In Purgatory with Larry Summers (or 'I am not Sexist')

I was accused of being sexist today. Here was the "offensive" remark I made:

Other person: Why don't women play five set matches?
Me: I don't think consumers want to see best of five women's matches. They wouldn't be very interesting, especially given the lack of depth on the women's circuit.

How was that sexist? I was just calling it the way I see it. Was there anything in my statement that indicated that I thought women were inferior or something? No.

Just for the record, when the women's tour was sponsored by the cigarette manufacturer Virginia Slims, the year end tournament (kinda like the men's Tennis Masters) had five-set matches. Only one match ever went to five sets, and the majority of the other matches were brutally uninteresting (see here). Which brings up the point: if there was demand for longer women's matches, wouldn't we be seeing more of these, rather than the elimination of any existing five-setters? And no, I don't think a market failure argument works in the TV sports world.

This is the second time I've been accused of being sexist. The last incident was in 1991, when my sixth grade teacher got really mad at me for asking my mom to bring me a book that I forgot at home. "Why didn't you ask your dad to bring the book?" asked my teacher, while delivering a glowering look.

I was too afraid to explain my side: "Well, gee, my dad is at work right now, about 30 minutes a way, and my mom is at home, about 2 minutes away. And heck, my dad would be totally clueless about my textbooks, anyway."

I have a great deal of respect for women's rights and the feminist movement. What I have no patience for are the over-sensitive elements that sit around and get offended at perfectly reasonable arguments, such as why most people would get bored watching five sets of women's tennis (I'm sorry, but that's just true). And using emotionally charged terms like "sexist" in inappropriate contexts is just a lame thing to do. Save it for when it really matters.

A digression: Ok, I agree that there are some men out there who are total pigs. But most of us aren't. Kudos to the people who recognize that. And, trust me, there are people like that. I went to an AIDS-related protest in Cape Town a few weeks back (check this space in the next few days for more on that), and one of the groups represented was a women's rights outfit. The woman who was representing the group began her speech with stories about rape, disrespect and infidelity, all forces that bring HIV/AIDS to innocent women all over Africa who definitely deserve better.

But before she went off lambasting men, the speaker paused and said:

"Give a hand to all the enlightened and good men out there that understand our plight and fight with us."

Thank you.