tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141009872024-03-19T04:48:31.109-04:00After AtalantaA blog dedicated to discussions of gender and sports.kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.comBlogger1342125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-24394477578624687092023-07-09T14:33:00.005-04:002023-07-10T13:47:20.238-04:00Let's talk about periods--or not<p>In the lead up to Wimbledon, I read several pieces and saw even more headlines about the change in the all-white clothing rule to allow players in the women's draw to wear darker shorts/tennis underwear. (Does anyone wear those anymore? Wishing I had kept some of mine now.)</p><p>There were no bones made about the fact that this change was to ease players' anxiety about playing while on their periods. </p><p>Point1: This change was subject to a vote because it is considered a rule change to the dress code. A vote. In 2023 that helps ease the anxiety of menstruating players. </p><p>Point 1a: This is not a new issue. Most of the stories mention that some soccer teams are eliminating white shorts from their kits as well this summer. This discussion has also emerged in regard to long-distance athletes (cyclists, runners, triathletes) who are not as bound by dress codes/team uniforms but affected by the nature of their sports which often do not allow for a bathroom break to change a tampon or pad or empty a menstrual cup. So in those sports we have seen bloodied outfits. A few years ago (it was probably longer because everything seems to be a few years ago to me) a menstruating woman ran a marathon while on her period and was not at all ashamed by it and wanted to use the moment to bring attention to athletes who menstruate. (Google it for more details.) </p><p>Point 1b: The fact there seems to be some concerted attention to athletes who have their periods while competing in this the year 2023 is a little demoralizing (even as the changes I have mentioned are loudly applauded). It demonstrates how little input women have in sports as athletes and administrators. </p><p>Point 2: The print media was all over this story. I assume some radio outlets were as well. No one has said anything about the rule change on air. I have only been watching ESPN's coverage but I cannot imagine Tennis Channel is much different (and my only understanding of how the BBC operates is based on controversies over the monarchy and Great British Baking Show). The silence kind of surprised me given how commentators usually do not hold back when commenting on women's outfits. It is not as if the black and dark green shorts are not obvious. <u>EDITED TO ADD</u>: Martina Navratilova covered Sabalenka's 4th round match and said that the players are now allowed to wear "colored undershorts" and that it was nice to add a little color to the courts "legally." She DID NOT say WHY the change was made. The implication of her awkward phrasing is that the All-England Club wanted more color on the courts. </p><p>But of course television/streaming media is far more conservative than print media, as I often reminded my sport management students when I taught in those departments. They basically are still not talking about periods. Chrissy Evert generally cannot hold herself back from talking about what things were like in her day and how she responded to X and Y. But Chrissy has been radio silent (or ESPN silent) about periods and dress codes. Not very surprising; she does seem to stay quiet when it comes to women's issues. (Go back and look at how she responded when asked to join Billie Jean King's women's tour in the 70s. She will now, of course, talk a lot about equity in women's tennis when the issue has been rendered nearly uncontroversial.) </p><p>This is not about Chris Evert though. It is about when and where and how people in sports (media people, athletes, managers, coaches, etc.) can and do--do not--talk about women's bodies. We seem fine talking about women losing their periods but not about them getting them. </p><p>The athletes at Wimbledon have been open with the media (the ones who ask) about the role their periods play when the are playing. But I really would have loved to see all of them playing in red shorts this year. </p><p>P.S. I just read that the shorts are not allowed to "show" beneath the skirt/dress. I assume this means be longer than. But Nike's eyelet-ish dress has a scalloped (of sorts) hem that rises a couple of inches on the side seams. Aryna Sabalenka is wearing this dress and has dark shorts that are visible. No one has said anything. To be clear--this is good. I am just curious about which aspects of the dress code get enforced...and against whom...</p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-17132872527660845542023-03-16T12:12:00.003-04:002023-03-16T12:12:10.123-04:00The Katey Chronicles: Part I<p> I have many thoughts on the <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/27/sports/katey-stone-harvard-womens-hockey/" target="_blank">news that the Harvard women's ice hockey team</a> was a space of abuse, intimidation, humiliation, bullying, and general badness. I am having trouble organizing them and figuring out where to begin. There is so very much to say. My organizational strategy is to create multiple posts. This first one is about my interest in this particular case and a little bit on Katey Stone, the Harvard head coach who unapologetically created this toxic culture and women as ice hockey coaches more generally. </p><p>There is a lot to say about every revelation of dysfunctional and destructive team cultures. They exist far more widely than most people likely believe--at all levels of sports, and they are all multi-faceted (i.e., emotional and physical abuse, racism, other forms of discrimination and violence). This one for me, though, was especially provoking because I did my master's thesis on coaches in DI women's ice hockey in the early 2000s. I interviewed players from the two east coast conferences (ECAC and Hockey East) which, at that time, were where the powerhouse teams were. The focus of my project was the question of player preferences in the gender of their coaches. (And every time I see a story like this I re-regret not pursuing publishing some piece of that project.) </p><p>At the time of my project Stone, a still young/new coach, was building a powerhouse team at Harvard. She was feeding the American and Canadian national teams some of their key players. She was coaching <a href="https://www.pattykaz.com/" target="_blank">Patty Kazmaier winner</a>s.</p><p>She was (and remains) a preeminent female coach in women's hockey. She was one of very few women coaches in women's ice hockey, one of the facts that inspired my inquiry. She is still the woman with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_women%27s_ice_hockey_coaches_with_250_wins" target="_blank">highest number of wins in women's intercollegiate ice hockey </a>at #4 on the list. Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are all men. This was another entry point into my project: why all the men in a sport that, in its intercollegiate form, came of age alongside Title IX but was relatively small, with the best teams, and their feeder institutions (several of which Stone coached at) located almost exclusively on the east coast? </p><p>Stone grew up in Connecticut and attended the fairly exclusive Taft School, where both her parents worked. Her father was the Athletics Director. She was immersed in sports throughout her life and went to University of New Hampshire where she played both ice hockey and lacrosse. She played for UNH's first women's hockey coach, Russ McCurdy and graduated in 1989, several years before UNH hired its first female women's head coach Karen Kay, whom Stone would end up coaching against in the early part of her career, before Kay's contract was not renewed after the 2001-02 season. This was the other entry point into my project. After Kay's contract was not renewed UNH hired Brian McCloskey, the men's assistant coach at the time, despite having two finalists for the job who were women with extensive experience coaching women's hockey including national team experience. McCloskey had a very good record during his tenure which came to a controversial end (more on that in a subsequent post). </p><p>What does all this mean? Ice hockey--whether the men's or women's game--is very male-dominated at the highest levels. I realize this #notarevelation. This is typical of many (most?) sports. In a future post, I will talk about coaching culture and norms, which I think are (maybe?) finally starting to shift. But it is clear that Stone was raised and played in an environment where norms of masculinity as they manifested in coaching were prevalent and seemingly not questioned. When I did my research, it was clear that regardless of gender, coaches were engaging in what I thought was appalling behavior. </p><p>McCurdy was before my time as an undergraduate at UNH, but I was there when Kay was head coach, and I knew several of the players. She was not well-loved. She was seen as playing favorites which included having more personal relationships (I am not suggesting sexual ones here) with some players. She ignored players who were injured. This is in addition to the very accepted practice of screaming at players and yelling disparaging remarks; criticism greatly outweighed praise. </p><p>This is not excusable behavior. But it was not unusual. In my research just a few years after Kay had been released, no one claimed to like their head coach. They had differing opinions on how effective they were as coaches and their policies. But the players I spoke with saw--and accepted--that head coaches were distant and strict and that assistant coaches were the ones who were there for more personal things like talking about being homesick, romantic and friend relationships, or troubles with school. Head coaches stopped paying attention or nurturing players when they were injured, communicating only through athletic trainers. head coaches got angry