Katherine Switzer, first registered woman to complete the Boston Marathon, with her fellow runners interfering with an official's attempt to remove her bib number, USA, 1967

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Katherine Switzer, first registered woman to complete the Boston Marathon, with her fellow runners interfering with an official's attempt to remove her bib number, USA, 1967
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There’s a lot of things to think about in that photo, but one of the most shocking things is the date. 1967.

This is from Switzer’s wikipedia page:

In response to her run, the AAU banned women from competing in races against men—women had not previously been explicitly excluded. Five years later, in 1972, women were first accepted officially to run the Boston Marathon. Switzer finished third in that 1972 race and Semple presented her with her trophy.

So, there wasn’t even a rule that forbid women from running in 1967. They just acted that way because all of the organizers held the bigotry in their hearts.

Maybe to some young’uns here, 1967 seems like a very long time ago. But it really wasn’t. Switzer herself is 78 and still making appearances.

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To add, Semple is the guy trying to take her bib number. They made amends and became good friends afterwards (wiki).

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OP

Some people are legitimately just imaginationless (and sometimes misinformed in addition) and process-oriented rather than malicious - I know more of them than I care to.

At their core, they aren’t inherently bad people. But in a bad system, they often end up its defenders.

Him coming ’round and ending up a staunch supporter of women in running shows just how entrenched people can get in a way of doing things - and how, once that entrenchment is eroded (either by their own realization or the system itself changing), they’re not that different from you or I.

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Indeed, his Wikipedia page describes him as being prone to attack anyone who didn’t take the marathon sufficiently serious:

Semple was a Boston Marathon race co-director. He had an established history dating back to at least 1957 of physically attacking Boston Marathon runners he perceived to be “non-serious” competitors, whether officially entered or running the course unofficially.[2] In a 1968 interview with Sports Illustrated,[2] he remarked “These screwballs! These weirdies!”, crying at the ceiling “These MIT boys! These Tufts characters! These Harvard guys! They write me askin’ should they put on spiked shoes for the marathon!” According to fellow race official Will Cloney: “He hurls not only his body at them, but also a rather choice array of epithets… Jock’s method of attack is apt to vary.” In 1957, Semple narrowly escaped arrest for assault after attempting to knock down a marathon competitor who was wearing webbed snorkeler’s shoes and a grotesque mask. “The thing that made me so damned mad,” Semple said, “was that the guy was runnin’ with the good runners.” at the 6.5 miles (10.5 km) mark.[2]

(As I understand it, he didn’t take issue with women running the marathon unofficially, like Bobbi Gibb, who ran in the same race and finished well before Switzer.)

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OP

In a 1968 interview with Sports Illustrated,[2] he remarked “These screwballs! These weirdies!”, crying at the ceiling “These MIT boys! These Tufts characters! These Harvard guys! They write me askin’ should they put on spiked shoes for the marathon!”

Ironically, that statement makes him sound like the biggest screwball of them all.

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That’s wonderful!

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There’s a dollop on it. Gotta be like 170 something I’ll look it up in a bit.

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Guy was even named Jock, glad she could be so forgiving but he was big asshole that should of not been allowed 100ft to any marathon. If I been her boyfriend he gotten an ass kicking. Not just pushed down.

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Cautionary Tales did an episode on Switzer. this was not the only effort to stop her from running. they blocked her from entering, they followed her along the route, and they tried to block her from finishing. her trainer and then-partner (both to the right of her) got in fist-fights to stop people from sabotaging her run.

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and they tried to block her from finishing

Moronic men not letting women finish, tale old as history. The feckin cunts.

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OP

Moronic men not letting women finish, tale old as history. The feckin cunts.

“Was it as good for you as it was for me?”

“You didn’t even let me-”

“btw you can’t own property either”

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We Regret To Inform You also did a great podcast on the subject, but started with the story of Bobbi Gibb who was the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon, but couldn’t register for it because “women can’t run the length of a marathon” or something like that.

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Go to show that small men have been threatened by any affront to their primacy as long as there have been people.

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This is the history type stuff that made me be like. Wow. Im glad we have advanced beyond this weird thinking. Now I feel like buck rogers in the 25th century should be redone a bit more like handmaids tale the way things are going.

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