Editorial If you can't say something nice... Don Imus. Don Imus set a new bar for racism and stupidity this year with an asinine and offensive comment about the Rutgers players following the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in April. It was the racial and gender slur heard ‘round the world. And, thank God, no one—including Imus’s bosses—took it lightly. I’m a huge college women’s basketball fan. In 1993 Sheryl Swoopes led Texas Tech (my alma mater) to its first and only national championship by scoring a record 47 points in the final game. 47 points. Who does that? Seriously, male, female, black, white? Who scores 47 points in a college championship game in the NCAA Division I? Feats like that transcend demographic qualifiers and stereotypes. Still I’m guessing there were folks out there who said, “Yeah, but it was the women’s tournament. I’d like to see her do that in the men’s game.” Proving you just can’t win with some people. After all, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs more than 35 years ago to silence some of those sexist voices, but they find their way out into the world, don’t they? I cheered for Rutgers through the entire tournament this year. They were my pick to win. I continued rooting for them long after their loss to Tennessee as they stood up to Imus in a face-to-face meeting. The women at Rutgers showed intelligence, sophistication, and dignity. Clear winners. I personally would have called him an old, white curmudgeon, who’d be blown off the court by any one of the Rutgers players. But I haven’t been coached by C. Vivian Stringer, so I don’t have the poise her players possess. I’d just say whatever came into my head at the time. I’m often asked why we don’t feature more women of color in our pages. The short answer: we can’t afford to do our own photo shoots with our own models, so we have to rely on stock photography. In terms of diversity, the outdoor sports images available to us through stock buys are rare. Other outdoor magazines will tell you it’s because the primary sports participants in hiking, biking, backpacking, and trail running are white men. Their covers mirror their audience. Women’s fitness magazines feature stick-thin white women in bikinis. Their audience is diverse—and they have the money to reflect that in their images—but most of the time they choose not to. I’ll point out in their defense, though, that their cover models don’t really look much like any real women I know anyway. The Outdoor Industry Association encourages diversity and has made it an initiative. Everyone benefits from exercising in the outdoors and connecting with elements in nature. Reflecting minority participation in the media is a critical part of growing that segment. That said, I can’t hang my hat on an excuse that the images I need that support diversity aren’t readily available. I can lead the way, or I can shut up about it. Here at Women’s Adventure, we will always choose to lead. If you’d like to submit your thoughts and experiences with the topics of racism and sexism in sports, please go to the blog section of our website. Let’s hear from you!
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