3 Chapter Three: Race, Gender, & Social Justice
Section One: The Fundamentals
A) Keywords
Exercise 1:
Briefly (in 100 words or less) define one of the keywords in the padlet (including one that you. may have added yourself).
| Colorblindness:
Colorblindness refers to the belief that individuals should be treated equally without acknowledging racial differences. Although colorblindness means to achieve equality, it fails to acknowledge the existence of the unique adversities experienced by marginalized communities of varying ethnic groups, ultimately failing to see systemic racism and the intersecting socio-political disparities impacting their wellbeing. As such, individuals who “do not see race” can perpetuate inequality and disregard the importance of recognizing and responding to lived and living experiences amongst minority people of color.
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B) Representing Race
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
In about 50-70 words, consider Joel Bervell’s question: why do we feel the need to extrapolate the athleticism of one Black athlete to all Black people when we do not do the same for white athletes?
Try to think of examples when this happens, making sure to reflect on your own positionality.
| I believe the extrapolation of athleticism of black athletes to all black people stems from the fact that white individuals have always been seen as the dominant group in Western Society. Since they are seen as the “norm”, their success is more-so credited to personal efforts, and skills instead of their race. Black individuals being a minority group, deviates from the norm. As such, they fall subject to “othering” and are seen through different lenses of racial stereotypes, leading their achievements to being attributed to race and disregarding their hard-work and merit. This is very commonly seen in Black runners. Alexis Holmes is the anchor for the women’s 4×4 400m USA Olympic team whose success is often attributed to her “Blackness”, taking away from her years of training and personal growth.
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C) Gender, Race & Sport
Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt
What are some strategies for resistance that Rajack and Joseph identify in their article as a means of pushing back against and resisting misogynoir?
| Some strategies for resistance against misogynoir involve the use of ICTs. ICT refers to technologies that facilitate the creation and dissemination of information which includes the internet, social media, and other communication technologies. They are important because it allows individuals to share their story and take-back power in the information spread about themself to the public. For Black women and BIPOC individuals, this is really important because it allows the resistance of stereotypes and misogynoir as the authors mention. Individuals can address the racist claims, speak to their viewers and re-write the narrative to be one that is more properly representative and true to their identity. Therefore further strategies using ICTs involve reclaiming agency over ones self-representation as Naomi Osaka did, resisting racial stereotypes, challenging media representations and misconceptions, and therefore instilling empowerment and proper representation of oneself and cultural heritage. |
Section Two: Making Connections
A) Athlete Activism
Exercise 3: Padlet Prompt
Do athletes have a responsibility to use their platform for social change? Why or why not? Please remember to record your response in both the padlet below and in your Notebook.
B) Athlete Activism & Feminism
Exercise 4: Complete the activities
Exercise 5: Notebook Prompt
What do the authors of the article call for as a way of challenging how mainstream sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns? (100 words max.)
| EXCERCISE 3:
I think that athletes gain an opportunity to be drivers of social change by utilizing their platforms as an area to open discussion, spread awareness, educate the public, and speak against inequity- especially when tying it back to the sporting industry. Much like Lebron, who uses his platform to speak about important issues in the sporting community or personal experience. However, I believe that whether individuals choose to use their platform for activism is ultimately their decision. Although professional athletes do have greater media representation, fans that look up to them, and therefore more power and influence when making statements- and I do think that it is really important for those with power in their voices to speak up and advocate for those who do not have as much power, there could be other reasons why an individual may not want to speak out on their platform. Whether it be personal reasons such as mental health or trauma with a certain situation, lack of social media training to word something how they mean it, or maybe speaking out poses as a risk to their career or wellbeing. For example, Colin Kaepernick knelt for the national anthem at an NFL game in 2016 to protest against police brutality and racism in America. Following his act of protest, he was let go from the team and has not been apart of the NFL since. Many athletes do not have the support of their organization to speak out and often face repercussions – not to mention hate speech and threats that concern their lives by angry individuals online. Therefore, I can understand when safety is a concern and a reason to not use their platforms at times.
