Same Difference

With the Olympics kicking off later today, Australia’s diving gold medal hopes will rest on debutant Matthew Mitcham’s shoulders as he competes in the men’s 10m platform in a fortnight’s time.

But regardless of Mitcham’s result, how will we remember him?

As a society, we are obsessed with the binary of ‘us’ versus ‘other’. Both the media and ourselves like to differentiate between things that are ‘like us’, that is what fits into the dominant ideology, and things that are not. For example someone is Islamic because they are not Australian. Someone is disabled because they are not ‘able’. Women are women because they are not men.

Homosexuals are homosexual because they are not heterosexual.

These groups which act as the ‘other’ within this binary, include individuals who feel as though they need to do more than what is generally expected from people just so they can be accepted.

From the outset, society has already labelled homosexuals as being different. Hence to overcome this exclusion, homosexuals feel the need to over-achieve so they are recognised for their talents rather than their sexuality.

Mitcham casually revealed he was a homosexual and that he had a partner of two years after a Sydney Morning Herald journalist asked who he lived with.

“I hadn’t planned it at all… It was just a question,” Mitcham told US LGBT Magazine The Advocate.

“I just want to be known as the Australian diver who did really well at the Olympics… It’s everyone else who thinks it’s special when homosexuality and elite sport go together.”

Judging by Mitcham’s comments, it is clear that as an athlete his homosexuality is not of paramount concern. All Mitcham is asking for is respect and equal treatment. Just like Kelly Osbourne and good looks.

Why was it then, that a single statement from Mitcham became front-page news?

Mitcham’s statement wasn’t about a war, rape, interest rates or petrol prices. So why was it so controversial?

Having an openly gay Australian athlete, especially one from the pool is controversial. It shakes up the archaic Australian view that all males, especially athletes, are masculine. Additionally, masculinity only comes with heterosexuality. Now we see how Mitcham’s situation does produce the conflict needed to make news.

The fact that internet blogs and international publications have picked up on this ‘news item’ and compared Australia’s infatuation with what constitutes a male athlete to America’s love for NFL, goes to show how widely known it is that Australia’s views are out of date, even more so than Peter Costello’s career.

Australian’s need a new way of thinking that is not immediately discriminatory. Without a doubt, this will take time.

How would you describe Ellen Degeneres or T.R Knight to someone who does not regularly interact with popular culture? Ellen Degeneres is the blond comedian who is about to marry Portia de Rossi and T.R Knight is they guy who Isaiah Washington called the ‘f word’ and consequently got fired. See what I mean by immediately discriminating difference?

Think. How are you going to remember Matthew Mitcham?

Something You Never Thought You’d See on This Site: Sport

My name is Colin and I’m obese. My name is Colin and I’m bulimic. Neither sound quite right. See in our society, being too much of one thing is just not acceptable and children in the UK will start to feel the pressure of our see-sawing expectations with the introduction of new ‘fat report’ cards.

The cards to be sent to parents of children who are aged five to 10 will include the child’s weight, healthy eating tips and suggested exercise.

In the red corner, academics such as Boyd Swinburn from Deakin University believes the report cards are a necessary step Australia must also take to help make statistics more accurate and open the eyes of naive parents. In the blue corner, the UK Conservatives Party say the change is another attempt by the government to patronize citizens and issues of weight should be dealt with privately.

So as we try to find (without success) the secret to obtaining the balance of a working/social/active lifestyle, we are also trying to find a balanced way to communicate the idea of balance. Confused? And this is just the third paragraph.

The main argument in the debate of ‘lifestyle balance’ is that we need exercise. Apparently we need sport.

Sport has become a part of Australian culture to the point where the admission that you don’t participate in sport is like saying you didn’t enjoy ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’. You don’t like the idea, but you do it anyway because you’re socially obliged to.

Whether you like it or not, sport is everywhere and is expected to be a part of our balanced lifestyles.

If the news media really is an educational tool and a representation of what we need to know to be ‘informed’ then we’re in for some strife. Take a commercial news bulletin for example. In this sense, exactly half our lives revolve around civil war, murders, kidnappings and natural disasters. The other half focuses on tries, goals, home runs and smashes.

It’s interesting that what makes news ‘news’ are things like conflict, relevance, immediacy and personalization.

Sport? Not so much. So why then do our papers, magazines and televisions all devote a section for sport?

Sport is a necessary evil. It’s like paying your taxes for immigration. You know you’re never going to touch a detention centre with a ten-foot pole but you support it anyway because you don’t want Amanda Vanstone to come back from Italy and squash you and then criminalize you even though you may have a legitimate health disorder.

While for many of us sport is just an excuse to perve on picturesque bodies (some sports excluded), it does have a social function. Ask someone whose weight is a telephone number.

In the world of over-eaters and under-achievers, sport is a means that justifies a happy-size-four-end. Although this only works when one takes sport seriously. Starring at a ball or racquet curiously in your hands and wondering whether it’s edible does not help you lose weight.

And most obviously, sportsmen need sport. What else could Sonny Bill Williams be if he weren’t a football player? Imagine if Sonny Bill was a high school teacher. He could only teach PE, so imagine how interesting classes would be on sex education and alcohol. He’d give Australian priests a run for their money. It gives a whole new the usual response by footballers, “He was behind me and supporting me the whole time.”

Ironically the Bulldogs second-rower has been trying to find his own balance between making money and being loyal to his NSW club. Loyal and chivalrous, who am I kidding? He’s Kiwi, represents for a club in Western Sydney that’s faced numerous sexual assault allegations and plays rugby league.