After several months of silence following his very public falling-out with wife Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods has issued an apology to his wife, fans, and family, admitting, according to the New York Times, "I had affairs. I was unfaithful. I cheated." Jezebel has an interesting roundup on the good (the fact that he sought to quash rumors that Nordegren was violent toward him), the bad (the fact that he obnoxiously talked up his charity work), and the ugly (the fact that his sex rehab is probably a publicity stunt) in Woods' apology, ultimately concluding that it's hard to "fully believe anything he says."
Nordegren, for her part, was hailed as a feminist hero by New York Magazine for leaving Woods: "There is something to be said for the old-fashioned notion of self-reliance. By walking out the door...Elin could be taking the first steps toward reclaiming it." But now, according to celebrity gossip site TMZ, Nordegren is back home with Woods. Does this mean that she loses her feminist status?
Now, it seems, the only one demanding more from Woods is his former lover, porn star Joslyn James. She says that Woods forced her to quit the porn industry out of jealousy, promised that she was the only lover in his life aside form his wife, and caused her emotional distress after their breakup. In typical slut-shaming fashion, TMZ pokes fun at James, saying "she actually believes he should have publicly apologized to her by name today as well." News flash TMZ! Deception hurts everyone. -TLF
Friday, February 19, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
I do think this has been talked to death by mainstream media outlets, but I think The Lady Finger covering it is more than welcome. Sex scandals are not news in the conventional sense, and I feel a little nauseated every time the Times et al. validate the public's obsession with them, but I think this scandal in particular merits a feminist critique.
I think the public's response to the scandal is far more interesting and informative than the actual scandal itself. As Naomi pointed out, why is Elin being hailed as a feminist icon? When the "news" first broke, and it was generally believed that she had assaulted him, a lot of otherwise reasonable people applauded her for standing up for herself, which I think is particularly revealing of the implicitly anti-feminist double standards we apply to infidelity and partner violence. If the roles had been reversed, and a husband had domestically assaulted his wife after finding out she had an affair, we would have instantly demonized him (and rightfully so). Casting her as a feminist pioneer because she divorced an unfaithful husband is demeaning to actual feminism, and I'm glad The Lady Finger once again stayed above such feel-goodery.
I also think the response to her infidelity would have been more polarized than that to Tiger's; the consensus was general disappointment in him, but I think we would have seen more of a split between knee-jerk applause that she was empowering herself and knee-jerk condemnations based on the demonization of female sexuality.
Post a Comment