good for her

 I was listening to the news this morning as they were praising the lady that broke the glass ceiling! The first woman to officiate in the Superbowl game. What a remarkable achievement. I couldn't help but think, well that's nice, no reason she shouldn't if she is qualified. I don't view it as some major accomplishment however, more of a, that's what it could have been years ago. I don't have any figures for this but suspect the number of female officials is a small percentage in the overall picture. Not all guys that officiate make it to the big game either, it is a performance based thing. and that performance is based largely on opinion. Did they get the call right? Often that call is subjective in nature. So, whatever congratulation to her. 

 Later in this story it was explained that her job was previously called, head linesman. That job title had to be changed to line judge because lineman is, after all, a sexist term. We are not supposed to be using gender specific terminology. It has been stressed lately that the use of pronouns can be offensive as well. We really shouldn't be saying, she. Umm, I thought change the name because it is sexist but celebrate the fact that she is a woman. I'm looking for an explanation for that. I'm not supposed to view the individual as a male or female but I should heap praise and accolades upon this person because she is a woman? Seems a bit incongruitous to me. Yes it may be a subtle thing but not lost on me. 

 So for me what is the real message?  Are they really saying, she is a referee "in spite of" being a female? That is the message I hear anyway. Rather insulting in my opinion. It's almost as though they are saying, we know you are a girl but we will let you play anyway. I heard nothing of her qualifications, her past experience, only that she is the first female to officiate a Superbowl game. She isn't the only female ref in the league why was she selected? I don't know, was it her pony tail? They mentioned that. Was it that she has three children? They mentioned that. I don't know. But she is the first female head linesman, err line judge, that we shouldn't recognize as female and that's why we changed the job title. Make sense now? 

 All the while that this is going on the President signs an executive order saying guys can play the girls sports. Strangely you can't point out that they are the first man to play a girl sport however. In fact, the guys can now use the same locker-room as the girls because they think they are girls. Make sense now? So, the first guy to play field hockey for the lady Tigers can't be praised for being the first guy to do that because we are all supposed to call him a her. You know it has occurred to me that I don't think you will see any of these guy/girls competing on the balance beam! And I think I know the reason for that. Well, believing and reality are two different things altogether. One mistake on the beam and reality will come crashing in! Well, it's a strange world we are living in these days. Congratulations to that lady officiating the game. It's great when you achieve your goal. I applaud her. It did take a long time, a lot of effort, and persistence. Good for her, good for her.