The Stigma attached to Obese people

Here is the New York Times article I talked about in class today. Give it a read, and check out the responses under the Stigma of Being 'Fat.'


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/health/16essa.html

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/the-stigma-of-being-fat/

Synchronized swimming remains only for women

Women have gained many accomplishments in the regarding sports in today’s world. However, learning about women in sport, it is more about women in “men’s” sport. There are still some sports that do not allow women’s participation, for example football. This got me thinking about sports that were meant for women only. Aside from various events within a certain sport, synchronized swimming came to mind. A quote from an older article from USA Today states that in San Francisco “A men's synchronized swim team has been barred from a meet at Stanford University, reinforcing an International Olympics Committee decision designating the sport as women-only.” Another states that “Men have participated in synchronized swimming since the 1980s in mixed pairs, but have been banned from competing in the World Masters Championships because the Olympics classifies it as a female sport.” Although women have had many triumphs in the world of sport throughout history and finally have a sport to call their own, a deeper look into synchronized swimming is required. Although synchronized swimming requires high amounts of talent and skill, it is not a very high endurance or contact sport, like say football. Instead it is viewed as being very feminine or womanly, keeping any men outside of it. Hopefully one day there will be equality in the world of sport throughout all sports.

Janet Pezold
KIN 338i Tu/Th (2:00-3:15)

UConn Women's basketball breaking records but still not receiving media attention.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/03/uconn_womens_basketball_team_a.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030804682.html

Having an undefeated season is one thing, being undefeated since 2008 is another. The women of Connecticut Huskies have done this and thus far this season done so scoring double digits in each game. Their record is fantastic beating that of many mens teams across the nation and yet their media coverage in the sport is still not as largely televised as mens. Their game on Monday wasn't televised probably due to some other male team playing and the demand for that being greater, which leads the question at what does a women's athletic team have to do gain more mainstream attention? Sure they're being mentioned now in their own segment on ESPN due to the fact the only team to have a longer winning streak was the mens UCLA team from 1971-1974 with a grand total of 88 wins, but the question still stands in my mind that if women are outperforming in their sport compared to men why not give them more coverage? It seems to go back to a male dominated media where women need to fight for their own place in the media since performance doesn't seem to be enough to gather high ratings and that a restructuring is in order.


Ryan Stapleton
Kin388I
5306 TTH 2-315

Female Portrayals on SI.com

In class we have been touching a lot on negative portrayals of women’s athletics, so for this assignment I wanted to focus on something positive to praise female athletes. Although I only visited one site, I thought I would post something about what I saw when visiting this homepage. It was disappointing to me because I wanted to focus on something that was more positive, but in turn offended me a little after seeing no praise or stories about female athletes on the Sports Illustrated website. If one were to visit their homepage, they would see that all but one of the sport stories covers male athletic teams from different trades and forecasts in the games to come. The only story that featured women’s athletics was the story about the University of Connecticut’s Women’s Basketball team with their amazing winning record streak. The other stories that featured women were sadly only used for sexual appeal as they were advertising their new 2010 swimsuit magazine. Being a female athlete at the Beach, I find this disappointing because I feel that at our institution, there is a fair amount of stories that feature our female athletes and their great accomplishments and performances. I wish that a national sports news company would use the same tactics and not only use women to sell a magazine that does not showcase their athletic talent, as the model Hilary Rhoda on the cover was not even an athlete.


Denise Nunez

KIN 338I T/TH 9:30-10:45

Race and Denial

After watching the film in class, there were many interesting topics that made clear the severity of discrimination still present today. Significant points were made on white privilege and denial, demonstrating the altered priorities of our American society. The denial of discrimination showed how naive our culture has become in terms of advocacy and responsibility towards unjust causes. A statistic was shown that only 6% of white people believed that discrimination is still a problem today, while 12% actually believed that Elvis Presley is still alive. Outrageous, yes... but surprisingly, not unbelievable. White privilege was also discussed in the film, using numerous examples about the inequity of opportunity amongst, race, gender, and class. It was interesting to see that white people tend to take advantage of their benefits more so than others, adding to the supremacy of the race. We see the disadvantages placed on minorities in every day life, as well as in sports. For example, certain athletes may not receive the playing time that others have based on their skin color; assumed that they will not succeed based on constructed stereotypes. To this day, female sports will suffer in financial funding, and receive less attention than male sports, primarily based on the norms of society that have oppressed their gender in the athletic profession. The denial of racial injustice and the inequity of racial privileges in this country is a continuous problem of apathy, which will pursue until we own up to the responsibility, and make a change.
Eloise D.
KIN338I.S6

"White like Me"

Today, in class we watched a video about "White Privilege." I found it interesting that the man that was speaking about this subject (which was white), kind of discredit himself and take himself off of the pedestal. The point of him doing that is because he wanted to undermine his "white privileges" and talk without any special consideration just because he is a white man. He also made a point if a black man was up there and repeated the same speech word by word, he would get barely half of the credit he deserves because he doesn't posses that white privilege. He also brought up on how he was not a very good student but the teachers kept giving him excuses and chances because of his "privileges" of being a white male. This lenient consideration was not the same for student of color if they weren't doing as well in school. Another interesting topic he brought up was when he realize every generation there was denial of white people. Meaning when racism was going on at the present time of every generation, a high percentage of whites denied that racism doesn't affect the minority population. But looking back towards the past generation they see racism taking several different forms.
-Michael Nguyen
-005679555
-Kin 338

