Fraters Libertas

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Light

Just when I thought my annoyance with the media's fawning over the Gopher Womyn's basketball team could not be any greater, I see this in today's Strib: Gopher Women: Their Body Of Work Is Inspiring

As a man who has been truly inspired by more than a few women's bodies over the years, I was intrigued. But surely they weren't talking about the actual players, right? I thought the piece must have been about the cheerleaders or the Dancin' Gopher Gals that entertain during breaks or something.

Nope, the article was informing us that not only are the players the best and most important athletes since Billie Jean King, they are also teaching our young women "positive body images".

Ask Jennifer Bourbonais, 12, and her sister Cora, 7, of Maple Grove, why they idolize the Gophers women's basketball team, and it's all about the game and the players they've come to love.
Their dad, Jeff Bourbonais, said there's another reason he left work early to bring the girls to the send-off pep rally on Thursday. The players' make-up-free faces and strong bodies, he said, teach his girls that it's what you do, not how you look.

"I love it!" he said. "As a parent, these are the type of role models you want your kids looking up to. These girls impress people by being themselves, not by getting all dolled up."

In other words, my girls are acting like boys. Finally I can relate to them!

At a time when unnaturally thin models predominate and bottle-blonde teen idols are valued for looks, Gophers stars such as 235-pound center Janel McCarville, who is nicknamed Shaq, and muscular guard Lindsay Whalen are a much-needed boost, said Kari Nonn, a University of Minnesota junior who works with Twin Cities school kids and is majoring in elementary education.

"It's really good for the girls to see that you don't have to be the skinny, Britney Spears-esque girl," Nonn said. "The Gophers show them that you can be anything you want to be.

235 freaking pounds! Talk about unsafe at any speed. Now, I'm no doctor, but any dame weighing 235 pounds is unhealthy. Period. And I thought the idea was promoting HEALTHY body images.

But of course that isn't the point. The point is to continue blurring the distinctions between men and women until we both morph into some type of bizarre, androgynous ONE that is kinda male, kinda female and really confused.

The proponents of this healthy body image nonsense love to set up the false choice: either the young gals dress like Brittney tramps or they dress like butchy aparatchiks. Now given the prevalence of STDs amongst youts, I guess I can see why parents might prefer their daughters to be androgynous and completely non-sexual. But being non-sexual is as weird and troubling as being overly sexual. Why can't they just be normal?