Gender and Sport
Video: Women in Sports face harassment - real guys reading real tweets
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tU-D-m2JY8
Last week Friday my friend and I went to play Basketball at Ping Centre (Recreational Facilities at Ohio University). We usually find a couple of boys playing and no girls. We thought if we showed up at the court we could get a chance to join the boys for a while since it's not that challenging or fun to just play against one opponent. We warmed up on the other side before approaching 4 boys who were challenging each other. They agreed for us to join them as we divided into two teams. Before the game even started, I already had a feeling of discomfort that I decided to ignore. Throughout the game, the boys didn't event put any effort in challenging us, whether dribbling, crossing over, or even making any baskets. We were there to play our best while they were making jokes. We realized because we were girls, they played differently. They didn't challenge us or even try to score without laughing or travelling. It was very disappointing to experience that especially here at OU. I had different expectations towards this place. My friend, who has attended OSU, says it's no different. She had to fight her way up to prove that she is worthy of being a part of the game. This blog will be focusing on Gender and sport.
Sport, like other institutions that benefit men such as politics, is a "Gendered Institution" that constitutes practices, images and ideologies, that are male related. It is a male constructed arena that has for a long time rejected women's capabilities to be considered athletes. Even after world record breaking women such as Serena Williams, Babe Didrikson-Zaharias, Billie Jean King, Lisa Leslie, and Allyson Felix just to name a few, women are still at the far end of earning respect without scrutiny in sports. Even today as we speak, men and women are perceived differently and experience sports differently. Not because of their sex, but by the existing social normative hegemonic ideologies that exist around this phenomena. These ideologies are embedded within cultures, practices, and values that makes it difficult for many women to gain respect and compete as athletes.
As Acker (1992) pointed out, "the relevant question becomes not why are women excluded, but to what extent have the overall institution structure, and the character of particular institutional areas been formed by and through gender?" (p.568). Some scholars have regarded sport as an archetype for masculinity. The beliefs and perceptions that control, segregate, and diminish women's participation in sports continue to arise in different forms. Bias criticism towards their bodies, dress, hair, tone of voice, aggression, etiquette, has increasingly been one of the most discussed topics by many feminist movements. If it's not their dress-code, its their tone of voice, if it's not their hairstyle, it's their intense aggression that's frowned upon. From media to public opinion, women are usually scrutinized for things that men are rarely, if never, scrutinized for. This gender division in sport stems from the need for men to separate themselves from women in order to express or display their masculinity, strength, and dominance. Since these character traits are not expected in women, those who stepped into the field were targets for judgement and criticism. It is unusual for a male Basketball athlete to be criticized for his shorts than it is for a female athlete, or for them to be criticized for speaking up against referees of umpires. More of this shows how women in sports are as much not separated from societal expectations to perform and act according to their gender roles.
During the recent FIFA World Cup in Russia, there were many memes created online portraying men with TV remote controls either glued to their hands or tied to their necks. The opposite showed women being asked to stay out of the TV rooms for the month of the World Cup to give their husbands, brothers, boyfriends, male friends, and male relatives a chance to enjoy the matches without disturbance. These memes were shared throughout the course of the World Cup with further captions of laughter and jokes. I found it to be disrespectful and more so sexist as a football fan. It's 2018 and we know that there are many female athletes from all over the world, we have female football teams that compete at the Olympics, and in Botswana, many of our best teams that bring medals from international games are female. This was a disappointment how people today still perpetuate a perception that women belong outside the sports arena. Some of the memes indicate how women are expected to not participate in any sport related activities, even to watch just as the image above showing a woman being told that her place is in the kitchen. These ideas contribute to many problems such as gender based violence and harassment.
To read more on 'Gender and Sport' here are some interesting articles and journals that further analyze this phenomena https://philarchive.org/archive/YOUTLA-4
Hi Gaone,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this, it made me think of a similar experience I had recently at Ping.
I went to Ping a couple of days ago to lift weights in the main lifting section (downstairs right when you walk in). As I continued with my first set of exercises, I started to feel uncomfortable. I noticed some of the men around me would occasionally look towards me. Also when men came next to me to pick up a new set of weights some of looked shocked to see that I was there, or not so sneakily looked me up and down. Maybe it was because I was lifting alone without a female work out buddy- which I commonly see women doing at Ping. Maybe it is because weight lifting is seen as a 'male sport' one that women are commonly excluded from, whether this purposeful or not. Reading your post and thinking about my recent experience, I think what you said Gaone, about "gender division in sport stems from the need for men to separate themselves from women in order to express or display their masculinity, strength, and dominance" is very true. I also liked how you brought up the idea of sports as an "archetype for masculinity". I do not usually lift weights at Ping because of how uncomfortable I feel each time. I think it is interesting how gender roles and the presumption of how a women should act and the activities she should preform transcend so easily (even if it is subconsciously) into seemingly simple everyday recreation, like playing a game of basketball or lifting weights on a university campus.
This post also made me think of what happened with Serena Williams during the US Open earlier this month. The Umpire of the game penalized her and took away the point she just scored. He did this because he claimed that Serena’s coach was making hand signals to her during the game; which is considered cheating in the tennis world. After the Umpire’s decision, Serena began yelling at the Umpire to revoke his call and give her the point back because she is quote, not a cheater. She continued to yell about how men get away with much more offensive behavior on the court and during other sports, and basically called the Umpire’s call a sexist one. Although there is much debate across the internet and among the tennis community about whether Serena was a victim of sexism or her actions ascertain being a sore loser. Although I personally believe that this is a combination of both (more of her being a sore loser), I think this event highlights what you were talking about Gaone and also calls attention to the fact that sexism still occurs in sports.
Attached is a couple video links showing the altercation and some commentary about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx9iT1OQMl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiBrForlj-k
I agree with you that Gender equality (especially in education and sports) has frequently been a highly controversial issue. Even Baron Pierre de Coubertin who founded the modern Olympic Games said at the end of the 19th century that “Regardless how toughened a female sportsperson might be, the body of a woman is not shaped to sustain specific shocks.”
ReplyDeleteEven today, though gender equality made some significant steps forward, such as the 1978 recognition by the UNESCO organization of physical activity and sports as a fundamental human right, the differences between woman and men are still existing, and gender equality has not come by far where it supposed to be. This controversial issue has been occurring worldwide not only the global south countries, but even the developed countries as you mentioned and there have also been a lot of social media campaigns targeting gender equality in sports as Nike and always, etc..
Here is an example about one of those campaigns that had a considerable engagement when released by Nike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=37&v=LCG7qET3_6s
Talking about Egypt regarding that topic we still have a long way to go as the media never cover or give any attention to women national teams in any sport. While we have many championships that won gold medals nationally and internationally but when it comes to covering those type of events you will find no coverage comparing men teams and championships. As an example at the same time when Egypt was playing in the last world cup, our women swimmer team was in a championship in Vence, and they won 4 or 5 golden medals while our football team lost. You could see the difference in the media coverage of both events and how people are more aware and giving all the attention of the men team event more than what was happening with the women swimmers.