Olympic Glam- Up

In February 2010 Glamour magazine printed an article on four Olympic women: Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Lindsey Jacobellis, and Gretchen Bleiler. Glamour, known for its beauty, fashion, and love topics featured these snow boarders as “your new Olympic idols”. These idols are praised for both their beauty and athleticism. On the surface it seems that the article is a positive representation of women in sport. However, a closer look reveals an underlying message of what qualities in women are socially acceptable. The title declares, “The Great Olympic Glam-Up”. The two page spread shows the women looking their best and smiling big for the camera. The sub heading states, “You are looking at four women with beautiful hair, cute makeup, sexy dresses…and an excellent shot at sweeping the snowboarding medals in Vancouver this month.” The positive and fashion forward pictures are typical of the magazine. What I notice missing is diversity. The four women are white and skinny. The three jumping in the air are blonde while the brunette, Kelly Clark, sits to the side looking up at them. Turn the page, and the women are in partial snow boarding attire and minimal to no make up. Again Kelly Clark sits lowest. In large print Hannah Teter is quoted, “It’s better to be friends than enemies. It makes life a whole lot easier!” The words, friends and easier, are emphasized in another color. It reminded me of the film Dare to Compete. The women in the late 19th century were not allowed to compete. They had “play days”. In which, no one was allowed to represent their school and there was no winner. This article is glorifying conventional ideas associated with what are acceptable attitudes for women in sport. While Glamour magazine targets an audience interested in fashion and beauty, I think they could have afforded a more competitive and strong portrayal of these women.
Cynthia Wollerman
kin 338I T/TH 2-3:15

Women Hockey Has to Prove Their Worth

I wrote this, and then saw that there was another blog on hockey when I went to post, but they are a little different, so here it is.

I have been very interested in following the Olympic men’s hockey in Vancouver, but while I would consider myself a hockey fan, I realized during an update on women’s hockey, that I knew little about the women’s side of things. This has become the problem for women hockey players, and is the reason they fear that women’s hockey could be taken out of the winter Olympics just as women’s softball was.

Women’s hockey has a few differences from men’s. Women are not allowed to body check. It is considered a minor or major penalty for women, while it is hard to imagine men’s hockey without it. Women are also required to wear full face masks while men are not. The issue being debated is if women’s hockey is internationally well known enough for the Olympics. Only two teams have dominated since it was introduced in 1998, the USA and Canada, this year being no exception. Some say this is evident in the US 9-1 victory over Sweden on Monday the 22nd. But if this kind of score is seen in men’s hockey, people do not start questioning its validity as an Olympic sport.

Interest in women’s hockey is what needs to be sparked, but how can this happen if women’s hockey is not advertised or aired on TV. I often watch hockey, but have not seen a women’s game aired other that in the Olympics. But the publicity of the American and Canadian teams success will hopefully stark international interest in young girls all over the world, because this women’s sports seems to need to prove their public worth.

Resources:
Dupont, K.P. (2010). These women are playinf for keeps. The Boston Globe. Retrieved from
http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/olympics/articles/2010/02/23/playing_for_keeps_in_womens_hockey/
Kragthrope, K. (2010). Women’s hockey moves beyond mercy stage. The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.sltrib.com/athome/ci_14451544
http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey-schedule-results/

Sarah Orchard
Kin 338i T/Th 2pm

Women on ESPN.com

I recently logged onto http://www.espn.com/ to find a current event regarding women in sport for this assignment, and literally did not find one woman or woman related articled or link on the home page. All the headlines are male related articles and are regarding people such as Alex Rodriguez and Jason Strasburg. The only females on the page are Denver Nugget dancers who if you click on will only lead you to the pictures of the week. This came as a real shock to me to the point where I thought espn was only for male athletes and sports, but then Iclicked on the link "more sports" and saw that WNBA was actually an option. Also, I found out that the womens basketball team of the University of Connecticut was on the ESPN.com page yesterday, but only to honor them for winning 71 games straight. Win or lose, the mens college basketball teams are always on there especially during march madness, and for women to be honored and recognized only after such a massive accomplishment is plain wrong. Women should be athletically recognized on a daily basis just like men, and society doesn't realize the inequality that is portrayed when it comes to women in sport.

Anya de Leon
KIN338 Tu/Th 9:30am

Triumphant Venus

On March 2nd Venus Williams dominated Monday night at Madison Square Garden, defeating Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5( Yahoo! Sports). Although her sister Serena Williams was supposed to battle Kim Clijsters, Venus stepped in and did a remarkable job at defeating her. But, many viewers are saying that Venus and Serena have the most foot calls which contribute to their winning streak. This could cause for more attention in their playing tactics(Yahoo! Sports.)

-Monique Paterra
KIN 338i

women's hockey

Hockey is supposed to be the pride and joy of the men of Canada. All that changed in the winter Olympics of 2010. The Women's Hockey team of Canada not only won gold but they also captured the hearts of millions of viewers around the world. The sport picked up much excitement with each entertaining game. The women of the gold team approached the sport with nothing to prove. They were out there to "compete and do what they loved to do." This notion of wanting to play as opposed to proving that they could play helped them. I thought this was interesting because usually the media only glorifies the sports in which women are scantly dressed and usually with no contact. This sport has the ladies all padded up and checking each other around. I would say this is a good sign of more good things to come in the future.

