Sometimes, when I help students, it is exhausting.
Like today, for example, when Sean appeared on my screen to tell me he just needed to satisfy his teacher that a Writing Center tutor had “looked at” his paper.
His paper that said, in plain clear English, that women make less in sports because they don’t try as hard, and their sports are not as interesting to most people, and that it has nothing to do with any gender pay-gap, or bias.
If you click on that photo above, you will go to the CNN article on this.
And that should prove to you that women making less money in sports has everything to do with men, and nothing to do with women playing less well, or less hard, or being less interesting.
BUT, IF YOU STILL NEED CONVINCING:
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/lawandarts/article/view/8956
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2022/12/historic-win-for-women-s-equality-in-sports
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/what-the-us-soccer-equal-pay-case-means-for-sports/
https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/handle/10161/22375
When I was a little kid, I thought Bruce Jenner was pretty great for the decathlon, but NO ONE, not Pete Rose, Mohammed Ali, Wilt the Stilt, no one captured my imagination like one of my absolute heroes, Billie Jean King.
And that, all these DECADES later, we should still be having to prove to young men that sexism exists in sports can mean ONLY that their parents, their mothers and fathers, and schools too, through what they say, the local games they attend, what they spend their money and free time on, and the attitudes they have, are continuing to enforce and reinforce the notion that women are inherently not as good as men.
Which is another reason for keeping trans women off of women’s teams, right? Because if you have trans women on a team, and cis-gendered women win the game, that might mean that women and men are equal, so, in no way can we allow possible gender contamination, because that might empower both cis and trans women, and we cannot have that happen! (Sarcasm…. just in case I need to tell you. Cis and trans women should BOTH be empowered.)
Do you live in a place that enforces “norms” about gender, race, religion, ability, etc.? I did. And I left. It was not good for my family, and I was able to go, so I went. But what if you are not able to go, or don’t want to leave a place or people that you love? What do you do?
And what do you do when you have someone present you objectionable and just plain wrong material and you are in the role of teacher? As a teacher, I would dive right in, but all teachers are less safe to do that now, you know? The conservatives strike back with a “You’re discriminating!” Or a “You’re indoctrinating!” As a tutor, usually all I can do is suggest the students use better sources that pass the CRAAP test (his did not).
Sean, I wish you knowledge, more acceptance, and a daughter who wants to be a professional athlete when she grows up who means more to you than anything. Then, maybe, you’ll know.
