The Tiger Woods scandal is a tale of sex

The women whose names have been linked to the transgressing Tiger Woods
have been described, in part, by their physical attributes -- busty -- but also by their day jobs.
The list of ladies has included both cocktail and pancake-house waitresses, a lingerie model
and two porn actresses. One woman was described all over the Internet as a British broadcaster --
or television presenter, as the folks across the pond would say --
but because that didn't sound nearly tantalizing enough,
she was given the added description of being "a cougar."

All the women have been engaged in various degrees of denial, obfuscation or the kind of eager,
guttersnipe gossiping typically used to ratchet up the price of a tell-all tabloid interview.
None of the women, however, has managed to exude the sort of righteous indignation
that one would expect from someone wrongly accused of sleeping with a married man
or the shame of having such a dark secret found out.

"He didn't use a condom," says Jaimee Grubbs -- a 24-year-old cocktail waitress
who broke the news that she had a 31-month affair with Tiger Woods --
she adds that Woods also didn't ask if she was on birth control, either.

"It wasn't even discussed. He just never used one."

Apparently, he also didn't use condoms while bedding 33-year-old restaurant manager Mindy Lawton,
according to Lawton's sister, Lynn.
"She said he never wore condoms," Lynn told British tabloid, News of the World.
"I was so worried she might catch a disease, especially as we suspected he was promiscuous."
(USmagazine)

Whatever might have occurred between Woods and all these women might never be fully known,
and frankly, that's the way it should be. But for all the careful parsing of Woods's character,
the attempts to reconcile his public persona with what might have been going on in the shadows,
the women are being lumped into broad categories.
They are being stereotyped as usual suspects for this sort of behavior.

Who knows?
Perhaps some of these women make a habit of sleeping with married men.
But in the same way that the man in this tabloid drama gets the benefit
of ad nauseam motivational dissection, so should the women.
They are not as famous as Woods.
They didn't change the nature of golf, or sports in general. But just like him, they are human and flawed.
Adultery is indefensible.
But so is turning these women into interchangeable commodities.

(Washington Post)




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