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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).
| Misogynoir is the combination of misogyny and racism toward black and women of colour. Moya Bailey coined the term, and it highlights the intersectionality of abuse and racism that black and women of colour face in their lives. It follows the unrealistic expectations women are held up to within their lives that are also heavily influenced by their race and skin colour. It follows the struggle black and women of colour face when they cannot fit within the heteronormative, white, cisgender expectations society tries to uphold. It explains their experience, in one word, of existence as women of colour and the constant racism and sexism they encounter.
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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.
| A reason the media analyses black athletes’ performance through their athletic and genetic ability is the need for white populations to “excuse” their success. I think a major reason the media often overlook the genetic advantages of white athletes is because they are expected to win. In contrast, when a black athlete wins, there needs to be a reason they won over their white counterparts.
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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?
A main strategy for resistance to misogynoir identified by Rajack and Joseph is to publicly embrace your identity, even and especially when it is being challenged. The authors recount how Osaka proudly embraced her Japanese and Haitian heritage and proudly celebrated both sides of her ancestry throughout her tennis career. They said that not allowing anyone to dismiss an individual’s race or heritage was incredibly important to stand up to misogynoir and colourism. An example of this was Osaka tweeting back at those who claimed her skin was too dark for a Japanese woman and she responded with not only an embrace of her skin and her Haitian heritage, but also a paid advertisement for sunscreen. Through that action, she is not only saying she is proud of who she is and isn’t backing down from those racist individuals, but she is also showing them she is successful enough as a Japanese-Haitian individual and athlete to be paid a lot as a part of a sponsorship. It so evidently displays a clear sense of authority over their racism and demonstrates her power over them and their chosen actions, no matter her racial identity. Overall, Rajack and Joseph focused on athletes of colour showing off their heritage and race and being proud of the colour of their skin and their racial identity, no matter the amount of hate they receive over it. To stand up against racists is to be proud of who you are.
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.)
| Cooky and Antunovic call on solidarity, collectivism, and activism to combat how mainstream sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns. They focus on how working together as a group and team is so important to making a true difference and allowing people to see what problems affect every group, especially those who need help and support. It goes exactly as the coach stated in the article; the team stood up for BLM over All Lives Matter because all lives are not being threatened the same way black lives are. Solidarity and standing together as a team for a cause are the ways to capture and shift the attention of mainstream media. |
C) Corporate social justice
Exercise 6: Padlet Poll
| In Favour
Sports leagues and management bear a responsibility to support social justice movements because they hold a lot of privilege within their platform. It is so important, as representatives of their players and teams, to show up for social movements because if they don’t, it shows their players and the teams that they don’t care about those being affected, which is not only wrong but can also influence the image of the team or representative. I think it’s important to use their platform to speak to their audience about what is happening outside the realm of sports and how it’s affecting those within and outside the arena. I also think it’s so important for sports leagues and management to make that stand and bring awareness to movements because it shows their support to their players and those within the teams, such as women of colour, those who are disabled, the 2SLGBTQIA+, etc. I think it’s important for them to use their platform and privilege to support those within their teams and to make sports a safe place for everyone. |
Section Three: Taking a shot
Module Assignment (submit as part of notebook and separately through Blackboard mini assignment #1 portal)
The racialised athlete activists I will speak of are the four bobsled Olympians in the movie Cool Runnings.
What strategies do the athletes employ to speak out?
The Jamaican bobsled team use their ability to be a solidified and unified unit to speak out against anyone who tells them they are not qualified or have the ability to do anything they put their mind to. While this movie plays on serious topics in a comedic way, it also has many scenes where the Jamaican bobsled team truly band together to overpower and prove their opponents wrong about their ability to perform in the Olympics and the assumptions thrown at them. For example, when they realise copying the Swiss team’s techniques is not getting them anywhere, they band together and encourage each other with the phrase that they just need to be Jamaican, they just need to be who they are, inside and out, and that is what will get them to where they need to be. Their solidarity toward being and representing Jamaica truthfully shows they realised they didn’t need to be or fit into the white European agenda or social expectations to do and perform well in the Olympics and as a team. As Cooky and Antunovic stated in their article, “This Isn’t Just About Us”: Articulations of Feminism in Media Narratives of Athlete Activism,” standing together as a team against racism and sexism is so important to making a difference and representing yourself and your team as a solid front. The Jamaican bobsled team stands together, unified, against the East German team and the entire audience who think that just because they are Jamaican, they cannot bobsled. In the end, they prove that working together can be the best strategy to prove those around them wrong, and while they don’t win, they show that the colour of your skin and the place you were born does not influence your ability to do something when you’ve put your mind to it.
