What started as purportedly "friends having fun" between all-time golf legend Tiger Woods and fellow PGA Tour star Justin Thomas back in February has resulted in a Canadian company corralling a donation of 16,200 period products to communities in need.
Back at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles this February, you may recall that the 47-year-old Woods was caught handing a tampon to Thomas after outdriving his younger opponent off the tee. Thomas, 29, dropped the tampon and laughed off the gesture.
Among those who weren't laughing was Ellen Hyslop, co-founder and head of content for The Gist, a Canada-based media company that champions equitable coverage of women in sports.
"What Tiger was basically trying to say is that women are inferior to men — when it comes to sports, and when it comes to golfing and driving (the ball) in particular," Hyslop told Narcity in a phone interview.
She added: "I think it demonstrated what golf culture is really like behind the scenes: Still very much a 'bro culture' that doesn't necessarily welcome in all types of sports fans or athletes."
As the backlash broiled earlier this year, Woods issued an apology. The self-proclaimed "girl dad" characterizing the moment as merely a prank that was misunderstood by those unfamiliar with his, uh, evidently sophisticated sense of humour.
"It was supposed to be all fun and games, but obviously it hasn't turned out that way. If I offended anybody, it was not the case, it was just friends having fun," Woods explained. "As I said, if I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I'm sorry. It was not intended to be that way.
"It was just — we play pranks on one another all the time and, virally, I think this did not come across that way. But between us, it was different."
From Hyslop's point of view, Woods did little to demonstrate his understanding of why his "prank" had hurt many golf fans.
"I feel like the apologies that always come with a 'I'm sorry, if I offended you' never rub people the right way," she said. "I think it would have been a lot more impactful if he would have taken the time and step back to potentially understand and explain that he understood why (there was backlash)."
It's the reason Hyslop's company worked to "turn a negative into a positive," using this month's Masters Tournament — the 25th of Woods' historic career — as the springboard for a "Tamponathon."
Partnering with Sunny Period, The Gist pledged to donate one box of tampons for each of Woods' strokes at August National to Period Promise, a United Way initiative that distributes menstrual products throughout B.C. With Woods withdrawing midway through the third of four rounds with a foot injury, The Gist ultimately donated 16,200 tampons.
Beyond lending a helping hand, Hyslop hopes The Gist's "Tamponathon" serves as a reminder of the way small, thoughtless actions can have major, unintended repercussions.
"If there's something sports fans could take away from this, it's that the small, micro things that we do in sports culture that we don't necessarily think about do actually have an impact on people and on the sport and culture in general," she said. "And it does, unfortunately, have the ability to leave people feeling like they're on the outside looking in, feeling like they're not included or even considered a laughingstock in sports.
"So think about your day-to-day actions and what they mean to other people more seriously, so that we can try to make sports more inclusive for everyone."
How Tiger Woods' Misogynistic Prank Spurred A Canadian Company's 'Tamponathon'
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