Final Notes & Thoughts

The first day of this class I was very intrigued with the class discussions. Still to this day i am very intrigued. I find this class way more psycholocially advanced than I ever imagined. I am going to list a few of my favorite class discussions to reflect on some of the topics that have advanced my knowledge through sports and gender:

-Hegemonic Masculinity
-Homophobia & Sport
-Sex in the Media
-Cool Pose
-Politics & Sport

All of these topics are something I may have had prior knowledge or assumptions on however, after class discussion, articles, and exams I have furthered my knowledge. I want to thank Dr. Spencer for an awesome semester. My only regret is that I did not take other classes with Dr. Spencer prior to graduating.

The Jordan Effect

While studying for the final exam the question was aroused " what is the Jordan effect" and how does it impact the economy? I do not think that a single person can give a definition to what is the Jordan effect. Being a child in the 90's Micheal Jordan was a sports goddess. He has so many advertisements through sports and is known for the game of basketball. Maybe once the whole "Lebron era" has ended than i will think Lebron is known for the game of basketball but until then Micheal Jordan will be known as the game of basketball through increasing sales, boosting awareness, and improving his image.

Indian Wells

Before our class discussion I was not aware of the Williams sisters situation at the tournament at Indian Wells. Both Williams sisters have built a large reputation for themselves through the sport of tennis as well as endorsements and more. The events that happened at the tournament were unfortunate and Serena has every right to make the statements she has made. I think that she has done a good job of putting the past in the past, while remaining to not forgot what happened that day. There were different terms we needed to understand such as white racism, sincere functions, scientific racism, cultural racism, and commodity racism. These terms were some what familiar however sincere functions is more real life scenario. It is common that people in the US think that racism has reduced alot however, they may believe it but not always participate in it. The acts that happened at Indian Wells has given people an opportunity to understand that racism has not completely ended.

Full Court Press

From the article " Full Court Press" we discussed in class the 8 defensive positions in response to the "lesbian bogeywoman image" in sport.
*silence, denial, promotion of feminine, heterosexual image, promotion of heterosexy image, search for heterosexual only space, attacks on lesbians, preference for male coaches, acknowledgement but disassociation from lesbians.
My group specifically discussed the " preference of male coaches". I find it very interesting that across the US, in high schools where teenagers are growing into a very difficult world of acceptance, role models such as athletic directors are making decisions based upon if someone is a lesbian or not. If a student who plays a sport found out there coach was being fired because she is a lesbian, that could damage the team. I believe that a persons sexual preference should not come into inference with teams or players.

Homophobia & Sport

From the article " Suffer in Silence" there were two different reports of athletes saying, " I would rather be a felon then be gay" and also " I would rather be black than gay". These are two different situations ; a felon would have been prisionized for example a murder, and once in society African Americans were severely oppressed by others. I think it is so sad that an athlete would feel so pressed to be homosexual to have to say either of these things. Having a sexual preference for one sex or the other is a personal situation and being an athlete with one or the other preference should not have such stigma attached with it. John Ammachi received so much hypocrisy from others about not coming out during season, however with other athletes making statements from above, why would a person feel comfortable expressing his/her sexual preference when such judgement is made.

Disability and Sport

Throughout this course as we have talked about different athletes with disabilities I have heard many inspiring stories. This week coincidentally I watched a new reality television show called Chance. This show has a panel of judges and they vote on giving someone an opportunity to win money for whatever they plead their case to. The winner of the episode I saw was a 16 year old boy who lost his legs in a car accident when he was 10 years old. He wanted 95,000 for an in ground swimming pool. He takes aquatic therapy twice a week to eventually help him walk again. This boy had such a positive attitude and said " a bad thing happened that would eventually be good". It amazed me that through swimming this young boy dreamed of walking again. He won the money at the end of the show and I wish him the best. This relates to our class discussion because many of the athletes also maintain a positive attitude and it amazes me that with these struggles they keep going to achieve their dreams.