Gender and Sports Lecture PDF

Gender and Sports  Sex and Gender Sex is a biological identity that is divided into the main categories of male or female. Gender is a social concept referring to the entire array of social patterns, behaviours, and beliefs categorizing men and women. Exists along a...

Gender and Sports  Sex and Gender Sex is a biological identity that is divided into the main categories of male or female. Gender is a social concept referring to the entire array of social patterns, behaviours, and beliefs categorizing men and women. Exists along a continuum of masculinity and femininity.  Gender as a Social Construction Our ideas about gender are socially constructed. This means the norms we define as important are always changing and look different in different societies and cultures. When we interact with others, we reinforce our common knowledge of reality as well as our understanding of how society is and should be. Learning, understanding, and viewing one another as a man and woman are social processes.  Intersectionality Intersectionality is the study of how various dimensions of inequality can combine. Developed by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw out of her investigations on work and discrimination. Based on the idea that intersectionality highlights how various dimensions of inequality can intersect with one another. The Urgency of Intersectionality. Kimberlé Crenshaw. 2016. 19 mins. TED Talk about police violence against African American women and Say Her Name Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o  Gender and Sports Sports are a social institution that unites people, reinforces social norms and values. Sports have played a major role in bolstering conceptions of dichotomous, natural differences between women and men Sports are highly gendered. On the micro level, the language used in sport is gendered. On a macro level, sports are unequal in terms of everything from pay to brand marketing. There are complex relationships between sports and how people think about masculinity, femininity, homosexuality, heterosexuality, & other aspects of sex, gender, and sexuality in society.  Gender ideology interrelated ideas and beliefs widely used to define masculinity and femininity, identify people in terms of sex and sexuality, evaluate forms of sexual expression, and organize social relationships Orthodox gender ideology = ideas and beliefs associated with an inflexible two-sex, or binary, approach system of classifying all humans into two non- overlapping categories. Using the word orthodox means that this is a traditional ideology that many people have internalized as “unchanging truth” and often linked to their religious beliefs or an overall sense of essential reality  Gender ideology A tool for maintaining the status quo Males are defined as superior in terms of traits that are connected with status and power Women are defined as inferior to men except in their ability to nurture This ideology leads to social worlds that are Male-dominated Male-identified Male-centered Gender (in)equity issues always exist when sport cultures are: Male-dominated (i.e., ability and performance qualifications are associated with masculinity) Male-identified (i.e., sports are a “man’s world” that emphasizes values associated with men and manhood) Male-centered (i.e., men and men’s lives are the expected focus of attention in stories, legends, and media coverage related to sports)  Masculinity in Sport Hegemonic Masculinity - Connell (1995) defines hegemonic masculinity as a public display and construction of male dominance and superiority in relation to various subordinated masculinities as well as in regard to women. Maintains and celebrates male dominance, superiority and heterosexuality For women, pain and injury are simply the price of playing elite sport; for men, they are badges of masculinity.... Sports is a gendered institution, whose values, symbols, and core audience are masculine, even with the rise of women’s sports and women athletic stars. —Judith Lorber, professor emerita, City University of New York (2007)  Gender and Sport Costs of masculinity Concept developed by Michael Messner. Refers to how ideas about how hegemonic masculinity is harmful to men. Men who step outside the norms face a variety of sanctions. Gendered insults and insults about a man’s sexuality might be used to make him feel somehow inferior. Life altering injuries Price of Violence: Brain Injuries & Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Disabling injuries caused by violence are a serious problem in some sports. Dominant ideas about masculinity are related to high injury rates in men’s sports This was “sports” for school girls for most of the 20 th century: semi-annual “field days” or “sport nights” during which girls could compete in running races and other field events or give skills demonstrations to parents. Photo © Lisa Larsen/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images “Field Days” would often show that girls could run as fast as boys. Myths were created to discourage them.  