Menâs Health article results in outrage
By Mercedes Deutscher, Staff Writer
On October 6, Menâs Health magazine published an article online titled âThe Secrets to Talking Sports with Any Woman.â The article, an advice column, spoke about how âshe sees the game differently than you [men].â It continued on to mention how âmost women donât care about statsâ but instead only care about stories happening within the players lives.
It provoked public outrage from men and women alike, with Twitter users calling the article misogynistic and sexist. In response, Menâs Health issued a public apology and promptly deleted both the article and their tweet promoting it.
While the article may no longer be accessible, its message remains, along with an inaccurate view of female sports fans. Itâs common to portray a male sports fan and his friends going wild over touchdowns while eating chicken wings or pizza, but rarely are women seen as similar sports fans, with maybe a few exceptions from How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.
Why is this?
My mother and I are avid fans of the BC Lions. We watch the games, discuss the plays, and talk about the stats. Whenever we attend a football game, there are just as many women in the stadium as there are men. And during the last game we attended, we overheard the women sitting next to us talking about incomplete throws. Most women donât care about stats? I donât think so.
Not only is this article and media portrayal of womenâs relationship with sports insulting to female fans who pledge so much support to their favourite teams, itâs an insult to women who choose careers surrounding sports. Many women here at Douglas College are enrolled in sports science programs. Every country that has sent athletes to the Olympics has sent female athletes, with the United States sending more women than men during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Letâs not forget the women who work behind the game, such as sports reporters, coaches, and general managers.
Megan Greenwell, a senior editor who works for ESPN Magazine, was one of many professionals insulted by the Menâs Health article. On Twitter, she criticized Menâs Health, saying: âhi @MensHealthMag, you donât know me, but I run @ESPNMagâs annual analytics issue. [A]lso, I have a vagina!â
To add insult to injury, the article was written by Teresa Sabga, a woman. Iâm fairly sure that she, along with female sports professionals and fans alike, cares about the stats. So why write an article putting down women in relation to sports when Sabga herself is a woman who has sports involved in her everyday life?
It may be true that not all women care for sports, but many of us do. To Sabga and the world, females matterâboth on and off of the sidelines.
