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“Crying in the Wilderness” by Louisa Thomas on Grantland.
A taste:
Crying has always had a place in sports. The stadium has always been regarded as the rare place where that’s acceptable, where it humanizes, not feminizes, men on the field and in the stands. These days, tears on even the faces of female athletes aren’t taken as a sign of weakness. I suppose that’s progress, though I flinch at the idea that ‘feminize’ is still used as a slur.
And then read my follow-up essay tomorrow.