and screamed and pulled jerseys and threw trash cans in locker rooms out of frustration. </p><p>At the end of my research, none of the women I interviewed expressed a preference for a woman coach, some did not care, and others preferred men as coaches. The reasons given for the latter were: that was what they had always known; they felt men had more experience because their history in the sport was longer (this also extended to referees for one participants who said she preferred male referees because they were better and more accurate). Some believed we would see more women as head coaches in the following generation because there were just more women playing at elite programs who would have what they deemed to be the necessary history and experience. </p><p>In addition to these reasons, I discussed two other possibilities in my paper for the preference for men as head coaches of women's hockey. One, it gave the still nascent sport (it only been added to the Olympics in 1998) credibility. Two, and relatedly, it meant avoiding the lesbian stigma. Hockey was a "masculine" sport with no opportunity (because of the uniforms) to add hair bows or visible make-up to connote heterosexuality. And indeed some of the women coaches were/are gay. Shannon Miller, who was also coaching at this time out west and for Team Canada, was fired (technically her contract was not renewed in 2015) for being gay and won a lawsuit because of it. </p><p>The lesbian stigma certainly exists in other sports and there has been research on how it has affected hiring and firing practices. I argue that it also affects how players view coaches and who they want coaching them AND how women coaches comport themselves and try to fit in with masculine coaching norms. This is the topic of my next post. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-46604951700614610442022-09-21T17:03:00.002-04:002022-09-21T17:03:30.857-04:00The character of coaches: Shane Beamer's outburst<p> Most semesters I start off my ethics course with an article about the connection between sports and character building. It inspires debate, requires an assessment of data, and sets the tone for the course in which I am asking my students to check their preconceptions in order to effectively engage in a process of moral reasoning. </p><p>We discuss definitions of character and how those definitions are often shifted or ignored when considering actions and decisions that happen in the context of sports. While many students will start to see that sports are not automatic character builders, that mere participation does not make someone a better person, they will take exception to the idea that unethical things done "in the heat of battle" does not make one unethical or speak badly of sport itself. In other words, the drive to win sometimes makes people do unethical things, but that's kind of just the nature of sports. </p><p>But doesn't an ethical person, by virtue of being ethical, do the right thing regardless of "the moment"? I ask. </p><p>Later in the semester we read a piece about virtue ethics and coaching in which the authors demonstrate the moral imperative coaches have to behave ethically and teach ethical behavior that, in fact, this is their primary responsibility--above winning and even above skill building. The majority of my students have experienced bad coaching. We fill the board with their examples. But few have ever questioned why so many of them have had bad coaching experiences. </p><p>If we truly want sports to build character, we must acknowledge that coaches are crucial components in modelling character. This rarely gets discussed though. And it is never a requirement for consideration when we talk about "good coaches." I still hear people call Joe Paterno a great coach. </p><p>Last weekend, University of South Carolina football coach, <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/south-carolinas-shane-beamer-apologizes-for-yelling-at-female-athletes-during-title-ix-ceremony/" target="_blank">Shane Beamer, yelled at women athletes</a> who were brought onto the field to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX. He wanted them off so the game--which was at a critical juncture--could proceed. He claims he was not aware that the ceremony was happening (yet also goes on to explain how much of a women's sports fan he is and that he has sport-playing daughters so...there was a celebration of the law that likely led to his daughters' ability to play sports yet he was unaware. #thingsthatmakeyougohmmmm)</p><p>He apologized but in the same breath noted how he was so focused on this fourth down conversion and that other team was gaining an advantage and...and..."heat of the moment." Perhaps he thinks this focus and attention makes him a good coach. I think it makes him a bad coach. Because good character should be displayed in the most difficult moments. In the grand scheme of things, a 4th down conversion in a game you are losing--even in the SEC--is not an especially difficult moment. He did not model good character for his players. He modelled what has become very common in our sport culture: making a mistake in which a minoritized person or persons is a victim and apologizing with an asterisk (heat of the moment, in this case). He also, in the process, threw the officials under the bus saying that they told him to line his players up. Blaming the officials is also not good character. </p><p>Sports do not magically make one a better person and research shows that actually the longer one stays in sports and the higher the level achieved, the less likely one is to have/display good character. Sadly, there are examples galore to use but no real movement to hold people--like coaches--responsible. </p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-77532811355727775142022-08-29T20:52:00.004-04:002022-08-29T20:52:56.578-04:00Unreconciled racism: The BYU incident<p> Last weekend, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/duke-volleyball-player-called-racial-slurs-at-byu-match-said-school-officials-failed-to-respond-205717924.html" target="_blank">BYU fans directed racial slurs against several Black women on the Duke volleyball</a> team. It seems that Rachel Richardson experienced the brunt of it including a threat from a white man in which she was told to "watch her back" on her way to the bus. She is the athlete who has spoken up about the violence. </p><p>BYU responded late and poorly, but this was an all-around failure by all coaches and officials. </p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/nkalamb/status/1564062903552073730?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email" target="_blank">It has been pointed out t</a>hat BYU's response reflects their ignorance. Others have thrown up their hands in a "it's BYU--what do you expect?" kind of way. </p><p>ALL institutions should already be doing this work. That Heather Olmstead, BYU coach, said that after talking to Richardson (and others) that she now "understand(s) areas where we can do better" is offensive. Stop asking Black people to educate you about racism. AND ALSO how do you not understand that yelling racial slurs is a problem? This is not an area to be worked on--this is an area that should be fully understood; there should be a plan in place for if this happens and more importantly a culture in which this behavior is not acceptable should already exist. </p><p>This work should have been done already! This is basic stuff. Athletic departments and colleges/universities that are not having conversations about race, that do not have action plans in place are failing. </p><p>This is not revelatory. </p><p>The question/issue that remains for me is whether an institution such as BYU that has clearly not engaged at all with its racist, imperialist, and colonist past AND ongoing practices can actually do this work authentically. One of the Mormon church's crucial practices is missionary work. M<a href="https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/decolonizing-mormonism/" target="_blank">issionary work is a form of imperialism</a>. They recruit non-white people into their religion without having addressed the church's own history. How can BYU legitimately engage in anti-racist work? </p><p>Arguably, the majority of higher ed institutions have not approached their own racism honestly, and many institutions fail to appropriately address and sanction racist fans (hey <a href="https://madison365.com/wisconsin-wrestler-responds-to-racist-slur-from-iowa-fan/" target="_blank">UIowa my alma mater, I am looking at you</a>!) For some reason, BYU's actions and inactions seem more egregious, more hypocritical as they preach a morality that they cannot adhere to given their historical and current practices. </p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-42883220057975128772022-08-09T15:03:00.003-04:002022-08-09T15:03:44.650-04:00That umbrella makes you look...like a hypocrite <p> Mariah Burton Nelson and Donna Lopiano, long-time women's sports advocates, have found <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/donnalopiano/2022/08/04/a-fair-and-inclusive-solution-for-transgender-women-in-sports/?sh=206c9f5e12ef" target="_blank">"a fair and inclusive solution" </a>to the "problem" of trans athletes--specifically trans women (because trans men are apparently inherently disadvantaged despite all that testosterone, the very substance that a mere blink of an eye ago everyone said meant everything in terms of advantage). </p><p>They (presumably with their more visible/vocal and polarizing colleagues Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Martina Navratilova) have created the Women's Sports Umbrella. The umbrella, they claim, allows for anyone identifying as female to have a "team" experience. But if an athlete was assigned male at birth and transitioned after the age of 12, that person cannot compete alongside women. Well unless it is an individual sport in which case fine but the scores/times do not get included with the "real women's" scores, they get