EXERCISE 5: The authors of the article call for multiple ways of challenging how mainstream sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns. One way they mention is to tell stories differently by disrupting the boundaries of what is considered “sports media” by including all media and journalists who write and publish to challenge issues with gender representation amongst sports media panels. This introduces new perspectives and ‘ways of knowing’ to progress our understandings on the influences of masculinity in sport media. They also encourage the media to cover stories about athletes fighting for social justice in broader contexts instead of only individual stories. That way, we can shed light to how athletes resist systemic inequalities and address what they are instead of drawing athletes as empowered when they succeed in a system of oppression. They shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to succeed. As such, this challenges neoliberal feminism that reduces feminism in sports to the individual level and instead promotes the critiquing of broader economic and social structures perpetuating inequality within sports media. |
C) Corporate social justice
Exercise 6: Padlet Poll
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I believe sports leagues do have a responsibility to support social justice movements. The article shows powerful real life and current examples of the importance of organizations role in advocating for social justice and meaningful change- especially amongst the sporting community. As mentioned, about 75% of NBA players are Black. With the Black Lives Matter Movement rising- the leagues showing support to their players demonstrates social justice by acknowledging and validating their unique experiences with racism and discrimination day-to-day and within the sporting community. It shows they care about their players and about the cause in general. Given the NBA is very popular and has so many impactful players such as Lebron James, Steph Curry, and more, viewers turn to players and look up to them. The discussion and awareness of important topics sparked from BLM enables opportunity for viewers to reflect on biases, learn new perspectives, and learn new information they may not have been aware of, acting as drivers of social change. When leagues do not support their players and speak out about social justice movements, they show that they do not agree with the overall message- potentially perpetuating the discrimination and fail to protect their players from hate and threats to their safety from media trolls. Much like seen in the NFL, where players have been revoked their place on the team- ending their career, silencing their voice and have been subject to death threats or real acts of violence from the public. The rationale for my answer essentially involves the importance of unity and support between sports organizations, leagues and their players. Where players may decide to use their platform to speak out against racist and discriminatory acts- especially when it directly impacts them, it is important to receive the support and act as a united front. Where the public may think an athlete is deviant for speaking out, kneeling during an anthem and defying the norm of conforming and behaving- having the leagues support tells viewers to take their claims seriously and there is value in critically thinking about the impacts of racism- especially in the BLM movement. Furthermore, given the majority of certain sports teams (basketball, football) have a majority population of Black or BIPOC individuals, supporting their voices, empowering their voices, and acting as a place of social justice and social change in the sporting community can translate to social change in the public as well. Viewers may reflect on biases they did not know they had, or were aware of. They may perceive perspectives differently and in turn change their behaviors. In this way, sports can be a true platform for unity and bringing people together- rather than separating them. More of my rationale is already explained in my post above. In contrast, the NFLs response to Kaepernick exercising his right to peacefully protest by kneeling during the national anthem shows a drastic difference compared to the NBA- who utilized jerseys, media campaigns and more to encourage athletes to be activists. Despite the NFLS attempts to apologize and resolve their inappropriate response, their efforts have been suboptimal and more-so attempts to correct their public image rather than caring about the actual cause and movements. Their initial response tells the public that people should conform to social norms and that Black individuals to not have a place in society, and their most recent responses have shown they only care about their image. This is quite sad considering 70% of their players are BIPOC. Response to classmate: Hi there, I appreciate your perspective on the topic. You offer some pretty strong evidence to support your claims that sports leagues do hold power in regards to social justice and social change such as the Black Lives Matters Movement (BLM). It is sad that despite 70% of the NFL players being members of BIPOC, that the NFL shows little to no support for their players in peacefully exercising their right to protest- such as Kaepernick who knelt during the national anthem in protest of police brutality during the BLM. Their initial response by releasing him from the team tells the public that BIPOC experiences are not valid and suppresses their visibility in the public. Their responses in efforts to apologize have also been suboptimal as you mentioned- mostly caring about their image than the actual cause at hand. In contrast, we see the NBA standing as a united front with their players, encouraging and creating environments to peacefully protest such as the jerseys, logos and campaigns as you mentioned- telling its viewers that BIPOCs experiences with racism, violence and discrimination are real, should take space, and hold gravity. – Emilee Thornhill |
Section Three: Taking a shot
Module Assignment (submit as part of notebook and separately through Blackboard mini assignment #1 portal)