Sue Society

Girls are still fulfilling gender roles. They are conforming to the ideal stereotypical female. In today’s society most people like to think that society overall has changed, that has become more progressive. Society has slowly changed in some ways like how segregation between African Americans and Caucasians is no longer acceptable. It does not mean that prejudice and discrimination still do not exist but it means that society is evolving as whole. Gender roles and schemas have changed quite a bit over the years but not as significantly as many people believe. Women in the 1950’s were to be the stereotypical housewives and stay at home moms. Slowly women have entered more into the work force but many people still hold certain schemas subconsciously in the back of their mind. Babe Didrikson was one women athlete that helped to change the ideals of women and how they are view in sport. Babe was an all around athlete that competed in golf, basketball and track and field from around the 1930’s to the 1950’s. She challenged the ideal of the greatest athletes in world as men. Many people saw her as un-lady like and saw her threatened “the old male supremacy” (Women and Sport in the United States 16). She did not embody what most people viewed as a male.

Today girls are still pushed into certain gender roles. They are seen as trying to look pretty, not be very intelligent, and have nurturing and less power jobs. The media pushes these images and ideals onto children today. In the blog Title IX, there was an article describing how there is not gender equity in geography bees. It says how more men are winning geography bees. The author Kris speculated in the article Gender equity and geography bees, that girls grades fourth through eight, “ are ingesting different messages about what it means to be a girl, when being smart is not as highly prized as being pretty, when beating boys might not be as socially acceptable”. I think this very much true today. Society still sees women as sexual objects and as wives rather than human beings that are just as capable as men in basically every aspect of human life. The article states that a North Dakota professor is suing the National Geographic Bee for not making the contests equitable. I don’t know that is the fault of the contests or the organization but rather society’s fault in gender. Society still has underlying gender schemas of the roles that men and women perform so that the National Geographic Bee cannot be at fault, so sue society.

How Do You Change, After All These Years?

Last Wednesday, February 2nd, was the National Girls and Women in Sports Day. A day that has been taking place for 25 years now, and a day I had no idea even existed. When I began reading Erin Whiteside’s blog post from the Sport, Media, and Society blog, I was shocked to realize that such a day came and went without my knowledge. I was actually frustrated that I didn’t know because I believe myself to be a huge advocate for women in sports and sports media. In this blog post, Whiteside continues to talk about what exactly happens on National Girls and Women in Sports Day and she raises a lot of interesting points. The idea behind this day is to continue to advocate for equality in sport, but Whiteside goes on to example that women cannot simply advocate for equality anymore. Instead, women must also advocate for a change in the perception of women’s sport and a move away from sport being only associated with masculinity and sport as a male preserve. I think she makes a very good point, because for as long as sport has been around, this is what it is associated with. We learned in class this past week that gender plays a huge role in how sport is looked at in our society. Sport is constantly being reinforced by society as a male preserve through things such as institutions, media representations, and cultural practices. In order to change the idea that masculinity is the only thing that is associated with sport, things such as more female coaches and more positive media representation must happen if we ever want to move away from this idea of sport as a male preserve. I think one of the most upsetting aspects of media representation that comes from the Birrell and Theberge piece is simply the idea of symbolic annihilation, or out of sight, out of mind. I think being ignored is one of the lowest blows you could give to anyone, and it seems to happen over and over when it comes to female sport. I think Whiteside makes an excellent point that in order to have women’s sports become more of a constant force in the world of sports; you can’t just fight for what Title IX asks for…you have to fight for a complete reshaping of how our society thinks. It won’t be easy, but I think society is on the right path. And the more people know and understand the way sport is structured in our society, the more tools we have to change it. Because knowledge is power, right?

