Stern vs. Spurs

Two weeks ago, as San Antonio Spurs were about to play The Miami Heat in Miami, Spur's coach, Popovich, decided to send his key main players (Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili) back to San Antonio. Popovich's intentions of keeping the squad in healthy conditions after playing five away games in seven nights, lead to Stern's decision of fining the Spurs franchise with $250K, for "showing disrespect to the NBA and its fans." To the surprise of many NBA followers, Spurs only lost the game by five points which ridiculed Stern and top-officials who were involved in such decision. Critics focused on Stern's historical trouble in marketing the Spurs, despite the four championships they've won in ten years, and explained that he had found another reason to stand against them. Instead of celebrating Spurs' exciting exhibition of basketball, his mainly concern was to darken an institution's reputation that does not favor the NBA structure. His clear posture of maintaining an equilibrium and the status quo in the sport, will find no evolution in the sake of the sport until those with power in charge of re-enforcing and designing the structure of the NBA, forget about their economic investments.

Santiago Guiter.
KIN332I.

Title IX

It's amusing to me that even lawmakers are still continuing to question the application of Title IX. This past Monday, May 14th, a California lawmaker, Assemblyman Chris Norby, took an opportunity to state his opinions about Title IX in front of one of the biggest supporters of Title IX and all it has done and stood for, for women in sports, Brandy Chastain. According to MercuryNews.com Norby stated, "We need to be honest about the effects of what I believe are faulty court interpretations or federal enforcement of Title IX, because it has led to the abolition of many male sports across the board . . . It was never the intention to attain equality by reducing opportunities for the men." It blows my mind that despite research and reports by numerous educated individuals, people continue to believe that Title IX is misused and should not be in effect. Brandy Chastain of course was not happy to hear what Norby had to say, but could not interject because it wasn't a public hearing. There were, however, numerous other assemblypersons who spoke out in support of Title IX, and for this, I'm sure not only Brandy Chastain is thankful, but many other female athletes benefitting this minute from Title IX.

-Sarah Garcia

Women in sports have long faced stereotypes simply for their participation in sport. Female athletes are plagued by stereotypes created by the patriarchy that is the male dominated sports media. Huge media corporations and mainstream sports media outlets portray female athletes as anything but athletes. Most female athletes are portrayed as sex objects, lesser then males, submissive, and ultra feminized. In a way, the representation of female athletes in that way assures men’s position in the male dominated sport world. By portraying women as submissive and sexualizing them in photo shoot the mainstream media consequently conditions millions of viewers to develop a misconception of what female athletes are “all” like. Even big sport companies, such as Nike, part take in the type casting of female athletes. In a commercial by Nike linked below, Nike tries to portray women as strong athletes. What the commercial also does is show snippets of women’s body parts, like focusing the camera on the women’s butt and legs. What that does is objects the women down to body parts and dehumanizes them. A women in the commercial also says she wants to be “hot”. Media images and messages like that are troublesome because they portray female athletes inaccurately.

\http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B5sfE1fjLs

Edgar D

Kin 338i sect 2

Sex Truly Sells

In the 21^st century women’s sports has developed into quite an empire, but it is usually carried around by the “sexiest” female athletes. Take mma (mixed martial arts), a sport that was coined by men, is making its way towards women. But what would sell for a great men’s fight is just two brutes beating the hell out of each other; but what would sell for a women’s match would be two sexy women grappling and pulling each others hair. Some women have an unfair advantage in being unattractive, losing endorsements because they are not the image the company wants to portray. Being talented will get your foot in the door, but all in all, it’s the looks of the female athlete that make her famous and well known. These are the women who will make the pay per view advertisements, sell the tickets, and cash in the big checks. It doesn’t matter what sport, sex appeal sells. 

Amanda Kemblowski 

Kin 338 Sec 02

Women and Body Image

One of the subjects we talked about in class this semester was about women and their body image.  We have learned so much in class that relates to women and how their body image is affected. The media  plays the biggest role in why women are so worried about their body image.  This video sums it up perfectly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Ajvix6DXs&feature=related

Everyday girls, teenage girls, and women are exposed to magazines, advertisements, commercials, and etc. that show women who are skinny, with long hair, and pretty faces.  This greatly effects women, and I know has affected me!  It makes me question, who deemed these women as "beautiful"?  Why is it that in our society, skinny is the dominant trait for a women?  Not only has media affected my views on how I should look, but I know it has affected many of my friends views.  I've known people who have become bulimic and anorexic because they don't look like these women on the covers of magazines- it truly is sad!    Although I do believe that being healthy is extremely important, I don't think the women should strive to look like these models/actresses/sport athletes that we constantly see.  Women forget that these people probably have trainers, plastic surgery, private chefs, and etc. to help get them that way.  They're photo shoots are also photo shopped to make them look better.  As spoken in class, this is what causes our society to have "fat phobia".  We are scared to not be "fat" because media tells our society we should not be that way.  As I said before, healthy is what we should all strive for, not a certain look.  I have noticed that being fit is becoming the new in thing, rather than being extremely skinny-which I think is not necessarily the best, but better.  Women should be happy the way that they are and not let media cause them unhappiness.  If a woman is truly unhappy with her body, she should do something about it because she wants it for herself, not because society tells her too!

Alyssa Salindong
Kin 338I

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:7920704

I’m assuming that Our Lady of Sorrow is a catholic school and due to its religious beliefs forfeited their team’s baseball champion Their belief that girls should not be placed on the same field as boys to avoid “the difficulty of maintaining proper boundaries” is a ridiculous reason. Like the article comments, I think Our Lady of Sorrow needs to catch up to modern times. What kind of message and prejudice are they teaching to their students? I am imaging the students going home and telling their parents that the school made them forfeit the CHAMPIONSHIP simply because the other team had a female on their roster. I bet that if it was up to the players they would want to play and compete for a championship and the fact that there was a female on the other team would not matter in the slightest. On the reverse side, I am really glad Meza Prep is not focusing on Our Lady of Sorrow's decision but rather celebrating their championship. I think it was very a very stand-up thing for the head coach to say “ I don’t necessary agree with their view but I accept their decision and am happy to celebrate the victory.” Because really what could the coach from Meza Prep do about this but to accept Our Lady of Sorrow’s religious views, move to a different league and try to defend their championship.

