There’s something that annoys here:
Traditional masculinity is programmed to look at the slighter, smaller, more delicately boned female and feel protective. It’s biology. Fine, but while protectiveness might be welcome in a dark lonely street or a jungleful of tigers, it easily slides into a warm sense of dominance. There’s a paternal desire to make decisions for the fragile creature’s own good, and a doubt as to whether a woman can do a tense and gruelling job. Suppose she cried? Or had some weird Woman’s Problem with her innards?
The presumption of helplessness can get internalised by women too, strengthened by the modish tendency to redefine normal weariness and frustration as “mental health” issues, and the new status in which victimhood wins you points.
Yep, very fine performance, she’s going to go on and win many more etc etc etc.
And yet what this isn’t is a proof that girls are the same as boys, that women are equal to all in everything which is the way that some are trying to play it.
Because she won in the women’s section of the competition. Anyone suggesting that she would have beaten Djokovic is insane. As that Williams Sisters against the Oz tab and beer taker episode showed.
Outstanding performance in a gender limited competition does not, in fact, show the equality – in all things, musculature etc – of the genders.
To nutshell it – woman wins women’s competition, this proves women are equal to men?
She’s the latest peg on which all sorts of people want to hang their personals agendas.
I suppose at least this one’s a change from the ‘See? Immigration is an unalloyed good, so stop complaining about hordes of undocumented Somalis landing in inflatables at Dover!’ crowd…
I doubt that her Will To Win is any different from that of male Grand Slam winners.
One of those occasions when everything goes right: she plays a blinder and the draw opens up for her.
She also appears to be a genuinely lovely girl and hopefully won’t go off the deep end like Naomi Osaka seems to have done.
Leylah Fernandes looks about twelve, I couldn’t believe that these two slips of girls could whack the pill so hard.
Are we going to be forced to celebrate the great bravery, and prejudice-overcoming of whichever just-transitioned former mens’ #874 smashes her to pieces in straight sets next year?
“To nutshell it – woman wins women’s competition, this proves women are equal to men?”
no but it does prove traditional male and female values are alive and well protecting Emma from Novak.
She’s the latest peg on which all sorts of people want to hang their personals agendas.
Oh yes. Here’s Willie:
I think that one wins the prize for the highest number of non-sequiturs in one Tweet.
There’s plenty of more out there and Ben Sixsmith sums it up quite nicely:
So far I like her, but I do wish I didn’t have to sit through yet another ‘she’s a woman and Chinese and Romanian and Canadian and British and this is modern britain and dreams come true if you work hard enough’ post on LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter.
I hope she gets to enjoy being a winning tennis player and not a walking political cause for the woke. So far she seems to be letting it wash over her in the right way but we’ll see how it goes.
I do wish I didn’t have to sit through yet another ‘she’s a woman and Chinese and Romanian and Canadian and British and this is modern britain and dreams come true if you work hard enough’ post on LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter.
I was thinking of posting something like: If we want Britain to be a modern forward-thinking nation which attracts the best of global talent like Emma’s parents, we must work to make sure it doesn’t become any more of a dump, filled with rapey semi-literate peasants from the world’s worst shitholes. Otherwise people like the Radacanus will go elsewhere.
I suppose we should celebrate the fact that not all Romanians take a morning dump outside their tent at Marble Arch before plying their trade of picking pockets around Oxford Street.
OK, but this was pretty good: ‘the modish tendency to redefine normal weariness and frustration as “mental health” issues …’
I’m glad to know that the four-flavours British girl did well, ditto the two-flavours Canadian kid. I see though that one of the American girls misbehaved in losing the doubles. And the American-Japanese girl seems to be rather an arsehole – or is that a little harsh?
BiND: ’ I think that one wins the prize for the highest number of non-sequiturs in one Tweet.’
While London Mayoral disaster area Sadiq Khan wins the prize for spelling her name wrong in his effort..