put into the trans category. (But rugby and other contact team sports--forget it; they will hurt someone with their dense dense bones.) The authors do not use the term real women of course; but all their rhetoric about how trans women are category-defying makes the implication easy to pick up. </p><p>I am going to break down pieces of their Forbes column (linked above) in a moment, but first some context. It is clear that Burton Nelson and Lopiano are playing good cop to Makar and Navratilova's fascist cop. They use terms like inclusion and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion training for coaches, teammates and administrators (which should already be happening). They call trans athletes brave and say they should not be sidelined for being who they are. </p><p>But they are all still cops; they are all arguing for surveillance; they are all damaging the very entity they claim to protect and serve: women's sports. Because as much as they think that they are being all post-modern by recognizing that gender is not a binary, they themselves cannot actually get out of that binary and the traditional way of thinking that has reified western gender categories. This was cemented when they wrote: "our nonbinary solution is called the Women's Sports Umbrella." </p><p>To be fair, the binary they actually invoke is the inclusion/exclusion one. But their "third" non-binary option is inspired they say because trans women do not fit the category of woman--"biologically speaking." This is the height of cis white women privilege. They are deciding that trans women are other; that they are a third category. They are taking a huge range of trans experiences and putting it into a "third" category. </p><p>They keep invoking biology and categorization based on biology without acknowledging that humans create these categories and definitions. For example, some people in the past (and still) think they women who love women (which Burton Nelson does <a href="https://www.mariahburtonnelson.com/about" target="_blank">according to her website</a> which states that she has a wife) are not actually real women because real women have a biologically based desire for men. The norm is heterosexuality. The whole lesbian panic in sports is based on the idea that these women are more like men and it includes a biological component: some people believed that lesbians were biologically advantaged. And it is not just about sexuality. Many people today still believe that Black people have biological advantages. Though no one says aloud anymore that Black women should compete in their own separate categories, that based-on-science belief is not in the distant past, nor has its effects disappeared. (A cursory look at the coverage of Serena Williams attests to this.) But certainly we all know that is not true anymore, one might retort. Do we? Who gets picked out for being suspiciously masculine? Whose sexuality and gender get questioned? </p><p>There is a lot in this piece. I could point out the lack of nuance in the thinking and the violence that this perpetuates, but I want to end on the concept of fairness which is over and again uncritically invoked here and in other pieces about trans athletes. </p><p>SPORTS ARE NOT FAIR. This discourse has done so much damage to so many marginalized people in ways I cannot begin to enumerate. It is again being used as a weapon against marginalized people. Even if these women have decided that fairness is based on bone density and lung capacity and testosterone, they have not ideologically committed to that. Because if they had, they would be advocating to abolish gender categories and create sports categories on the basis of those factors. But that's not the umbrella they have opened. Why? Because advantage--even if we look only at biological advantage and not economic and sociopolitical and cultural--is complicated and not reduceable to neat categorization. They refuse to acknowledge this messiness because it might mean having to ditch the umbrella and reconceptualize sports. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG0onZVVrsbnetgqFXM4V93FWltdAorzJ2NLKflyuN7K6SPlA6AwhU-RiNugfaCwoHuX34rXS-Bl0W4aOH-yBSbxvi5KBCFbhc34-cN7Zws6IXmu7Lvr3v6wAGqa9-kRCk2njnJSsNQS8IJDycqN5KYh61e2nPNhipDVvxAUoaJUD23GgBoRU/s540/umbrella%20wind.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="person in green coat in rain and wind holding tightly to inverted umbrella" border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="540" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG0onZVVrsbnetgqFXM4V93FWltdAorzJ2NLKflyuN7K6SPlA6AwhU-RiNugfaCwoHuX34rXS-Bl0W4aOH-yBSbxvi5KBCFbhc34-cN7Zws6IXmu7Lvr3v6wAGqa9-kRCk2njnJSsNQS8IJDycqN5KYh61e2nPNhipDVvxAUoaJUD23GgBoRU/w320-h320/umbrella%20wind.gif" title="windy umbrella gif" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-83656498072200704852022-06-30T11:56:00.002-04:002022-06-30T11:59:00.657-04:00What "Save Women's Sports" has wrought<p>There are so many anti-trans bills passed by and pending in state legislatures here in the United States that I cannot even begin to address them all except to say this has been a concerted movement targeting trans youth for several years now and it is horrifying.</p><p>The bill in Utah is my focus today. All the bills are horrible and saddening and enraging, but this one...is all that and more. This one demonstrates the consequences of the anti-trans "save women's sports" movement.</p><p>The bill, which originated in 2021, bans children from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. It was passed in March 2022, the governor vetoed it, t<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/utah-transgender-athlete-ban-override.html" target="_blank">he legislature overrode the governor's veto.</a> </p><p>Governor Cox, a Republican, expressed some compassion when explaining his veto of the bill. He cited that fact that Utah had four transgender children playing school-sponsored sports at the time. (I would argue that the number does not matter, but will save that post for another day.)</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day,” Gov. Cox wrote in the letter. “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly. For that reason, as much as any other, I have taken this action in the hope that we can continue to work together and find a better way.”</span></span><br /><br /></p><p>Like in other states that have passed anti-trans laws, <a href="https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/06/03/two-families-sue-utah-over-anti-trans-youth-sports-law/" target="_blank">Utah is facing a legal challenge</a> from the families of trans children. This lawsuit is in its early stages.</p><p>Despite this challenge and fears that Utah will be passed over for events like the Olympics or the 2023 NBA All-Star Game (come on, NBA--use your power for good here) the legislature has moved forward with its assault on the dignity, rights, and health of children. The bill created the <a href="https://suunews.net/2022/03/31/how-utahs-student-eligibility-in-interscholastic-activities-bill-could-affect-sports/#:~:text=The%20bill%20created%20the%20School,to%20get%20the%20commission's%20approval." target="_blank">Utah School Activity Eligibility Commission</a> whose members are appointed by the legislature. These members get to determine who is eligible to play girls' sports in the state by establishing a baseline range of physical characteristics that include height, weight, wingspan, flexibility, among others and by meeting with students whose eligibility is in question. </p><p>Students who want to play girls' sports but whose birth certificates (for whatever reason) have them designated as male must submit documentation to this group (i.e. out themselves, i.e, endanger themselves) and meet with this group in a CLOSED session. What kind of traumatic events will occur behind those closed doors? [I am watching Under the Banner of Heaven on Hulu right now so my feelings about Utah are not very positive right now anyway.]</p><p>This is so very flawed and misogynistic and racist. Who is going to be targeted? Most definitely girls who are racial minorities and any girl who does not appear feminine enough. This is Caster Semenya all over again. Who is too strong, too tall, too wide? </p><p>The commission will establish gendered baselines for all activities. So now what happens to the cisgender boy who is "too short" for volleyball or the cisgender girl who is "too tall" for field hockey? What happens to children with disabilities? What happens to children who weigh more than the baseline? </p><p>The philosophy behind interscholastic sports is participation for the purpose of health, and emotional and social growth. They should not be promoting ableism, fat phobia, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. </p><p>This is what the save women's sports movement has wrought. In arguing that we need all these (scientifically unsupported) regulations to make sports "safe" for cisgender, white, middle-class women, they have endangered so many people across ages, races, and socioeconomic classes. They have increased the surveillance of all women. They have increased gender- and race-based violence. All of the efforts to make sports more inclusive by combatting all the -isms I listed above are being erased by these so-called women's sport advocates. </p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-12104973256563141572022-06-20T17:11:00.004-04:002022-06-20T17:11:39.855-04:00NCAA Inclusion Forum Talks Around Trans Inclusion<p> [this is cross-posted. <a href="http://title-ix.blogspot.com/2022/06/ncaa-wont-discuss-trans-inclusion.html" target="_blank">Original post is at Title IX Blog.</a>]</p><p><br /></p><p> I virtually attended last week's <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2014/8/5/ncaa-inclusion-forum.aspx" target="_blank">NCAA annual Inclusion Forum</a> which was celebrating Title IX but also included issues of BIPOC inclusion and athlete mental health (among others).