One Race in Sports

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One Race in Sports

The realm of sport is a very gender specific world. We associate specific sports with gender, for example only men play football and baseball, where women play softball and do gymnastics. Socially it is not accepted for people to break these set boundaries. When individuals attempt to fight the system, there are many social costs, for example being deemed "gay" in the most derogatory sense. However, benefits do arise in the long run, as colleges appreciate students who are willing to challenge societies' prejudices.

High school is a very transitory period for most teenagers. They are just beginning to discover who they are and what they care about in the world. Though within there are many battles for the individual, there also exist many social barriers. The "popular" crowd is generally full of the jocks. The boys who participate in sport every season: football, baseball and track, and the cheerleader girls who are petit in stature and care greatly about their outward appearance (I realize that this is quite a generalization, yet it has proven true in my experience). Somehow, it seems that these peoples' opinions always matter the most. They determine what is "in," they define "cool." Personally, I never was an active member of this crowd, though some close friends of mine were. My "group" of friends however, was fairly athletic. Practically every one of us participated in a sport, track, swimming, gymnastics, basketball, or soccer. One friend was always a bit different from the rest of the guys. While not feminine in his demeanor, he never distinguished himself as particularly "manly." For example, when one of the girls had to go to the locker room for some reason, she always asked Kawika if he wanted...

... middle of paper ...

...n II, the most muscular body didn't win. The character Bev molded herself to be muscular, not feminine, and because of her lack of womanliness, she lost the competition.

Men and women have social duties determined by their abilities and historical natures. Because these ideas are engrained in our heads, it is difficult to look outside the boundaries, which have been created. We must rise to the occasion, and accept the challenges these people present us with. Men should be able to take on "feminine" sports, even feminine roles, and still maintain "manliness." Similarly, women should be able to do the same. We are meant to learn from history, in order to prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes twice. We should then use these examples as learning experiences. We as a human race should strive to become one, not two separate genders within one grand facade.

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