Tiger Woods picture

I told myself I wouldn’t post about Tiger Woods,

That I wouldn’t join the thousands of ruthless indulgers in sex-crazed America to throw in their two cents about Tiger Woods’ private affairs. I’m in no position to dissect Tigers’ marriage issues, but at the very least, I can say sumthin’ about the wild reactions that have since ensued.

Everybody wants a piece of Tiger. Whether what Tiger did was right or wrong, Tiger Woods is known for being an amazing GOLFER, not an amazing husband. I’m in no way condoning or excusing him, I’m just saying, you can be the best golfer in the world and still be a dirtbag. There’s no stated correlation between athletic ability and marital morals. Even though I believe what he did is fucked up, I still believe in the right to privacy.

Tiger Woods getting caught cheating affected people in 3 different ways:

1) He lost fans.
2) He gained fans.
3) Did not matter.

Some (heterosexual) women are thinking, “Ugh. MEN. Typical.” Another reason why we can’t trust them. Even nice guys are dogs.

Some women are thinking, “Damn, Tiger. Can I holla?”

Some (heterosexual) men are thinking, “Damn, Tiger ruined it for the male species. He just made it harder for the rest of us to get with women (such as the ones quoted above).”

Some guys are thinking, “Damn, Tiger. Elin is HOT! You idiot.”

Amidst all the reactions, there is one common factor: DISAPPOINTMENT. For me, the most disappointing thing about the disappointment expressed is hearing about how many men are NOT disappointed in the fact that Tiger CHEATED, they are disappointed in the fact that Tiger GOT CAUGHT.

“Tiger got CAUGHT. And THAT’s where he fucked up.”

WTF?

This implies that it is acceptable for men to cheat on their wives as long as they don’t get caught. I’m not judging polygamy. If people want to have multiple partners, they should join a polygamous society and/or NOT get married. But in the context of American society, a sexist culture promotes the narrow view of manhood as being misogynist, macho and dominant. We raise boys to believe that being men means it’s acceptable to devalue women. Preserving the male ego means exerting dominance over women. Many men would argue that this is inherent and part of biology. I won’t go into arguing the entire sociological standpoint of how people are conditioned to play out gender roles, but I think we could agree that babies are innocent. Everybody is born into this world with a clean slate of mannerisms and behavioral habits. Those things are taught and learned, not inherent. SpikeTV is an example of the macho teacher. As a woman in this society, I think men forget how their words and actions can make a women feel devalued, disposable and disrespected. Some men think women like it. Maybe some women “do”. Or maybe that is also part of the female gender role conditioning to accept objectification because that understanding is correlated with male dominance and desirability. Like many things, it’s a vicious cycle. But if the root of our problems are socially constructed, then we can most definitely do some social reconstructioning.