A lot
of very good points were brought up in class discussion today, whether you
agree with them or not they were good points.
That being said, I would like to discuss some points that Judith Lorber
attempts to make. I understand that this
article was written years ago but we are reading it now which makes it
relevant. Lorber says that Western
sports are aimed at men. Men may be
stronger and faster than women, but in some sports that seem to be dominated by
men, women dominate in reality. Riflery
for example is a segregated Olympic sport because women are more adept to firing
a rifle more accurately than men.
Why? It’s not because women have
steadier hands or better eye sight. It’s
because of their structural build.
Endurance running has also shown that women can be competitive with
men. In 2010 at the Hard Rock 100, a
100 mile running race, Diana Finkel finished in second place. In fact looking through the results of the
previous years, there is usually always a woman in the top 10 finishers. It’s only a matter of time before a women
finishes in first place. Women are
relatively new to running. At the 2012
Boston Marathon the winning male time was 2:12:40 while the first woman
finisher was 2:31:50. The women’s average
pace was 5:47 per mile while the men’s was 5:03 per mile. This may seem contradictory to my point, but
a women getting second in a major race compared to a women coming in nineteen
minutes after a man shows that in certain events women are just as good. Women have different strengths due to biology
not from a social construction. These
two sports aren’t widely watched and I do not think it’s because women are
pretty dominate it’s probably because they are not as entertaining as football
or soccer with fast paced action. So
while it may seem that women are kept down in many sports, there are activities
that women excel at.
That's Krissy Moehl running . . . in a skirt.
http://registration.baa.org/cfm_Archive/iframe_ArchiveSearch.cfm?mode=topfinishers&snap=49164180&
http://www.runnersworld.com/trail-runner-profiles/5-minutes-krissy-moehl
Honestly this is not suprizing to me. Women have spent years overcoming inequality in sports. How else can we explain female bodybuilders and women's basketball. This is just another case of inequality being eliminated from our society. I would say that running is not necessarily overcoming inequality although impressive to say the least. Female weightlifters are some of the true women overcoming inequality in sports that were once dominated by men.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand is the level that people place women in sports on. These women have a complete capability of performing just as well as men do but yet "in fairness" should be kept apart to have an equal opportunity to compete and win. I am appalled that there aren't as many people that see this. There are some women that challenge the gender barriers and compete on the same levels as men. We can compare this to African Americans in sports as well. African Americans were always excluded from professional sports, but eventually those barriers were broken and now they are equal in some sports to the white men playing before. If women challenge the barriers, perhaps in the future they too will be able to get the same opportunity to compete at the level they want to.
ReplyDeleteDarren Pope
Thank you Lindsay for this post! (It's nice to see some running references on this blog.) But running has actually been a very defiant way for women to overcome inequality. The Boston Marathon, which receives a fair amount of media attention and sponsorships, and generates a lot of revenue for the city was once a male dominated sport. Some of the first women to attempt to run the race were pulled out by officials. But competitive women running has been on the rise since. Joan Benoit, an American was the gold medal winner in the first women's marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She has since become an icon for competitive running, and while it receives little mainstream attention (as does men's running,) women's competitive running generates a lot of respect and regard of the running community.
ReplyDeleteI tend to view running as a sport where men and women can compete on an even playing field. Individual races, such as the Boston Marathon, leave no room for an excuse to invalidate a women's success in it. Each runner has to complete the same course and distance. That's why I get frustrated when a participant finishes a race like a marathon and they receive a placement for their age and gender. The fact that there's a category for gender placement is assumptive that women can't compete on the same level as men in running. It takes equality out of the hands of a sport that is inherently equal to the competitors.
ReplyDelete