Please Stop It - A Message To Men

The other day, a friend pointed me to a blog post written by a runner who probably thinks he's smarter and funnier than he actually is. The post, not an article as he mistakenly called it, was about Desi Linden and was written in 2017. In it, the author claims that his readers might have a hard time finding articles about Linden because she's not pretty. That was one of may idiotic statements, but I'm primarily addressing this one since I would likely be here for days if I attempted to get into all the bizarre shit this guy claims throughout his blog. He goes on to explain in his post that he's not really the asshole he's presenting himself to be because he just means she's not as pretty as the truly pretty runners who get more press.

OK. Define "more press" and "pretty." Fortunately, Desi's sponsors don't give a fuck that she's not posing for Vogue in her spare time. They are more concerned and impressed with how well she runs. This guy clearly needs glasses and also needs someone to do a little research for him before he runs off with a whole lot of nonsense in his blogging attempts again.

Sports Illustrated featured Desi Linden in one of their 2016 editions, and an ESPN publication also did at least two write-ups on Desi prior to 2017. Runner's World wrote at least six main articles on her in 2016 alone, and there were well over ten feature articles in a span of two years from 2015 to 2016. That's not including any podcasts, Youtube videos, minor articles, or blog posts related to the magazine. From 2014 to 2016, Competitor wrote several articles on her in both their women's edition magazine and their regular magazine. She has her own Wikipedia page, and she wasn't absent from media outlets such as FloTrack, Salty Running, Adventure Sports Network, and even Bon Appetite, to name just a few, prior to this ridiculous blog post coming out.

Does it seem to you that Desi was an unknown in the running world in 2017? Obviously, she wasn't to even those who don't necessarily follow running all that much. I stopped following running for a long time and purposely avoided looking too closely at results and articles, yet I couldn't help but  notice such an outstanding runner. You almost can't avoid hearing about talent and dedication like hers. You would have had to really go a hell of a long way out of your way to avoid bumping into some news about her many running achievements.

None of this matters, really. People lie all the time online. They say stupid shit to try to come off as funny or informed, or they say something untrue to support their odd beliefs. It's bad enough that the blogger lied about a lack of media presence of an incredible athlete, but then he had to take it one step further and objectify not just Desi but all women runners, as if we really give a shit about his subjective grading scale of prettiness in female athletes. We don't. Stop it.

Every time twits like this try to draw attention to the outer appearance of an athlete, they immediately take away from and diminish the competitor's accomplishments. It's an intentional distraction, a way to keep the focus on women's bodies and away from their strengths. I have no idea why people, men especially, feel the need to do this other than possibly because they are insecure, terribly and hopelessly insecure.

It's fine if you have thoughts about someone's appearance. We all do, but most of us are well behaved enough and have enough respect to keep those thoughts to ourselves and not assume that everyone else has the same preference. Talk about a runner being pretty or not has no place in the athletic world. All it does is promote absurd standards that make it difficult for anyone to navigate a world obsessed with looks. We need to stop sending the message that women are never good enough if they aren't also good looking. It's bullshit, complete bullshit.

The look of an amazing athlete.

Desi at her wedding looking quite beautiful.