Ephraim Gatdula
Kin 338I

Female coaches coming out

For my panel position paper I received the topic of pro female coaches/athletes coming out. That hits a personal spot for me because I am a female gay coach. Some of my older, higher level athletes (and their parents) know that I am gay, but it is not something that I have openly addressed with any parent except for one. I am a women’s gymnastics coach for athletes five to eighteen years old, and even though all of my coworkers and bosses encourage me to come out 100% I can’t seem to do it. Since I got this topic about female coaches coming out I have been asking myself why I haven’t come out and I think I’ve found the answer. It is not a noble answer but it is the truth. It is easier for me, and for the children I currently coach if I don’t come out. There is so much drama associated with this topic that I feel I put the child at risk of having to handle unnecessary baggage. If I have an ignorant parent, the child will be pulled from my team. That is why I haven’t come out, but after much thought I have realized why I should. A child having an ignorant parent does not mean I should shelter them from reality. One day that athlete will be an adult and will be able to make decisions for herself and life experiences, including ones athletes have with coaches, are an important developmental process. I will also contribute to changing the path of how our society views gay and lesbian coaches by making our presence known. The more coaches that come out the less “abnormal” it will be and it will become more accepted for future generations. Helping our future societal standards become more equal is an extremely good reason for me to come out.
Ashley Chatman Kin 338I

Pole dancing as an Olympic Sport?

Throughout our course so far we have been exploring and learning about how women have struggled to get the publicity, attention and credit they deserve for their accomplishments when it comes to sports. We have read and seen in films the testimonies of the hardships and discrimination they have been through to get where we are at today. Even though Title IX came into existence we still see a separation when it comes to women’s sports vs. men’s sports. There has always been that notion that men sports are dominating and important while women’s sports are always seen as minimal and not important.

Recently on the news and an online article I came across a story which was titled, “Will Pole Dancing be the Newest Olympic Sport?” When it comes to pole dancing, the first thought that comes to mind is women dancing in provocative clothes for money. Some view pole dancing as an art but the majority sees this as something out of the ordinary. Some questions that come up are: If pole dancing were to become an Olympic sport who would be allowed to participate? Personally, I doubt a man would want to participate in a pole dancing competition since this has always been considered a female thing and also because of the negative aspect pole dancing has in our society. I think if pole dancing were to become an Olympic Sport it would set us (women) back many years. This will only be adding to the notion that women are only sex objects. Why can’t they add another sport that shows a woman’s strength and tests her endurance? I would oppose in letting pole dancing become an Olympic Sport.

Jasmin Dominguez
Kin 338i
Section 4

Gender Testing in Sports

I'm not too educated in the politics and issues behind gender testing in sports especially for women's sports, but I do stand on the side that there should be gender testing. Issues around gender, are quite convoluted and complicated as it requires both physiological and psychological testing to determine whether or not they meet the criteria or requirements to compete as a woman. What are the requirements to compete as a woman? If you are a female than you would have XX chromosomes and if not then they are not female. This is how I look at the situation but obviously there are many more issues involved. According to an ESPN article, if an "athlete has always thought she's a woman or been a woman, it's not exactly cheating." This proposes a lot of grey area. However, it well documented and studied that physiologically, in terms of performance, males and females are different. Men are superior in some aspects such as strength, speed, and explosiveness while women are much more adept at endurance. These physiological differences would carry over and be exaggerated n the realm of sports as strength, endurance, and speed are what is measured and eventually awarded for.

Ray K. - KIN 338I (TuTh 9:30-10:45)

Dude Your a Fag

This book titled “Dude you’re a Fag” discusses the experiences of sexuality and gender identity in a racially diverse working class high school. The book is mostly about gender identity in high school focusing on men’s masculinity but I found that many of the boys quest for masculinity affected the women especially in sport.

The problem with this issue is that I found it affecting many women in sport because many times these stories and male sex talk affected the women around them. For example in the book the weight room seemed to be the prime location for sex talk and some women who were on athletic teams were harassed and disgusted with the vulgarity of the conversations, that they were forced to drop out of the weight room class. The weight lifting teacher did nothing to punish the boys when the two ladies in the class complained that they could not exercise without being harassed. Other instances appear in this book about the ladies sports teams being harassed because they were better than the male sports teams like soccer. It’s the ultimate problem that women’s gender identities come into question just because they can beat the boy’s teams and only suffer because of the male’s quest to identify themselves as masculine men.

Women's UConn Huskies 71 Game Win Streak

I just read an article on ESPN.com detailing the UConn Huskies Women's basketball team's 71-game win streak which they just recently established by beating Notre Dame. Reading through the article, one thing stood out the most. There wasn't a sexist or gender bias undertone within the article itself. Usually, when I read an article on a women's sport, there are subtle cues and indications that lead to the fact that these are women athletes and some how there must be special consideration when looking at certain achievements. However, in this article, it was pleasantly surprising to go without having these asterisk like undertones when describing and complementing these kinds of achievements. The article was written by a woman journalist and I don't know if this affected anything than if a male journalist had written, but it was a nicely written article depicting and praising the UConn Huskies Women's basketball team's record setting win streak.

Ray K. - KIN 338I (TuTh 9:30-10:45)

Gretchen Blieler one landing away from gold

Gretchen Blieler, a small town girl currently living Carlsbad CA had the world at the end of her snowboard in this years winter Olympics. She was favored to win the gold in the women's half-pipe event and did just enough to advanced in the next round. USA was predicted to sweep the all the medals in women's snowboarding. However only one of the three snowboarders got a medal. Gretchen did so well and looked as if she was going to clench gold as she had a almost perfect run until she had a little bit of a tumble on her landing. She second to last place at the end because of the fall. Tora Bright of Australia ended up winning gold and Hannah Teter of USA got silver. Gretchen now is training for the next winter olympics.

