Hockey Ad--for Moms?

Part of an ad for the services of an online hockey store that appeared in both the USA Hockey magazine and The Hockey News:

"Personal Order History: Prove to Mom that she hasn't bought you new skates in a year and a half."

It should surprise no one that I found this interesting. It assumes that moms are the ones who buy new equipment. In my limited experience, moms DO do the shopping, the keeping track, and the organizing of equipment. But saying it like that just reinforces that moms *should* do that shopping. That kids *should* ask their moms about new equipment, or that kids *should* need to convince mom to part with the money.

I wouldn't exactly want them to write "Prove to your parents" instead. You can cover up how much moms do if you try to be gender-neutral and call them parents instead. (there was a USA Hockey article doing just that a month or two ago, I need to write about that)

It'd have been cool if they could've made some small statement about gendered hockey parenting, instead of falling back on old (but based in reality) stereotypes. I don't know what, but I'm not paid to write ads (I just like picking them apart!).

There's also this line:

"90 Day Return Policy: Not everyone has a secretary to schlep a package to UPS."

Since the other line is directed towards moms, I wonder if this line is for the same audience. If it assumes women run errands and they either don't have secretaries (because they don't have the top jobs) or that they don't use them as simple errand runners the way businessmen are stereotyped as doing. Or that they *are* in secretarial positions themselves, therefore not having anyone to run their own errands.

For once, I don't feel emotionally charged about a noticing of gender, just kinda pointing it out.

R U SRS

In an ESPN Page 2 article on in-game entertainment in NBA arenas, Peter Sorckoff, the senior director of game operations and creative services for the Atlanta Hawks, is quoted as saying the following:

"The hardcore fan's emotion is going to be based on the game, but we can send his wife home giggling about the Kiss Cam. The trick is to help entertain the casual fan without alienating the hardcore fan."

Doing some quick checking, Mr. Sorckoff works for both the Hawks and the Thrashers. This line has really got my blood pumping on this lazy Saturday morning.

Obviously no wives are there as hardcore fans themselves. Pretty much just there to keep an eye on their hubbies and giggle at the kiss cam!!!!!!!

I hate the kiss cam anyway because it's so heteronormative. Definition: defending the status quo of heterosexuality being normal/right/widespread. One time I went to a game and they put two big "manly men" up there, and everyone thought it was hilarious. Because guys being in love is hilarious!

It also reinforces the idea that kissing is something private, something to be hidden, something to giggle at. Instead of taking kissing and other forms of sexual expression as

On my road trip to either Scottrade Center in St Louis or Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, they had a "Fist Bump Cam" instead of a Kiss Cam. YES. Whoever that was, they get it.

USA Hockey Remains an Easy Target

A recent email I recieved from USA Hockey about the 2011 Pond Championships includes the following gem:

"Referees will be paid $10 per game and we provide training. All refs also get to wear stylin’ fluorescent yellow vests. Chicks dig it."

Yeah, chicks do "dig" it. Surely chicks won't be playing hockey or ref'ing it, or anything else, just there to watching those sexy refs in their sexy bright vests do their sexy ref'ing thing. So you should ref to accomplish your manly man goal in life of attracting a woman.

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.

Women Aren't Human

 USAHockey.com's drop-down menu on their website:

I can't believe this is seriously like this.

Simone de Beauvoir wrote a book called The Second Sex in 1949. I've only read the introduction which, honestly, is a travesty because it blew my mind. Her main point (at least in the intro) is that society gives women meaning only through their relationships to men. Men are The One, neutral, the default human being. Women are The Other, the marked gender. Basically, we can't talk about women without mentioning they are women.

De Beauvoir continues to resound with me because it remains insanely applicable all over the place, particularly in sports. WNBA vs. NBA. The men's tennis tour is called the ATP=Association of Tennis Professionals, while the women's tour is the WTA=Women's Tennis Association. And the above gem from USA Hockey. Women are women hockey players, men are simply adult hockey players. The One, the Other.

There's also some beautiful ableism at work with excluding "Disabled" players from being adults. And women from being disabled. Intersectionality (more than one identity) exists, people.

Thanks guys. And some other time, I'll get into lumping women and girls together. And the fact that we need these categories at all. So much more to analyze, so little time...

context. interesting that the main article was about women's hockey on this day

Women in the Hall of Fame: Finally.

Angela James and Cammi Granato (L-R in picture) were the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame today. This is awesome. It is. I'm thrilled. These women don't deserve to be in because they have done well as women, but because they have contributed to this wonderful sport as human beings.

Cammi Granato was part of the 1998 USA National Team that won the first women's hockey Olympic gold medal. Angela James played on several Canadian National Teams and is widely acknowledged north of the border for her contributions to women's hockey and women's recognition in hockey.

Granato had this to say, as quoted by ESPN:
"It just comes with the territory because we're used to doing that, we're used to defending ourselves," Granato said Monday. "I had to defend myself from the time when I was in a rink when I was a little kid and people wondered 'Why is she playing?'"

"We just have to keep repeating ourselves over and over. ... But this helps, I tell you, being here. Having this committee and this Hall accept us really helps."

These two women have already done their share to hasten the day when the patriarchy no longer forces females to defend their position within this sport. Finally, it seems some of that patriarchy is starting to listen to them.

(sources: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/45678/ http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/halloffame10/news/story?id=5781271 )

Just another random and unnecessary exclusion of women.

not that I believe in bottled water ever, anyway...but still

Oh.okay.then. I guess me and my woman'ness won't be buying any ice-water from Mellon Arena.

(yes, yes, I know what you're thinking: probably just an oversight. Though you will notice the mistake was not to mark it as a women's product, now was it? And why must the shop at nhl.com be separated into sexes at all? Questions for another day...)

Media: Clarifying the Difference between Women and Men

From ESPN the Magazine: The Ice Issue. (October 4, 2010)

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.

About Us

Antonette.

Caroline.
about me...
I grew up in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh and was always a pretty big sports fan, but never that great at playing them myself. I played field hockey for six years but I quit before my senior year because I was tired of feeling like the slowest, the weakest, and hating my feet for not being nimble. I really wanted to be an athlete, but just felt like it wasn't for me.

I moved to Minnesota when I started college--and you just try living in Minnesota and not getting caught up in hockey. My junior year, I started taking skating lessons and a year after that, I started playing at the C3 Women's level. I could write so much more about this, and have, and probably will. I'll sum it up now by saying that, more than anything, playing hockey has grown my confidence. I know it's a cliche but it's true: confidence in new situations and meeting new people. And confidence in myself, knowing that I can want something, work hard at it, and see huge improvements.

I love hockey. I love rinks and I love skating and I love being on a team and I love buzzers and zambonis and pucks and sticks and being sore and hauling my gear in from the car and I even love wondering every single time why rinks make their doors so small when they know people are going through them with huge hockey bags (seriously. WAT IS THIS?).

why I'm here...
What I don't love is that it's a man's world. Players, refs, coaches, managers, scouts=all overwhelmingly male. Even for girls' and women's teams (though there is predictably some more equality there). Thinking about where my life is going, I know it will continue to combine hockey and feminism because those are the two things that mean the most to me. If this blog is all I manage to contribute to women playing hockey (and working in hockey), so be it.