women in sports

i don't know how i came across dave zirin's edge of sports but i did. i was absolutely blown away by his posting excerpted and linked below. it's how i feel and it's what i knew deep down in my core. a couple of weeks ago, i heard danica being interviewed (as usual it was on the radio either on my way to work or coming home from work). i couldn't listen too long because they were concentrating on her body. she was gushing about what a 'grrrl' she was. how feminine she was and THAT is why she poses in leather draped over cars or in bikinis for men's magazines. i have NOTHING against seeing someone's body (male OR female). nothing against seeing an athlete's body. as a matter of fact, i was at the half door for brunch last weekend and track and field was on. i was telling my friend matt how beautiful i thought the bodies of the athletes (runners in particular. i like divers bodies too, but of course there were no divers in the track and field competition) were.

hey danica, no one is gonna think you're a lesbian if you don't pose in a bikini. and by the way, so the fuck what if they do

The Over-Exposure of Danica Patrick

By Dave Zirin

It has been quite a year for Danica Patrick. She became the first woman to win an Indy Car race, coming in first at the Indy Japan 300 on April 20. She also became the first race care driver to pose for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

The good people at SI never thought to give us Richard Petty in a speedo, but Danica, bent over in a white ruffle bikini, must for some reason have seemed like a winner. In accomplishing this dubious double play, Patrick has revived a debate as old as Sonia Henie skating figure eights at the 1926 Olympics: Does sex sell—or perhaps more aptly phrased, does sexism sell—women’s sports? Does objectifying women athletes, highlighting their bodies over their skill, putting them in swimsuits or on the covers of yuppie porn like FHM or Stuff, actually increase the interest and fanbase of women’s sports? The debate has always had Faustian overtones: Is it worth turning proud women athletes into frat house cheesecake if it’s for the greater good, the greater exposure, of the games themselves?..............