Photo: David Fisher/REX USA.On Monday evening, Men's Health took a break from busting penis myths to help its readership with another serious problem. As it turns out, women don't like sports. So, if you're a woman who's been masquerading as a sports nut, you can finally just relax. And, if you're a guy whose girlfriend just can't hang for football Sundays, the magazine's found an actual expert to give you some advice.
No, this isn't a relationship expert. Andrei Markovits has a Ph.D. and is the coauthor of Sportista: Female Fandom in the United States. I think we can all agree his edification, combined with his being a man, make him an expert on women.
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Markovits told Men's Health, "Most women don't care about stats," noting that females tend to crave a storyline. Who cares if Peyton Manning just threw his 500th career touchdown pass when you can focus instead on an NHL player's battle with cancer. For this reason, Men's Health offers the following advice: "Treat your heroes as people and not just players on a field, and you'll suck her in." But, be warned that this tactic isn't going to just convert your lady into the sports superfan of your dreams. While a dramatic storyline behind the athletes may get her talking about the game, the magazine warns you shouldn't "expect her to wear the foam finger."
These claims are ridiculous and upsetting. That's probably why the magazine deleted the story (you can still read it here) and tweeted a half-hearted apology:
Apologies for our “talk sports with her” story. It missed the mark and the negative feedback is justified. We've deleted it. [part 1]
— Men's Health Mag (@MensHealthMag) October 7, 2014It wasn’t meant to suggest that women are in any way inferior to men, in sports, or anything else. But … we’re sorry that it did. [part 2]
— Men's Health Mag (@MensHealthMag) October 7, 2014Perhaps most disappointing is that the article was written by a woman, Teresa Sabga. Even if Sabga isn't a sports fan, she should give her gender more credit when it comes to caring and understanding about sports. But, it should be noted that Sabga's LinkedIn profile suggests she's still a student, who wrote this piece as an intern for the magazine. It's hard to believe that at least one editor didn't review the story before it made its way to the Men's Health site. We can't blame this mess entirely on her.
Of course, it doesn't really matter who wrote it. What matters is that this piece managed to see the light of day in the year 2014. (Deadspin)
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