Interesting article in today’s paper. On the sports pages. Where all interesting articles are found. Because apparently some pundit was watching the golfer, Michelle Wie, as she scored a 64 and beat everybody else, both men and women. And he commented, basically, that when she putts, she bends over so far you can see her panties. And I get that its inappropriate at best, appalling and disgusting and objectifying at worst, but even if it is ‘just’ inappropriate, the pundit has made no mention of the value of her golfing achievement, merely the length of (or lack of) her skirt. I’d like to add that no-one makes ‘phwoarrrr’ comments when great, fat, tattooed, hairy, slobbering darts players bend over to pick up an errant dart to reveal a few yards of grubby y-fronts. And I’m not suggesting they should. And yet the reasons are self-explanatory. Two reasons:

Firstly, that Michelle Wie is a babe and gorgeous whilst Billy ‘Two Bellies’ Runcorn (made that up, couldn’t name a darter if your life depended on it, nor can I be bothered to look one up; rather than look up one)

And secondly, in case it’s not glaringly obvious, Michelle Wie is a woman. And a golfer. Billy is a slob. And… well, who cares what the fat fuck does in his spare time. But, and here’s the problem/issue/rub: men and women are different. Shocker, eh? So I’m not saying ‘all’, but there’s of lot of THEM out there, men who view women, in certain conditions, on a purely physical level of desirability. Whether those women are dangling from a pole wearing spinners on their tits or performing open-heart surgery on a Siamese twin is totally, initially, irrelevant. It’s just what having a Y-chromosome does. It is not a conscious thing. It is not something for which training is required. Nor, more pertinently, something for which training will cure.

I’m not saying this is the ‘best’ of being a ‘man’. But it is unquestionably a part of it. And I’m not saying this makes looking at a pretty girl akin to rape. It is not. Of course, in some idealised (impossible) world of perfection (right…) and total acceptance and equality (gimme a call soon as it happens) this wouldn’t happen. But that world is not the one any of us inhabit, however idealistic our aspirations.

So is the golfing pundit a total dickhead for being puerile, childish and typical-man-ly? Or was he in fact being honest and ‘transparent’ by sharing his inner thoughts with the public?

Is voicing an offensive sentiment any less offensive if it expresses a fairly universal truism?

Life is hard.

Happy Sunday

A xxxx