Who will stand up?

Earlier this week, I was follwing Pat Griffin's blog in where she states that heterosexual women and men need to stand up against anti-gay discrimination. For example, Sean Avery, a member of the NHL New York Rangers, told a newspaper that he "will support any young hockey player who wants to come out". After reading this quote from this athlete, several things began to run through my mind. I find it an interesting concept that Griffin presents, although certain athletes and prominent figures do not neccessarily have a problem with ones sexual orientation, but speaking out to others, shows that they don't have a problem with it, but want to make others aware of their stance towards the issue, so ultimately everyone will become more accepting in the sport world.

In the US today, there is still a presence of inequality in sport. Not just in relation to ones sexual choice but also in the continuous struggle for women as well to gain the proper recognition that they deserve after all these years. In our reading(s) this week, as early as the Olympics, sports were dominated by males and females experienced subordination (Hargreaves 3). Although not everyone believes that sports are just male-dominated, many believe that sports are not appropriate for women, specifically in relation of their body figure. Many claim that the sports women participate in will negatively affect their female figure. To answer this, a possible tweak of women's sports, many find, will solve this problem and therefore women will not have to experience this change to their reproductive bodies. I completely disagree with this, and it is very frustrating that many think altering these sports will in turn help the female, where I find that this will do more harm than hurt. The image above is of champion diver Matthew Mitcham and basketball player, Liz Cambage. I found this image relevant simply because of the sport each one of them decided to pursue. One may think that the male would be a basketball player, and the female the diver; but we can see that females and males are filling sports roles that would fall under a certain category of "more masculine, or more feminine". In this article it also speaks of women and their need for acceptance and recognition for what they do in sport, considering it is parallel at times to males. In the article, they speak of former triple world champion boxer, Jeff Fenech and how he is throwing his support behind women. Jeff doesn't necessarily not like the position of women in sport, but by him standing up and speaking out to the public, the issue of women in sport will gain more attention, which is ultimately what it needs. When Fenech steps out, especially when he is a prominent and successful athlete, people listen, and hopefully people that had a different perspective on women, so by listening to Fenech, slowly but surely, women will begin to gain the repsect they deserve (website). The article relates back to Pat Griffin's blog, just like heterosexual athletes should stand up for against anti-gay discrimination, males athletes should speak in favor of women athletes. It is extremely powerful when a figure like an athlete speaks to the public because they have status and the public may be more familiar with this person. In general, for change in sport to occur, and become more equal, individuals need to speak in favor of these others so others will also become more accepting and it will begin to become the norm. How can we expect change if no one will make a statment saying that change needs to be made? Jeff Fenech states, "they do everything that we do and they deserve as much as us males" (http://www.smh.com.au/sport/fenech-hits-out-for-more-recognition-for-women-20110119-19woa.html).