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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) Keywords
Exercise 1:
Provide a brief definition of one of the padlet keywords for this week.
| The Anti Aging Agenda: the push to slow down the natural aging process in order to maintain one’s youthfulness.
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B) The Social Significance of Aging in Sport
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
How is old age popularly represented today? Find an image online that you think exemplifies one defining attitude towards old age and paste in your notebook below with a brief explanation of what this image means to you.
| https://www.google.com/imgres?q=aging&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdomf5oio6qrcr.cloudfront.net%2Fmedialibrary%2F7142%2Ffdd87913-3fb9-4d8c-a863-b7d380d49f46.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.health.harvard.edu%2Fstaying-healthy%2Fwhy-your-face-ages-and-what-you-can-do&docid=bRyHvWvgyDxIfM&tbnid=DZAP3Fx1vMzj9M&vet=12ahUKEwja0Ifk19iMAxX7ATQIHQM2ElsQM3oECGMQAA..i&w=1600&h=1066&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwja0Ifk19iMAxX7ATQIHQM2ElsQM3oECGMQAA
This image represents how old age is viewed today especially because there is a clear comparison to someone younger in the image. This is constantly happening, the attempt to look younger and avoid looking older. It’s represented as something to avoid, delay and fix. Wrinkles, saggy skin, lines, bumps, etc. should be removed and skin should be clear and spotless by any means necessary. Whatever the cost, whether it’s surgery or skin care routines or injections.
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Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt
What does the article (referencing another study by Dionigi) mean by its statement that sport can help aging people to simultaneously “accept and resist the ageing process” (572)? Respond by audio or text and find paste two images sourced online into your notebook showing how sport might help aging people to both accept and resist the aging process.
| This means that sport can resist the negative aspects of the aging process such as weakness in your body and provide healthy exercise to maintain your health as you age. It can also help you accept the aging process as it can help you connect with people your age going through the same thing, or maybe it can help you realize that just because your older doesn’t mean you’re fully incapable of experiencing the same things you did when you were younger. It can help you grow into yourself as you age and accept your body and it’s capabilities. |
Exercise 4: Notebook Prompt
Who are the groups less likely to have extensive opportunities to take part in sports, according to Pike? How does privilege factor into aging and sport? (200 words max)
| Those with disabilities, some minority ethnic groups, people confined to care facilities, and those who live in rural areas. You need to have the money in order to pay for sports teams if you want to play in a league, as well as the money to buy equipment to play which may need to be replaced from time to time, either from wear or needing new sizes. privilege can also come with being able bodied, as some with disabilities are unable to compete in the same sports as able bodied people. It can also be seen as where you live, if you have the ability to get to where sports are played, you may need to be able to travel to a field or arena for games or even farther for tournaments or away games.
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Exercise 5: Padlet Discussion
Why do you think age discrimination is “reported more than any form of prejudice” with older people presented as a threat to social values and interests? Feel welcome to use video in your responses. Paste your comments (or transcript of your video) below!
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I think age discrimination is reported more than any form of prejudice as it can happen to anyone since we all age eventually. As youth is continuously treasured and always trying to be preserved by those aging, when you eventually do become older, it’s almost like you lost. We have young celebrities, singers, athletes, actors, etc. always being shown to us with flawless skin and youthfulness. Everything is geared toward avoiding aging and focused on the youth and kids of tomorrow and the elderly are not really in the picture.
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B) Older Women and Sport
Exercise 6: Notebook Prompt
What differences do you see in these ads? Which one is more inclusive? How is age represented or not represented in each? Answer these questions in your notebook.
| The first ad had mainly young athletes playing all different types of sports with multiple genders and ethnicities being represented. The second ad has more body type representations for women only as it was a female positivity ad and did really well with representing different ages and ethnicities. I think neither are necessarily more inclusive as one ignores males completely (but it makes sense for the ad) and the other ignores anyone who isn’t young and fit. Age is not represented in the first ad since it only shows young and fit athletes playing sports, it looks like there is no one over 40 (or 50) in that video. Age is represented in the second video with women of all ages from young teens to more elderly women, I don’t think there were any kids in the video though.
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Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
In her article, “Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability,” Elizabeth Pike references a “trend towards a ‘feminisation of ageing’, with many women living longer than men” (573). Do you agree that aging has been “feminized” in this way? How? Answer these questions in your notebook.
| I do agree that there has been a feminization of ageing as there is already heavy focus towards the appearance of females in society. There are all these anti aging techniques and routines geared towards women. If you go into makeup stores there are anti ageing creams and treatments advertised everywhere for women. There’s even a movie out called The Substance that focuses on females and aging and the expectations towards women in society regarding how they look.
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Section Three: Module Mini Assignment
| The issue with pickleball becoming a big trend in social media is that more young people are getting into the sport and becoming incredibly competitive with it. This excludes the original crowd of elderly people who find the sport appealing. Elderly people can’t compete against all of the young people getting into the sport as they claim courts and compete together, they are taking the sport away from the elderly. The chance to get exercise at the park, which is going to be turned into concrete courts, will be taken away from the elderly residents. This push for exercise is removing the chances for the elderly to get the exercise that’s currently available.
In terms of ageism, there is no representation of elderly people in this discussion, they only seem to be briefly mentioned as people who play the sport. Those who are handling the discussion are the young athletic people who participate in pickleball. The hints towards the neoliberal agenda in this discussion seem to be around the fact that young people are promoting this sport. It is also being referred to as an activity that is good for your wellbeing which is part of the argument for the new Peterborough pickleball courts. As Pike states the neoliberal agenda promotes using your time productively and utilizing anti-aging activities to maintain your youth. One of the main factors about the new pickleball courts in Peterborough is that the main protestors are the elderly. The youth are probably pushing for new courts, and the defence for the new courts focuses on young people, while the elderly aren’t consulted at all. This is even more of a problem as the elderly people are the residents that live there, which shows how ignorant the situation is regarding the location of the new courts.
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