</p><p>There was a panel on Thursday afternoon headlined by former Harvard swimmer Schuyler Bailar about trans athletes. </p><p>When the conference was announced, I was curious about how the organization would approach--or even if they would--trans athletes given the recent seemingly abrupt change in their policy (January 2022--<i>curiously </i>amidst the growing visibility of Penn swimmer Lia Thomas). They moved from a not ideal but not totally horrible policy in which hormone levels (specifically testosterone) governed participation, to a<a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2022/1/27/transgender-participation-policy.aspx" target="_blank"> we-are-cowards-kowtowing-to-the-misnamed-fear-mongering-save-women's-sports folks policy </a>in which trans athletes are treated as cheaters constantly having to submit to surveillance. Additionally, the NCAA policy is basically a non-policy because they have decided to follow the "Olympic model" in which each college sport will follow the rules of its governing body. </p><p>They have washed their hands of responsibility to throw the anti-trans activists off their backs, and they have sacrificed trans athletes in the process as well as compromising their own philosophy about the goal of college sports and inclusion and participation. To be fair, the organization has never truly adhered to that philosophy. [I will save a more thorough interrogation of the policy for another post.] </p><p>The description of the panel in the agenda (available in the first link above) was as follows:</p><p>Session 1 | Beyond the Headlines: Understanding the Trans & Non Binary Student-Athlete Experience Media headlines and state laws have contributed to increased discussion about transgender and nonbinary athletes. Rarely are the perspectives of these athletes shared or included in these discussions. This session provides an opportunity to hear directly from a former trans student-athlete about their experience in college sports and to discuss with administrators how campuses can support all student-athletes around this subject. </p><p>Schuyler told his story, the panel (there were two others who work in college athletics) answered some pre-set questions posed by the moderator, and we in the audience were allowed to submit questions in the Q&A window. Several of us asked questions about policy--the NCAA's and other organizations' policies. NONE of them were picked. </p><p>In the chat, as things were winding down and it was clear these questions would go unasked, I commented on this fact. Schuyler saw my comment, in which I mentioned that these policies are a form of violence (because he had talked about violent threats against him on social media and anti-trans violence in general). He responded that the panel was not about policy but about showing the humanity of trans people by sharing the story of a trans person. </p><p>Humanity is great; I wish the NCAA had more of it in fact. But framing this panel as one about humanity and then refusing to discuss policies that are the opposite of humane; that in fact are othering, is disingenuous. I am not directly blaming Schuyler Bailar. I am sure the directive was issued from on high. In fact, when I went to the panel description as it was presented on the meeting platform (different from the posted agenda), I found this addition: <i>Please note, this session is not intended to discuss or go into detail around the NCAA's transgender student-athlete participation policy</i>.</p><p>The humanity discourse was a cover. It allowed the NCAA to show a success story in Schuyler Bailar. It threw attention off of their own inhumane governance. It is a cover for the violence they are doing. It focused on one person, which has been a huge problem in ALL the discussions of trans athletes. They are focusing on individuals and not the larger philosophy(ies) and ethics of sport and human dignity. This approach has made lightning rods out of people such as Lia Thomas. It literally endangers lives by perpetuating the idea that trans people are not fully human; that they should be subjected to constant testing and monitoring and scrutiny. It was offensive that they approached the issue this way at a conference about inclusion. </p><p><br /></p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-30388429577329672532022-06-08T16:51:00.001-04:002022-06-08T16:51:36.988-04:00Confession: I don't care about rainbows<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhi2R6Gg9uHnYtcAGtdifqHwgagbfNdmbEWIuYSSWL8ee4icwBqeRkdypmLJsHVWDMS27LzP1csNYr497wF8urvd-iI_7ErjB4bqbsWzwGFSAyORXndOWurlp4ekiN9CsDU0ClbQ2MKyIwtA80KN646x5YmevK4KJErjYLU0xAasgLn4oQh38E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="509" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhi2R6Gg9uHnYtcAGtdifqHwgagbfNdmbEWIuYSSWL8ee4icwBqeRkdypmLJsHVWDMS27LzP1csNYr497wF8urvd-iI_7ErjB4bqbsWzwGFSAyORXndOWurlp4ekiN9CsDU0ClbQ2MKyIwtA80KN646x5YmevK4KJErjYLU0xAasgLn4oQh38E" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p>This perhaps make me an outsider in the LGBTQ+ community. Even before the concept of rainbow-washing was a thing, I was not especially drawn to companies/entities that displayed a rainbow flag. How did I know if it was genuine? What did the display of the flag even mean in terms of actions taken (or not); what did support/allyship look like? </p><p>And so, I am not particularly disturbed that some players for the Tampa Bay Rays chose not to wear rainbow patches and rainbow logo hats during their recent Pride Night. <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-trends-the-home-run-rate-is-back-up-but-in-an-unusual-way-hunter-greene-cuts-back-on-the-gas/" target="_blank">Five players said it conflicted with their religious beliefs</a>. While, yes, their discourse of conflict with beliefs and not judging/being welcoming is contradictory, that is not new when it comes to this issue. </p><p>The patch/hat was an opt-in for players. Now we know more about the five players who chose not to participate. They don't support LGBT rights because they feel it conflicts with their religion. Ok. </p><p>I am more interested in what the players who chose to wear the Pride gear feel and do. I am more interested in what the Rays as an organization do. </p><p>I am currently finishing(ish) research/writing on the sports closet/coming out discourses. One of the issues that I take up is how sport organizations capitalize on things like Pride Nights and "support" for athletes who come out, but that such actions are not especially progressive nor do they represent how gay players themselves experience their workplaces (in the case of professional sports) on a daily basis. [Think about Raiders player Carl Nassib who had to play under <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/jon-gruden-raiders-coach/k5tknb6zco0514gbg8uncux33#:~:text=Jon%20Gruden's%20Raiders%20tenure%20came,unearthed%2C%20leading%20to%20his%20resignation." target="_blank">Jon Gruden</a>.]</p><p>Five players on one MLB team made it clear that they don't support gay rights. That does not offer us special insight into the Rays, the MLB, or professional sports. Some people don't want to be associated with gay things. This is not shocking. Given everything else happening in sports around gender, sexuality, race, I don't even find this incident especially dismaying. </p><p><br /></p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-3109108492959516022022-06-07T14:59:00.004-04:002022-06-07T15:01:16.586-04:00I'm back!<p>After a 6-year hiatus which I spent being on the academic job market, getting a TT job and getting tenure, I have returned to After Atalanta. I am excited about phase 2(?) of AA and getting back to more public scholarship. I have kept up a sporadic presence at the <a href="http://title-ix.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Title IX Blog</a>, which I am solely in charge of now (yikes!), but am trying to be more consistent. Since so many of my current interests (trans policies, labor, ethics) fall outside Title IX or are only tangentially related, I wanted to come back here. </p><p>I am not sure what form posts will take. Likely, some of them will resemble what I had been doing. I am planning one on the <a href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/2022/6/06/genital-exams-could-be-required-under-ohio-anti-trans-sports-bill" target="_blank">new Ohio law t</a>hat allows anyone to question the sex of any female child playing sports. "Verification" would be done via genital, penetrative exams. </p><p>But I imagine briefer "quick take" posts as well. Things too long for Twitter (I will be using @titleixblog for After Atalanta content as well) but definitely worth mentioning. (I have some about the Women's College World Series which culminates this week.)</p><p>Over the next weeks, I will be trying to clean up the blog--remove dead links, add new resources, etc. I have to think about how/if I will address the comments section as well. (Things are scary in social media!!)</p><p><br /></p><p>Glad to be back!!</p><p><br /></p>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-28587085509350078202014-04-16T15:28:00.001-04:002014-04-16T15:28:42.571-04:00Fixing advantage by fixing bodies?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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If we thought the international sports community had learned
something about gender and sex, biology, identity and athleticism after the debacle
caused by the International Association of Athletics Federations in its process
of “gender verification” in the case of South African runner Caster Semenya, an
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/opinion/the-trouble-with-too-much-t.html?_r=0">April <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> op-ed </a>about
these issues has shocked the naiveté right out of us. I would have liked to
believe that the humiliation Semenya underwent when members of the
international track and field community questioned her sex thus triggering
physical, medical, and psychological examinations would become an anomaly.
