![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Still have one more episode of Band of Brothers that I haven't watched yet (and everyone who commented on my last entry expect belated comments back when I have seen it *g*).
Today I am mostly getting really excited that this season of So You Think You Can Dance is going to be hitting the stage for the competition portion soon. Ridiculously excited. I love the show so much. And it is a particular balm after breaking up permanently with American Idol after the results of this last season (aj can confirm that they were met with me violently swearing for nearly a half hour straight). I just...if you ever needed evidence that misogyny is alive and well, a dude winning for the fifth year in a row with that initial line up should do it, right?
But then also, despite how much I love SYTYCD in part because women contestants are not only treated as serious competitors, but have a real chance of winning...I kind of, it sort of bothers me that I suspect that is at least in part because dance is coded as a 'girl thing' and the implications of that? I might be a bit rambly here.
The thing is that dance, like other traditionally coded 'girl' sports (gymnastics, ice skating, cheerleading, etc.) require a pretty outrageous amount of strength and athletic skill at competition level. But also, part of the point of them is to make it look like they don't. If it doesn't appear you are soaring like a bird through the air effortlessly you're doing it wrong. And I love that because PURTY TO WATCH OMG. But it also allows them to be handwaved as not 'real sport'...like, you get a lot of 'that was so graceful' and not much '...the strength required to do that could lift a fucking truck' (another reason to love SYTYCD is that they do make attempts to peel back the curtain and show the level of physical work it takes)
And it's just, I guess, kind of another example of how women can't really win to me. Women who prefer more traditionally coded 'male' sport get trashed for being all unfeminine and sweaty, showing off raw displays of undisguised strength and physical skill. And women who participate in traditionally 'female' sport get dismissed as not being real athletes because it doesn't 'look' like work and it's pretty (though how you can watch anyone leap across a stage and, like, do splits midair and not see it as a massive physical accomplishment, IDEK). You will see that people who are really into a particular 'girl' sport do, but in general...a female dancer/skater/cheerleader and a male football/basketball/baseball player walk into a room. Which one do people stop and think 'what an amazing athlete!' at? Yeah.
Shit, that got depressing. The undepressing point is that I really love to watch dancers dance, and a reality competition show where displays of skill by women are actually recognized and rewarded.
Today I am mostly getting really excited that this season of So You Think You Can Dance is going to be hitting the stage for the competition portion soon. Ridiculously excited. I love the show so much. And it is a particular balm after breaking up permanently with American Idol after the results of this last season (aj can confirm that they were met with me violently swearing for nearly a half hour straight). I just...if you ever needed evidence that misogyny is alive and well, a dude winning for the fifth year in a row with that initial line up should do it, right?
But then also, despite how much I love SYTYCD in part because women contestants are not only treated as serious competitors, but have a real chance of winning...I kind of, it sort of bothers me that I suspect that is at least in part because dance is coded as a 'girl thing' and the implications of that? I might be a bit rambly here.
The thing is that dance, like other traditionally coded 'girl' sports (gymnastics, ice skating, cheerleading, etc.) require a pretty outrageous amount of strength and athletic skill at competition level. But also, part of the point of them is to make it look like they don't. If it doesn't appear you are soaring like a bird through the air effortlessly you're doing it wrong. And I love that because PURTY TO WATCH OMG. But it also allows them to be handwaved as not 'real sport'...like, you get a lot of 'that was so graceful' and not much '...the strength required to do that could lift a fucking truck' (another reason to love SYTYCD is that they do make attempts to peel back the curtain and show the level of physical work it takes)
And it's just, I guess, kind of another example of how women can't really win to me. Women who prefer more traditionally coded 'male' sport get trashed for being all unfeminine and sweaty, showing off raw displays of undisguised strength and physical skill. And women who participate in traditionally 'female' sport get dismissed as not being real athletes because it doesn't 'look' like work and it's pretty (though how you can watch anyone leap across a stage and, like, do splits midair and not see it as a massive physical accomplishment, IDEK). You will see that people who are really into a particular 'girl' sport do, but in general...a female dancer/skater/cheerleader and a male football/basketball/baseball player walk into a room. Which one do people stop and think 'what an amazing athlete!' at? Yeah.
Shit, that got depressing. The undepressing point is that I really love to watch dancers dance, and a reality competition show where displays of skill by women are actually recognized and rewarded.