Could Caster Semenya Be a Man?

A South African runner name Caster Semenya who won the 800 meters run in Berlin. Semenya is 18 year olds that came to the world attention when she won her event fro the fastest 800 meter run in 1:56.72. That is the fastest run of the year. Semenya did it again with another faster time of 1:55.45 in the 800. Her astonishing margin of victory added that she could be a man. On Aug. 19 officials from International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) confirmed that Semneya has agreed to a genders test. The testing involves an endocrinologist, a gynecologist, a psychologist, and both internal and external examinations.

People believe that Semenya is a man because she won by a margin. She won by a lot. And also that she is very muscular and that she looks masculine. Her parents say that she is indeed a woman.

Back in 1936 Berlin Olympics there were rumors that 100-meter runner Stella Walsh nicknamed “Stella the Fella” and her rival Helen Stephens were men. After Stephens won the gold metal the committee performed a manual check on her external genitals. Conclude that she was in fact a woman.

Dr. Rob Ritchie, a urological surgeon at Oxford University and author of “Intersex and the Olympic Games”. His recent journal says that determining someone’s sex is not as simple, and that external genitalia can be misleading.

Caster Semenya has been cleared from last august that she could compete as a woman. It has been a year since she had a controversial gender test that put her career on hold. The woman that ran with her in the 800-meter run said that she was a man. One of them is Elisa Piccione of Italy who came in sixth place said that she is ‘not a woman. She is a man’. Mariya Savinova of Russia, who finished in fifth said to just look at her.

Terrance Honanie KIN 338I T/Th 2:00-3:15

Does this skirt make my butt look big?

The sport of badminton is a competition between competitors to hit a birdy back and forth with racquets across a court. The sport is similar to tennis but different because the birdy is designed to have more drag to decelerate faster than a tennis ball. Popular among men and women, and included in the Olympics, the sport has never been considered a fashion statement. However, the Badminton World Federation has created a new rule going into affect June 1 2011 forcing all female players MUST wear skirts. This is “to ensure attractive presentation of badminton” according to the Badminton World Federation. Since when though, is a sport about fashion and looking attractive? While athletes are competing in their sports, they are not thinking of modeling a certain way, if their make-up is running, if the outfit makes them look fat, or anything that goes on in the fashion world. What athletes are focused on is the goal of the sport; to have fun, to be their very best, and to win. The Badminton World Federation would like to turn their women athletes into an “attractive presentation” which is degrading and unethical. In our class sessions, we have learned throughout the course of the semester, of the struggles women had to face through sports history, and it’s sad that women are still facing many of the same struggles. Fashion and sport should not be of the same thing. What is unfair to me, also, is that a vote or consensus, asking female badminton players who are in the federation if they would like to wear skirts or if they felt it was appropriate, was not taken. Truly though, if the Badminton World Federation is looking for their sports to become more attractive and rules are applying to women, maybe rules should apply to the men as well, such as requiring male players to have a toned body and play with their shirts off. Maybe the sport of badminton will get more attention then, and the sport will be more attractive.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/female-badminton-players-skirts-only_n_863929.html

Nickol Black. KIN 338I tu/th 2:00-3:15

Shape Ups

The shoe company Sketchers has been selling a shoe called Shape Ups. They claim that these shoes are designed to tone your muscles just by wearing the shoes for about an hour a day. Many people say they are the most unappealing pair of shoes they have ever owned but they continue to wear them because they make either their back, hips knees of ankles feel better.

Sketchers newest marketing scheme is targeted towards young girls. Girls in their preteens are being pushed to wear shoes that are supposed to not only tone your muscles but improve your physical physique. The most recent commercial shows a skinny girl dancing around and singing about her Shape Ups. It also has young boys dressed up like different junk food chasing her and trying to keep up with her.

It is hard to say if the young girls watching these commercials are aware of the message they are being sent. The Shape Ups are supposed to give a women toned muscles and a curvier body. To push the message on young girls that they need to think about what they look like and concentrate on how tone their muscles and body are is basically like taking their childhood away.

Some people are saying that targeting young girls with the Sketchers Shape Ups is helping Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. The first lady Michelle Obama started the Lets Move Campaign to prevent and reduce childhood obesity in the United States.

What this basically comes down to is by pushing this message on such young children is it doing more harm than good?

jonathan Collins
women in sports 338i

She Run L.A.

On April 28, 2011, I headed to the Nokia Theatre at L.A. LIVE for the post run celebration titled She Run L.A. This after party was a celebration for Students Run L.A. (SRLA) hosted by Nike along with many other sponsors like Coca Cola, Pop Chips, Paul Mitchell and more. There were even performances by a guy named Mike Posner and a dance group called We Are Heroes. The majority of the attendees were high school girls and it was definitely a night of high-pitched screams.

