Holley Mangold

Holley Mangold is truly an inspiration.  For those of you who don’t know who Holley Mangold is, she is an Olympic power lifter who overcame a great deal of discrimination and sexism.   Holly is originally from Dayton Ohio and graduated from Altar High school in 2008.  She played football since she was in elementary school and continued to play through high school.  Being that Holley is a girl she faced many pessimistic thoughts and views in regards to her playing football; however, that is not the only reason she faced so much scrutiny.  Holley isn’t exactly shaped like Americas next top model; she is a bigger girl shaped more so like her older brother Nick Mangold who is the starting center for the New York Jets.

 

  Throughout her football/grade school career she was called fat and various other negative names because of the way she looked and how she opposed the norm.  Holley always took everything in stride and had a positive outlook no matter what negative energy was thrown her way.  After high school and football were over for her she began to train for Olympic power lifting.  She wasn’t expected to make the cut for the 2012 Olympics at all; however, just as she had done throughout her life she defied the odds once more and made the2012 Olympics.  During her training for competition she was filmed for MTV’s True Life.  It was during this time that she showed off her exuberant and genuinely happy outlook on life.   She expressed her views on how she is comfortable with her body and how nobody can change that.  Below is a clip of Holley’s story on ESPN.

 

Even with all the non believers that contributed to the criticism of Holley Mangold she kept her head above water and kept her eyes on the prize.  Holley’s story is great for sports and athletics worldwide for the fact that she is a woman of great strength literally and figuratively and didn’t let societies norms stop her from achieving her dreams.  Holly’s story proves that there is no reason a female cannot play in the same sport as men.  She played football all of her life against guys and held her own.  She infiltrated and left her mark on the sport of power lifting and she’s not close to being finished.  She is just getting started and I believe she will accomplish so much more in any sport she takes on.  This should inspire women worldwide to participate in any athletic event they desire without feeling out of place.  This story should also show men that females can participate in any sport that they can.  Society will always have its norms but we can always do our best to change those. 

 

Written By: Janelle Campbell

Men vs. Women Simulator

Written by Anthony Alford

This week in class, we had a debate about whether or not women should compete with men in certain sporting events. Well what better way to settle the debate than to pit the best male athlete against the best female athlete in various sports to see how they matchup. It is basically pure speculation, but it is a debate that is worth having.

 
Laila Ali vs. Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (Boxing)

 

Background: Ali, 35, is the daughter of Muhammad Ali and is undefeated at 24-0 (with 21 Knockouts). Mayweather, 35, is undefeated at 43-0 (26 KO’s), and is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

 
Both of these fighters are undefeated and the same age. Ali has dominated female boxing during her entire in-ring career and is the most notable female fighter in the world especially considering she has been retired since 2007. Her style is very physical and she is quick compared to other female fighters that she has faced. But quickness doesn’t necessarily translate into speed in the ring against Mayweather. He has the rare ability to do whatever he wants in the ring at whatever pace he wants in the fight. Ali has never faced anyone with the pure speed that Mayweather has. It doesn’t matter how hard Ali hits if she could never touch Mayweather during the fight. Mayweather wins.

 
Men 1, Women 0.

 

Serena Williams vs. Roger Federer (Tennis)

 

Background: They are both winners!! They are both Grand slam winners and they have Olympic medals (Williams with Gold and Federer with Silver).

 
It is really tough to figure out who would win this matchup. So to help me with this analysis, watch this video from username XboxTennis playing the Xbox video game Top Spin 4 as this matchup was play out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAugmbRMMvg
 
Williams wins.

Men 1, Women 1.

 

And now the tiebreaker:

Usain Bolt vs. Carmelita Jeter (Track and Field)

 

Background: Bolt is the fastest man in the world with a 100 meter time of 9.58. Jeter is currently the fastest active woman in the world with a 100 meter time of 10.64.

Usain Bolt's 9.58 run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nbjhpcZ9_g
Carmelita Jeter's 10.64 run:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n4MV5II6Es

Track and Field is all about speed especially in sprinting races. The most overused and misleading phase used in sports is “you can’t coach speed.” While speed does come naturally, it can be taught in ways to improve it with technique. Running form, upper and lower body strength matters along with endurance in a 100 meter dash. But at the end of the day, the only result that matters in this sport is your time. Bolt would win.

 
Men 2, Women 1.

