Sunday, March 1, 2009
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Three Faces of Me - Mad, Mum and Menopaused
This year has been marked by early menopause. I'm fighting but not the fitness battle. Where has feminism gone when you need it? I want to celebrate being menopaused.
So to celebrate, I'm taking menopause the moshpit and all things grumpy old woman over to a new blog - andragy.com
The stages of life have blurred somewhat. I'm still in the middle of the playground mafia but I've gone from presexual, to full sexual, to breeder (thus no sex) to ... been there done that... let's talk about bonescans. Good news though after the hot flushes have finished the sex drive returns and I don't need to worry about having more children! Haven't got round to telling my hubbie yet though, I'm still deciding what I want to do with a sex drive.
And I'm still young enough to be going to gigs, learning to surf and playing soccer - albeit creakily at times. And I'm still mad enough to give a shit that feminism is harder to find than a flea's dick with a microscope. (Why do women think they won? What is this post feminist rhetoric? We have entered a pre-Victorian era!)
So Azabela will wait for the return of the woman warrior and all three faces of me are moving to somewhere grumpier... perhaps with a bigger agenda.
Andragyne; the union of both sexes in one body. (Websters)
"The truth is, a great mind must be androgynous." Coleridge.
So to celebrate, I'm taking menopause the moshpit and all things grumpy old woman over to a new blog - andragy.com
The stages of life have blurred somewhat. I'm still in the middle of the playground mafia but I've gone from presexual, to full sexual, to breeder (thus no sex) to ... been there done that... let's talk about bonescans. Good news though after the hot flushes have finished the sex drive returns and I don't need to worry about having more children! Haven't got round to telling my hubbie yet though, I'm still deciding what I want to do with a sex drive.
And I'm still young enough to be going to gigs, learning to surf and playing soccer - albeit creakily at times. And I'm still mad enough to give a shit that feminism is harder to find than a flea's dick with a microscope. (Why do women think they won? What is this post feminist rhetoric? We have entered a pre-Victorian era!)
So Azabela will wait for the return of the woman warrior and all three faces of me are moving to somewhere grumpier... perhaps with a bigger agenda.
Andragyne; the union of both sexes in one body. (Websters)
"The truth is, a great mind must be androgynous." Coleridge.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Blood Sports 3
New sports and hybrids continually emerge, breakdancing, parkour, cheerleading, freestyle skydiving, wind tunnel acrobatics, inflatable track tumbling.
Who can predict what will emerge as a new sport? Why not insist that emerging sports areas forecast maximum allowable skills to minimise permanent disability or death and to prevent the exploitation of the young.
Where do we draw the line on how much punishment an athlete is expected to take for their sport and how is that influenced by how much money is in the sport... or how entertaining the prospect of the big crash is?
Lets compare life expectancies competitively in a range of sports and the injury/disability rate. Netball is supposed to be quite bad for knees etc, but does a competitive lifespan of 10 years make that better than aerial skiing with a 2 year lifespan? Or being a jockey?
Who can predict what will emerge as a new sport? Why not insist that emerging sports areas forecast maximum allowable skills to minimise permanent disability or death and to prevent the exploitation of the young.
Where do we draw the line on how much punishment an athlete is expected to take for their sport and how is that influenced by how much money is in the sport... or how entertaining the prospect of the big crash is?
Lets compare life expectancies competitively in a range of sports and the injury/disability rate. Netball is supposed to be quite bad for knees etc, but does a competitive lifespan of 10 years make that better than aerial skiing with a 2 year lifespan? Or being a jockey?
Blood Sports 2
Sports do not stay the same. It's rarely just a social change, such as turning volleyball with 6 players into beach volleyball with 2 players in bikinis. New sports are developed as new equipment makes things possible.
New equipment has radically changed gymnastics in the last 20 years. The routines that existed when Olga Korbut stuck her saults on beam and captivated the world seem incredibly easy. But equipment was wooden and not very springy.
Now certain skills are being prohibited from competition as being too dangerous. Yes, some people can do them, but they shouldn't be included in the allowable set of skills because of the extreme physical risk.