            Its my belief that religion and politics should be left completely out of sports, especially with sports involving children. The point of sports is to have fun, learn to work as a team and grow as a person together. Creating biases of which sex should be allowed to compete in which sport is a horrible view to cultivate, especially to middle school students.

Also, what kind of name is Our Lady of Sorrow? Kind of dark no? Not the point of the article but it came to mind. 

-Sean Boyd 

006946756 

Closing Statements 

To my fellow 338ers this class has most certainly been one that was different from the rest. From the first day icebreaker where we walked in reverse circles to the panel debates where Damien chewed out the opponent. I thought i was pretty open minded before this class but i really do believe that this class has shed more insight into my life. I never knew how heterosexist we all  are or how saturated our society is in inflated claims of beauty, or the fact that america the land of the free is still oppressing women and homosexuals through out its free land... I honestly though that i would be doing a research paper on the Williams sisters but wow I was mistaken through it all I would like to close this semester by saying it has been an honor to learn with you all well some of you... no I kid, this class was one that I will remember. thank you Coach K and Kiola as well as all of my fellow equalist 338ers. 

David Rehm

Kin 338i section 02

Last week Sports Illustrated brought out on one of its covers TITLE IX 40 years of change. The entire front cover is all white with black san serif print quoted in a red large quote symbol"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education receiving Federal financial assistance...." June 23, 1972. When I was looking over the magazine the issue presents 50 pages of men in sports, men advertisements, and photographs and only 20 pages about how Title IX was put into effect over the years. Now my question or my curiosity came into place on the date JUNE 23, 1972. Title IX was in place before Rene Portland became head coach at Penn State. If the last incident occurred in 2007 with Jennifer Harris, why was Rene Portland allowed to be sued by the school $10,000. Knowing about Title IX, being aware that she was a leader that many looked up, why wasn't she punished severely for the fact that TItle IX is not a new policy? Why was she not held accountable for her actions in a more severely manner? When I look at the magazine, it feels like its just print that has to be placed in school like instructions on how to use APA format. The magazine should have been all about the beginning before Title IX, the struggles, and the outcomes. Yes, it is true how Title IX speaks out, but does not speak about how the media should portray women in sports.                                                                         Geannie Tomas KIN 388

Women Cross Country Runner DQ for wearing Short Shorts

When I read an article, "Team Disqualified for Short Shorts" from a Associate Press, I was shocked and depressed when a cross country girls' team from Florida High School was disqualified after placing third for 2 mile race at State meet.  I do not think this was ethical when these runners were disqualified due to their shorts.  It is better for runners to wear short shorts to have better performance.  This incident was an issue for the referee since they are not familiar with girls' athlete wearing short shorts and the referee do not want female athletes to show their fit and strong bodies since it might attract more attention.  Even though the team has been wearing this uniform throughout the whole season, but somehow they brought this issue at the end of the season and decided to destroy many runners’ goals.  This issue can tied to our class lectures when we talked about females are usually view as feminine and males view as masculine.  Also females are known to look lean and petite, and males look stronger and athletic. I think both gender can wear any attire and look what they want to portray themselves instead of other people telling what they should do or look.  In all, any athletes should be themselves instead of hiding their personal and interests.

Cheyenne  Hayes

http://www.makeithappen.com/wis/readings/shortsfl.html

Shameless

            Saudi Women have bravely faced hardship in the sports life. In a country characterized by gender segregation, women have to confront in a daily basis, the cruel reality of patriarchal society dominance. Though there is pressure on authorities to give women the right to play sports by international organizations such Human Rights Watch and groups of liberal women in the territory, changes are not near to occur due to the great influence exerted by religious groups.

            The remarkable religious influence and extremist or extra conservative ideology, have contributed to deny Saudi women the right to play sports. Officials from religious Islamic groups have condemned women participation in sports, arguing that the excessive movement and jumping involved in football and basketball might cause girls to tear their hymens and lose their virginity.  It is sad to see that such authority figures are reluctant to contemplate a scientific or medical opinion to their argument. Furthermore, the same officials renewed in 2010 a religious edict banning women participation in sports, arguing that such activities will lead to following in the footsteps of evil.  The extremist beliefs of the religious groups have deprived women from their innate rights to participate in sports.  In Saudi Arabia, state schools are barred from teaching physical education.  Female athletes have never attended The Olympics or any international match.  Women are prohibited to attend sport events in stadiums since they are supposed to be reserved for men.   When the Jeddah United, a private women basketball team returned after playing the Jordanian national team in 2009, the newspaper published a picture of them with the headline “Shameless girls.” This type of retaliation is aimed to cause embarrassment for the participants and their families.

            As we learned in class, the patriarchal dominant group has controlled the participation of women in sports, in some countries in a more strict and manipulative way than others but at the end with the same purpose.  Years from now when changes have occurred in Saudi Arabia, authorities will realized that they were the ones who didn’t have shame on their games.

Axel D. Kin338

Women In Sports

         I will admit that before taking this class i had no idea what female athletes went through in the past and even in the present. I never really thought about how women were portrayed in the media, or how homophobia affected female athletes. It did not occur to me that even in this day and age there are still stereotypes about women in sports, and how they should look or act. There were a couple of topics that i found really interesting as we went through the semester. Like how women are portrayed in the media and how little female athletes are covered in today's press. As well as the homophobia that goes on, not only for females in sports, but in sports in general. I find it hard to believe that society today still looks at a person's gender, color and sexuality first instead of their abilities or their skills when it comes to sports. I grew up with the idea that no matter what, skill and dedication and the love of the game came first before anything else. That the only thing that mattered was the skill and heart of the athlete. I find it really sad that society today has forgotten that, and because of it we are still faced with the same problems that we had in the past. Although there are progress, there are still a lot of work to be done. I give props to those female athletes that defied the norm and showed the world that their skills, dedication and love of the sport is the only thing that matters!

