I don’t give a crap about football, nor do I give a crap about Cam Newton. But I watch ESPN and I do enjoy the fact that sports journalism has increasingly become more accepting to and for women. There were always women sports reporters, of course, although most of the pioneer women-sports-journos have some awful stories about players, coaches and team owners harassing them, ignoring them, patronizing them, belittling them or simply denying them access. Still, inroads have been made and it’s no longer up for debate: women are in sports journalism and thank god for that. But to Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers QB, being asked a legitimate question about football by a female reporter is something new, something notable, something worth mocking in a press conference.
Here's the video of Cam Newton saying "it's funny to hear a female talk about routes" pic.twitter.com/hd9Kg4CCeu
— Carlin & Reese (@CarlinReeseWIP) October 4, 2017
The reporter asking Newton a question was Charlotte Observer beat reporter Jourdan Rodrigue. She asked Newton “about wide receiver Devin Funchess embracing the physicality of routes and if Newton got enjoyment out of that.” Newton’s reply: “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes … it’s funny.” That is some bullsh-t right there. It made me cringe. How many times has EVERY SINGLE WOMAN experienced that in a professional setting? In just eleven little words, Cam Newton mocked a woman’s presence in his He-Man Football Press Conference, he patronized her question, her existence and her job, and otherized her in what was presumably a room full of men. How many times has a dude done that too you? Made you feel like no one has to take you seriously because you’re a woman. Made you feel like your questions or your job are invalid because of your sex? It has happened to me. It’s happened to all of us.
Jourdan Rodrigue tweeted about the incident:
I don't think it's "funny" to be a female and talk about routes. I think it's my job.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 4, 2017
And OF F-CKING COURSE there were people immediately tweeting at her that Cam was “joking” and “why can’t you take a joke” and “why are you airing this on social media, bitch.” Here’s one of her replies:
I spoke with him after and it was worse. I chose not to share, because I have an actual job to do today and one he will not keep me from.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 4, 2017
This is the perfect storm of Working While Female. Step one: do your job, ask a question of a man. Step two: be disrespected and patronized by a man for doing your job. Step three: point out privately and publicly that you were being treated with disrespect. Step four: get slammed far and wide for being a bitchy snowflake who “whines” all the time and shouldn’t even be in that job. Step five: I don’t know. I hope she keeps on it. Stay strong, Jourdan.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I love when people who have never been disrespected that way chime in on what she ‘should’ have done.
Professional team sports seem to bring out the worst in athletes.
Where was this response for Jemele Hill when ESPN did what they did?
Sorry, white feminism, I’m sitting this one out.
There was a rather loud response to ESPN over Jemele Hill that took it beyond sports journalism. I know I contacted ESPN by phone and email to voice my support of Jemele and I saw friends who don’t follow sports at all posting ESPN contact information on social media encouraging others to support her.
There is also a difference in the situation. Jemele’s employer has an established written policy about its employees voicing political views on social media. That employer has fired employees for violating that policy. Jemele knowingly violated that policy. Although she endured lots of horrible racist & sexist vitriol and an attempt to get her fired for expressing her 1st Amendment rights, last I checked that crap came from outside her workplace and she still has her job. This situation, Jourdan Rodrigue was trying to do her job and Cam Newton tried to interfere with her doing so based on absolutely nothing but her gender. She violated no polices but he did. That is straight up sex discrimination, which the NFL has written policies against based on lawsuits in the past. Newton discriminated against her and the team and league need to discipline him.
It is tedious to see so many issues turned into racial complaints.
There was a HUGE response to Jemele Hill. Under what rock do you live?
Podypo, while I don’t agree with KBH because there was support for Jemele on Celebitchy, you’re actually proving her point regarding the need for intersectionality. And sorry, but as long as there’s injustice, you’ll have to hear “tedious racial complaints.”
@Maria: THANK YOU for this perfect response.
My husband and I were watching ESPN after this happened. A man came on and said that Jemele was a valued colleague and friend, etc, etc. Basically that she wasn’t going to lose her job because of her opinion. They really defended her
I’m sorry you feel that way Ye’sBlond. Come hang out with us more, I can’t say you’ll always feel it, but most people here try to support our sisters.