Marjan Kalhor

As I was watching the Academy Awards last night, the award for "Best Director" caught my attention because this was the first time a female won the award in 82 years. Which reminded me of the 2010 Winter Olympics Iranian team. One athlete in particular: Marjan Kalhor. The opening ceremonies commented on how she was the first female winter olympic athlete for that country. That is amazing how far we as a world have come in the thousands of years that sports have been played all over the world. During the first Olympics, there weren't female athletes; that happened centuries later. Upon doing a little research into Iranian history, women have had positions of leadership and power, until the Islamic Revolutio when they lost some of those rights. However, over time, they have started to regain those rights in much the same way that Womens advocates in the USA have.
What I'm trying to reflect on is how amazed I was at Marjan Kalhor's involvement with the Winter Olympics. True, she finished in last place for both slaloms she participated in, but she participated. Her competing in the Winter Olympics may have inspired a great many more female athletes from her country to try and reach for something more than what's simply in front of them at the moment.



Sarah G
KIN 338I
Tu Th 2-315

Women in Sport in Novels

On my long drive back to Long Beach from Tahoe this morning, I decided to listen to a book on tape for the first time. I was hooked within minutes, and within an hour I was surprised to find myself relating many of the situations of the story to what we're learning about in class. The book was "Can You Keep a Secret?" by Sophie Kinsella. The main character in the story Emma was working for a sports drink company out of England that had expanded to men's clothing, snack bars, and other athletic products. When Emma went to Scotland to meet with an established business partner, she was surprised that they decided to dissolve their relationship because Emma's company was to macho and male oriented, and they wanted to be gender neutral by marketing for women as well. They went on to examine several products and slogans that were targeted just for men or were extremely masculine. As the story developed, I noticed other instances while the company was trying to turn around but continued to negate women by always referring to "he" or "him" or "his" when describing their targeted marketing group. At one point, some marketing executives presented a new dring with ovaries on the can, targeting women. Really?
This story gave me another perspective on the sport product market and how they have changed, are trying to change, and still need to change.

Courtney O'Connor
KIN 338I sec 04

Canadian Women's Ice Hockey Team Celebration

Canada's women's ice hockey team defeated the US women 2-0 for the gold medal in Vancouver at this year's Winter Olympics--a feat which in itself wasn't so shocking or controversial. Their celebration, however, caused plenty of stirs in the media who covered the game and the subsequent aftermath. The Canadian women stayed on the ice for over an hour drinking beers and smoking cigars. The mass media and, of course, the IOC had a problem with this and turned it into a big deal when I'm not so certain their frustration is worth the fuss. First of all, the women weren't celebrating like this in front of any of the spectators who had attended that night's game. Only arena staff and media were there at the time, and if they had celebrated like this in their locker room, (where there would still be media and staff present) nobody would have cared. If there isn't anybody there watching then there isn't anybody to set a bad example for. Secondly, the American team had already left, so it isn't a matter of poor sportsmanship. I believe that people chose to make such a big deal over this because it was the women's team who was drinking and smoking to celebrate, not the men's team, and that's not how women "should" act. Personally, I don't think they care whether they come off as ladylike or not and they should be allowed to celebrate however they want. The only true "problem" I can see with their celebration is that Marie-Philip Poulin, who is 18, was drinking while the legal drinking age in British Columbia is 19. But come on... now we're just splitting hairs.

Ingemar G.
Kin 338i class #6398

Huskie Women Hanging With the Men?!?

Recently, the UConn women's basketball team set an all-time record by winning 71 straight games. Yes, that's 7-1 and yes, that's only a mere 17 wins away from the UCLA record of 88 straight wins. More impressive than that is, the margin in which they win their games. They win their games, on average, by a little more than 30 points a game, and against ranked opponents a little more than 25. They make it seem as if they are playing high school students. I believe that this women's Uconn team could beat some of the Men's Div. 1, I truly believe they are that good. On Sportscenter, the coach of the Huskies stated that it was always a team effort. He stated that the women showed up and played every night as a team. Another thing that makes this Uconn team so impressive is the notoriety they are getting. We live in a society where men's athletic constantly overshadows women's. And in the case of Uconn, the men's program was winning national championships, so it wasn't necessarily unfair. However, I believe that this amazing record-setting Uconn women's basketball program will finally give not only the team, but also women's sports in general, the credit they deserve. Hopefully, after seeing this, women's sports will get more press and a larger fan base, so that every is able to see what type of impressive things women are capable of doing. And with any luck, women’s sports will finally be on an even level with men’s sports, where it should be.

here is a link to an article about the Uconn Women's team:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/recap;_ylt=AqpFt0cMzwdsD_ZRRpzXpN45nYcB?gid=201003080129&prov=ap

Bryant Wang
kin 338i T/Th 2-3:15

Did an Austrian coach intentionally sabotage Lindsey Vonn?

Last week, I was going over the news section on Yahoo's main page and I found an article on Lindsay Vonn. Lindsay Vonn's husband believes that the Austrian coach that designed the women's super-G course intentionally designed it in a way so that Vonn would be at a disadvantage. He states that he knew "for a fact that the Austrian course setter said that he was setting [the super-G course] against Lindsey." Vonn's husband did say that he heard this secondhand. But the author of the article believes that if it were true that there is nothing wrong with it. He states that if there's anything to complain about it should be the rule that allows coaches to design coaches.

