[Daedmo]

Periods still 'taboo' for women in professional sport, says former tennis star Annabel Croft

Professional sportswomen are "suffering in silence" as the impact their menstrual cycles have on their performance is still taboo, a former tennis star said, after one of Britain's top players struggled with "girl things" at the Australian Open.

Former British tennis star Annabel Croft told BBC's Radio 5 live that the subject is often "swept under the carpet".

Her comments came after Heather Watson's defeat in the first-round of the Australian Open on Tuesday, after which the current British number one admitted to feeling unwell.

The 22-year-old revealed she suffered from dizziness, nausea, low energy levels and spells of feeling light-headed as she lost 6-4 6-0 to Bulgaria's world number 52 Tsvetana Pironkova.

[Let it be known that female airline pilots WILL suffer from dizziness, nausea, low energy levels and spells of feeling light-headed?]

She called for the doctor towards the end of the first set and was visibly struggling as Pironkova won the last seven games.

"I think it's just one of these things that I have, girl things. I get it sometimes," Watson told BBC sport.

"I'm going to go and see the doctor afterwards and see if there's anything I can do to help with times like these in the future."

Watson said she was confident it was not a return of the glandular fever she suffered in 2013.

Croft, a former number one, hailed Watson's comments as "brave" and said that women would "identify completely" with her symptoms.

[Brave? How is making lame excuses for losing brave?]

"Women's monthly issues seems to be one of those subjects that gets swept under the carpet and is a big secret," she said.

"Women dealing with these issues at any time is hard enough, but actually trying to go out there and trying to play top-level sport at one of the most crucial times in the calendar year, it is just really unlucky."

[Oh yeah it's so hard just existing when you're a woman. Perhaps women don't belong in top level sport?]

"I think women do suffer in silence on this subject. It has always been a taboo subject."

[Or perhaps people just don't want to think of bloody vaginas while they are watching the tennis.]

Watson entered the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne fresh from winning her second Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title in Hobart last week.

At the time she soared to a new career-high ranking of 38.

"It's really frustrating, especially at the one time I really do want all my energy and to be 100 per cent," Watson said.

"But it happens and you're dealt with different cards on different days and I should have dealt with it better. It's a real shame and it sucks."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-22/pe...ft/6032696

Oh you poor little snowflakes with your bleeding twats! You know mother nature didn't intend you to have many menstrual cycles. In prehistoric times a woman would spend almost her entire adult life either pregnant or breast feeding. A bloody period was the woman's body letting her know that she had FAILED in her duty to fertilize a healthy egg and contribute more members to the tribe. Menstruation is a fairly recent phenomenon made possible by the safe societies men have constructed for women.

[Lizard King]

(01-22-2015 04:33 AM)Daedmo Wrote:  

Oh you poor little snowflakes with your bleeding twats! You know mother nature didn't intend you to have many menstrual cycles. In prehistoric times a woman would spend almost her entire adult life either pregnant or breast feeding. A bloody period was the woman's body letting her know that she had FAILED in her duty to fertilize a healthy egg and contribute more members to the tribe. Menstruation is a fairly recent phenomenon made possible by the safe societies men have constructed for women.

Some sportswomen have less frequent periods, which must be a big advantage, but I think that is down to rigorous training affecting hormone levels.


Spending less time surviving and more time being idle(in a manner of speaking) definitely has some downsides for the quality of civilisation.

[kosko]

This is never something I have thought about or have heard brought up. She is trolling to make excuses because if it does indeed affect female performance then females any every type of high demand field must be put into question also (OP airline pilot analogy).

Also as other have stated generally female athletes on a higher level have less periods due to the stress and work they put on their bodies. I would also suspect if this was really a issue many high level female athletes would be taking depo shots and such which also stop menstrual cycles.

She is crying sour grapes. She got tossed around on the court and wants to make excuses for it.

[Suits]

(01-22-2015 04:33 AM)Daedmo Wrote:  

Oh you poor little snowflakes with your bleeding twats! You know mother nature didn't intend you to have many menstrual cycles. In prehistoric times a woman would spend almost her entire adult life either pregnant or breast feeding. A bloody period was the woman's body letting her know that she had FAILED in her duty to fertilize a healthy egg and contribute more members to the tribe. Menstruation is a fairly recent phenomenon made possible by the safe societies men have constructed for women.

Excellent point. Not a lot of people know this about pre-historic civilization, but getting a period is a modern day luxury. This is an established fact.

The only reason why the pill allows a woman to have regular periods is for marketing reasons. The inventor was concerned that eliminating the woman's period altogether would be too hard for the Catholic church to take.

[MMM]

"Swept under the carpet", he he.

[DJ-Matt]

[Michael P]

Serena Williams complained that women recieve less pay than men. Even thought they play 30% less sets. And now, women are getting almost always the same amount of prize money. Even though TV viewership is lower, so sponsors have less money. And ticket sales are lower.

And this is the quantity of the product = time one can watch tenis.
BUT the quality differs. One has to search a lot, because few sites discus this (censorship ?!), but finds that when men play agains women:

1. A top 50 player, said her brother, that is in high school, can kick her ass any day.
2. Karsten Braasch [man] and the Williams sisters. Venus and Serena Williams, aged 17 and 16 respectively, had claimed that they could beat any male player ranked below 200, so Braasch, then ranked 203rd, challenged them both. The matches took place on court number 12 in Melbourne Park.Braasch first took on Venus and beat her 6–2. He then played Serena and won 6–1.Braasch said afterwards, "500 and above, no chance." He added that he had played like someone ranked 600th in order to keep the game "fun.

Now this.
It's a different sport, but some things like BIOLOGY still apply. Elite, again ELITE gimnast have so little body-fat that they dont have ANY menstruation until they QUIT (that is their mid 20's).

So if the women would train properly, they would have the chance to have few or no menstruations.

But the HER HAMSTER IS BETTER TRAINED THEN HER.