Gender Roles in Skating

   In class, we categorized the characteristics of male and female. each had its own distinct adjectives that society characterizes each gender.  If we look beyond the separate dichotomies, we can see many similarities that each sex holds.  The middle ground between males and females hold a sense of ambiguity for many of middle america.  If males merged into the female characteristics, the men are perceived homosexual or confused and if females have male characteristics, the women are assumed homosexual as well.  The importance of categorizing what a male and female is very important in judging figure skating.  If a female skater performs very strongly, powerful, and is muscular built, she is described as athletic and a manly skater.  However if a female skater performs very delicately, thin, and skates as though she is a ballerina on ice, she is more likely to place higher than the more power, stronger skater.  The bias in the judging is due to tradition and the conventionalism of society and the sport.  The sport is set in their old traditions and seem to never devise from it.  The sport does not want a butch of butch or athletic skaters to be the idolized "Princess" ice skater.  The sport wants to revere the importance of figure skaters to be dainty, pretty, skinny, flexible, and athletic.  There is contradictory.  For example, Nancy Kerrigan  was praised and honored as being the princess American figure skater, while Tonya Harding  was the truck-driver/trailer trash American figure skater all because of each skater's looks.

Rhea Sy

Kin 338i (Tues/Thursday 2-3:15)