 

With all that being said, it is very tough to evaluate whether or not women should and could compete with men. On one end, people complain that women should compete with men. But there are many others who say that if women competed with men, it would be unfair to them. Honestly, this issue is not ruining sports. So there is no reason to change what has worked in sports since the beginning of time.

Gender Stereotyping in Sports

By: Angel Akinkuoye

Gender stereotyping starts at a very young age. Parents tend to push their child to a certain sport depending on their sex. Usually if they had a boy, they would push their son into doing sports that involve contact and aggressiveness. Also for a girl, parents tend to push their daughter into “girly” sports, such as gymnastics or volleyball. Sports that don’t have a lot contact, is perfectly fine with the parents that have daughters. I feel as though this is somewhat wrong. The child should be able to choose which sport he or she wants to play. If the child picks one that doesn’t fit their gender, I feel like that is completely fine. I think a few parents think that having a child play in a sport that doesn’t really fit them will eventually mean that their child will be homosexual. For example, a boy who wants to become a cheerleader and a girl who wants to play football or basketball would sometimes be classified as “gay”. I feel like that’s wrong to assume that a child will be gay if they played a sport one doesn’t usually play. It’s the child’s life, and I feel as though he or she should pick whatever sport they like and whatever their interested in.  Personally, my parents never pushed me to a certain sport. They just wanted me to be involved in school, whether it was sports or the marching band. When I started playing basketball, they supported me my entire high school career. When it comes to sports, children have the say in what they want to do, not the parents.

Gender and Sports

By: Marcus Kok

Kids should be encouraged to do anything they have a passion for. Kids, male or female should be encouraged to play sports if they show interest. Females should be encouraged to play football if they love the sport and males should be encouraged to play tennis or volleyball if they enjoy the sport. Everyone is born different and unique so everyone will have different interests. I know parents trying to stop their daughters from playing sports and be more “woman like.” On the other hand, parents sometimes tend to force their sons to play sports.

I would like to talk more about soccer and football. The types of sports exposed to us while growing up determines what sport we would end up loving or playing. A great example is Football and soccer. Kids in America will end up playing or being football fans because kids will most likely be exposed to football at a very young age. Most kids outside of America will be more interested in soccer. No matter male or female, a person’s desire to a particular sport is determined by where they grew up. My friends from Malaysia and I have the passion for soccer like how most people in America have the passion for football. That is because we grew up being exposed with different sports, which happens to be soccer. I was really surprised to hear some people describe soccer and tennis as a ‘girly’ sport but I think otherwise. Even female soccer players are very physical. I feel that soccer is a pretty physical sport and tennis is a gentlemen’s sport.

I barely knew anything about football or baseball before I transferred to America because they were not big at all in my country. I have been trying my best to learn more about these two sports since I got here. I find it difficult to relate with the examples given in class because I do not know most of the athletes from football or baseball. 

Tough Guise

By Matt Goryance:

I think the film “Tough Guise” is very interesting and since we only touched on it briefly in class I thought I would take the opportunity to bring it up again. I took a Women’s Studies class here online a few semesters ago and we were told to watch a couple of clips from this film then and we discussed it in there too. I think the title is just as clever as the ideas in the film. The word Guise is defined as “an external form, appearance, or manner of presentation, typically concealing the true nature of something.” So therefore he believes all these “guys” are just acting tough because that’s how they were brought up thinking of guys. There is a lot of pressure if you are a male to be strong, tough, respected, etc. and you are generally treated poorly and made fun of if you don’t fit those characteristics.

As if peers, siblings, and parents didn’t help their sons in the manly direction enough already giving them G.I. Joes and footballs to play with the media reinforces these ideas on a daily basis and that’s a lot of what “Tough Guise” is about. The guys in movies, on television, and in the papers are all usually in good shape and doing something we think of and respect as manly. I think this plays a big role in why most guys think that women can’t compete with them. All physical aspects aside, because there are certainly some exceptions like we saw with Holley Mangold being very strong, we just generally don’t think of women as being big, strong, and tough. Some women definitely can fit these characteristics but the ones we see in the media all the time are incredibly skinny. So every one associates women as being skinny, having long legs, and being pretty blondes, while guys are supposed to be jacked and tough.