Podypo, I’m gonna listen, because i don’t think it’s trivial. A feeling like that, to feel abandoned by a movement that should support you and to instead be left behind, that’s not trivial.
What Maria and Detrius said.
Podypo, you replace ‘racial’ with ‘feminist’, and you will have several of the comments left under that Twitter down pat. If you don’t see the problem with that, then I don’t know what to tell you.
And add that this slight to her is “easily ignorable”. Yeah, easily ignorable if you’re a dude who’s never been belittled while trying to do your job.
Add – I was equally outraged (maybe more so) when Jemele Hill was attacked. I’m not a football fan, so I was not aware of either of these women before these stories, and a quick perusal of twitter shows that Jourdan may have other issues – but that doesn’t mean that it’s ok to demean her. Clearly, if white women have it bad, black and other women of color have it worse, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be outraged in both instances. I saw a lot of outrage on behalf of Jemele Hill, but maybe that’s just because of who I follow on twitter.
+1,000,000 qualifying struggle is exclusionary, demeaning and thwarts everyone’s advancement.
There was a lot of outrage on behalf of Jemele Hill. At least here on Celebitchy.
Yes, there were 4 stories about Jemele Hill on Celebitchy. There was definitely outrage at how she was being treated!
Yeah, a lot of times this is true, but Jemele got a lot of support here and other places, and this is about women across the board in sports journalism. I don’t want us to stray from this important topic to another essential topic giving neither the attention they deserve.
When I was a teenager back in the 1970s (!!!) I read a memoir by a female sports journalist — I think maybe she was the first female sports journalist to make it into the men’s locker room post-game. The book was about all the crap she had to take on her job and how difficult it was to be taken seriously. That was the 1970s, people. It’s the same conversation!
I wonder how Cam Newton would have felt if anyone had substituted the words “black man” for his use of the word “woman”? Then he would have seen how bigoted his comment was against women.
But football players aren’t exactly known for their smarts or insight IMO.
I don’t honestly think that’s fair.
This article is by a football player. A black male player tackling rape culture, and misogyny more generally, and doing so head on: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/deandre-levy-sexual-assault-awareness/
F this guy.
You know what was funny, Cam? When you lost the Super Bowl.
It was VERY funny when he was too chickensh!t to recover his own fumble, which led to him losing SB50. Oh wait, is it funny to hear me talk about fumbles because I’m a “female?”
nice burn.
OMFG! The “female” this seriously pisses me off as much as what he said. The way he uses it makes it sound demeaning and like she’s just a body with zero self or spirit or individuality. Ive really never heard women refer to men as males the way men use females.
MelM, if you don’t follow VerySmartBrothas on facebook, I suggest you do as they have a GREAT piece on this today.
using the word “female” reduces a woman to her body parts and it’s done deliberately.
@whatwhat- exactly! I will thank you for the suggestion!
yup. used to like him, he did a funny ad with some kid and I though “oh, he’s got a good sense of humor” and he seemed like he was a very charitable guy, too.
but, now that I see he’s ALSO a misogynist, he can go F himself. boy bye.
But it wasn’t a female kid, so….
The worst part is she says he was worse later when confronter. Obviously this was no joke or foot in mouth statement.
Hero worship of athletes means that a lot of men get away with being sh*tty humans a lot of the time.
Often calling it out means you’ll be branded a racist, a whiner, a snowflake, someone who can’t be professional and do their job, a girl who should have stuck to Weather Girl, etc.
It sucks.
I need her to pour that tea out ASAP!
You said it all, Kaiser, 100%. I hope some day the whole story gets out.
I wish she also reported what he said that was worse, but it’s up to her of course. He sounds like a real a-hole.
Signed, a female who knows more about football than most of the guys I work with
I’m not American, so I don’t know anything about American football, but what did she ask him? What is a route and why wouldn’t a woman know about it?
In American football, passing the ball through the air is an important way to advance down the field. So every team has receivers (those to whom the ball is passed) and every team usually has a set of schemes which involve the receiver running pre-determined routes so that the Quarterback can throw him the ball. Her question was perfectly benign and despite Cam Newton’s attitude, does not require a male brain to understand.
