So Does This Make Every Other Single Pit-Lane Altercation Between Drivers A “Dick Fight”?

When I read in the paper about Indy drivers Danica Patrick and Milka Duno having a trackside argument, I rolled my eyes, because I could tell exactly what the media would brand it as: a bitch fight (or a cat fight, for the PG papers). Here’s the LA Times’ lamo description of the events (you can watch them here – and just a warning, don’t read the comments if you know what’s good for you):

It ain’t World Championship Wrestling, but it’s kinda fun to watch Danica Patrick confront Indy racing’s other female driver, Milka Duno, about being a slowpoke, old lady driver during Saturday’s Honda Indy 200 practice session.

According to reports, Patrick marched over to the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing pit stall after Saturday morning’s practice session to complain that Duno did not let faster cars – including Patrick’s – get past her.

Yeah, “kinda fun” – because gee whiz, aren’t those lady drivers a cute little novelty! And it’s not as though the LA Times was alone in their cringeworthy coverage of the two drivers having words; a sampling of headlines and blog titles includes “Cat fight in IndyCar pits“, “Danica Patrick fight with buxom Milka Duno” (yes, “buxom”), and “Who wants a Super Soaker fight between Danica Patrick and Milka Duno?“

This pisses me off for a number of reasons, but number one is because of the rampant sexism (duh).

As a motorsport fan, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen drivers have it out with each other on pit straight, or after a crash, or anywhere, really. V8 SuperCar driver Mark Skaife, in particular, is never shy when it comes to giving another driver a piece of his mind. Drivers chuck tanties when they end up in the gravel, they whinge if their pit team doesn’t work fast enough, they sook when they don’t end up at pole position, etc etc. There is no such thing, really, as a laid back motorsports driver, no matter what sex!

In other words, there is nothing special or extraordinary about this “fight” in motorsports terms – but because it’s two female drivers arguing with each other, it’s “news”.

Quote Of The Duuuhhh

Not that I think we should really expect much from a lass who wears cut-out pants and “glamourous” heels in her relentless pursuit of fame and fortune, but I just about barfed up my doner kebab when I read this quote from celebreality star Brooke “Daughter Of Hulk” Hogan (issued on her reality show Brooke Knows Best while interviewing a potential roommate):

You know what? I am actually not that much into voting. I think it’s kinda crazy that a woman is running, because I think that women deal with a lot of emotions and menopause and PMS and stuff. Like, I’m so moody all the time, I know I couldn’t be able to run a country, ‘cause I’d be crying one day and yelling at people the next day, ya know?

Apparently her potential roommate’s response was “Really.”

Good to see a young lady in the public eye perpetuating ridiculous myths about womanhood to an audience of millions – top work, Brooke!

As Though We Need To Remind You…

Airbrushing (or retouching, or Photoshopping – whatever your chosen term is) is one of the most pervasive forms of body hate and sexism around; you might scoff at that idea, but in effect it says, “Not even these hot pin up models or celebrities are thin/tanned/toned enough to be on the cover of our magazine, so you may as well just lock yourself in your bathroom until you die, lardarse.”

It’s been the topic of many, many articles and blogs – here are some Jezebel posts on the matter – and just today, while cruising my Tumblr ‘follow’ list, I stumbled upon this one:

How many women struggle in the gym and on diets and in the foundation garments department, trying to look like the “woman” on the right, not realising that she doesn’t even exist? It’s like trying to look like Jessica Rabbit.

The post didn’t say where the image was from, but it’s not as though it’s unusual – and as another Tumblr member said in response, “We all need a reminder like this every single day of our media-saturated lives.”

“Are You An Average Australian?” Dunno, Do You Have Boobs?

Yet more sunny sexism from the news.com.au stock photos folder – today we have this charming example, illustrating a piece on what the “average Australian” earns, spends, and so forth:

Can’t read the first little bit of the caption? It says “Stacking up…” GEDDIT? Like “stacked”? Boobs? Hur hur hur!

Click through to the article and there are our anonymous bosomy friends once more. This has nothing to do with anything, really, unless they’re clutching at straws and tying it in with this alarming statistic:

This is bad news for people on the brink of retirement.  The average super payment for men this year is expected to be $155,000, while women can expect an average payout of $73,000. These payouts have to stretch a long way.

There’s no word as to whether this is to do with men currently at retirement age having worked more, over their years in the workforce, than their female counterparts, or whether it’s to do with discrepancies in pay rates between men and women, which is still a huge problem.

But why answer the difficult questions when you can just show some bazoongas in a tight t-shirt?

NSW Government Lobbies Canberra: Child Support For Lesbian Mothers

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos is pushing for the Federal Government to make amendments to the Family Law Act to ensure that children born to lesbian couples will not be left without child support if their parents split up:

“Now that NSW has taken steps to establish the parenting presumptions of mothers in same sex de facto relationships, it makes sense to have a system whereby children are protected if the couple splits,” Mr Hatzistergos said.

“Under current provisions of … the Family Law Act, co-mothers are not recognised as a legal parent in child related proceedings in the Family Court.

“It is important that we work together to ensure legal recognition is provided to all families, that the interests of all children have economic security regardless of family make-up.”

It’s hard to believe we still live in a world where all parents are not created equal, but it’s heartening to see that there are people in government who are trying to make things fairer for all. It will be interesting to see whether Rudd’s team takes the NSW Govt.’s suggestions onboard.

How do you feel about the Rudd Government’s performance so far?