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Paige Spiranac fired back at a viral tweet slandering female sports broadcasters while outlining the vicious double-standard that many women in sports face.
‘As soon as you use your looks, you’re objectifying yourself and no one will take you seriously’
Paige Spiranac fired back at a viral tweet slandering female sports broadcasters while outlining the vicious double-standard that many women in sports face.
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The popular golf influencer posted a video on Monday, going off on X user T.J. Moe for his incendiary tweet about seeing a group of women giving pre-game analysis before a college football tilt on ESPN.
“Who actually wants to watch three women stand around and talk about football? I do not,” Moe wrote with a screengrab of three women speaking during a segment on Saturday morning.
“Let me clarify: No one wants to listen to 3 women talk football. Men are better at it– it’s like asking cats to bark,” he added. “I issue no apology and no retracts.
“Most people agree with me, they’re just afraid to say it. Carry on with your outrage.”
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Among many others, Spiranac took issue with Moe’s comments.
The former college golfer explained how plenty of successful broadcasters and coaches did not play the sports they cover or coach past the high school level.
Then, she delved into the unfortunate cycle that women in sports must contend with.
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“So, let’s break it down, you’re a woman who wants to work in the sports industry and you have a deep understanding of sports and you have a right to be there,” Spiranac said.
“However, you’ll never get the highest opportunities because men only wanna listen to other men talk about sports.”
She explained that this often forces women in the industry to rely on their looks to get ahead and the criticism that brings.
“So you use whatever else you have in your toolbox to get opportunities, maybe that’s your looks,” she added. “As soon as you use your looks, for example, you’re objectifying yourself and no one will take you seriously.”
Spiranac brought up the double-standard of the situation, citing golf sensation Nelly Korda posing for the coming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue – something the influencer also has done in the past – and saying that women often have to objectify themselves while marketing towards men.
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“Your counter is women can talk about women’s sports, but women’s sports don’t get the funding, which means they don’t get the eyeballs. And men wanna watch men play sports,” Spiranac said.
“Women try to market themselves outside their sport. Nelly Korda doing (Sports Illustrated), they’re condemned for even though men do the (ESPN) Body issue.
She closed the clip by encouraging women to be themselves, no matter what push back they receive.
“Wear what you wanna wear, say what you wanna say, do what you wanna do because no matter what you do, how you do it, you will always get push back and someone will always have something to say.
“So do what you want to do and keep pushing,” Spiranac closed the clip.
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Spiranac hasn’t been shy about standing up for herself against those critical of her for embracing her sexuality.
She recently fired back at critics for the double-standard and selective support of women.
Spiranac reposted a tweet about Sabrina Carpenter from September which complimented the pop singer for embracing her sexuality while reaching a mainly female audience.
“Sabrina Carpenter is genius for how she embraces her sexuality but still keeps women as her target audience,” read the tweet by another X user named Paige.
“Like how is she performing in lingerie and I still feel like it’s not for men at all? I can’t comprehend it, but I love it.”
Spiranac, who aims more for a male audience with her social-media content, replied: “I dislike how women pick and choose when it’s okay to support other women for embracing their sexuality depending on if it appears to be for the female or male gaze.
“Women should be able to embrace their sexuality if that’s what makes them feel empowered,” she continued. “One shouldn’t be called a genius while the other is called an attention whore for doing the same exact thing.”
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In response to complimentary reply to the post, Spiranac added that her statement was about more than just own experience.
“This isn’t really even about me. It’s a constant theme I keep seeing with other women too,” she wrote.
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