Tuesday, November 16, 2010

THN Volume 64, Number 4. September 13, 2010

I'm really behind on reading my hockey magazines. Here's the Feminist Read of the September 13, 2010 The Hockey News.
cover
I could have a blast picking apart the messages which are sent about what Men are, but I'm instead gonna illustrate this by pointing out the places where women are represented in the 52-page magazine (including both covers).

What I learned: women don't play, manage, coach, or write about hockey, but they sure do marry hockey players!

Three images of women.
1. On page 5, there is a picture of Taylor Hall (a rookie in Edmonton) with a female hidden behind a hockey mask. The accompanying letter from the female explains that she won a chance to stand in goal against him to win some Oilers tickets. (I will admit I am basing her gender off of her name, Jennifer, as she uses no gendered pronouns to refer to herself, obviously.)

2. Page 31. There are a couple women in the background of one picture of a crowd. It's ridiculous that I even have to count that.

3. The only other woman in a photo in the magazine is in an ad inside the back cover. This ad is for an online "betting" site (an NFL pick'em site actually). I have no clue what the buxom blonde in a low-cut red dress and a vapid facial expression has to do with betting on sports. Oh wait, yes I do, it's called "patriarchy." I actually shot off an email wondering what in the world this image has to do with the website. Will update you if I get a response...

Ten mentions of women, one about a non-wife/fiance/girlfriend female.
1. Page 5, outlined above.

2. On page 30, the third page of a six-page spread about Dion Phaneuf, this sentence: "He still had bedrock belief in himself and he still had his Hollywood girlfriend (Elisha Cuthbert), but in the late hours of Jan. 31...." Woman as possessed status object? Check. Woman as nameless? Check. I can guess her name is only said because she's famous--and it's only in a freaking parentheses, no less. Only mention of her. Or any other woman, for that matter.

Pages 35-40 include a short "update" from each team in the league, basically a fluff of no more than 200 words. This is where I found the remaining mentions of women.
3. One page 35, the Philadelphia story is about Ian Laperriere visiting Gettysberg with his son. The last line is a quote: "He's smart like his mom, but he's got interests like his dad." It's cool for women to be smart [but not too smart].

4. Also on page 35, the New Jersey update begins: "David Clarkson was left breathless three times this summer. The right winger signed a [large] contract June 30 and the married Brittany Roberts on July 17." The third thing is the main point of the blurb, a bike trek he took this summer. Woman as support, woman as material thing to collect to make life complete.

5. Same page, buried in the Pittsburgh blurb about Max Talbot and Mike Rupp's charity trip to Haiti: "Rupp and his wife had long sought an international charity..." Wife as extension of husband.

6. Page 36, St Louis update: "Payne took his wife and daughters back there this summer, but once the family portion of the trip was over, he went with friends to a lodge in western Alaska..." I dunno, family as duty? That whole trope about family getting in the way of "manly" fun times?

7. Page 37. Buffalo. Last line: "While in Austria, Vanek announced that he and his wife, Ashley, are expecting twins." I actually have nothing snarky here. In fact, I almost want to applaud this blurb for talking about men as fathers--female athletes are so often portrayed as mothers and wives before (or at least as much as) they are called women and athletes, so here's some of it going the other way. It's not the first or only thing about him, but it's not terrible, I don't think.

8. Page 37, Ottawa. About Mike Fisher and his summer wedding to Carrie Underwood, a country music star. Wife as status symbol--all the other mentioned wives in these pages have been a mere footnote in a busy life, but since his wife is famous, we get to hear about her ambitions and her own goals.

9. On page 38, another mention of "teammates and their wives". Also, a mention of Trisha Yearwood. Wooo a female! But not a hockey-related female.

10. Page 38, Vancouver. "Glass, 26, became a fan of the beautiful game after meeting fiance Emily Tracy while playing college hockey at Dartmouth, where she was a soccer standout." I'm mailing this in, you analyze this one.

(Sidenote: all 30 of these blurbs were written by men. (I didn't count the rest of the issue, but I can guess) The sportswriting field=male-dominated. Did you know?)

In summary:
women don't play, manage, coach, or write about hockey, but they sure do marry hockey players!

Maybe the magazine should be named Men's Hockey News. Oh, wait, it's understood as such already. Let's hope the September 27th issue does better....

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