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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).
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Misogynoir is a term that was coined to hone in on the unique inequalities Black women face. The word itself is a mix of ‘misogyny’ and ‘noir’, which directly translates to Black misogyny. Although all women experience sexism and misogyny, Black women experience it much differently, and most times experience more hardship due to the colour of their skin. |
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 this definitely all comes down to systematic racism that is embedded in our society. If we go back to when Black folks were taken from Africa, and brought to North America, they were taken because North Americans saw them as all the same, compared to their white counterparts. While white people were allowed to be a surgeon, or a doctor, it was believed that all Black people were to be slaves. That encompassing mentality, although different now, still exists, and I believe that is why we extrapolate the athleticism of one Black athlete, to all of them. It is so normalized to the point that children pick up on it quickly. As a camp councillor, there was a young Black boy at our camp, and a young white boy beat him in a race, and asked him “Why don’t you run fast? All the Black kids I know run fast.” I talked to the young white boy, and explained to him that what he said was not appropriate, because it is not. All people are unique, and to say one group of people are the same due to their skin colour is ridiculous.
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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?
| The most prominent strategy Rajack and Joseph identify in this article is the use of social media for self-representation. In the case of Naomi Osaka, she has experienced misogynoir all her life by the misrepresentations and false narratives surrounding her. Rajack and Joseph mention how one of the ways she pushed back was creating a comedic narrative that also held a lot of meaning. When she responded to a hater on her Twitter (now X), she made a joke to alleviate the issue, while also shedding light on how such treatment is unacceptable, and racist. Further on, while Osaka has been misrepresented in the media constantly, she has begun to self-identify herself, and show all of her roots, and not just the country she plays for. When a celebrity makes this shift, people are more inclined to follow, and hopefully the racist remarks subside.
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Section Two: Making Connections
A) Athlete Activism
While I believe athletes should have the choice to use their platform for social change, and social justice, I do not believe it is their responsibility. Although they are have large social platforms, I don’t think it to be a sole reason for a responsibility to be thrusts on to them. I do believe those with large platforms should use it for good, yet they still have a choice. While the “good” in this case does not have to be for direct social change, but even something small such as promoting products that align with their beliefs and values. For example, if they are a professional weight-lifter, promoting a health protein powder could be something that can make a difference. At the end of the day, being an athlete does not require you to use your platform for social change. When you sign up for sports, you don’t simultaneously sign up to be an activist, and this should be respected.
B) Athlete Activism & Feminism
Popular Feminism is associated with the following:
- Media Friendly
- Corporations
- Celebrity Culture
Fill the missing words:
- Challenge, obscure
Neoliberal Feminism as defined by the article is associated with the following characteristics and priorities:
- High visibility
- Individualism
- Entrepreneurship
Drag the words in the correct spots:
- Less visible, embedded relations, sufficiently address gender-based inequality, in the recognition that domination and subordination operate, across multiple social locations such as
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 believe that mainstream sports journalism focuses much of their attention on neoliberal feminist concerns. Due to this feminism having neoliberal characteristics, it makes it very individualistic, and in turn, not intersectional. The authors believe that journalists must go beyond the typical individualistic thought about women’s sport, and focus on larger systematic issues that directly impact women in sports. Journalists should delve into the systematic sexism, and racism that exists within sports, and its journalism. Often, sports journalism leaves out women all together, but when they don’t they leave out other systematic issues that make their experiences different than cis-gendered, white, and straight women. |
C) Corporate social justice
Exercise 6: Padlet Poll
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In favour:
I believe sports leagues absolutely should bare the responsibility to support social movements, such as Black Lives Matter. Firstly, in leagues such as the NFL and the NBA, a vast majority of players are Black. If you are using their talents to your advantage, the least these leagues can do is support them socially. When Colin Kaepernick decided to begin a movement within his league, the NFL did not take responsibility, and that was a huge mistake. Kaepernick went on to be blacklisted from the league, and due to that he decided to continue on with activism, and shed light on the racism within the NFL. This was extremely beneficial socially, however the NFL did not benefit from this whatsoever. So, in a neoliberal society where individualism thrives, if these sports leagues won’t take responsibility of supporting their players socially, they should at least keep their name out of the press to save face, and this can be done by backing their players socially. |
Section Three: Taking a shot
When reading this question, I immediately thought of the film McFarland, USA. This movie follows a coach to how new job position as the gym coach at the McFarland high school. The community is tight knit, predominantly Mexican, and low-income. The coach ends up scouting out a cross-country team after seeing how fast they run on their day to day lives from where they pick early in the morning, all the way to school.
The film uses the relationship between the white coach, and the Mexican runners as their main focal point, especially his lack of cultural understanding. Thomas, the star runner, calls out coach White many times throughout the movie about how he has a responsibility to understand, and accept the culture within the town of McFarland. Coach White successfully does this, starting with him tagging along with the boys to pick before school. The film uses this moment to display the different cultural expectations for families. These children have grown up with the responsibility of helping their families pick and farm, and not in a negative way. The boys want to help their families, and it makes them proud to be apart of their family’s business.
Furthermore, the reception they get at the cross-country meets is not positive. Their team faces many trials and tribulations including many racist remarks, and stereotyping. According to Boyle and Haynes (2009), “[sport] becomes a site for ethnic stereotyping, overt exclusionary nationalism and outright racism.” Many other runners on other teams make racist remarks such as, “they can only run when a cop is chasing them.” These runners face the generalization people have created over Mexican communities, as well as the assumption that they won’t win any of the competitions. At the end of the movie, they end up winning state, and proves all the racist coaches and runners wrong. So, while they don’t physically use their voice, they are heard loudly and proudly, with the entire community behind them.
I found this representation to be interesting because it adds a voice that I feel like isn’t heard much within sports. Often, we see the misrepresentation of Black people within sports, but personally I haven’t seen much representation of the hispanic population in sports. Equally, I liked that it added the aspect of family, a responsibility that many of us hold.
