First off, we've decided to open up the comments on HLOG as I feel that our troll problem has been taken care of for the time being. However, if any of you still feel like you can't play nice in the sandbox, we'll have to turn the moderating back on. Really, I don't mind doing it at all. It sort of makes me drunk with power. 
Next, I feel like I need to address an issue that is very controversial among the hockey fandom of both genders...the issue of Ice Girls. Now, I object to scantily-clad females in a space where there are young children present, although the argument can certainly be made that they'll probably see a whole lot worse on TV or in magazines. Most female and even male hockey fans I've spoken to don't like them. They feel that they have no place in our game. I'm actually one of those who don't mind them as much as some people might, but I have to agree that I would much prefer that they not be there. We go to the hockey game to watch the game, and until somebody gives me some actual evidence that a 5 second appearance from a scantily clad female will actually boost attendance, I remain unconvinced of their usefulness. The Senators have a crew of both men and women in tasteful, temperature-appropriate track suits to do the snow clearing during breaks and it is very conducive with a family-friendly atmosphere.
My complaint is that the skanky uniforms is just a blatant form of pandering to the lowest common denominator. Think about it this way, if the ball boys and ball girls in baseball games were dressed that way we'd all think it was absolutely inappropriate and ridiculous. Their jobs might be more physical but it's essentially the same idea isn't it? Not to mention the fact that the ball girls and ball boys are usually young teenagers and the ball parks certainly don't have any problems drawing a crowd (Um, some MLB teams exempted of course) so I don't think the problem is the attractiveness of the personnel.
That being said, I'm not so naive to suggest they don't have any value. Somebody needs to clear the snow, and men are apparently so easy and dumb that they're always a sucker for a scantily-clad attractive female (or at least that's the impression I'm getting) and the truth is, these dumb, hormone-driven males are the majority that pay for the tickets and go to the games.
Puck Daddy recently had a link to a post by Theresa Ferries of The State of Hockey criticizing the use of ice girls in games. I didn't agree with all of her points, for one I think calling Ice Girls simply bimbos on skates might be a bit of a generalization. I think a majority of these girls are just women who are only doing it to supplement their income or shore up their resume for whatever else they want to do in life. Maybe as somebody who's in marketing I can understand why teams see their value and I can't muster up the same amount of ire for them anymore.
I do really like her bringing up the idea that if men want to ogle women on skates in revealing clothing they should just watch figure skating but they would never admit to doing so because it's a "feminine" sport. Which, I think just exposes the whole double standard of classifying sports as "masculine" or "feminine", but that is a whole other discussion for a whole other day.
Her piece is still well-written and she brings up a lot of good points one ought to consider without descending into a childish diatribe about it. I understand one needs to have a sense of humour when reading Puck Daddy, but by Jove, I really cannot read through the comments without wanting to kick some of them in the box. I'm sorry you feel the need to over compensate, but maybe you can do that without resorting to childish behaviour and making rude comments about the author's gender or appearance? Really, it just makes everybody else embarrassed for you.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
From the Desk of the GM: Beating a Dead Horse. Yes, Another Post About Ice Girls
Friday, August 01, 2008
You're [expletive]ing Kidding Me, I Actually Have to Talk About This?
From the Desk of the GM...
You'll notice that we've unfortunately had to put a leash on the comment system over here at HLOG due to some comments that we feel have no business being here. As much as I would love to hang 'em up for a public flogging, I personally feel like it's not worth our time and energy to be entertaining that bull-[expletive]. The comments will therefore be moderated for awhile as I'm not convinced the trolls have the follow through to keep at the harassment.
I don't want to turn this into another angry post about the difficulties of being a female blogger in a landscape dominated by males. I think it's safe to say 99.99% of the male bloggers I've come across have been more than wonderful and simply put, awesome people to get to know and I hope that the 0.01% who gets their panties in a twist because they feel threatened by knowledgeable and passionate female sports fans will get the necessary therapy they need to overcome their women issues.
When I first started blogging some two years ago, I was afraid of how as a female I would be perceived and that I wouldn't be taken seriously. And you know what? That should never be something somebody has to go through. It never should have been something to give me doubts about whether or not I should be writing about the sport I've loved and followed for years. The important thing is to just let your passion and your knowledge come through in your writing and you'll get the credit that you're due. HLOG is supposed to be a place for hockey fans, both male and female, to come together to discuss the game that they love. If you can't deal with it, then there's the door and don't let it hit your ass on the way out.
