January 10, 2014 by Charlie Eisenhood in Livewire, News with 9 comments
Bryan Jones, Skyd columnist and long-time analyst, left this comment on Emily Baecher’s column from yesterday:
[quote]There’s a subreddit called Change My View, and people award deltas for having their view changed.
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[quote]After reading this, I really sat back and contemplated what the point of this article was. I looked through the comments, saw people being critical of thoughts “Men are just better athletes, they’re more exciting”, etc. I struggled for a bit to understand my own thoughts, and pondered “Have I been bigoted all this time”
I was at least unaware of how women felt in this situation. As an ultimate writer, commentator, I thought it was great that there were things like Without Limits, and growth in women’s college tournaments etc. I didn’t really stop to think about why that was important, other than creating opportunities.
What really hit home with me was this notion of being the best at something, and how we quantify divisions, age and gender gaps. We always categorize things for men, HS sports, college sports, pros. When someone is a Heisman trophy winner, we don’t turn around and say “So what, Aaron Rodgers is so much better”. However, that phrasing comes up when addressing gender divisions.
Finally, my biggest change from this was looking at it from the perspective if I’m someday to have a daughter. I’d want her to have the opportunities to compete, to be the best, to not feel put down by others. I wouldn’t want her to feel inferior.[/quote]