Dallas Anecdote
Apr. 8th, 2014 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jianantonicI've been meaning to share this story for a while. I often complain about both sexism and ageism in bridge, and in the finals of the IMP Pairs in Dallas, Jen and I got a huge helping of both from a pair of men in the penultimate round of the event. On the first board, they had a quick auction to 6N, I made a lead, dummy hit, and declarer started to claim. Before he had faced his cards, dummy shuffled his up and put them back in the board. Jen and I both stared incredulously before asking to see the cards. Both dummy and declarer treated us like we were idiots for this. "I've got six diamond tricks, four heart tricks, and two black aces. Twelve tricks. What's the problem?!" The problem is, you pompous ass, we haven't SEEN the cards. Dummy grudgingly pulled the cards back out, we looked over the deal for the two seconds it took to figure out the claim, and put our cards away, too. The opponents continued to mumble some bullshit about how could we possibly have a problem with this, gosh.
On the next hand, the previous hand's dummy was declarer in 4H. Around trick 9, he attempted to claim, and again didn't show his cards, just told us that Jen would get her high trump and he was making 4. We had to insist that he show his cards before he actually faced them. When we saw the cards, it was clear that he thought his long spade suit was good -- but it wasn't. I had five to the jack or some such holding guaranteeing me a trick in the suit for down one. He then insisted that we play it out. No, you fucking prick, you claimed. So we call the director over, and once again he trots out his "these bitches are bitches" line -- he says, "I have 10 tricks, she gets the high trump, making four, what's the problem?" At this point, there's more than one problem, actually. One, you've made a bad claim, and two, you're being a huge jerk. Anyway the director sets him straight, saying that he should know better than try to play out a hand after a claim and of course we get a spade trick, down one. He did not take this graciously.
When we moved on to the next table, our opponents remarked that it sounded like we'd had a nice time against the two previous "gentlemen." Ha. I said to Jen, "I wonder if he thinks he can get away with treating us like that because we're young, or because we're women, or both?" The female opponent chirped up to that, agreeing that this game is full of sexism and women do get disrespected all the time. Her husband and bridge partner couldn't let this sit, and he said, "Now, wait a minute, there's a female pair at our club that no one would dare disrespect!"
"Oh, well, good to know there's one pair."
"Yeah, Shawn Quinn and Mildred Breed."
"AH! I SEE! So all I need to get respect at the bridge table is either multiple world championships, or a penis. Got it."
You know what? Go ahead and underestimate me because I'm female or because I'm young. You'll soon learn that was a mistake. But disrespect me and I will fucking castrate you. Then you, too, can experience the bridge world without testicles.
On the next hand, the previous hand's dummy was declarer in 4H. Around trick 9, he attempted to claim, and again didn't show his cards, just told us that Jen would get her high trump and he was making 4. We had to insist that he show his cards before he actually faced them. When we saw the cards, it was clear that he thought his long spade suit was good -- but it wasn't. I had five to the jack or some such holding guaranteeing me a trick in the suit for down one. He then insisted that we play it out. No, you fucking prick, you claimed. So we call the director over, and once again he trots out his "these bitches are bitches" line -- he says, "I have 10 tricks, she gets the high trump, making four, what's the problem?" At this point, there's more than one problem, actually. One, you've made a bad claim, and two, you're being a huge jerk. Anyway the director sets him straight, saying that he should know better than try to play out a hand after a claim and of course we get a spade trick, down one. He did not take this graciously.
When we moved on to the next table, our opponents remarked that it sounded like we'd had a nice time against the two previous "gentlemen." Ha. I said to Jen, "I wonder if he thinks he can get away with treating us like that because we're young, or because we're women, or both?" The female opponent chirped up to that, agreeing that this game is full of sexism and women do get disrespected all the time. Her husband and bridge partner couldn't let this sit, and he said, "Now, wait a minute, there's a female pair at our club that no one would dare disrespect!"
"Oh, well, good to know there's one pair."
"Yeah, Shawn Quinn and Mildred Breed."
"AH! I SEE! So all I need to get respect at the bridge table is either multiple world championships, or a penis. Got it."
You know what? Go ahead and underestimate me because I'm female or because I'm young. You'll soon learn that was a mistake. But disrespect me and I will fucking castrate you. Then you, too, can experience the bridge world without testicles.
