Good morning, Don Cherry. Welcome to Women’s Studies 101. Today, we are going to answer the age-old question: “What do women want?” by explaining to you what women don’t want.
It seems you have been a little unclear on the concept lately, judging from some of your remarks. But first, a bit of history. Listen closely, please, as there could be a quiz.
Effective Jan. 1, 1919, women were entitled to vote in a Dominion election, as per the 1918 Act to Confer the Electoral Franchise upon Women. In 1929, Nellie McClung (perhaps you’ve heard of her?) and four other women won their fight to have Section 24 of the British North America Act define women as persons, thus making them eligible to be appointed senators.
In the 1920s, corsets went out of style. In 1975, Robin Herman became the first female reporter to enter the men’s locker room after a game. According to the New York Times, where Herman was working at the time, she “had been trying for a year to persuade NHL teams to allow her and other women reporters access to athletes in the post-game locker room when, unexpectedly, the two coaches at the 1975 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal said, yes, female reporters would be given the same access as men.”
The article, by Lynn Zinser, states that Herman and another woman, a Montreal radio reporter named Marcel St. Cyr, went into the locker room to do some post-game interviews. They found themselves to be the star attractions, though, instead of the players.
“I kept saying, ‘I’m not the story; the game is the story.’ But of course, that wasn’t the case. The game was boring. A girl in the locker room was a story,” Herman said.
So, Don, all these fascinating bits of history may be filed under “Battles Already Won.” There’s absolutely no need to re-fight them. We women can vote. We are accepted by men as “persons,” something we knew we were all along. We can become senators.
Indeed, a woman has the distinction of being the longest-serving senator — Anne Cools was appointed in 1984.
It’s been 38 years since women gained the right to enter men’s locker rooms. We don’t need to fight that battle again.
Yet, the “girl in the locker room” has become a story for you, hasn’t it, Don? You made a big deal of it because Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith made some snide remarks to Vancouver reporter Karen Thomson, after she suggested he might have earned an uncalled penalty. Keith said, “We should get you as a ref maybe, eh? First female referee.” When Thomson replied that she couldn’t skate, Keith said, “Can’t play probably either, right?” He then accused her of “thinking the game like you know it.”
Keith later said he wasn’t being sexist when he made the remark, and noted that he deals “all the time” with Chicago reporter Tracey Myers, adding: “She’s a great reporter.”
Don, this little dust-up caused you to say that “I don’t believe women should be in the male dressing room,” and then you mentioned something about “guys are walking around naked.”
Which brings us back to the main theme of our seminar this morning: What do women want?
Don, there is a reason magazines have swimsuit issues, but they do not have boxer-shorts issues. It is because we women really don’t care about ogling naked guys. Our brains are not hardwired for visuals, like men’s are.
Take beefcake calendars. I don’t know any woman who buys them. All the women I know prefer calendars with pictures of cute puppies and kittens. And look what happened to Playgirl magazine, which was supposed to be the feminist answer to Playboy, except it backfired because women didn’t want to look at it, the way men look at Playboy.
Some of us women perused it in our early 20s, out of curiosity, but lost interest after riffling through an issue or two. We couldn’t see what the fuss was. Formerly a monthly magazine, Playgirl went to an online-only version in 2009. I mean, who cares?
So, Don, we hope you’ve had a pleasant time in our class today and that we’ve helped you do some much-needed brushing up on your history.
But the most important lesson we’d like you to take away from this is not to assume that women think just like you men do.
