Scott's right



People who think Tessa is sweet and innocent* don't know her at all.
Scott Moir


PJ interviews Scott Tessa after Skate Canada win

I'm going to relate this quote to the sham, in this way: by looking at how many fans see Scott and Tessa, particularly Tessa, on the ice, and how they imagine she is off the ice, and how that plays into the sham and even how these fans prolong the sham themselves, because of false associations and assumptions based on very shallow but entrenched biases.

I'm not pretending Scott meant "Cause Tessa's a little bitch!" We know what he meant. He means she's not naive, or inexperienced, not some pure and innocent virginal good girl in the realm of passion and the full expression of the power of her personality - both as a woman and as a person. I don't believe we're speaking of only the intimate side of an adult woman's life, but her awareness and confidence about it and in herself.

I think a lot of fans just don't see Tessa, not even how she skates, because of her smile, her manners, her grace and her coloring, and her reserve.

As a figure skater, it's impossible for Tessa to be coarse. But people who claim she has been white bread for most of her career aren't watching Tessa on the ice.  If you strip bias away and actually watch what she's doing, her ease with expressing passion and intimacy is natural and convincing. There's nothing junior and girlish about it.

But when she does this, there are fans who believe she's able to do that BECAUSE she's so innocent, because she doesn't know or feel the meaning or implication of what she does, that to her it's because it's good old sweet Scott, like cuddling a stuffed animal out there. If only she could see him as a man!

In that fairly perverted hypothesis, Tessa is able to be sexual on the ice because she's so innocent, she doesn't even recognize her own movements as sensual vis a vis Scott. For her, they decide, it's kind of a cross between an academic exercise and turbo-charged snuggling.

Poor Scott. That Westermarck effect has screwed up everything.

I don't get that, but I read it a lot.  For those fans, I'd quit trying to relate Tessa to myself. I read that a lot too: "I think Tessa is x, y or z because *I* was x, y or  at her age." Tessa actually isn't like very many other people. If I were these fans, I'd try to get out a whole lot more, or maybe just think a bit more logically.

Then there's the - face it - more fun part of the speculation, which brings in Jessica. In these scenarios, Jessica is the sexually experienced one, the dirty girl, the daring one, and Tessa is sweet and a good girl so can't make a guy's motor run. It's that madonna whore syndrome kicking in, and IMO it has made Jessica Dube (in the fantasies of some fans) and her magical allure (comes down to - she puts out) prevail in the triangle in fans' minds. A lot of editing and willful disregard of some easily observed behavior and demeanor goes into this hypothesis because let's really look at who we're talking about. Jessica. Jessica's fucking tedious. Ask anyone on the Skate Canada team. She's needy. She's moody. Her tastes and interests are immature. She sees the world through a Jessica-tinted prism where somehow she's misunderstood and put upon. She's the narcoleptic of space cases.

Scott talks about the excitement of competing with and matching Tessa's energy, how great it is to play off her and skate with her. If he tried to match Jessica's energy he'd have to put himself into a medically induced coma.

Okay, it must be her fantastical sex appeal that is Jessica's trump card.

A lot of fans for some reason equate sex appeal with "has sex". If you are willing to have sex, you have sex appeal. Who knew the world was so full of sexy people!

That can't, of course, be Tessa, and even if she did have sex, how could the funny, gorgeous, passionate, driven (draw the veil over other adjectives) Tessa Virtue possibly compete with Jessica Dube behind closed doors?

Poor Tessa.

We'll set aside how this fan scenario (the dark haired selfish girl who puts out) supposedly appeals to every guy and, specifically, Scott Moir. Even though by every rationale measure, Jessica is the last person on earth who could interest him in public or private, as the copious production of sham material has repeatedly demonstrated. I'm not saying he'd look delighted if he were shamming with someone else, but I don't think he'd continually look as if imaginary wires were tugging the corners of his mouth up in a smile, although a little unevenly, cause one side is resisting harder than the other.

Then there's the funner side of the speculation still, which is - did Jessica try any funny business with Scott? How could Tessa handle her guy being around Jessica all the time. Jessica is - Jessica. Maybe not Mata Hari, but willing to make plenty of allowances for herself and grant herself as much leeway as suits her self-interest, ego and personal convenience. Scott's a champion. Tessa has everything (particularly Tessa's image) that Jessica would want.

Do I think Jessica is incapable of making a move, particularly if she thought it would infuriate Scott (he'd be the one most pissed). Of course not, she'd do it in a hot second if she was in the right mood.

Setting aside that Scott isn't the manager of the sham, that we don't see what's behind the camera frame, and so that he's not on his own with Jessica as the photos want to suggest, and let's set aside that it's Cara who has spent more time shamming with Jessica over the years then Scott. Let's just look at the threat Jessica Dube represents to Tessa Virtue.

Who looks happier when the entire sham clan is together, and who looks like they have indigestion? The Virtues look serene. Sitting behind Jessica and Alma in the Ilderton Gold Medal Celebration Buggy, they're smiling away, relaxed and happy. Alma's face looks like the face of a home nursing aid whose agency sent her to manage a client that is torturing her, but she needs the money.

Who looks happier - Scott in the Dominican, or Tessa in France (same period of time, 2009).

Who does Scott shove between himself and Jessica when the girl's existence gives him a head-ache? Besides Bryce (back in the day). And Patrick Chan (wingman extraordinaire). And Cara Moir? Tessa.

Personally, I just wish people would stop believing that "this" type of person and physical appearance means they're the sort who is like "this" in certain situations, and the other sort of person and physical appearance means you can conclude other things. If people quit doing that, their own lives would be sorted out a lot quicker, for one, and they'd get a better idea of what is actually going on in a wide range of areas a whole lot sooner.
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*Of course, and in fairness, Scott himself has spent most of his post-Olympic Tessa remarks telling us how sweet she is and how cutesy she is. Many fans are casting a soap opera in their heads and believe that if she's sweet and cute, she can't be passionate and strong. And this goes along with, if Jessica is THIS, then Tessa must be THAT. It doesn't work that way in real life, with each person playing an archtype.