Example: saltos ending in a roll (1 ½ or 1 ¾ ) are now prohibited for women but not men (greater shoulder strength).
At the same time as this questionable progress, aerial skiing has been endorsed as an Olympic sport and in Australia we, scenting medals, are offering scholarships to any gymnasts or divers who want to change... especially retired gymnasts and divers who get a second bite at a sport doesn't yet prioritise girls over women.
Trouble is, it's a killer.
We don't let women box but we pay them to take up aerial skiing? I can't figure that out. I'd like to get per athlete per gender injury statistics for all of our sports and see what really makes sense!
New equipment has radically changed gymnastics in the last 20 years. The routines that existed when Olga Korbut stuck her saults on beam and captivated the world seem incredibly easy. But equipment was wooden and not very springy.
Now certain skills are being prohibited from competition as being too dangerous. Yes, some people can do them, but they shouldn't be included in the allowable set of skills because of the extreme physical risk.
Example: saltos ending in a roll (1 ½ or 1 ¾ ) are now prohibited for women but not men (greater shoulder strength).
At the same time as this questionable progress, aerial skiing has been endorsed as an Olympic sport and in Australia we, scenting medals, are offering scholarships to any gymnasts or divers who want to change... especially retired gymnasts and divers who get a second bite at a sport doesn't yet prioritise girls over women.
Trouble is, it's a killer.
We don't let women box but we pay them to take up aerial skiing? I can't figure that out. I'd like to get per athlete per gender injury statistics for all of our sports and see what really makes sense!
Blood Sports
I am unable to ignore the fact that women's sporting bodies are prepubescent, while men's are not. Simply, champions are men and girls. Boys are not the highest achievers in any sport, yet girls are in many sports rather than women.
With the massive professionalisation of sport occuring in the last century, there has already been focus on the exploitation of the young, but there is little addressing the underlying dilemma where in some sports, the best competitors are the youngest. Diving, gymnastics, trampoline, swimming? and how many others? where female power to weight ratio is critical.
The closest we have come to addressing this is to codify minimum ages for olympic competition (for example) for some sports. The reality is that creates a very short sporting life for top athletes who are out of the sport post puberty (often delayed until 18 to 22 tops).
So where to? It's not enough to blame excessively competitive gyms or pushy parents or eastern european (now american) or chinese training regimes, bleat in the press and insert token minimum ages!
Competitive sports that privilege the prepubescent body are an issue in themselves, but they are sports I love and would like them to be available for women. How to?
With the massive professionalisation of sport occuring in the last century, there has already been focus on the exploitation of the young, but there is little addressing the underlying dilemma where in some sports, the best competitors are the youngest. Diving, gymnastics, trampoline, swimming? and how many others? where female power to weight ratio is critical.
The closest we have come to addressing this is to codify minimum ages for olympic competition (for example) for some sports. The reality is that creates a very short sporting life for top athletes who are out of the sport post puberty (often delayed until 18 to 22 tops).
So where to? It's not enough to blame excessively competitive gyms or pushy parents or eastern european (now american) or chinese training regimes, bleat in the press and insert token minimum ages!
Competitive sports that privilege the prepubescent body are an issue in themselves, but they are sports I love and would like them to be available for women. How to?
Monday, December 17, 2007
andra is a black belt!
although at this rate the rest of the family is not far behind.. those that aren't already ahead of me!
2 1/2 years of accelerated gradings whenever possible and a torn hamstring limiting my training these last few months. I certainly could have done better but i did pretty good.. especially the sparring!
Yes, I do feel proud of myself. But it is only the beginning, of course.
2 1/2 years of accelerated gradings whenever possible and a torn hamstring limiting my training these last few months. I certainly could have done better but i did pretty good.. especially the sparring!
Yes, I do feel proud of myself. But it is only the beginning, of course.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Facebook Cubed - fb3
Second life was a waste of space. Facebook is the real virtual reality. People are complicated, yet life is trivial. Linearity is overated. Avatars should be collections of icons or command objects or apicons.
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