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Obama Macho
Jae C. Hong / AP Photo
Any hope that Obama’s White House might curb Washington’s boy’s club traditions? Forget it. His press secretary is the worst offender.
I have a girl pet peeve: the macho prevalence of sports talk in White House briefing rooms and Washington green rooms.
It is an unwritten rule that at some point in the conversations that take place in those vestibules to power, the discussion will turn from brains to balls. At which point, the women in the room will fall silent.
In the Obama press operation, ball talk is a staple. Less than a month in and Gibb’s baseball quips are already part of briefing-room lore.
And in this baseball, basketball, and football loving White House, this insidiously sexist barrier to entry for female journalists is getting harder to overcome. Tim Russert did it, Chris Matthews does it, George Stephanopoulos, I’m told, does it, and, now on Pennsylvania Avenue, Robert Gibbs is the worst offender.
"Bottom of the fifth [inning], the sausage race is [at] the beginning of the next inning, so stay tuned, and the starting pitcher is in there, still throwing nice curveballs and [he's] still got a lot of heat on the fastball," was how the new White House press secretary described the progress of the economic stimulus bill at a recent briefing, presumably quite seriously expecting most of the correspondents in the room to understand what on earth he was saying. Most of the men that is.
Sports banter is a big part of Washington’s male political bonding.
Here’s how it works on TV shows. At about 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, the guests for a network talk show gather in the green room an hour before airtime for a sip of coffee and a slap of makeup. They chat. The conversation starts with the news topic of the day. It’s an animated discussion on the fiscal stimulus package/the latest machinations of the dastardly House of Representatives/the poppy crop in Afghanistan. Take your pick. OK, there’s a bit of the peacocks fanning their feathers about it, but it’s basically sober stuff. Until, some 20 minutes into the banter, the host, or one of the male guests, casually slips in the results of last night’s game. And that’s when the women quietly disappear into their notebooks.
I can talk politics with the best of them. I can even make reasonable sense of toxic mortgage assets. Give me Paris, Moscow, or Tokyo and I can usually muster an intelligent observation. But when the talk turns to innings, dunks and touchdowns, sorry, I’ve nothing remotely sensible to add.
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Katty Kay is the Washington Correspondent for BBC World News America. She is the author, along with Claire Shipman, of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success. Kay has covered Washington since 1996 and is a contributor on "Meet the Press", "Larry King Live", "The Chris Matthews Show" and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR.
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Katty Kay is the Washington Correspondent for BBC World News America. She is the author, along with Claire Shipman, of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success. Kay has covered Washington since 1996 and is a contributor on "Meet the Press", "Larry King Live", "The Chris Matthews Show" and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR.
Claire Shipman is the senior national correspondent for ABC News' Good Morning America and a regular on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Previously, Shipman was the White House correspondent for NBC news and a reporter for CNN in Moscow, where she earned multiple awards for her coverage of the demise of the Soviet Union. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children.
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Katty Kay is the Washington Correspondent for BBC World News America. She is the author, along with Claire Shipman, of Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success. Kay has covered Washington since 1996 and is a contributor on "Meet the Press", "Larry King Live", "The Chris Matthews Show" and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR.
Claire Shipman is the senior national correspondent for ABC News' Good Morning America and a regular on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Previously, Shipman was the White House correspondent for NBC news and a reporter for CNN in Moscow, where she earned multiple awards for her coverage of the demise of the Soviet Union. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children.
So I get that Ms. Kay is annoyed, but what's her point? That the press secretary needs to go to gender sensitivity training because he relates current events to sports?
I lost interest in sports, as a man, when it turned into an industrialized, capitalist activity in this country, so the sports talk is lost on me, too.
(Am missing your BBC News here in NYC Metro)
Katty, four words of advice: learn to play ball.
Seems like the only sexiest I see is a woman thinking women don't know sports. Grow up, stop whining, and open your eyes. Just because YOU don't understand sports doesn't mean it's sexiest. It may be rude, stupid, shortsighted, and wrong but it's not macho or sexiest. George Will is probably the least macho male on the planet despite knowing baseball inside out. This is why first person journalism is ruining the profession. Try writing about something you're not personally affected by -- or emotional about. I'm sorry if you think that's sexiest. Wasn't meant to be.
As long as the men in these offices don't ignore women who CAN talk about sports comfortably (which would include my group of girlfriends) this is not sexist in the least. Stop grasping for things to criticize.
This article is ridiculous. I am a woman and, admittedly a sports fan, so I would be able to jump right into the conversation. However, even if I wasn't knowledgeable, I would make a point to understand the conversation, even if I couldn't or didn't want to contribute. It doesn't take that long to check the standings of the leagues, nor would it take very long to catch up on the news on ESPN. They cycle the same information around every 20 minutes. If you don't have the time or inclination to learn a bit about everything, choose one sport (that you like) and bone up on it. At least you'll be able to talk intelligently to American men 25% of the time. Whatever you do, don't pick soccer. You'll be made more fun of for that than complete ignorance, which men usually expect from women when it comes to sports, anyway. Until women dominate your chosen field and you can leave the men out of your conversation you either need to deal with the exclusion or join in. Whining about it makes you look silly.
What bothers me most about the constant use of sports metaphors is that there is an implied message that what is being discussed is just a game, not people's lives. When George Will and the boys start in on their baseball blather I always feel like I am watching a bunch of adolescent boys joking around in a locker room, not professionals trying to analyze the critical issues of our day. It does not make me feel any better when the women join in.
I have friends with kids serving in Iraq, relatives and friends who are now out of jobs or cannot get health care. I find nothing trivial or entertaining about the problems we face and wish that journalists would drop the clubby atmosphere and get substantive.
