...by EB on a local radio station, a quite disparaging remark about women's sports and dealing with relatives. The DJ was giving advice about dealing with in-laws and said that all one has to do is find a sport on the television and sit down and watch intently, thus avoiding having to make conversation. And it didn't matter what sports. Any would do, he said--even women's curling.
It was disappointing on multiple levels. One, the radio station had become a favorite because it was the only one (besides NPR) that had not, once Thanksgiving had come and gone, decided to play all Christmas music, all the time.
Two, it's stupid, unrealistic advice. If your in-laws are really that annoying, sitting down and watching sports is probably not going to deter them from pestering you. And it's insulting. How hard is it to make conversation with relatives for one afternoon or so?
And third, of course, the choice of women's curling as the epitome of a just any sport will do example is highly disparaging. Curling is pretty interesting. And as I have noted before on this blog, all the tickets to curling matches in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Olympics were sold out. And why would women's curling be any less interesting than men's curling? I am actually a little curious as to why curling is segregated by sex. It seems to be one of those sports that could be integrated.
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