Warning! Ranting ahead!Just when you thought the bizzaro attitudes of the past were gone, there
comes the reminder that some men really are less evolved:
Keep
women out says Greg Norman
I agree with him on only one point - that if women's tournaments have
bylaws in them that exclude men, then men's tournaments should be able to
have bylaws in them that exclude women. S'fine and fair to me.
But his (and many other male golf pro's) reason's for wanting to exclude
women are rather obviously oppressive, especially when you look at his
(and many other male golf pro's) reluctance to consider playing in a
women's tournament:
It's up to our administrations to come up with the wording of our by-law.
We can't go and play on their tour because we weren't born female. That's
the wording in their by-laws and I think we should do something about it." [Translation: How dare they keep us out! We should do something about
it out of spite.]
So, would Norman take part in a tournament in which a woman was playing?
"Good question. It's hard for me to answer straight off the bat because it
would depend what was the golf tournament," he said. "I would seriously
think about it."
[Translation: Like we would want to debase ourselves by playing in the
ghett-er-girl's tournaments. They're so very not up to our higher level.
Why would I want to play there? But I'll think about it.]
There's discontent about an invitation to big-hitting Briton Laura Davies
to play next week's ANZ Championship on New South Wales' central coast,
the latest episode of what Norman described as a "marketing ploy".
[...]
"I think it all started with Annika to promote herself and women's golf.
At the end of the day it can be very detrimental," Norman said.
[Translation: What are these women thinking? Women's sports are
supposed to be invisible, underfunded and unprofitable. Trying to fix that
would be detrimental to mens tournaments which get all the sponsor money,
media coverage and exposure!]
"If the girls come out here and think they can play against the guys on a
regular basis and fail every time, that can't be very positive.
[Translation: Especially if these GIRLS from WOMEN'S sports come in and
get VERY VERY CLOSE to winning on their very first exposure to men's
tournaments. It just freaks us out! At least we can say they lost, but at
this rate one of them might actually place when they try again!]
His fellow golfer Ernie Els adds:
"I don't think it's a natural thing. Women don't play against men in
tennis tournaments or any other sport,"[Yeah, except when gutsy women like Billie Jean King play men who say
things like this and beat their ass into the ground. Except for *me* when
I played against the *boys* on my high school tennis team and regularly
aced them. At least those tennis BOYS were far more secure in their
manhoods than these MEN, since they praised me up and down and asked for
tips and had no problem inviting me to play.]
"Golf is a little bit different. A person like Michelle Wie, if she's good
enough to play out there, I'm kind of for it. (But) I don't think there's
much of a future for it."
[Translation: I'm "kind of" for it - which is to say that so long as
she's "good enough" to make us look good but not "too good" to win, since
we all know there's no future for women in sports unless they stick to
their own invisible tournaments and leagues.]
Honestly, if these are the attitudes these men have about really great
wmen golfers playing against them, I have a better inkling of the racist
attitudes that Tiger Woods must have faced as he climbed into pro golf.
I'm just floored at the ancient attitudes and the tizzy these men are in
over the women entrants. They all need to take a major chill pill and join
the 21st century.
You know, as I watch the general public's attitudes towards women's
sports, I admire my dad more and more for encouraging my sister and I to
be athletic, with not even a HINT that we would achieve less because
we were girls.