In the 2018 US Open Final, Serena Williams got into a fight with the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos. When the fight got riled up, Williams called Ramos a “thief” and was given a penalty for verbal abuse.
Male players admitted to have said much worse and not been penalised.
Why?
Because when a woman gets emotional or riled up during an argument, it’s a “meltdown” and she’s “hysterical”. Both terms have been used by the media to describe Williams multiple times.
Serena Williams was definitely right in how women are treated when they talk or when they show any rage or take action themselves. There is an existing bias, and they are portrayed differently. However I do think this blog post should acknowledge that Serena was wrong in what she did, and that there is a history of both men and women being penalised and let off. I do agree that more men might be let off, but Serena wasn't charged only for this. She smashed her racket, and her coach admitted to giving her instructions from the stands (an illegal move).
It is terribly sad that women are portrayed with words like "meltdown" etc., and we really need to work…
Thank you for sharing this. This tweet sums up the difference in roles, expectations, actions, and expressions that society has fixed for men and women. This tweet also highlights how the interplay of different factors (intersectionality) such as race and gender leads to oppression. When a woman raises her voice, she is labelled as too emotional, aggressive, and irrational.
Agreed! it is so sad that in the world we live in women's emotions are not taken into account and are often misinterpreted while a mans emotions are considered as passion or enthusiasm.
Completely agree! Women are always kept on shorter leash while men get a free reign. Would love to see more of these changes brought about in mainstream media so we can get rid of this concept.
Also, it's like if a man gives orders, it's he has his life together, he's smart. On the other hand, if a woman does the same thing, she's overbearing, manipulative, bossy.