Because she’s an athlete that’s basically unparalleled in skill, to the point where sports reporting has to pretend that other athletes even come close to her level to, at the most generous interpretation, try to make things exciting because she’s so damn dominant, and for so long.
I mean, yes, it’s a different thing, but it just feels weird to be highlighting one person talking about reactions to a superb athlete, with barely any focus on the athlete at all. “Someone called a racist on twitter an idiot” is not really news. Why give the racist jerk more publicity here then the amazing athlete he was attacking?
“She is not built like someone who’s body has grown up flooded by testosterone during puberty.”
“She is not built like the dimorphic extreme which has, heretofore, commonly been referred to as the masculine body-type but which in our more enlightened age could be referred to in a more inclusive manner.”
“She is not built like a person to whom an observer would attribute a form which lies upon one extreme of a spectrum of physical properties which contribute to a frame built for strength and leverage noticeably above the average human potential.”
At some point, once we’re used to using the more complex phrases, I suppose the imputation of intent will be assumed and some other nomenclature will sum them up into a more natural sounding language. But who is to say that Rowling wasn’t already intending such complexity? Is she particularly known for being commonly hurtful toward transgender people? Do we have examples in her outward behaviour which would give some indication of the underlying motivations and therefore intent of her ratiocination? Or is it just the plain structural use of language which needs to be reformed regardless of inherent, summated intentionality?
There’s obviously a lot of reformation of language that needs to be done, but as I pointed out (or at least made an example of) it’s already pretty blurry along definitional lines anyway…
Watching her play is nothing short of amazing. Everyone playing at this level is amazing - it gets particularly hit home if you’ve actually played even a bit oneself and realized how hard it really is.
But this is something one more level up.
Kudos to her.
Sexist, sure, but did I somehow miss the “racist” part of the comment? Or are we just making the not-necessarily-wrong presumption that sexism and racism were distributed to this asshat as part of the bigotry combo meal?
The “built like a man” / “actually a man” shit is constantly directed at black women athletes. See for example the number of Olympic athletes who get hormone tested, and how they’re pretty much all black women. In addition it’s a pretty common racist trope of how black women lack femininity.
Huh. That’s a new one on me. You learn something new and depressing every day. Is this something that’s fairly limited to athletics and discussions thereof? Because at least then my complete disinterest in sportsball would explain why I’ve never heard of this.
Not exactly. Godwin has been necessarily abstracted so that any of the growing number of popular and easy knee-jerk reactions can implement its methods.
No, in our de facto white supremacist Western societies, it’s not limited to athletics. It’s actually a version of the more general “strong black woman” stereotype – “angry black woman” and “loud black woman” are other versions:
there is a dirty side to the perceived uncommon strength of black women. Ultimately, the “strong black woman” stereotype is an albatross, at odds with African American women’s very survival. Because, according to pop culture and media, we are also the workhorses. We are the castrating harpies. We are the brawling World Star “hood rats.” We are the cold, overeducated, work-obsessed sisters who will never marry. We are the indefatigable mamas who don’t need help. We are the women and girls who are unrapeable; who no one need worry about when we go missing. We are the scary bogeywomen on America’s doorstep in the middle of the night. And we are angry. Always angry.
My first thought was that Rowling’s comment fed into gender stereotypes and legitimized, to some extent, the troll’s comment. I would have gone with something along the lines of Yeah, well, so’s your mother.
Mary Decker-Slaney was tested (and tested higher than “normal” for testosterone) and she’s white. Swimmer Jessica Hardy (Long Beach’s own) tested positive for a hormone-related event that she still attributes to a OTC protein supplement–white. (And she was suspended.) If you’re thinking Marion Jones, she got caught because her husband got caught (and their nutritionist and their coach, and BALCO). Actually, all Olympic athletes get tested at numerous times for numerous tests. You should see the list of what they can’t consume (better learn to deal with allergies without drugs or don’t compete). The problem is that it’s the local (national) Olympic Committees who do the testing, and the U.S. loves to test. And yes, there are some super savvy athletes who do EPO and blood-doping who don’t get caught because tests haven’t been created to catch these infractions.
About 20 years ago I tested very high with respect to testosterone (we all have it) when I was doubling up with my swimming and running. This was the one time I actually felt sorry for Mary Decker-Slaney.
