On HerSportsPOV’s opening day, I received many wonderful comments and insights, both written to me personally and posted on the site. There’s one message I’d like to mention in particular, and that came from one of my male friends who wrote three long paragraphs to my personal e-mail account to talk about pink hats as a major marketing tool, the management of the Nationals, and the District as a city of fair-weather fans. He brought up many good points that I look forward to debating with him, but there was one line that troubled me. He wrote, “Women (you are not included in this generalization) do not follow sports, period.” I know that on one hand, he was complimenting me by acknowledging my passion for sports as the exception to the rule, but why is this the rule? Furthermore, in suggesting that being a woman and being passionate about sports are mutually exclusive, he undermined any woman who does not fall in line with perceived stereotypes. In saying this, however, he also verbalized the statement I’m trying to prove wrong. My hypothesis is that women do follow sports, and judging from many of the people I heard from, I believe this is true.
I don’t mean to pick on my friend because I understand where he was coming from and what he was saying, and to be honest, I’d actually like to thank him for responding in such great detail. Yes, he was reading the columns of a pal, but it went beyond that because in taking the time to construct his own rebuttal, he proved the point that you can talk sports with a woman.
I’d also like to thank Sydney Trent, the author of “The Gal of Summer,” which I referenced on Monday. In an online chat on The Washington Post’s website, she posted my comment that included a link to HerSportsPOV.
Most of all, I’d like to thank everyone who visited HerSportsPOV on its first day. I hope you’ll make this site a part of every week.
No comments:
Post a Comment