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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?
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While the idea that sports promote teamwork and unity is true in some aspects, it appears to not necessarily apply to everyone, particularly those with disabilities or other challenges that stray away from the able-bodied athlete. For able-bodied athletes, sports can promote teamwork and unity driven by competition, expression, and connection to the game and the sport, however, for athletes with disabilities, there are often far fewer opportunities, less accessibility, and many physical limitations due to limited resources. For example, there are far fewer media press and opportunities to “go pro” for parasports than able-bodied athletes. These limitations provide a great barrier to the idea of sports unity as athletes with disabilities are often segregated from able-bodied athletes, which does not allow for the same level of belonging and unity in the sports community. Along with this, while there have been more efforts made towards inclusion in sports within recent years, even adaptive sports are struggling to meet true integration between able-bodied athletes and athletes with disabilities. This is often expressed through para-athletes participating in sub-categories from able-bodied athletes and different sporting events altogether, which promotes division rather than inclusion and unity. |
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]
“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 the way it fosters a sense of community and national pride, hockey is more than just a pastime or sport in Canada, it is a metanarrative that profoundly shapes the Canadian experience from a young age, all throughout the lifetime. It is one of the first things that many people think of when asked to describe or think about what makes Canada, Canada” This metanarrative matters as it provides a sense of community and connection, even for those who have no interest in sport or playing the game itself. It offers a sense of belonging and opportunity for social interaction and integration for all types of people and interests, which I argue is crucial for the human experience and healthy living. Whether it is a discussion of the sport with strangers or friends, going to a game, or playing the sport yourself, there is some aspect for all.
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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.
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Access and opportunity for people with disabilities remain significant barriers in sports, often limiting their ability to fully participate or compete. Despite the growing efforts for recognition of para-sports, many individuals with disabilities still face challenges such as inadequate facilities, lack of trained coaches, and limited funding for adaptive equipment. Along with this, there is still a significant barrier for opportunity to grow within sports (reach professional levels) for para-athletes compared to able-bodied athletes. This inequity in sport ties directly to broader issues of social justice, as it highlights the exclusion of marginalized groups from mainstream opportunities. Sport is often tied to ideas of promoting values of fairness, teamwork, and equality, and being an inclusive space for everyone, however, when access is restricted, it not only denies individuals with disabilities the physical and psychological benefits of participation but also identifies societal inequalities. Addressing these issues in sports can be a powerful way to challenge ableism and promote inclusivity to truly allow sports to be what was highlighted above, for everybody.
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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?
| The authors of this article address many social justice issues related to marginalized groups and health. Specifically, the implications of marginalized groups (bodies-at-risk) combined with a failure to understand and address the health gap from a social justice perspective pose many implications such as the reinforcement of harmful stereotypes, neglecting intersectional opportunities, and will fail to address and correct the root causes of the health disparities faced by these groups (Harrison et al., 2021). The authors went into further detail in discussing these bodies-at-risk and what needs to shift in order to understand the gap. The authors argue that the bodies-at-risk discourse and its reliance on a deficit model exacerbate health disparities by framing marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities and ethnic minorities, as inherently deficient (Harrison et al., 2021). This approach overlooks the intersectionality of identities like race, disability, and class, failing to address how multiple forms of oppression compound health risks. The authors call for a shift toward asset-based research, focusing on the strengths and resilience of marginalized communities (Harrison et al., 2021). They advocate for the use of frameworks like critical race theory and intersectionality to better understand health disparities and design inclusive, empowering policies (Harrison et al., 2021). The authors finalize this article by arguing that by understanding marginalized populations better, and centering research and approached towards understanding the disparities, then we have a better chance at fostering equitable health outcomes (Harrison et al., 2021).
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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 is a movement that strongly advocates for gender equality, particularly aiming to break down gender norms and social standards around women and patriarchy. Feminism to me, means speaking less about women can’t do, and focusing on all the things we can do. It means breaking the stigma that women can only do half of what men can do, and fighting for equality. I chose this image to represent my understanding of feminism since it portrays a strong woman with the title “we can do it”. The reason this image portrays my understanding of feminism is because historically speaking, women have a history of being understood as delicate creatures and doing light jobs while the men do the heavy jobs and rule the households, however, this image is showing that women are in fact strong and we can do just as much as the men do.
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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
The words expressed throughout my word cloud were all topics of discussion throughout the article, particularly during the section regarding Radical Feminism. I found this section to be especially informative regarding the oppression that women have faced and continue to face, with a focus on the political aspect of the domestic violence and abuse that women face as a result of their gender and sexuality. It was also important for them to discuss the differences in women’s sports as opposed to men’s sports, where there is a largely disproportionate weight on female appearance instead of their physical strength, abilities, and accomplishments. It reiterates the stigma that women are only objects to satisfy a male’s visual desires as opposed to being a fair component within sports competitions. I did also find the critiques of Radical Feminism regarding this to be particularly interesting, that being that it has faced criticism for essentialism, which risks reducing women’s experiences to biological traits. I find that there are so many other factors that contribute to a woman’s abilities and accomplishments than their biological make-up, so I do think this was an interesting and valid critique.
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I think that as much as people really want to care about women’s sport, they just don’t. This is very much expressed through the minimal coverage of women’s sport on TV and throughout the media, as well as the lack of opportunities for women’s sport to reach the same level competitive-wise as the men’s sport. Unfortunately, history is hard to recover from and we still have a long way to go before women can compete on the same level as men do with the same level of enthusiasm and interest as men’s sports.
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