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Women Around the World: Winter Olympic Wins for Women · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
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  Speaker 1: never sold to your production of iHeart Radio. Yes, and
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  Speaker 1: welcome to women around the world. Do Do Do? Do Do? So?
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  Speaker 1: Happy Women's History Month, and if you are a new listener,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. And as a reminder for us
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  Speaker 1: here on spenty women's history includes all those who identify
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  Speaker 1: as women and that they are women. So with so
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  Speaker 1: many violations and continued parsecations against the trans and quare community,
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  Speaker 1: we think it's important that we reiterate the statement as
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  Speaker 1: much as possible. And it's been a minute before we
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  Speaker 1: said that. And as another reminder or introduction, whether or
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  Speaker 1: not you just hopped onto this spenty fam listening party
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  Speaker 1: or not, we are all about intersectionality and that means
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  Speaker 1: quote the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of
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  Speaker 1: multiple forms of discrimination such as racism, sexism, and classism combine,
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  Speaker 1: overlapped or intersect, especially in the experience of marginalized individuals
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  Speaker 1: or groups. Thank you, Miriam Webster. Yes, intersectional feminism was
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  Speaker 1: coined by Kimberley Pinshaw and we adhere to those ideas.
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  Speaker 1: So if that offends you in any way, you may
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  Speaker 1: not want to listen anymore because we're going to keep
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  Speaker 1: it on offending you. Yeah, I'm just telling you straightforward.
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  Speaker 1: So moving on to our series on women around the
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  Speaker 1: world today, we're doing uh, look at some of the
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  Speaker 1: amazing women of the twenty two Winter Olympics. Yeah, we
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  Speaker 1: know we are a little late. It's March eleven two
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  Speaker 1: if you wanted to know, But hey, we made it.
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  Speaker 1: It's happening. Also, the Paralympics are going on right now,
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  Speaker 1: so yes, and we will come back to that. It
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  Speaker 1: is going on right now. Some good things happening for
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  Speaker 1: this Olympics. Specifically, the amount of women competing has almost
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  Speaker 1: equaled out to the men who are competing as well,
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  Speaker 1: with women making up forty five point four percent of
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  Speaker 1: the athletes competing, which is a record high. However, it
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  Speaker 1: should also be noted that they're not as many opportunities
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  Speaker 1: slash categories for women to compete in. But hey, baby steps,
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  Speaker 1: I guess uh yeah. Um. And in this Olympics, it
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  Speaker 1: has had its number of scandals, with calls for boycotting,
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  Speaker 1: possibly missing athletes, doping, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Um, but there
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  Speaker 1: has been also costs for celebration, so let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: some of that. Yes, So first up is Eileen gu Or,
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  Speaker 1: as some call her, snow Princess or Princess Um, a
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  Speaker 1: California resident competing for China who won gold in the
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  Speaker 1: freeze ski half pipe and became the first athlete to
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  Speaker 1: reach the podium in three different freestyle skiing events. She
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  Speaker 1: also won gold in big air and the silver medal
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  Speaker 1: in slope style, and not surprisingly, she has been criticized
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  Speaker 1: for her decision to compete for China, but that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: change her wins are her accomplishments, right, And there is
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  Speaker 1: an in depth conversation with her and some of her
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  Speaker 1: interviews when they talk about that, and she just talks
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  Speaker 1: about that her nationality is both Chinese and American, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that is something to know. As a person
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  Speaker 1: who was born in Korea, I really wish I kind
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  Speaker 1: of had some citizenship still attached to me. But being adopted,
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  Speaker 1: of course, that's a whole different conversation. Dual citizenship just
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  Speaker 1: sounds cool anyway. So that's me, that's me whatever. Um.
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  Speaker 1: Then there's Elena Meyers Taylor, who has become the most
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  Speaker 1: decorated Olympic bobs letter after winning a bronze medal in
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  Speaker 1: Beijing and the most decorated Black athlete in the Olympics.
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  Speaker 1: Yay the Beijing Olympics. It was her fourth Olympic Games.
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  Speaker 1: Mayor Taylor's has compete eat it in Vancouver in two
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  Speaker 1: thousand tens so and Peng Chang in eighteen and started
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  Speaker 1: out her box slating career in two thousand seven. And
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  Speaker 1: by the way, she's won three silver and two bronze.
