Just a thought… Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see; you think it’s just reality. [Alix Kates Shulman]
You can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.
Oh, I hope you had a good few days. Here, it was an amazing weekend – we had Colin with us for a double over-nighter and our place turned into Banana Camp for a young boy with a love of games and sports.
On Friday night, although he and his Grandude just went to Canadian Tire for batteries, I think somehow they stumbled into Sporting Goods; by the time they got home, Colin had leg pads, a trapper and glove for street hockey (and perhaps to prepare him to be a goalie on the ice), as well as a soccer ball (which he persuaded Grandude to buy by telling him it was a “good value”) and a basketball, which was also on sale.
When it came time to play outside, we took the ball out of the cardboard packaging. And that’s when this struck me. Right here on the box.
Okay, Spalding, I don’t get this in 19 different ways, but let’s start with the first two and I’ll do the less obvious one first. Age 13+? I’m sorry, but I had a six-year-old who was dribbling, passing, dunking and sinking shots with this basketball, so…yeah, a hard “no” to the age limit.
And an even harder “aw hell no!” to the “Males” on the box.
What on earth makes THIS ball for males? Because it’s blue and black and not, I don’t know, pink? Yeah, Spalding sells a pink and purple one; I looked it up.
In fact, I went on the Canadian Tire website for our local store (lovely, lovely people, by the way, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart) and there are other basketballs. The Raptors’ “courtside” edition in red and black also has ages Youth and Adult. And gender? Says right there: Male.
I know it’s picky, some would say pedantic – even for me – to get my court shorts in a twist. I don’t care. It’s all ridiculous.
Hey, Spalding, it’s 2021. Why are you selling basketballs and assigning their users a gender?
And if you’re going to call them male, shouldn’t you sell ’em in pairs?
Have a good day and I’ll back with you on Thursday.