When Billie Jean King competed and defeated Bobby Riggs in the symbolic Battle of the Sexes in 1973, women's tennis was struggling to assert its position. At that time, women in professional tennis also had to compete for recognition and rights. King's victory was a major boost that helped form the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) along with advances in bonuses and the position of female athletes.
Today, the tennis context is very different, when in all 4 Grand Slam tournaments, both women and men receive equal prizes. Therefore, the Battle of the Sexes in Dubai between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios is considered to have become a "swordsmanship on women's tennis", because it tends to resemble entertainment rather than a truly meaningful event.
A match is staged with the goal of promoting, attracting attention, creating a dialogue about gender. But when everything is pushed towards performance, when rules are distorted to "balance", when the core values of competition and respect are replaced by moments of laughter, the original meaning is gone. The rest is a counterproductive feeling. Not elevating anyone, but inadvertently hurting what one wants to protect.
In everyday life, such situations are not uncommon. Parents love their children, fear their children are struggling, so they do everything for them. The result is that the child grows up lacking skills, lacking contact, lacking the ability to take responsibility. Managers want to motivate employees with slogans, many movements, but going into reality becomes pressure, work is ineffective. Healthcare is also the same, listening to anyone say what is good, they listen and follow, but not understanding themselves, the consequence is physical exhaustion, mental stress.
The common point of these "counter-products" is that people are too confident in good motives and forget to check the actual consequences. Putting "intentions" before the question "where will this lead"... Not just doing a lot is good. Not just being new is progress. And not just being called "meaningful" is naturally right.
