Gender, Sexuality and Sports

This week reading "Sexuality as a structural principle in sport participation: Negotiating sports spaces" Elling and Janssens stated important facts about the relations of gender, sexuality and sports. Most of the time, perception of homosexual/ bisexual men are less likely to participate masculine sports/ team sports like football and basketball while homosexual/bisexual women may tend to engage in masculine sports. However, according to a study in Netherlands, the findings challenged the perceptions above. According to the findings, non-heterosexual men are less likely to engage in team sports when comparing to heterosexual men and more likely to engage in profit organizations such as fitness centers. However, there is no significant difference when comparing non-heterosexual women and heterosexual women unlike what we formerly believe. Non-heterosexual men are more likely to join non-team sports or joining a gay/lesbian oriented club. This is motivated by an inclusive atmosphere and also prior membership of friends, expressing identity in the comfort zone. Some of the non-heterosexual respondents refused to join a LGBT sports club as they believe openly expressing identity could be a threat for them to be discriminated by other people. The study shows that even in an open society like the Netherlands, non-heterosexual men/women experience discrimination, threats and attacks from other people.

After the presentation this week, we have heated discussion about the male sports players and female sports players. One student mentioned most netball players need to have another job other than playing netball to support their living. Because you can earn enough money for playing netball professionally. The most controversial issue is professional female athletes are not treated as athletes but more often being sexualized. A good example is professional players in tennis. A list of attractive female players including Ana Ivanovic, Anna Kournikova, Maria Kirilenko and Maria Sharapova. People rarely mention their tennis skills or success career in sports, what people care the most is their beauty and attractive bodies. From the male magazine FHM, there is one article entitled the Top 10 Sexiest Tennis Players of All-Time. It shows a list of photos of those players shooting for Maxim or swimsuit. Also photos taken during their leisure time, such as going to beach with their bikinis or going to an event with a sexy ball gown. The conclusion is if female tennis player want to survive and make a living with tennis career, she has to be pretty and sexy instead of improving their performance in competition. That's the only way they can get sponsorship and make the same amount of money as male players. Simply key in "female tennis players" on YouTube, a list of video showing "The sexiest tennis player" "The hottest female players" Look at the video, they even rank each player with their sexy pictures.

Another interesting discussion is about the hooliganism in sports.
The movie green street hooligans is about Matt, an expelled Harvard undergrad moves to London and meet Pete. Soon after going to watch West Ham United v Birmingham, he is involved in a fight and finds out Pete is in leader of West Ham's hooligans. He started to get involved, from being afraid to starting to fight. He learns to stand by his friends no matter what the consequences. It is the moment of us vs them. Unfortunately, the content in the movie is based on true story. And I remember being warned by friends of going to a football match in London. Especially when I am a girl, they would treat me as an outsider. When a football match starts, war starts at the same time. I love football but slowly have to accept its subculture - hooliganism as well. 

There is a documentary called English hooligans untold story. It is about English fans going to Germany for the world cup. Some hooligans are banned from going to Germany during world cup. English Police are allowed to patrol the areas in Germany for the first time to tackle the hooligans from England. Sometimes hooligans are not only against the opposing team but also the player in their team.
A few days ago, from The Sun, a group of hooligans of Manchester United asked the player Wayne Rooney in the team to leave the club because the hooligans think his performance was terrible in the recent matches. 

After talking about sexism and hooliganism in sports, I would like to talk about homophobic culture in sports again. Homosexuality is still a taboo in sports, professional soccer players are reticent to come out of the closet. The players are scared that the fans will go crazy and start singing homophobic songs. Another reason of not coming out is that would affect their career, other clubs may not want to hire the gays. One professional player in Germany from the video retired because of fear. He said there is a lot of body contact for team sports and you take shower with your team mates.  That physical contact have something in common with sex. Another lesbian football player state that homophobia in sports is a big problem for male athletes which agrees with the reading from Elling and Jannsens. Because a lot of people expect top female athletes are lesbians, since most people relate female playing sports with masculinity. That makes lesbians athletes not a taboo.  

