The Four Color Media Monitor

It would seem the comics editor Alanna Smith was indirectly addressing the insult to an Italian lady boxer at the Paris Olympics when a transsexual man forced the lady to quit after 46 seconds. Smith said on one of her social media pages:

I was in mixed-gender karate classes in HS and got punched in the face by adult men twice. I didn't mind because I *wanted* to be competitive against the guys. The idea that women are too delicate to go against big scary men is so patronizing it boggles the mind (& it's not even what happened here!)

— Alanna Smith (@alannawrites.bsky.social) Aug 1, 2024 at 23:47

Well, it seems somebody doesn't know the difference between self-defense classes and sports, which can involve different approaches, along with dos and don'ts. She doesn't consider that men have considerably more physical strength than women, and that this can run the gauntlet of severe injury. Women in self-defense courses may expect and realize they have to cope with pain before gain, but in sport competition, it's a whole different ball game.

Like are people really pearl-clutching that a woman in the face-punching sport got punched in the face? What are we even doing here? Transphobia is always dumb but this is god-tier dumb.

— Alanna Smith (@alannawrites.bsky.social) Aug 1, 2024 at 23:49

If "transphobia" is all she cares about, not women's safety and dignity, that sums up exactly what's wrong with all her blabbermouthing. What Ms. Smith is espousing her is exactly what's been destroying women's rights and bringing down society cohesion for a considerably long time now.

You know why I got punched in the face both times? It wasn't because I was fighting a guy, it was because I didn't freaking block. Sometimes you get punched because you don't block! That is what happens in combat sports regardless of gender!

— Alanna Smith (@alannawrites.bsky.social) Aug 1, 2024 at 23:50

Umm, is that supposed to be putting the blame entirely upon Angela Carini? For shame. Point: if it can be painful to be struck in the face, it can be painful to be struck on the arm too even while shielding. This is a pathetic defense of the propaganda that's now hurting women's rights and dignity. I hesitate to think what Smith would say if an Israeli boxing woman were subject to this disgrace. On which note, the opponent Imane Khelif, from Algeria, may be a Moslem, which makes this all the more disturbing, since it suggests a follower of the Religion of Peace is willing to contradict its opposition to LGBT practice to humiliate a woman.

And this is a tangent, but thinking back, the only person I didn't feel safe around in that class was another woman (who did *not* respect my boundaries over how hard to hit during practice drills). I never felt unsafe around the guys.

— Alanna Smith (@alannawrites.bsky.social) Aug 2, 2024 at 0:05

Most peculiar defense indeed of her bizarre viewpoint. And Marvel's had the gall to employ somebody this disrespectful of women's dignity? It's shameful but no longer shocking.

J.K. Rowling also addressed the issue, and Italy's premier has offered her condolences to Carini over this offensive act, which has been made worse by how Taiwan, of all places, actually approved of another man claiming to be a woman going against actual women at the Olympics. It's an utter embarrassment, and this all explains why the world Olympics is getting very dated and obsolete now. Fortunately for Carini, the Intl. Boxing Association is going to award her prize money, and she deserves every penny of it after what the Olympic committee's done to belittle women's dignity. Regrettably, Smith's unlikely to care, and the comics industry won't be improving the situation if it continues to hire people like her.

Labels: bad editors, Europe and Asia, golden calf of LGBT, misogyny and racism, politics