Kat Talento
KIN 338I.s6

Women in the weight room

I spend a lot of time training athletes and myself in the weight room and it has always bugged me the dynamic that is seen. Women go straight to the cardio machines and starve themselves in attempt to reach some sort of "ideal" body they see in magazines. YUCK! The result is the perpetuation of the weakness that comes with extended bouts of cardio and a lack of heavy resistance training. STRONG IS SEXY! To me, there is nothing more attractive in a woman than confidence and breaking those gender norms. Having muscularity is not only "sexy" but it is empowering to women-- it shows a great level of discipline and sticks it to the patriarchal society. Another common error is that when women do enter the weight room, they fall into the trap of "toning". TONING IS ABSURD. Do not aim to make your muscles weak, strong muscles equal sexy muscles. Men spend entire lives attempting to "get big", by doing some heavy resistance training you will not bulk up, trust me. What you will do is condition your nervous system to fire at a level you had not known before. What you will do is hone your mind to a place where only in the most focused state can you meet your next personal record. You will defy the role that this society has placed on you and you will be strong-- you will be a woman!

D. Bennett Laurrell
005294339 Kin 338i section 02

Advertisements Displaying Discrimination

If there is one thing I learned of great value from this class, it's that I think women athletes deserve so much more credit and respect for their accomplishments in sport. Through their sport, they are displaying the need to end discrimination viewing men as the patriarchal hierarchy, while women are inferior and should stay within household chores. Although they are fighting to keep this discriminatory mindset away, I feel that advertisements are only still promoting it unfairly.
As a sports enthusiast, I frequently find myself on sporting websites and watching ESPN daily. While watching these shows and visiting these websites, I am beginning to notice that advertisements are only promoting the discrimination Title IX was intended to destroy. For example, I noticed on websites like Sports Illustrated, that advertisements for men included professional male athletes in their natural sporting element promoting some sort of a product. Other advertisements included alcoholic beverages.
On the other hand, although there were very few advertisements both through TV and internet devoted to women, the ones that were displayed the inferiority of women in sports.
For example, advertisements included home makeovers, deodorant, and running shoes colored pink.
These advertisements, though it may not necessarily be intentional, are supporting the idea that men are the ideal figure for the sporting world, while women athletes should remain feminine and clean natured.
It's not fair to women that they are seen through sporting news as petite and feminine, because they are just as equal to be seen as athletically- gifted individuals in sport. Title IX served as a way to gain equality in sports, however, advertisements are being produced depicting women as inferior to men and with less athleticism. I honestly feel that there is progress, although minimal, towards creating equality and awareness in the media for women in sports. However, I feel that in order to ensure that people gain the proper respect for women, advertisements shouldn't create a wall between men and women's sporting products or news. Women are playing a major role in the sporting industry today from superb college to exceptional professional athletes; these women deserve the right to be portrayed how they are athletically.
Children, especially girls, look up to these women and should have role- models that they truly believe are of amazing athleticism and talent.
Advertisements play a major role in the sporting industry; I only hope that we see positive progress towards what Title IX is all about.

Lesbians/Gays. Should they come out?

Being at the end of the semester, we went through many different topics about women in sports, from Title IX to how women are portrayed in the media. The one topic that we recently talked about in class, and too, caught my attention the most is about athletes who are lesbians/gays. The movie that we watched in class, Training Rules, made me frustrated and had me thinking more into this subject. Why? First off, being an athlete that has a passion for basketball and even coaching basketball right now, I know the feeling of not being able to play; however in my case, because of an injury. In Jennifer Harris’ case, as well as all the other athletes affected at PENN State, my feeling of not being able to play basketball doesn’t compare to their feeling of not being able to play; because of their sexual orientation. Here’s a quick question for you, if you were given a scholarship your senior year to attend a division I college because you were one of the superior athletes and then all of a sudden, being stripped of your scholarship not because you had bad grades or weren’t good enough, but because of their suspicion of your sexual orientation, wouldn’t you cry? Honestly, I know that I would cry. I have so much passion for the game that if something hurtful was shot at me like that, for a reason that is not affecting the team, I would break down in tears knowing that I can’t play basketball because of my sexual orientation. In our society, regardless of the past or present, we have this knowledge that relationships and marriages consist of a woman and a man being together, two heterosexual people being together. However, once we see two homosexuals together, whether it is a woman and a woman or a man and a man together, we become disgusted and discriminate them because it is out of the norm that we traditionally view. Truthfully, our society can’t accept the fact of seeing two homosexuals being together. But honestly, do you think that because of their sexual orientation, they shouldn’t be allowed to play the sport that they love, even if they are talented at it? In my opinion, I think that because it doesn’t affect the sport, they should be allowed to play. In regards to Harris and all the other athletes, I believe that they should’ve been still apart of the PENN State team and shouldn’t have gone through all that suffering that Coach Portland put them through. Cases like Harris’ spreads all over the world from all lesbians and gays to hear, and that’s the main reason why most of them are scared to come out. Recently, however, there are more of them who are coming out. But because of that fear of knowing that the minute they will come out, they will be judged, discriminated against, and made fun of, is the fear that they have that will keep them behind the closet. You can’t control the feelings of nature and how everyone feels towards people because everyone is different. True, most of us have feelings for the opposite sex, but for those who are comfortable around the same sex, should be able to like whoever they want and play the sport that they are talented in because that is an athlete that every school, institution and league wants. If these places ban these athletes from playing, then no one will ever know that they exist and can contribute so much to the world of sports.