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  Speaker 1: And then we have the Netherlands athlete Irene Voss, who
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  Speaker 1: became the first athlete to win individual gold medals at
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  Speaker 1: five different Olympic Games. And during the most recent Games,
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  Speaker 1: Vost was able to set an Olympic record in the
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  Speaker 1: women's speed skating one thousand, five hundred meter race. And
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  Speaker 1: of course that aren't her only medal. She has a
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  Speaker 1: total of twelve Olympic medals since she started in two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and six. And not that it matters, but she
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  Speaker 1: did become the oldest speed skater to win gold at
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  Speaker 1: thirty five. Right, this used to be a theme by
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  Speaker 1: the way, age and I get it, but then I'm
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  Speaker 1: seeing her age at thirty five, I'm like, I'm dying
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  Speaker 1: after doing a zoomba class so at forty one. Cool,
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  Speaker 1: very cool. Moving on to German competitor Natalie Geisenberger. Geisenberger
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  Speaker 1: became the first three time women's loose singles gold medalist.
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  Speaker 1: The nine time World champion and six time Olympic champion
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  Speaker 1: is one of the most decorated female athletes and is
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  Speaker 1: regarded as one of the best in losing, which is
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  Speaker 1: a very terrifying sport to me. And I hold my
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  Speaker 1: breath every time I see you, thinking someone's going to
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  Speaker 1: be just off gone. By the way she started doing
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  Speaker 1: all of those at the age of ten. Wow, I'm petrified.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, and once again thinking about Star Wars
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  Speaker 1: getting bought into the Jedi Order at a young age.
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  Speaker 1: But all right, all right, that's a different conversation. Um,
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  Speaker 1: And we have another Netherlands athlete breaking records, Suzanne Schultzing,
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  Speaker 1: who set a new record in the women's one thousand
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  Speaker 1: meters short track sheltering. Beat the record by finishing the
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  Speaker 1: quarterfinals race with a record time of one minute twenty
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  Speaker 1: six seconds a couple of milliseconds. In the finals she
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  Speaker 1: finished in one minute twenty seconds UM and three point
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  Speaker 1: and three nine one milliseconds and of course one gold,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope I did not mess that up, but
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  Speaker 1: I believe that is. You can always let me know.
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  Speaker 1: And then there is a German Olympian, Claudia pes Stein,
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  Speaker 1: who has become the oldest woman athlete to compete at
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  Speaker 1: the winner Olympics. Um. She's forty nine, about to turn fifty.
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  Speaker 1: Pestein is also the only woman to ever compete in
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  Speaker 1: eight Olympic Games. Woof. She has won a total of
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  Speaker 1: nine medals, five gold, two silver, and to bronze. Right,
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  Speaker 1: I think she may have just turned I think she's
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  Speaker 1: already turned fifty because the Olympics when did it end
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  Speaker 1: like a month ago? Yeah? Yeah, I think she was
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  Speaker 1: like two weeks away from being fifty, so that was
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  Speaker 1: really significant. But yeah, I did. I was like, wait,
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  Speaker 1: what is today, y'all? I'm so oliver all over the calendar.
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  Speaker 1: I can't even tell you. Our weather in Georgia right now. Wild.
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  Speaker 1: It is bonkers. It's gonna be like freezing cold to one. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and yesterday it was like eighty. It's wild. Anyway, We're
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  Speaker 1: a little bit fuzzy right now when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: time and what he and seasons apparently, So let's talk
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  Speaker 1: about Aaron Jackson, who is an American speed skater who
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  Speaker 1: won the gold medal in the women's five A race.
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  Speaker 1: She's the first black woman to take home this medal
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  Speaker 1: and the first American woman to to medal since for
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  Speaker 1: this race. UM and not to take away from Jackson's
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  Speaker 1: well deserved when, I feel like her story is a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about friendship and women supporting women as well.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson almost missed the Olympics because there's only two slots available,
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  Speaker 1: uh and due to an error in the trials that
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  Speaker 1: she was like number three at that point, but teammate
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  Speaker 1: Brittany bow forfeited her place, which allowed for Jackson to compete,
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  Speaker 1: and Jackson was like, you know, I am so grateful
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  Speaker 1: for her for doing this. Um and talking of Jackson,
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  Speaker 1: both said words cannot explain how proud I am of her.
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  Speaker 1: I knew she had the chance to do something really
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  Speaker 1: special and she just showed the world why she deserved
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  Speaker 1: to be here. And of course, again I don't want it,
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  Speaker 1: because Jackson is a well trained athletes who has done
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  Speaker 1: amazing things and she is an amazing woman. In congratulations
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  Speaker 1: to her, when, but I just really love that backstory
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  Speaker 1: of like, uh, us women loving each other Yes, And
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  Speaker 1: I actually saw I witnessed this one because I I
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  Speaker 1: didn't watch too much of The Winner and look explited
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  Speaker 1: to see I'd say, like, you know, um, and I
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  Speaker 1: saw this one and it was very, very moving and
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  Speaker 1: she was just so like incandescent, like so happy. It
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  Speaker 1: was a really powerful, powerful moment. I love those times. Um.
