3
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).
| One of the keywords in the palette was intersectionality. I am very familiar with this word, as I have learned it in pretty much all of my child and youth classes. Intersectionality is the combination of what makes up an individual’s identity. Intersectionality is the term used for gathering the different identities within an individual and understanding how they work together to create an overall identity within an individual. For example, gender, race, class, age, religion, disability, and more are all connected and made into a unique identity when looking through an intersectionality framework. For example, a white male with a high income and access to benefits such as healthcare differs completely from another individual with completely different social factors. The combination of certain social factors can be an advantage, meaning a person may experience discrimination or privilege due to other social factors. When an individual faces discrimination or privilege, it is due to the multiple complex social factors that lie within an individual rather than a single factor like race or class. |
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.
| This statement occurs for many different sports, whether it is running, football, basketball, hockey and more. Many people think all Black people are natural athletes, which is being racist and applying stereotypes to all Black people. For example, Micheal Phelps’s success in swimming was not because of his wingspan but because of his training, parental support and more. Where Usain bolts success led to the Jamaican population asserting that all Black people are fast. This bias ignores individual biological advantages and instead uses racial assumptions towards people. People’s individual strengths should be recognized and promoted in the media rather than racial assumptions. |
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?
| The article contains many different strategies that Rajack and Joseph, the authors, wrote to fight against misogynoir. Misogynoir is the act of Black women being discriminated against. A woman’s race and gender, such as a Black woman, experience racism and sexism. In the article, there were a few different strategies that were outlined to push away experiencing misogynoir. One strategy was self-representation. Many individuals look at other people represented in media and assume identities such as Naomi Osaka’s. Her identity and ethnicity depend on the views of different individuals who view her in mainstream media. Naomi comes from many different cultures, such as Black, Asian, mixed, Japanese, American and Haitian, and many different people assign Naomi to a certain ethnicity due to mainstream media. A strategy called self-representation, where she uses the media to represent where she comes from, was a strategy to resist misogynoir. By using mainstream media, she can attract all audiences to self-represent her identity and publicize it to stop discrimination. Another strategy that was outlined was using her voice in mainstream media to call out assumptions that were being made about her ethnicity. |
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.)
| The authors of this article outline that telling stories differently challenge how mainstream sports journalism portrays neoliberal feminist concerns by only addressing individuals in sports and their inclusion rather than larger, more important issues. To tell stories differently, individuals should tackle the stereotypes and examine why certain feminist stories are ignored while others are not. By changing how mainstream sports are journalized, individuals may come to understand that there is much more to consider. Women’s inclusion in sports should not simply be celebrated, as there are numerous systemic inequalities within sports that they still encounter. Addressing these issues instead of focusing only on inclusion can promote progress in addressing the larger problems perpetuating inequality in sports. Telling stories differently addresses the questions and information that individuals are not receiving and that are being concealed from mainstream media. Approaching stories differently will encompass all topics rather than selectively publicizing only certain ones. |
C) Corporate social justice
Exercise 6: Padlet Poll
| I believe that sports do hold responsibility when it comes to BLM. I mentioned above in an earlier question that many athletes were using their platform to post about social justice movements like BLM. The NFL and NBA use their sports platform to a certain extent. In 2020, when BLM became prominent, the NBA displayed the words “Black Lives Matter” on the court and on jerseys, but it did not last long. NBA also puts on a big production and broadcast for Martin Luther King Day. They make special jerseys and broadcast what he fought for to celebrate his life. However, it is only one day out of the year. Sports have such a big fanbase and audience who watch them daily and look up to them as role models, it is very beneficial that they use their privileges to create social change. NBA has used their platform to promote social change, but once a day is not enough. NFL allows players to write messages or sayings such as “BLM” on their helmets, putting BLM on the out-of-bounds lines on the field; it shows they are sticking up for BLM but not changing or fighting for a change to happen. Many sports include individuals from all over the world who may experience organization, and it is important that they are able to stand up for what they believe in and fight for their human rights. It is progressing to see that sports like the NFL and NBA do allow certain aspects, like adding sayings to the back of NFL players’ helmets, but they need to use their audience and fanbase along with the influence power they have to create a social change. There are many athletes within the sports that use their voice on social media platforms to create a change and stand up for human rights, such as lebron James, who has used his platform and voice to inspire others to create change.
My response to someone: I really like the saying that it is not a political issue but a human rights issue. I never thought of it like this, but I completely agree because it is a human right that needs to be addressed with the fanbase and audience that sports have.
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Section Three: Taking a shot
Module Assignment (submit as part of notebook and separately through Blackboard mini assignment #1 portal)
GESO3134: Mini Assignment
Jaidyn Savard – 0761637
February 20, 2025
Kelly McGuire
42 is a film released in 2013 that tells the true story of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to join Major League Baseball, signed by Branch Rickey. The film reenacts Jackie Robinson’s journey that began in 1945, featuring Chadwick Boseman in the lead role (Helgeland, 2013). This movie highlights the sole African-American player in a predominantly white sport and illustrates the racial comments and hatred he faced while playing. Even from his teammates, he was initially separated from the team and endured racial remarks from the opposing players. Jackie Robinson’s response to the racist comments was to ignore them and focus on the game. He consistently disregarded those who displayed hatred and concentrated on winning. Throughout the movie, Robinson changes the world while refusing to let it change him. He employs silence to portray himself as a racialized athlete activist, not allowing it to affect him. Critical race theory is a framework designed to challenge racism while exploring the disadvantages Black individuals face due to white privilege (Hylton, 2010). Critical race theory was applied after the timeline of Jackie Robinson’s adventure, but they both challenge racial inequalities, showing the same perspective. This is illustrated in the movie as Robinson faced backlash for being the only Black man in a predominantly white sport, which highlights racial inequality. Race played a significant role in this film, as he was the first-ever African American male to join Major League Baseball, which defied prevailing standards of the time. During one game, the hateful comments affected him deeply, leading him to walk away, where he was met by Branch Rickey, who gave him a pep talk about using the power of silence to win them over, which worked. His teammates segregated Robinson at first until they realized he was one of their teammates and they would win together. After watching this movie, it is evident that sports can be so much more than a game, it can be a place for activists to stand up for what is right. Although Jackie used silence to stand up, he still portrayed a point and fought against the racial inequalities that the MLB had in the past. Sports can be used as a space to use critical race theory to understand the inequalities individuals are facing due to race.
References
Helgeland, B. (Director). (2013). 42 [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Hylton, K. (2010). How a turn to critical race theory can contribute to our understanding of
‘race’, racism and anti-racism in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport,
45(3), 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690210371045
