After Atalanta

I 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. 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. When media reports of the delegation mention King and ...

One of my favorite college administrators had a lot of interesting axioms, which those of us who worked with her believed were largely of her own creation. But now I realize, they were just old. Like nineteenth century old in the case of one of my (and I believe her) favorites: a tub on its own bottom. The exact phrase is "every tub on its own bottom" and is apparently used all the time at Harvard (of course). It means a decentralized economic system and is employed up by university administrators to describe the way each unit is in charge (for better or worse) of its own finances--its own success, and arguably its own demise. She used it in reference to the athletic department at my undergraduate DI school. I have, being the good marxist feminist (kind of) that I am, taken a cultural interpretation of the phrase as well, and translated it to mean a unit of the university that is so financially different than others that it has its own, exclusive culture. And this is certa...

A few weeks ago, I neglected, among other things, to post about this amazing column by wrestling coach Hudson Taylor that was posted at HuffPo. Hudson, since he was a student-athlete, has been an ally of LGBT athletes and works to end homophobia in sport. Taylor demonstrates a very keen awareness of the way in which homophobia and sexism are intertwined. It is not a coincidence the sport has a history of sexism and homophobia. They reinforce each other. How different is it really when a male athlete is referred to as a "girl" or as a "fag"? Both are meant to question his masculinity and inspire a man-up moment. What about the ways that the lesbian stigma in women's sports is connected to its inferior status? So, good job Hudson Taylor. And much awe and respect to Pat Griffin for her column this week posted at Opposing Views. The day I read it I was teaching in my class two articles: a piece called "Patriarchy" by sociologist Allan Johnson and Pe...

Sadly, I just watched Sam Stosur lose in the semifinals of Roland Garros to Sara Errani. Errani played very well and I kind of like her style. I hadn't paid too much attention to her prior to this run at the French. But I liked her glasses and bandana look from the quarters the other day. She looked tough. Stosur always looks tough because the woman is ripped. But she is not a man. In case you were wondering. Dominika Cibulkova, Stosur's opponent from the quarters seemed to be wondering that after being defeated by Stosur fairly handily . I actually didn't hear the post-match comments or the comments on the post-match comments. Thankfully I have friends who keep me informed while I sit in the library endlessly coding data. This is nothing new, of course. Just a different set of characters. Cibulkova who could not handle Stosur's heavy topspin serve and was put on the defensive by Stosur's amazing forehand, thought this meant that Stosur was man-like in her style....

Sam Stosur currently ranks in my top three of athlete crushes. And so her success this past year has made me happy not just for her but for me--because I get to see her more when she is winning. She obviously gets more press as well. Including this article * by Malcolm Knox, which appeared in an Australian publication. It's a lengthy piece that chronicles her career, her sidelining illness, her resurgence, as well as a one-on-one interview with Stosur herself. Knox relates his encounter with her: When she stopped to speak to me, what was most remarkable was Stosur's stillness and clarity. She looked you in the eye. Neither as muscular nor as deep-voiced as she appears on television, she was strikingly normal, if that makes any sense. READ: She doesn't seem like as much of a lesbian (I was going to use the d-word but I'm holding back) as I thought she would. Criminy. Stosur's muscles are amazing. Her shoulders make strong and broad-shouldered like myself a little les...

Subtle, no?

News out of Belmont State in Tennessee last week included the announcement that women's soccer coach, Lisa Howe, resigned under pressure from university administration.* The impetus?Howe's same-sex partner is pregnant. The issue of "can they do this?" is complicated by the fact that Belmont is a private Christian university. So we shall have to see what--if anything--comes in terms of legal action. Meanwhile, Howe's situation has sparked some action. Students at Belmont have staged a sit-in at the university president's office. They are urging the university to stop discriminating against gay people. Of course the university and Howe say that Howe's departure had nothing to do with sexuality. Hmmm... Despite this argument, the university faculty senate, in the wake of Howe's departure, passed a resolution stating that gay and lesbian faculty and students should be welcome at the university. We shall see what more comes of this... * A new statement say...

Oh gender and sexual identity, how you confound me! But in that good way I so enjoy. Three things--but one thing--but kind of three. Where to begin? Well I've been thinking about queerness and homonormativity and voice and visibility of late. And not always in the context of sport. But all very applicable to sport. This video has been bopping around Facebook this past week. I like it. Because I like things that are thoughtful queer. But I wonder what does it mean to not come out? As someone who passes in some situations, I wonder if I have a greater obligation to come out. I understand the rationale that not coming out means that the definition of normal has shifted. But does not coming out actually help in shifting the normative bar? I am all for questioning normativity. But do I reinforce normal by not coming out? And in what instances? And in this binary world we live in, can we even say normative without acknowledging that there must be a non-normative? (Questions left unanswer...