What is the commentary on athletes using their voices in these shows?
The commentary on the Jamaicans using their voice is often dismissed by the other characters throughout the movie. The main character, Derice Bannock, dreams of being an Olympic sprinter are ruined because of a mishap on the track so he finds new dreams of being a part of a successful bobsled team but everyone in Jamaica dismisses him and his goals, including coaches, fellow teammates, and sponsors to get them to Canada to compete. When they get to Canada, the opposing teams, specifically Germany, heckle and bully them, but when they try to push against the harassment by standing up to the Germans and asking for an apology, they find themselves in the middle of a brawl. It is only when they get into a rhythm, work together as a team and qualify higher that people begin to take them seriously. This reality is well reflected within Boyle and Haynes’s “The Race Game: Media Sport, Race and Ethnicity” article where they point out how there is still so much racism and expectation for all teams and players to fit within the white heteronormative, cis-gender role in sports. For example, because so many people do not believe in the Jamaican bobsled team, they try to imitate the Swiss team, showing that they were trying to fit into the role but ultimately it failed and they had to be authentic to themselves and their birthplace. Additionally, Joel Bervell points out in his video that black athletes have to defend their success while white people do not, which I find very prevalent within their experience. Due to so many people not believing in them, when they succeed (to a point), it is questioned and analysed while their opposing white team’s success is not. Overall, when the Jamaican bobsled team stands up for themselves and the real racism they encounter, it is questioned and approached with violence.
How do race and/or gender or other *identities inform this representation?
While the team consists of only men, so there is little to no discussion about misogyny or misogynoir, they deal with a lot of racism throughout their experiences. The impact of this movie and its story especially comes through as Cool Runnings is based on a true (if not heavily modified) story (Youtube). While the real and fictionalised teams faced plenty of backlash and protest against being one of the few Caribbean teams to compete in the Winter Olympics, they did not get as much love and appreciation in real life. In reality, after their hard work and dedication to performing as true to themselves as possible, they crashed and were not followed by a wave of applause, instead they were followed by a few claps as they walked beside their sled to the finish line (Youtube). While this representation is a bit modified for viewing pleasure, it still has some tremendous influence on the view of a Jamaican athlete’s ability to perform in sports not known to occur in the Caribbean. The real team showed the world they could do what had never been done before (in Jamaica) and perform in a sport they knew little about and had little practice with within the Olympics, as well as they could combat the racist remarks and push through the harassment and offensive racial comments as a solidified unit and team (though they should not have had to). Their efforts to stand up to those pushing against them clearly reflect an amazing representation of people and women of colour to have the encouragement that they can do anything they put their minds to, no matter the comments or hate they receive.
How do these representations shape how we understand the sports themselves?
The representations of the Jamaican athletes in Cool Runnings shape how athletes of colour should be respected for their craft and talent, no matter the colour of their skin or where they were born. I think it’s important to focus on avoiding correlating talent and ability to the location the athlete was born, such as the bobsled athletes being Jamaican, though Jamaica has no snow or ice, that did not influence their ability to learn, adapt, and succeed, even if observers and the competitors doubted their ability because of their heritage. This also goes for Osaka, who, while Japanese does not fit snugly into the role and social expectation of the docile and gentle athlete. Instead, she is powerful, talented, and deeply connected to her Japanese and Haitian heritage. I think Cool Runnings focuses heavily on not judging a book by its cover and dismissing the societal expectations of seeing where an athlete is from and judging how they will perform based on their race alone. Cool Runnings also shows how important diversity and representation are in sports. The first Jamaican bobsled team opened up a whole new avenue for Jamaicans participating in winter sports and gave them the chance to find new passions and avenues in which they thrive. Without the one team having the opportunity and pushing through adversity, they wouldn’t have opened the doors for others and the world would not have known the world-changing Jamaican bobsled team. Overall, Cool Runnings demonstrated the importance of not judging an athlete’s ability to perform based on their race or heritage, and the importance of diversity in sports to open doors for future generations.
Works Cited.
“16×9- Cool Runnings: Truth Behind Original Jamaican Bobsled Team”. Youtube. Uploaded by Crime Beat TV. 6 June, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQkCemE_Xs.
