Hey Mickey
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2005
Chiming in late with a few thoughts...
Yes, I am among the disappointed. Not because it is on the west coast -- it makes perfect sense to have another race out there. The timing is a bummer, of course, as it implicitly excludes almost everyone who is going to marathon weekend. But what really bugs me is the theme.
I ran the Princess this past year. I was adamently opposed to it because it took away the Minnie, because princesses hold little appeal to me, and because I do not much like female-geared/male-excluding activities. I agree with all the previous posters who feel it is just reverse discrimination, and if the were a race geared to men that explicitly excluded women from competing on equal footing and/or strongly discouraged female participation, there would be a huge outcry, and probably a lawsuit.
But this year, there was a convergence of forces (including spring training and practical considerations that kept us from going to marathon weekend) that had me at WDW the week before the race, so I decided to just go for it. I even wore a small tiara. And I enjoyed the race. But not because it was a female thing. In fact, tbh, I found some of the female-slanted aspects down-right embarrassing, and anything but empowering. As a woman runner/athlete, I do not need the promise of shirtless princes or men in spandex on trampolines to get me through a rough stretch (I survived 2 unmediacted labors and eliveries -- i can make it up the hill by the Contemporary). If my husband or sons ran a race and were promised girls on trampolines at the top of the hill, I would not be amused, and again I am sure there would be a whole lot of complaining. If women should not be objectified, neither should men, even if it is done as a tongue-in-cheek bit of good fun.
What most bothers me about these is that, well, it is Disney, a family-oriented entity. These races are not just a few hours of someone's life. These are destination races, and based on the number of children lined up for the 3:00 parade, hyped up on sugar and disney magic, most people go to disney with their familes. Many families, though certainly not all or even necessarily most, have both male and female members. These events should model the principles of equality and openness (yes, I know Walt is laughing at me somewhere
). At the very least, it should not create an atmosphere where a significant portion of the prospective guests are either specifically or de facto relegated to the role of spectator.
I feel like the media in general has gone too far in trying to empower women and girls in some way by allowing and encouraging the objectification of men. Often, when we are watching tv, one of my sons will comment that if you flipped the genders of the characters, the scene would not be allowed, but because it is a female ogling (or worse) a male, it is okay, and even considered funny. These are shows ranging from iCarly and Phineas and Ferb (if a boy did to Candic what she does to Jeremy, it would be called stalking....) to primetime fare (can you imagine a show that is the reverse of Cougartown?!). It reminds me greatly of the paradigm shift that has occurred in education over the past decade or two. For years, girls were considered to be at a disadvantage. It was seen that teachers and curricula favored boys, and changes were made. The result, unfortunately, was that the pendulum swung too far in the other direction, so that now the skills in which girls developmentally have an advantage (such as language use and organization) are more emphasized. And more boys than ever are floundering. As someone in the field of psychology, I personally do not think that the increased diagnoses of boys with various learning and developmental disabilities during this time period is completely coincidental.
What ever happened to the rejection of the doctrine of "separate but equal" as sanctioning discrimination? If separate is inherently not equal with regard to race, it should equally apply to gender. And here, it is not even separate but equal, because there is no complimentary male-themed race.
I find this trend very troubling. there were many ways this could have been done to court the oh-so-important female market (many of which were mentioned in this thread and very good suggestion) without discouraging (to put it mildly) male participants. And i have told runDisney as much.
Erica
PS--sorry, this got more long-winded than i had meant. Ooopsey
Yes, I am among the disappointed. Not because it is on the west coast -- it makes perfect sense to have another race out there. The timing is a bummer, of course, as it implicitly excludes almost everyone who is going to marathon weekend. But what really bugs me is the theme.
I ran the Princess this past year. I was adamently opposed to it because it took away the Minnie, because princesses hold little appeal to me, and because I do not much like female-geared/male-excluding activities. I agree with all the previous posters who feel it is just reverse discrimination, and if the were a race geared to men that explicitly excluded women from competing on equal footing and/or strongly discouraged female participation, there would be a huge outcry, and probably a lawsuit.
But this year, there was a convergence of forces (including spring training and practical considerations that kept us from going to marathon weekend) that had me at WDW the week before the race, so I decided to just go for it. I even wore a small tiara. And I enjoyed the race. But not because it was a female thing. In fact, tbh, I found some of the female-slanted aspects down-right embarrassing, and anything but empowering. As a woman runner/athlete, I do not need the promise of shirtless princes or men in spandex on trampolines to get me through a rough stretch (I survived 2 unmediacted labors and eliveries -- i can make it up the hill by the Contemporary). If my husband or sons ran a race and were promised girls on trampolines at the top of the hill, I would not be amused, and again I am sure there would be a whole lot of complaining. If women should not be objectified, neither should men, even if it is done as a tongue-in-cheek bit of good fun.
What most bothers me about these is that, well, it is Disney, a family-oriented entity. These races are not just a few hours of someone's life. These are destination races, and based on the number of children lined up for the 3:00 parade, hyped up on sugar and disney magic, most people go to disney with their familes. Many families, though certainly not all or even necessarily most, have both male and female members. These events should model the principles of equality and openness (yes, I know Walt is laughing at me somewhere
). At the very least, it should not create an atmosphere where a significant portion of the prospective guests are either specifically or de facto relegated to the role of spectator.I feel like the media in general has gone too far in trying to empower women and girls in some way by allowing and encouraging the objectification of men. Often, when we are watching tv, one of my sons will comment that if you flipped the genders of the characters, the scene would not be allowed, but because it is a female ogling (or worse) a male, it is okay, and even considered funny. These are shows ranging from iCarly and Phineas and Ferb (if a boy did to Candic what she does to Jeremy, it would be called stalking....) to primetime fare (can you imagine a show that is the reverse of Cougartown?!). It reminds me greatly of the paradigm shift that has occurred in education over the past decade or two. For years, girls were considered to be at a disadvantage. It was seen that teachers and curricula favored boys, and changes were made. The result, unfortunately, was that the pendulum swung too far in the other direction, so that now the skills in which girls developmentally have an advantage (such as language use and organization) are more emphasized. And more boys than ever are floundering. As someone in the field of psychology, I personally do not think that the increased diagnoses of boys with various learning and developmental disabilities during this time period is completely coincidental.
What ever happened to the rejection of the doctrine of "separate but equal" as sanctioning discrimination? If separate is inherently not equal with regard to race, it should equally apply to gender. And here, it is not even separate but equal, because there is no complimentary male-themed race.
I find this trend very troubling. there were many ways this could have been done to court the oh-so-important female market (many of which were mentioned in this thread and very good suggestion) without discouraging (to put it mildly) male participants. And i have told runDisney as much.
Erica
PS--sorry, this got more long-winded than i had meant. Ooopsey
I can't imagine the outcry if we said "Only LGBT runners are allowed." Besides...how would we know for sure? Hee!