– signed, a woman who watches a lot of football.
Thank you for the explanation 🙂
It’s a perfectly benign, neutral question. When i first heard these reports, I wondered whether she had asked something that possibly could be construed as a double entendre. Silly me, I assumed he was just sexually harassing her; turns out he instead called all of us stupid. F you, Cam, I knew was routes were before you were freaking born you jackhole.
EOA
thank you
What a pos thing to say. Can you imagine how horrid Newton must be in private? We have to teach our sons and not just our daughters that this is unacceptable behavior. In our family we stop everything when this sort of misogyny pops up during movies, TV shows, books, articles, news coverage, songs on the radio etc. you think your kids aren’t listening until the moment you overhear them telling their friends that victim blaming is “not cool” or Trump is a “jerk to women”. It makes it all worth it.
that’s awesome! you are awesome and your sons are awesome.
@Lizzie
They are nephews but thank you – your words are encouraging and yes, we’ll keep fighting!
Kids absorb far, far more than we ever realize. It’s almost like osmosis, sometimes you don’t even remember giving voice to a certain opinion yet here they are repeating it.
Great job my Russian cousin. lol
My parents taught my brothers how to behave, and we pass it on to our sons. Children understand it entirely, but the messages can be subtle sometimes. Yet they know it better than adults since they keep ideas rather simple.
You said it! It’s the simplicity, the essence, that kids absorb and when that distillation is positive we stand a chance of seeing real change. I was hoping you’d stop by this post!
I’m a woman, and a huge football fan who knows as much about it as any guy. I didn’t think he was joking or trying to be funny, he’s just full of himself.
Take your millions of ugly hats and shove them up your egotistical ass, Cam!
I am a woman who has no interest in football, except for the opportunity to eat dip, but that comment about the hats was hilarious. F that dude and his ugly hats!
LMAO
Yep he’s an arrogant prick.
THE HATS… and he can’t take a woman asking him a football-related question seriously? But Cam, we’re supposed to take you seriously when you pout after every loss, mumbling and sighing through the press conference like a toddler, dressed like a Dr. Seuss character? OKAY. Sure thing.
Yea she pulled him aside and apparently said something worse. Then proceeded to confirm he didn’t know who she was when she’s personally introduced herself and works for a local paper. But this is not surprising haven’t liked cam since his (shady) college days.
I also love black men pretending it’s just white women mad about this or painting black women as femnazis for taking him to task over this
Omg, seriously?? More details please, although I probably don’t want to know…
Details on what? His college days? How he stole laptops from UF and his dad accepted a bribe to move him to auburn where he won a title and the Heisman?
@Nicole… An FBI investigation in to his time at Auburn literally proved there was nothing done illegally.
@Nicole Newton was able to play dumb by claiming to be unaware about his father’s actions so he could play in the 2010 SEC title game.
@Reindeer The NCAA has proven time and time again that it won’t take real action against schools and players from the Power 5 conferences who are in violation of NCAA rules and regulations. Penn State was the exception because there was enough public outrage and disgust for them to take action. The true tragedy of Penn State is that certain alumni, fans, and the Paterno family view themselves as the true victims of a witchhunt instead of the true victims – the kids that Jerry Sandusky abused and took advantage of.
The current FBI investigation into college basketball and the schools’ ties to Adidas and other apparel companies paying promising teenage recruits, their AAU coaches, and college coaches shows that there are real consequences. It took the FBI investigation and charges of wire fraud to get some action. Louisville was the first to go down, likely getting its basketball program shut down because the program was already under NCAA sanctions since this summer. It’s now only a matter of time before more feel the consequences if Nike and Under Armour are also under investigation.
I know what step five is.
It’s “Repeat.”
Sadly true.
In just eleven little words, Cam Newton mocked a woman’s presence in his He-Man Football Press Conference, he patronized her question, her existence and her job, and otherized her in what was presumably a room full of men.
Thank you for this sentence. You identified all the dominoes that fall to make us retreat back into our corner.
Won t work, let s raise them a scorched earth instead!