I looked at this event more of Nikes way of advertising their new products. Even though it was a show, every performer and guest were sporting Nike apparel. Even the hosts of the show explained what they were wearing and why. It was nice that there were other guests rather than the performers like Grace Padilla (gRace), a marathon runner from South Gate and Dawn Harper, an Olympic Gold Medallist. When these two guests went on stage the noise got loud. Some of the girls screamed out to Dawn Harper to flex. When she showed of her muscular upper body, all the young girls cheered and screamed. I was really surprised when the girls screamed for Dawn’s body. Maybe muscular bodies are becoming the new ideal for the coming generation. She spoke about motivation and why she does what she does. She said all her hard was worth it because in the end she got the gold. At the end of the event there was even a meet and greet with Grace and Dawn. Nike even showed two videos advertising the Nike Free runs 2 which focused on how the shoe can track your run. The video started off with the strong words, Celebrate the power in L.A. while Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” was playing in the background. The clip included young women running through the streets of L.A. while getting a beneficial workout with the Free runs and Nike’s new GPS SportWatch. The ending line in the video was Why live in L.A. when you can run it. I thought Nike did a good job on positively advertising their products even advocating good health and fitness for these young girls. Maybe Nike is trying to make running through L.A. the new trend for these young women. After watching the clips by Nike, I wanted to buy the Nike Free Runs 2 and run around L.A. The speakers, the videos even the all women dance group was very inspiring to me. Overall, I thought this was a nice way to reward the runners of SRLA and promote Nike’s products in an encouraging way.

Kat Arcangel kin338I sec.5

Belmont U Gives in to Protests

http://news.change.org/stories/victory-belmont-u-gives-in-to-protests-over-removal-of-lesbian-coach

I found this article searching on google, and it goes over how the female coach of Belmont University announced that she was having a baby with her partner, and then shortly thereafter the school removed her from the coaching staff after coming out as a lesbian.

What shocked me the most about this article was that the administration themselves announced how this was unrelated to her sexual orientation, yet the entire team was happy with her as a coach and a few players were even bold enough to state that when in question, the school commented that she violated the "dont ask don't tell" policy.

I hadn't heard of Belmont University before, but as I read through the article I found out that it was a christian college, so it made a bit more sense on why this coach was singled out. Through the players actions and continuing protest against the firing of their coach, there is now a law in the school that states that no one can be discriminated against due to sexual orientation (this wasn't in place before.)

This article came out January of this year, and I was pretty shocked to see that the date wasn't 5-10 years ago, but rather less than 6 months ago. I always assume that all schools now have a tolerance policy for all kinds of sexual orientation, but appearently there are still many out there that discriminate and terminate at will based on those specifics alone.

I really hope things change for this school and that the new policy in effect makes the administration rethink their outlook on students and faculty alike.



Michelle Fenn
T/Th 2 pm

Female Badminton players are forced to wear skirts

According to this article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/female-badminton-players-skirts-only_n_863929.html

female badminton players will be forced to wear skirts as their uniform by June1 just in time for the summer's world championship.

in this article, it talked about how players and managers complain about how women in the professional arena of badminton are forced to become these sexualized object for the male gaze in order to generate more dollars.

I find this post directly related to what we have learned in class this semester, in terms of where do we draw the line when we market female athletes as athletes, and when do we say it is okay for women in sports to be sexualized in order to garner media attention and generate more revenue?

personally i think it is unfair for the women to be "forced" into wearing skirts for badminton players, however i think it is almost inevitable for women in sport to market themselves as sexual beings in order for the media to generate more revenue for their sport.

Reynold Liang

Tu/Thu 2-315

Venus Envy

For my awareness assignment I did a book analysis on the above titled book. It is about the Woman's Tennis Tour. Specifically, it covers the tour during a period in the late 90's - early 2000's when the sport began to flourish. There was one part of the book that I found particularly interesting.

A reporter asked Martina Hingis, who was the top ranked female player at the time, if she would prefer to be renowned solely for her tennis game or if she wanted to be popular off the court as well, the way Anna Kournikova was at the time. Hingis hesitated, then grabbed a paper and pencil. She wrote the letters LD on one side and AK on the other. Then she wrote her initials, MH, not in the middle but closer to the AK.

The statement she was making was that even though she wanted to excel at her craft the same way Lindsay Davenport (LD) had, she also sought the fame and media attention that Anna Kournikova had, or at least a fraction of it. This interested me a lot even though the author didn't really touch on it much. But I think the conflicting views on what direction woman's sport should go are often split along generational lines. The older generation tends to want only to excel and be recognized for it, while the younger generation wants to excel and enjoy all the perks that are supposed to come along with being athletes.

