If you were in my SM425 class then you know about what Serena did to a line judge at the US Open. So the tennis association has fined her 82,00 dollars and put her on 2 years probation. That is the biggest fine in tennis history and one of the biggest I seen for what she did. I think the fine was too harsh of a punishment for some curse words. You have to understand that athletes are very emotional people. I have seen way worse than what she did in baseball, basketball, and football. In baseball, players and coaches every game get in the umpires face and yell and curse and they don't get fined. I think because she is a women she is held to an higher standard when it comes to her emotions. Society view women as weak/passive people while as men are viewed as strong and aggressive. I'm not saying what she did was right but c'mon she yelled for like 15 seconds and went back to her match. If the 17 year old new tennis sensation did that do you think she would have been fined so harsh? I think not. So lets be fair people. Gosh!
I definitely agree with your post. I think women athletes are held to a much higher standard than female athletes. This is especially true I think when it comes to acting more "ladylike" during competition. You see it all the times during NFL games. You can't hear what they say to the refs but you can read their lips. Rarely do these players ever get fined or even flagged for their conduct. Along with her fine it also contributed to Serena's loss in the tournament. I wrote a similar post about Elizabeth Lambery and how the media has held her to a higher standard because of being a woman.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't make any sense to me when a female acts a little masculine they are judged or punished for it. Serena's actions were not her finest, but it wasn't like she hit or try to really hurt the line judge. Just like the women's new mexcio soccer player being suspended for as long as she did. How is it right to let Blount, the player who punched the Boise State player, get in trouble for only half the season. What he did was a lot worse then Serena's actions, yet he gets off with it and she gets in big time trouble and punished even more. I think women are to higher standard only because viweres are not use to them showing violence and aggresive actions.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I have been following this story and thought you might be interested in reading my recent post: http://tennisprofchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/12/serena-williams-92k-mission_14.html
ReplyDeleteI have included a letter that Serena posted on her blog, on which she announced that she is trying to raise $92K to match her fine, so that she can contribute it to her second school in Africa. She is definitely turning a negative into a positive.