Contact the Panthers and the NFL. There are rules about dealing with reporters because of problems in the past. He broke the rules and his employer, the Panthers, should take action
Amen…I need to take Kaiser’s words and print them on little business cards that I can pass to my male colleagues and friends when necessary.
Guy here who tends to get easily annoyed when people look for controversy when there isn’t any, but i found the manner of his response very condescending. Totally unnecessary.
And that’s the thing…to Newton it was necessary. He couldn’t tolerate a woman in that role and found it necessary to belittle that.
It’s the same prejudicial BS as comes from anybody who feels “compelled” to point out that’s some one doesn’t match or fit their dated, narrow expectations of who does what job or who belongs in “their” group.
Appreciate the sentiment, but the fact that you feel you need to legitimize the complaint by confirming it was condescending “as a guy” is entirely part of the problem.
As was the “looking for controversy where there isn’t any” comment.
Well, in this situation, his guyness is definitely relevant. And also the fact that he is usually skeptical about media controversies.
No worse than people pointing out their race or ethnicity in various discussions here. Our backgrounds are helpful to know.
This is just a blatant, obvious, text book example of what women face in their lives. It happens a lot, more often then anyone will ever admit because, quite frankly, it’s simply a part of daily life that you just deal with as a woman. It’s tiresome and tedious and complaining about it only gets you labeled with all kinds of negative, hushing words.
So, so often it appears that people are trying to drum up controversy over misogynistic remarks and actions because for the one time a woman speaks up and says something, there’s a hundred other times where she was silent. Maybe she didn’t pick the most obvious incident to complain about, often it’s more of the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. No, one single straw isn’t much, but added to all the others the load becomes too much to bear and you have to say something. It’s all the other straws she never told you about, shouldering them silently, brushing the incident off and getting on with her life. They are invisible, and individually they may not be much, but together they are a near unbearable burden.
The price for speaking up is high, as evidenced by the responses aimed at the journalist. In the eyes of many, it was not Newton’s fault for saying such a demeaning, inappropriate thing, but her fault for pointing it out. That is what saddens me. One asshole is merely one asshole, but to me the real misogyny lies in how fast a multitude came running to shush her, put her back in her place.
Beautifully stated Wren.
Wren hit it on the head.
I’ve been on this site for years and mostly stuck to entertainment stories, where I’ve alluded to the fact that I work in “another part of media.”
Well, I work in sports media. With the NFL, in particular.
The poster who identified the NFL audience as 50% female is spot on. There is another unspoken truth that also gets set aside by the male population: athletes tend to think that because they are in sports, somehow that makes them serious. Like hard news somehow, set aside from the lifestyle section, because they use their bodies on the gridiron (or court, as the sport may dictate) to achieve greatness.
The reality is, these guys work in entertainment. They are a product being sold. Modern gladiators, etc. They are a consumable, disposable good. The NFL stands for “not for long,” and so it goes when they no longer sell well.
Half of their consumers are female, and many of us work in the trenches with them.
Whoever it was who posted she was discussing routes before Cam Newton was born – preach, sister. He and his ugly hats are done.
But yes, the owners will be thrilled to have him shift the focus from taking a knee to misogyny. A topic they all know intimately.
Very well written. It isn’t always easy to articulate, but you did.
I remember people’s (i.e. men’s) heads exploding when female journalists were first “allowed” to report from the sidelines and conduct sideline interviews. This doesn’t shock me at all. It should, but it doesn’t.
I remember the reaction when a woman was first allowed in a locker room.
I do follow football and attended Auburn, where Newton played. My family is made up of Auburn graduates and fans. Newton is an idiot. I don’t recall that he had a sexist reputation before, but he’s a disgrace with this. He has a number of endorsement deals and is often seen in commercials. I wonder how those will be affected. Is it actually 2017 and we still have men coming up with this shit?
When a woman breaks into a man’s field expect men to question them. I heard nothing sexist, He probably was surprised she was so well versed and I didn’t see it as a putdown. In business and sports women need to know how to handle themselves and not see things asked as putdown and be thin skinned . She must be insecure, Women know their jobs as well as men and when questioned SHOW them you do. That is what counts not whining because your feelings are hurt or by a comment that was not even sexis. Much ado about nothing!