David L. KIN338I T/TH

Young Children and body image struggles

Professor Kauer sent out and email with a link to an article titled “The children who hate their bodies: How half of six-year-old girls think they're fat and how parents can stop this dangerous obsession” by Tanith Carey. This article talked about young girls at the age of 6 want to be super thin. The first part talked about how the media portrays young girls. It emphasizes on young girls wearing small clothing sizes, never really advertising bigger sizes. This could definitely have a huge impact on young girls especially during the kindergarten aged girls. It goes on talking about how parents who are always counting calories can affect the child. A young girl growing up watching her mother constantly complaining about her weight and is always on some sort of diet can really impact her. Causing her to become cautious of her own weight thus, developing eating disorders. In class we talked about the female Triad, which included eating disorders, menstrual period disorders, and osteoporosis. All these disorders can develop if a young girl is not well raised.
Moving on to the second part of the article, in which it talked about ways to encourage young kids into having a healthier body image. It goes on about tips and ways to avoid the negative things that surround or will remind kids of weight issues. Also talked about encouraging your child to partake in sports, making them aware of the media, and basically teaching them what’s wrong and right when it comes to body images? This was an interesting article because it talked about the issues being faced by young children and also talked about ways to divert from societal norms to a healthier lifestyle.

Anallelica M.
kin. 338I
T TH-9:30-10:45

The Return of "Conviction"

On June 18th, Gina "Conviction" Carano is expected to make her Strikeforce return, facing off against Sarah D'Alelio. Carano has been out of the cage and missing in action for close to two years, with her last fight being in August of 2009, which resulted in a crushing first round loss to current champion Cyborg Santos.

Over the past two years, Carano, 7-1, has taken time off to pursue an acting career but has been back on an active training schedule since February. Although she is 0-1 in Strikeforce competition, Carano is arguably still the "face of Women's MMA, with champion caliber skills and matching credentials. But she is faced with a tough test as her opponent, D'Alelio, isn't a slouch by any means. D'Alelio is 4-1 in MMA competition, with 3 first round finishes, and is making her Strikeforce debut.

There have been some fans who are arguing the choice of opponent for Carano, claiming she should be facing a higher ranked challenger. I happen to disagree. Since she has had such a long layoff and convincingly lost to the champion in her last fight, Carano should have to work her way up the ladder once again. This fight will show if Carano to see if her days as the dominant face of Women's MMA are over or if she has a chance to reign supreme once again. It will also show if D'Alelio not only deserves to be in the cage with Carano but can be a threat to the Strikeforce championship. This fight has been generating a lot of interest in the MMA community because of Carano's return. Add this to the rising notoriety Carano is receiving through her film credentials and you have a lot of viewers tuning in on June 18th.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/23392/gina-carano-vs-sarah-dalelio-expected-at-strikeforce-overeem-vs-werdum.mma

Michael Trimarco
KIN 338I
T/Th 2:00-3:15

"Why Sports Teams Need Women Owners"

Sheila C. Johnson, one may ask who is that? The name does not sound familiar unlike, Magic Johnson, Mark Cuban and Dr. Jerry Buss. All 3 men are or were owners of major NBA teams like the Lakers and the Mavericks. Sheila C. Johnson is just like those men. She is the Managing Partner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics team. Not only is she the first African-American woman to own a professional team, but she also has a stake in three other professional sports teams. Her stakes include the Washington Mystics (WNBA), Washington Wizards (NBA), and the Washington Capitals (NHL). Johnson is paving a road to help all women in obtaining positions in upper management. She is highly involved in the sports world, but she is also a founding partner of BET (Black Entertainment Television) and the CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC.

To have all these great accomplishments, I wonder why Sheila C. Johnson is not a well known household name. Could is be because of her gender or her being a minority? I know that if any of those men (Magic Johnson, Mark Cuban, or Dr. Jerry Buss) had all of these accomplishments they would be more well known than they already are. It brings me back to the idea that the world may not know about Johnson because to bring light her enormous accomplishment may stir up controversy. Like it was stated by Sheila C. Johnson, "When I was growing up, people used to talk about the magic circle of expectations for women. Let's face it: whatever women do, they must do it twice as well as men to be though of half as good." She had said that having strong women in power has made a significant difference in corporations. That is part of the reason why she decided to become a owner of the Washington Mystics. Her goal was to promote the development of the next generation of women whether it was on the court or off the court. Sheila C. Johnson knows the positive impact that women could have in any professional management realm, if given the opportunity. Like she said, "Women need to depend on each other, stand beside one another and use their skills and voices to let everyone know that we make a difference."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-c-johnson/wnba-2011-_b_858194.html


Jodie Goya
KIN 338I
T/Th 2-3:15

This article is really great, it talks about two women in particular, Peg Rees and Pat Hoover, who were former athletes at the University of Oregon. The played there before Title IX went into affect and dealt with a lot unfair treatment that a lot of the college female athletes faced. Many of these issues we have discussed in class, such as: women athletes not having new uniforms, or their own uniforms or having to use the same uniforms for multiple sports, who Pat Hoover talked about. Also Hoover mentioned they had a specific hall for the women basketball team and weren't allowed to play on the court that the men's basketball team played on. They also didn't have much staff and had to bring their own supplies if they needed their ankles taped, and they had to tape their own ankles. They also had to bring their own lunches when the men got free lunches. Many of those women were not recognized like they should have been, many should have received letters.
what's great about this article is the University of Oregon has found most of the college women athletes and invited them to an event for them to be recognized now, since they weren't before. And coaches will also be recognized, like Peg Rees who played in the 1970s and is now a coach at OU. It's a two-day event, a banquet, where they will receive Oregon gear and nike bags and tours. They all will also receive a framed varsity letter. I think it's great for OU do this for these women, I think all the colleges should for these women athletes who were pre- title IX. These women deserve recognition for what they earned and all that they went through just because of their gender.

