Sam Gordon is similar to Erin DiMeglio. Instead of filling the position of kicker, which is typical of most girls on football teams, they are out on the field handling the ball. Both are said to be exceptional cases and both have articles published about themselves: DiMeglio in the aforesaid New York Times article and Gordon in The Washington Post. Ever since these stories of girls doing "boy things" have started emerging, feminist arguments have slowly filled the newsfeed of my Facebook. "This is proof that girls are equal to boys!"
I disagree. Feminists have it wrong. Before I offend anyone, let me explain that I am in no way opposed to equality for women. It's what is just. People are people, and all people are entitled to rights. What I'm saying is that he way in which they are arguing is wrong. One might argue that these girls should be praised for overcoming the obstacles that the feminine phenomenology presents to them, and ask, "why shouldn't we make a big deal over these girls that are phenomenal at what is normally seen as a sport for boys?" Exactly because of that. By praising a girl for being good at something that is considered only for boys, we're acknowledging that girls aren't supposed to be good at those things. We're saying that girls are not as good as boys, and that is why we praise the few exceptions that measure up. We're saying that we are not equals.
And that is why people think that things like this are okay to say.
The way to truly convince people that women do, indeed, deserve equality, (which we certainly do), is to see and treat these things as everyday occurrences, and not as something that is once in a lifetime. Because soon enough, it won't be.
I found your post to be both compelling and eye opening. I really enjoyed reading the New York Times article about Erin DiMeglio, as well as watching the video/reading the article you posted about Sam Gordon. I am very impressed by both girls, not because I am surprised by their athletic abilities, but because both girls express an extreme amount of confidence through their membership of a predominantly male team. It can be very hard when you don’t completely fit the mold of the rest of the group. I have experienced this recently with a group project I was placed into. I was the only girl in the group and although the boys didn’t say anything to make me feel inferior, I still felt like I needed their approval. This is not because I am a girl, it is because I felt left out. I needed to be more confident and understand that I brought something different to the group, but that the “different flare” I brought wasn’t a bad thing. Sometimes physical differences can make us feel separated; however, like you said we are all equal and are all capable of achieving the same goals. We need to get past the boy/girl stereotypes and understand that regardless of gender, if we put our minds to something we can accomplish it.
ReplyDeleteI saw the videos of the little girl on Sportscenter and was surprised- it is truly an amazing thing. However, I too thought what you were asserting in your post, that if anything, this is further supporting the inequality notion. This is a special case and a fluke, and the fact that we are so astonished by this little girl's accomplishments displays how they are unequal to men. If a little boy was doing the same thing, he would obviously not get the credit, because it is expected of him, as he is a male and superior to women in that aspect. It is just surprising that a girl is excelling in a boys sport, something that was bound to happen eventually. I'm positive that the reverse is true all over the place, in that boys excel in traditionally female activities as well.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up an interesting point. Making a news story out of every successful girl in a predominately male sport acknowledges that it is out of the ordinary.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel it will be difficult for women to ever seriously break into sports such as mens basketball, hockey, and football. Due to the historical gender norms present in society, women will most often be discouraged to participate in predominately male sports. This is because such participation goes against what each of us is taught to understand as the role of men and women, thus rejecting and pointing out those who not fit those roles.
We also must consider the physical disadvantages that prevent women from seriously breaking into such physical sports. As it stand, only a very small percentage of the male population has the physical built and ability to play football, hockey and basketbal at the professional level. The contrast in physical build of women to such professional athletes is even greater.
I also am inclined to agree with your pointing out of the fact that in acknowledging a rare case to point out equality, essentially highlights just how unequal the thing is normally seen. One case of equality between genders doesn't point to equality between genders in all cases. A girl kicking some serious butt in football at age 9 doesn't point to the same girl breaking the ankles of Ray Lewis Jr. 15 years down the road. One girl, a third string back-up, being on a football team doesn't point to a rise of female Peyton Manning's down the road. These cases, although amazing and inspirational stories to behold, only further entrench the physical inequalities between genders, rather than point to their abilities to equally compete. Another example could be dunking in basketball. Only four players in the WNBA have ever dunked the basketball (wikipedia source, but believable to say the least). These four players dunking doesn't point to equality amongst genders, it, like the football ladies, just accentuates how rare these cases are. The same can be seen in the reverse, but just not to such extremes. Dance is normally seen to be a feminine sport, but men who can do it well are of high value and receive great credit, just like girls who can play the 'boys'' sport of football.
ReplyDeleteOn a final note, I very much like the idea how pointing out specific cases only leads to the negative regard being seen in the end. I am going into murky waters, but racism is another aspect of this notion. Racism is still a problem, there is no doubt about it, but continuing to have hate crimes and the such that are designed to protect the minorities only acknowledges and is dependent on racism itself. When crime just becomes a crime between two individuals, not a crime between two different races, then maybe racism can be further ebbed out of society. Just food for thought, nothing set in stone.
I also wrote my essay on Young’s article and Erin DiMeglio and included the point you made about the coverage that Erin’s story received. Like you mentioned, not only does it show that people believe that girls are not as good as boys at sports, but it also proves that women and men are still not seen as equal in today’s society.
ReplyDeleteI am also taking Sociology 102, a class about sports in society and the sociology of sport. Earlier in the semester we learned a lot about the gender ideologies that exist in sports. Dominant gender ideologies in most societies emphasizes that men are naturally superior to women in activities’ that involve strength, physical skills, and emotional control. By publishing news articles and posting YouTube videos, this shows that people like Erin DiMeglio and Sam Gordon are the exception, and are therefore noteworthy. Another point I made in my essay was that Erin herself was not an entirely confident player. Regardless of if this was due to lacking skill, or the dominant ideology that exists in society that tells her she is not a good football player, Erin was not an outstanding player, and still received attention.
For one of our assignments in my sociology class, we had to find a news article that related to something we learned in class. I found an article about Tori Norris, a girl who plays for Skyline High School's football team in Ann Arbor. This is another, local example of women receiving attention for playing male-dominated sports like football.
Here is the link to the article about Tori Norris:
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/high-school/victoria-norris-excelling-at-kicker-for-skyline-football-plus-week-3-leaders-notes-rankings/
From reading all of the comments, I think it's safe to say that there is a general consensus about the fact that it is hard for girls to "break into" a male-dominated sport.
ReplyDeleteWe should take into account that there are, in fact, biological differences that are sure to affect the physical performance levels of men and women in sports. Another point that I brought up in my essay was the Olympics. The best athletes from all over the world gather to compete. Let's say that we compiled the data for the times of the men's and women's track and field events. The men's scores would almost certainly be numerically better, and this is due to the different biological makeups of males and females.
I would like to discuss some wording in a comment that caused a bit of concern to me, when I read that Sam Gordon's case was "a special case and a fluke," and that a male is "superior to women in that aspect." As much as I don't think we should be pointing out every athletic accomplishment of females that compare to males, it's important that we don't consider these to be accidents because it sounds as though girls just aren't supposed to play a sport like football, as the word "fluke" suggests. As for the second part about superiority, let's go back to the Olympics example. The women track and field runners may not be as fast the male runners, but there are plenty of men in the world that couldn't begin to compare to the women at the Olympics.
Men and women are different, there is no doubt about that. It just doesn't mean that they're not equal.