Gender ideology in sports: Female athletes seen as invaders Females in certain sports threaten traditional ideas about gender. Through history, myths have been used to discourage participation by girls and women. Encouragement varies by sport, and whether the sport emphasizes grace & beauty or strength & speed. Being a “tomboy” is okay; by mid-adolescence this was not okay. Girls and women did engage in physical activities during the early 20th century, but those activities usually emphasized grace and beauty as the basis for “ladylike character.”  Stopping the “invaders” Female athletes were socially marginalized and often labelled as lesbians, immoral, unnatural, etc. Until the 1960s there were widely believed myths that vigorous sports would harm the female body and make it difficult for a woman to conceive, carry, and give birth to children. When females did play sports, they were in individual sports emphasizing grace and beauty or in sports where a barrier (net, lanes, lane dividers) separated them from an opponent.  Ladies, not invaders When women wanted to play sports during most of the 20th century, they often named their team “Lady this” or “Lady that,” and called themselves as “ladies” to defuse the threat they presented to men and male control of sports This was prevalent in southern states where men controlled women by identifying them as ladies who would always be “ladylike”—that is, subordinate to men, but taken care of by men. Today, the term “lady” may not come with these constraints—but data show that “lady teams” continue to receive fewer resources than women’s teams without that label.  Gender ideology leads women to attract funding and support when they play “men’s sports”—even today Lingerie leagues have existed in a range of sports Until recently, this is the most certain way for women to be on a basketball court in a consistently sold out stadium. Photo by Dennis Coakley  Professional Sports and Gender Hierarchies Male-dominated, high-profile social world Deeply gender institution (maintains binary understanding of gender) Emphasized femininity - Connell (1987) defines it as the cultural and ideological support for the compliance and subordination of women which is often linked the private realm of the home and the bedroom, where women should be accommodating to the interests and desires of men. (Connell 1987; Connell and Messerschmidt 2005; Messerschmidt 2018; Messner 1992, 2007; Ortiz 2006, 2011) Media Representations of Athletes’ Wives Emphasized Femininity 1. WAGS 2. Devoted Wife and Mother 3. Pin-Up Wife 4. Dangerous Destabilizer (Bullen 2014; Clayton and Harris 2004;Domeneghetti 2018; Vaczi 2016)  Sport Marriages (Ortiz 2020) Career Dominated Marriage one spouse, usually the husband, performs a high-stress and sometimes high-profile occupation role in a male-dominated occupation world (Hochschild 1969). Traditionally regarded as a “man” world Live lives characterized by geographic mobility or instability Despite the increasing of number of women in the workforce, career dominated marriages flourish in professional sports Not always but usually husband’s career comes first in the marriage and family and the wife is subordinate to his career, regardless if she is employed.  Courtesy Identity An identity designation that reflects a partner’s status, activities and traits (an associated identity) that can be both socially valued but also can be discredited. The football wife identity as Courtesy Identity Views self as a teammate (personal) Reflects the football team (social, interactional) Seen as an extension (public) The Football Wife Identity Identity Talk (Anderson and Snow 1987) 1. Distance from unwanted stereotypes 2. Envision self as teammate While one does not think a ”football wife” is a deviant identity, these women feel it has negative connotations where they believe others think their marriage is not based on honest intention or that they are a “gold-digger”. Presentation of the Football Wife I felt like since these guys have some celebrity status that people expect something from the wife. I always felt like I needed to show up and look good at the games, smile and wear his jersey. Playing the role of the football wife. Consequences for Deviating from Social Norms and Expectations Is Taylor Swift an Exception?  Despite orthodox gender ideology, notable progress toward gender equity has occurred since the 1970s This progress is due to: New opportunities for participation Government legislation mandating equal rights (eg., Title IX in the U.S.; equity laws and policies in some countries) The global women’s rights movement The global health and fitness movement Increased media coverage of women in sports There has been progress toward gender equity For example, during the 2012 Olympics in London, there were a number of “gender firsts” There were no male-only sports (boxing was the last all-male sport). Every nation’s athletes included women. The U.S. team had more women than men. A Black woman won a gold medal in all-around gymnastics. A female Saudi athlete wore a hijab as she participated in judo.  Strategies for changing ideology and culture There is a need for ❖Alternative definitions of masculinity ✓Critically question violent and destructive behavior ❖Alternative definitions of femininity ✓Becoming “like men” is not the goal ❖Changing the ways we do sports ✓Focus on lifetime participation, supportive vocabularies, gender equity, and bringing males and females together to share sport experiences. Why don’t schools sponsor gender-mixed sports that nearly all people will play as adults?