After Atalanta

A lot of the recent chatter about women in the Olympics has been around 1) Saudi Arabia's ban on women's sports and 2) just how much testosterone a woman can have before she crosses the line into "man." But even "normally" hormoned women not from Saudi Arabia are having issues as thy prepare for London. Sania Mirza, who was chosen to by the Indian Tennis Federation to represent India, has been at the center of an odd argument about who shall play with whom. Apparently the men on the Indian team are arguing about who they want to partner with for doubles and for mixed doubles. And they are using Mirza to try to get their way. The father of one of the players wants Mirza to guarentee, in writing, that she will play with his son. Someone has said he will only play with someone else if Mirza plays with him in mixed doubles. It all sounds 1) a little but middle school and 2) a lot bit patriarchal. And Mirza calls them out on all this . It's an amazing ope...

We heard about Chinese government officials cleaning things up in Beijing by jailing dissidents, displacing peoples, and killing dogs all in preparation from the 2008 Summer Games a couple of years ago. But the clean-up act isn't anything new. Some of it has already happened in South Africa for the currently underway men's World Cup. And now it seems like officials in India are starting their own clean-up of Delhi in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. It is the first time India has played host to the games which feature the nations of the former British Empire. The games are held every four years and are the third largest sporting event in the world. In other words--a big deal. And as often happens when I prestigious sporting event comes to town, low-income peoples are made invisible through displacement, as is happening in East Delhi, where residents are being moved out (forcefully and without recourse) to make way for athlete housing. Also, bicycle rickshaw drivers are b...

Cuba may not want its female citizens boxing, but Indian women, who have been stepping into the ring for a while now, are excited about showcasing their skills at the Olympics in 2012. In fact the Indian women are probably the second best in the world after the Chinese. The benefits of boxing for Indian women are numerous but seem to center, at least according to this NYT article , on the possibility of a better life after their boxing career ends. Boxers get government jobs and housing as well as other perks. Such things mark one as middle class and many of these women came from a lower caste and specifically sought out boxing for its ability to engender such a class shift. It provides honor to the boxer and her family. It also gives women a little more reprieve from the domestic duties required of many Indian women. And for some it has altered their attitude toward such roles. One woman has continued to fight even after marriage and motherhood and works in partnership with her husban...

The Hindustan Times has a good article about the utter lack of support for women's sports and female athletes in India. In describing the conditions--lack of quality equipment, poor facilities, no media coverage, and pitiful compensation--I began to think about what state women's sports in the US would be in were it not for Title IX. While Title IX applies only to athletic opportunities within educational institutions and not national teams like those referenced in the article, we all know that colleges and universities provide a training and recruiting ground for national teams in many cases. Of course sometimes the differences are not so exaggerated. Women's sports in the US get very little media coverage and when they are the coverage is often problematic due the sexualiation, infantilization, and general lack of respect for female athletes. And the issue of compensation is also a good one. We all know that athletes on women's professional team sports earn far less ...

A new film about women's hockey (field hockey for Americans) in India is scheduled for release soon. Not sure when it will be hitting American movie theaters but keep an eye out for Chak de India which director Shimit Amin calls a "sister" film to movies Bend it Like Beckham and A League of their Own . Amin spoke of the importance of bringing attention to women's sports which receive hardly any attention in India but also highlighting hockey, a national sport that receives second billing to cricket. Amin hopes the film will stir up some patriotism and some admiration for female athletes. The article gives no indication of a plot but Amin promises there will be a lot of sports action and thinks it will do well outside of India because of the Western world's obsession with sports and their extreme fandom. Addendum: I found the Times review which 1) gave more info on the plot--it actually has one and it looks interesting and 2) that the film opened in the U.S. yest...