Embedded deep within the psyche of modern society, gender is a persistent feature of everyday life. It creates normalized behaviors and characteristics for each person, holding them accountable for even the most trivial actions. Individuals are not supposed to step outside the binary male-female framework, otherwise they risk backlash as an attempt to force them back into culturally designated roles. This binary is disturbed by the very existence of intersex individuals – as they cannot be placed into 100% male or 100% female on a binary scale. One of the areas where intersex has caused complications is in organized sports, specifically the Olympics. Since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) requires athletes to be divided into men and women in the various events, the interjection of intersex individuals causes complications with the preexisting system. The result of this being not to adjust the binary system itself, but for the IOC to engage in gender examinations of athletes to fit them into either the male or female categories. In order to understand the implications of the IOC's recommendations as well as why such views are ingrained in society as a whole, it is necessary to make an analysis using gender structure theory via its three levels: individual, interactional, and institutional.
Gender structure theory can help to understand the underlying implications within the IOC's recommendations by allowing gender to be conceptualized as a social structure. The mechanisms and causal relationships by which gender is embedded within society can then be analyzed at the individual, interactional, and institutional levels, thereby encompassing the whole sphere of human interactions. The individual level involves focusing on...
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Gender structure theory allows for the analysis of multitudes of actions, such as the recommendations given by the IOC about ambiguously sexed athletes. These actions need not exist within the same place, time, or contexts but are all interconnected through overarching individual, interactional, and institutional frameworks. The IOC's recommendations for pre-participation health examinations which involve gender determination, illustrates how the social construction of gender is assumed to be akin to biological necessity and any deviation from that is presented as a lack of wellness – despite the actual health of individuals. It is important to see how the construction of a male-female binary gender structure constrains everyone, so that it can be disentangled and that acceptance for differences can be gained through socializing individuals differently.
When a woman or man joins a non-traditional sport for their gender or sex, it can have drastic social and cultural costs. These impact not just the individual but also the entire community. When a person challenges the gender roles of society, then they change the perceptions of what men or women are capable of doing, they further androgynize cultural norms, and they open up sports for others.
Since sports and athletics have been brought into our society it has always been gender specific. For example, it is seen that males should be playing the rough and tough sports or athletics such as rugby and football, whereas the women should be participating in less competitive sports and athletics such as swimming, or running. Can you imagine that the world population of women is around forty-nine percent and they still aren’t given the same opportunities or respect as men? Being a women in the twenty-first century playing one of those “non-traditional” sports is a tough task for these women. The women who choose to do so are usually questioned about their sexuality and
Despite the struggle for success, males and females who choose to play sports that are non-traditional to their gender benefit socially and culturally. Those athletes who dare to compete are paving the way towards a society where gender acceptance and equality exist. However, for every benefit, there is generally a cost. In the world of sports, it is fairly obvious that people have experienced many costs including insults, ridicule, and lack of acceptance, but the benefits gained are much more vital to sports and the future of athletics. Competing in sports that are non-traditional to one's gender can only make society stronger, and our culture more unified.
Sports, in general, are a male dominated activity; every “real” male is suppose to be interested and/or involved in sports in the American society. However, it is not expected of a female to be interested in sports and there is less pressure on them to participate in physically enduring activities. These roles reflect the traditional gender roles imposed on our society that men are supposed to be stronger and dominant and females are expected to be submissive. As Michael Kimmel further analyzes these gender roles by relating that, “feminism also observes that men, as a group, are in power. Thus with the same symmetry, feminism has tended to assume that individually men must feel powerful” (106).
Unintentionally, a lot of us have been boxed into institutions that promote gender inequality. Even though this was more prominent decades ago, we still see how prevalent it is in today’s world. According to the authors of the book, Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions, Lisa Wade and Myra Marx Ferree define gendered institutions as “the one in which gender is used as an organizing principle” (Wade and Ferree, 167). A great example of such a gendered institution is the sports industry. Specifically in this industry, we see how men and women are separated and often differently valued into social spaces or activities and in return often unequal consequences. This paper will discuss the stigma of sports, how gender is used to separate athletes, and also what we can learn from sports at Iowa State.