A couple of my friends and I work out a lot and I don’t think any of us care about the health benefits or things like that. We work out because we are mostly concerned with not getting overweight and we want big muscles. We used to have to workout when we played high school sports but no one is making us workout anymore, we just want to in hopes of looking good because that’s how we want to look and it has to be the media that puts these wants in our heads. From the clip we watched in class the actors muscles are getting bigger and G.I. Joes arms have increased substantially. Maybe people would be more open to big, strong girls in sports if people saw them more. I believe most people feel the way they do about guys, girls, and sports because of what they see everyday and it’s hard to reverse a lifetime of thoughts and feelings for some now. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI

Caster Semenya

By: Jessica Gatten

Caster Semenya is a runner from South Africa who has been accused of being a male all her life. She grew up playing sports in the field with the boys and lapping girls in races at the school. Caster is fast there is no question about that; the questions rise due to her “manish” figure, her remarkable speed, and her deep voice. The article we read in the New York Times discusses her experience at the World Championship in Berlin. The closest racer to her was 2.45 seconds slower, that is a huge difference. The competitors from other countries started speaking out and accusing her of being something more than a woman.

 “The International Assn. of Athletic Federations has asked the 5-foot-7, 140-pound athlete to undergo a battery of complex gender tests, and it could take months to get the results. If found to be male, Semenya could be disqualified from competing and stripped of her medals” (Dixon 2009). This is a girl who was eighteen at the time being forced to prove she is a real woman just to keep her amazing accomplishments. She was cleared to compete again and could keep her medals, but it didn't come free, she was forced to take a year off while the test was going on and most likely messed with her mental health. She recovered well though competing in the Olympics this past summer and receiving a silver medal.

Caster Semenya from a little town in South Africa overnight turned into a world phenomenon. She was talked about from California to Australia everyone had an opinion and most of them weren't pleasant. A popular Magazine contacted Semenya and gave her a make-over and the picture below shows the final product. Although Semenya looks happy I don’t believe someone needs to wear makeup and look feminine to be recognized as a female. This eighteen year old girl grew up running and has every right to no matter what she looks like. Next to her makeover photo of her after the world championship in 2010, the performance that started the whole uproar. Personally I wish Caster Semenya the best of luck and I hope she continues to strive and start speaking about her experience.

http://leeloveshottrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Caster-Semenya-Makeover-Before-and-After1.jpg

The Pros the Pros Would Pay to See

By Max Perry

I thought the article in Sports Illustrated about who professional athletes would pay to see was very interesting. I thought there were a few things that everyone could see coming, like athletes being narcissistic and wanting to see athletes they considered to be like themselves, or flat out picking themselves or athletes picking female athletes just for their physical appearances. But I also thought there were some interesting selections like Michael Schumacher or John Force, who many casual sports fans may never have heard of or even considered athletes. 

I wonder how the article would be different if the same athletes were polled today. I feel like Carmelo Anthony may have answered a little more diplomatically after an additional 8 seasons as a professional in addition to two Olympics where he may have gotten to see some athletes that could've changed his mind. LeBron would probably be the top response if the poll were taken today, although Mike Trout, Adrian Peterson and Calvin Johnson probably would have gotten some votes as well. I think it would be interesting to see how many athletes picked Trout. Although he's a baseball player which wasn't that frequent of a selection in the 2004 poll, the way he plays the game hasn't been seen since Ken Griffey Jr. The pros tended to pick explosive and exciting athletes and Trout brings that to the baseball field in a way most baseball players can't. 

Another interesting aspect would be how many more soccer players would be selected. It seems that soccer's popularity in the U.S. has been growing steadily and I think that there's less of an inclination of American athletes to write soccer off as something "european" or "foreign" and more willingness to accept soccer players as fellow athletes as they should be acknowledged. 

Introduction- Taylor Redd

Hi everyone! I will be switching into your class from the 11:30am class.

My name is Taylor Redd and I was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I moved just down the road to Findlay, Ohio when I was in third grade. In high school I played football all four years for Findlay High School. Prior to high school I also played basketball, baseball, and ran track. Since coming to college I continue to play most sports for my fraternity, Delta Chi, at the intramural level and have also trained and participated in two half marathons in Columbus. Continuing from my introduction in our first class, I chose Hope Solo as my female athlete that I would want to see, and for my male athlete I chose Tiger Woods. Ignorant or not (you be the judge) I chose Hope Solo primarily based off of her looks. It is a shame that society primarily judges female athletes mostly off their looks and sex appeal instead of their talents. Having said that, I chose Tiger Woods based off of his fierce competitiveness and fanatical desire to win. Tiger can be considered in the league with athletes such as Michael Jordan because he has completely dominated his sport. Not only is Tiger dominating on the golf course, but he is also close to becoming the first billion dollar athlete. That is absolutely incredible to think about. Many critics have bashed Tiger and tried to ruin his reputation because of the events that surfaced surrounding his multiple affairs. However, I do not care what Tiger does off the golf course, and neither should you. Many people look at athletes and want them to be role models for their kids, great people on and off the field, etc. I do not understand this. They are regular people who happen to excel in a sport. We appreciate what they do on the field, but their personal life should be left alone. Feel free to comment.