Based on the information presented by co-authors Katrina Karkazis and Rebecca
Jordan-Young, it was not. The difference: the process of accusing and testing
Semenya was very public; the process of testing and “fixing” the bodies of
athletes who do not conform to the IAAF’s new hormone level policies (also
adopted by the IOC and FIFA) have been quite hidden. While the Semenya case was
a clear violation of her privacy, the implementation of the new eligibility
rules based on the level of testosterone individual women produce seems less
about privacy and more about keeping secrets. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Karkazis and Jordan-Young, drawing on a 2013 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism </i>article about the case of four athletes who did not meet the new
eligibility rules, are exposing some of the little known facts about their
application. Some sport governing bodies, we don’t know which ones, are testing
“suspect” female athletes to determine their testosterone levels. If it is too
high, in other words it exceeds the acceptable level for females according to
the organization’s rules, they are referred to doctors for more tests and
“therapies.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are three issues I want to raise here that stem from
those last two sentences. First, quick background: the article in the medical
journal is based on four cases of young (18-21) female athletes, all from
developing countries, who were sent to doctors in France when their
testosterone serum levels were deemed outside the normal female range. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will start with the most shocking piece of the article.
The therapies that, once completed, allowed these women back into competition
included removing internal testes and reducing their clitorises; procedures
that are both medically invasive and, according to the doctors who performed
them, unnecessary. Here is the text from the June 1, 2013 volume of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clinical Endocrinology</i>:</div>
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Although leaving male gonads in
[these] patients carries no health risk, each athlete was informed that
gonadectomy would most likely decrease their performance level but allow them
to continue elite sport in the female category. We thus proposed a partial
clitoridectomy with a bilateral gonadectomy, followed by a deferred feminizing
vaginoplasty and estrogen replacement therapy, to which the 4 athletes agreed
after informed consent on surgical and medical procedures. Sports authorities
then allowed them to continue competing in the female category 1 year after
gonadectomy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The authors do not delve into the moral or ethical
implications of this treatment. Rather their premise is it is medically interesting
that these women made it to adulthood without diagnosis, had family genetic
histories which include other sexual differentiation disorders, and that these
and other factors point to the need for screening of all young athletes “with
primary amenorrhea and hyperandrogenism to protect their health and privacy and
ensure fairness in female competition.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When African and Middle Eastern people engage in genital
surgeries on women, westerners call it mutilation. When French doctors do it,
it gets called therapy completed in the name of competitive fairness. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second, the idea that there is a “normal” is highly
problematic. A study from the same journal, published just a year before this
one, found that testosterone levels in elite athletes do not always predict
success. The study of nearly 700 male and female elite athletes found overlap
in the ranges of testosterone, including 16.5% of men who had levels in the
“female range.” This finding reinforces previous arguments in the debate over
sex testing, fairness, and advantages. Why is advantage only being measured by
hormones? Swimmer Michael Phelps’s size 14 feet and hyperflexibility fall
outside the range of normal. Should doctors shave down his toes and shorten his
ankle tendons? Sport governance bodies are not considering the many biological
and cultural conditions that confer or decrease in individual athletes. They
have zeroed in on hormones. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, the concept of a suspect female athlete is, well,
highly suspect. Though some sporting bodies are starting screening on every
competitor in female categories, the possibility of discrimination based on
race, performed femininity, nationalism, and class remains too high. Who is
being brought in for testing and “therapy” is about more than countries with
poor health care systems, as the French doctors suggest. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How does it come to pass that sport governing organizations,
whose very existence is predicated on moving, achieving, striving bodies, know
so little about bodies? I would suggest that it is ironic, but I fear that word
might misrepresent the gravity of the present situation. What it appears to be
is that these organizations are considering and assessing the politics and the
policies more intently than the interests of the athletes whom they allegedly
serve. And they are using the medical industry to help them do so. </div>
kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-18294847439994050602014-02-14T15:02:00.000-05:002014-02-14T15:02:20.567-05:00You can literally see the inequality<a href="http://afterata.blogspot.com/2014/02/my-former-dreams-are-shattered.html">Last weekish I wrote</a> about my astonishment that there isn't a 4-women bobsled event and how this speaks to the inequality that still remains in the Olympics in spite of visible and highly touted progress (i.e., the much-belated inclusion of women's ski jumping) because of the lack of equality in the events themselves. Even women's ski jumping has only one event while the men have two (two different sized hills).<br />
Want to see the inequality? Not in a pie graph or nifty infographic (though those are fun); but here in <a href="http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/medal-ceremony-germany-wins-luge-team-relay?nid=14060_0">the medal ceremony for the team luge eve</a>nt. This was a new event this year (I think--I had never seen it before) in which a team comprised of a female sledder, a male sledder, and a doubles team relay down the course. When one entity crosses the line, he/she hits a paddle which releases the gate at the top for the next entity.<br />
Each team has 1 woman and three men. Why? Because female lugers only have one event--the singles. Just like the female bobsledders only have the 2-person race. Within sports in where the inequality lies. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-62881473070009672602014-02-04T14:54:00.002-05:002014-02-04T14:54:57.143-05:00Why adjectives matter: The case of women's sportsI ended yesterday's post with a line about female Olympians, who are the minority gender at the Winter Olympics, receiving a greater piece of spotlight. The caveat (in addition to the fact that it actually might not be true if one does a thorough content analysis of media coverage) is that the spotlight they are under highlights their sexuality, or rather their performance of their (hetero)sexuality/femininity.<br />
Obviously in most other arenas (pun intended) the spotlight on female athletes and women's sports is pretty dim. So much so that the media sometimes forgets altogether that women's sports exist. Because when "women" gets placed in front of "sports" it has some kind of cloaking effect, rendering women's sports invisible to the world.<br />
This phenomenon was on display last year when Andy Murray won Wimbledon, the first Brit to do so since Fred Perry in the 1930s. Except for Dorothy Round Little, Angela Mortimer Barrett, Ann Haydon-Jones, and Virgina Wade (the last, who should get additional props for winning it with just one last name). Some media outlets were able to point out the discrimination within 24 hours, which I guess is a marker of this thing we call "progress."<br />
But the phenomenon emerged again mere days ago when the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl--the first Seattle team to win a title since the Supersonics won the NBA championship in 1979. That news had Seattle Storm star Lauren Jackson more than a little confused (she was pissed!) because she remembers being on two championship-winning teams in 2004 and 2010. <br />
I haven't yet seen any corrections to the misinformation. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-601828263681805302014-02-03T20:57:00.000-05:002014-02-03T20:57:03.298-05:00My former dreams are shatteredMany women's sports advocates have cheered the greater gender parity that we will see in Sochi next week. Mostly this is over the long-fought and quite visible battle female ski jumpers around the world engaged in over their inclusion in the winter games. (There's even a movie about it--which I haven't seen but would like to get a hold of.)<br />
But of course all is not equal, it's not even equitable. I was pretty sure, and <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/02/sochi-olympics-winter-women-column/4457603/">then this article confirmed,</a> that there would be no Nordic combined (jumping and cross-country skiing) event for women. <br />
But, as with the summer games, it's more than just sports, it's events within sports that provide more opportunities for male Olympic athletes than female ones.<br />