Typical blame-the-victim-for-upsetting-the-apple-cart mentality. His comment was public; why shouldn’t her response be, too?
Oh Cam, you were my football crush. Such a great smile and so handsome, but now that I know he’s a sexist a$$ it’s all ruined.
As seen on reddit:
Media: The biggest NFL story right now is players kneeling during the anthem.
Cam: Hold my ridiculous hat.
(I know, reddit can be a cesspool, but r/nfl can be surprisingly progressive.)
He was my football crush too. Such a shame that he’s a sexist asshole.
Yeah, not surprising. As someone who experienced this s%it all the time in a male-heavy office, it’s not surprising at all. I’m lucky to be part of a staff that’s 100% female now.
Not even the first incident of this kind this week, see Brian Kelly’s treatment of a female reporter as well. Or look further back to Jameis Winston informing young girls their role is to be quiet. Or even the blocking of female reporters from a press event in a locker room until they got permissiom from the males around them to do their jobs. More outrage needs to happen, these comments are disgusting and some statement from the NFL is not far enough. Players (and coaches) are too comfortable with this mistreatment of women.
I never really understood the objection to women reporting from locker rooms. Do they really run around naked when male reporters are there? With cameras on?!?
Yeah – just a reminder to men and women out there who call in to support lines. Don’t treat the woman on the line like she knows less than her male colleagues. I’ve had so many people call in for website support/content modifications and either been “oh what do you do in the company? Oh really? The same job as the guys? Well that’s nice” or “I don’t believe you. Put one of the men on the line that knows what they’re doing”.
Honest to god, I am so thankful to have moved into a developer position where I don’t need to speak to the public. More often than not the men were the condescending/surprised/borderline harassment type of responses… it was the women who went HARD at you and refused to believe that you had any place in the company. The only times I’ve had a customer make me cry on the line it was a woman client.
Now in the workplace itself – there is so much sexism. The management is pretty good about it- they do what they can when the catch it. But a lot of the time there’s a lot of little things that on there own aren’t an issue per say… but when you look at it as a whole it starts to grate on you. I do take pride knowing that I’m more capable than 95% of the guys on our team, and I don’t have work sent back to me because I do it right the first time. And thankfully our management notices because it’d be a pretty bleak place if they didn’t.
I ran a tech company for a decade. Probably the most harassment I ever put up with in my life, mostly from the women who were clients. My favorite line? When someone would ask to speak to the boss and I would come out, then I would get told “no, the real boss, the man around here”. Always a good time.
Equally,been treated as dumb BY male support reps and have to explain to them my 10 plus years in tech industry. Usually my pre-diagnosis is on target and I have ruled some things out already but they hear my voice and it’s like, “did you reboot?”
And that’s the thing…to Newton it was necessary. He couldn’t tolerate a woman in that role and found it necessary to belittle that.
It’s the same prejudicial BS as comes from anybody who feels “compelled” to point out that’s some one doesn’t match or fit their dated, narrow expectations of who does what job or who belongs in “their” group.
PS Erinn ,I love getting women on the line. They’re often smarter, less arrogant and they communicate better.
the funny thing is there is a difference in calling out a person for their actions/words vs making a firestorm. this is not a firestorm, people every right to call him out so his fans need to calm down saying yea ok its rude but look at trump. someone else doing something worse does not make what you did better. thats not how it works. if we dont call out this treatment of women, it wont improve. no one is turning this into some huge scandal, but its worth pointing out.
It’s kinda funny, but I’m actually happier to get a woman when I have to call in. It already sucks that I have a problem, and in my experience the male support staff tend to be more condescending and less willing to listen to me when I describe the issue and what I’ve already tried to remedy the problem. Not always, of course, but enough that I’ve noticed a trend.
Some people just can’t pass up a chance to be an asshole. I’m glad she called him on it after and hopefully it will inform his behaviour going forward.
Judging by the way he doubled down when the cameras WEREN’T rolling, that is highly unlikely.
While I hope for the best….you’re probably right. sigh.
I hope the Panthers influence his behavior with a fine for violating team/NFL rules for not discriminating against women in the press room.
TMZ is reporting Oikos Yogurt just dropped him as their long time spokesman. They specifically said it was because of his treatment of Jourdan.
