Zoe Williams: Serena Williams
This article discusses the US Open this weekend. Another fight for equality between men and women was started when the referee deducted points and even an entire game from Serena Williams for her behavior. The referee's punishments and decisions were completely within the rules, but the problem arose when Serena examined the fact that in many cases men would not have been penalized for the same things that she did.
This article is very important at this point in time. It bolsters all the other women's rights movements going on right now, such as the me too movement. We can see the progression of women's rights, in tennis specifically, when examining the "Battle of the Sexes" when Billie Jean King separated from the league due to the wage gap between men and women. Her actions helped to lessen that gap, but as we can see the prejudices are still present. The author seems to be fairly level headed and even in their positioning, but if anything they may lean slightly towards agreeing with the reff., but they did do a relatively good job of stating both sides of the story regardless off their stance. Hopefully Serena's actions can lead to more equality just as Billie Jean King's did.
Serena has a right to stand up for her craft and getting penalized for things that men wouldn’t get penalized for is taking a step back in women’s rights.
ReplyDeleteSerena definitely is allowed to speak her mind, especially when it comes to something as unjust and horrible as this. When it comes to sports or anything else, women have the same amount of capacity as men, and it is truly terrible to be told otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI really love that you wrote about this! Sexism is a big problem in these times, so I admire Serena Williams for speaking up about this issue. Women and men alike should be able to speak their minds without penalties that could possibly end their careers!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing about this article. It's really important that problems like this are highlighted for society to see. Too often, people brush off these situations as nothing, when we really should be addressing them. If these issues are ignored, then sexism will only get worse. Everyday sexism is sexism, no matter how trivial it seems; it is still contributing to the misogyny in society.
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