-Chazmine Donado
KIN 338i Section 02

Women in the Media

From all the topics we covered in class the subjected that intrigued me the most was women in sports and their portrayal and coverage in the media. Women athletes continue to be under-represented in news coverage, and are often portrayed in stereotypical avenues; such as house wives, mother, or being “sexy”. Although there has been a steady increase in the number of women professionals over the past 20 years, most mainstream press coverage continues to rely on men athletics to get there sport coverage. Women in the news are more likely to be featured in stories about accidents, domestic violence, or showing their physical appearanceoff rather than in stories about their professional abilities or expertise. In the latter portion of the semester I got to read articles on women and their portrayal in the media. According to the articleGender in Televised Sports by Center for Feminist Research University of Southern California,  2009 1.6% of airtime was devoted to women’s sports, in contrast to the 96.3% devoted to male athletes.Media images of women in sports are very different from the media images of male athletes in action. It’s disappointing how women in sports are still being considered to be the under dogs in the game and are treated with the inequality’s of media coverage, sports endorsements and the proper recognitions that they deserve.

Stephanie Bruschini (KIN 388I S2)

Fitness Icons

So I stumbled upon an article posted by the WNBA's Twitter that was from Fitness Magazine.  They named the Top 20 Fitness Icons in this article so I decided to check it out.  One thing I was happy with is that 17 out of the 20 were women!  There were a few women who were questionable as to why they were on the list (i.e: Madonna, Gwen Stefani), but never the less it was amazing to see women and also minority women such as Lisa Leslie, the William's sisters, Billie Jean King, Gabrielle Reece, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mia Hamm, and Dara Torres on the list!  Also a good amount of them are athletes who play sports such as basketball, tennis, swim, track, and soccer.  The main thing that upset me about the list though, were the pictures they chose to use to highlight these women.  Of course they were sexualized in their poses, and only two were even in their uniform playing their given sport.  So again its a step forward for women in sports, yet still a step backwards because of how they chose to represent the women in this article.

Tiffany Brickey
KIN 338I W 4-6:45PM

LBSU Sand Volleyball Uniforms

Before this class I never would have taken notice that our sand volleyball team’s uniform includes bikini bottoms whereas the majority of our competition wears shorts. While I was at one match versus USC, I overheard a mother of one of the Trojan athletes criticize the 49er uniforms. She said the bikini bottoms were fine for the AVP tour because they attract revenue and are good for television, but USC’s “more collegiate-looking” outfit was more appropriate for the current event. As a woman, female volleyball player and a student of KIN338I, what she said confuses me to no end, because it asserts that college female athletes should be watched for their skill, but it is acceptable to sell the bodies of the very few female elite athletes who reach the pro level. This reminds me of the discussion in class about the differences in the representation of female athletes in collegiate media guides as opposed to the mainstream media. I can only hope that one day the latter will lend the majority (if not all) of its focus to the skill of female athletes.
-Therese Weed 

Unfair judgements

When I was writing my awareness assignment I came to the harsh realization of how much more privilege males have than their female counterparts. I was looking at the Reebok Reezone shoe commercials and after the class about fat phobia realized that these women are walking around in the shortest shorts and bikinis not for themselves but for the male gaze. After understanding that not all fat people are to be considered unhealthy I thought to myself why does this Reebok ad show only one specific type of lower body extremity (legs and butt). Women come in all shapes and sizes and the reebok ad shows only one specific body type. Men don’t have to live up to this one specific body type standard. For example an overweight successful man is most likely considered sexy. But on the other hand an overweight successful woman is most likely not considered attractive. The privilege of men being judged mostly on their accomplishments instead of their physical looks is a privilege that also needs to be extended to women. Women in sport get affected by this unequal privilege also in the fact that they can be horrible at their sport but if they fit society’s stereotypical view of beauty, they will get paid and receive endorsements that superior athletes should be getting. Basically women are usually being judged in their looks and men in most cases are being judged by their performances. When a female sniper who was the most successful from the Soviet Union came to America to tour the country with Eleanor Roosevelt a reporter asked her why she wore her uniform, it made her look fat.


Richard Bitting

Amanda Beard in the Public Eye

For my Awareness Assignment I focused on one Olympic Athlete that is consistently in the pubic eye. Amanda Beard is a beautiful, strong, and athletic person with much respect in the swimming industry. She is an Olympic medalist, a mother, wife, and inspiration athlete. Within her time in the public eye she has be on the cover of numerous magazine, done hundreds of interviews, and been on National television.

After doing some research I found out that not only is she a public figure, she done a good amount of advertising for different companies. For instance, she posed nude of the cover of Playboy because she has a past in modeling. Not only had she posed nude for one magazine she has posed nude for several. This type of public display allows fans and the public to criticize her motives as an athlete and feminine figure.

In class we have been speaking about the challenge of women being sexualized, trivialized, and marginalized in the media rather than being portrayed as strong, powerful, and athletic. It is interesting that Amanda Beard is all of the above, but not only is she as astonishing athlete she is drop dead gorgeous, has a perfect body, and the an immense amount of sex appeal. This is why she has had the ability to be displayed on the cover of magazines in such a sexual way. But when you look at a photo of Amanda Beard, you do not realize she is an Olympic swimmer, that she has won a multitude of medals for her athletic abilities. What you see is her breasts being exposed, her beautiful face glowing, and her feminine appearance. I can guarantee if she was on the cover of a magazine right now a large portion of the public would have no idea who she is.

The other day I opened an application on my IPhone, "US Weekly" and to my surprise there was an article written about Amanda Beard and her decision pose nude. She was interviewed about her nude photos in the public eye and she apologized for her offense to her fans. She mentioned how she wants the world to see her as a hardworking wife, mother, and athlete. Not just as a sex symbol. She believes that valuing her athletic career is important and spending more time relating herself to her athletic traits will only benefit her in the future.