An American lady, soundly beaten in the quarter final by Emma, has arguably become more famous for twittering about the 9 million death threats she was bound to receive than for any actual tennis playing exploits.
Mind you being white, straight and American she didn’t exactly have a strong intersectional hand to play.
Bloke in North Dorset
Having watched the final on Saturday night I then made the slightly schoolboy (is that still a permitted term?) error of logging on to Twitter and the sheer number of people pointing out her immigrant heritage was mind boggling. Testament to how far divorced from reality that environments is. I for one hope she isn’t used as a figurehead by the ‘woke’ although I have a horrible feeling that will be her fate whatever she does. To see William Keegan is almost as sad as watching Steve Bray. He used to be a commentator, who even if you disagreed with him had a certain gravitas, but is now just almost a throwback. Does anyone, other than to point out its stupidity even still read ‘The Observer’ anyway?
Yeah, immigrant heritage of parents working in high finance in Canadadada, rounded off by education in a English selective grammar school. Just the sort of people fighting to break into the country.
Lol. My son has a series of national U16 records for his weight (~74kg iirc) They are as yet unbeaten and he’s 18. They are also as yet unbeaten by any woman at all except for a >100kg female. Kg for Kg no adult woman comes close to a 16 year old boy.
Emma Raducanu will be a multi millionaire from endorsements and her brand as she is pretty and athletic and therefore attractive. I don’t see that female privilege being discussed.
So Ms. Raducanu has an interesting heritage. Of course, when she was born, Romania, China and Canada were not part of the EU, but she is still held out as a reason to re-join.
Miles Cowley, at Emma Raducanu’s home tennis club, has said: “I have never seen anyone, male or female, hit a ball as hard as her.”
Rilly? I’m no great tennis aficionado, but I’ve seen loads of people hit the ball harder. Most of them blokes. Perhaps he means “anyone who has played at my club”.
For me, lawn tennis is the single dullest spectator sport ever devised, by some considerable margin. I would – seriously, not a word of a lie – rather watch paint dry, and it makes cricket and snooker look like thrilling sprees of excitement and fascination.
So forgive me if I’m a bit out of the loop, but “Teenager wins major tennis competition” is hardly unprecedented news, is it?
Oh, Sam. Golf is worse, surely?
As for snooker: for those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green.
As with whatsername who married Harry, I was unaware of Ms Raducanu’s mixed racial heritage until it was forcibly pointed out in the media that anyone drawing attention to it must be a racist.
Indeed, but at least the didn’t indulge in that stupid grunting and squealing with every shot. I would watch a bit of Wimbledon, but since that ridiculous practice started I’ve not watched a single women’s tennis match, no matter how good looking they are.
@BF
“I suppose we should celebrate the fact that not all Romanians take a morning dump outside their tent at Marble Arch before plying their trade of picking pockets around Oxford Street.”
They’re Roma who may be from Romania. Try going to Romania & canvassing Romanian opinion on Roma..
The young lady is apparently very good at what she does. Many people want to pay her for what she does so good luck to the soon-to-be fabulously rich Emma.
She seems also to be fluent in Mandarin, which will yield even more riches for her.
Right person at the right moment. I don’t begrudge her a penny.
If someone is going to increase UK inequality by going out and winning all the big tennis purses for the next decade previously won by Americans and then sharing it with her family and coaches, I can’t think of a better person.
Even if it makes life schit for those dropped below the new poverty line.
I’m just enjoying the novelty of a graceful pretty feminine girl winning and not Mr T in a skirt.
BiS
Absolutely spot on! Have a number of Hungarian and Rumanian friends and their opinions on ‘Roma’ would lead most Guardian columnists to label them ‘Nazis’
@Jimmers
‘Our Emma’ doesn’t do the grunting and squealing (neither did her oppo in the final). It’s cheating, anyway, intended to disguise the sound of racket hitting ball which gives information to the opponent.