The most surprising to me was bobsled. In college, I remember the announcement that women's bobsled would be included in the 2002 games. My three female housemates and I were quite excited that we theoretically (and in theory only) had the possibility of being the first US 4-woman bobsled team. I guess technically we still do because there is no 4-person women's bobsled, only 2-person. I have seen no compelling reason for its absence.<br />
This absence is especially salient this year given the controversy over which American women would go to Sochi. Track star Lolo Jones, who took up bobsled in 2012 after a disappointing and also controversial showing at the London Games, made the team despite her lack of experience. Some in bobsled circles suggest that she is there for publicity with other conspiracy-minded people suggesting that NBC needs a female media darling given Lindsey Vonn's injury-induced absence from the games.<br />
So though there is no parity yet in terms of opportunities, female athletes may have more than their fair share of the spotlight. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-22626619610314865362014-02-02T21:00:00.000-05:002014-02-02T21:00:06.710-05:00Should you watch the Olympics?<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/fashion/gays-lesbians-discrimination-Winter-Olympics-Sochi.html?_r=0">Yesterday's NYT</a> had an article about whether gay people were planning on "boycotting" the Sochi Olympics by not watching the games when they begin next week. Some of those interviewed, who noted that they were indeed fans of the Olympics, said they didn't feel right watching feeling that doing so would be a sign of support for Russia's anti-gay policies and sentiments.<br />
But, as Hilary Rosen of CNN and others have noted, not watching the Olympics will not have a direct effect on Russia. Russia will feel the effects, however, if fewer people attend the events and spend money in the country, as <a href="http://skift.com/2014/01/21/sochi-olympics-is-selling-far-fewer-tickets-than-previous-games/">has been predicted</a>.<br />
Russia has the games. Despite calls from different sectors to take the games away from Russia (rather unrealistic but at least someone said it), they will occur in the country. The goal, going forward, should be to make sure that such a problematic choice does not happen again.<br />
How to go about this?<br />
Well if we boycott Olympic sponsors like McDonalds and Coke (which we should probably be doing for a plethora of additional reasons anyway) maybe that will send a message. I generally abhor corporate influence, but this might be the time and the place, and it's not as if the bid process has been pure as the driven snow anyway.<br />
Which leads to a second suggestion, how about some transparency about the bid process? How about criteria that include a country's record on social issues? How about countries submitting plans that ensure impoverished peoples are not displaced, or animals killed, or indigenous lands desecrated? And I realize this would probably remove the US from the list of contenders; and I'm ok with that.<br />
Because I really want to watch the Olympics. Even knowing all the wrongs that are committed in the name of these games, which are clearly in violation of the <a href="http://www.olympic.org/about-ioc-institution">Olympic Movement's own mission</a> statement, I continue to watch. I wish I could be more ideologically consistent; that it wasn't so easy to erase the offenses. Maybe the IOC and the corporate culture that surrounds it is too difficult to change, but we should try. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-25123610082748358392014-01-10T13:05:00.000-05:002014-01-10T13:05:09.963-05:00Caitlin Cahow is part of the US delegation to SochiI just thought I would put that out there. Many of the articles I have read and radio reports I have heard about this "protest delegation" state that President Obama is choosing to send openly out athletes including Billie Jean King and Brian Boitano. Cahow's name is frequently left off the list despite the fact that she has been an activist for gay rights and inclusionary practices and attitudes in sport. Boitano came out publicly a few weeks ago. Cahow, a hockey player, has been out and part of this conversation for years.<br />
I imagine the rationale some might offer to the erasure of Cahow in the media is because she is not nearly as well-known among the American public as King and Boitano. And this would be true. But this "truth" speaks to the ongoing issues with the visibility of women's sports, especially sports that are viewed as more masculine, like ice hockey. But Cahow's resume is impressive.<br />
When media reports of the delegation mention King and Boitano and leave Cahow out, the invisibility of women's contact sports is perpetuated. Cahow is not a household name in the same way as the other members of the delegation, but not mentioning her takes away the opportunity for people to learn more about her and about women's ice hockey. Unlike other winter sports, women's ice hockey is fairly accessible in the inter-Olympic years. Spectators can access Olympians very easily (and cheaply given the low cost of admission to women's intercollegiate games) playing at the college level every winter. <br />
The erasure of Cahow from the international stage provides an interesting moment for us to consider how perceptions of gender and sexuality affect the popularity of women's sports and how media are implicated in this beyond just minutes of news coverage or lines of print. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-62128137131437534492013-12-29T22:37:00.000-05:002013-12-29T22:37:30.672-05:00List fail'Tis the season for year in review lists.<br />
<a href="http://www.outsports.com/2013/12/26/5225852/outsports-gay-sports-2013-year-review">Outsports compiled its own "gay sports year in review." </a><br />
Year-end reviews can sometimes be cursory. But I was initially impressed by the lesser known and/or remembered stories writer Jim Buzinski mentioned in the piece including a gay male high school basketball coach who came out to his team and received tremendous support.<br />
But when I reached the end I asked (out loud to the empty room), did they not include Brittney Griner? So I did a page search for "griner" to compensate for any poor reading skills on my part. Nothing. It was not just that Griner came out, or rather stated publicly that she was gay; one of the biggest parts of the story was the way in which she was, as a player at Baylor, compelled to not discuss her sexuality even after telling her recruiters that she was gay when she was just in high school. <br />
To leave this story off the list is unacceptable whether on purpose or oversight. (<a href="http://www.outsports.com/2013/11/25/5142662/outsports-give-thanks-gay-sports-warwick-naked-rowers-lgbt">Another list</a>, also by Buzinski, posted around Thanksgiving "Things we give thanks for in 2013 gay sports"--did include the Griner story as part of the <br />
And even if it was the latter, such a mistake comes at a bad time. Critiques have been mounting about how the movement for acceptance of gay athletes has been quite male-centric. Such an oversight, and the list in general, reflects this ongoing problem. Outsports has always been male-centric, but in an end-of-the-year list--something more microcosmic--it shouldn't be hard to pay a little more attention to women. I mean there might not be as many of the stories about naked or nearly naked male athletes that Outsports writers seem to enjoy putting on these lists, but it would still be a nice thing. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-66453456086862709832013-12-28T22:59:00.002-05:002013-12-28T22:59:46.173-05:00Two slurs in five years (?)This week Colorado State University announced it was <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/cougarfootball/2022516658_grid24xml.html">suspending assistant football coach Greg</a>
Lupfer for a gay slur he used during the team's bowl game against
Washington State. Lupfer used the term, which he paired with a curse
word for emphasis, against Washington State's quarterback after the
latter made a touchdown pass. Unclear why Lupfer was so upset so early
in the game. It was only the first of six the quarterback, Connor
Halliday, would make and CSU ended up winning the game anyway. Not that
any circumstance would warrant such behavior. But it might explain why,
as part of Lupfer's punishment, he is being required to undergo anger
management. He also has to do the requisite "diversity training." He
must pay for both interventions himself. (Are there random diversity
classes out there? Ones not part of company or university training? I
would invite him east to take my diversity course, but I'm not teaching
it next semester.) And he has been suspended for two weeks.<br />
<br />
This incident reminded me of the <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4366952">2009 one involving University of Hawaii coach, Greg McMackin</a>,
who used the f#@@&t several times during a press conference.
McMackin(who retired in 2011) also used the slur against another team
(though not an individual), Notre Dame; specifically the "dance" they do
before games. He was suspended without pay for 30 days. <br />
<br />
Two incidents in five years. Well that's not bad, right?<br />
<br />
Well
here's what's disturbing to me. It's not about the number of times a
coach uses the f-word. It's about how, when, and against whom. The
Hawaii incident was particularly egregious because the McMackin used the
term in a press conference--and more than once (3 times to be exact!).