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  Speaker 1: And of course we we kind of want to in
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  Speaker 1: the end, not one necessarily a negative note, but just
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  Speaker 1: as a reminder of how far we have to go.
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  Speaker 1: And we talked a little bit about it when we
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  Speaker 1: were talking about the Summer Olympics and the history of
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  Speaker 1: the Olympics in general has taken a lot for women
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  Speaker 1: to be able to even compete in general, and what
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  Speaker 1: kind of stakes that has taken, and even to this day,
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  Speaker 1: what we're talking about when it comes to outfits in
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  Speaker 1: sexist converse stations about women and whether or not they
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  Speaker 1: can compete in specific things, racial discrimination within the Olympics
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  Speaker 1: as well, a whole big conversation that we've had. So
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  Speaker 1: we didn't want to talk about a couple of topics,
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  Speaker 1: including the fact in the US we had a headline,
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  Speaker 1: uh in a big publication stating that possibly in the
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  Speaker 1: ice skating competition that it was the Asian people were
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  Speaker 1: overly represented in that competition, and of course got a
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  Speaker 1: lot of backlash. And we know that the Asian hate
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  Speaker 1: has been pretty rampant in the last three years, to
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  Speaker 1: the point that it's become very divisive in so many
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  Speaker 1: communities in any way, So when you see rhetoric like this,
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  Speaker 1: it's kind of like, huh, did you really want to
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  Speaker 1: antagonize people? Why? Yeah? And I'm not gonna lie, yes,
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  Speaker 1: I have seen many representation of Asian women in in
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  Speaker 1: ice skating, which by the way, I've never had the
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  Speaker 1: hopes of doing so as an Asian woman myself, so
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  Speaker 1: I'm not really like, oh yeah, but Michelle Kwan and
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  Speaker 1: Christie mcgucci were two of the people that I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: oh my god, look at these elegant women who are
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  Speaker 1: amazing who lose somewhat like me being hailed as heroes
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  Speaker 1: and icons. It was very unusual and I hate that
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  Speaker 1: that's that Like, for like, the overshadowing of this one
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  Speaker 1: article was like, yeah, but is it that's probably overpopulated,
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  Speaker 1: like with too many Asians. It's kind of like what what? Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: like one, but also why, I mean, I've never seen
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  Speaker 1: any article saying is over over like there's too many
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  Speaker 1: white people in this statement, Like wait, but you literally
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  Speaker 1: have to search for people of color in competitions like
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  Speaker 1: this half the time. I'm even being international, you still
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  Speaker 1: have to you know what I mean? Yes, I know
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  Speaker 1: what you mean. And then also, the term slush strands
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  Speaker 1: has kind of become Um, well, maybe not to y'all.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe we get these alerts because we are constantly on
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  Speaker 1: the lookout for feminist headlines or anti feminist headlines, both
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  Speaker 1: of those things. And so maybe it just popped up
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  Speaker 1: about how we talked about how Google knows us a
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  Speaker 1: little too well and really wants to send our way.
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  Speaker 1: But recently Chloe Kim came out talking about how she
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  Speaker 1: hated the term slush strands, which is when two strands
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  Speaker 1: of hair are left loose outside of competitives helmet to
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  Speaker 1: frame their face. Um, and y'all, I didn't expect to
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  Speaker 1: find as much information as I did, as in fact,
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  Speaker 1: there was a specific brand called slush strands that was
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  Speaker 1: correlated to skiing. I'm not scared. I'm very scared skiing.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to fall that many times. That just
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  Speaker 1: looks so painful. To fall. So many times I fall walking,
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  Speaker 1: so skiing looks like it should not be something I
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  Speaker 1: should take up as my ungraceful self. So the slug Strands,
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  Speaker 1: like I told you, was a brand someone really just
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  Speaker 1: have a lot lies on it. And her name is
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  Speaker 1: Elsa and she wrote about you know why why she
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  Speaker 1: did it and and it she says. For years the
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  Speaker 1: term slut strand has held a negative connotation in skiing
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  Speaker 1: and snowboarding, yet it remained to be a term we
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  Speaker 1: used every day. So why not embracelet reclaim it, celebrate
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  Speaker 1: it and the slut Strands society at its course here
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  Speaker 1: to celebrate the ladies of skiing and snowboarding and give
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  Speaker 1: us a space in our division and band together. Girls
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  Speaker 1: are cool, okay, so kiss goodbye the ski hose, the
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  Speaker 1: pro hos and all of that bs. We are far
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  Speaker 1: better than that and have the ability to create a
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  Speaker 1: society that's both uplifting and cool as So obviously she
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  Speaker 1: is trying to rebrand it. Kind of have We've talked
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  Speaker 1: about reclaiming words, but it is I think we need