Half of the NFL’s viewership is female. I guess none of the them are qualified to talk about football, either.
He is the face of that franchise- guess he skipped “being respectful of media” training day. I watch college football all the time- I have yet to see any coach/player being condescending to any female sideline reporter. Now get if coach of team losing big at halftime is not very talkative, but that’s a whole another thing. I can appreciate he’s an amazing athlete with fab skills, but that’s about as far as I go.
Not to generalise because it’s not all black or white men, but this disgusting and moronic sexist behaviour towards women is almost expect but spoiled and over indulged white men because they had it their way for far too long but when it comes from black men who themselves have experienced their own social limitations and constant prejudices/racism due to the colour of their skin, feels more disappointing and baffling as too why they want to join in to this problematic sexism. This is not just a running behaviour of spoiled black athletes but rappers and wide sexism in black culture. Black men should know the pain of being treated unfairly simply for something you are born as…. As much as they ask for the elimination of racism, they should also feel equally strong eliminating any other wide spread and equally problematic isms!
100% correct!
As a black women (yes I feel it’s worth mentioning) this was my gut reaction! Dude, you’d be so offended if someone mentioned your surprise at knowledge or expertise any doing your job because you’re black!”😠
I think this only highlights for me how this is definitely a “feminist” issue but it made me sad because I feel as black women we are always at the bottom of the barrel. When these anti-women comments cease to be made we’ll still be battling the fight of injustice and discrimination due to the color of our skin. I just hope that the ride in support of women means there will also be swelling support for the fight against racism.
As an aside, I was not a fan of Hilary but nothing could compel me to vote for Trump. In the end I felt like “please let these people vote for anyone but Trump” (I’m not an American). However, I did wonder “would this conversation be different, had happened at all if Hilary were president?” Maybe it wouldn’t have but the sentiment and attitude behind it would likely have still existed. I hope by the time there is an American president who is a woman this is largely a thing of the past.
He’s a jerk. Have never liked him and he’s a fellow Georgian. He’s arrogant & ignorant. On Twitter, she said she asked him if he knew who she was. He had no idea, even though she’s the beat writer. For the last 3 years. H
That is not true. A year (if that). Not defending his comment, but she replaced a reporter who left for SI less than a year ago.
That video made me cringe. Wow.
Again, blatant sexism gets a pass.
Every fucking day I hear this. I own mechanics shops and this is a daily occurrence. I’m glad you wrote about this! 👊
FYI If you watch the interview, it is blatantly obvious that Cam was high as a kite. This is understandable considering he takes some of the worst hits in the league. I would ease up on the judgement considering his state of mind.
If those hits on the head are causing him to blurt out these insulting comments, maybe he should find a better helmet, or just hang up his helmet and retire
He was not high…he’s an ass. Stop making excuses.
I can personally confirm for you that being high does NOT suddenly turn you into a sexist ahole. Not a side effect of marijuana.
Um, no.
a guy who sexually harasses a women and then calls her a b*tch because she declines doesn’t get a pass because he was “high” or drunk. a woman who calls her kids “worthless” while drunk does not get a pass.
and a man who says misogynistic things while “high” doesn’t get a pass either. in vino veritas, and all that.
Funny that those hits cause him to just be ignorant to women, and what is this ‘high as a kite’ comment. How is it understandable? Do you mean he was actually doing drugs before playing? Or are you saying his comment make sense because he was high? I thought the NFL drug-tested its players.
Even more than victim blaming, excuse making is the WORST.
“…it’s blatantly obvious Cam was high as a kite? …Ease up on the judgement.”
…are you fucking serious, Cindy?!
I think he meant that he was surprised that a woman knows that stuff because most women don’t know. But in this case it’s her job, of course she knows it just like men. He should have kept that sexist comment to himself.
To be honest, If I met a straight man who knows great details about makeup, I’d probably say the same thing.
Ps. I hate when men call women “females”. I feel like it’s a step above bitch.
I honestly don’t understand why some people get so angry with the word “female.” I’ve heard plenty of women say “female. ” Guys are called “males ” or “men.” Female is not even close to being called “bitch”
Can you really hear yourself or other people saying something like ” I’m surprised a male was at that party. ” but female is used that way more frequently.
