My cousin is in town, so I went to my sister’s for the Superbowl (by the way, this is me. I love playing many sports but I really do not understand, nor do I care to, American football). I was told by the TV about halfway through that the entire contents of the show was copywritten and any “discussion” was illegal without their consent. So I will limit my comments to saying that my sister was scandalized by the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’s gender-bending (he wore a housewife’s head-scarf; his Jedi-dressed women were going what were, a few years ago considered “male” dances; and the person in white was of unknown gender). Incidentally, that does not constitute a discussion of anything that happened at the Superbowl Halftime Show simply because, as much as I love my sister, she’s crazy when it comes to reality.
My cousin is a great guy. He’s a feminist, even if he doesn’t admit it, and has always treated me as an equal, even though I’m much younger than he. This may have been simply proximity to my brother-in-law (who has the ability to confuse the hell out of me since he’s happy with me (a woman) being as strong as I can be (he’s my judo sensei) but in general disapproves of strong women), who has the ability to warp the space-feminist continuum by his presence. It may also have been part of his job (he asked my sister what he could do to help during the Superbowl and she responded that it was his job to bash…the Colts? whoever was playing against Chicago…and that this would help the day as a whole to proceed). But at one point, he said, “You mean Peyton Womanning!” (again, no commentary about the Superbowl per se, my maiden name is Peyton and I am a woman). And I called him on it.
“What are you saying about women, Chris?”
*shocked silence, a look of, did I just say that? did I cross a line? shouldn’t that’ve been followed by laughter?*
and my sister (see above) joined in: “What are you saying about Peyton women, Chris?”
which somehow diffused the situation and allowed everyone to laugh and move on without any explanation…but ongoing Colts-bashing was limited to ability and not gender
Which I suppose, just goes to show that the Superbowl can bring out the misogynist in even the best of men, homoeroticism notwithstanding.
6 responses so far ↓
1 RyanH // Feb 5, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Glad to see that Colts bashing worked out for ya’ :).
Also, did you stick around for Tony Dungy (for the willfully ignorant: he’s the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach) accepting the award on behalf of Jesus Christ? I mean, clearly Jesus is a Colts fan.
Oh yea, and he’s also a bigot, apparently.
2 Miko // Feb 5, 2007 at 6:57 pm
oh, damn (to the god-thanking). No, the patriarch of the household was fed up at a certain point that Chicago was going to lose, so we were all given unstated leave to do something else. He and I went into his office to discuss mp3s, pens, and how I’m a great strong woman.
3 Miko // Feb 5, 2007 at 7:01 pm
oh, and the comments at the linked article, Ryan? priceless
4 RyanH // Feb 5, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Oh wow. I didn’t see that.
You know, some of us who like professional sports happen to not be homophobes. I promise.
5 RyanH // Feb 5, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Sorry to keep commenting but I had to chime in: how awesome was Prince during half-time? He seemed to relish performing in the rain… adding to the sublime ridiculousness that is Prince.
6 Miko // Feb 6, 2007 at 8:11 am
you know, I don’t feel like I’m the kind of person who should like Prince, but I really think he’s great! Every song I’ve heard (not many) I’ve liked, and he seems to not really care about what ppl think, which I respect. He did look like he was having fun and I wanted his Jedi-girls’ costume!
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