http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/26208881-57/oregon-university-athletes-women-field.html.csp

Katherine Liberatore
KIN 338I, S4, Tu/Th 9:30-10:45am

Children and Body Images

Our professor sent out an email about how young girls view themselves and possible ways to stop this point of view. The first part of the article discusses all the influence these girls have in their life about being thinner. It starts with the media but is mainly what is done at the child’s home. Their home life is what sets the idea of how to be healthy or the way to eat. I believe since the age of a parent is getting younger in today’s society that this is a reason for the age drop for false body images. If the parent of a three or six year old child is between 18-22 years old themselves how is the idea of body image going to be reflected? The 18-22 year olds usually all, just want to party and look good, and to look good they either strict diets or excessive workouts. The article discussed how the influence of healthiness by going to the gym also affects the child. To a child that means in order to be healthy they must go to the gym. In class we discussed how sometimes athletes in different sports develop an eating disorder of some sort because of the pressure to be a certain image. I know we discuss about women and girls but I can also see the pressure or influence at a young age for boys to have muscles and be the ‘manly’ image. I believe this article helps counter that because the second half gives advice on how to encourage a health lifestyle with out the harsh routines. At this young age parents want to have their children try different activities so by counter acting the negative they sometimes goes with a certain activity we can stop a false body image from being started at that age and to keep with it throughout your child’s, girl or boy, life.

V.G
Kin 338I. S6
Tu/Th 9:30

Sketchers Ad Campaign

Since I did my Awareness Assignment on a marketing critique, I found the sketchers article interesting. The company created a shape-up shoe for young girls in which the ad shows a cartoon verson of shape-ups being worn by teen girls. However, the purpose of shape-ups is to promote getting a toned up figure without the need of physical activity. I think the ad is somewhat inappropriate for targeting their campaign towards young girls that send the message that they should be worried about their body image at an early age. I understand that sketchers probably created this campaign for the the revenue aspect of selling shape up, but this is the wrong place and time to sell it to young girls. They use Kim Kardashian as a endorser because the company knows young girls look up to her and if they see her wearing Shape-ups they will want to go out and buy them. According the Sketchers, the purpose of shape-ups is to "tone-up" your legs. I don't think putting this idea into young girls mind is of good judgement. This may lead to them thinking negatively about themselves and being critical of their weight and appearance so early in life. I don't blame the parents who were angered by this ad campaign. If I were a parent, I think I would feel the same way.


Jessica Jimenez
T/Th 9:30 am
kin 338

I read the article about the skechers ad targeting young girls. What I found most interesting was the way the ad presented itself. At first glance, the ad may seem innocent enough--girls being chased by the temptations of bad eating habits. That to me seems like a noteworthy goal for young girls to acknowledge. However, the clincher came when skechers tried to market their shape-up shoes for young girls as the answer to said eating temptations. Based on the ad and from what I have seen from the in-class readings, it seems like eating healthy and exercising is good, but you don't necessarily need some shoes in order to do it; and that is where I believe the ad to be betting it on. It seems like the reasons behind it are all wrong and that there is no empowerment for girls who are already under pressure from society to look and act a certain way. I also read some of the comments pertaining to the article and was amazed at what some people had to say. There was one woman who basically said that since girls would not 'win' in the conformity battle against the societal norm that they should just work within it and go with what they have. That response just made it clearly evident that for all the women out there that are working towards equality and to gain some agency, there are those still ignorant and willing to bend to whatever comes their way.

Arick L
KIN 338I, S6
Tu/Th 9:30

The fate of women's mma

Mixed martial arts has been hailed as one of the fastest growing sports in the world. By far, the largest mixed martial arts business is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or as it is better known as the UFC. To date, women have never been allowed to fight under the UFC and co-owner, Dana White, has made it very clear that women will never be allowed to fight for the UFC (as captured in the TMZ video I linked below). The closest competition to the UFC is a different fight company known as Strikeforce. Strikeforce is not nearly as well known as the UFC but they have not only allowed women to fight, but have also promoted their fights in a similar fashion as they do men. In other words, Strikeforce does not treat their female fighters any differently than they do male fighters and both perform in televised fights.
It would be fine for the UFC to chose not to incorporate women into their program, as that is their choice, but the UFC has recently bought out Strikeforce. As of now, the two companies have operated as separate entities but there have been a number of male fighters that have essentially “crossed over” to fight for the UFC. This leaves the important question, “What is the fate of women’s mma?”
The UFC has become increasingly powerful and created a stronghold in the business of mixed martial arts. I have little doubt in my mind that eventually the two companies will become unified under the UFC banner which leads me to believe that female fighters will be left to fight in much smaller independent promotions that receive little, if any, television time. I think this is extremely dangerous for women’s mma. If there is not enough exposure to the sport then less females will choose to participate which can lead to the sport dying out all together. This would be a shame because these women fighters have just as much talent as the men and are losing their opportunity to showcase it. As we have seen with many women’s sports in the past, women’s sports are on the brink of collapse because men refuse to fund or pay attention to the accomplishments these wonderful athletes have made.


