Sports Blog Group Conclusion

Over the course of this blog, we have delved into many of the different facets of what makes an athlete.  There are many different things that are looked at by society as being "facts" about what an athlete is or how they should act and where these so called facts come from in the first place.  One of these things is the general stereotype against athletes that they are all masculine.  This makes it difficult for many athletes in trying to express their own masculinity or femininity.  Female athletes may have trouble being conceived as masculine, and also with some homosexual men in sports having to hide the fact that they are gay because it goes against them being perceived as men.

We have also delved into some of the different things in the sporting world such as how some athletes are perceived and how their sexuality is expressed. We explore the ways in which the media covers men and women as how that affects their sexuality and also the notions that people may have about athletes in general.  Things such as ESPN's The Body Issue and other magazines have depicted different athletes on the covers, and how this relates to the aspect of their sexuality. There are also some cases such as Brittney Griner, who could have some questions raised as to the fact if she could play with men, and with some people even questioning the fact that she is a women at all because she is so big and good at sports.

There are many different things that "make an athlete", and a lot of things in this culture that need to be altered in order to make people feel more comfortable in who they are and being able to be open about their sexuality and masculinity or femininity.  Through this blog we have learned a lot about all of these different facets of the sporting world and sexuality, and we hope that you have enjoyed coming along in this journey with us!

Andrew, Elise, and Lyndsey

This image is of two team members helping an opposing team member around the bases after she injured her leg. The batter hit a home run that would put her team in the lead, but before she could get out of the batter's box she injured her knee. It is down in the rules that if a runner cannot run the bases the run cannot count, instead of forcing the opposing team to take an out and keep the game tied, the two members carried the opposing team member around the bases so that she could score her team a run. This is not something that you would see in men's sports. As I discussed in my research post female athletes can be aggressive and intense, but they also bring compassion and emotion that male athletes to not.

"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013

Elise

Homosexuality in Professional Sports Small Post #2

    Following in suit with my last small post, I wanted to find another article that delved more into the struggles that athletes face when they are not able to be open about who they are.  This article focuses on another former football player, and gives a little more in depth idea into some of the different events in his life that pertained to hiding his sexuality from others.

    I picked this article in particular because I think that it shows the importance in accepting everybody, no matter how "different" that they may be.  Thought it may take some getting used to at first for some people, there is no reason that homosexual athletes should not be able to be open about who they are while still being active in their sports, and not have to be worried about being looked down upon.

    I hope you enjoy the article, here it is!
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/29/sports/la-sp-sports-homophobia-20121230

Andrew Novak

Homosexuality in Professional Sports Small Post #1

    I wanted to provide a link to this article because I found it very interesting and that I thought it pertained to my topic quite well.  It tells the story of Kwame Harris, a former player in the NFL who is a homosexual, and came out recently after being arrested after an altercation with his boyfriend.  It also showed some of the struggles that he faced in hiding his "secrets" from his teammates.

    Overall I think it is a really interesting article that shows how rough it can be for homosexual people who do not feel comfortable in being open with who they are.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130330/kwame-harris-gay-nfl-player-says-his-homosexuality-clashed-professional-sports

Andrew Novak

Does playing while injured make them masculine?

For some reason it will not allow me to add the video to the blog but here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIf8lGu6RO8

This video talks about the dangers of playing while injured and about how these men felt they had to prove their masculinity by risking further injury to still play or participate.


-Lyndsey

Gay Men In Professional Sports

     In this research post I want to again speak about homosexuality in professional sports, but this time I want to focus in on male sports.  There is a large stigma in sports that in order to play a sport you need to be masculine.  This, however, is an unfair stereotype.  There have been many successful professional athletes who have been gay, though they have usually had to avoid coming out of the closet until after they came out. For example, in Michael Messner's article Becoming 100% Straight, he discusses how he interviewed former Olympian Tom Waddell about his being gay as a professional athlete and his later coming out and starting the Gay Games.  He also discusses how Tom Waddell knew that he was homosexual, but got into sports because he didn't feel comfortable with having that image at the time and wanted to be viewed as a man.  "I wanted to be viewed as male, otherwise I would be a dancer today.  I wanted the male, macho image of an athlete.  So I was protected by a very hard shell. (Messner, pg. 403)."  This quote shows the problems that homosexuals face in sports where they might try to keep a masculine image in order to be viewed as "tough", and therefore keep themselves closeted instead of being open about their sexuality.