The rule that allows a coach of a lucky country to design the course is a ridiculous and unfair, but I also believe that the coach should also be fair when constructing the course. It's the Olympics, it's an event where athletes come together to participate in sporting events as friendly competition and I'm sure that they would want to win square and fair without any advantages.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Did-an-Austrian-coach-intentionally-sabotage-Lin?urn=oly,221054&cp=10


Eulelia Soe KIN 338I Section 4

UConn Women's Basketball Team

The UConn women’s basketball team is destroying their competition so much that they are on a 70 game winning streak. You would have never guessed that a women’s basketball team has a winning streak that high because you never hear about it. However, to give you a little trivia UConn already holds the record for the NCAA women’s basketball at 70 consecutive wins through 2001- 2003, but the big question is what will happen if the UConn women’s basketball team surpasses the UCLA men’s basketball team that holds the NCAA record with 88 consecutive wins in a row. Will this UConn team see the big shoe contracts, get millions of dollars in the draft, or be remember at all? Two of these answers will be no, but the players that started this incredible run should be remember even if UConn does not surpass UCLA’s record.
All I am trying to say is that this team deserves a whole lot more recognition in the media than what they are getting now. Women’s basketball in general needs more recognition, but as a stepping-stone this team needs more. These women put on shorts just like the men, play with five players, and put the basketball in the hoop to determine a winner, but they can not get the recognition because they can not dunk or they use a team philosophy rather than having a one man team. These women are not playing hoping to win a big contract. These women are playing for the respect that one day they can look back and say that they had the longest winning streak in the whole NCAA. The UConn women’s basketball team can surpass their record setting-winning streak at 70 on Monday, March 8 in the Big East semi-finals. They are playing Notre Dame, which they beat by double digits two weeks ago. So, UConn is favored to win this game, as well as to win the women’s NCAA tournament. Best of luck to the UConn women’s basketball team in the NCAA tournament, and surpassing NCAA record of 88 wins.

Paralympians get the Spotlight

This article I found is about Lauren Woolstencroft, a North Vancouver resident who will contend for multiple medals at the Paralympics games starting this weekend. The article highlights how she is a very serious athlete who has won multiple medals, but has never been noticed for all her hard work and dedication because she is a paralympian. Lauren is missing her left arm below her elbow, and both legs before her knees. These days paralympians are just as serious of athletes, and cannot hold regular jobs due to intense training. This year, these Olympians will be given more of a spotlight than ever before, and Canada's Olympic administration is making sure of it. They are giving the events more airtime on TV, and also much better equipment and resources than ever before.
It is a positive thing that this female Paralympian is getting noticed for her multiple medals, and that in general is getting better equipment than before. Previous Paralympics were not given even remotely equal resources and that is not fair. It has taken too long for these athletes to get what they deserve and work hard for. They have had to be resourceful always because the world is not always easily accessible for those with disabilities. Lauren Woolstencroft is expected to very well in this years alpine skiing, and hopefully it wont be much longer before she is as easily recognized as other great female Olympians.

Here is the link to the articlehttp://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/2010wintergames/Paralympians+rare+moment+spotlight/2655500/story.html

Kellen Chamberlin
Kin 338I Section 5306

New Mexico vs. BYU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHtwfem3WRw
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4629837

With my sister being highly competitive in soccer, it wasn't without doubt that after this incident at the New Mexico vs. BYU soccer game, my mom and sister knew about it right away. I hadn't seen the video, or looked it up, purely because I never had the time to actually watch it. However, just the other day I looked it up and am completely appalled that this soccer player was able to get away with half of what she did before getting ejected from the game, and also suspended from playing future games.

According to the ESPN article, Lambert had apologized to all the soccer players and the university, however I feel that something as simple as a "sorry" doesn't suffice for all the damage she has done to her reputation along with New Mexico's reputation. It's incidents like these that catch the media's attention and put such a bad light on women in sports and does no justice to those of us out there trying to further the advancement of women in sports. I do hope for the best for Lambert, and hope that all women soccer players learn from her mistakes, in order to further the involvement of women in sports in all levels.

Just Do It

After reading from the textbook, the article titled "Just Do...What?", it really got me thinking about woman's rhetoric in commercials and other things. When watching the commercial for the first time, I saw what Dworkin and Messner were talking about. The commercial had nothing to do with the brand Nike, but they were just speaking out about how they can be equal and how playing in organized sports helps them. The slogan "If you let me play.." leads most people to be encouraged by this and pro-women sports. But after reading the article, it broke down simply to that it has nothing to do with the brand.
The other commercial i wanted to analyze was the Tim Tebow commercial from the last Super Bowl. There was controversy when he "tackled" his mom but it's his mother! It was just a joke and some people just over analyzed it to the utmost extreme. I personally loved the commercial because the focus was NOT on femininity, and pro women, it was aimed towards the importance of family. And that's what it's all about.
Below is the link for the Nike commercial and the Tim Tebow commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ_XSHpIbZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw7qX1TpdNQ&feature=related

Women's Ski Jump Controversy

The controversy that occurred recently over whether there should be a womans division of olympic skiing this year in the winter olympics was unfair. Sure there was not a big enough turn out in competition of this event, but there should have been more effort made towards this event. I have watched the winter olympics since I was little and now that I am older I've realized how demanding the ski jump event is. However, there should be no discussion of a seperate division from the mens event. The thought of there being two seperate events for something so similar is pointless There is no reason why women should not be able to compete in this event side by side with men. For a sport that mainly consists of sliding and falling in a controlled fashion it should not matter what gender you are in order to compete together. Although it is not noted, there are events in the olympics that do not allow men to compete in but is more of a non-publicized subject. Women should be allowed to compete with men in this event because they need to have an equal opportunity to compete; not based on gender. If the IOC's decision would have been turned to favor women and men competing in this event together then the women would have been able to compete this year in this event.