I just thought it was a coincidence I decided to do my Awareness Assignment on Amanda Beard, and then about a week later she did an interview with Us Weekly Magazine to express her side on posing nude versus posing athletic. And to top it all off, all of this directly related to our class discussions.

Chelsie Kurz
Kin 338I
Wednesday 4-645

      Femaleathletes face pressures that most male athletes do not face when it comes toendorsements and promotional advertisements. Like many women in various careeroutlets, female athletes are plagued by the idea that “sex sells”. When youflip through most magazines, whether they target a male or female demographic,most of the images you find of female athletes portray them in a very hypersexualized manner. The images of female athletes portrayed by most media adssend out a troublesome message to the general public. When young girls seethese ads they get the wrong idea of what it is to be an athlete, specificallya female athlete. When female athletes become sexualized or objectified theylose their athletic identity, more importantly their humanity. It has beenpretty clear throughout time in the world of advertisement and media that sexsells. Because sex makes more money, many female athletes, whether successfulin their craft or not, have jumped onto the “sexy” bandwagon. Female athlete GabrielleReece, a successful American volleyball athlete, has found success and positiverecognition in the world of sports. For four consecutiveyears, Reece was the WBVL kills leader from 1993-1996, she was named theOffensive Player of the Year in 1994-95, and the League blocks leader in 1993. Reecealso competed domestically in the 1999-2000 Olympic Challenge Series, the1999-2000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Gabrielle Reece has also found a way to tap into the mainstreamaudience and become a sort of a household name in comparison to othervolleyball players. She has strayed away from sports and has ventured intofashion. The pictures linked show Reece photographed with her husband. The firstpicture is of Reece from a professional photo shoot with her husband. It isclear that Gabrielle is hyper sexualized, her bathing suit is very revealingand her glare is one of seduction. The second link is a personal photo, onethat is not intended to promote or advertise the athlete and shows her in avery casual and happy manner. The difference is very vivid; although the twopictures show Gabrielle and her husband in swimming suits they both delivery avery distinct message. Although female athletes have reached great strides inthe sport world, they still succumb to the unique pressures constructed towardswomen from media.  

http://www.babygeartoday.com/wp-content/2008/01/00_greece_01.jpg


http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/1007/athletes.beach/images/reece-hamilton.jpg

Edgar D.
Kin338I Sec2

While the 2012 Big West tournament for women's tennis started, the 49ers were most determined than ever. During their staying in Indian Wells, California the 49ers faced UC Irvine. The 49ers crushed the anteaters by starting their day off with a victory from their number 3 doubles. Sarah Cantlay and Julie Luzar won their 22nd match of the season by dominating their opponent 8-2. This showed that Long Beach State was here for business and that they were a serious contender for the title. Long Beach stayed strong and continued to dominate the weak anteaters. In singles Manasse led the way with a strong 6-2, 6-3 vicotry over the anteaters Bryon. The niners were now at a 2-0 lead. Following the Manasse victory Sarah Cantlay stepped up and brought Long Beach State just one win away from victory. Therefore UC Irvine responded with the only vitory of the day with Marcick Mamiit defeating Klaudia 6-2, 6-3 in a singles match. Although UC Irvine showed late signs of a possible come back, Long Beach State finished off with Bernard defeating Goettsching at number 3 singles. The 6-3, 6-4 singles victory brought Long Beach State their second straight Big West Tournament championship. The niners defeated UC Irvine 4-1. This was the first time since 2009 that the 49ers went 11-0 against league foes. Lastly be sure to tune into NCAA.com to view Long Beach State's postseason match up. 

Nancy Dinh  006097817

Women in Sports

Kin 338i

(W) 4-6:45

ESPN’s Lack of Coverage on Female Athletes

Every morning, I find myself on ESPN’s official website catching up on the day’s top stories. Each day, I scan the website’s main pages to find any articles that capture my interest. Sometimes I spend hours on the website just reading up on what is going on in the sports world. At this point, I have come to realize that I am a huge sports junkie, and also that I know the ESPN website like I know the back of my hand.

As a result, I have come to the conclusion that ESPN has an extremely low percentage of coverage on female athletes. Every once in a while, the website does publish stories about occurrences in women’s sports, but always seems to place these articles at the very end of the headline list. Eventually, these stories are removed altogether from the front page in order to make room for news about men’s sports. It seems as if ESPN posts about women simply to fulfill some sort of quota they might have about covering women’s sports.

At ESPN, there is a lack of enthusiasm toward female athletes and I feel that this needs to be improved. If there is more coverage on female athletes at ESPN, then attitudes toward women’s sports will begin to change.

Edwin Martin

Kin338i

Wed 4-6:45 PM

006915998

Congratulations Baylor on a perfect season..

To my pleasant surprise, there has been a lot of coverage on something other than football and the NBA on Sport Center these days: Baylor winning the National Championship. This is their first national title since 2005 but obviously their first finishing with a perfect 40-0 record. All of this helps when your center is a foot and half taller than any other player in women's college basketball. Seeing the highlights of the game on Sport Center of 6-foot-8 Brittany Griner dominating Notre Dame was like watching a mom playing against her daughter's kindergarden class. It was a joke watching Notre Dame trying to defend her. As soon as she got the ball down low in the post they tried to double team her but all Griner had to do was make one move and her hands were inches under the basket. You could clearly see the Notre Dame players giving up almost immediately because there was literally nothing they could do to try to defend her. It didn't make for a vey exciting game. The final score was 80-61 with Griner totaling 26 pints.

I felt bad for Notre Dame because what could they do? How could they defend Griner? Put their guard on their centers shoulders? It didn't seem fair. The Irish had an equally brilliant season as Baylor but they simply did not stand a chance against Griner. It seemed as if Baylor secured their National Championship as soon as they signed Griner to a scholarship.

