I have been living in a state of ignorant bliss. For years I was under the naïve impression that female athletes were striving to reach the pinnacle of their chosen field. In reality, these penny-pinching harpies are only out to snatch poor Roger Federer’s hard earned cash. I’ve awakened just in time to realise that these monstrous feminists want to do less work and steal from honest men. Thankfully, one man is standing up to the destructive tide of “political correctness”.
In response to the BBC report on unequal prize money between men and women in sport, Matthew Syed from the Times wrote a delightfully moronic piece on sexism which was the modern day equivalent of medieval scholars shouting: “Gravity? I can’t see it so it must not exist!” Somehow he manages to say that not only do women deserve such relatively little prize money, but what they do receive is directly taken from the pockets of successful men. Women “snaffle money”, and exploit “economic illiteracy” to further their own agenda.
Of course, he’s not a sexist. In fact, equal pay has nothing to do with sexism whatsoever. (To be honest, if we’re after equality, men should be paid even more! It’s a free market economy after all). He knows women, he’s an alright guy. Syed is just being fair and pointing out that women are perfectly capable of earning just as much as men through advertising contracts – if only they tried! He doesn’t go into detail how the women’s FA cup winning team could make £1.8 million (as opposed to the current £5,000) through sponsorship alone, but you get the general idea. The truth of the matter is, women just want a free ride on the coat tails of men.
Not only do women apparently do less to attract sponsors and have an easier time on the field, but also they don’t really have a “job”. Which isn’t at all patronising because after all, every woman’s job is in the home. It does raise the question though, if being an athlete isn’t really a profession, is writing about what must be a glorified hobby a job either?
Look, Syed might have been a tad contradictory and his feature might have had a few inaccuracies, but that doesn’t really matter – it’s not like he gets paid for what he writes. His underlying point is still valid. He’s only trying to protect men’s interest, and rightfully so. We all know how tough it has been for men over the years, especially in sport. Let’s give the poor guys a break.
[Louise Wylie]
qmunicatemagazine.com 