The Ultimate Insult? Call a Man a Woman

I am not a hockey fan. I am the wife of a long-suffering Cubs fan, and by marriage I have learned all I know about baseball, football and basketball from my husband. We are not on the bandwagon, but that Stanley Cup sure is a sweet piece of hardware.

But why, why, why does this sort of crap still happen? Why did the CHICAGO TRIBUNE think the best way to insult Flyers’ Chris Pronger was to photoshop a figure skating skirt on him and title the mock-photo “Chrissy Pronger: Looks like Tarzan, skates like Jane”? Is it because we really believe “boys will be boys” and “it’s all in good fun”? Aren’t women sports fans too or do they think stuff like this is OK? And as a former journalist I can’t help but wonder what the editors were thinking when this made it past the first section meeting.

Men and women are both human –  physically embodied souls and gendered in God’s image. That is no small thing in my book. We reflect something as humans and in our sexuality and gender of our Creator. What a horrible thing it is to know that girls throughout the world’s cultures are raised to know they are less than. They are worth less than the young boys who will carry on family names and wealth. They are worth less unless their bodies are used for the pleasure of others. They are worth less, and that has meant many girls grow up to be women who in some place in their hearts believe they are worthless.

So it breaks my heart and pisses me off to see a major newspaper repeat the same playground taunts I continue to hear to this day: don’t run like a girl, cry like a girl, throw like a girl, hit like a girl.

12 Comments

  1. aproperfool June 9, 2010

    Surely they’re more creative than that?!

    Reply
  2. Roxanne June 9, 2010

    I didn’t care for that either. Very poor choice.

    Reply
  3. anthonygiron June 9, 2010

    I’m all for a good bit of trash talk, but this was in really poor taste. I’m surprised this one made it past the editors.

    Hockey has the most male-dominated fan base of any of the major sports, even more so than football. It is seen as a tough guys game, as evidenced by the fact that checking and fighting are highly important elements to the game. The culture around the sport (as I observe it having never played it) definitely reflects that sort of attitude. In an environment where many of the major sports are courting women more and more (the NFL holds seminars explaining the sport to women who are unfamiliar with it, the NBA has backed the WNBA through continued financial troubles, MLB caters its fundraising efforts toward breast cancer research, etc.), hockey continues to be a boys club to the core.

    I’d like to think that this wouldn’t fly with any other sport, but that’s probably giving the sports world too much credit. The reality is that calling a guy a girl remains a pretty harsh insult in the sports world (and male culture in general, see any group of 10 year old boys). Clearly, the message that this poster (and many other things) communicates is being transmitted right down the line to boys and girls across the country.

    If there’s any solace that can be taken from this, its the fact that the majority of response across the board has been fairly negative. One can only hope that the Trib will take that as a sign that this sort of thing is not okay.

    Reply
  4. Gabber Grace June 11, 2010

    what?! yikes, that’s mean. Just distasteful & ignorant.

    Reply
  5. Leigh June 12, 2010

    Wow, I’m really surprised by the Tribune. I just moved out of state and have been mourning the loss of my favorite newspaper but perhaps there are more changes coming down the pike along these lines…in which case, I’d better embrace The Tennessean fast!

    Reply
  6. Modern Reject June 15, 2010

    I was never bothered by childhood “insults” like “you throw like a girl or hit like a girl,” because well, I’m a girl.

    If American/Western women weren’t so desperate to reach “equality” with men, they wouldn’t feel discouraged when not compared to men.

    You stated “Men and women are both human – physically embodied souls and gendered in God’s image.” Which is true and poignant.

    American women however, feel they are less then men not only because they have been told by others but because they have told themselves that womanhood (and its inherent responsibilities) are less desirable. If women really sought to hear God’s view of themselves and rested in that identity, well then maybe we would be less offended by an ice skater’s skirt and a rude quip.

    Reply
  7. margaret holmes June 18, 2010

    I am an elementary school teacher who often finds herself admonishing children who feel that calling a boy a girl is the ultimate insult. Sometimes this leads to a good discussion about equality and how hurtful any name calling can be; sometimes I tell them that being called a girl should be taken as a compliment (since I am female); and sometimes I tell them that personally I feel insulted when they act as if females are less than males. Often I think I get through to them, but they didn’t make up this terminology–they bring it from home and community, so I was glad to see you publicly express your feelings about this. And you expressed it well.

    Reply
  8. devinci March 5, 2011

    Insulting a man by calling him something with female attributes is not saying women are less worth than a man!

    Just like telling a woman she looks like a man is hurtful and insulting to a woman. Or telling a woman she has a beard and look like quarterback. Does this make a man less worth? No!

    It’s an INSULT regardless. sure some people have golden hearts and will turn the other cheek; but most of us will feel some level of hurt when someone else calls us of something that refers to the attribute of the opposite gender.

    Reply
  9. […] http://morethanservingtea.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/the-ultimate-insult-call-a-man-a-woman/ […]

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  10. […] “The Ultimate Insult?  Call A Man A Woman” by Kathy Khang from More Than Serving Tea http://morethanservingtea.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/the-ultimate-insult-call-a-man-a-woman/ […]

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  11. I Love Being A Man January 11, 2017

    I prefer to be a worm instead than a week girl!.

    Sorry but reality can be a bitch some times , being a girl is the worst thing.

    Bahahahahahahahahahaha i love being a man.

    Reply
    • Kathy Khang January 18, 2017

      Your spelling and grammar should be cause for embarrassment, man.

      Reply

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