http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=37d12840-e861-4ce2-8fdd-37347f43b949



-Jason Hermann
Kin 338I. S6
Tu/Th 9:30 am

It seems that absolutely nothing can stop Katie Romano from doing what she wants. Romano is the smallest member of the Chicago Force (her hometown team in the Women's Football Alliance) as well as being hearing impaired. She also plays on the USA Deaf National Women's soccer team. I think this woman is ridiculously fascinating and inspiring. She is basically the same size as myself and also carries a disadvantage by not being able to use her hearing. I would be terrified to participate in such a contact sport as football that also requires a helmet that most likely limits her peripheral vision. Yet she plays with the utmost ferocity and doesn't let anyone hold her back. Romano even considers her lack of hearing an asset to her participation in the sport because her eyesight is all the more enhanced due to compensating being deaf.
This article was also particularly fascinating to me because I had no idea that the Women's Football Alliance even existed, let alone it being the largest football league in the world, boasting 63 teams. It seems that an organization this prominent would be more well known in the sporting world, yet I have never heard of it. I think such a large club with such a vast membership can be empowering and encouraging to women and young girls around the country and it should certainly be receiving more publicity than it currently is.

http://w.espn.go.com/espnw/features-profiles/6527471/chicago-force-cornerback-katie-romano-proves-naysayers-wrong

Emily Teramoto
KIN 338I Sec 05

Nike Does their Part

By Justin Baldonado Class-Kin 338I Section 48 Tu,Th 9:30-10:45

As I was doing research for the awareness assignment on Nike, I came across an interesting article from USA Today involving Serena Williams called “Nike Serves up New Ads Supporting Women”. As most people know, Nike endorses strong elite athletes who are seen and idolized by people around the world. Serena Williams is a dominating and talented tennis athlete who is not drawn by attention for her skills but also for her looks. So I did a critique research in how Nike handles their female athletes since most females are sexually objectified in the media. Surprisingly, Nike is not only well known for handling their products with genuine taste and not so sexually discomforting, but they are also aware of the many unequal opportunities for young girls and women in sports activities. Nike created an ad campaign with Serena Williams wearing a t-shirt that says athlete and on the bottom also saying, “Are you looking at my titles?” This signifies of the hard work of Serena Williams and also of the ignorance and inequality that many women suffer from sport activities. Serena Williams supported this campaign freely by her own choice in order to be a great supporter and influence on young girls. I thought it was a great motivational message from Nike in representing a woman who won at least eight grand slam titles. Not only did Nike use this ad campaign to create a motivational influence for women in sports, but also donated one dollar for every T-shirt or bracelet that was sold to their fund. This fund was donated to college and recreational facilities for women to have equipment and supplies in their sports. I used to think Nike was all about the money and their athletes, but they do take part in helping and aiding for those that are in need of help and support.

Obesity: A Fear for all Women

In our women in sports class, one of the last topics we learned about was about how women are so concerned about fulfilling what the media delivers as the image of "the ideal image". In the article written by Tanith Carey, she reveals the new trend that the concern about weight is beginning at a very young age and it is very unfortunate. Young girls are beginning to worry whether or not other people believe they are fat, especially girls that are the same age. Media spends billions every year to portray the perfect woman as thin with big breast and thick lips and encourages the public to fit this image. The fact that young girls, beginning at the age of 6, are worrying about their image can lead to drastic problems as we learned in class. These young girls have higher chances of developing eating disorders and never being satisfied with how their image is. I believe that we who obtain the knowledge about what these trends could lead to should take on the responsibility of helping out our younger siblings and daughters and teach them that they do not need to obtain all these images that the media portrays in order to be beautiful. We could help them be comfortable in their bodies and help them live a healthier life.

Elizabeth L.
kin338I S04

Awareness Assignment

For my Awareness Assignment, I reviewed Women's Health Magazine and my impression of it.
This is what I wrote in my essay and I thought I'd share it with the rest of you since this came as very surprising to me.

