Transcription:
"ON BEING AN ICE GIRL"
by Kaime, of the Dallas Stars' Ice Girls (as told to Patrick Cain)
"The ice is our field--and that brings on superstitions. We won't touch the ice before the game. That's the players' time. They need to be together. We'll meet the ice once they're acquainted with it. We like to think of ourselves as the softer side of hockey. The guys go out there and, well, make a mess of the ice. It's our job to get out there, clear away the snow, then rehab the ice. Of course the Zamboni does a lot, but we're women. We bring the loving touch." With the obligatory midriff-baring picture.
First, let me be honest and say I'd jump all over the chance to be an Icegirl. Getting paid to skate? That's enough for me! Though you'd never catch me saying something like this.
I could've looked at this article fifteen different ways, but the one I'm stuck on is this: the narrow representation of womanhood. The same.old.narrow.definition that I thought for sure we left behind in the 70s. I even feel odd writing this because I'm like "isn't it so obvious?!" Same old story. And it's not even necessarily a bad definition of womanhood--it's just the ONLY one.
Let's start at the byline: only her first name is used. This REALLY bugs me. In a quick glance through the rest of the magazine, this was, unsurprisingly enough, the ONLY place with just someone's first name. It makes her sound like "Kiki" or "Barbie" or some other vapid, pretty girl defined through her relationship to men. No last name needed--she'll just be taking yours soon anyway!
Look at the language: he makes messes, she cleans up after him. He's hard and rough, she's the "softer side". He gouges the ice, she brings the "loving touch." Women need to stop being defined as the opposite of men--and stop being defined in terms of men, period.
This line: "We'll meet the ice once they're acquainted with it." Just....wat. Translation: "We don't wanna mess up the 'boys club!'" The whole quote gives me this distinct image of a bunch of "bros" in the basement with beer and the "big game" on, and the "best wives" are the ones who understand their role is just to stay out of the way and clean up when the men are done "being men" (aka drinking and watching sports)--*GRUNT!*
Jesus. That's not my image of hockey. That's not the world I want to watch, and not the one I want to play in. Can we please get women on the ice, in the front office, behind the benches, etc etc etc. Anywhere else.
In an issue dubbed "The Ice Issue" with about 50 pages on the NHL and other ice-related sports things (ice nicknames, zambonis, sports vocab with the word "ice" in it, etc), the only other female in skates is a verrrry mini column about Sasha Hughes (which actually is pretty decent except for its tininess--props). There are no hockey players. Even though there are plenty of popular, talented, accessible female hockey players, who I'm guessing would've been thrilled to be included in this issue. As hockey players. Not as wives, as mothers, as sisters, or as pretty girls for men to admire. Not as glorified maids. As the talented, hard-working people they are.
