No, seriously
“Breaststrokers” and “Ball-handlers”
On high school t-shirts
This is a reference to the t-shirts the boy’s swim team at my high school had printed which said “We are breaststrokers, not ball-handlers” (yes, some adult(s) at the school approved of this). It was meant as a jab to the football and basketball teams who traditionally were the most popular sports. It is a disgustingly sexist and homophobic phrase- all at once objectifying women and deriding homosexuality. I think it’s significant that athletics was the vehicle by which this shirt was allowed to be worn at (and even designed/sold by?) the school. It’s clear that in the world of sports there can often be even more tolerance for bigotry and bullying than in the general public, and that “boys will be boys” and “locker room talk” is acceptable if it motivates or “hypes up” athletes to perform better.
Katherine (Katie) Harmon, Queer Theory, Fall 2023
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