"...From first to last, the sections are: Fitness, Sex & Love, Food, Look Better Naked, Weight Loss, and Health. I was very surprised that this being a health magazine, that Health was the last section, especially when the magazine is called Women’s Health. You would think that a magazine called Women’s Health would project an image about happiness and well being, not about appearance. Furthermore, I begin to wonder if this magazine makes women feel insecure about themselves, rather than making them feel confident.
Many women can distinguish between what is real beauty and what is a lie, but what about young girls? What happens when Women’s Health magazine prints articles similar to Cosmopolitan and Allure? Then the line for real and fake beauty is blurred, and they become one and the same. Young women will believe that the beautiful blonde on the cover is what beauty looks like, which cannot be said for every single girl in America."

_Adam S. Kin 338i T/Th

Eating Disorders Among Female Athletes

Nowadays, as the science progresses, new researches of diets towards certain sport events have been presented to have the athletes to perform at their best. Such as for track and field, the research shows that the diets for throwers, runners, and jumpers should be different. Also, diets for male athletes and female athletes differ as well. Since males have less problem of burning fat than female athletes, male athletes can get by with certain fatty foods; however, for the females, fat included diets are a no go. Moreover, it is difficult for many of them to obtain or reduce to the "desirable" weight. Thus, majority of them tend to consume less calories than they should each day. As they develop this habit of eating small amount of calories each day, they develop the signs of eating disorder. It is great to see female athletes progress each year and perform at their best. However, they need to know that they should not risk their health to be at the top level.

Kunhee Bang
KIN 338I SEC 04

Awareness Assignment Reaction

After listening to everyones awareness assignment project i was amazed to hear what their findings were, particularly for the sports illustrated media critique. To me it was interesting to hear that they found little to no articles and pictures with women in the magazine. This was surprising to me becuase when i watch ESPN there seems to be an even amount of coverage of women and men in things such as commercials and such. It is also sad to hear that women are not being represented equally at this day of age. Although we are not that far from the installation of Title IX we are a long way from the installations of women rights. This was also sad for me to hear becasue I, myself, am a woman. It just makes me realize how much further we need to get to equality with regards to gender. I grew up in a home mainly of women so all these things about women not being treated equally was never brought to my attention becuase women in family were treated with respect and were always the ones that made all the decisions, etc. So from seeing this as a child made me believe that it is sort of like that in the real world. After taking this course it makes me realize how much women have done in the past to get where we are now and how much more we need to get to the ultimate goal of equality.

-Krysta A. KIN 338I-Section 04

Homophobia...

A few weeks ago, an article on MSNBC came out entitled “The bro code: How much affection is too much?” Tantrums and tweets were generated as a result of the incident surrounding the article. YouTube was forced to shut down comments on the clip. What was it? A ten second clip of two male NBA players holding hand after winning a game. We learned about homophobia in class and how it affects women in sport and leads to negative recruiting. We followed a story of Rene Portland’s no lesbian rule and the affects of it on one specific player, Jennifer Harris. After being kicked off the team for associating with a lesbian, Portland made it impossible for her to transfer, thus ending her college career. The truth is, especially here in the U.S.; homophobia is very relevant…the article said it is “partly due to a variety of religious and cultural attitudes, but it’s mainly based on fear”. This is a huge issue for women in sport. Believe what you want to believe, that I have no problem with. But when it turns into discrimination…that is where the problem is!
Justine Segovia
Kin 338I.S5

Females in Softball

I found an interesting article on Lauren Lappin who is a successful softball player. After the discussion in our last class about stereotyping of females in softball, I thought it was interesting to see how an actual player felt about the issue. Lappin is gay and she discusses the stereotype that haunts softball players and how they feel the need to defend their sexuality. In the article Lappin touched on the subjects of her anxiety to come out and how she felt it would affect her chances to make the Olympic team. She also talked about the support she received from her teammates when she told them and how she lives the happiness everyday for “living her truth” everyday. This reminds me of the panel debates we had about whether athletes should come out in their sport. Lappin had a good coming out experience, but I think for many athletes it is internal struggle. Lappin said in the article, “For other athletes contemplating coming out, there is indeed a choice involved. A choice between two parts of themselves, between professional security and personal peace.” I think this is a strong point to consider for athletes contemplating coming out and I think they are powerful words coming from an athlete with this understanding. Like Lappin, I agree that acceptance of the gay community is making progress, but I think that it is still has a long way to go. Female athletes already have obstacles to overcome, but I think that for female gay athletes it is even more difficult. This class has taught me a lot about the various struggle encountered by female athletes not only for equality in sports, but also issues in the media and homophobia. It has changed my awareness of female athletes and how important it is to support female in sports.


