Thoughts on Amanda Batty's rant on RKP?

Gummee · #1 02-05-2018, 10:41 AM

Link

Me? That's pretty well the pot calling the kettle black. (hence my post)

I wonder what she'd say if all of her sponsors decided that women's sports doesn't meet their advertising needs and eliminated budgets.

I also have a real hard time with someone telling me that my chosen career is 'bad' for lack of a better word. Shouldn't that be MY decision? See a need, fill a need...

M

FlashUNC · #2 02-05-2018, 10:46 AM

Quote:

The thing about your job, my dear, is that it makes doing MY JOB (that’s based on skill and experience) extremely difficult, on multiple levels. Whether you intend it or not, your lack of contribution and presence undermines my very real contributions to the sport—from contract negotiations to inspiring new generations of athletes who are valued for their athletic prowess instead of their looks, your job has put women who have invested in these sports at risk.

Said it better than I could.

Gummee · #3 02-05-2018, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Said it better than I could.

I don't see how the two are related unless Amanda wants to get into modelling

M

nighthawk · #4 02-05-2018, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Said it better than I could.

Agreed.

And doesn't calling it a "rant" imply that it wasn't well thought out? Reads well articulated to me.

Gummee · #5 02-05-2018, 10:54 AM

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Originally Posted by nighthawk

Agreed.

And doesn't calling it a "rant" imply that it wasn't well thought out? Reads well articulated to me.

It can be a well thought-out and be a rant. The two aren't mutually exclusive

M

dbnm · #6 02-05-2018, 10:56 AM

Link?

Gummee · #7 02-05-2018, 11:00 AM

link in the OP

and substitute 'favorite bicycle racer'

So explain to me how a professional athlete has any leg to stand on in this one. They're paid entertainers...

M

Black Dog · #8 02-05-2018, 11:02 AM

I thought it was well written and backed with some actual evidence for her position. An intelligent and well supported rant. If my daughter ever steps onto a podium I want it to be as an athlete not eye candy.

Gummee · #9 02-05-2018, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Dog

I thought it was well written and backed with some actual evidence for her position. An intelligent and well supported rant. If my daughter ever steps onto a podium I want it to be as an athlete not eye candy.

So what happens if she's pretty enough to be a podium girl but not talented enough to win races? Would you begrudge her HER CHOICE to be a podium girl? It's not like they're slaves and have to apply for the job.

M

ergott · #10 02-05-2018, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gummee

link in the OP

and substitute 'favorite bicycle racer'

So explain to me how a professional athlete has any leg to stand on in this one. They're paid entertainers...

M

One is an athlete, one is a being treated as a billboard/object with no other entertaining purpose.

Private industries have listened and reacted. There's a growing demand to get rid of the role of a beautiful woman as an object to sell something.

Gummee · #11 02-05-2018, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ergott

One is an athlete, one is a being treated as a billboard/object with no other entertaining purpose.

Umm think about it... They're ALL billboards and/or entertainment.

It's all how they perceive themselves.

I'd even go so far as to say that at least the podium girls recognize what they are. Pro athletes think they're something other than what they are.

M

FlashUNC · #12 02-05-2018, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gummee

I don't see how the two are related unless Amanda wants to get into modelling

M

Alright fine let's lay it out there:

1) The straight male view -- as she points out -- is that women are an unprofitable demographic to be ignored and only presented to use their sexuality to sell a product. Hence, podium girls.

2) With the attitude that the only people interested in watching sports are men -- who of course only want to watch other men -- women's sports are denied the promotion, marketing and support that men's sports used for years to grow. Like, say, an entire newspaper more or less dedicated to convinced the French public this thing called the Tour de France was worth following. Tough to replicate that when the levers of power in the sport are held exclusively by men.

3) As Amanda points out, by having the highest levels of cycling place the most visible portion of women in the sport to, yanno, being podium furniture, it minimizes and marginalizes the attempts by those who do have a craft they're trying to apply to actually grow the sport.

tl;dr: Podium girls are misogynistic and anachronistic and need to be gone yesterday. They emphasize outdated sexist attitudes and marginalize the real accomplishments of those trying to expand women's cycling as a sport.

Jaybee · #13 02-05-2018, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gummee

So what happens if she's pretty enough to be a podium girl but not talented enough to win races? Would you begrudge her HER CHOICE to be a podium girl? It's not like they're slaves and have to apply for the job.

M

My daughters, even at 5 and 3, are beautiful, smart, independent, resourceful little people. They can do and be whatever they want, but if they decide that they are no more valuable than their looks, then I have sorely failed as a father.

Mikej · #14 02-05-2018, 11:17 AM

Actually, aren't they both entertainers? If you get compensation, you are not an athlete longer.

Gummee · #15 02-05-2018, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaybee

My daughters, even at 5 and 3, are beautiful, smart, independent, resourceful little people. They can do and be whatever they want, but if they decide that they are no more valuable than their looks, then I have sorely failed as a father.

How do you figure that the two are mutually exclusive?

All y'all are marginalizing a group of people that take what they do seriously. Would you like to be treated the same way?

M

edited to add: Don't forget Hedy Lamarr