Is Ronda Rousey A Role Model? Salon.com Says No.

[erpowers]

“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey is an incredible fighter, an Olympian, a movie star, maybe even a burgeoning fashonista and — if you go by countless Internet headlines about the UFC women’s bantamweight champion — an icon and a role model.

snip

While Rousey is all people say she is (and more) athletically, outside of martial feats, her role model status is questionable. First, Rousey has a history of highly transphobic remarks and flat-out ignorance when it comes to trans athletes. In 2013, when UFC fighter Matt Mitrione made offensive comments about transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, calling her a “lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” the New York Post asked Rousey for her thoughts on Mitrione’s words. Rousey said he expressed himself “extremely poorly” and that she could “understand the UFC doesn’t want to be associated with views like that.” But in that same interview, Rousey didn’t exactly demonstrate a predilection for sensitivity. “She can try hormones, chop her pecker off, but it’s still the same bone structure a man has,” Rousey said about Fox. “What if she became UFC champion and we had a transgender women’s champion? It’s a very socially difficult situation.”

snip

Rousey then wrote that “Snappers McCreepy” begged her to let him explain. She refused. He was blocking the door and wouldn’t move out of the way. So she “punched him in the face with a straight right, then a left hook.” She slapped him again. He still didn’t move, so she “grabbed him by the neck of his hoodie, kneed him in the face, and tossed him aside on the kitchen floor.”

snip

She’s also a transphobe, a body-shamer, and a Sandy Hook truther. A winning combination inside the Octagon, perhaps, but certainly not outside of it. Ronda Rousey isn’t a hero. Ronda Rousey isn’t a role model. Ronda Rousey beats people up in a cage. Let’s not pretend she does more than that.

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/17/since_when_is_ronda_rousey_a_role_model/

[Adrahil]

1. Not to mention... her sport glorifies violence.

I mean, the whole point is to beat your opponent into submission.

[GummyBearz]

2. You tell her

all the ways she sucks as a person, to her face. Make sure someone gets a cell phone recording of it and puts it on youtube, otherwise it didn't happen

[LexVegas]

3. What would she do? Beat the OP up? Stupid. nt.

[erpowers]

4. Tell Floyd Mayweather and Everyone Else

It seems that it is okay to criticize the likes of Floyd Mayweather and others, but it is not okay to criticize Ronda Rousey. Rousey has said many negative things about Floyd Mayweather, but has not said any of them to his face. For some reason no one has told Rousey to say those things to Mayweather's face. Also, I do not recall anyone who said negative things about Floyd Mayweather, Ray Rice, or Michael Vick being told to say it to their face.

[gcomeau]

5. You realize...

...that implying that anyone doing that has something to fear *makes the OPs point*?

"She is NOT a bad role model! And if you dare go say that to her face she'll commit assault against you just like any good role model would!"

[GummyBearz]

6. I realize

I like to watch people do inadvisable things on youtube... this odds of this turning into such a video seem high.

[gcomeau]

12. Ah, joy in the suffering of others.

Quite the role model yourself aren't you?

[GummyBearz]

18. I don't claim to be

Stupid is as stupid does.

[LostOne4Ever]

7. So that is what Fallon Fox has to do to get a match with her? (Nt)

[tkmorris]

15. Yeah, because if she kicks your ass that makes her correct

This is ridiculous. And fucking embarrassing.

[Codeine]

34. Yeah, that's a pretty stupid statement.

I'm quite sure she can kick my scrawny ass, but that doesn't mean she should be immune to being called out on being a bigot.

[LostOne4Ever]

8. In some ways yes, some ways no

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]I just feel that we shouldn't be putting a transphobe up on a pedestal.[/font]

[Lizzie Poppet]

17. While I detest transphobic slurs, trans athletes pose a legitimate issue.

Biological sex does not dictate gender, which is a largely cultural construct that's influenced but by no means determined by biological sex. However, biological sex does determine a number of purely physical characteristics, among which are relative strength and speed for a given body mass. A trans female of a given weight, even one undergoing hormone treatments, will have a significant advantage in strength over a cis female of that same weight. In many sports, an advantage in strength can be extremely telling. That creates an un-level playing field, which is antithetical to the very concept of sport.

[LostOne4Ever]

20. Except it doesn't

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Someone who has been under the effects of HRT for two years has a complete muscle and fat redistribution.

Further, HRT weakens bones and a person who has had SRS has less testosterone running in their system due to a lack of both ovaries and testes.