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
The existence of hegemonic power related to gender roles in sport limits the participation of students in Sport Aerobics. This hypothesis is supported by the data gathered from a survey that 24 Nambour High students took (Appendix 1). The survey included 2 female and male students from each year level. This survey revealed that only 16% of students have participated in Sport Aerobics and the majority of the students were from the senior year levels. When the students were asked what gender Sport Aerobics is for over half the students said both male and female. However, 37% of the students said that Sport Aerobics is for women only and 6 out the 9 students that answered women were male meaning that the majority of male students believe that Sport Aerobics is a feminine sport. None of the students believed that Sport Aerobics is an only male sport. Seventy percent of students throughout all the year levels believe that men are stronger than women. The only students that said women were female themselves. It is fixed in to student’s minds that men are stronger than women because of the lack of recognition to female athletes on the media. Students only see strong male athletes such as rugby league players presented on the media. This accounts for the 70% of students that do not watch any women’s sport and the only students that do were female. This result is due to the lack of women role models in the
Within todays sporting community, certain aspects of sport and its practices promote and construct ideas that sport in general is a male dominated. Sports media often provides an unequal representation of genders. Women athletes are regularly perceived as mediocre in comparison to their male equivalents (Lenskyj, 1998). Achievement in sport is generally established through displays of strength, speed and endurance, men usually set the standards in these areas, consequently woman rarely reach the level set by top male athletes. Due to this, the media significantly shows bias towards male sports while we are ill-informed about the achievements in the female sporting community. On the occasion that a female athlete does make some form of an appearance in the media, images and videos used will usually portray the female in sexually objectified ways (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). This depiction of female athletes can cause males to take focus solely on the sexual assets of the athlete in preference to to their sporting abilities (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). Sexualisation of sportswoman in the media is a prevalent issue in today’s society, it can cause physical, social and mental problems among women of all ages (Lenskyj, 1998).
The concept of hegemonic masculinity, as described by R. W. Connell, is becoming more applicable than ever, namely in the world of sport. This notion was developed nearly twenty-five years ago, yet remains highly influential in the social construction of gender roles. In current Western societies, there is an automatic assumption that women involved in sports are all lesbians, and men posses more masculine traits than one who is not involved in sports. This double standard emphasizes the inequalities within the athletic community. The emphasis on masculinity brings forth different consequences for men and women, where men are regarded as strong and powerful, while women are intrinsically seen as more masculine (Baks & Malecek,
In “Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism”, the author Barbara Risman explains her theory to readers about how gender should be thought of as a social structure. Thinking of it as such would allow people to examine how gender is ingrained in almost every part of society, thus putting gender on an equal level of importance with economics and politics. In society, gender dictates many of the opportunities and limitations that an individual may face in his or her lifetime. Barbara Risman points out the three aspects of the gender structure that happen at an individual, interactional, and institutional level (Risman, pg. 446). First, gender contributes to how a person will develop themselves in life. This is the “individual level”. At an interactional level, men and women face different expectations that are set by society. The individual and interactional level are linked because sometimes, changes to one level can affect the other. The third level, the institutional level, notes that gender is affected by laws, rules, and organizational practices that dictate what
Krane, V. (2001). We can be athletic and feminine, but do we want to? Challenging hegemonic femininity in women's sport. Quest, 53,115-133.
Social Construction of Gender Today’s society plays a very important role in the construction of gender. Gender is a type of issue that has raised many questions over the years in defining and debating if both male and female are equal. Today, gender is constructed in four different ways. The The first way gender is defined is by the family in which a child is raised.
The type of sport adolescents choose to participate in can be considered masculine, feminine, or neutral which causes stereotypes among peers. Society has set the stereotypes for competitive sports based on gender. According to Alley & Hick (2005), “despite legal and social changes, sexist ideology still pervades sport” (p.273). Sports are seen as masculine, male dominated, and males receive higher media coverage and pay than the majority of female sports. The gender stereotype is learned through socialization and “for certain sports appear to be learned by grade school” (Alley & Hicks, 2005. p. 274). Gender role conflicts may appear in some athlete depending on the sport(s) one chooses to participate in, but this can alter by demonstrating acceptance for the opposite gender in sports. It is important to indentifying the social effects of sports participation in both genders and how beneficial it can be to the adolescent. Through sports participation adolescents learn those gender roles are based on self-perception, and not social interactions.
Whether its baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or tennis, sports is seen all over the world as a representation of one’s pride for their city, country, and even continent. Sports is something that is valued world-wide which has the ability to bring communities together and create different meanings, beliefs and practices between individuals. Although many people may perceive sports to have a significant meaning within our lives, it can also have the ability to separate people through gender inequalities which can also be represented negatively throughout the media. This essay will attempt to prove how gender is constructed in the sports culture while focusing on female athletes and their acceptance in today’s society.
Although women have been accepted within the participation in sports and physical activity, there is still constant controversy surrounding the topic of whether or not female sports can be “considered a ‘real’ sport” (Hall, M. Ann, 2007, pg. 56) or if the female participants can be “viewed as ‘real’ women” (Hall, M. Ann, 2007, pg. 56). This is due to the fact that sports and physical activity has invariably been viewed as strictly for males, to aid in validating their masculinity. It is constantly vocalized that sports considered to be ‘feminine’ ones such as