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Female Olympians fight back against shamers and haters
This entire article and all of its accompanying links makes me want to cheer and weep at the same time.
The Olympics may have provided us with a global exhibition of some seriously retrograde ideas about athletes and femininity, but they have also provided us with something even more important, and that’s the sight of female athletes fighting back.
This entire article and all of its accompanying links makes me want to cheer and weep at the same time.
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(I don't actually know if that's true? I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to topical media and haven't actually watched the Olympics at all, so it could be a judgment claim I'm pulling out of my ass. I just can't personally imagine a situation where a man would be personally scrutinised for how much he fit some unnecessary, impossible-to-reach standard of attractiveness when he's winning gold/silver/pewter medals for his country. /disclaimer.)
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There's a sixteen year old lady swimmer from China who has just done marvelously this Olympics. People keep ripping on her for looking all manly and for being fast in the first place - because she raced faster in the last 50m of the 400 IM faster than Ryan Lochte did in his respective race, therefore she must be doping! But she's been drug tested over and over again and come clean each time - the Olympic committee is definitely much harsher about drug testing this year.
I don't think she would be on the receiving end of this much crap if she wasn't a) Chinese and b) female. Because obviously the USA has a clean doping record (right). And obviously men will always be the shit (ugh).
I am amazed and wonderfully happy that this girl can make Ryan Lochte look bad! It's possible! That's fantastic! But I want to weep for humanity because of all the sexist implications that come with it. KSDJFL;AKJDSF;LKASJDF;LKSAJ;LKFAJS
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I'm glad we're starting to see backlash--but those women shouldn't have to.
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Not that I'm surprised or anything-- I experienced this firsthand last Friday night at a bar. The Olympics were on the TV, and I was treated to all sorts of LOVELY commentary about the appearance of the female athletes. Ummm not gonna lie, it made me so viciously angry that it actually contributed to ruining my night (my night was ALREADY downhill because a friend of mine got really drunk and started ranting about how this girl at the party we were at was a "whore" for fucked up reasons, but I digress-- TWAS A GREAT NIGHT FOR WOMAN-HATING APPARENTLY).
It's probably a bad attitude to have, but I can't help feeling that no matter HOW much women "fight back", it's never going to matter. I'm constantly shocked by the misogyny and ignorance of people around me, even people whom I thought would never possibly think that way. Even people in my FAMILY! Perhaps MOST unfortunate is the amount of OTHER WOMEN who hold these same attitudes and bash other women because of internalized misogyny.
I see a lot of good things happening on the feminist front, and positive steps being made, and maybe it's just very negative and defeatist of me, but it's so easy to feel like none of that is worth it (even though I know it is. I know it's making a difference SOMEWHERE, to SOMEONE, and even if it changes one person's opinion, that's progress). But it's just so easy to get discouraged, especially dealing with something as simple as getting sexually harassed on the street almost every fucking day because I have a female body. And I'm not even exaggerating. Every. Fucking. Day.
Whooooops I could ramble about this forever and I already got way off topic SO I'LL STOP BEFORE I GET CRAY but yeah. Yeah.
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