And like Lupfer's comment, it was directed at an opposing entity. I
believe the public finds the behavior, at the very least, in poor taste
because the coaches, authority figures, used it against college
students. So there is the adult/student paradigm. There is also the
issue of using the term against an opponent and in public. It comes
across as a little but tacky (at best) and rather (unnecessarily)
malicious.<br />
<br />
But of course there have not been just two
uses of the term by football coaches in five years. It probably gets
used daily by coaches during football season. They just don't get caught
on tape (well on tape that goes public). [Though the situation with
former Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice should be a warning to
coaches whose normal discourse includes anti-gay (and I would add
misogynist) slurs.]<br />
<br />
It is not surprising that a coach
would use such a term publicly when he is probably using it privately
(i.e., not in front of national media outlets) quite frequently. <br />
<br />
<br />kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-45441634864734991042013-12-25T20:33:00.000-05:002013-12-25T20:33:59.801-05:00Russia does honey badgerRussia don't care. Russia just keeps on planning its Olympics.<a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/russia-plays-down-sochi-olympics-boycott-140112488--oly.html"> It don't care that more and more heads of state are opting not to come to the opening ceremonies in Sochi in February. </a><br />
Taking a cue from the<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg"> infamous honey badger,</a> Russian officials are claiming indifference regarding the news the leaders from the US, France, and England, among others, will not be coming to the Olympics as a form of protest against Russia's human rights record, namely (but not entirely) its anti-gay "propaganda" laws. (The US has some other issues with the country as well. I think the controversy over gay people in and coming to Russia has provided an easy out for US leaders and diplomats.)<br />
So instead the US is sending a delegation that includes three out gay people!<br />
Cunning? Passive aggressive? Brilliant?<br />
Don't matter. Honey badger...I mean Russia don't care. Unless they are a little less honey badger-esque than they are letting on. kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-91021935213830580902013-11-03T21:50:00.000-05:002013-11-03T21:50:29.613-05:00Let's get less physical?Sometimes one feels randomly inspired to blog even when one has not done so in quite a while and one has a conference paper to finish writing by Wednesday. C'est la vie.<br />
But I was a little bit surprised to come across<a href="http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2013/10/25/3295364/officials-set-to-reduce-womens.html"> this article</a> "Officials set to reduce women's hoops physicality" which said that "Physical play in the post, on shooters and on ball handlers will no longer be tolerated."<br />
The goal, they say, is to increase scoring by creating greater freedom of movement.<br />
There is talk, from time to time, of changing the rules in the women's game for this purpose. But the way in which this rule change and the intense focus on enforcement is being presented seems a little odd. For example, an additional rule change is the ten-second back court rule requiring the offense to bring the ball past midcourt in ten seconds. Makes sense.<br />
But why make the game less physical? And why do coaches think it is getting <i>too</i> physical? Auriemma called it a necessary step back.<br />
While I know that no one believes the men's game lacks scoring, I cannot imagine a scenario in which coaches would get together and say "hey, let's decrease the physicality of the game." Every other possibility would be raised to somehow improve the game rather than "taking a step back" on physicality. <br />
<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
<br />Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2013/10/25/3295364/officials-set-to-reduce-womens.html#storylink=cpy"</div>
<br />kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-82089752894915183262013-08-07T23:21:00.003-04:002013-08-07T23:21:34.120-04:00The sports world says uh-ohSh*t's getting real in Russia.<br />
Every day I see a new set of news articles, blog posts, and various other forms of commentary and updates about how Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws will affect the upcoming Olympic Games.<br />
As I wrote about already, the IOC isn't exerting a whole lot of pressure. And, at the time of my last post about this issue, I was leaning toward boycott--or at least bringing it up as a possibility to encourage some more meaningful discussion. But I read a very thoughtful article about how a boycott would serve, in part, to closet some openly gay athletes who would not be given a chance to compete in Sochi. I was compelled by New Zealand speed skater<a href="http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/08/03/gay-olympian-lets-go-to-sochi-and-speak-out/"> Blake Skjellerup's comments </a>in particular. Skjellerup asserted last week that he would go to Sochi and "speak out rather than sit out." <br />
The IOC had said that no one visiting Sochi for the games in February (athlete, coach, fan, media, etc.) would be subject to the laws. But the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, spoke to the contrary: “No
one is forbidding an athlete with non-traditional sexual orientation
from coming to Sochi, but if he goes onto the street and starts
propagandizing it, then of course he will be held accountable."<br />
This would seem to endanger people like Skjellerup and other gay people and allies who plan on doing <i>something</i> to protest the anti-civil rights legislation, whether it is a concerted or individual effort/protest. Skjellerup feels confident that the IOC will have his back in Russia, but what the IOC will do in the face of Mutko's unequivocal statement remains to be seen. Will it subtly suggest that gay athletes not do anything gay (whatever that means) during their time in Russia? Will we hear more statements about the mythical separation of sports and politics?<br />
Well the IAAF is already covering that territory. With all the talk of sprinter Tyson Gay's absence from the upcoming world championships due to a positive test for a banned substance, some of us forgot to notice that the championships are being held in Moscow next week. I believe this is the first big international sporting event to come to the country since the law's passage. In anticipation the IAAF commented about the anti-gay laws. Nick Davies, the deputy secretary general of the organization, <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2013/08/07/2753727/iaaf-calls-on-russia-to-be-open.html">made comments </a>even more lackluster than those of the IOC saying (I'm sarcastically paraphrasing) that he wishes Russia would see the error of its ways and reconsider the ban on anti-gay propaganda. However, he noted that the IAAF would follow the IOC lead and not make the events political, adding that the organization had to follow the laws of the countries in which sanctioned events are held, whether they agree with the laws or not.<br />
Well, there is the possibility of not sanctioning events in said countries.<br />
Remember when SARS hit China hard several years ago? Rather than put athletes in danger, sporting events--like the women's world hockey championships--were cancelled or relocated.<br />
The situation in Russia <i>is</i> political (even if we are not supposed to talk about it) and it will be dangerous for those going to the Olympics this winter.<br />
The IAAF's "this is not the place for politics" stance did not surprise me. Davies did remind the world though of its own charter that prevents discrimination based on gender, sex, and religion (what about race, sexuality, age, ethnicity?) and stated that such things are "simply not a problem in our sport."<br />
Let's ask Caster Semenya to confirm that, shall we?<br />
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<br />Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/08/07/2753727/iaaf-calls-on-russia-to-be-open.html#storylink=cpy</div>
kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-68317049447983701932013-07-19T12:55:00.000-04:002013-07-19T12:55:50.271-04:00Let's talk about RussiaThe writing has been on the wall for a long time now in terms of the geopolitical direction Russia is headed in. I mean, they were not exactly a model of cooperation at the most recent G8 when it came to Syria. But what is on everyone's radar screen right now, of course, is whether Vladimir Putin will let American leaker Edward Snowden stay in his country. (Apparently residence in an aiport is fine.) I am sure the behind-the-scenes wrangling must be quite charged by now.<br />
Is Russia just going to do what Russia wants to do? Or will the United States and its (reluctant?) allies exert enough pressure on Russia to get Snowden back where they would like him?<br />
As much as I probably should, I don't really care about the Snowden thing.<br />
I do care, however, about all the political capital the US and other nations might be using in negotiating Snowden's extradition. Why? Because I think more attention--and more capital--needs to be put toward dealing with the legal institutionalization of homophobia.<br />
While some of us in the United States celebrated the Supreme Court's pro-gay decision in <i>Windsor</i> last month, and nations around the world held gay pride celebrations, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/30/russia-passes-anti-gay-law">Russia passed a very harsh anti-gay measure</a>. On a personal level, this means I have crossed Russia off my places to visit (should have gone to St. Petersburg five years ago when I had the chance), I am more interested in how international sport governing bodies will respond. Or not respond.<br />
