Interview with Marion Reimers, FOX SPORTS JOURNALIST

“We Don’t Look Any Prettier When We Keep Quiet”

The award-winning Fox Sports journalist assures that everything can be said if you know how.

Marion Reimers says it all. Or almost everything. The Mexican journalist and host of the Fox Sports Latin America program Central FOX, who has won three awards, the Medal of Merit in Communication and Journalism from ITESM in 2008, was a new female figure in Argentine sports journalism in 2012 and, above all, the first Mexican woman to be nominated for a sports Emmy, learned that “you can say anything if you know how” and that “keeping quiet doesn’t make you look prettier,” as we have been told so many times. “Talking about topics like politics, feminism, gender, LGBT rights or sports creates a palpable discomfort when you step outside of certain traditional roles,” she tells us. However, her attitude and her verbal ease on camera have led her to lead that organization and, professionally, to cover such important events as the 2018 World Cup in Russia, South Africa 2010, Copa América 2011 and the 2011 Pan American Games. Even so, she confesses to us that “I don’t feel completely free to truly speak about what I think and what I feel.” We spoke to her to find out how to be as determined and say things like she does.

In your experience as a sports journalist, why do you think women tend to remain silent in important situations such as a panel of journalists or a meeting?

It is a social framework that is instilled in us from many sides, that it is not so good to talk, that you look prettier when you keep quiet, and that women do not fight or argue, which carries a heavier burden on us than ends in a lack of decision, a lack of security, a lack of negotiation, etc. Some think being a woman is not desirable. But if a woman adopts masculine attitudes, it is not desirable either. So we do not know what to do, and this makes us doubt at key moments.

Your job is to give your opinion. How have you overcome social pressure to stand out as a sports journalist?

For me, it has to do with a whole network of support and a whole previous framework from which I have gained a lot today. I have had great privileges. I had a home where I was pushed a lot to have high self-esteem, to play sports, to be allowed to be, to dress as I wanted, to dress up as I wanted, etc. I was always taught to be able to speak. It has also been realising that I have a lot to contribute in other areas and losing my fear of fear. Something significant is that I have learned that everything can be said, depending on how. It is like the anecdote of the Spanish writer Francisco de Quevedo. Since he was so good with words, he was challenged to tell Queen Isabel that she had a defect in her hip. Quevedo arrived at the court, bowed to the Queen in front of the throne, and said, “Between the white carnation and the red rose, your majesty is lame.” Everything can be said that the problem is how.

So, do you always talk now?

No, I still don't feel completely free to truly speak about what I think and what I feel. And for me, that's the problem, that right now we must keep saying things in a certain way. Yes, I have found mechanisms to insert myself into that world and be able to express myself, but there is still a long way to go.

I've had to reconcile a lot, in the sense that many girls in my profession are very conditioned by the environment to be ultra-mega stereotypically feminine. But if you speak loudly or raise your voice, you are considered bossy and aggressive. But if any guy talks like that at the table, they say how confident he is. 

Sometimes, I want to rip my head off. It has happened to me that I say something, and a minute later, someone turns around and says, yes, like so-and-so was saying, and I think to myself: but I said it! They don't listen when we talk, and I think that is a problem that has nothing to do with a biological or scientific issue but has to do with a cultural issue.

Also, historically, men are used to talking, and they are not used to keeping quiet. They say that we are the ones who talk, and that is not true, it is they who do not keep quiet. It is very interesting. In the end, what we do as journalists at the table is talk to a lot of people. And if and when you talk among friends and/or family, these types of situations make you feel uncomfortable, imagine how you feel when you are speaking in front of thousands of people. Maybe no one notices, but you notice! And that creates resentment that is sometimes difficult to control.

What solution have you found to deal with this? 

For now, the only solution I have found is to have good friends who support me and to have a lot of tolerance for frustration. It is horrible, but it is the reality. This is why collaboration between us is so important. For me, it has been very important to relate to people who understand me and who go through the same situations.

How do you think we could collaborate more with each other and stop seeing each other as competition? 

It's a very good question. There is a tough competition between being the one who stands out and the one who could, and that happened to me a lot. It's something that I think we must internalise, but I don't know how to achieve it. For example, when I was coming back from Argentina, I was nominated for an Emmy for being a sports personality on Spanish-language sports programs, and since it's stupid, there comes a time when the ego inflates. It makes me proud to this day; it's not something I'm ashamed of. At that moment, I felt very good, very proud, and very successful.

As time went by, I told myself, how stupid. Instead of feeling like the badass about this, I should ask myself why there hadn't been a woman before. It's not that there weren't capable sports journalists before me, I didn't make it by spontaneous generation and suddenly got to this place because of my enormous talent and extraordinary ability. Yes, I have talent and ability, but there was someone at some point before me who did something that no one recognized, so today I am where I am. So yes, I have merit but watch out, let's get off the pedestal a little and think about it. Today I ask myself, why hasn't a woman been nominated since then? And I realize that it's a problem with the system.

Understanding that, I also feel much more comfortable and much more open to lending my cigar to other women and starting paths so that others are better off.

By:                                                             
Tatiana Cordoba and Noopur Bangar

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