A closeted athlete is faced with many challenges before, during, and after a game, no part being easy. Before the game they are faced with the locker room. A place that is supposed to be a safe place for the players and yet some phrases raise alarm. The phrases are most likely homophobic and cause the player distress. But they can’t react just in case another player notices their reaction. During the game is just as hard, the player has to focus on playing the game as well as listening to more homophobic slur in the game. And after the game is just like before the game acting like fit the perfect mold of an athlete. Being a closeted athlete is not easy, since homophobia is such a common aspects of sports. And the expectation with sports to …show more content…
Both project’s mission statements express their want for the the acceptance and protection for all players. Athlete Ally bluntly conveys their goal to end homophobia and transphobia in sports and states that they “believes that everyone should have equal access, opportunity, and experience in sports — regardless of your sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.” (“What We Believe”). In the You Can Play Project’s mission statement, it declares that the project “works to ensure the safety and inclusion of all in sports - including LGBTQ athletes, coaches and fans.” (“Mission Statement”). Both equality projects are partner with a number of well known businesses and sports associations and leagues, like Adidas, Gatorade, the NWHL, the NHLP, and multiple others. Out of the two equality project, the You Can Play Project is the more well known project because of the fact that every major men’s sports league has participated in one of their videos (Gates), which allows for their message to reach a significantly larger audience. Of the major sports leagues the National Hockey League has been partner with You Can Play since 2013 at the rise of the project repetition. They were the first sports league to take a stance on gay rights. By 2014, all thirty NHL teams had a member express their support …show more content…
Chances are anyone who has been involved in sports either has been coached by or played with a homosexual.” (English). And yet the amount of out LGBTQ atheles are small in numbers, and the athletes who are out are not often talked about. People Magazine released an article in 2014 called The Out Field, which included interviews with six out professional athletes of different gender and sports. Only three of the athletes are currently playing and are out, they are all women. The other three interviewees are men who are now retired from playing professional sports, one being Wade Davis who is the director of the You Can Play Project. A common theme in the interviews, after mentioning the treatment they received or what treatment they were afraid of receiving, was the hope to inspire youth athletes. Each interview ended with what that athletes wanted to do for the youth, each express the want for commonality of accepting sexuality and being a role model (“The Out Field”). At the time of these interviews, the interviewee Michael Sam was actively playing in the National Football League, he was the first openly out active player in the NFL. Another interviewee was Brittney Griner of the Women’s National Basketball Association, who is the first openly out athlete to be signed with Nike (Reed). While there have been other interviews with different LGBTQ athletes, any form of newscoverage of LGBTQ atheltes works for the
Duron is a “guy’s guy” who loves football, baseball, beer, and classic trucks. He’s super masculine and always has been. He had never met an openly gay person until he met his wife whose brother was gay. He began to not like when people said things like “faggot” in the locker room. He began to not like it even more when he had his second son who liked to wear dresses and wished to be treated like a girl. Duron and his wife discovered that there were many other children who were the same way. They discovered that not as many parents were as accepting as they were and it angered them. Duron has an older son who is just like him, a “guy’s guy” but he loves his son who wears dresses just as much and wished other dads in his position would do the
When athletes of opposite gender play sports together there is a greater opportunity for bonding to occur between the two genders (Cohen 228). This is turn, can strengthen a player’s social development, as stated in “Investigating Coed Sport’s Ability to Encourage Inclusion and Equality.” Too, this can benefit athletes later in their career when they become professional athletes and have to do interviews that are conducted by the opposite gender. Because of them previously bonding with the different sex in sports, they will be more comfortable and better prepared for it. It can also benefit them if they do not have a career in sports later in life. No matter where you work you are most likely going to have to work with someone of the opposite sex. If you play coed sports you will be better prepared with how to deal with the opposite gender and know their tendencies. From researching middle school students, Kelly Osborne figured out that what most young athletes enjoy most about coed sports is the chance to “interact with the opposite gender.” Athletes look forward to being able to play with other athletes of the other gender. Not to mention, it creates greater camaraderie between the team (Cohen 228). Coed sports create many companionships between males and
Wiggins, David Kenneth, and Patrick B. Miller. 2003. The unlevel playing field: a documentary history of the African American experience in sport. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
...ennis, basketball, soccer, and martial arts—have come from the days of cheerleading and synchronized swimming when she was growing up in the ’70s.” Disparities in media coverage and over-sexualized female athletes on magazine covers is something that needs to come to an end because of its effects on both male and female viewers, young and old, athletes and non-athletes. Both female and male athletics influence young people and shape their personality and morals as they mature. Retired WNBA player, Lisa Leslie credits her participation in basketball with shaping her character, as well as her career. “Sports can also help teenagers during an awkward time in their development.” (“Women’s Athletics: A Battle For Respect”). The solution is to come together as a society and identify how to balance the respect for female and male athletes in the media.
