Feminism

My title is perhaps too ambitious, for what follow are a mere few of the noteworthy items (selected aimlessly by yours truly) from what has been an eventful year:

Strongwoman Kara Mann showed us how to pull a car.

Aneta Florczyk not only won her fourth World's Strongest Woman title but made it to the Dancing on Ice semifinals.

C. L. Hanson demonstrated that prudery and prejudice often masquerade as feminist outrage, an example of clear thinking set forth in a most readable style.

Candace Parker had a busy year—her first WNBA dunk, and then right in the middle of the first WNBA brawl. But just as memorable, the picture of her towering over David Beckham.

Brittney Griner made it clear that the ability of female athletes isn't so easily dismissed.

Female athletes dazzled us in the Beijing Olympics too; e.g., the awesome displays of strength by weightlifters like Cao Lei.

Finally, the best saved for last: Clara's marvelous video clip, a tribute to Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), arguably the greatest action heroine ever:



See you in 2009!

Megan, Because I Played Sports, and Apryl, Women Like Sports, both lament the poor financial health of women's professional sports, which may be taking a turn for the worse thanks to the economy.

Megan asks why enough women aren't following women's professional sports, a legitimate question. But I find something even more puzzling: Why aren't men? You would think that heterosexual men would naturally be drawn to watching strong, healthy, vibrant women display their athleticism. Instead, we have a nation of jockstrap sniffers (and a most homophobic one at that—where is Freud when you need him?).

So the WNBA, for example, struggles, yet Candace Parker and her sister athletes entertain with enough athletic ability to satisfy any sports purist, and they bring an ineffable grace to their sport that the men cannot replicate.

I don't get it, do you?