-Sean Boyd

006946756

Wed 4:00-6:45

Women Sports

Before taking this class, I didn't realize how hard it was for women to become apart of the sports world. I personally love to play sports, especially basketball. After having a lecture about basketball in this class, I appreciate the sport even more now. What I have learned from class, basketball consisted of no dribbling, no contact, and no male fans watching. To this extent, what is the point of playing basketball right? Women were really short handed of ability when it came to sports because of the fact that we are women and we don't belong in the sports world. To me, I believe that in order to play basketball, you need the excitement of contact, dribbling and shooting the ball, and of course, playing as a team. One of the many coaches that I've had growing up once told me that men derived their shooting from the way females have been shooting. Pretty weird right? Then again, I analyzed male players and the way that they shoot and it's true, the form is similar to the way females shoot and are more accurate. I believe that the only reason why men's basketball is more popular amongst the world is because it is more entertaning by them dunking the ball, and most of all, they have more skills than women in that they are quicker and because they are male and they are suppose to belong in the sports world. Women have evolved in the sports world throughout the years. Being able to be apart of basketball and any other sports is a major accomplishment for me because I know that I have now become part of history and can make a change, even if it is not a big change. To be able to be part of something that women always longed to do is such an amazing experience. Being in this class helps me realize more about women in sports and how we were treated in the past and now, because of Title IX, we are able to be equal with men and have the opportunity to be able to either be better than them, or at least be at their level of athletic ability.

Trayon Martin's case- Don't Make Quick Judgements

In all honesty, my initial reaction to Trayvon Martin's death was that "why is the news so focused on a death of an average teenage citizen in Sanford, Florida when there are other issues we should focus on" But as I looked more into the case, I felt foolish for not realizing the true meaning behind the killing. It made me realize that many things in this world are not as they seem. For example, the KONY 2012 video that went viral across the nation showed only one side of the story. It was not a full depiction of the Ugandan war. Similarly, the reality behind the death of Trayvon Martin is not for self-defense but a perpetuation of the stereotypes about African-American males. Today, I saw on MSNBC that new development in the case show that the 911 call had screams which were not George Zimmerman's but rather of a male under the age of 30 (http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/01/10963191-trayvon-martin-case-911-call-screams-not-george-zimmermans-2-experts-say) This is great development but sadly the investigation was done by the NBC news rather than the police themselves which shows that the police have already made up their mind about the case. Finally, its very clear that if we just go with the crowd and fail to educate ourselves on specific issues we will loose the one power we have --to think critically. In regards to the case, I feel that the underlying reason behind the case definitely stems from racism and of stereotype. The words of Kanye West from the song 'Never Let Me Down' --"Racism still alive, they just be concealing it" hold absolutely true in this case and probably many other cases.

ANI DESWAL
Kinn 338I
W 4-6:45

A League of Their Own

When I started taking KIN 338I the first movie film that came to my mind was "A League of Their Own". This film shows the trials and tribulations of an All American Women's Baseball team during World War II. Because of WWII, the Men's Baseball League was diminishing because many of the men were being drafted into the war. Women in this movie had the sole roles of housewives, until some were drafted into an American Women's League, which was created to keep the game of baseball alive during the War.

During this film, you see many scenes of challenges the women baseball players face to play the game:

-The team struggles with a male coach who does not believe in their playing ability.

-The team has to dress up in skirts and make-up during the games.

-The team had to do something "exciting" to attract attention to the game; such as catching a fly ball while doing the splits.

-The team is forced to take etiquette classes in order to remain "lady-like".

-An amazing female player is almost denied from playing on the team because she is too ugly.

-When the players are announced during a game they are referred to as "pretty, single, married, etc."

-The team's coach tells them that they are unable to be vulnerable in the sport of baseball by saying "There's no crying in baseball".

The beginning of the Women's League starts off rocky, but as the movie continues you began to see how these women fight off the stereo types and increase the popularity of the game. These women started off as only being viewed as housewives, but later start being respected as women athletes. They face extreme issues because of their gender, but we slowly see it diminish as their raw baseball talent starts to overcome those issues. I think this was an awesome movie and really related to our class. In the film you observe the under representation of women in baseball, the challenges they face to play the game, and the road to equality being slowly paved for women in sports.

Alyssa Salindong

KIN338I Section 2

Wed 4:00-6:45

Yesterday morning I don't know if anyone was listening to Kost 103.5, but they were putting new songs from Lionel Richie's new album called Tuskegee. It's funny that he mention's that the reason he names the album Tuskegee is that it takes him back to his childhood and how he wants to show that he was able to triumph. I didn't get to hear the entire conversation, but if it had not been part of our learning history in class, I won't have had no clue what he was talking about. As soon as the title was mention "Tuskegee", my head started recollecting the readings and how it involved the runners and what the University stood for. Last night I was also watching CSI and it so happens that the evidence that they are collecting deals with testosterones. The hair that was being examined had xy and xx chromosomes. It showed that the person had androgynous chromosome system. It was a female daughter who had both sex hormones. This is almost like my panel information on sex testing on female athletes. In her case she could be raised as a girl or be raised as a boy. The parents decided they wanted a girl, but she had boy interests. It was the death of her dad that made her go through the surgery and alter her reproduction to a man. He became a killer always leaving female evidence and for that reason there was never enough evidence to support he was the killer. Now it makes more sense when I was watching the investigators how they found it difficult to pin point why there was high levels of testosterone in a female hair. They thought probably she was taking male hormones, steroids, and they mentions she must be an athlete or in to excessive exercising. I guess that might have been a reason why sex testing became important, because they had the style of a girl, with the strength of a man. Sometimes I watch stuff with out realizing that it all has a history and curiously it had to do with what I have learned in class.  Geannie Tomas kin388i wed 4-6:45

