Oh gosh, do I remember Mary Rice! I idolized her so.
She finally rode with me an an autocross in my Miata a
few years ago. I wanted to impress her so badly. The
starter waved us on the course, and then she just
started screaming at me to go, go, go! I'd never
experienced anything like that. After the run (in
which we thoroughly demolished the time of all Miatas
running that day), I parked the car and we sat there,
gasping for air. "Oh Wow," she said, "Wow, that was
great." I was just beaming, because I think, at last,
I got her approval. I don't know who was more into
that run, her or me.
According to legend, Mary re-built carberators in her
bedroom when she was sixteen. So, there's a teenage
girl who totally went against the grain.
That's what this article was about, though, the
"grain." It just exists. I don't understand why it's
necessary for some to argue against an article that's
merely presenting facts as facts. One statistic
mentioned was that, at least in Britain, 40% of junior
go-karters are girls, until the teenage years, and
then it drops to 2%. I guess exploring why this is
makes you some kind of fanatical feminist, but it kind
of puts a limit on how much we can talk about this. I
don't understand why it must be upsetting to talk
about women in motorsports, if it's not degrading and
insulting. I didn't see this article as being this
way. What was it exactly that you found offensive?
I see more Mary Rices. Maybe there's a smaller number
of women participating in autox, but those who do have
the same goals as a lot of men, which is to compete
and do well in the open class. I can tell you, as a
young old-timer, that having such aspirations, say
even in the late 80s, made you look like an uppity
wench. I remember even thinking that myself about the
few brave women who would run open, like, "What, we're
not good enough for you?" I wonder why they didn't
stay there. Peer pressure, maybe? I'm sure I
contributed to it. These are the unspoken rules of
conduct the author was talking about, these accepted
social norms that aren't based on reason, other than
"that's just how it's done."
By the way, Mary Rice did not run in the Open class,
not nationally anyway, but was well known for her
ability to typically turn in times that would have
gotten her probably in the top three nationally, or
victory over all locally. That NEVER happened back
then, and was blamed, yes, on women's physical and and
psychological limitations. They just didn't have the
testerone. Bah!
In those days, Mary was this odd freak of nature. It
was just a given that if Mary Rice was in your class,
she'd win by nine seconds. That wouldn't happen today.
She'd have her hands full. NOt only that, today it's
normal for women to compete nationally against men,
it's normal for them to be contenders, and it's normal
for them to strive to do well. And inequities,
whatever they are, that still exist will slowly fade
away. It's just happening.
That was what I saw as the point of the article, that
the change just comes. I didn't see it as representing
any sort of feminist cause. I just thought it was an
interesting viewpoint, one that wasn't bitching about
reality at all, but stating it as it is. I'm surprised
this article was perceived as such a threat. That's
interesting, too.
-Katie
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Katie Kelly
Guilt slows your metabolism.
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