Homophobia for male and female athletes

With the concept sport, as we talked in class, is portrayed as a considerably male privilege through both structure and ideology. However in this talk of males being privileged, it is the underlying assumption that these privileges are only allowed for the heterosexual male. Homophobia is a topic that runs throughout sport and in some cases an athlete can be exiled from a team due to their sexual preference. In my personal opinion, having athletes speak up and say that they do support gay athletes coming out is a good thing for both sides. It shows that these athletes, who are professionals, do not have a problem sharing the field with someone of a different sexual orientation. It also opens up the door to the individual coming out and in a way welcomes this very large moment in their life. However one thing that struck me as being shown in the article is that the athletes that have spoken out about this are not top prime all stars. The most notable names are Reggie Bush and Steve Nash, two famed athletes. But what if someone like LeBron James or Tom Brady was to come out and say that coming out for homosexuals is a good thing? Would the stigma around this topic be much different? I think that it would have more positive effects for the athletes wanting to come out but some reasons why they may not is the backlash and reputation they might receive due to these comments. Another interesting part of this debate is the way in which heterosexual women lack in their speaking out of gay discrimination. As Birrell and Theberge state in Ideological Control of Women in Sport, women are represented in the media discourse as having homophobia on the topic of sexuality. I believe that this statement clearly shows how these female athletes would not want to be for speaking up for athletes coming out. This would possibly have a quite detrimental effect on their personal careers. It could first off make the media further their trivialization of women and attempt to frame these athletes as possibly being a lesbian. As Sue Wicks explains, a WNBA star and former St. Francis College assistant , she understands that at the coaching job fair her background as an accomplished pro is an asset, but her status as an out lesbian is an overwhelming liability.” ESPN Article Another example of a woman not being afraid and coming out no matter the consequences is Sherri Murrell, a head coach of Portland State University women’s basketball. It explains how when Sherri came out no negativity was received, only positive results. By Sherri coming out she explains how “There’s the younger generation of coaches that come up to me and say, you’re my role model. You give us hope. I hope to do that.” Sherri Murrell interview As one can see from the previous 2 examples, coming out can be both a detriment but also an enabler for others. I believe the binary between men coming out and women all comes back to two main ideas: sports as an inherently male preserve and the fear of homophobia in female sports. Once we can break down these ideological fears and allow people from all diverse backgrounds to share in sports, I believe it will end up being better for both sexes.

Gays in Sport

In response to the article, "Out of the locker room closet" I also agree it is important for gay athletes to have someone to talk to whether it be a coach, another player or just a counselor. In men's professional sports such as the NFL and NBA and MLB there has never been a current player that has come out and openly stated he is homosexual.

Many players such as "Steven Thompson" in this article http://www.outsports.com/nfl/2003/1002bloodysundays.htm speak about how coming out to their teammates would alienate them and effectively end their future in that sport just for that simple fact.

I believe a problem in society is the assumption that male athletes who participate in such sports as football or hockey, a sport that is portrayed as extremely violent and masculine that there is no way an athlete could be homosexual.

Several players who have retired such as former NBA journeyman center, John Amaechi have admitted that they are gay.

http://www.bridgew.edu/glbta/images/ncod/nba_maninmiddle_195.jpg

In this article about Dave Kopay, the first major athlete in the three major sports to reveal his homosexuality talks about his decision and the outcome of it.

Kopay read an article on homosexual athletes in sports and felt that some insight was needed. He decided to call in and was interviewed and allowed the paper to use his full name. One year later he published his book, "The David Kopay Story" which ended up becoming a New York Times best seller.

Society and athletes on teams make the assumption that a superstar male athlete doesn't have the possibility of being gay and that is what is wrong. The gay community in sports is a community that is secretive and frowned upon. Many athletes are afraid of coming out due to negative reactions.

I believe until a major star athlete comes out of the closet, the viewpoint of the male athlete will always be that they are straight. Imagine if LeBron James, Tom Brady, or Derek Jeter publicly announced they were homosexual. That would probably be the biggest sports news story of the decade if not the century. If an athlete of that elite caliber came out of the closet they would draw a ton of negative attention, but it would show that no longer would gay athletes have to hide and lie about who they really are. And perhaps one day the thought of a gay athlete won't seem strange and unnatural.

Homophobia and Negative Recruitment

“Family-oriented”. A phrase that, at a glance, seems harmless enough but could potentially be used promote heterosexuality to recruits while being visited by collegiate recruiters and coaches. Homophobia has completely polluted today’s recruiting trails, trying to promote to athlete’s that they are indeed a “straight-program”. Gay rights activists, coaches, and players argue that certain phases that seemingly are meant to boost a program’s reputation are instead used to prove a program’s image that they only promote heterosexuality.