Mike Jugan kin 338 i sec 5306

Nike Athlete Campaign

After reading the article “Just Do What” in our class textbook, I thought a lot about the Nike women’s commercial. I never looked at the slogan “Just Do It” in a negative view because I have always thought of it as encouraging. I watch sports on television, especially women’s professional basketball. I see a lot of the Nike women’s commercial during the women’s basketball airtime. I enjoy seeing these commercials because it always has different slogans that aim towards getting women athletes’ voices heard. There is one commercial that has stuck with me. To me, I did not have any negative interpretations as to how some may have interpreted the Nike slogan of “Just Do It.” This commercial is called the Nike ATHLETE Campaign Commercial. Luckily, I found it on Youtube and have pasted the link below. In this commercial, it basically has female athletes come up to state why women athletes are just as good as men. They each come up one by one to say what biases female athletes face. There is one gentleman that comes up and says that female athletes must overcome the bias of men’s game being better than women’s game. One female athlete said that men may be stronger, bigger, and faster than women, but an athlete should not be based on just those factors. Towards the end of the commercial, each woman states what kind of sport they play. And at the end of the commercial, a woman states that “It’s not a girl thing. It’s not a boy thing. It’s a skills thing.” I just thought that last line has a really good meaning to it and just stuck with me ever since that commercial aired. Since we are all taking the Women in Sport class, I felt that others might be interested as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9It24cN3_E

Thanh Duong
Kin 338 tu/thu 9:30am-10:45am

Sport and Education

Check out this

Female Coaches

After reading the article “ All My Hopes and Dreams” By Kathernine M. Jamieson it got me researching female softball players and coaches. It was said in class that in 1970 90% of coaches were female, recorded in 2006 it was 42.4%. I wanted to find out why this was such a huge change in numbers. Research lead to articles on reasoning and story’s of coaches experiences. In a 2009 article a coach was venting how hard it was to gain respect by players and recognition because females are suppose to be nurturing and sympathetic. Later the article explains that males show a more powerful and dominating persona, making it easier to be a leader and putting trust in them. I have a female family member that played division I softball and now is a coach and teacher for a high school. When interviewing her about this topic she said that is was difficult to gain players and parents trust. The players wouldn’t listen to her because it was difficult building up confidence in her players even though she is a good coach and knows what she is talking about but since she is female it changes their perspective. The junior softball coach is male and she explained that her player’s responded more to him then her even though she is the varsity coach with more current collegiate experience. She loves her job and her team but has so much trouble doing the things she loves because she is female. This adds extra work to her job by making her work harder to be a good respected coach. My question is why does this happen? What in society made females less respected in sport then men. Why does almost every female have a stereotype attached to them and why cant we break free of this mold? We see the numbers change by 47.6% in 36 years at this rate coaching will be completely dominated by males. What can we do to stop this and help change these numbers?
-Jamie Ruiz
Section 6398

Travel Equity for College Teams

Later, in 1985, three Iowa State runners died when their seven-seat plane dropped into a tree-lined neighborhood in Des Moines. For many years, the Iowa women's basketball team was entrusted to similar tiny aircraft. The Hawkeye women flew to road games in a caravan of four planes, none of them larger than a nine-seater -- some of them without co-pilots. Players and coaches envied the men's team, which the school provided with larger, more powerful charters. Planes big enough to hold the whole team and even give many of the players their own rows to stretch out. "If gender equity is important anywhere, it should be in the area (of safety)," said Angie Lee, who resigned last year as Hawkeyes coach after five seasons. "That was tough for kids to swallow -- why we didn't get to fly on the same planes as the men." Equity is no longer an issue at Iowa. In an attempt to address an obvious imbalance, the Hawkeye women this season began using the same national charter broker as the men's team. They draw from the same fleet of 44- and 50-seat charters.

In this article the women's basketball team weren't given the same travel opportunities as the men and so their safety was being compromised. When he women's team began seeing that the men were riding in more larger and better airplanes and the women were riding in smaller ot so good airplanes, they realized that there was an injustice against their gender.

This shows that still in recent years women's sports are still second and seen as second class to the men in sports simply because of the ideology that society and some men have about women playing sports. So unless there is some kind of acion in trying to gain equal opportunity for women playing sports it will still be the same for women.

Link: http://www.makeithappen.com/wis/readings/travel.html

Sport Selling Image or Image Selling Sport?

The other day I received a local advertising magazine in the mail. On the cover was an unidentified female skier, in full U.S. Olympic attire. The photo showed a young, female athlete on the slops in perfect form. The magazine is called IMAGE magazine and promotes cosmetic procedures and beauty products. My initial reaction was, “Oh, this must be Lindsey Vonn.” So I looked everywhere in the magazine for the identification of the person on the cover. Nowhere in the magazine did it state who the person was. I had to ask myself, “Why use an image of Lindsey Vonn, or any athlete for that matter in a magazine that has nothing to do with sports?” I looked through the magazine to see if there were any articles about sports or Lindsey Vonn, and there wasn’t. The only articles and/or advertisements that the magazine featured were for liposuction, breast augmentations, facial surgeries and various types of beauty products. Does anyone else find this strange to use a sports figure to sell beauty image? Is it Lindsey Vonn’s image that draws people to the sport, or is her success as a skier that’s being used to sell an image? There certainly are other top-ranked skiers not being used to promote body image. Obviously Lindsey Vonn is an amazing skier who also happens to be very attractive. I think her name is not featured in the magazine because the world recognizes her as more than just an Olympic skier.