“Males” get called male + occupation (male doctor, male nurse, male prostitute, etc) or they get called human male aka man. But we are called females, like dogs, cats, plugs, plants…. how are hard is it to say female human aka woman?
It’s condesending that’s why people get angry.
Maybe it’s more bothersome to me because French is my 1st language. If French speaking men were calling women “les femelles”, I’d throw punches. It sounds so insulting.
I automatically say “woman.” But there’s commonly used words like “feminine and feminist, ” that are based on the word “female.”
But feminine and feminist are talking about concepts, not actual people. Would you call a guy a “male” to his face? As in, “you are a smart male”. It sounds like you could be talking about an animal or insect, rather than a human being. I’ve hardly ever heard it done with men, and yet it happens all the time when talking about, and to, women. At the risk of overstating it, using female rather than woman when talking about a specific person or group of people diminishes our humanity in an incremental way.
I say male and female when speaking about ideas, but I wouldn’t use it to identify a single person. As in “a female called me today”. That is very detached sounding but “a woman called me today” doesn’t sound as aggressive.
Except at 28 years old, he has never lived in an era without women covering college and professional football on the major networks. Phyllis George broke that barrier 40 years ago.
@Caly, no offense, but there are many women who do know quite a lot about football. My dad started taking me to games when I was a young girl. At one game, I vividly remember explaining in detail to the drunk guy sitting in front of me why he was wrong about a certain play being intentional grounding – not only did the quarterback throw the ball out of bounds beyond the line of scrimmage, but he was outside the tackles when he did so. The referee used my explanation almost verbatim when he came on the PA system a few seconds later to announce why the flag on the field was being picked up. I was twelve at the time.
Beth, please take a read. This piece addresses it very well, and with humor.
(Hope the link is OK)
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/why-you-should-stop-addressing-and-referring-to-women-a-1819180317
there are also links to other explanations in there.
I use male and female as nouns in certain contexts. It covers all ages, which can be useful. So you can’t automatically assume it’s meant as disrespectful.
I think in some occupations, people get used to using male and female because that’s standard in their area. For example, law enforcement or medical contexts. It’s just habit.
Don’t call women “females” you prick!
Female refers to animals. Woman refers to humans. A lot of people don’t get that distinction. I bet he knows that.
One good thing – I was amazed listening to morning radio in Syracuse (very conservative area) and hearing men just slamming Cam for saying something like that. I was happy to hear men sticking up for her. Yea!!
Okay…I know I am in the minority here, but I do believe that he was trying to joke, but it wasn’t funny. It’s too bad that she did not have a snappy comeback like ‘what’s funny is your choice in hats’ or ‘you weren’t so funny when you lost SB50’ or something like that. But…she probably would have been reprimanded for saying something back.
I follow and watch a lot of sports. There are some really great female reporters out there and some that make themselves look silly by their lack of knowledge of the sport they are reporting. I bet Jourdan can run routes all day around Cam.
Except the league has rules in place about making such jokes and has had them in place for a long time. The Leslie Vissers, Jayne Kennedys, Gayle Gardners, and Phyllis Georges fought these battles 40 years ago. The team has to discipline him.
I’m tired of people who are not funny trying, and failing at making a ‘joke.’ It reminds me of trump and how he thinks he’s funny, but he’s just hateful. Just stop, you’re not funny.
He and Andy Murray need to spend some time together for a talk about women.
I have no idea who he is, but what a condescending douche. Is it 1966 again? I’m so glad no one laughed with him. Next will come a I’m sorry-not sorry fake apology. I’m tired of those and the term “female”. She has a name.
F*ck him and every man who does this. Also F*CK the “it was just a joke” argument. That needs to die.
yeah, “it was just a joke!” is what a bigot/misogynist/anti-Semite says when they say something deliberately offensive and then get called out on it.
it’s meant to make the justly offended person seem like the “bad guy” by overreacting.
“…a female…”
Shut up, you misogynistic MEATHEAD.
