After Atalanta

...you're black. The pot in the title is Jacques Rogge who, along with other IOC members, are engaging in "quiet diplomacy" with three countries who the IOC does not feel is doing a suitable job supporting Olympic female athletes. Part of the quiet is the refusal to name the countries in question but it is not that difficult to figure out given that the IOC names the barriers as religious, cultural, and political. Two apparently are working with the IOC but the third, most likely Saudi Arabia which has never sent a female athlete to the Olympics, is refusing to engage. This country will face Olympic sanctions if there is no progress in the near future. Anyway the hypocrisy I see, of course, is Rogge standing up for gender equity for some women, and then denying other women the opportunity to participate a la female ski jumpers. Makes it seem like he is reifying the whole backwards Muslim stereotype that is so prevalent in the western world. He is definitely supporting th...

Making a pitch to get back in after an odd series of events got softball kicked off the Olympic roster, representatives of the sport were in Switzerland this week appealing to the powers-that-be. (You can read about some of the happenings at on Twitters--yes, I finally joined--by following Jessica Mendoza.) And they have the support of the Prince of Jordan . Prince Feisal has said he believes softball can help women's rights in the Middle East. He sees the game, which he played and enjoyed while living in the United States, as ideal because it is inclusive of all age groups, able to accommodate different dress codes, social, and not a contact sport. The group advocating for softball really stressed the international appeal and possibilities of the sport, especially in developing areas, and for Muslim women. Most believe the IOC will announce which two sports will be allowed into the 2016 Olympics in August in Berlin.

Weekend Edition Saturday aired a feature about a group of Iraqi women in the Anbar province who have been playing team handball in secret for several years. Despite lousy conditions and restrictions on their access to sport generally, these women are trying to play in the national championships. I haven't listened to the piece yet myself, but I am looking forward to it.

I see articles or scholarly presentations about the "progress" of women in the Middle East, especially in countries or regions in which there is little separation between Islam as a religion and Islam as a government. Invocations of progress always raise those little red flags for me, but I, too, was pleased to see more Muslim women or women living under Islamic rule, working out, participating in sports, and generally finding their own place and activities in sport and physical activity. From adaptations to fitness clothing to facilities, it seemed that more and more women had the opportunity to become physically activity and even compete at the highest levels of their chosen sport. In Saudi Arabia, a country with very strict regulations on women's movements, habits, and dress; a country that has never sent a woman to the Olympics; many women-only gyms were sprouting up and becoming quite popular. But many are now being closed . Gyms in Saudi Arabia need licenses and tho...

Good article in the NYT about women's soccer (known there as football, of course) in Turkey. It focuses on the lack of acceptance for women's participation in the sport. Turkey has established a women's soccer league and getting people interested has been a battle because, according to the article, "there is a deep ambivalence in this socially conservative, predominantly Muslim society about women playing the game." This article constantly had me comparing the climate in Turkey to the one here. When a writer invokes Islam in the context of women playing sport, there seems to be an automatic response along the lines of "oh, yes, it's so bad there; they are so oppressed." After all, what are things like here in a arguable socially conservative, predominantly Christian society? This spring marks attempt number two at a women's professional soccer league in the United States. Women's soccer fans are crossing fingers, toes, and engaging in any oth...

As Diane at Women Who Serve noted yesterday , the reason for Shahar Peer's visa denial by the United Arab Emirates was because tournament organizers feared a boycott by fans. I was a little surprised by this revelation because I didn't think tennis was all that popular in the United Arab Emirates in the first place. And given Islamic rules on the presence of women in not a lot of clothing, I would think it just wouldn't be a huge issue because not a lot of people would turn up anyway. Weren't all these issues raised when the announcement about WTA tournaments in the Middle East (Qatar and UAE) was made? To me it seems the issue would not be losing a lot of fans, but of finding a lot of people gathering in protest. As has been reported elsewhere, next week Israeli Andy Ram, who is arguably less well-know than Peer, is slated to play in Dubai. No word on how that situation is playing out.

