Rather, it's about some of the discussions stemming from the pie ad, and some thoughts I've had.
First--I like sports. And my liking of sports is not gender-specific.
I've spent a lot of the past week or two watching the Women's Softball College World Series. ESPN's shown a lot of it. It's been very entertaining. Last night was the final game, the deciding game in the best-of-three championship, between Michigan and UCLA. Great game, went into extra innings, and Michigan won with a three-run dinger in the 10th inning. As pure athletic competition, it was thrilling. And that's the main reason I watch it. It's the same as watching the Baseball College WS, which starts next week. The exact same thing. Great athletic competition.
Mostly. Because if I told you I didn't also enjoy watching good-looking athletic women run around the bases, I'd be absolutely fucking lying to you.
More on the flip.
Anyone know who Amanda Beard is? She's a swimmer.
She's had an interesting career. Started in the 96 Olympics, when she was all of 14 years old. She was a cute kid, known for carrying a teddy bear around the pool for good luck, but she could also swim. The breastroke was her specialty, and she won silver medals in both breastrokes in 96, plus a gold in the relay medley. The next four years were tough for her, as she adjusted to her growing body and her times went down. Making the 2000 Olympic team, in just one event--the 200breast--was an upset, and the bronze medal she won in Sydney was an even bigger upset.
By the time 2004 rolled around, Amanda Beard had fully made the transition from 'kid swimmer' to 'adult woman swimmer'. In fact, she had broken the world record in the 200breast. She went to Athens and won her first individual gold medal in that event. She also made the team in the 100breast and finished fourth. She swam the medley relay again, and got a silver. By that time, she'd also added the 200 meter Individual Medley to her repertoire, and grabbed a silver medal in that.
So. Three Olympic games, between the ages of 14 and 22. Eight different events over those three games; two gold medals, four silver, one bronze, and one fourth place. That's a hell of a career (and that's so far, she hasn't retired). She's also trying to build a business. Plus, she's a great swimmer from a spectator's point of view: her strategy is to hang back and conserve energy, then blow by everyone in the last fifty meters. It's very exciting.
Oh, and one other thing: she appeared in the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. And looked damn fine in doing so.
Do I love Amanda Beard because she's a great swimmer, or because she looks great in a swimsuit? Yes. Now, don't misunderstand me, it's more of the former. I used to joke about my all-time favorite female athlete, Nicole Bobek, the figure skater. 90% of why I loved her was her skating--she was engaging, charismatic, highly musical (the thing I look for most in skaters), and when her jumps were on they were textbook. I was in the audience when she won her one and only National Championship, and it was magic.
That's 90%. The other 10% was because she has a great ass.
Does all this make me sexist? I dunno. You tell me. (And I need to add that a lot of female skating fans would say exactly what I said above. Especially if they're Todd Eldredge fans. I saw more posts on a skating list about how great his ass is than posts here about pie <G>).
When I attended elementary school, we had a boy's basketball team. That's it. My daughter now attends the same school--next year, in fourth grade, she'll be able to try out for the girl's basketball team. She loves basketball, and can't wait to try out. Thank you Title IX.
But I still like eye candy. Does that make me sexist? I still dunno.
Now. I much, much, much prefer for my eye candy to be doing something, especially something athletic. Watching Nicole Bobek glide across the ice or Amanda Beard cut through the water is my kind of eye candy--not overpaid, overboobed 'actresses' in a fake pie-fight. That's not entertaining. Amanda Beard chasing down swimmers in the last fifty meters--that's entertaining. Nicole Bobek's double axel, a thing of absolute purity when she gets a good takeoff--that's entertaining.
The facts that Amanda looks great in a swimsuit and Nicole looks great in a short skirt--that's icing on the cake, really. That's not what it's about. However, if I told you I didn't notice those things, I'd be lying.
Does that make me sexist? I dunno.
The pie ad did nothing for me. However, I'll admit it. If Amanda Beard decided to advertise some of her buisness ventures here on Kos, and did so by putting herself in a swimsuit on the ad--I'd be drooling.
Would I appreciate her that much if I didn't love her as a swimmer, purely for swimming's sake? No, I wouldn't. Swimmer first, hot babe second. But the 'hot babe' is there.
Again, I dunno what this says. But I will say one thing that I believe: the two aren't mutually exclusive.
I don't reserve my admiration for women athletes. Shit, Ian Thorpe swimming? What a stunning thing to watch. It's like watching a motorboat with legs. Unbelievable. And don't even get me started on Michael Phelps. I love those guys, as swimmers, just as much as I love Amanda Beard. And Kurt Browning is the skater I'd pay the most to watch, even over Nicole Bobek.
I don't know how you 'objectify' someone plowing through the 200m breaststroke. You can't. Because I don't think you can objectify someone in the middle of such an accomplishment. She won a gold freakin' medal. That's performance. You can't objectify that, not if you appreciate the accomplishment.
But is there a little bit of eye candy in there, too? You bet. At least for me.
Does this make me a sexist? Again, I dunno. You tell me.