This is the last post for this blog, I hope you like the topics and enjoy the posts!

See you soon!

The Theory of Waiting

What is waiting? Barthes talked about waiting in his book a lovers discourse (1978) which is a crucial yet painful part in love and relationships. According to Barthes, you can wait for an arrival, a return, a promised sign. Anxiety is provoked by the process of waiting for the love being, it could be a letter, a phone call or a return. He described the process of waiting as an act. He gives an example: When you are waiting at a café, looking at the time and your mind started to go crazy when the person haven't turned up. You ask questions like “Was there a misunderstanding of the place, or the time?” “Should I try another café or call that person?” and what if the other comes when I tried to get to another café? Will the other leave because of not seeing me? This is act I. How about act II? You started to feel angry and move on to act III, a pure state of anxiety. Waiting is an enchantment because you received orders not to move. You can spend your whole afternoon in front of the telephone and do not move. Anxiety and more anxiety, back to the example of the café, you became alert when everyone comes into the café, you expect that person to be her/him. Also, the moment that you are waiting is not real, you started to question yourself if she/he is coming or is this hallucination only.

Case Study (My own example)

I hate waiting because the level of anxiety is way too high! And I had a lot of experience of waiting. Let's talk about coming to here for my exchange studies. I can show you a list here!

1. Applying for exchange studies in my home uni (waiting for interview)

2. Interview (waiting for the result)

3. Got an offer and apply for La Trobe Uni (waiting for offer letter from La Trobe)

4. Apply for Visa (waiting again for eCOE from La Trobe)

5. Half way through the Visa (waiting for the result from medical check)

6. Finished all procedures for a visa (wait for the result)

7. Buy air ticket (wait for March to come)

I can go on with the list, what I am trying to show is waiting is everywhere. Even with technology in 21st century, it doesn't make waiting pleasurable. I agreed with Barthes, waiting is about anxiety. I questioned myself most of the time during the above process. I didn't get a reply from La Trobe fast enough to make me feel secure. I asked myself "Maybe I am not good enough? What should I do if they reject me?" "What if I don't have a visa?" 

This Easter, I remember I was picking my brother and mother up at the airport. They come here for a week to travel. I waited for a long time and I still don't see them at the arrival hall. I asked myself "What happened to them?" The plane was delayed but it's already an hour. "Do they get interrogated because they are from Hong Kong because the customs are really racist?" "Why does it take so long when they can speak perfect English?" Lots and lots of questions go through my mind, I got worried and burst into tears. Later I found out there are a lot of people waiting in the queue, that's why it takes so long.

Sorry for long text about myself, still remember the movie "He's just not that into you" mentioned in the lecture? Here's another clip! Comes back to the question of waiting and also hegemonic masculinity. Why a guy should call and a girl should wait? It's like girls always suffer from the game of waiting, or should girls make their own decision finally?

From AskMen.com, a free online men’s web portal. The article entitled Top 10: Mind Games Women Play tells guys how to deal with the waiting game. Girls do not want to appear clingy and may not return to you with a call. What guys should do is call her back to make sure she received the message, but after this, wait for her to call back. If not, she is just not that into you. It is funny how guys react to the waiting game because usually they are not the one to wait in dating.

Meanwhile in LovePanky.com, a website for girls' advice in dating, love and relationships. Another article called How to play hard to get tells girls what to do to play hard to get. It states the reason why playing hard to get works for men. One of the reasons is men like to take on challenges and they feel like achieving something when the girl is hard to get. This also get back to point of hegemonic masculinity and also why girls have to do something to please the male creatures?