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports, heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports.
Unintentionally, a lot of us have been boxed into institutions that promote gender inequality. Even though this was more prominent decades ago, we still see how prevalent it is in today’s world. According to the authors of the book, Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions, Lisa Wade and Myra Marx Ferree define gendered institutions as “the one in which gender is used as an organizing principle” (Wade and Ferree, 167). A great example of such a gendered institution is the sports industry. Specifically in this industry, we see how men and women are separated and often differently valued into social spaces or activities and in return often unequal consequences. This paper will discuss the stigma of sports, how gender is used to separate athletes, and also what we can learn from sports at Iowa State.
On April 15th 1947, Jack Roosevelt Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie, went without a hit in a game which would have been noted only in sports almanacs were it not for the color of his skin. At Ebbet's Field that day, Robinson broke baseball's “color barrier.” The integration of Black athletes into White mainstream sports had begun. Robinson endured a variety of slanderous yells, racial epithets and even hurled objects. The fact that African Americans would be discriminated against in sports was never more apparent. Today, that same vitriol manifests itself in various forms of discrimination. Rhetorical forms of discrimination are just as damaging today as outright bigotry was then. Though rhetorical racism is not as overt, it continually influences an audience that is largely unaware of its existence.
Homophobia has been a problem for a very long time, all across the world. For example, during the Holocaust, in which homosexuals were forced to wear the “Pink Triangle”, a pink, upside down triangle, on his or her coat for identification. Of course, the pattern of homophobia is not only shown throughout world history, but American history as well. For example, sodomy laws, laws that rule certain sexual acts as crimes, were established as early as 1963. The penalty for these laws varied from state to state. Some of the punishments include: two to ten year imprisonments or two thousand dollar fines. The cruelty of these homophobic actions should not be accepted any longer. It encourages bullying, denies human beings their civil rights, and continues to foster a mentality of indifference and intolerance towards our fellow man.
Most societies view homosexuality as something that is morally wrong. Individuals view sexual relations between like genders as sick. For many years homosexuality has existed, so why Homophobia is related to gender socialization still exists? As a human they see things they cannot understand as wrong in society. Homophobia issues in society are the discussions when subjects like religion and morals are talked about. There are numerous agents of gender socialization in society like family, religion, school, and media. The media is the most pervasive correspondence medium depicts highly stereotyped roles for men and women. Religion is strong emphasis on gender differences with explicit affirmation of the authority of men over women. Family they
It has taken many years for women to gain a semblance of equality in sports. Throughout history, women have been both excluded from playing sports and discriminated against in sports. Men’s sports have always dominated the college athletic field, but women were finally given a fighting chance after Title IX was passed. Title IX, among other things, requires scholarships to be equally proportioned between men and women’s sports. Although this was a huge gain for women, gender inequality still exists in sports today. An example of this persisting inequality can be seen when looking at men’s baseball and women’s softball. In college, baseball and softball are both major NCAA sports. It is widely accepted throughout today’s society that baseball is a man’s sport, and softball is a woman’s sport. Very few people question why the two sexes are separated into two different sports, or wonder why women play softball instead of baseball. Fewer people know that women have been essentially excluded from playing baseball for a long time. This paper will focus on why softball has not changed the way women’s basketball has, why women continue to play softball, the possibilities and dynamics of women playing baseball with and without men, and the most discriminating aspect of women being banned from playing professional baseball.
