I swear, I unsubscribe from team.net for three days, just THREE DAYS (!),
and somebody starts this wooplah again.
Well, I'm not going to sit here and talk about the need or lack of need for
Ladies classes. It's not an issue to me. Ladies classes certainly aren't
holding me back.
Although I understand the contradiction and gender inequality of having a
Ladies class and then an Open class, I think the REAL issue is that some of
you have some serious issues watching women compete head-to-head with men,
some of us successfully. Please, please snap out of it.
Because if you were really okay with it (men and women), you'd spend more
time focusing on people's personal successes, of men and women, then you
would bashing women who perhaps are more comfortable in Ladies classes for
their own personal issues, or women who choose to run Open because they feel
it makes them better drivers. Please see the no-win situation you're
creating, you as in team.net as a whole. What you're saying is, team.net, is
those who run Open are letting down the "ladies." Those who run ladies are
winning "easy" trophies.
This stuff just drives me nuts!
A woman wrote: "No offense, but do you think I want to run against Lynn
Rothney-Kozlak at
big events, so she can whoop my ass. Honestly, I don't think she would want
to run with me or other women. She has been doing this for a long time and
has earned the 'opportunity' to run in the "open" class."
I only met Ms. Rothney-Kozlak once. She introduced herself to me after day
one of the '99 Nats when I was 2nd in BS (Open). I will never forget that
moment as long as I live because of her graciousness and support, and that
she actually approached me, and shook my hand. But I like to think she'd be
that supportive no matter where I finished. I know I would be of all of you.
I think, especially under all this fire, all women who run Open are very
brave. And all women who run Ladies are very brave. We're in such a no-win
situation now, what with women debating women because they want to race men.
Oh, the horrors!
But anyway, I think you've underestimated the great Rothney-Kozlak.
But here's the crux of my complaint:
You don't "earn" the right to run Open. How can you say such a thing?
Meanwhile, there are some very, very slow men out there who can just go
ahead and run Open, just by birthright? Would you please think about what
you're saying?
As a woman who competed in Ladies classes for many years, I can tell you
that the women who inspire me are drivers like Shauna Marinus, Stacy
Reitmeir, Teresa Neidel, Lynne Rothney-Kozlak, Danielle Engstrom, Rita
Wilsey, and so many others. You might also notice, if you get the
opportunity to meet these women, their relaxed nature, that they are kind
and generous, good sports, dignified, humble, not to mention incredibly
fast. They're not trying to be like men (who also display similar
characteristics). They're trying to win. Big difference.
And because of these women, there is a whole new crop of drivers who have no
idea what a Ladies class even is. They don't view being a woman as a
handicap. I want role models who can show me what they CAN do. The key is,
however, getting out there and doing it. And you're not going to win an Open
National Championship running Ladies. And it's not these drivers'
responsibilities to make you faster.
By living their dreams, they're giving us permission to live our own.
If you want to run Ladies because you don't think you're "good enough" to
run Open, I still wish all of you great success, and I hope you achieve your
goals. I just hope that one day, you will see that because you are simply
alive, because you are out there dodging cones and trying your hardest and
loving this sport, that alone makes you "good enough." It really saddens me,
more than anything, to read that some of you think you earn way out of
ladies. It just doesn't say nice things about being a woman. It's a gift,
not a handicap.
But you are here, you are alive, you have an autocross car, why not go for
it? But don't expect me to back off my dreams. You'll have to create your
own.
Okay, I'm unsubscribing again. This stuff gets me into too much trouble.
Katie Kelly
[This message delayed, as it needed manual intervention by the list
administrator. mjb.]
/// autox@autox.team.net mailing list
///
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe autox
///
|