From the blog She Versus He, the blogger asked when you finally meet someone. Do you give them your number first? Do you ask for theirs? Should you wait for them to ask you for yours or should you just exchange numbers? And it depends if you are really into that person and of course try to understand if "he's just not that into you"

In Audi Prom Commercial 2013, the boy seemed to gain power and status when his dad give him the Audi car to drive to the prom. He kissed the prom queen and drive away with the Audi.He look confident just like he won the dating game! At the end of the commercial "Bravery it's what defines us" reinforces guys should be tough and get what they want.

Next week, let's talk about masculinity in sports!

Gender at Work : Then and Now

I always try to include as many details as possible, of course with things that are interesting and educational. This week, I would like to include the reading by Connell that we have discussed today. 

Some of the main concepts Connell mentioned:

When it comes to gender at work, we should start with gender in the corporation and by examining the origin of corporation to understand the structure of production relations. Interestingly, the structure can be traced back from Europe. At that time, all of the institutions are gendered as there are only male workers in the corporation. And not surprisingly because of this reason, gendered hierarchies are developed in corporations as men actively running the place and defend the system. The next concept he talks about is the power relations in the state. There are some really successful women getting into the top management level but they are expected to act like a man and at the same time finish their "unpaid" domestic jobs at home. Apart from this issue, there are more men than women working in the sector. Also, men work in areas like economy or military force while women in areas of education and health. However, financial globalisation in societies would challenge this masculine perspective in bureaucratic hierarchies. At last, Connell believes it is possible to change the situation of gender inequality in the state by decolonisation and globalisation. 

I agree with him stating professional women nowadays actually have more than one job, that is the corporate one and the domestic unpaid one. The domestic unpaid one should be shared with your partner/ husband. Gender equality is promoted and improved in work place nowadays, but how about women at home? Speaking from a female perspective, do we have to work hard for our jobs outside and do all the cooking, laundry and home maintenance stuff? I am not a feminist but I do not agree with the rules in society that women have to take care of domestic stuff.

BACK TO SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING!!

Do you still remember the movie "North Country" introduced by the guest lecturer today?

The movie is generally based on a true story in 1989, the female lead (Josey) in the movie tries her best to make a living in a job perceived as  "masculine" job. This movie shows us about female at work  getting abused and sexually harassed in such industries. Josey then sue the mine company and win the case for the first time in human history.

Clip from North Country

This is a really good example of gender inequality at work during that time, she was humiliated and abused in the scene which I found really disgusting. Also, it shows that women at work in the past would easily get physically abused and raise questions of insecurity since you don't know when will be your next time to be "attacked.

Another movie based on a true story is called Magdalene Sisters which is also related to gender inequality and it also raised questions about having double standards for men and women. Young women are "jailed" to those degrading asylums, doing laundries for life without getting paid. Many of them did nothing wrong, they are in it simply because they are considered as fallen women or just being too pretty. Women getting abused and get pregnant result from raping, only the victim is to blamed and lock into those asylums. They are often sexually and physically abused in the asylums. 

The questions come into my mind, why they have to do laundry for long hours? Why are they not getting paid (even prisoners get paid for working in jail) and why they do not have a promised day of leaving? I would call this the worst case of human exploitation and slaves labour. 

Related to this topic, we can actually do something to change society just like what Connell suggests. There is a program called gender at work, which is a program founded in 2001 that help with women’s empowerment and gender equality in different organizations. They have three primary goals which includes recognizing the gender-biased features in organization and ways to change it. Gives support to the transformation of institution and the last one is working with key decision makers in related social justice and rights. 

Look at this video about gender segregation at work, men and women are not allow to work together.
The management grade people are basically men, by segregating women from them, this can prevent women from being promoted at the same rate as their male colleagues.

Coming to the last bit, this is a really old surf advertisement in 1950s again shows the gender specific jobs! The man in a business suit going to work and the woman possibly just stay at home to do laundry. Her biggest achievement is to get the clothes clean and get approved by her man.

Sorry, this entry is a little bit long and full of information but I hope you enjoy it (hope it's not boring)!!!

