[SilverElfin]

Yep, even dancers who go on point later end up with injuries and issues like arthritis. It’s really that point is a bad idea, period. It’s an archaic holdover. For some reason people don’t view it negatively like foot binding.

[wahern]

I can't watch ballet. I actually, not figuratively, cringe when they do en pointe. It's like watching somebody cut themselves or even be in situations where they might, like an amateur youtube cook chopping unsafely; just physically and psychologically too uncomfortable for me. I don't have a problem with blood or injuries, per se; watching a surgical operation is tolerable, as long as I believe it's not actually painful. Maybe if I forced myself to watch enough ballet I'd learn to accept it's not that painful during the performance (is it?), but it'd take more effort than I care to put into it. Something about discrete, focused pain just triggers me. I also have to look away when getting my blood drawn or given a shot, and don't want to watch others getting the needle, either.

Conversely, I think one of the reasons some people are mesmerized by en pointe is the idea of it being painful, in the moment or at least the training/practice, and the manifest dedication involved.

[KPGv2]

It's interesting that we lunge at ballet so much faster for this danger but everyone is resisting with all their might to criticize soccer, which causes micro-CTEs unless the league bans headers. It's made me wonder if it's some kind of paternalistic misogyny. We must protect the girls, but the boys can fuck off and die. Or, alternatively, let's tear down the girls' arts, but boys sports must be untouched.

[dghlsakjg]

Do we?

Never heard of this ballet thing til now. Have heard plenty of rumblings about headers in youth soccer. For both boys and girls.

Male dancers and female athletes exist…

[krapp]

I think it's more that the male-dominant sports are billion dollar industries driven by deep-seated cultures of masculinity that view safety as weakness, and spectatorship that wants to see violence. No one watches ballet wanting to hear the sound of the dancers' skulls colliding.

[wahern]

They do watch for the en pointe, which is beautiful precisely because it's not something we expect bodies to be able to do. And the pain and injury risk also, I think, adds to the effect. I don't think it's all that different from what people experience seeing heads or bodies getting slammed, except en pointe is feminine coded (graceful) whereas slamming is masculine coded (brutish). Similarly, silent, hidden pain (feminine) versus pain as spectacle (masculine).

[mhb]

Wait till you hear about an insane game called (US) football!

[alexashka]

There is no 'we'. There are different values that value different things.

Slave values = sacrificing yourself is noble and good.

Aristocracy values = being born an aristocrat is noble and good.

Trader values = enriching oneself is noble and good.

Religious fundamentalist values = following the one and only book is good.

Little girl/consumer values = my emotions are good.

Etc.

Slave and religious values are being replaced by trader and little girl/consumer values.

Boys embody slave or trader values. Girls embody little girl/consumer values.

Boys go to war, girls are little princesses. Ballet/women's pro sports are a niche for the few women who embody slave values. Most embody little girl/consumer values.

[jrflowers]

“This smacks of misogyny!” I say as I cross out “sports where players regularly sustain CTE-causing injuries” and write “boys”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/cte-concussion-wo...

[dpark]

“I’m so enlightened I forgot women play soccer” is definitely a weird take.

[lstodd]

Okay, now attack boxing.

[bobthepanda]

If anything, we’re reversing progress on this front, given we just had a UFC match on the front lawn of the White House.