    Part of the problems that I believe are causing problems for people who are homosexual  in sports and stopping them from coming out of the closet is the homophobic sentiments that people have in locker rooms. People are afraid that if someone is gay and is changing in the same locker room as them, then they might be afraid that just because the person is gay that they are staring at them or being perverted in some way, when that is just ridiculous.  For some reason, people tend to look for masculine characteristics in their athletes, both male and female.  "Gay male athletes are assumed to not exist.  Part of the reason for this is because our society views gay men as "weak" and "effeminate," and therefore non-masculine (Anne Gregory, pg. 270)."  One our society is able to understand that just because you are good at sports that does not mean that you have to be masculine, then maybe people will start to feel more comfortable coming out of the closet.  However, at the rate that this is going, it may be a long time for this to happen and take a few brave individuals to be the first to come out while still playing sports to make others feel comfortable.

Andrew Novak

Works Cited

Gregory, Anne. "Rethinking Homophobia in Sports: Legal Protections for Gay and Lesbian Athletes and Coaches." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. <http://laworgs.depaul.edu/journals/sports_law/documents/gregory%20homophobia%20in%20sports.pdf>.

Messner, Michael. "Becoming 100% Straight Inspired by Feminism." Research Paper on Becoming 100% Straight Inspired by Feminism, Michael Messner Hypothesizes That ... Research Papers. N.p., n.d. Web.

Brittney Griner

Brittney Griner is a 6'8" women's collegiate basketball player for the Baylor Lady Bears. She averaged 23.8 points this past season with 18 dunks throughout her college career. Undoubtedly, she is great. It is athletes like this young woman who are paving the way for future great, young female athletes just like herself, she deserves all of our respect and praise. However, the controversy about whether she can play with the men, is a matter all of its own. In my opinion, as a young female athlete who greatly admires women who can play their game at the level that Miss Griner does, I do not believe that she could hack it with the men. The games are too different, the size, speed and physicality of male professional basketball players would be like nothing she has ever experienced. That does not, however; take away from her achievements and her greatness as a female athlete, and I am not saying that if she were to have a chance to play with the men that she shouldn't take it, but that should not be her main focus. Her main focus should be to keep being great and to keep being a role model and to keep paving the way for future young athletes.

 Birdsong, Nick. ""A Woman Can't Play Against Men"" Www.al.com/sports. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <www.al.com/sports/.../charles_barkley_on_brittney_gr.html>.

Elise

Sports Rules; Life Rules

        Everyone knows that there are differences between men's and women's sports. The rules are different in some competitions such as gymnastics and lacrosse, and the style of play is different in sports such as baseball/softball, and basketball. But can these differences in sporting have an affect on real life expressions of emotions like aggression and assertion, and do the different styles of play between men and women have an affect on how these emotions are expressed? These are the questions that can be raised when considering men's and women's sports and the differences between them.
       It has long been thought that men are more aggressive than women purely by nature, but also because of their exposure to contact sports. However, new research shows that that may not be true. According to Linda Keeler, "It is unclear whether the differences found across gender and sport types are due to different sports socialization processes, or an existing disparity in those who gravitate toward certain sports" (60). So, the question is no longer whether males or females are more aggressive, but rather, which types individuals are already aggressive and whether certain sports legitimize more aggressive behavior. Which brings about the point that most sports that were traditionally considered masculine have had the rules modified to allow less contact when they are being played by women (Keeler, 59). Even though this is true,the research that Keeler presents shows no significant differences between men's and women's aggression levels on the field, even though men showed higher incidences of aggression in real life circumstances (Keeler, 70). The fact that women are shown to have just as high aggression levels on the field as men is a testament to the accomplishments that women have made in the world of sports today. From this research it would seem that young women are being taught to assert themselves to achieve their goals as athletes; something that would not have been taught to young girls in the past.
        This research is a clear indication that women continue to make leaps and bounds in the world of sports. They are becoming much more assertive in themselves as athletes, and that is important to their continued success. Being aggressive on the field creates a sense of empowerment to future athletes and allows for them to reach goals that they may never have achieved without the road that was paved by the female athletes of today.

