When is it Stupidity or When is it Blatant Sterotyping and Bigotry!?
I have had a rough time this week. Lots of work… proctoring the state test, my own professional certification assignments, and just trying to teach a bunch of people after they have spent 2 to 2 1/2 hours testing.
So when I got home last night, I wanted to sit back and relax for an hour or so before I had to go try at teach a bunch of people how to curl who have never done so. Let me tell you… the task is worse than trying to teach toddlers (ages 2-5) how to figure skate.
I sit back in one of my replica 1926 Bauhaus chairs and open a curling newsletter. The main jist of this printed publication was to announce a who had won the league’s in this club for this year. But one league was mysteriously missing. Every other league was mentioned; even the Thursday afternoon league which has only enough players to play one game and they keep score by a weird points system for each individual. They mentioned “results” for a novice league which is pathetic and teaches new people how to behave badly. But no results at all for their women’s league. Interesting to say the least.
Now if you do not know… curling has this huge undercurrent of bigots who refuse to believe that when women play it is actually real curling. Women can not play the game is the common assumption. This is like saying that women’s basketball is not real basketball. It is sexist, and discriminatory to say the least. But the people who are the most vocal about this are loud mouth jerks and for some reason able to get away with this bigoted banter.
Now it is unclear at the moment who dropped the ball. It would seem the board member who is in charge of the leagues would not have let this publication go to print without this info. Even the printing person is a club member and should not have let it go out to print. And even if it had gone that far, it should not have been allowed to go to print by the club’s women president who also participated in the women’s league this year.
I can confidently say that this was not an actual conscious decision to leave out mention of a women’s league. It is not like this is a clan like group of people out to get women. But I do wonder if this is more than just stupidity on 4 peoples part. Is there some kind of ingrained sense that women are lesser and it just did not matter. In this case, I truly hope it is a matter of these people being retarded. Yes… I to mean retarded. Mentally deficient. For truly only someone who was not at total brain capacity would make an error so grievous.
But this is a matter that happens all the time. When is it that people are acting stupid and not being conscientious or when is it that is a matter of being discriminatory? It is hard to discern because there are people of all types. Many of us have such ingrained stereotypes, I would also argue bigotry, that we are afraid to be actually believe it.
“Alright”, you might agree, but then someone could also spat back at me that I have an invested interest and pride level because I was on the team that won the women’s league this year. In all matter of sense, this will never ever matter. I am not stupid enough to not realize this. In the drop of a bucket, high school sports is more meaningful than this league. Probably even bowling leagues are more important. But my issue comes from somewhere not personally invested.
There has been someone who has been doing a very good, but difficult job of trying to get women on the competitive track back in Seattle. She has organized meetings, put up with my negativity, and is having to deal with first and second year curlers who think they can win a trip to the Olympics next year. My negativity has come from being a realistic and knowing that given 3 years, these women do not have what it takes to be serious competitive people. Call me arrogant, but I have seen competitive people intimately in 2 sports now and know the drive and type of person it takes to reach truly competitive levels. These women do not have it. While I would love to be competitive, I will not join a team that has people who are lesser skill then me. Actually I prefer to be the less skilled one and have 3 other people who are better than me. Call me stubborn, but you have not been dropped by your male ice dancing partner (many times). I have earned the right to be choosy in what I do. My happiness does not depend anymore on winning a gold medal. A wish and a hope yes, but not the desires of my existence anymore.
But I tangent. The lack of respect to this person is grossly irresponsible. It is rude to say the least. So it is a good lesson today. As you are planning, talking, thinking, what are you doing? Are you falling into old ways and stereotyping people? Are you thinking about others and other’s feelings? Are you being a bigot? And even worse, extremely stupid? Your actions and non actions can hurt others, even when you do not know them. Think before you speak or act. It was one of the greatest lessons I should have taken from the Little House on the Prairie books. But it only took one hard lesson to remember that and follow it the best I could.
