Changing The Image Of Men's Figure Skating

[antmanb]

Then little by little the coach could say, "hey, anybody up for learning how to do a toe-loop?"

The only problem i see with that is to actually do a toe loop (or flip or lutz) you would need a toe pick, which hockey skates are distinctly lacking!

Ant

 

[seniorita]

lolthat was funny!
now i imagine them doing loops and salchows!

 

[antmanb]

lolthat was funny!
now i imagine them doing loops and salchows!

To be honest any kind of jumping on hockey skates is dangerous because the last thing to leave the ice on take off and the first thing to hit the ice when you jump is the toe picks, even on the edge jumps. Jumping on hockey skates always has the danger that the blade will just slip out from under you on the take off, but more likely on the landing resulting in you taking a tumble.

Ant

 

[Mathman]

Jumping on hockey skates always has the danger that the blade will just slip out from under you on the take off, but more likely on the landing resulting in you taking a tumble.

All the better. When the boys start coming home from skating practice with black eyes and broken legs, that will show how manly it is. :yes:

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

All the better. When the boys start coming home from skating practice with black eyes and broken legs, that will show how manly it is. :yes:

Well, if they were wearing sequins on the uniforms, they would be more careful.

 

[Phil Cohen]

Would it be better if he(Johnny Weir) felt "Princely?"

....Perhaps.

 

[seniorita]

To be honest any kind of jumping on hockey skates is dangerousAnt

Well, if they were wearing sequins on the uniforms, they would be more careful.

you both ruined my fantasy..

 

[wishmaker]

Okay, here's my opinion. This is figure skating, not just like any theatre art like operas, ballets and the like. This is figure skating, not just like any other sports like basketball, football hockey and the like. Now, the difference is that figure skating, like other sports, needs/has athletic requirements and like the theatre arts needs music, choreography, costumes and emotings/expressions all go with it. So, figure skating can't just be like any other sports because it is also an art, fused into the ice. So, please, don't compare it to the other arts and other sports because it is both and can't be just one of them. It needs all the costumes not just the uniforms (which may be simple or overly done), needs the emotings to the choreographed music (which may be soft and strong to express the music)

 

[Tonichelle]

lolthat was funny!
now i imagine them doing loops and salchows!

Kurt Browning's done a few exhibitions with hockey skates on... including a few single (double?) jumps.

 

[Sylvia]

He doesn't jump but here's an entertaining exhibition number with lots of cool footwork performed in hockey skates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPcdn6K47hc
(some people might even recognize this talented skater! )

 

[Tonichelle]

very cool, that's Braden, yes?

 

[wishmaker]

Here's very good article of JENNY KIRK's More Masculinity in Figure Skating http://trueslant.com/jenniferkirk/2...nity-in-figure-skating-the-way-to-go/#more-30

 

[Mathman]

First of all, figure skating is a feminine sport. No matter how it is marketed, those who are drawn to the sport, and the men who excel within male figure skating, are somewhat feminine. And it works....

In opposition to Weir, Lysacek has been promoted by some as the heterosexual, politically correct U.S. male figure skater. Although, I think announcing his competition outfits are designed by Vera Wang and spending countless hours in a tanning bed may make the average hockey fan question Lysacek’s so-called masculinity.

Jenny doesn't mince words.

 

[Medusa]

Jenny doesn't mince words.

She lounds like a lovely person. I like that blog post. Though I wish she had included a bit more about cultural differences, e.g. that ballet / figure skating / dancing isn't necessarily seen as feminine in Russia, Japan etc. She made sound a bit like a fact: skating is feminine.

 

[Mathman]

Yes, I think she was talking about the U.S., and in particular about U.S. sports fans.

By the way, Jenny and Evan were an item at one time, before Tanith made her move on him.

About men's costumes, I found this in the ISU rule book.

Clothing for men cannot be theatrical in nature, men must wear full-length trousers; no tights are permitted, and the clothing must not be sleeveless, must have a neckline which does not expose the chest and be without excessive decoration, such as beads, sequins, and the like.

 

[Medusa]

Clothing for men cannot be theatrical in nature, men must wear full-length trousers; no tights are permitted, and the clothing must not be sleeveless, must have a neckline which does not expose the chest and be without excessive decoration, such as beads, sequins, and the like.

Then about everyone violates those rules! Neckline: Smirnov anyone? Maybe that's why both of his costumes had normal necklines at Worlds... But other guys also have / had low cut costumes, I think I at least can remember Shabalin once showing some cleavage.

Beads, sequins? Nearly all of the male skaters have those on their costumes. Even Evan!

And then there are parts I totally don't get. Why no tights? Tights are not decorative, they are not showy. Maybe North-America wanted that rule, I once talked to a US-American woman (I met her in France while I was au-pair, we organised some outings together for the kids) who told me that she would never take her kids to the Ballet, which I wanted to do for an afternoon, because the men wear these very tight tights and she considers those to be obscene. And she wouldn't know how to explain to her kids why and how and what (I was like: what what? That men look like men?). I think I also found a similar article once about America and it's aversion to tights.

And then sleeveless! Please! The girls can basically wear bikinis! Why can't the men skate sleeveless? Those are sexist rules.

Why not put all of those guys in a pair of comfortable skating jeans and a black wifebeater? Problem solved.

 

[R.D.]

Jenny doesn't mince words.

She's right, though. I will never watch men's skating on TV regardless of what TPTB try to do. They may as well leave it as is and not alienate that fan base.

 

[Tonichelle]

not all American's are afraid of men in tights (tight! tights!) but it is a stigma (otherwise Robin Hood: Men in Tights wouldn't be thought of as hilarious - though I can't stand it lol and I love Mel Brooks, I just don't find it funny *shrugs*)

Ballet just bores a lot of people in the states, I think, more than what they're wearing. She's just an un'cultured' (better than uneducated, I guess) person, and those are everywhere not just here

 

[jennylovskt]

It's sad that North Americans are ultra-sensitive on this issue.

 

[Medusa]

She's just an un'cultured' (better than uneducated, I guess) person, and those are everywhere not just here

She was actually a very nice person, not really uneducated - more like educated to a certain point and after that point simply ignorant and prejudiced.

Which I think is the problem. People are just ignorant and prejudiced, it doesn't matter how educated they are in the end. Being ignorant is just comfy. That's why any butching up won't work in favour of figure skating's image.

This attitude is part of the NA-society, it doesn't make the society uneducated or not liberal or anything (Canada is quite liberal, isn't it?). And Russia and Russians aren't more liberal or cuturally more advanced than the US because they don't connect dancing / skating / grace with homosexuality. In fact, Russian society tends to be very homophobic - but in their culture the connection "graceful - homosexual" just doesn't exist that way.

Trying to change this attitude is extremely difficult if not impossible. It would be like trying to convince the people in the US that pink doesn't mean "sweet" or "feminine" - nobody would start an ad-campaign trying to change this attitude.
Or like trying to convince people in Russia that light blue only describes a colour and nothing else.