Friday, 10 August 2012

Women Who Fight.

A British woman has become the first female boxer to win an Olympic gold medal. I have to admit to feeling uneasy about women boxers, and I’ve been trying to work out why.

It isn’t that I think women shouldn’t fight; I’m aware of the tradition of women warriors in certain cultures, and the sword fight between the two female leads in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is utterly gripping. I think my problem lies with the fact that boxing is such a coarse form of combat; it has speed and power, but no grace. As such, it’s suited to the coarseness of the masculine principle, and therefore beneath the natural aspirations of women.

So am I being chauvinistic in suggesting that women are made to be above that sort of thing?

4 comments:

andrea kiss said...

How about this... i am greatly annoyed by women sports announcers and sports journalists. They all seem very disingenuous to me... all i've seen or heard anyway.

JJ said...

Even the beach volleyball ones?!

andrea kiss said...

I've never seen a beach volleyball one but if i did she would probably get on my nerves, too. Not sure why. Probably some ingrained bias about women and sports that i have yet to be able to shake.

JJ said...

There was a headline in the form of a question on Yahoo news:

'Why doesn't sand stick to the beach volleyball players?'

Because they're made of plastic in the same factory as Barbie Dolls.

Your bias against women and sport is interesting. I'll add it to my growing Understanding of Andrea.