Given the homophobia that has--historically--swirled around sport, as well as the recent spate of high-profile anti-gay bullying incidents around the country, this article was very welcome. At University of Michigan student-athletes have stepped up to support their student body president, Chris Armstrong . Armstrong has been targeted by Andrew Shirvell, an assistant district attorney in Michigan, for his allegedly radical homosexual agenda. Shirvell has followed Armstrong around protesting his politics and--seemingly--his sexual identity. Armstrong is currently seeking a restraining order against Shirvell. Shirvell has been making his feelings about Armstrong's politics known since Armstrong, the first openly gay SBP at Michigan, ran for the position last spring. Shirvell has also used his blog, Chris Armstrong Watch, to attack Armstrong. One post contained a swastika . I won't get into a discussion of free speech versus threatening speech, but I will note that it's kind ...

Until yesterday morning, I had not read anything about how Brittney Griner of Baylor has been treated by the fans and by the media. And I don't mean the reaction to her punching a Texas Tech player a couple of months ago. We all know that. I meant the reaction to HER as a very tall, slightly androgynous, deep-voiced, woman of color with a so-called aggressive style of play. But I knew that similarly situated players, like Courtney Paris, experienced racialized and sexualized taunts from the crowd. And I heard that from a fan, not from the media. This recent NYT article reported that Griner has been the subject of web chatter over her sexuality and gender (which is tied up in her race as well, though the NYT fails to note this). (Little aside: check out Dr. Lavoi's report on the experiences of two high school players on their meeting with Griner down in San Antonio last weekend.) But despite this information, the writer seems to think that Griner is part of a group of female ath...

I know that this story is already out there but it deserves more discourse. Plus it allows me to think again about the Olympics which seem so far away now, especially in this very odd 60+ degree pre-spring weather I am experiencing. So the story is that Johnny Weir was not asked to participate in the Stars on Ice Tour sponsored by Smuckers and the Discover card and organized by Scott Hamilton. Party line is that there is not room for him--which we all know is a crock of [low-quality, sweetened-with-high-fructose-corn-sugar jelly]. The allegedly family-friendly show is more worried about Weir's unabashed flamboyance. Apparently Weir has been trying to get into the show for years, but keeps being turned down. Smuckers denies the allegations which have been taken up by GLADD, too. Stars on Ice has been deemed one of the more conservative shows as compared to, for example, Champions on Ice, in which openly gay skater Rudy Galindo once performed seemingly without issue. Note that Weir c...

I'm not going to go into my "I really do like Dave Zirin, but sometimes..." intro here because, well, that pretty much captures it. A recent Zirin column asks "Which pro athlete will come out of the closet?" It's a curious question because, of course, there are already out professional athletes. Athletes who came out or have come out during the course of their professional careers. There's Billie Jean King (forced out but still) who Zirin invokes in his article as a pioneer for women's rights. She was an out athlete. As was Martina Navritilova. As is Amelie Mauresmo. As is Lisa Raymond. But these are all tennis players, you say. Well, ok so: Vicky Galindo (who plays professionally for the Chiacgo Bandits), Rosie Jones, Sheryl Swoopes, Lauren Lappin, Latasha Byears. But they are all women, you say. Well yes, they are gay women. (Galindo identifies as bisexual.) Gay is not a gender-specific term. The gay liberation movement means gay men and women so...

I have to admit I don't go to Wimbledon's official site to read the articles. I go for scores and schedules and draws. That's probably a good thing given the reporting the site did on Gisela Dulko's defeat of Maria Sharapova yesterday. The story, which was all about the sex appeal of the players, has been taken down but this columnist does a good job recreating and critiquing it. Players and promoters and agents have, for the most part, embraced the sex sells mantra in an attempt to legitimize women's tennis (hint: you're actually doing the opposite!). But the columnist is right to note that it should not be on a tournament's own site. The article seems to have turned a sports contest into a beauty contest--which player looked sexier in her all-white attire? It noted that Dulko has been named to lists of the sexiest players. It is especially unfortunate to see it on the Wimbledon site given that I have heard several stories now about how Wimbledon will not ...