Chloe Neter
KIN 338I.S6

Brittney Griner's right hook

In an NCAA basketball game a few days ago Brittney Griner, a freshman from Baylor, was ejected after punching a Texas Tech player in the face. Brittney Griner is a 6'8 freshman who already dominates the court. She is one of the few girls in the NCAA that can dunk easily. The whole game Brittney is getting pushed around because they cant contain her. Finally the Baylor girl who is guarding her hooks her arm and trys to throw her, brittney then retaliates and throws a viscous right hook straight to the nose. Griner is ejected and a foul is called on the Baylor player.
The only reason this fight isnt in the mainstream media is because it happened in a women's basketball game. If this were a mens NCAA team fight this story would have been everywhere. As far as equal punishment goes, i feel that the Baylor girl should have been ejected form the game aswell. When she hooked Griner's arm and went for the throw her intention was to throw her straight to the floor. Im pretty sure that the final punishment for Griner is still undecided but looks like she will be suspended for the season.

If you would like to check out the video, heres the link.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=4963605

Tyler Knox kin 338i tue-thur 2-3:15pm

Elissa Steamer: Pro Woman Skateboarder

Elissa Steamer
In a male dominated sport, one with an extremely high physical injury rate, one female breaks the mold. Thirty year old Elissa Steamer is the world's greatest professional female skateboarder. Beginning at age thirteen, Steamer was as fearless as the rest of her male friends (and only male friends) when it came to mastering the art of tricky boarding. Except for a long distance pen pal she met during one of her competitions, Steamer only rides with the guys.

Speaking of competition, Steamer began competing professionally eight years ago at the age of twenty-two and just recently won the gold at the X Games. She is a part of Team Etnies, a sponsoring skater clothing brand, and every cash prize that Steamer achieves, Etnies matches. She won first place in the X Games in the women’s street competition, which consists of clearing stairs and grinding handrails and ledges; not a typical vertical ramp course known as a “vert” course. Steamer competed like one of the guys. However, Steamer’s gold won her $2,000 in prize money; the male gold winner for the same course was worth $50,000. A $48,000 difference in gender completion, which Steamer admits is a harsh discrepancy.

Not only does Steamer work hard to compete, she falls hard too. In a detailed list of destruction to her body, she has knocked out her teeth, had numerous knee surgeries, scar tissue build up on her hands and elbows and shins that have formed to noticeable lumps, and dents in her shins. During last year’s X Games in August she tore every tendon in her foot, and was off her board for two months. This woman proves to be just as priceless as the boys.

On average, Steamer competes in five to six competitions a year. Every other day she hooks up with her boys and they just skate around town all day. Steamer currently resides in San Francisco, where she comments on getting kicked out everywhere for skating on sidewalks. She is often ticketed by police for riding her board to the grocery store because, as she explains, it is such a nice downward slope ride. Steamer often hears comments from businessmen and nicely dressed citizens of her being a “scum bag kid” causing trouble in their town. Little do they know she specifically chose San Francisco for the concrete hills to improve her eight year professional career, which has earned her the honor of being the only female character in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game.

Steamer is a very supportive participant as well as a fan of sports, and especially emphasizes support on the increased girls’ participation in skateboarding. In 2004 she attended the Gravity Games and met an eleven year old girl and her family as part of a make-a-wish program. Steamer invited them to dinner and they hung out afterwards in the athlete’s lounge playing video games. The two are now pen pals, writing postage letters back and forth. Steamer is an incredible mentor and icon for girls to follow in the journey of an aspiring dream.

Link to article: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/Content/Articles/Athletes/About%20Athletes/E/Elissa%20Steamer%20Pro%20Skateboarder.aspx

Reference: Beyer, Rebecca. Women's Sports Foundation founded by Billie Jean King. Elissa Steamer: pro skateboarder. 2010, March 05. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/Content/Articles/Athletes/About%20Athletes/E/Elissa%20Steamer%20Pro%20Skateboarder.aspx

Posted by: Salina Renteria Kin332I Sec02

Judge Sylvia Pressler: Opened Little League to Girls

Until the early 1970s, girls were not allowed to play Little League Baseball. The barriers for these girls were broken down in 1973 with a court ruling in favor of the National Organization of Women. This was a great accomplishement, largely in thanks to Sylvia B. Pressler, who was a hearrings officer that ruled on the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. She died on February 15, at the age of 75, in New Jersey. The New York Times ran a full article on their website summarizing her career and death. She continually worked as a judge at the New Jersey state apellate court. I found this article to be interesting as well as important. Pressler was a unique woman and honorable judge, who served and made decisions based on justice and civil rights.

The article continues to state that Judge Pressler wrote hundreds of opinions throughout the decades that have led to more equal rights for women. Her experience as a judge spanded over 31 years. Pressler’s decision in the 1973 case resulted from an incident involving a young girl who had played a few games for a Hoboken Little League team. The article mentions that the national little league officials found out about the girl’s participation and were appalled, threatening to remove the local league’s charter if the girl continued to play. Upon hearing the news, the National Organization for Women took legal action and sued the Little League on behalf of the girl. This was an incredible milestone for young girls not only in New Jersey, but for women’s civil rights all over the nation. Though, it was a minor league sport, it is obvious that at this time there was much to overcome for women to enter in traditional sports.

