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Alicia McKay's avatar

I just read Caroline Criado Perez's latest newsletter and it's almost enough to make me take back my thoughts on our need for the meta-commentary.

Here's the excerpt:

"Please enjoy this worthy entry into the fragile masculinity World Cup.

It started, as all good stories do, with a city council. The city council of Dunedin, to be precise. Dunedin, for those who don’t know (I didn't) is a city in New Zealand that is hosting a bunch of the FIFA Women’s World Cup games, and Dunedin’s council had decided to run an ad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, that states, ‘The Best Footballers in the World are Coming to Dunedin.’

Big mistake. Big. Huge. Because, you see, according to a complaint that was made to the Advertising Standards Authority, this advert was inaccurate. “None of the players in the Women’s World Cup,” wrote the complainant, “would be among the best footballers in the world, who are all men’’. I mean, sure, but I think Chloe Kelly’s right leg would like a word…

The ad was also, the “unnamed person” continued, offensive, “because it demeans men’’. No, me neither. Anyway, the ASA ruled that “the issue did not reach the threshold to breach the relevant Advertising Standards Authority Codes, ‘and therefore we will not take any further action’.”

Ah well."

Sigh. Good one, New Zealand.

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Carolyn Rohm's avatar

As always - so so good! And so bang on. Recently the CMAS World Underwater Hockey Champs were on (yes, it's a real sport), and during one of the NZ Elite women's games, the two male commentators (one Saffer, one Aussie) were banging on about how great they were back in the day. When it comes to commentating on women's sports - we still have a LONG way to go.

Women excel at so many things, on one hand - yay! women who excel are being noticed - on the other hand, OMFG, it's 2023, and people are only noticing now??

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