Monday, August 18, 2008
Lemme tell you what's "creepy"
Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights, says Olympic women's gymnastics are "creepy." I couldn't agree more. Check this out:
"In fact I can’t think of any competition in the Olympics, or all of SportsWorld, more creepy and disturbing: these largely shapeless girls in their leotards and flaxen-waxen hair and bouncy-wouncy ponytails. 'They look like girls from the neck up,' I was told by Joan Ryan, whose 1995 book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, blew a sky-high lid off the sadomasochistic training regimens that young female gymnasts were being subjected to. She continued: 'From the neck down they look like prepubescent boys.'
"During the Olympics, when a female gymnast finishes an event and hugs her coach, often a man three times her age, I cringe at what I believe is the unsavory stench of the sport in general — children under the wing of men who based on lengthy documentation have proven to be abusive, relentless, intolerant, humiliating and, in some instances, accused of sexual misconduct. 'These girls will do anything for these guys,' Ms. Ryan told me. 'They have such control over them.'
"For the mothers and young daughters who watch in droves, Olympic female gymnasts represent the little princess fantasy, perfect pixies in those perfect ponytails. For the men who watch, they may say they do so because of the pure sport of it. But for some the voyeuristic fantasy is part of the mix as well, these older-men-little-girl relationships that remind me for some reason of the Louis Malle film Pretty Baby and Brooke Shield’s role as a coquettish 12-year-old prostitute in New Orleans in the early 1900’s."
Read the rest here.
Way back in 1996, I had a conversation with a wrench-turning co-worker -- I was working at a trucking company at the time -- who told me that he had a "crush" on Kerri Strug. The co-worker in question was in his late 30s.
Ever since that conversation, I've watched maybe - maybe - 20 minutes of Olympic coverage of women's gymnastics. It creeped me out long before it creeped Mr. Bissinger out.
"In fact I can’t think of any competition in the Olympics, or all of SportsWorld, more creepy and disturbing: these largely shapeless girls in their leotards and flaxen-waxen hair and bouncy-wouncy ponytails. 'They look like girls from the neck up,' I was told by Joan Ryan, whose 1995 book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, blew a sky-high lid off the sadomasochistic training regimens that young female gymnasts were being subjected to. She continued: 'From the neck down they look like prepubescent boys.'
"During the Olympics, when a female gymnast finishes an event and hugs her coach, often a man three times her age, I cringe at what I believe is the unsavory stench of the sport in general — children under the wing of men who based on lengthy documentation have proven to be abusive, relentless, intolerant, humiliating and, in some instances, accused of sexual misconduct. 'These girls will do anything for these guys,' Ms. Ryan told me. 'They have such control over them.'
"For the mothers and young daughters who watch in droves, Olympic female gymnasts represent the little princess fantasy, perfect pixies in those perfect ponytails. For the men who watch, they may say they do so because of the pure sport of it. But for some the voyeuristic fantasy is part of the mix as well, these older-men-little-girl relationships that remind me for some reason of the Louis Malle film Pretty Baby and Brooke Shield’s role as a coquettish 12-year-old prostitute in New Orleans in the early 1900’s."
Read the rest here.
Way back in 1996, I had a conversation with a wrench-turning co-worker -- I was working at a trucking company at the time -- who told me that he had a "crush" on Kerri Strug. The co-worker in question was in his late 30s.
Ever since that conversation, I've watched maybe - maybe - 20 minutes of Olympic coverage of women's gymnastics. It creeped me out long before it creeped Mr. Bissinger out.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Monday, August 18, 2008 
