Women’s sports bar's hypocrisy shows as it disavows the very thing it was meant to support | Matt Calkins
We know that, at some point, the Sports Bra was a Portland bar built for broadcasting women's sports.
One can assume that, at some point, it would show WNBA or NWSL or Women's World Cup games on its screens.
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It's unclear, however, how often gymnastics would be displayed. But the owner seems to be doing a lot of them in her head.
The Pacific Northwest establishment first came under national scrutiny after it expelled a group of fans for wearing XX-XY Athletics T-shirts earlier in the month. Video shows a server telling the group that their attire was making other customers uncomfortable, and that despite them already having ordered their food, they had to leave.
This spawned a social-media firestorm, with myriad X users condemning the bar for its not-so-inclusive behavior. And upon a deeper look, it's uncertain how much the Sports Bra cares about women's sports at all.
As XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey pointed out earlier in the week, the bar has a history of activism that goes beyond chucking customers for their garb.
Earlier this summer, it announced a boycott of all Women's Elite Rugby matches. The reason? The rugby league said it would follow USOPC policy in disallowing transgender athletes from participating. In short: the women's sports bar banned a women's sport because it wouldn't allow men to play.
"We're doing this in solidarity with the players, fans, and organizers calling for rugby to live up to its own values of respect, integrity and inclusion," a bar representative posted on Instagram. "The Sports Bra exists to celebrate and elevate women and girls in sports. That includes trans women and girls. Always. We love women's sports. We love seeing new leagues grow. We want more athletes on bigger stages with more fans in the stands. But growth cannot come at the cost of belonging."
OutKick reached out to the Sports Bra for comment, but did not get a reply as of publication time. One thing I wanted to know is what their requirement for streaming any sport was. After all, the NCAA, WTA, Olympics and FIBA all adhere to the same USOPC policy, which would seem to mirror the Rugby league policy. There isn't a whole lot left after that, besides the WNBA, at least for now.
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Second, where on Earth was anybody going to find Women's Elite Rugby matches save for a place like the Sports Bra? You're not going to see that at the Yard House or Buffalo Wild Wings. All this boycott did was limit the already scarce number of eyeballs that would have been on a niche women's sport. Who exactly benefits from this?
The answer: People who want to feel a sense of moral superiority under the guise of "inclusion."
The hard left's treatment of women is fascinating to me. Having worked at the Seattle Times for 11 years, I felt like I saw the term "toxic masculinity" every time I logged onto our website. We had one writer who declared unequivocally that, because of various crime and domestic violence stats, she would prefer to be alone with a bear over a man. And yet, as soon as that man declares he's a woman he achieves instance reverence.
Suddenly, the women are the oppressor group. Suddenly, their concern about competing against a biological male or sharing a locker room with them is chalked up to bigotry. It comes down to a victimhood hierarchy, in which whoever is considered to be more marginalized gets the support — logic or fairness be damned.
The truth is, sports are not typically about "inclusion." They're really more about exclusion. Only so many people make the team, get to start, run in the final heat, or earn a scholarship. The vast majority of athletes are denied the role or position they want to be in. This is the driving force behind competition.
Of course, none of this means that one should lack compassion for people who feel confused or trapped in the wrong body. But you can do this while also acknowledging an unmistakable biological advantage that has led to various trans athletes winning high school, college and professional championships.
The most vocal left-wing activists don't want to do that. The folks at the Sports Bra don't seem to want to, either. They're too busy bouncing customers and boycotting games.
Funny, when the bar opened four years ago, it seemed like it was one of women's sports biggest champions. Now? It may just be one of women's sports biggest enemies.