T A B L E++T A L K

What do you do when the parents of your child's significant other are driving you nutso? Vent and swap advice in the Mothers area of Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

The dictator in the house
By Ros Davidson
The dark side of polygamy
(07/29/98)

Sins of the fathers
By Ros Davidson
A polygamist's tale
(07/28/98)

The Merry Recluse
By Caroline Knapp
A single woman chooses a life of solitude in the Land of We
(07/27/98)

Mulatto millennium
By Danzy Senna
When being "mixed" is cool
(07/24/98)

Second Thoughts
By Sallie Tisdale
Forget quality -- it's quantity time that matters
(07/23/98)

BROWSE THE MOTHERS WHO THINK FEATURE ARCHIVES

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Mamafesto
By Camille Peri
Why it's time
for Mothers Who Think

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REALITY BITES | PAGE 1, 2
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What, indeed. According to the press release of the Southern Nevada chapter of NOW, "We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to strike decisive dual blows against violence towards women and unsportsmanlike conduct at the most prominent level of sports in our country." So the Southern Nevada chapter organized a write-in campaign to the state Athletic Commission urging it to reject Tyson's anticipated reapplication for a license. Which turned out to be moot, because Tyson circumvented Nevada by applying to the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, which is not bound by Nevada's suspension -- although Nevada hopes that it will be universally acknowledged.

NOW's latest Action Update, run on the National's letterhead, states, "YOU CAN RUN, MIKE, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE," and urges activists to "keep the pressure on the New Jersey Athletic Control Board" and to petition Gov. Christine Todd Whitman "to use her influence and make a statement that New Jersey is not a haven for violent, convicted rapists to make millions of dollars."

Well gee, girls, I hate to break it to you, but boxing is not considered a genteel sport. All sorts of unsavory characters run it, profit from it and come out for it. A heavyweight championship match looks like an integrated version of the Players' Ball: The purses might be full, but the taste-o-meter runs on E most of the time. (It's not coincidental that most of the women look like their clothes came from, as one friend smugly noted, "Ho's 'R Us.") This shouldn't be a news flash, but boxing being overly concerned about morality is kind of like beauty pageants being overly concerned about intelligence. Both institutions are, to borrow a line from a current rap favorite, "all about the cheddar." And the nasty reality of it is, there's plenty of cheddar to be made -- by everybody -- in professional boxing.

I don't remember a whole lot of NOW support for Desiree Washington, although I do remember being severely chastised by several feminist readers of the Los Angeles Times when I suggested it didn't take a Ph.D. to figure out that going alone to Tyson's room at 2:30 a.m. was an imprudent thing to do, given his reputation for brutalizing objects of his affection. Women, apparently, must be free to come and go as we please, with no thought as to the appropriateness of our actions. No should mean no, true -- but if it's prefaced with mixed signals beforehand, a lot of its potency is diluted. Simple reality.

I'm not by any stretch a Mike Tyson fan (or apologist). Nor do I subscribe to black conspiracy theorists' hypothesis that NOW's current action is a tool of the white racist establishment bent on emasculating the black man. Uh-uh. What NOW smelled when it decided to challenge Tyson was the opportunity to shore up its sagging public image, which took a precipitous dive when its leadership declined, for ever so long, to say much on President Clinton's Babegate dilemma. And I can't say that I feel strongly one way or the other as to whether Tyson's license should be reinstated. (Interestingly enough, Holyfield, Tyson's biting victim, says he wouldn't mind if Tyson came back -- "not at all.") But I do feel strongly about NOW's insertion into the process. There are enough other issues that are more pressing to regular working women out here in the Real World than whether Mike Tyson gets to box again. But Miss Anne, living in a different reality from the rest of us, may not agree.
SALON | July 30, 1998

Karen Grigsby Bates is an op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times, where she writes on race and culture. Her last Salon article was on Jack and Jill of America Inc.