I live in NC (born and raised). He’s one of the most disliked athletes in the state. He’s only a fair QB. He’s arrogant and dismissive. The people that could still bear him pretty much lost all respect after his SB debacle and subsequent comments (or lack thereof). I’ll be glad to see him go so I can root for the Panthers again, because just like Michael Vick (who tortured dogs) I refuse to watch any game he plays in because of his behavior.
Gross cam. Has he or the panthers said anything about his asinine comment?
Not to take away from what happened to Jorduan, but damn , that sounded like it was personal. I know she is a pro and would never answer, but did she turn him down or something.
Dannon Yogurt just fired Cam as a sponsor. They didn’t want a sexist pig to represent them
Yesssssssss! Lose those $$$ you misogynistic wanker
Working white female?? SURE JAN!@ISSAPRAHBLEM??
Apparently Dannon has dropped him as a spokesperson over this.
Good! 👏🏽
Yikes. What he said was stupid, but did go on to answer her question in a thoughtful way. I don’t think there’s enough here to write this guy off entirely as a lot of commenters seem to want to do. Like, someone upthread compared him to Michael Vick. This is not a Michael Vick situation, sorry.
Also (and please don’t throw anything at me, it’s just an observation)… isn’t one of the first rules of journalism that you’re not supposed to make the story about yourself?
She let another Observer reporter write a column about her, which was a huge mistake. Because yes. The story shouldn’t be about her. It’s about him.
And to the person comparing a stupid, immature comment to running a dog fighting ring… saying you’re from NC doesn’t give you carte blanche to speak for the whole state. You are straight up wrong about him being hated. You’re straight up wrong. Period.
Aaaaaaaand in the most predictable move ever black twitter found her racist tweets.
So they both suck. This was straight from the white feminist playbook. *sigh*
Don’t think there’s a “playbook” here…they’re both in the wrong for different things. They should both apologize. She has made her first attempt to do so…waiting for his.
Really? What did she say?
You have to go to twitter but there’s one where she brags about her dad saying racist crap her entire ride home
They both are jerks. He didn’t react that way because he knew about these “racists tweets” he reacted this way simply because she was a woman.
If she’s racists then screw her.
Cam is wrong and will be wrong no matter what for being sexists and a jerk.
If it was any woman of any color there he would have said the same thing.
Didn’t say he did. Like I said they both suck at this point. Him for misogyny and her for racism
I wasn’t referring to you I made my comment way before you made yours. They both are horrible jerk asses.
You would think that after all the bad press he got for acting like a whiny little idiot after losing the super bowl he would have learned something.
I’m not that suprised there are still peope with such attitudes, but I’m very surprised he doesn’t even realize how bad it makes him look to voice it publicly.
I’ve never liked to watch sports, not even when I liked playing certain sports myself, and know practically nothing about football. My brother knows even less, so maybe it’s genetic.
But even I know women who are big football fans. Does he really think those women in the stands are just gazing adoringly at their male companion the whole time?
Eh I’m female a huge sports fan and this doesn’t bother me. He’s said and done worse than this but its funny that this has gotten more coverage than her racist tweets
No two wrongs don’t make a right but I’m not going to feel sorry for this particular individual either.
I don’t think she would react the same had a white player said this to her.
Ive realized how little support from men there is on this topic. SO many more were in support of Cam. People say this country is divided by race. I beg to differ it is divided by gender the thing is no one really cares to notice
This country is divided by both. Dismissing racism is a form of racism.
I was patronized and basically ignored by my maintenance supervisor. Everything I suggested just because it came from me (a female) he wouldn’t hear of it ,but if a man said the same exact thing the next day it was the most brilliant thing he had ever heard. Guess who got the last laugh? I fired ass.
Cam’s machismo is the oft tried “Im not closeted, Im just another tough macho misogynist womanizer”
Just like the religious/homophobic who hate gay people are closeted, best believe men like cam newton do this as an act to distract that they are on the DL.
This reminds me of Chris Gayle (a cricketer) in Australia when he said to a reporter “I wanted to see your eyes for the first time, hopefully we can win this game and then we can have a drink after as well,” he said, before adding: “Don’t blush, baby.”
And she totally shut him down and started a huge discussion on sexism in sport.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/20/chris-gayle-sexism-allegations-interview-times