http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=5671978

Nadia Higgins
Kin 338I

Unhealthy Climate

I read an article in the February issue of ESPN the magazine entitle "Unhealthy Climate." This discussed how women's basketball programs use negative recruiting against schools who might be known to allow a lesbian lifestyle. It struck me that the term "family environment" indicated that the program did not allow homosexual conduct and that being in that environment directly correlated with having a clean program. Two notable programs, UConn and Tennessee, actually had a falling out due to this topic. Pat Summit, the coach of the lady Vols, abruptly voided the contract to play UConn annually and people say it was due to Connecticut using anti-gay recruiting tactics against their program. Those two coaches are the best and for them to be caught up in that sort of issue really shows how prevalent it is. On another unfortunate note for women, a lot of them lose their jobs in coaching or don't even want to pursue it because of their orientation and how they have to defend it. Heather Barber, a sports psychologist professor, said this "Coaches aren't worried about getting fired for being lesbian, but they do worry about being fired for not being able to recruit successfully because of it." That is a very powerful quote and shows that this a going to be an ongoing issue if we as a society do not open our minds and not be so close minded. To me it is just sad how women's lives and careers are altered due to what their orientation is.

Jose Magallan KIN 338I Tues/Thurs 930-1045

Sketchers comercial for little girls

The Sketchers commercial for girls is definitely displaying the wrong message for these young children out there. The way they sell their product reinforces American gender roles that we abide by to fit in socially The first thing I thought was that the media made this advertisement to portray that all women should be thin. In the song it say's "She's got the height she's got the bounce", which tells me that they are attempting to tell these little girls that you need to be tall to be seen as beautiful. All of the Sketchers girls in the commercial are of light skin, and are very skinny which sends the wrong message as well. It appears this entails you are "cool" if you buy these shoes, and are skinny. These children do not need to be introduced to these gender roles at a young age. It's commercials like these that give this children a distorted vision of how to live. It also shows the guys running slowly that are dressed as ice cream and other fattening foods. They are making it seem that children shouldn't eat sweets at all because they will be slow and out of shape if they do so. The media is trying to take control of these girls at a young age which is unfortunate for our society because they will eventually conditioned these children to abide by our American values of being thin, light skinned, and tall as being sexy. These kids need to understand you are beautiful regardless of your height, weight, etc. This is how eating disorders develop because some actually want to be accepted by societies expectations of beauty.

The Next Generation of Female Athletes

This semester we have studied the resistant female athletes struggle with to play sport. For the awareness assignment I read the autobiography of Jackie Joyner-Kersee. I was worried after reading the first few chapters her experience wouldn't relate to the class. But, Jackie's experience paralleled the oppression that the female athletes face. This made me realize the oppression of the female athletes is a problem in my neighborhood and not just a class discussion. Posing for me the question, how will my generation decide to empower our young female athletes? I believe as female athletes excel and succeed in sport the patriarchal structure of sport will break down. Creating space for female athletes.

Amber M.

KIN 338I. S05

New Marketing Campaign for Sketchers

There is a new campaign that has just launched for Sketchers, and it is featuring some of their most famous creations, Shape Ups. These shoes are supposed to tone your legs and butt while you go through your normal daily routine. All of this sounds fine now, right? Well, this new campaign is not featuring the Armenian bombshell Kim Kardashian or any other celebrity, as a matter of fact the commercial launched for the shoes is all animated! The new commercial is targeting children, girls as young as eight. Some of the phrases used in the commercial are “everything a girl could want, looking good, having fun”. As one can imagine, this has become a major problem and parents are doing all they can to boycott these ads from being shown to their daughters. It is as if corrupting all of the teenagers and young adults is not enough, now the media wants children to be self-conscious about their bodies too. This is unacceptable and little girls should not have to worry about looking good or being tall and skinny, they should be able to grow just like the other generations did, as kids. This is not only putting young girls are an elevated risk of eating disorders, but it is also encouraging girls to show off their bodies. In the commercial, the cartoon girls are performing in tiny skirts and are being chased after by boys dressed up as fast food characters. It is a shame that shoe companies such as Sketchers feel that they have to go to these extremes to be successful and I highly recommend them to change their marketing strategies since the young eight year old's are not going to be the ones purchasing the shoes!

Karla Veliz

Jock Talk Radio Host

Recently the Radio talk show host Bob McCrown made a controversial comment about women and sport. His remark has sparked just some Internet outrage. He said, "that women's sports are only watched by men if they are half-naked or good looking." With new knowledge on this subject and our concentration in class being, how women are portrayed in the media, I find this not to be that surprising. His statement for the most part is alarmingly true and scary. How have we arrived at such a degrading attitude that is the societal norm?
What I find surprising about this whole issue. is how little attention these comments by people like Bob McCrown are getting. With all of the progression that our society and culture has made, related towards women in the arena of sport, I find it shocking that we are still letting this type of stuff go on. Today's pressure to be "successful", I would say is a leading cause to why both women and men have theses acceptable attitudes. When a female athlete poses provocatively in the media generally we all brush it off and excuse their behavior, because it is what they have to do or are doing to make money.
I know that I have never really stopped to think about what this "slippery slope" might cause for the younger generations. With all of the recent studies done, there really is no denying the positive correlation with the younger and younger having negative body images and eating disorders due to the acceptable attitudes toward the ultra-sexualized women. The statement that Bob McCrown made should be setting off alarms in our heads. All of our attitudes towards this have become more and more acceptable, but when and where are we going to draw the line and say enough is enough?

