Feminist Pub VII - Chat, questions, random thoughts too small for a thread ...

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Just setting this up while we finish off the last few posts on the old thread. Come in and pull up a bar stool!

Another example is the whinging from men that goes on about women playing only 3 sets at tennis but getting paid the same. On the face of it they have a point.

However, laying aside that it is only in the 4 majors where men play 5 sets - every other tourney plays 3 for men and women - women tennis players have offered to play 5 sets at the majors as well. But guess what? Mysteriously, it would be too difficult - getting all the matches fitted in is what the powers that be say. Anyone believe that? At Wimbly they don't even start playing until the afternoon unless rain has severely affected the timetable.

Nor do men complain about the male prize money when the winner takes only 3 sets to do it at the majors.

Oh don't get my started on the prizes for Wimbledon, grimble! My mother is a sports fanatic, mainly tennis and golf but spends all her time watching one form of sport or another. However, she watches women when the men aren't on because women "just aren't as interesting to watch" and has a massive grumble every year about how the women get the same prize money as the poor men, when the men have to work so much harder.

But this is same mother who doesn't understand why I keep going on about "that feminism nonsense" (and actually gets quite hostile about it) because she has never felt discriminated against as a woman.

Don't lets compare the money paid to male and female professional football players then…

I really don't understand the segregation of men and women in sports, truly I don't. There'll be some sports that men will beat women, some were we might all be quite evenly matched and some that women will beat men (on the whole). So what?? Let everybody (who wants to) compete and see.

Dunno Kim

But playing darts and snooker is not really the done thing for girls, is it.

I would never have gone into a pool hall as a teen for example. Mortifying!

Perhaps I shall become a hermit.

How does one go about becoming a hermit?

One keeps oneself to oneself, LordCopper.
I am not sure whether hermits are allowed to MN though, are they?

You ok?

I'm ok. Thanks. :)

Now and then one feels that one's world contains one too many fools.

See there? I used "one" in 2 different ways! Not bad for a foreigner. Next time someone offers to proof read stuff for me may I kick him in the nuts?

Feck'em

Yes, that's me: articulate and to the point.
Are you allowed ?

I've had a woman tell me today that she had stopped BFing her 10 day old baby because her Dh, her parents and his parents 'didn't like it' . She was quite happy with that (I wonder whether their disapproval gave her 'licence' to stop something she was not keen on doing anyway).
I don't see it as my place to tell other people how to feed their children and am very happy to support whatever choice. It was the way she worded it that made me feel v uncomfortable…
Oh, and apparently her marriage is such a good one because they are 'polar opposites' and 'don't speak to each other'. Sigh. Long day in the office.

Oh yes to kicking in the nuts - must be so liberating!

Us bloody forriners must stick together

What is your withheld rant, LordCopper? you don't get to threaten rants and withhold them indefinitely! It's EA, and a Red Flag to boot.

It's very prosaic. (See? Not a bad word for a forriner, again. ) Seriously though. It's hardly worth getting het up about.

But I will rant tomorrow because I'm being good and going to bed, after a . Long day tomorrow. Lots of people to see. Mostly nice people. Must try not to swear.

"I've often wondered why in sports like darts and snooker there aren't many prominent female players?"

Because the prize for the men's world snooker cup is £250,000 and for the women's is £400.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/snooker/10087259/Reanne-Evans-hopes-to-build-profile-of-womens-snooker-ahead-of-Wixu-Classic-match-against-Neil-Robertson.html

No doubt - it would be an economically bonkers decision to try and make a living at snooker for a woman.

IIRC, it is (or was) far more common for women to have to do other jobs alongside their sport to make ends meet, as prize money and sponsorship money is less.

There's absolutely no justification at all for sex segregation in snooker and darts is there?

They're not contact sports and you don't even need to be fit to be good at them.

From my link

World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn said Evans’ success was “marvellous news” and an inspiration for female players.

“Reanne has come back from 4-3 down to win 5-4 against a pretty good player, so she’s there totally on merit, which is very important,” he said. “It’s not like she’s a wildcard or a shoo-in or a nominal lady player, which is always dangerous.”

Men (ok ok not all men) make rules to make sure they don't lose. Eg. not letting women play many international chess tournaments.

On the contrary, there is no "Men's chess". There is chess, and there is women's chess. Women are free to enter the same events as men, yet also have their own entire circuit of events excluding men with their own prizes to make it easier for them to win prizes than men of the same or higher ability. And for avoidance of doubt, the players in top womens events are of much lower standard than in the open events which accept both men and women, meaning men have to be far better than the top women to stand a chance of winning such events.

And of course women have the same access men do to regular titles (GM, IM, FM etc), yet also have an extra set of titles they can obtain (WGM, WIM etc) that are far easier to obtain than the ones that men have access to.

Chess is so desperate to try and get women playing that it completely panders to women and the only sexism is entirely in their favour.

Whataboutery indeed, "what about not using lies to back up your assertions" is probably a logical fallacy of some sort, I shall endeavour to educate myself of this in future.

On the contrary, my interest in this is solely as someone who participates in chess, and does not appreciate it being painted as a horrible sexist sport that discriminates against women when if anything, it discriminates against men. And actually I'm not particularly bothered that it does but I don't like people flagrantly misrepresenting the facts of it. My post picked up on the way things are now because the poster was using the present tense and not a past tense. I'm sorry you found my post "sneery" however I was merely listing the facts, not casting judgement on the reasons top women chess players are of a lower standard than top male chess players.

'On the contrary, there is no "Men's chess". There is chess, and there is women's chess.'

Wow, that's so depressing.

This is the sort of thing that gets to me. I'm sure it's a great idea given that women have been pushed out, but it's also going to make women's progress slower. You will have a situation where little girls see chess as a 'boy's game'.

I remember noticing this. My dad taught me and my brother to play chess. For him, there were chess tournaments arranged through cubs, so it was very easy for him to play competitively at a friendly level. And he got quite good.

For me, sure, I could have played competitively, but it'd have required actively seeking out tournaments. Which would have been much more stressful and would have required more confidence.

I hope this has changed, but I suspect not enough.