Dear Spike,
Kelley O’Hara got things
started in the seventh minute, scoring on a beautiful through-ball from Amy
Rodriguez. It was a thing of majesty.
Diana Matheson, who has quickly
become our family’s favorite player, added another score in the 66th. It was
one of the best “hustle goals” I’ve even seen.
The Utah Royals’ first-ever win
was a hell of a show. And I’m so glad we got to be there to see it, along with
7,500 other soccer fans.
You walked away from the
stadium with a bounce in your step and a smile on your face.
And then, this morning, this
happened:
“What do you see?” I asked as I
opened the sports section of our local newspaper’s website.
It didn't take more than a
second for you to see what I'd seen. “All men,” you said, twisting your face.
“And what about now?” I asked,
scrolling down.
“Still all men.”
Your breathing became heavy. Your
shoulders tightened.
I scrolled down some more. “Still.
All. Men.”
Eventually, we found an article about the Royals there. It was buried between a three-day-old piece about a male ice skater and
another story about stand-out high school athletes—some of which were girls,
although the photo on the link was of boys.
In fact, most of the photos on
the sports page were of boys. There were 37 photos of male athletes or coaches
on that page. And three women.
Three.
None of this should ruin your
appreciation of what happened last night. It was a great win. You know that,
even if the people who dictate what media is produced and promoted don’t.
You’re only 10 years old, but
you’re already learning that women have been and are being largely marginalized
in media of all kinds. They’re quoted less as experts. They have fewer speaking
roles in movies and are often cast as sex objects. And, when it comes to
sports coverage, they’re so widely ignored that they might as well be
non-existent. One recent study even suggested that women’s sports get less
coverage today than 25 years ago.
I’d like to say I’ve had a role
in fixing this, but I didn’t even recognize it was a problem until recently.
And, even worse, I didn’t recognize that I was part of the problem. For years,
I didn’t even think about the gender balance of the sources I used in my
stories. And when I finally went back to look at that balance, it didn’t look
good at all.
I’m working hard to make
amends, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I failed you, too. You
have every right to be disappointed in me for that.
You’ve been a soccer fan since
you were born. You attended your first game when you were just a few weeks old.
You’ve been kicking a ball since you could walk. And I’m glad that you have the
opportunity to watch women play this game at its highest level.
But you and others shouldn’t
have to work so hard to find women represented, honorably and accurately, in
the media. And people like me need to do better.
Much better.
Love,dad