Patriarchal families and society

Clearly, we are still living in a patriarchal society with patriarchal families. A patriarchal family is when the father is the authority figure and everyone gains his approval or follows his instructions. Gender roles in family are usually shaped by this concept and being powerful or not in society is not only determined by sex but something more, including class and race. 

This week, I am going to focus on how values of patriarchal families are expressed in real life, in movies and in royal family. And how race and class may also have an impact on gender roles in family and society.

In real life:

I believe one of the reasons that cause difference of roles in family is due to the biological difference of female and male. Females give birth and stay home to rest and recover, so they can take care the kids. While males can not give birth so they have to go out and make a living. The roles are not reversible due to the difference in bodies. Usually mother and father go out to work or only father goes out to work. But rarely mother goes out to work and the father stays home and take care of the kids.

"It is the responsibility of the father to see to it that there is no shortage of the essential items in the house. On the other hand it is the responsibility of the mother nurture the children, properly feed them, care for their hygiene and they are in good health." 

In movies:

Bend it like Beckham (2002)

Sometimes, gender roles are affected by race too. The girls in the movie want to play football. Both Jules and Jess experience oppositions from their mothers but they are treated differently because of their races and family background. Jess's mum said "you don't even want to learn to cook" and she is told not to play football and should get married just like her sister. While Jules's mum said only those without a boyfriend would play sports. In an Indian family, parents are really strict to their daughters and they have to learn how to cook and get married. For Jules, from a western family, her mother did not mention anything in particular related to marriage.

If you want to look at more examples of normalizing male dominance in movies nowadays
click the link below:
Normalizing male dominance in films

In royal family:

The line of succession (Full list)

1. The Prince of Wales
2. The Duke of Cambridge
3. Prince Henry of Wales
4. The Duke of York
5. Princess Beatrice of York

How about the factor of class? Look at the top 5 on the line of succession, four of them are male and that implies the priority of succession is male first. Who is sovereign also means who is in control and dominant. Traditionally, in a royal family, they follow even more traditional rules about patriarchy than other people of middle class.

Yet, some try to challenge it:

Most of the Bollywood movies treat women in the typical patriarchal way, however in some movies the movie makers try to challenge this norm. In Mother India (1957). The mother shoots her own son in order to save a friend's daughter - the moneylender who practically ruined her life with his unreasonable loans. Other examples including fighting against husband, divorces and justice.

For more examples on the list, please click here.

Heterosexism, Gender Roles and Society

Heterosexism, Gender Roles and Society

 

What concepts do you get from the above image? Which one do society perceive as a normal family? The concept of sexuality is often shaped and reinforced by society, men and women are given gender roles and this is what society wants us to think. How often do you see two females with a child in an advertisement together and being consider as a normal family? Let's take a look at some examples later on this post.

Source: William Leonard

Let's talk more about the concept of heterosexism. Last week, we've come across with the concept of The Wedding Cake Model during the lecture given by the director of GLHV Mr. William Leonard. The model is basically about heterosexism. The cake is constructed with a base (sex) which includes only male and female, on the second level is gender which represents by femininity and masculinity. On top of it, heterosexism represents the one and only sexuality. However, you can see the model completely ignores other genders.

What are gender roles? From a post by Cathy Busha, gender roles, women are portrayed with long hair, flowy white dresses, surrounded by flowers, brimming with nurturing instincts. Men, on the other hand, are described as bumbling, strong, masculine providers.


This comes back to our first image, that only a family with a female and a male (shown on the left) is considered as norm. We come across with this concept more than we thought of. You see it from the advertisements all the time that can shape our perceptions of what's normal and what's not. I am going to show you some print advertisements and TV commercial and prove to you how advertising plays an important role in this issue.

 

In this Tiffany & Co. commercial, heterosexism is reinforced at least a few times. All the couples in this commercial are heterosexual. Also, the commercial plays with femininity and masculinity. 

