Hit me baby, one more time

Early Friday morning Tiger Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant and a neighbor’s tree, was taken to the hospital and released after being treated for facial lacerations. This much is fact. And while the mainstream media has stuck to the facts, the gossip columns (especially the website TMZ) has had a field day claiming that Woods was driving away after a fight over his infidelity, that his wife smashed the window of the SUV with a golf club and that Woods’ injuries are due to his wife, not the crash.

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I Get a Kick Out of You

By now you have probably heard at least some of the commentary surrounding women’s college soccer player Elizabeth Lambert’s recent use of violent “tactics” in an important (conference tournament semifinal) game.  Today’s AP article on the subject presents the debate as one between outraged feminists and apologist male commentators.  I think the AP article is wrong on a few counts, but I’m more interested in the article’s framing.

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Lady Picture Show

I should begin by saying I’m fairly sure this is not a hoax.  Several credible sources (the U.K. Telegraph, Discover, and Yahoo! Sports among them) are reporting that Caster Semenya has had a makeover and is on the cover of South Africa’s You magazine this week.  Here is the photo:

This photo, apparently, is meant to prove that she’s a woman.  I mean, look at her!  How could a man look like that?  But the pretzel logic that frames this photograph as a vindication of Semenya’s gender status could have some interesting consequences.

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The Running of the Genders

The issues involving Caster Semenya, the gold medal runner who has been asked to undergo genetic testing, are complicated and multi-layered, and lay bare many of the assumptions we hold about gender.

First there is the simple question of why she is suspected of being a man at all, which is apparently simply that she looks “mannish.” Russian runner Mariya Savinova is quoted as saying “Just look at her.” Well, here’s a picture:

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A Man’s Game

I have a confession to make.  I love games.  Board games, card games, video games, puzzles–you name it, I’ve probably at least tried to play it.  And August is the time when a game lover’s attention turns toward fantasy football.  That’s why I made an impulse buy at the supermarket today: a fantasy football preview magazine.  In years past, I’ve noticed the flagrant use of women’s bodies to sell fantasy football products to men, but this year I think I’ve finally realized why this kind of objectification bothers me so much.

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