Female refs? You’re having a laugh.

In our confusing, difficult modern world of structural discrimination, implicit bias, and gender identity politics, do you ever find yourself nostalgic for some good old-fashioned blatant sexism to get your teeth into? No, thought not, and there’s plenty of it around anyway.  But just in case, here is a recording of some spectacularly unreconstructed sexism from Sky Sports’ main football commentating team, Andy Gray and Richard Keys (and here’s a transcript of that slightly fuzzy recording, along with some context and discussion).

For those too fatigued to follow links, the charming pair discuss the assistant referee Sian Massey, who was on duty for her second Premiership game on Saturday. They conclude that she must be unable to understand the offside rule, owing to her having, y’know, breasts and stuff. Or maybe it’s because she can’t reason spatially? Something like that. As a bonus, there’s a dig at Karren Brady, the West Ham deputy chair, for complaining about (of all things) sexism in football. We even get “the game’s gone mad”! It’s the glory glory days all over again.

Professional football is a reliable bastion of bigotry in all its forms, but in the UK at least, racism is commendably rare, and pundits have been sacked in the past for being daft enough to express racist views into live microphones. Will Sky treat sexism seriously? Don’t hold your breath.

By the way, as Keys predicted, there was a “big one” in the game — a crucial decision for Massey to make, relying on acute awareness, perfect positioning, and knowledge of that pesky offside thing. And guess what? She got it right! Must have been a fluke.

New online journal on feminist scholarship‏

From Cathy Gardner, via SWIP-L:

The Journal of Feminist Scholarship is a new twice-yearly, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published online and aimed at promoting feminist scholarship across the disciplines, as well as expanding the reach and definitions of feminist research.

Why a new journal? Why now? We believe it is time to explore the state of feminist scholarship at the turn of the new century, and we see the endeavor as part of a larger question of where feminism itself is heading. For example, we ask whether it still makes sense to talk of the “waves” of feminism. If so, what is the status of the third wave? Is there a post-third wave? We wish to encourage a discussion of feminist thought for the twenty-first century. What are its directions today, and what relationship does it sustain with the foundations laid down by feminist inquiry and action in earlier centuries?

We aim to publish work that explores the multiple theoretical paradigms and political agendas of contemporary and historical feminist scholarship and the potential intersections and tensions between these paradigms and agendas. We are especially interested in examining productive controversies and divergences between local and global contexts of feminism. We also welcome submissions that focus on feminist pedagogies and activism. Publishing the journal online means that we are able to offer open access to its contents to feminist scholars anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection. It also has an immediacy that allows us to publish articles on topics that are in the here and now and to significantly shorten the time lag from submission to publication for our prospective contributors.

Please visit the submissions page to see our guidelines for authors and our contact page for contact information for the JFS.

The editors

Catherine Villanueva Gardner

Anna M. Klobucka

Jeannette E. Riley

jfs@umassd.edu