I should be used to it after fifty years of living in the patriarchy, but, somehow, I'm not. Somehow, I'm still surprised and amazed when men imagine that the sexual activities of their female relatives somehow reflect badly on them or require them to be violent to other men.
I'm not a huge sports fan, but this Sunday, Son and D-i-L, who are major sports fans, were over at my place -- along with the World's Most Gorgeous Grandson, and we wound up in front of my tv watching the World Cup soccer game between France and Italy. So I got to see this very popular French soccer player head-butt an Italian player who clearly said something meant to be provocative. Now, WaPo reports that, "He said some very harsh words, which he repeated several times," Zidane continued. "Words that were several times harsher than acts. They were words that touch the innermost parts of me. Very personal things, my mother, my sister. . . . "I am a man after all," Zidane said. "I would have rather received a punch in my face than to have to hear that."
"I am a man after all." There it is. I just don't get it.
Dude. One, it's just trash talk; no one imagines that it's true or that he even believes that it's true. But that's not the point. The point is that patriarchy perpetuates this completely weird notion that if anyone even suggests that a woman is a sexual being that it's an attack on her male relative. Dude. If the words were about your sister's sexuality, trust me, they don't "touch the innermost parts of" you at all.
"I am a man after all."
This nonsense has got to stop. If it were simply a tragic sports story, well, who would care? But this is the same kind of thinking that results in "honor killings," and the use of rape as a weapon of war. This nonsense has got to stop.
3 comments:
well, we all know that women are male property, and sexual women are worthless, damaged goods, so insulting a man's female relatives means he's got a useless piece of flesh on his hands. And Zizou loves his mama!
Stupid patriarchy.
Love your blog, btw.
Not that it takes away from your good points, but I thought the guy called Z's mom--an Algerian--a terrorist. That would piss off anyone. That aside, yeah, it's the same old story; the NYT had this whole condescending article on how "women aren't offended about the word 'slut' anymore, but darn it they should be!"
Oh, and Cat and Girl! Woohoo!
Sad to say but you're swimming against 4-5 thousand years of history. The Patriarchy is here and I can't envision any event that will change that fact.
Oh, and about professional sports: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz. But that's just me. I'd rather watch C-Span.
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