Quick Hits 7/19: Homophobia and the "Only Place For Women" In the Bastion of Manhood Which is Football

Two semi-intertwined stories to quick-hit on today:


First, in the "What the Hell Took You So Long, Chris Kluwe?" Department, Chris Kluwe is finally suing the Minnesota Vikings for his homophobic termination on the basis of his beliefs for GLBT equality, as well as for harassment under the law with respect to homophobic slurs fired by his coordinator, Mike Priefer.


Priefer was suspended for three games, when Kluwe demanded, as a condition of not suing, at least a 4-8 game ban.


From the ESPN article:


"[Clayton] Halunen [Kluwe's attorney] said the punter could expect to receive up to $10 million in damages for religious and human rights discrimination, defamation, tortious interference with contractual relations and emotional stress damages, since, he said, Kluwe's punting career was likely over. "The scope of things now has changed," Halunen said."


But how does one expect this to get anywhere in a culture such as another ESPN article from late this week exposed...


Ashley Fox of ESPN has written a commentary demanding a four-game suspension for Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy.


Hardy was convicted by a judge of a May 13 incident where he committed domestic violence in the manner of:


"Hardy beat Nicole Holder in his Charlotte apartment and then called 911 in an attempt to cover up what he had done. Holder testified that Hardy threw her in a bathtub, dragged her around his apartment by her hair, ripped off a necklace she was wearing and tossed her onto a futon that was covered with rifles, the Charlotte Observer reported. Hardy said Holder threw herself in the bathtub and threatened to kill herself, and he denied hurting her."


... according to the article.


The point I'm making comes down to the comments section, where we get a perfect example of the mentality of football fans, especially male ones.


Ryan Kitts:


"How is this woman still employed by ESPN? Hey Ashley, we get it. You hate men. Can you actually earn your paycheck and write something about sports? Let Cosack and Munson take care of the legal side of sports. This ESPNw type stuff needs no place on the ESPN homepage."


It would be hard-pressed for me to understand how a woman could not hate men in a football-led society.


You know why, Ryan?


Let's take a look at football for what it really is:


1) Football is an allegory for rape.


Football (taken as a large-scale exercise) exists as one team exerting it's power, non-consensually, on the other team.  Football's mere existence acts as an effort to power-over and even injure the other team in the name of gaining victory, no more or less different than domestic violence and rape.


Not coincidentally:


2) The only two places for women in that kind of a construct are either as exhibitionists or those who are inflicted violence on by and in the name of football.


Oh, you thought those hot-legged cheerleaders existed to actually...  lead cheers and bolster school/team spirit?


How about the known correlation between losing teams and their fans beating the shit out of their wives, etc.?


3) Football hates anything but real men who are willing to be violent in the name of manhood.


Just ask Chris Kluwe.  Just ask any woman within about a 20-mile radius of "Big Red" in Stubenville, Ohio.  Etc.


You know, maybe it's time for us to realize that, if people like you, Mr. Kitts, are allowed to shoot your mouth off, then women cannot, in any measure, expect appropriate treatment from men, especially in a culture where a solid allegory for rape is The National Religion.