully-made athletic bodies-- male or female. But as you point out, it makes absolutely no sense that commercialized sports have become "one of the most powerful economic, social and political institutions on the planet."
ReplyDeleteDonna,
DeleteI am disappointed, I thought I would be counseled for my distaste with newspapers, and for striking out. Alas, I feel neglected.
You are right, there is nothing wrong with the games, or the admiration within limits. Nothing wrong with opera either, but some how it is not a force in our society that sports has achieved.
A little for instance. The politicos here in Pittsburgh were threatened by our sports teams...build new stadiums or else. Me? I would have helped them pack their bags. So the politicians come up with raising the state sales tax in Allegheny County and some other jurisdictions determined by zip codes. They wanted 1 percent to pay for the stadiums. They put it on a referendum. It was voted down and they raised the tax and built the stadiums anyhow. The stadiums are loaded with all sorts of luxury boxes and trappings for the wealthy. A sales tax is often cited as a fair tax because everyone buys things. Well a lot of poor people are paying a penny on a dollar for everything they buy (except food and clothes) to underwrite stadiums that they can not afford to attend.
A guy from Columbus Ohio once commented on a post of mine in a car club and signed off with Go Steelers--kind of like dragging your nails over a chalk board to me. When I bought the car in question I handed over $250 to the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins--so while not necessarily a fan, I am a supporter. Any how I wanted to pack up the Steelers, Heinz Stadium, and the 1 % sales tax and ship them off to Columbus. He refused on the basis that if Columbus got a professional football team, Cincinnati and Cleveland would want one too. Although I despise sports, I did enjoy the humor in that.
I don't mind at all that you use newspapers to catch excess litter, etc. And it likely gives the cats something to read while they do their business.
DeleteAhhhh! So that's why they always stare down. They must be reading political commentary because they always flatten their ears.
DeleteYou can multi task when reading the paper as you change the cat liter...Blogger does have its problems when saving it
ReplyDeleteKim,
DeleteWell changing the cat liter does require a bit of care and attention, so I can't do both at the same time. But I do usually get an article or two read in the process. Don't know what the cats think of having their facilities closed for longer than needed, but they seem to make themselves scarce. I always threaten to make them help when they have been untidy and they laugh. Cats do not get involved in domestic tasks, that is why they have staff.
Blogger has been messed up for about 6 months now. You would think the great Google could run a tighter ship. Usually I write these things in my word processor and copy and paste them into Blogger but for some reason I wrote it in blogger's editor.
On my Valentines story I absolutely could not position the image where I wanted it.
I got it close after 20 minutes of fiddling and gave up.
Well I'm glad you strike 3'd yourself because I definitely was gonna give you a big ol "Strike 3....And you're OUTTA here!"
ReplyDeleteYou were doing so good right up until the end when you said that women shouldn't play as aggressively as their male counterparts. I totally disagree with you there. Would you prefer to see us in dresses and pretty hats gently say, "After you" while our enemy puts the ball into the goal?
C'mon...I know what high esteem you hold women in, but a game is a game and the point of the game is the win. I don't care that they say the point of the game is the joy of playing and camaraderie and all that hoo-hah, the point is to win, or why play the game? Especially when you are on a professional level.
But I do agree that women in sports are sexualized, but so are men. Sex sells, plain and simple. And the point of the media is to sell right? Who pays for their air time? Advertisers.
And I personally don't like newspapers either...gets your hands all black and dirty. In the series Downton Abbey, the servants iron the paper before giving it to their Master, as ironing dries the ink and the Master doesn't have to worry about getting his hands all black and dirty. Of course, you are already doing a dirty job when you're cleaning up after cats so I guess inky hands are the least of your worries! :-D
Alicia,
Delete"Winning is not everything, it is the only thing." Vince Lombardi
I bestow upon you The Vince Lombardi of Women's Sports Award for kicking the ass of the pansy naysayers! A fine speech, and while I understand the sentiment, I think we may have to agree to disagree. In defense of the naysayer, I did say several paragraphs up that I did not like men beating the hell out of each other. So if I don't like men doing it, why the hell would I like women doing it? But you are right I did strike out. Guilty as charged, I am a sexist pig that thinks women are too sensible to lose their minds over a ball.
Good point on the ink of newspapers, but as you say, during cat litter not a big issue.
Thanks as always for stopping by and commenting as always.
I am honored to accept The Vince Lombardi of Women's Sports Award! Now let me go find a slinky low-cut dress to be photographed in as that is the only way I will make the cover of Sports Illustrated!
DeleteHey, I have to go to work so I don't have time to really study what you've said here. Very interesting, anyway, and I agree with most of what I skimmed over... love that last photo of athletic competence. I like seeing women being strong and in the "go-for-it" mode. Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting, and I totally agree with you, too, on the few gods and the loss of middle class. A scary notion. I pity our children and grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteCarol,
DeleteThanks for stopping on by and commenting.
I think you need to read my last paragraph over again--we may be a bit at odds. I like strong smart women, and in the context of women's sports, yes, the last photo is how women in sports should be depicted. However I am not impressed with mindless savagery to win by either gender. To me, its just sports--nothing to lose your mind about.
Henry your honesty is refreshing. And for that I won't strike you out - though I know many women will - because honesty is just that, honesty.
ReplyDeleteI understand you opinion about the savagery of sports - but that's because I'm not a sports person. I'm a member of the arts league. My father was disappointed when I was in high school because he thought that since I'm tall, I should play basketball. Pu-lease! My classmates didn't even want me on their team games in p.e. class! I am definitely NOT sports-inclined. Don't know the first thing about first downs and ummm whatever lingo they use in soccer. :) It's just not me. However, though I despise the way women are depicted in sports I do understand a woman's desire to follow her goals if sports is her goal. I think women are depicted in sexual ways by men, because it makes it easier for men to accept that women have usurped THEIR territory. Just like in the military. Sports for years was a man thing. When women started breaking in and even now, men rebelled in the only legal way they could: degradation. Yet women continue to prove that they are good at what they do - not in comparison to men. Just good at what they do. Hence the intensity in the last photograph. If you're gonna do something, you gotta give it your all - which you did in this post. ;) Now stop torturing yourself with all that paper and buy the litter that clumps instead! :)
Thanks for sharing Henry :)
Vicki
Vicki
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about not being wanted on the team. I was always choses last for the ball games out on the street. The only reason they let me play was because it was my ball and bat!
Good observation on the usurpation of male turf. Thanks for dropping on by and commenting.
This is, bar none, one of my favorite reads in ages.
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to explain why.
Just keep blogging and darn that blogger stuff, I get that sometimes.
Thank you Sarah for your very kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Delete