So the only "advantage" a trans athlete would have is height from a male puberty, something that is greatly offset by the disadvantages.

If a bit of height is that big of a problem, you might as well require people only of the same height to fight cause there are some FAAB women who are over 6ft tall (Kerri Walsh Jennings). Not to mention CAIS women who due to the genes on their y chromosome tend to grow far taller than average.

EVEN Still, Fallon Fox is almost exactly the same size as Rousey so that argument does not hold water.

Note that even the story notes there is no real advantage. [/font]

Rousey studied the wrong “science,” because claims of supposed transgender superiority in athletics are categorically false and have zero scientific backing

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Which links to here:[/font]

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/heroes-martyrs-and-myths-the-battle-for-the-rights-of-transgender-athletes

In a 2010 study titled On the Team, Dr. Pat Griffin and Helen J. Carroll debunk the notion that trans athletes have biological advantages over their cisgender peers:

"According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender girl or woman competing on a women's team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence."

Indeed, the question of competitive advantage has long since been settled by the medical community. But that has not stopped detractors from questioning trans athletes' participation.

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Here are the two fighters stats in regards to height and weight:[/font]

[center]Fallon Fox: 5'7" 143lbf (featherweight)
Ronda Rousey: 5'7" 136lbf (featherweight)[/center]

[Lizzie Poppet]

21. Then perhaps an exception for those who have undergone HRT for a sufficient period.

If someone has indeed completed that redistribution (and can document the fact), and remain with no unfair competitive advantage, then I see no problems.

Absent such redistribution, however, the problem I described remains. The linked article describes efforts made by the IOC to base male/female assignment for competition on hormone levels, not chromosomes. While I certainly support making this judgement based on scientific evidence, it's scientifically inarguable that higher levels of tetosterone allow an athlete to build greater muscle mass, possess higher bone density, and a number of other well-documented physical characteristics that woudl provide a competitive advantage in many sports. Establishing ranges of levels of relevant hormones for the purpose of male/female classification is sports seems like the best course of action to both protect trans athletes and ensure the integrity of athletic competition.

[LostOne4Ever]

22. That seems a reasonable requirement to me

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Seeing as Fox underwent SRS in 2006 (meaning she has no ovaries/testes) her testosterone levels should actually be lower than a typical female and she should have a completely feminine muscle distribution.

I see no reason Rousey should continue avoiding the fight.

To be honest, given that Rousey is undefeated and Fox is not, I would suspect Rousey would win...but, being the big LGBTQ+ advocate that I am, I would be rooting for Fox [/font]

[Lizzie Poppet]

24. Agreed: no scientific reason that fight couldn't go on.

I also suspect Rousey would win, although I'd be rooting for Fox, too. I like watching Rousey fight (she's simply superb), but I also think she's an ass (and kinda un-bright).

[Iggo]

9. Of course she is.

Now, is she a positive role model?

[Johonny]

10. Yeah, but Salon hates everyone

[Erose999]

28. Salon really does hate everyone. I unfollowed them in Facebook because they filled my newsfeed full

of articles about Taylor Swift. Every day there were 10 articles about Taylor and white privilege, Taylor Swift and gentrification, Taylor Swift and neocolonialism, etc etc etc.

Then when Ryan Adams did a cover album of T.Swift songs and said he considers her to be an artistic peer, they attacked him for "mansplaining" her music.

[bluedigger]

37. I did the same last spring after they kept reposting sex stories.

I could give a flying fuck about your secret affairs with athletes, etc. Salon.

[mwrguy]

11. She's a thug

[joeybee12]

13. Not a surprise, really...

Never got the deification of her...true, it was deification by espn.

[DirkGently]

14. Pretty nasty hit piece full of half-truths and insinuations.

Full of dirty little semantic tricks, like quoting the horrible things Matt Mitrione said about Fox, and then implying Rousey just didn't object strongly enough. It tries to give the impression she agreed with his bigotry, which it's clear she did not.

Then the writer tries to equate her socking a peeping-Tom boyfriend, a trained fighter himself, in order to *escape* to Floyd Mayweather, who continues to get the richest boxing gigs in history, despite literally being a criminal abuser of the women in his life.

This is a former MMA website columnist writing this, and his "hot take" is that the only female to gain recognition as a monumental athlete in combat sports is a terrible person because she might have smacked a peeping Tom out of her way, or didn't provide a sophisticated point of view on transgender athletes?