What really grinds my gears is seeing homophobia in the modern world. Yes, I acknowledge that it is seen as a sin—especially in the early times when people believe in witchcraft. Seriously, it’s 2016 and we’re having a little fit over who uses what bathroom? We’re having worse things going on! We have ISIS, we have a potential war coming up, we have school shootings and gang violence, and worse of all we have the possibility of Trump being our president and people are losing their marbles over who uses what bathroom? It’s just a bathroom! If it makes you so uncomfortable to go into a bathroom that is gender neutral, then don’t use it! Simple! Being a gay boy in school made me uncomfortable going to the boy’s bathroom/locker room. I grew up in a small town—Oroville, WA—where homosexuality wasn’t really seen, and some people felt uncomfortable by it. I hated going to the boy’s bathroom/locker room because I constantly felt I didn’t belong with them, but I didn’t belong with the girls either…I didn’t know where I belonged. I felt if I went into the boy’s bathroom/locker room, then they would judge me or feel uncomfortable with me in there—I used to think that boy’s hated me in there because they felt that I was looking at them or checking them out
Approximately 300 million people live in the United States, and of the 300 million people, nine million people have identified themselves as homosexual. This number could be even higher since not every individual has identified themselves as homosexual. At least nine million people are subject to prejudice, hatred, or discrimination because of stereotypes society has placed on them. Stereotyping has led to discrimination, hatred, and prejudice of homosexuals. This extreme and irrational aversion toward homosexuality or homosexuals is called homophobia and is a major social problem.
Female athlete coverage in the media is a complication due to far less coverage than male athletes receive. Statistics show that females already receive less than ten percent of coverage, although this is much more than they received just a short time ago. Shauna Kavanagh said in an article that when she was younger, female sports were never on TV. “All of my sporting heroes were males,” she said. Although strides have been made for female athlete’s, there is still a long ways to go. Kavanagh secondly went on to express that she feels the press does not cover woman athletics imperfectly; they simply don’t publicize them enough. People are still much more interested in ma...
In the sports world, homosexual athletes are often forced to hide their sexual orientation and to keep it as a private matter. This is mainly due to the hegemonic masculinity associated with playing sports. Homosexuality is considered the direct opposite of this and therefore is not associated with sports. Also the way athletes talk to each other in the locker room makes it more difficult for gay athletes to come out. Guys jokingly call each other homophobic slurs or pump their chest by talking about women to express their masculinity. Female athletes, unlike their male counterparts, are considered to be more free to talk about their sexual orientation. But, there still exists the misconception that women who participate in sports are assumed to be gay. In college and professional men’s sports it is beginning to become more common for athletes to be more open to talking publically about their sexual orientation. This brings up the question as to whether or not things are changing in our society so that the acceptance of gay athletes will be more common. More acceptance by our overall society as a whole will lead to more gay athletes – both male and female – feeling free to step forward and be open about their sexual orientation.
Homophobia continues in our society, urban and rural, which is apparent in Michael Lassell's poem 'How to Watch Your Brother Die' and in Neil Miller's essay 'In Search of Gay America: Ogilvie, Minnesota.' What are homophobic people afraid of? Do they know? Knowledge and awareness of homosexuality is the best way to prevent homophobia. According to Religioustolerance.com 'Homophobia has a variety of meanings, including hatred of homosexuality, hatred of homosexuals, fear of gays and lesbians, and a desire or attempt to discriminate against homosexuals. The suffix 'phobia' is derived from the Greek word 'phobos'. In English, it means either fear or loathing? (1).