2009/8/25 Anne Ghisla <a.ghi...@gmail.com>: > Il giorno mar, 25/08/2009 alle 16.20 +0200, Ana Guerrero ha scritto: >> On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 01:52:21PM -0500, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermos wrote: >> > 2009/8/24 Holger Levsen <hol...@layer-acht.org>: >> > > Why? It's not obvious to me. I think not having any men there would >> > > attract >> > > some women who would otherwise not joiin. >> > >> > So... >> > >> > Could Caster Semenya go to the event or not? ;-) >> > >> >> I fail to see who is this funny or on-topic? >> Keep such "jokes" out of here. > > my 2 cents: I agree with Ana. These jokes are hard to understand > properly on written communication. So I can't get if it is just an > innocent joke or, as it is so common among men who fear women raise of > awareness (but can't understand why), a way to reduce importance of what > women do and think by laughing at them.
It is by no means an innocent joke. I'll explain the context, for those who are not familiar with it. Caster Semenya [1] is a South African middle-distance runner who has been recently accused -at least in Spanish Speaking media [2]- of "being too similar to a man". She has been harshly and cruelly harassed and laughed at in different media for having a high level of testosterone [3] (3 times more than the average woman, 10 times less than the average man), up to a point where the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had to conduct a gender verification test. That joke, in my opinion, has different levels of evilness at once: 1) It is offtopic, childish and disruptive of the the topic thas was being discussed ("Hey! I'm here! Pay me attention!"), to a point where, as Anne says (but probably the writer is not doing consciously) the whole matter being discussed is reduced in importance 2) It is cruel against a young woman (18 y.o.) who is being severely attacked about her sexuality for "not being female enough", and who has feelings that should be respected [4]. 3) As Holger says, it takes out of the equation everyone who does not clearly fit into one of the stereotypical male-female roles 4) It is not funny at all Greetings, Miry [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_Semenya [2] http://www.dosmanzanas.com/2009/08/borchornoso-tratamiento-de-algunos-medios-al-caso-de-caster-semenya-la-atleta-sudafricana-cuya-feminidad-se-ha-puesto-en-duda.html [3] http://tvnz.co.nz/othersports-news/revelations-ahead-gender-test-results-2942837 [4] http://blogs.20minutos.es/salud_y_deporte/post/2009/08/23/aay-quao-pasa-con-sentimientos-caster-semenya- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-women-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org