The larger “why” is a fairly compex issue, though repurposing Canadian prime minister-elect Justin Trudeau’s “it’s 2015” line from earlier this sums it up well enough.
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At Puck Daddy last year, Melissa Geschwind unpacked it a little more, and it’s worth your time beyond these three paragraphs:
So, color us disappointed that the Boston Blades, a Canadian Women’s Hockey League team, aren’t actually on some eye-for-an-eye tip to degrade men. On Thursday morning, the Blades sent out a call for “Ice Boys” that was either a to-the-point, satirical point on the issue or an actual attempt at hiring men and subverting the whole dynamic. Funny as the latter would’ve been, the situation is closer to the former.
Some teams have fully-clothed people (sometimes men and women, sometimes just men) clearing the ice. No teams have half-dressed men shoveling the ice, nor would anyone expect them to. Why should they? There are plenty of places for gay men and straight women to go for that kind of thing, and a hockey game just isn’t one of those places.
From the release:
Prospective candidates were directed to email either Patronick, which makes sense, or, tellingly enough, [email protected] by Nov. 11. They are not serious. (h/t @sarah_connors)
“We are really excited to add an Ice Boys promotion squad to the Boston Blades organization,” said Blades GM Krista Patronick.“The Ice Boys will help us gain even more exposure in the Boston community by connecting with current and potential fans. The Ice Boys will be an important part of crowd engagement at games, and will help represent the squad as advocates for the women’s game.”
“It’s something the staff and I had been jokingly chatting about for a while now,” Patronick told Sporting News. “We literally just took the language for an ice girls ad and changed it to boys, all things being equal, right?
“People have their own judgements about the use of ice girls in pro hockey. It’s not meant to be making a statement on that. We just thought it would be fun to see what it would be like to turn the tables.”
Yes. Fun. Still, I sent her my resumé just in case.