For example, how women should behave and look. They should have pretty long hair, they should wear make up and jewellery. Being happy, dreamy and bubbly all the time. We can also see her life through the video. A woman normally falls in love with a straight man. Then they get married and have kids. After she get married, she goes to different social meeting with her husband, take care of the kids. It seems to me her life only consist of her kids, husband and the diamonds but nothing like careers or personal life.

Another print advertisement from Calvin Klein Eternity also reinforced heterosexual relationship and marriage by putting one man and one woman together with their kids on the bed (possibly). All of them are smiling that implies they have a lovely family and having a good time. Eternity also means timelessness, same with the Tiffany & Co. commercial that talks about being forever. 

On one hand, heterosexuality is reinforced in society through media and advertising. On the other hand, homosexuality rarely appears on advertising, even when they do, it's not the most romantic story like those we see in the Tiffany & Co. and Calvin Klein Ads. Take a look at this print advertisement.

 

You can see from the advertisement, lesbians are portrayed as sexual and a bit violence which makes people outside of the community thinks all lesbians behave like this. This is a complete stereotype of lesbians as if they are exotic all the time and may affect the way other people treat them or view them in society. That also brings us back to the topic of "The male gaze" that the advertisement is showing things a man would like to see instead of what a lesbian couple do.   

I believe if we want people to stick to their sexualities without getting discriminated, not only we have to do something to accept and respect everyone have choice. The media should stop reinforcing femininity and masculinity, so everyone can be free to be who they are and not getting "brainwashed" to be correct. 

What is gender?

Simply cannot wait to get into the details of this course. Even there is no required reading for first week, I still have something prepared to talk about, I will first express my views about gender.

What is gender and what is sex? According to WHO, "Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. That means if your genetic makeup is XX or XY. (Not being totally ignorant, I do recognize there are XXY, XYY and other combinations as well) While the meaning of gender is so much different. "Gender" on the other hand refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. That is when we are talking about if someone is feminine or masculine, this is related to gender.

I would like to start talking about a topic called gender advertising. I think some of you may come across with this topic before and it is super interesting to look at it.
Let's take a look at the two commercials by NIKE featuring the two tennis stars:

Maria Sharapova
 

and Roger Federer

What do you find out? Both of them are tennis stars, professional athletes but they are perceived so differently in the commercials. In Sharapova's video, it emphasizes on her beauty, along with the theme song "I feel pretty" This is as an intertextual element referencing to the 1961 movie West Side Story , the song was sang by Maria in the movie. Again, Maria in West Side Story is very feminine. Only towards the very end of the commercial, Sharapova hits the tennis once.

How about in Federer's commercial? Federer is being very confident, active and showing off his tennis skills in the commercial. It shows that he is a strong athlete. The above commercials reinforces the gender roles of female and male perceive in commercials. Female continues to be more passive and concern most about their beauty while male take the challenge and be active.


Sorry for the long entry, I would still like to talk about more before finishing this week. Some of you may have heard of Jean Kilbourne, a feminist author, speaker who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising. One of her series called Killing Us Softly

 

She tells us about how advertising can shape our perceptions of females and males. Also on how to be a perfect woman, being thin, pretty, sexy and passive. And we cannot escape from advertising, since advertising is everywhere and it has a great impact on us all. What do you think about this? Do you think you can avoid advertising in daily life?

I have some extra links for you to look at if you are interested in gender advertising:

• Erving Goffman & Gender Advertisements 
• Gender Ads 

Hope you all enjoy my first post, please let me know your thoughts so I can improve over time!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog everyone! My name is Jen, an exchange student at La Trobe University. I am currently doing a subject called Gender and Sexuality. Starting from this week, I will post something new and related to the issues of gender and sexuality each week. The posts may come with some hyperlinks, references and case studies. Also, there will be a complete different topic for each week. Feel free to share your thoughts and leave me a comment down below (about the topic or the blog). I will need a lot of comments to make this blog better and easier to read! Thank you everyone.