Before this semester, I don't think gender inequality in sports was something I thought about. I mean, call me naive but, I think the system is set up so that women and girls do not pay attention to those things. All through grade school and high school, the only thing most females thought about was playing. I don't even think most female athletes paid attention to the fact that the Title IX pamphlet we got at the beginning of each season read our rights. Yea, we hear Title IX but I'm sure that very few understood that Title IX essentially gives females permission to compete in athletics. It took me to take a Women In Sports class to get a grasp of the oppression that women faced before laws like Title IX were put in place. I didn't even know that women were not allowed to interact in a competitive manner in certain areas for so long. I'm sure I'm not alone and it reveals that institutional changes should be made in order for girls and women to be more knowledgeable about the past, which would ultimately allow them to appreciate the opportunity more. Our female predecessors did brave things like stand in front of someone in the bare skin with Title IX written on their bodies in black marker in order to get some sort of equality and I thank them.

-Champagne J.
Kin338I

Head Scratcher

For those who are familiar with professional basketball it is safe to assume that you all are aware of a certain Los Angeles Clipper who is a frequent guest on Sports Center’s top 10; and he would go by the name of Blake Griffin. When we watch the Clippers we are graced with Blake Griffin’s athleticism. He is a: freak, monster, and beast. All these terms are viewed and meant as compliments, but what would happen if we were to call Balyor’s Brittney Griner a beast, or freak? How would that be seen or interpreted? Are there different terms that we are supposed to use because she is a female? And if so, what are they? Ms Griner you are the most hyped female basketball player since Lisa Leslie, Candace parker didn’t get this much recognition for her dunk during her Tennessee days. You are now part of an elite group of only 7 women who have dunked in an NCAA game. If you decide to peruse a pro career and dunk in the WNBA you will be only the 3^rd behind Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker… So what term of endearment to use when describing you?  You will now be called Mega Beast. Here is to you Griner, I mean Mega Beast.

David Rehm

Kin338i Sec.2

Pat Summit!!

As I am following the Women's NCAA Basketball tournament it has made me pay more attention than ever to the amazing and most winningest coach of Tennessee's women's team, Pat Summitt and I came across this article: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/27/149472833/season-ends-for-legendary-coach-pat-summitt.  Her and her Lady Vol's just lost to the amazingly talented Baylor team yesterday, which could have put Summitt into her 19th final four.  She has been coaching for 38 seasons now, and after this game everyone is trying to figure out what is in Summitt's future, and if she will retire or return for her 39th season as head coach.  This woman is a huge role model and big influence for all women wanting to be a coach.  She persevered through so much, and even was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and fought through it this past year.  Regardless what she chooses to do, I hope she is truly honored for her work.  She is an amazing coach and is better than pretty much every coach even the male coaches.  I hope she inspires many more women to want to be coaches and help them to realize how great they can be.  As I did research for my panel position paper I came across a couple articles that talked about how its impossible for women coaches to have long careers because of marriage and children, but Pat Summitt went against the odds and had a long and very successful career as the head coach of a women's basketball team!  I hope everyone will remember her not only as a coach but as a WOMAN!!!!

Tiffany Brickey
KIN 338I Wed 4-6:45pm

Linsanity

Jeremy Lin was born in America and is of Taiwanese descent. In his early years of basketball, he received no athletic scholarships and went undrafted into the NBA. Despite this rocky start, he is now the starting point guard for the New York Knicks. As you most likely have heard, the fervor of his fans has been given the title "Linsanity." Linsanity did not only begin recently, but is a carry over of the extreme fandom when he played for the Golden State Warriors. Many Asian Americans cheered him on and caused a great amount of pressure for Lin. It has been noted that Lin played better in games on the road where he did not have the pressure from his adoring fans who expected a great deal out of him. Even now, Lin continues to feel the pressure from Asian American fans across the country. While these fans may merely be proud of a fellow Asian American's success, it seems that Jeremy Lin feels the pressure to perform and succeed in being what might be called a "race hero." This leaves us with the question, does Jeremy Lin want to be a race hero, or is he like Althea Gibson, who wanted to be recognized for her athletic abilities?

Sarah Garcia

M,W 4-6:45

Women Playing the Craziest Sport

Women should be able to serve in combat roles. Women have been serving honorably in both Iraq and Afghanistan for the past 10 years. As of January 2011 110 women had been killed in Iraq and 24 have lost their lives in the Afghan campaign. Women make up about 14% of the armed services. Of the roughly 2.2 million troops that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan more than 255,000 have been women.  Women have only been allowed to serve in support units not direct combat units. This has caused glass ceiling effect for women in the military. Combat units make up approximately 10% of Marine Corps and Army occupational specialties; therefore not letting them participate in these fields creates an obstruction to promotions and advancement. The military has made many great strides in the past year letting lesbian and gays serve open in the military and for the first time letting Navy women serve on submarines. By not letting women serve in combat roles it casts a shadow on the sacrifices so many women have made for the country. A woman who is well disciplined, smart and physically fit would do great in an infantry unit. The military needs to let women compete on the greatest sports team.( the grunts)
Richard Bitting, Kin 338I Women in Sport

Effects of Title IX on Women's lives

       As i was doing research for my panel paper, I came across an article entitled "As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends" by Tara Parker - Pope. In the article it explores the effects of Title IX in the lives of girls through research. Statistics show that having girls be more active in sports can help increase the quality of their future. ".. changes set in motion by Title IX  explained about 20 percent of the increase in women’s education and about 40 percent of the rise in employment for 25-to-34-year-old women". (Pope, 2010). According to research, sports help people do better in life. In my opinion it is definitly better to have Title IX, so that we can give more opportunities for girls to do sports. It is amazing how sports can change or better the life of an idividual. It was also stated in the article that due to Title IX and the increase in girls playing sports, the obesity risk for women 20 to 25 years later has declined. I find it amazing that an increase in participation in sports can have so much impact in the live of girls everywhere.  Eventhough this is definitly good news, there is still work to be done because statistics show that there is still a low number of active female athletes. I believe that because we are armed with this information we should keep going and fight for equality, especially if invovlement in sports can increase the quality of life of an individual for the future.

