Hillary, Tennis And The Politics Of Gender
There has recently been a lot of talk over what has become known as the Wimbledon Controversy. For those in the dark about what this is, the Women’s Tennis Association have raised concerns about the fact that the prize money for women’s and men’s competitions are not equal, men receive more. They claim that this is unfair and that the women should be paid the same. At first glance this does appear to be unfair. Before we jump to that conclusion it is important to look at the facts behind why the prize money is different.
First of all, men’s games are decided in matches of 5 sets, women’s only 3. Therefore, due simply to the extra amount of time, more advertising dollars can be made during the men’s matches. Add to that the fact that men’s tennis matches have traditionally been more popular, with more fans watching. Taking that into account it seems reasonable to me that the men’s prize is correspondingly higher. I am satisfied with this explanation and can attribute the difference not to gender discrimination, but simply up to profit margin. Not all people are satisfied with the logical explanation, why is this so? The answer is emotion. Many people’s emotional attachment to the issue of gender equality blinds them to the facts.
Similarly, think about Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. Taking a look on a few political forums and you’ll find comments along the lines of, “Get Hillary in there to kick some male ass!” of “She’ll put those men in their place.” These people are hoping to decide who the next president is based simply on an emotional impulse. Forget the fact that she is a cold as ice, shallow, money grubbing, war monger. She will do just like her husband did before and continue making money for her friends companies while bombing any 3rd world nation who gets in the way of America’s profiteers. I agree that women should be treated with equal respect as men, but not that women are the same as men. Women and men are different, with different strengths and weaknesses and this needs to be taken into account. Simply choosing someone because she is a woman is the same as not choosing someone because they are black. It is a form of discrimination and it is illogical.
March 21 2007 06:56 am | Democrats and Clinton
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