Russia is hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the men's World Cup in 2018. Neither the IOC or FIFA has proven themselves especially good at dealing with gender and sexuality based conflicts (see treatments of female ski jumpers and anti-lesbian soccer teams).<br />
While LGBT and human rights groups have been speaking out about the issue, especially as it affects the impending Sochi Games, the issue has received very little media coverage. <br />
The <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/ioc-warns-russia-anti-gay-law">Global Post reported yesterday</a> that the IOC has issued a statement which mandates that the Olympics remain open to all and free of discrimination for all participants, journalists, and spectators saying "We would oppose in the strongest terms any move that would jeopardize this principle."<br />
I am sure Putin is quaking in his judogi. This is the man who basically stole a Superbowl ring off Bob Krafts's finger and pocketed it.<br />
Of course then it doesn't really comport that he would ban homosexual "propaganda." What's so scary about a group of gay people waving rainbow flags and kissing? But I think dissent is probably one of the largest fears of a megalomaniac. After all, why would a confident leader fear three young female punk rockers who sing protest songs??*<br />
The call for an international boycott will likely not go very far. And it is difficult to determine what such a boycott would accomplish. Is it better to go to the games wearing rainbow flags, as at least one athlete has vowed to do, and challenge the system? The problem is that I imagine some people--like international athletes, will be more protected than international tourists and maybe even journalists.<br />
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* The documentary<a href="http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/pussy-riot-a-punk-prayer/index.html"> Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer </a>about the arrest and trials of three members of the feminist art and activist collective Pussy Riot was quite informative. It wasn't splashy, confrontational Michael Moore style but I learned a lot more about the group and the situation than I did from listening to Madonna.<br />
kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-41836189121327163462013-07-08T09:44:00.000-04:002013-07-08T09:44:33.710-04:00It's just not a major sporting event until......a male commentator makes a sexist remark.<br />
Someone needs to start a blog or Tumblr or something entitled "Commentators Say the Darnedest Things"--and by darnedest I meant racist, homophobic, sexist. <br />
Last winter the<a href="http://afterata.blogspot.com/2013/01/musburger-ramblings.html"> BCS Championship was marred by a one-sided game and the comments of broadcaster Brent Musburger </a>who spent some of the game's downtime talking about the quarterback's pageant girlfriend.<br />
At this year's Wimbledon, the comments focused on an actual participant in the event. BBC commentator John Inverdale noted, before the women's final on Saturday, that soon-to-be champion Marion Bartoli was not pretty. He surmised that Bartoli's father, who--like his daughter--has been considered somewhat of an oddity in the tennis world because of his style, told his daughter that she <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/07/199699417/bbc-radio-announcer-apologize-to-wimbledon-champ-bartoli">would have to work harder because she was never going to be a looker like Maria Sharapova.</a><br />
The comments caused discord immediately and Inverdale apologized before the broadcast was over, issued a written apology to the new Wimbledon champ, and re-apologized on the air before the men's final yesterday. <br />
His comments were not especially surprising. Commentators make note of women's appearances all the time. Usually it is within a fit/fitness discourse, i.e., "Serena spent the off-season getting fit" means that she lost weight. Men "get fit" too. But this is usually presented in terms of endurance, i.e. James Blake has really worked on his fitness this past year" means that he trained harder in order to not fizzle out in five-set matches and is no longer a "wuss"--a word I detest but which gets bandied about in such conversations.<br />
But all the conversations about women's outfits are also comments on women's appearances. And as rude as Inverdale's comments were, I found the whole Serena/Maria feud discussions that opened this year's Wimbledon far more distasteful.<br />
Also, Inverdale's comments implied that pretty girls--apparently as defined by being blond and tall--don't work hard. (Not sure where a muscular, Black woman falls in this pretty/unpretty spectrum.) When Sharapova came on the scene she had to prove that she was not another Anna Kournikova who, it was implied, relied on her looks to the detriment of her tennis career and thus was not a hard worker. I guess there really is no winning, even when you win.<br />
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On another commentators-say-the-darnedest-things note, there is John McEnroe. This should probably be a separate post but I am sticking it on here. McEnroe, when talking about the re-emergence of a former top player who spend some time on the Challenger circuit, imagined that his opponents would see it as a really good opportunity to gain some confidence. This is how he phrased the hypothetical player's inner monologue: <span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">"that will be a really good scalp if I beat this guy." And once again racism against Native Americans in sports goes unnoticed. </span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">While scalping was indeed a practice some Native American tribes engaged in, it has been negatively associated with all tribes and furthers the stereotypes used to justify the extermination of many individuals and tribes, while also ignoring that colonizers too would scalp their enemies. Use a metaphor not steeped in a racist, colonialist history next time, John McEnroe. </span>kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-81338927874643419142013-07-02T17:08:00.003-04:002013-07-02T17:14:05.962-04:00I don't know who is responsible......for the <a href="http://scoreboardforequality.tumblr.com/">Scoreboard for Equality Tumblr,</a> but it is awesome. Thank you thank you thank you to whomever is compiling all this data. We in the world of sport and gender studies are grateful.<br />
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UPDATE: It's done by a woman <img alt="image" height="156" src="http://media.tumblr.com/641dcadb1d05b50ca4252db280874275/tumblr_inline_mpbdmw1u5O1qz4rgp.jpg" width="200" />named Molly Arenberg. You can follow her on Twitter too: @Molly_Arenberg<br />
<br />kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-84113671742803990972013-05-22T12:35:00.001-04:002013-05-22T12:35:43.118-04:00Coach behaving badlyNo, this is not about the former men's basketball coach at Rutgers. 'Cause really what else is there to say about that that wasn't covered in the fabulous SNL parody with Melissa McCarthy.<br />
This time the offending coach is a <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-turnstile/seton-hall-softball-coach-accused-abusive-insensitive-behavior-150558231.html">young softball coach at Seton Hall</a>. Her players finally had had enough with her unreasonable demands (skip classes, forgo educational opportunities) and retribution when her orders were not followed. They have detailed many specific incidents (including calling her players aborted fetuses) which have reached the local newspaper likely because players' parents felt the administration was not listening to their concerns and had not delineated any kind of process for the investigation. Deliberate indifference and lack of policies/procedures is never a good position for a university to be in these days, but administrators contend that they do have a process and policies that they follow when complaints are made. Other than that, they would not comment on their investigation into the allegations. <br />
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kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100987.post-43489395893004013942013-05-21T13:21:00.000-04:002013-05-21T13:21:22.714-04:00Well that took balls, Jimmy Connors[Warning: this post is more crude than my usual just-plain-sarcastic language. I am not proud of this. But I'm a little enraged.] <br />
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Jimmy Connors was constantly checking in on his man-parts when he was an active professional tennis player. He touched his crotch after every point. So he clearly is well aware of the status of his balls.<br />
And now the rest of us are as well.<br />
In his autobiography <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/05/20/jimmy_connors_biography_the_outsider_the_tennis_star_shouldn_t_complain.html">Connors tells the world</a> that his ex-girlfriend and former professional tennis player Chris Evert, had an abortion while they were together. And he remains upset that he was consulted about her decision to not proceed with the pregnancy because, he says, he would have been there to support the child. Very little evidence to back up that claim given that he complained about Evert's emotional neediness after bad matches.<br />
Slate offers a very good commentary about Connor's reveal and the politics of sport, pregnancy, and patriarchy.<br />
The whole thing is just...icky or creepy or smarmy. <br />
Why this perverse power play four decades later? What kind of issues does this former professional athlete have with Evert, with women in general? What is this "poor me" attitude that is in evidence right on the book cover? "The Outsider"? Really? Connors clearly loved the spotlight. He stayed too long in the game making one notable run at the US Open in his latter playing years. Then he went away. And now he wants back in. But he is no less tolerable.<br />
I hope that Tennis Channel terminates their relationship with Connors in light of this most recent bout of bad behavior.<br />
<br />kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975351996302093224noreply@blogger.com1