Pressler ruled in favor of the girl and the National Organization for Women. The ruling was upheld by the New Jersey Appellate Court, as a result, in 1974 Little League Baseball agreed to allow girls to play and even started a softball division especially for girls.
In the article it quotes her as saying this in her 1973 decision:
“[…]Little League is as American as the hot dog and apple pie,” Pressler ruled, “There is no reason why that part of Americana should be withheld from girls.”
Link to article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/nyregion/17pressler.html

Reference:
Weber, Bruce (2010, Februaury 16). New York Times. Judge Sylvia Pressler, Who Opened Little League to Girls, Dies at 75. March 4, 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/nyregion/17pressler.html

Posted By: Bianca Palos KIN 338i SEC 04

Mancuso vs Vonn

There was lot of talk about a feud between U.S. skiers Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn. My attention drew to an article in MSNBC sports named "Vonn hurt by Mancuso jibe over popularity". Mancuso told the Sports Illustrated website that people are having a hard time reaching their potential because there is a struggle for attention for other team members and it is a bad day if Lindsey Vonn did not win. She was basically complaining about Vonn getting more media attention than the rest or her. Then Vonn responded to it by saying that she was hurt by Mancuso's comments because she has always supported her and other teammates. The accident at the Giant Slalom also added more fuel to the fire, and media showed that there was this big feud between the Olympic champions. Mancuso got lot of media attention after she made those comments, so I think that was probably why she did it. However, Vonn got more attention before because she appeared on the cover of the Sports-Illustrated and she was shown as America’s best woman skier ever. Even though Mancuso was a defending Olympic gold medalist, Lindsey got more media attention as the world champion, and for posing for Sports-Illustrated. I think both of them are very talented women who deserve equal attention.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/kntv/news/newsid=444224.html?_source=rss&cid=

Chinthani De Alwis
Kin 338I section 5

Youngest Female U.S National Champion

At the tender age of thirteen, Dominque Moceanu was the worlds youngest U.S National Champion in the sport of Womens gymnastics. She also won gold in the 1996 Olympics. Born to Romaian immigrants, Dominique was born to be a world class gymnast. At age 3 she was enrolled in her first gymnastic class.From this point on it was all history. By the age of 10, her hardwork and talent abilites had led her to renowed gymnastic coach Bela Karolyi. With help from her coach, Dominique became the first and only gymnast to join the U.S junior national team at age 10. In 1992, at the Junior National Championship she placed 5th in the all around and became the youngest female gymnast ever to win a medal. This same year she attened the Pan American Games and earned herself 5 medals (4 of them being gold). With her powerful sports ability and dedication at the gym she pushed herself to become the worlds youngest and best female gymnast, following in the footsteps of world renowed U.S gymnast Mary Lou Retton. In 1995, at the Senior U.S championships, she became the youngest gymnast in U.S history to capture the all-around title before going on to win the title at the World Team Trials.Her biggest accomplishment was making the 1996 Olympic Women gymnastics team at age 13, and making history with her team, as the only U.S Women's gymnastics team to Win gold .

Still a coach and great rolemodel to young girls and women everywhere she continues to support women gymnastics through clinics and camps. Now a mother of two, she owns many gymnastic gyms all over the U.S and Mexico. Give motivational speeches on healthy living, focusing in sports at a young age, and how to become a rolemodel in your community.Dominque was an inspirtational female athlete to me as a young girl growing up in the sport of gymnastics.

Here are some video links of her at the 1996 Olympic games and National Championships.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6L8aZRDKcw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdmYqmoqzvs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8gFeux1344&feature=related

"Breaking" Down Barriers

In class, we've discussed alot about how women have to learn to survive in a man's world. Thanks to the bravery of women who pushed the limits in history, with sports and lifestyle, today we have many more opportunities to grow and achieve our goals. Today, there is one group of women who have been huge in opening up doors for female hip-hop dancers: the Beatfreakz. This group of 8 incredibly talented women is respected by dancers worldwide, male and female. These women are competing at a level that many professional male dancers are unable to compare. Hip-hop, which is considered a male dominated genre, was very closed off for women, especially in breaking because of the high risk of injury. However, these ladies have worked hard to perfect their craft and compete at a male level in battles. One of the things that I really admire about Beatfreakz is that most female dancers rely on their sexuality to be noticed, but Beatfreakz gets down and dirty. On America's Best Dance Crew, Beatfreakz was the first female crew to be in the finals, and they finished in a very close second place. Some of their credits include backup dancing for Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Madonna, Chris Brown, and movies such as You Got Served, Step Up 2, and Bgirl. The dancers of Beatfreakz are some of the most respected dancers in Hollywood and the world, and they have paved the way for and inspired so many young, female hip-hop dancers.

Here is a reel of their dancing for ABDC to check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Esykt40WB0

By: Bethany Endter*
Kin338 TuTh 9:30

Canadian women's celebration

After the victory over the US, the Canadian women celebratory locker room party emerged back into the rink leading to several pictures being taken of the players by the AP leading to controversy. The controversy was over the fact that pictures were taken of the players in an empty stadium celebrating with there teammates with booze and cigars. This incident lead to the team formally apologizing for their actions.

The statement from the Canadian Hockey association:

"The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone. In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn’t have.” (New York Times)

However, the criticism received for the player's actions are ridiculous. The more ridiculous statement was made by the I.O.C. spokesman. The statement said,"“I don’t think it’s a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that’s one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened.”

The player's conduct portrayed the values of any team that has reached the pinnacle of success. As spectator's it is easy to evaluate and criticize their actions, however, the athletes are the one's putting in the work day in and day out, year after year to reach gold medal game for the Olympics. This event defines what athletes aspire to reach, however, the Olympics games are a level of competition that majority of athletes will never reach and an event majority of people only can dream about. So, within the confines of social acceptability, make the most of the celebration.


http://vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/furor-over-canada-womens-team-celebration-fizzles/?scp=1&sq=canadian%20women%27s%20hockey%20team&st=cse

Gavin Christensen
kin 338i