The New York Times Archives

Women as Norm, Dammit

Posted by Nancy Colasurdo | Jun 29, 2016 | Culture, Gender |

As a former sports writer, I spent some years in the 1990s as a voter on the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Poll. Suffice to say, I know what Pat Summitt did for the game she loved. But for the sake of this piece, I want to put the basketball aside and talk about a way of seeing the world It stems from a 1998 Sports Illustrated profile about Summitt I just re-read — “Eyes of the Storm” by Gary Smith — and it says this: “This woman who never raised a placard or a peep for women’s rights, who...

Welcome to the Land of Opportunity

Posted by Nancy Colasurdo | Mar 5, 2015 | Culture, Living, Race |

Melting pot, my ass. This is what I keep muttering as I’m mesmerized by The Italian Americans documentary on PBS recently. The story unfolding on my television is too familiar. The people working in sugar cane fields. The lynching. The ‘hot-headed’ label. The emerging ‘dark and criminal’ image. The attitude of ‘let them kill each other in their neighborhoods.’ The denigration of their names as part of the ‘other’ label. The horrible work conditions. The looking down upon how they worshipped their God and relegating that worship to basements. The labeling of a whole swath of them as ‘enemy...

How About Some Humility with That Brashness?

Posted by Nancy Colasurdo | Mar 11, 2014 | Living, Work |

Back in 2001 when my executive producer at Oxygen Media expressed the desire to convert me from web producer to television producer, I was delighted and heartened by her faith in me. She was certain I already had the storytelling and editorial skills down pat. The idea was to trail experienced producers and learn how to put together a show. I wasn’t very far into the process when I realized something significant. The discomfort that kept coming up wasn’t about a lack of faith in myself. It was something very different. I had immense respect for the other producers...

#Unapologetic? Barbie, I’m Down with That

Posted by Nancy Colasurdo | Feb 14, 2014 | Culture, Gender, Living |

Do you know who Eva de Goede and Ellen Hoog are? For those who answered no, they’re Dutch field hockey players who have posed for the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. You can see their perfectly shaped asses here. I haven’t expended an ounce of energy on SI’s annual nod to porn in about 20 years. I wrote about it a few times when I was a sports columnist back in the 1990s, but I’m not one to get all that worked up about it anymore. It makes massive money and it’s not going away. It’s as much about...

(Ongoing) Blurred Lines

Posted by Nancy Colasurdo | Aug 27, 2013 | Culture, Gender |

Surely Robin Thicke never imagined being foam-fingered by Miley Cyrus. And maybe I’m projecting, but while that very thing was happening on the Video Music Awards he seemed a reluctant participant as his female aggressor was bringing it. Nothing blurry about that line. If Thicke was telling the truth to Howard Stern in a recent interview – and I believe he was – he’s been with the same woman since age 14 and they have an active sex life. He revealed just enough, kept just enough private. In other words, he came off as having a healthy sexuality. Ironic,...

Tag: The New York Times

Women as Norm, Dammit

Welcome to the Land of Opportunity

How About Some Humility with That Brashness?

#Unapologetic? Barbie, I’m Down with That

(Ongoing) Blurred Lines

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