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  Speaker 1: to understand the connotations and kind of dissected before we
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  Speaker 1: can truly celebrate it. Because hearing it as a newbie
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  Speaker 1: from me, It's like what right, right? And I would
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  Speaker 1: imagine a lot of people who use that term have
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  Speaker 1: not arrived at this viewpoint yet. But I've never heard
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  Speaker 1: this term. But it is a big term, and I
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  Speaker 1: cannot believe maybe just from the outside in and people
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  Speaker 1: who are scared are gonna be like, you're being overly sensitive.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. It just seems like, Wow, I can't
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  Speaker 1: believe this term is stayed around because it literally does
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  Speaker 1: talk about women being like the word feminine has been
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  Speaker 1: thrown about as if like this is how you share
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  Speaker 1: your femininity, this is how you're still show your passion
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  Speaker 1: or your fashion rather and this is what women do.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of like, yeah, it's very pointed. Yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: mean the fact that you're using the word flood is
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  Speaker 1: pretty telling because I have to say, like I'm sim
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  Speaker 1: I like to frame my face. Yeah, I've been told
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  Speaker 1: that I shouldn't, and I disagree, but I don't feel
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  Speaker 1: like that right. I don't understand how that makes anyone slid.
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  Speaker 1: But let's also talk about the fact that some of
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  Speaker 1: the big articles around Chloe Kim, who, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: is one of the first women in Olympic history to
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  Speaker 1: went back to back gold in half pipe. Yeah, so
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  Speaker 1: she's a phenomenal athlete. But because she opposes this term,
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  Speaker 1: this type of article is what's surrounding her instead of
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  Speaker 1: her accomplishments. So that again shows why this is a
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  Speaker 1: narrative that's like, yeah, isn't it sexist? Yeah, that's really
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  Speaker 1: frustrating to have these these great athletic accomplishments and winds.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of celebrating that, we're like, but did you see
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  Speaker 1: her hair? It's ridiculous, right, I mean into the fact
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  Speaker 1: that wanting to be cute or presentable for national international
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  Speaker 1: TV is I've seen as a girl. You know, we
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  Speaker 1: already know those troops anyway, to be completely reduced to
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  Speaker 1: this superficiality, which is not superficial. It's not superficial to
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  Speaker 1: want to be happy about the way you look when
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  Speaker 1: you go out compete and if you can look good
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  Speaker 1: while doing it, well, kudos. They should give another medal
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  Speaker 1: just for being able to do so. And it's like
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: extreme things like that, And also like I bet I
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  Speaker 1: know I do things better when I feel like I
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  Speaker 1: when I feel good about myself, Like I can totally
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  Speaker 1: see if you're like Oh I look good and it
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  Speaker 1: builds your confidence and then you nail that have pipe thing. Yes,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I don't skiing thing. It was fun, but I was
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: bad at it. It was very bad in need. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I mean it kind of has this conversation when what
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: we're talking about in general is the damn if you do,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: damn if you don't, if you don't look pretty, another
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: going to criticize you from homely if you look too pretty,
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  Speaker 1: then what are you trying to impress? Why you being
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  Speaker 1: a girly girl. It's kind of like what why just
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  Speaker 1: let it be? And yeah, again, like I said, I
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  Speaker 1: feel like any effort in general should be awarded rewarded.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know. I found that interesting. I feel
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  Speaker 1: like we're gonna have to have this conversation about women's
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  Speaker 1: fashion in athletics, and I'm sure it's been had once,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: but coming back to look at it again about how
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: it does really lean to be like huh because we
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: know again we had the whole thing with women's volleyball,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: women's gymnastics about their costumes and or uniforms and it
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: being specialized to be for the male gaze. Again Yeah blood, Yeah, no,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: for sure, there's a lot. There's a lot we can
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: touch on has come out recently about these games that
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: have always been there, but it's every now and then.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I catched myself being like, oh, yeah, that is really
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: mess stuff that we're still doing this, so we you
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: do have plans to come back to that, and there
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: has been a lot of news in the world of
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: sports that we're looking to to visit um in an
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: upcoming episode, But in the meantime, listeners. As always, we
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: would love to hear from you. If you have any ideas, suggestions,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: something we missed, you can email us at Stuff Media,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff at iHeart me dot com. You can find
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  Speaker 1: us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast for Instagram and
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  Speaker 1: Stuff I Never Told You Things is always to our
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  Speaker 1: super producer Christina, Thank you and thanks to you for
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