Columnist Marcia Smith, who writes for the OC Register, may get this week's Debbie Downer award for her piece on the regression of women's sports. She bemoans the lack of attention (unless it's bad a la Marion Jones) female athletes are getting, the relative obscurity they are competing in--including American Paula Creamer, second on the LPGA money list, the lack of women's professional teams, and their overall "niche status." It may not be very positive, but Smith is not entirely wrong. I have spent much of February reading about the hundreds of celebrations of women and girls in sports. Last year there was considerable coverage of the 35th anniversary of Title IX. Celebrating is good. Some of the events geared towards getting girls active and interested early are great. But Smith is right when she references the glass ceiling in women's sports. That Candace Parker, who in in her last season at Tennessee, will get less press, less television coverage whe...

Title IX is always in the news (as you will see if you check over at The Title IX Blog ), but a few interesting things have happened this week: 1. Anson Dorrance, coach of the very successful women's soccer team at University of North Carolina, is heading to court in the spring of next year to answer charges of sexual harassment brought by a former player. This case began in 1998 and was initially dismissed before a Court of Appeals overturned the dismissal. Unless there's a settlement, a jury will hear all the stories of how Dorrance kicked soccer balls into the backsides of his players and other such egregious behaviors in April. 2. Down in Florida, former (now fired) assistant softball coach Gina Ramacci at Florida Gulf Coast University has filed a complaint with the university alleging Title IX and Title VII discrimination in her case. Ramacci was accused of having inappropriate relations with a student-athlete on her team. A sexual relationship was never proven and Ramacci...

The latest update from It Takes a Team!, the arm of the Women's Sports Foundation created to address issues of homophobia in sport came out earlier this week. Usually featuring stories of athletes and teams, this issue from director Pat Griffin is an update of the organization's progress over the last three years. Check out what they have done to combat the subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination faced by gay athletes (and those suspected of being gay). And how you can help. And for more frequent information and news about homosexuality and sport you can check out Griffin's blog.

Because if that's where we are sending female coaches who have transgressed coach/student-athlete boundaries, a la Pokey Chatman, ( see this USA Today article sent by JB for more info on that situation), then there may be another exile. Gina Ramacci, an assistant softball coach down at Florida Gulf Coast University, has been fired for improper relations with a student-athlete. Ramacci is a new coach hired last spring who will remain on administrative leave until December when her current contract runs out. What exactly happened is a little vague. There were allegations that came from the parent of softball player (not the one alleged to have had a relationship with Ramacci) of a sexual relationship which both coach and player have denied. But the university contends that whether a sexual relationship actually occurred is irrelevant to Ramacci's firing because the relationship was "inappropriate." What exactly inappropriate is, of course, they will not say. This is not...

Well the US Open is over which means far fewer people are looking for Agnes Szavay's breasts (I think they are still on her upper torso for anyone still searching). But Bethanie Mattek's breasts remain the inspiration for several searches. And now that we're in the middle of the Women's World Cup of Soccer the intensity over the need to know Abby Wambach's sexuality has increased. Interesting that that is what people are looking for despite Wambach's 3 goals in two games performance and her collision in the game against North Korea which had her on the ground and bleeding from the head. She was taken off the field for about 10 minutes and stitched up returning with blood on her shirt. (The whole thing only made me love her more.) But no one cares about these things apparently. Daniela Hantuchova's belly button, though, seems to rank up there in importance. Unusual search of the week is a tie: "large hoop earrings and the middle eastern women." Is...

I reached 10,000 hits on Tuesday thanks, in part, to Agnes Szavay. More on that later. But until this week it had been rather slow. Only a few people looking for those glitter headbands or Abby Wambach's sexuality. So some of these are old. 1. I heard Lindy Vivas, the former Fresno State volleyball coach who recently won a hefty settlement [UPDATE: Fresno State just filed a motion for a new trial but they won't release on what grounds yet], on the radio last month talking about gender discrimination. She mentioned that there is an obsessive interest in female coaches' sexuality. No kidding. There have been lots of searches for "(coach's name) gay." And of course there's interest in the sexuality of athletes. And lest we think this is just an American phenomenon, note that some people in Malaysia have found After Atalanta by searching for "Azalina lesbian." Azalina is the woman I wrote about a while ago because she won an award for advancing the c...

This month's It Takes a Team newsletter contains a short piece on Sheryl Swoopes who provides a little more information on how and when she decided to publicly come out as a lesbian. There is also a good feature on a Canadian wheelchair basketball player who is an out lesbian. Danielle Peers, who has muscular dystrophy but does not always use a wheelchair, has played on both men's and women's team as well as in the only professional wheelchair basketball league. She is also a frequent speaker on issues of disability and queerness and is getting a degree in disability and queer studies.