                                                                 Works Cited
Keeler, L. A. (2007). The differences in sport aggression, life aggression, and life assertion among adult male and female collision, contact, and non-contact sport athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 30(1), 57-76. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.emich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/215870547?accountid=10650 

Elise

Masculinity in PE

      We have experienced masculinity in sport our entire lives. In my last posted research post I talked about how masculinity is seen in the media and the spotlights, but that is not where the preference for the masculine in sports is created. It is not hard to believe that masculinity in sports actually starts in the physical educational setting. Whether in the PE classroom or on an organized sports teams there is a strong want for the athletically privileged. There are multiple views on masculinity in sports at this age. The ability to perform athletic skills properly is seen as being masculine and inability to perform these task is seen in a negative light in the gym class.

       Those who are athletically skilled are seen as having more masculinity than those who struggle with performing those tasks are looked on as unskilled and awkward. This threatens their masculinity and reduces them to be victims of ridicule and humiliation. A boy being nonathletic may be a result of developing later than his peers so he refrained from performing some physical activity which would leave him farther behind in terms athleticism. Size and development in sports is key to success. Most sports involve physical contact which would make being stronger and muscular important (Drummond). There is a battle for male dominance in the world of sports. This relates to the skill of each of the athletes. Skill is first developed in the gym class and then leads into organized sports. Those that do not succeed in the gym class tend to avoid participation in the organized sports, which saves them from further ridicule and embarrassment of failing in front of others (Anderson). This brings in the negative body images in which boys acquire from the fear of being perceived as non-masculine.

      The media focuses on the body image issues in females, but fail to bring up the fact that almost just as many males suffer from similar types of inner troubles. The males who suffer from these negative issues are typically those who do not have as much athletic talent as some of their peers. These males may not have as much success in the PE class so they feel that in order to avoid being teased they avoid the sporting world. This leads them to not wanting to participate in athletic activities. The negative images come from the fact that they are less active than their peers who participate in organized sports. In the PE setting these boys are forced to participate in athletic activities and this leads them to refrain from participation in organized sports (Drummond). Failing to be able to perform an athletic skill increases the negative self-esteem and body issues because of the fact that it is a public unlike failing at a test which would be private matter between the teacher and the student. PE classes are typically taught by males who they themselves were successful in athletics.

These teachers tend to praise the boys that are successful in the sports because they want to encouragement the enjoyment of physical activities (Anderson). There are many views on masculinity in the sporting world and many of these views start fairly early on in life and can be seen in multiple settings.

       One view that has been common in the past is that those who are unsuccessful in athletics are not only non-masculine but can be perceived as homosexual. Though in the past there has been a negative view on homosexuality in the sports world there is a recurring trend of acceptance amongst the younger generations. Though there is a trend of acceptance that does not mean that homosexuals are seen as masculine. There are quite a few professional athletes who have come out in the past, but they refrained from coming out while they are in the spotlight. This is because of the fact that there is a view of lack of masculinity and talent of athletics in homosexuals. As homosexuality has become a more excepted way of life in society there is also less of a negative view towards it in the PE and high school sports worlds (Anderson). This has allow the link between masculinity and talents to become faded and not as strict.

         These views allow boys to go on with their lives connected with the fact they were either successful or not in the athletic world. There will always be the successful and unsuccessful, but there should not be a connection to whether or not they are seen as masculine. It has been proven that everyone learns in a different way, so those that are unsuccessful in the sporting world may have talents in other areas. The link between sports and masculinity may continue to be there, but there is a growing trend in which the line has not become as distinct. 


-Lyndsey Tollas

Works Cited

Anderson, Eric. "Inclusive Masculinity in a Physical Education Setting." Thymos 6.1 (2012): 151-65.                 ProQuest. 7 Apr. 2013.

Drummond, Murray J. N. "The Meaning of Boys' Bodies in Physical Education." Journal of Men's Studies 11.2 (2003): 131-.ProQuest. 7 Apr. 2013.