ESPN The Magazine recently ran an article "On Homophobia and Recruiting" written by Luke Cyphers and Kate Fagan concerning the issues facing many homosexual athletes today during recruitment visits. The article highlights a situation in which "family-oriented" recruiting was used to try to persuade a recruit away from schools that had lesbian coaches on their staffs. A former Iowa State Cyclone basketball player recalls when Coach Bill Fenelly continually mentioned that his program was "family-oriented" and that at other schools, which was recruiting her as well, had "something going on you don't know", which the recruit believed was aimed at the lesbian coaches on the staffs. After joining the Cyclones, the former player says the coaches still pressed for his players to promote Iowa State's "environment" to any recruits visiting, which was that the Cyclones employed a married head coach and straight assistants.

Tactics such as these have received much criticism from Gay activtists, but coaches deny that any hidden agenda's are behind their "family-oriented" recruiting tactic. "If using the word 'family' is viewed as negative recruiting, then we're guilty, because we say that. I don't think it's negative. Maybe I'm the only one in America who thinks that's ridiculous to say," said Fennelly. "My staff is being penalized because they're married and have families," he continued. Fennelly isn't the only one trying to defend themselves on this subject, Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma stated "If that's the direction people want to take it, they've lost their grip on reality," on the subject of the focus of family in recruiting.



The article continues to explore other forms of negative recruiting, such as African American discrimination and criticisms of other coaches, and is a very interesting read. I feel that this is a very large issue today for all women's collegiate sports, not just Basketball, and more light needs to be shed on the subject. An athlete's sexuality shouldn't limit what sports or universities they're allowed to be apart of. Unfortunately, my opinion won't change the minds of recruiters and recruits a like. Will this be an issue that plagues women's sports forever? Or will the subject eventually be non-existant? Only time will tell.

Still Fighting

Women have been fighting for their right to participate in sports for years while they were forced to watch men play from the sidelines. I didn’t realize that women today are still battling to take their place alongside men. It surprised me to see that there is not widespread acceptance for this application because I thought Title IX was something that everyone was really for and supported. Though after reading the two excerpts from our book, I realize that that is not always the case. It was interesting to see that they thought that sports made women masculine. I understand that when a woman plays a sport, her muscle mass is going to increase, but I wouldn’t consider her masculine just because she is stronger. I found some very valid points in the Sport, Media & Society blog when they mentioned such frames may stem from increased media coverage of women’s sports that focuses on athleticism rather than femininity. I believe that this is a huge step in proving that women are more than just objects, but actual athletes. All too often women are portrayed on T.V. as sex objects about how they look while competing, and not actually how they compete. Women can’t be taken seriously as athletes, when all people see in the media is their bodies. There are a lot more to women than how they look, and actually showing them as athletes who have talent and skill would be a huge step in turning that around. Also the blog talked about that if visibility of women in sport authority positions were shown, then it would help to deconstruct the notion that sport belongs to men. This has been a huge problem throughout history that sport is solely for men and not a place for women, as either athletes or coaches. Society has always pinned sports as being masculine and not something a woman should do. For people to see women as authority figures in sport is a huge step in showing people that it is okay for women to hold such a high status and that we have a place in this so called ‘man’s world.’ It is going to be a slow process, but I think that these are some great strides forward in putting our foot in the door for women in the sporting world.

The Advancement of Women's Sports

There is no denying that women have made huge strides in the field of sport. Over the past hundred years, women have gone from being limited in sport by men to resisting the limitations that men had put on them to slowly creeping towards gender equality in sport. I am writing this piece tonight to tell you that, while women have made huge strides in recent years, the world of sport is nowhere near equal in terms of men's and women's representation. I do not know this for sure but I would guess that 20 years ago you would be hard pressed to find a Tuesday night Big Ten Conference women's basketball game being broadcasted on national television but many women's games are indeed broadcasted on national television on a nightly basis. Some would say that, because of the statement that I just made, women's sports are on equal footing with men's sports. Just because women's sport has gone from men fearing about a women damaging her reproductive system while engaging in sport to women's sports being televised on national television like the men, the two are not equal. Much more emphasis is put on men's sports than women's sports. A recent example that would be applicable in this case would be the UCONN women's basketball record winning streak. The question of if the UCONN women's team broke the UCLA men's record would it be as meaningful or should the streak be put into separate categories because the UCONN team was female is a perfect example of the way in which society still views women that participate in sport to be lower than men.