Meanwhile, male boxers and football players who have beaten their spouses half to death are only now facing public criticism. The UFC light heavyweight champion lost his belt after fleeing a hit-and-run that injured a pregnant woman.

But Rousey's the one unduly loved?

Came across as straight up misogyny to me. Just sounds like this guy doesn't like Ronda Rousey because she's receiving accolades in a male-dominated sport he used to write about.

Gross.

[yuiyoshida]

19. This

[Juicy_Bellows]

23. You got it - your reply sums it all up perfectly. NT.

[erpowers]

26. Did Not Just Smack ex-boyfriend

She did not just smack the ex-boyfriend. She assaulted him. She slapped him twice, punched him twice, kneed him, and then threw him across the room. If a man attacked his then girlfriend solely for taking naked picture of him and then asking to be allowed to explain her actions people would go ballistic. We should do the same when women do that to men. It should not be okay for a woman to do things like that to a man. It is wrong for a man to assault a woman. It should be wrong for a woman to assault a man.

It did not come across as misogyny to me. It came across as a person who wanted a female fighter to be held to the same standard as male fighters. He also wanted her hypocrisy to be called out and discussed. At the same time she is calling out Floyd Mayweather for having beaten women she had beaten a former boyfriend and then started dating a fighter who was accused of domestic violence.

[DirkGently]

30. Oh bullshit. He was a fighter, and wouldn't let her leave.

Even the slimy Salon hit piece says that. This is America -- you can shoot someone for shaking popcorn at you. A peeping Tom blocking your exit from his apartment should be grateful for a knee to the face.

She's not Floyd Mayweather kidnapping and beating his ex wife in front of his children, or War Machine putting his ex-girlfriend in the hospital with shattered bones.

The whole piece is dodgy and stretching in every possible direction.

[TipTok]

39. I knew War Machine Kopenhaver back in the day...

He was nuts then too...

[DirkGently]

41. Wow. As disturbed as he seems?

It's sad when an athlete who seems like they have a way out through sports keeps repeating the same mistakes. So much rage in that guy. And maybe mental illness?

That said, his horrific, near-fatal assault on his ex puts him beyond sympathy. He needs to remain locked up for a long time, which I presume he will.

[TipTok]

42. Absolutely...

Dude was a physical beast back then as well and invited punishment for laughs...

[craigmatic]

33. sounds like racism to me.

[Rex]

27. Yeah I noticed that too.

Glad to know it wasn't just me.

[Kang Colby]

35. +1000...n/t

[TipTok]

38. Great post...

[CBGLuthier]

16. I like the way she often threatens to beat up people who offend her.

Proving she can be as much an asshole as any man because violence solves everything.

[NCTraveler]

25. Salon dot com has stated every position possible for everything over the last year.

Salon dot com isn't some monolithic entity with it's own thoughts. They will print anything. They have provided some excellent articles as well as some really poor ones. Ali did some things no one would ever consider to be role model worthy. Yet I will hold him up to scrutiny.

[Miles Archer]

29. Salon is a prime example of the "struggle to remain relevant."

Years ago, Salon was kind of a cool, edgy, one-of-a-kind site on the Web. I remember being a paying member for a while. They offered up a CD's worth of MP3s every month that resulted in a diverse, often entertaining mix CD.

And yeah, you're right, the excellence isn't gone...they've just felt the steamroller effect of too many voices, many superior, on the World Wide Web in 2015.

[Initech]

31. I don't care if she is a role model or not. I just want to see her fight Beiber.

Take my money now, UFC!

[craigmatic]

32. I always assumed she was special mentally. I read somewhere she didn't say her first word until

she was like 8 or 9.

[Paula Sims]

36. I personally know her mother (work relationship) and she's the absolute opposite

When I met her mother (AnnMaria) I had no idea who she was other than her technical skills and then someone clued me in to who AnnMaria was. IF the above it true (and I have no idea, I never met Ronda), I can assure you her mother is just the opposite. Given the other comments about Salon, I have my doubts about the article. Then again, my niece who's into this stuff said Ronda is a classless competitor who refused to shake the hand of her opponent. I'm not sure what to think.

[TipTok]

40. Depends on who it was...

That last one got pretty mouthy... and then lasted 34 whopping seconds...

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

43. You don't shake the hand of an opponent who said "I hope she doesn't commit suicide when I beat her"

Ronda's father committed suicide.

[Logical]

44. +1000, that was terrible. And then she lied by saying she had no idea. She knew!! nt