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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) What do we know about sport? What are common assumptions we make about sport and society?
Sports promote teamwork and unityThe statement sports promotes teamwork and unity widely accepted and taught because it involves communication and collaboration to achieve a common goal. For some individuals and from different perspectives this statement is untrue. Some main reasons are exclusion due to skill level/ability, gender, race, or socioeconomic status. Favouritism is another reason, I used to play competitive soccer for many years and one year I ended up with a coach whose daughter played for the same team. He would always put her in positions to succeed and be given more opportunities than the rest of us. I believe that depending on the level of sport you play whether that be recreational, competitive, PDL, or professional the focus of the game has different intensities and creates rivalries or an overemphasis on winning that can strain relationships.
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Exercise 3: Notebook prompt
What are some other metanarratives about sport that you are familiar with? Find an image or video clip or draw something yourself that captures this idea…
So what? Why does any of this matter? Does it matter? As something we grow up with – live with – play through – we don’t often interrogate the meanings of sport, and perhaps we don’t want to.
But being aware of these assumptions and metanarratives is especially important, I would argue, because of the centrality of sport to our everyday lives, the role that sport plays in shaping our childhood and worldviews and….. [finish that thought]
| Another metanarritive about sport are gender norms and social change highlighting athletes who use their platform to bring awareness to issues such as racial equality, and gender rights.
But being aware of these assumptions and metanarratives is especially important, I would argue, because of the centrality of sport to our everyday lives, the role that sport plays in shaping our childhood and worldviews and has an influence on how we go about our day to day lives. From a young age most children are put into some kind of sport where we learn about teamwork, collaboration, social skills. But sport is also one of the first places where we face biases related to gender, race, skill level, and stereotypes.
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B) What is social justice?
Exercise 4: Padlet Prompt
Think back to the last section and try to look at some of the ideas we discussed differently. How might sport and social justice actually co-exist?
Record any images, video clips, or gifs you added to the padlet and identify a point of intersection between sport and social justice (can be an issue or a barrier or a debate or something you would like to explore in more depth in this course) . Screenshot or paste in your response below.
Equality and RepresentationThere are many athletes that have used their platforms to speak out against injustice, discrimination and inequalities. One example that comes to mind was the USWNT soccer team. They fought for equal pay because women were being paid significantly less than the U.S men’s national team even though the women were outperforming the men in tournaments and competitions like the Olympics. This is an important moment because this gave other countries like Canada and Australia’s women’s national teams to push for change and forced major sports associations to value women’s sports more seriously.
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C) Social Justice Reading
(note: this activity is optional!)
D) KINESIOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Exercise 5:
Exercise 6:
What are the implications of bodies-at-risk discourse and the refusal to understand the health gap from a social justice perspective, according to the authors of this article?
| Some implications of bodies-at-risk are stereotypes and unequal access to healthcare. Refusal to understand the health gap as a social justice issues and don’t address the cause of the problem like policies there won’t be any real change. The framing of the bodies-at-risk discourse stereotypes reinforced the belief that marginalized communities like Indigenous peoples, are innately prone to poor health but fails to recognize the historical context of oppression, assimilation, and displacement.
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Section Two: Sport Feminism
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
What is feminism? What does it mean to you? Choose one of the images below and explain how it captures your understanding of feminism (or find one that does speak to you and paste this into your pressbook with an explanation of why it matters to you.
| Feminism means equality for all genders – both male and female. Voicing the inequalities that women face and ensuring that everyone has equal rights and opportunities while also creating an inclusive environment. To me feminism in particular means equal pay, equal health and reproductive rights (bodily autonomy), equal opportunity for advancement in the workforce, women in fields that were typically reserved for men ex.politics, science, law, and the right to vote, own property, the right to education it also includes fighting to ensure that all women’s stories are heard and that women’s rights are not infringed on. Feminism embodies equality, hope and mutual respect for one another and is the cornerstone to a safe, welcoming and productive society.
I chose the Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It” poster because it gives off a powerful message. It speaks to me as she was a strong woman who challenged the stereotypes that proved women can do the same work that was dominated by men. The poster shows strength and empowerment. In terms of the historical background this poster was created in world war 2 in order to acknowledge the role of women in the workforce during the war and to encourage them to join and to this day this poster symbolizes womens compatibility and their strength.
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Exercise 8: Notes Prompt (optional)
NB: Cornell notes is a great resource that teaches effective notetaking. Unfortunately, our system can’t save notes taken in the H5P app, so this is fully optional.
Exercise 9: Crossword Activity
Exercise 10: Padlet Prompt
| Sport
Diversity Culture Equality + inequality Race Gender Feminism Social class/privilege Female athlete
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