I find Ms. Kay's position utterly sexist. I'm a woman who is a committed football fan - I watch Steeler football from the first exhibition game through (this year at least) the Super Bowl. I also enjoy basketball and understand enough about other sports to "get" sports metaphors (although I still maintain that baseball is not a sport, but rather a pastime.) Exactly what metaphors would Ms. Kay be comfortable with: ballet, fashion, Sex and the City? This country is facing some of the biggest challenges in it's history, and she's whining cuz the boys won't play Barbies? Get a life! Watch a game!
I have to say Kay really has no argument here. Did Sarah Palin not just come dangerously close to being vice president? This sort of whining is counter-productive. Ask the female soldiers in Iraq if talking football is their top problem.
This is an offensively sexist and desperate article. It seems that Ms. Kay is just looking for things to criticize because the arguments she brings up are ridiculous. While sports my marginalize some women, that is generally not the case and as far as issues in the White House are concerned, this is not one worth contemplating for a moment nonetheless write an article on.
Suffice it to say, just because Ms. Kay has failed miserably at understanding sports does not mean all women have.
1. I'm a woman and I enjoy sports - playing and watching.
2. So long as the government includes viewpoints from a lot of perspectives (including, but not limited to women's), I'm happy.
3. Men and women are different. Thank God for that. I wouldn't de-gender Obama any more than I would my husband.
I am a man with absolutely no interest in sports, I don't understand the rules of any sports.
But, sports metaphors are not hard to decipher. You don't have to be into sports to understand them. The fact that this writer can't and thinks no other woman can is weird. I'm sure she is intelligent, but this article makes her look like a moron.
C'mon. I'm not condoning blatantly sexist comments, but people talk about what they are interested in talking about. There's no law against women watching or enjoying sports, just like there's no law against men watching and enjoying Sex in the City. If you're feeling left out, educate yourself. Or how about the next time the conversation lags, throw in a tidbit about something you enjoy and know a lot about. One of three things will happen: the men in the room will fall silent because they won't have anything to add, which lets you enjoy the power play for once; the men WILL join in and you'll have started a conversation about something you like; or the men will complain, at which point you can raise your sports argument and start a meaningful discussion on gender stereotyping and politics. All three seem like better options than sitting idly by and complaining.
Hmmm - this is fluff if I've ever seen it.FYI - I'm a 53 yr old woman, moderately interested in most sports - enough to grasp the lingo.Seems to me if you're going to play the game (journalism) you play with the hand your dealt - quit whining and get with the program! Personally, I think women make themselves look foolish when they complain about such things - Katty Kay just fell off my list of "must read"
Doomba, I agree. Sports metaphors are all the same, and you can replace player A with player B interchangeably.
Katty, take some comfort in knowing that while you may smile, nod and just tune out of baseball banter, there are PLENTY of your counterparts on air with you who do that with the more substantive stuff. Ever watch Tammy Bruce? Case in point.
could this be a generational thing?
it may be that younger women, benefiting from the effect of title IX, playing and thinking about sports from a very young age are more conversant about sports and their analogies to real life. it wasnt too long ago that there were no high school or college women's teams. in high school, the cool girls arent just the cheerleaders anymore. they are the soccer, basketball, softball and track athletes. the problem is still there but shrinking.
WTF?!? You're bitching because they use sports analogies? Sure, I guess that I would be annoyed if a woman got up there and just made fashion or some house-designing references, but at least I would get the gist of it. Nothing is more annoying than some egghead with an Ivy League education trying to make the listeners feel dumb with some culture or rich man's references. So, be fortunate you don't have that!!!
Just wanted to reiterate what others have said - please quit whining.
The analogies aren't hard to figure out and my two sisters, significantly sport-averse females, regularly use sports analogies.
Use your own advice and figure out something substantive to critique.
This is ridiculous---I'm a woman; I love being a woman; I love football, like basketball, can tolerate baseball. The metaphors Obama's press secy uses can be easily interpreted: let's hope and pray the president hits a home run. (That's a score.)
As for football being complicated, I have yet to understand cricket or rugby.
When people use metaphors, they go to something they know. That is the whole purpose of a metaphor in the first place.
Most men use sports metaphors because, newsflash, most men like sports. Mix that with the way politics is usually cast as some sort of competitive game with winners and losers, and you are going to see the natural application of sports metaphors.
Personally, I don't really like sports, and I don't really like sports metaphors. However, if I don't understand someone, the onus is on me to learn the language. If that is learning sports metaphors, I learn the metaphors. If it means getting my Shakespearean allusions straight, then I brush up on my Shakespeare.
I would say the win/lose lens that is almost exclusively applied to how politics is seen/played/experienced is more of a problem than how that competitive nature is described.
Is it Katty or Catty? Stop your whining. You're giving the rest of us a bad name. And, if you don't like the way our boys talk, I'm sure the Brits would love to have you back. Bye, bye
I can't believe this mewling is actually a topic for a post.
So, pick up a sports page once in a while? It doesn't take a lifetime to know that the #1 NCAA basketball team was upset last night. Spend a week listening to sports talk radio and you will be fluent. You just aren't trying hard enough, and you are creating your own problem, Katty Kay.
It is not Aramaic just learn it. I believe that it may demonstrate the reduced verbal capacity of men but it is as American as Apple pie. Sports metaphors are embedded in the language of the English speaking world. The language of laundry and house work are also embedded. After all Obama was elected to CLEAN UP the mess in Washington.
I don't really get the point, either. What's described is a cultural divide, not an example of machismo. Why is it a problem, when confronted with a sports metaphor, to ask for clarification if it's not understood? Isn't that what we're expected to do with oblique comparisons? Anyway, most members of the Club lack the sports knowledge which seems to be presumed in the article: it's basic rules plus superficial developments.
Thank you.
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