Parker-Pope, T. (2010, Febuary 15). As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividend. Retrieved from New York Times: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/as-girls-become-women-sports-pay-dividends/

Kat Talento
KIN338I

When Women Win Too Much

I just read a heroic article about New Jersey athletic female coach, Nancy Williams fighting back her job and getting equal opportunity for women in athletics program. First, she was fired for filing a Title IX compliant because the football players at Shore Regional High School harassed her and the team. William lost again and did not get her job back because she was winning too much as a female coach.  William won nine state championships in her coaching career and won more than 1000 games. The football players egged her house and took away the equipments so they do not have the advantage.  I think it’s unethical that they mistreated her and her teams and it is not right to take someone talent away. I believe the football players were jealous how the field hockey girl’s team was more successful than them. 

Cheyenne Hayes

KIN338I Spring 2012

http://www.womenssportslink.com/WhenWomenWinToMuch.shtml

Women and MMA

With the recent rise in popularity of mixed martial arts, the sport has been in the mainstream media significantly more than before. I can remember getting with a bunch of my friends and going to our buddy's house to watch his illegal japanese stream to watch Pride events live that we couldn't get otherwise. I've always been involved in combat sports and thought they were great to teach discipline and respect for your opponents. However, in light of recent controversy I thought it was important to talk about the involvement of women in a sport that many consider even too brutal for men.

Dana White (UFC's president) has gone on record as saying "women have no place in this sport". However, there have been notable (and astonishingly talented) women competing in MMA for years. Let's break this down in mathematical terms-- here we have a sport that we are labeling "brutal" (which I don't agree with). Once something is labeled brutal, it is automatically assumed women should not participate because women are "Delicate" and can't handle this type of thing. It's really too bad that we limit what women can do based on silly labels that we place on ALL things, but in this case sports.

Bennett L.
Kin338i Sec.02

Saudi Women & the Olympics

Yesterday, I stumbled across an article from cnn.com titled "Will Saudi Women make Olympics debut?". This article spoke about an historic event that may take place in the upcoming summer olympics which is the inclusion of women athletes from Saudi Arabia.  At first, I was surprised to hear that women from Saudi Arabia have not been allowed in such a grand event but as I gave it more thought I realized that maybe the issue is not discrimination by the International Olympics Committe but rather its the ideology in Saudi Arabia that is an obstacle for these women. Unlike the men in the country, these women are still struggling for their basic freedom. Even though 55-57% of the university graduates are women, they still have a higher unemployment rate than men. The stagnant inclusion for women in society may rise from religious ideologies. Religion plays a big part in reducing women involvement in sports as it is said to be un-Islamic to be a woman and be involved in sports. This made me think back to my childhood when I lived in India. I remember that my twin sister never got the same privilages that I did as a male. If I joined karate classes, she was told it wasn't a sport for a woman. Even when I took art classes, she was was told to stay home and help my mom out around the house. Clearly, the same principle applies in the case for the Saudi Arabian women who are being captured by the shackles of societal values. It's quite saddening to see how much struggle women still have to go through around the world. But on the brighter side, I am glad that the idea of being included in a diversified event such as the Olympics is very much alive for the middle eastern women of our world...
ANI DESWAL
Kin 338I
W 4-6:45

Sleeping with the Enemy

            There are many problems affecting women’s participation and development in sports.  Most of the time, if not all the time, men are blamed for the creation and perpetuation of such problems.  Although men take a big chunk of responsibility in such unfortunate situations, it can’t be ignored that women’s roles and attitudes toward their own gender, contribute to the preservation of the many known problems.  I was impressed when I saw some data provided by Beauty Redefined on its article “our Issue with Swimsuit” (Feb,12, 2012) referring to how feminism is portrayed in the Sports Illustrated Magazine, and how such phenomenon has become an American cultural thing.  According to the author, 32% of adults in America read the magazine and 22 million are reported to be women.  Furthermore, it is reported that there is an increasing number of male professional athletes who stand up publicly to support sexual orientation disclosure in sports, an attitude not yet followed by female athletes, “ Heterosexual in Sports”, Griffin, P., (2011). Although women may have their own reasons not to support their own gender, their continuing attitude toward social behaviors, contributes to the creation and preservation of their own problems.

Axel D.Kin338is2
3/26/2012

Females and Football?

            Yesterday I posted a link on our class Twitter page to an article titled, “Soccer Star Isom Doesn’t Make LSU Team.” It tells of Mo Isom, a senior and former goalkeeper for LSU’s women’s soccer team and how she tried out as a kickoff specialist for her school’s football team. Though she didn’t make the team (only one female has played at the FBS level), she has been invited back to try out again in August.

            Several aspects of this article grabbed my interest. First of all, the headline doesn’t mention that Isom is a female. The article itself does mention this and spends a few sentences to inform readers only one female has previously played at that level, and last year another female unsuccessfully tried out as kicker at Virginia Tech. Overall the article spends more words describing how Isom’s try out went and her accomplishments on LSU’s soccer team, all without evaluating the events based on her gender or sex. Unfortunately, a fair majority of comments posted after the article by readers concern Isom’s appearance. For me, the way the article was written is a parallel to how those intimately involved in the sports world are knowledgeable of the progress women have made, and though gender is still somewhat of a focus, hopefully we’ve reached a point where achievements are more notable. The disgusting comments following the article are a reflection of how the general public is unaware of the obstacles female athletes have faced, how the progress that has been made is taken for granted, and how there is still progress to be made. 

-Therese Weed

Kin 338I; Wednesdays 4-6:45