Language Matters!
Cheryl offers: I’ve been reading the newspaper a lot more carefully ever since Sara blogged about the Fort Hood incident. Remember the strapping brunette? I don’t watch TV so I haven’t seen any of the Olympics; instead I occasionally check the sports section of the newspaper. What grabbed me today was the tremendous success of the US Women’s hockey team. They have now moved to the gold medal finals on Thursday of this week against old rival, Canada. Yesterday they beat Sweden 9-1. This added to their fantastic record in 2010 of outscoring their rivals 40-2. Holy smoke! Did I find this on the front page of the Sports Section as was the men’s win against Canada which only moved them to the quarter finals? No, it was on page 5. That isn’t what grabbed me though. It was the writer’s comment “A scrapbooking party couldn’t have been more competitive.” Say that about the men’s team and see what happens. This type of comment, from a female writer by the way, takes me back to Pat Heim’s book Hardball for Women. She shares “Men respond to strength and a part of your capacity to ultimately lead is a capacity for you to demonstrate your strength.” There are players on this women’s team with degrees from Harvard and job offers from Donald Trump. These women are strong leaders, athletes, and role models for young women. What made me laugh was the image in my head of the ever competitive Donald at a scrapbooking party! Now that’s a LOL.
...not for the faint of heart and rarely mentioned by the sports guys.
Sara adds: I do watch television and saw some of women’s hockey…nothing wimpy about those women!! What Cheryl points out, makes me more than a little sad. Kristen Kaufman of The Dallas Morning News is quoted in She wins, You Win by Gail Evans as saying, “Women… are not helping one another to achieve power in the work world – and they may even be putting one another at a disadvantage….” I wonder what it will take for media in the US and Canada to become gender-neutral?
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Racism and sexism will never go away entirely. They are crutches for their advocates to lean upon. At best, they will become less conspicuous. Racists and sexists will devise refinements of a basic code. However, eventually, the nomenclature will eliminate racist and sexist terms. The fact remains, that women are now in the majority in several critically important categories: registered voters, those who vote, college students, undergraduate and graduate students, mathematics and science majors as well as pre-med and pre-law students, and undergraduate and graduate degree recipients (including MBA degrees). For all its flaws, Title IX helps to explain why there has been such great progress in amateur and professional woman’s athletics. Much more needs to be accomplished, of course, but let’s at least acknowledge progress to date. Until 1920, women could not vote in the United States. Until 1954, segregation in schools was legal. I am hopeful that additional progress will be achieved much sooner and more extensively. These legal developments had to be achieved first…and they were.
Comment by Bob Morris | Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Donald Trump scrap-booking is hilarious!
Comment by Lauren | Wednesday, February 24, 2010