The work Billie Jean King is doing promoting the women's year-end championship in Qatar is the focus of this AP article . She discusses her desire to bring the sport to the Middle East and to bring sport to middle eastern women. It also notes some of the challenges such as advertising the event in public in ways that do not offend the Muslim culture there. In other words--no picture of players in their skirts and tanks. But WTA head Larry Scott said he doesn't really want to look at any contradictions with the values of the WTA and such concessions. Probably because Scott isn't able to see contradictions generally so it could be a difficult task for him. I'm not even sure he knows what a contradiction is based on his comments: "Our role is not to discuss concerns we have about society." But then: " We are here to build sport, and as a supporting organisation we believe we are a catalyst for change.... Sport is a reflection of society. This event could no...

The AP ran a story a couple of weeks ago about a women's basketball team in Saudi Arabia. The article highlighted the "freedom" from restrictions placed on most Saudi Muslim women that basketball engenders. Why is freedom in quotation marks above? Because when we talk about Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim women, especially in the context of sport, we have a tendency to impose Western norms. And, of course, we get into some problematic areas. Because of course many of the regulations placed on Saudi women's movement and dress are sexist and limiting--perhaps even debilitating. But there are a few problems. First, Western society and Western-based religions have plenty of sexist practices and regulations too. Can we really hierarchize them? Well I suppose we do. But we shouldn't. They all wreak of patriarchal stink. So such discourse as was put forth in the article (mostly in the titles that individual papers chose to place on the story) created a vision of sport as...

1. A tween rugby phenom is being denied an opportunity to play with the boys. Jessica Neilson, 12, who has trained with elite female rugby players, was barred from competing on her middle school team this year after having done so for the past few years (along with several other girls) because the school does not have a girls' team. Some strange bureaucracy is at work. Neilson's junior high became a middle school, which means the sports are now under the auspices of the Lower Island Middle School Sports Association. Although it has a non-discrimination policy that prevents discrimination on the basis of sex it also has an explicit rule that no girls are to play on boys' teams and boys are not to play on girls' team. Though Jessica and her mother have appealed the rule, there has been no decision which means Jessica keeps losing opportunities to play. 2. A group of Saudi women are playing basketball and hoping to one day represent their country in international play. It...

Harvard University last month instituted women-only hours at one of their campus gyms. The hours are designed to accommodate female Muslim students at the university who find it easier to work out among women. The students asked the university for the women-only hours so they could dress in ways more appropriate to exercise (i.e. clothing that is not allowed in mixed-gender situations because of modesty requirements). Needless to say, the policy has been controversial. Men have been crying about equal access (note that this is not the only gym on campus and this one is actually not very centrally located and there are only 6 hours a week when this policy is in effect) but it seems there is a decent amount of anti-Muslim sentiment behind some of the criticisms--by both men and women. So we have issues of gender and religion and even the role of an educational institution. The latter seems the easiest to address. A spokesperson for Harvard said is its responsibility of the school to prov...

1. Last time I wrote about international events, I mentioned the report out of the UK about the decrease in the activity level of women that is causing some concern among health experts and proponents of women's sports and physical activity. This story offers a different angle on the report that other news outlets do not seem to be addressing: the physical activity level of Muslim women. Some of the reason for the disproportionate level of activity is attributed to the different constraints on some Muslim women. Those who wear the hijab and/or adhere to the rules of sex segregation have an especially difficult time engaging in sport and other physical activities once they leave school. But the issues are being addressed--including in Great Britain where more and more opportunities are being especially created for Muslim women as well as opportunities that would not preclude Muslim women's participation. These involve sex-segregated spaces in locations with Muslim large populati...

A new and very interesting photography exhibit opened in Paris last week. " Hijab in Sports " is being organized by photographer Maryam Amouzgar who has been documenting Muslim women in sports for over a decade. The exhibit is in Paris but sponsored by Iran's House of Culture and will end later this week. So if you happen to be in Paris, check it out. Hopefully it will be well received and perhaps shown in other cities.