Football, boxing, rugby—these are all typically male sports, but they have something else in common: violence. Throughout history, society has always pegged men as the “tougher” sex; they can cut down trees, get into fist fights, and bench press lord knows how much. They’re supposed to be masculine and rugged...but it seems that society continually fails to recognize that women, who should be demure and fragile, can be just as tough, if not tougher than men. Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4kvpjQe8nw
I believe that a high tolerance for pain is classified as something that is typically thought of as masculine. Why else would it be that the phrase “be a man!” is what resounds across countless male basketball courts, football fields, and school playgrounds when players fall down or take a ball to the head. The general population has created a binary for the two sexes: men are tough, women are weak; therefore, as Derrida might think: men are better than women. However, I think that this clip of the great and powerful Mythbusters supporting the claim that women may in fact have a higher tolerance for pain complicates this widely held belief.
If women are able to sustain a “painful” state of being longer than men (think child birth here, people!), then there may in fact be less of a difference between the two sexes. Sure, men may be able to beat out women in other events, but the fact that even one instance can occur that goes against the grain works to poke holes in the binary of the sexes. Because there is no longer a tension-of-sorts present between “tougher” males and “weaker” females, the gap between sexes is dislodged and—as Derrida would suggest—meaning is lost completely. Therefore, this difference between XY and XX is dissolved and what being male or female truly entails is convoluted. So perhaps the results of this clip show that a binary notion of sex is not always completely logical—or for that matter possible.
Also, I know the the title of my post didn't have too much to do with the actual content, but I just really wanted to use the quote:
Derrida does not believe that men are better than women. He merely argues that binaries imply a hierarchy. Actually, he is invested in dismantling these hierarchies, so in some ways we could see him as favoring women (and the marginal more broadly).
ReplyDeleteI found your mythbusters clip and commentary to be really interesting. In high school, my basketball coach would always tell us to "grow a pair" when we complained. That comment, like the "be a man" one clearly implies that men are tougher. It is nice to see proof of the fact that women do have some physical strengths too, equalizing the genders.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I love the movie Dodgeball! Interestingly,in the movie, the Kate (the main girl character) is one of the best and strongest players on the team. Therefore, she too defies some of the common gender stereotypes with regards to sports. Even the Globo Gym team has a strong female player. The "deadliest woman on Earth," Fran, is physically superior to all of Average Joe's players. You can watch her introduction in the first few minutes of this clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxCX-mjev1o&feature=related