Kalee Dickerman
Tu/Th 2pm-3:15pm

Beauty Mark Video Response

In the video Beauty Mark, I remember that they talked about how the ideal body figure would be while showing the mannequins in the back ground and my initial thoughts were the mannequins I have to deal with at work.

I work in a department store for misses clothing and often have to take the merchandise off a mannequin for a customer, when I have to replace their cloths; I always have to find cloths that are size 4 or smaller. One time, I got a call from our plus size department to bring up some cloths for their mannequin because the cloths up there were too big for the mannequin. I wondered why they needed our cloths when they should be using plus size clothing, but then I saw that the mannequins they had weren’t that much bigger than me. That totally freaked me out.

If my department is trying to sell clothing to women who are 5’9”, size 4, then I’m working in the wrong place. They should probably send me to a petites plus size department if they want better sales- a department which we don’t have, by the way.

T.Tran
Kin338i-T/Th 2-3:15

Six-Year-Old Girls That Are Sexy and Stylish

Young girls are growing up with a more negative body image than ever before because of what they are being fed in the media. Young girls are exposed to soft pornographic images that show women as sexy and stylish. Children can see more than 20 images of skinny, partially dressed females in the matter of a 30-minute drive home. Then they are bombarded with clothes like ‘cute butt’ leggings at the malls. By giving young girls clothes like this, they begin to think they’re only valued for showing off parts of their bodies.
Half of all six-year-old girls say they worry about being fat. By the age of seven, 70 percent want to be thinner and by nine, half have been on diets. The center of all these stats is the desire for girls to be attractive. They fear being unwanted in the future. They look at the images in the media and think why would a guy want me when they can have a girl that looks like that.
These negative body images are reinforced when young girls see mothers and older siblings also worried about their weight. These are the women the girls look up to the most. The way the article suggest parents teach their daughters to see themselves as not ‘fat’ and unwanted is to lead by example. Show the young girls in our lives how to live a healthy style and love their true selves. The biggest lesson should be that she is worth so much more than the sum of what she owns and looks like.
When I was growing up, I never thought about fashion and being over weight and this article makes me sad that the generation of girls after me has to deal with it. I hope that the next generation of mothers can support their children, rather than enforce the media’s perceptions of females.

Gennifer Kluver
Section 4779

http://news.change.org/stories/victory-belmont-u-gives-in-to-protests-over-removal-of-lesbian-coach

http://news.change.org/stories/belmont-university-removes-lesbian-coach-for-starting-a-family


In both of these articles it talks about Coach Lisa Howe, soccer coach at Belmont University being fired due to her sexual orientation. After being the coach there for five years, Lisa Howe had to resign due to the fact she was having a baby, with her partner. After learning about this the school forced her to resign, even though the students, and the players adored her and her coaching skills.
After learning about sexual discrimination, it is sickening that situations like this occur. It should be on the basis of her coaching skills yet the school wants to say it violates their "morals." If morals would the same to every single person then of course things like this would not occur, however, due to something called "free will" (something I think this board of education has forgotten belongs to every individual) allows for everyone to choose what they do and what they believe in life. When it comes down to it, situations like the one about the soccer coach, tries to diminish an individuals right to live a free life.
Lisa Howe should not have ever been fired form her job for being a lesbian. By firing her the school is damaging the sport of soccer by not providing these girls with the top coaching needed and desired. The girls want her as their coach not because she is a lesbian or because of anything to do with her lifestyle but because she is an amazing coach who has a great love and passion for the sport. Overall, this type of discrimination is wrong and I personally hope in the future, these types of situation do not occur.

Briana Ponce De Leon
Kinesiology 338I
Section 05

Football and Title IX

As we discussed earlier this semester, Title IX is too often used as a scapegoat for the real problem with gender equity and cutting, unfairly, male teams. Click here for a good read.

NBA and the 'Bro Code'

After reading about the Bro Code and how intense the reaction was from the public about two men holding hands, I felt a little ashamed to be a part of American culture. It’s sad to see that we still have a lot of people holding homophobic views to something that can easily be seen as a sign of friendship rather than outing oneself. I don’t think sexual preference should play a role in an athlete’s credibility, especially when it’s something as simple as hand holding. I think it’s a lot harder for American guys also because our society holds such a ‘macho’ representation of them. The article brings up a good point in contrasting Britain’s actions of sportsmanship with America’s, claiming that men will flat out kiss each other after scoring a goal and that people wouldn’t think twice about labeling them gay. I think this incident shows that as Americans we still aren’t completely open to the idea of same-sex couples, especially if it’s in a team environment.

P. Jaime
KIN 338I (T-Th 2-3:15pm)

The "Bro Code"

Check out this article on two NBA players holding hands and the insidious homonegativism that followed.