Caster Semenya - Janelle Campbell

           While reading the article Runner Caster Semenya has heard the gender comments all her life,  I could not stop thinking about how furious I would be if I was in her spikes.  Caster Semenya is a twenty two year old standout track and field athlete from South Africa in the 800m dash.  Semenya won gold in the women's 800 meters at the 2009 World Championships with a time of 1:55.45 in the final.  Eyebrows were raised after this victory due to her smoking her competitors by 2.45 seconds.  This was when she received slander for possibly being a man.  

                Semenya was teased all her life about looking and acting like a boy but she just shrugged it off.   After her victory at the World Championships she was to have a gender test.  This issue was publicly talked and criticized on where it should have been a private manner.     

                Semenya was chosen to carry the country’s flag during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.  She had also competed in the 800m dash where she won a silver medal finishing with a time of 1:57:23 seconds.  ( I believe Semenya could have won if she would have pushed harder).    Below is a clip of the 800m dash at the London Olympics.

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR9G_cFDw4s

                Semenya is a very strong African American woman who has been through a lot.  She has never gave up and continues to push forward even through all of the negative things that are being said about her.  I cannot even imagine going through what she was went through.  One has to be mentally and physically tough to be able to put those negative words in the back of your head and not even care about what people are saying.  I really like what Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuane has to say about the issue.

                "I'm angry. I'm fuming. This girl has been castigated from day one, based on what?" Chuene said. "There's no scientific evidence. You can't say somebody's child is not a girl. You denounce my child as a boy when she's a girl? If you did that to my child, I'd shoot you (1)."

                I completely agree with Chuene minus the shooting part!

Janelle Campbell

 

1.      Dixon, R. (2009, August 21). Runner Caster Semenya has heard the gender comments all her life. Los Angeles Times.

The Issue of (Intersexual) Gender in the World of Sports

By David Shelmon

A person does not have to look far to see the difficulty that most people have with comprehending the possible existence of “unconventional” genders. It surrounds us on a daily basis. At the end of voluntary surveys, when the question of gender comes up, the participant is always asked whether he or she is male or female. There is never a box that could be checked off with the words “somewhere in between” or “other” next to it. Public restrooms are only labeled as being for men or women. Clothes are only designed with boys or girls, men or women, in mind. Even college campuses only give the option of choosing male or female when students go to register for on-campus housing.

Similarly, the world of sports also struggles with the expansion of the category known as gender. That is why South African athlete Caster Semenya caused such a stir in 2009 when she burst onto the scene as a dominant runner. It was revealed that Semenya had in fact been teased all her life about her boyish physical features and tomboyish personality. She was accustomed to being judged. Therefore, when she rose to fame in 2009 she appeared to be unaffected by the harsh criticisms being thrown her way, despite the judgments being on a more global scale. These criticisms, however, led to the star runner being pressured into getting a gender test. Even though Semenya was secure about who she was, and even though her mother along with other South Africans offered their support about who she was, the rest of the sports world preferred to have definitive, indisputable proof by means of DNA testing.

While discussing the issue of intersexual athletes in class, Oscar Pistorius and the Paralympics popped into my head. People seem to want to ostracize athletes like Caster Semenya as much as they have ostracized athletes with disabilities. In the general public’s eyes able-bodied athletes should only compete against other able-bodied athletes and disabled athletes should only compete against other disabled athletes. I considered for a moment the possibility of having something similar to the Paralympics for intersexual athletes. However, the situation becomes more complicated when considering an athlete like Brittney Griner, the star center for Baylor University’s women’s basketball team. Unlike Semenya, Griner has not received the same amount of criticism. She is highly respected for her abilities and accepted by others as being a female athlete despite her unusual height advantage and deep voice; both of which are not typical of most female college basketball players. She is talked about and celebrated as much as her more feminine competition, most notably Notre Dame’s star player Skylar Diggins. Unlike Semenya, Griner has been able to succeed without all the backlash.

 
So, is it ultimately the public’s fault for making such a big deal about certain athletes who show both signs of femininity and masculinity? How much should this issue factor in when determining whether or not these kinds of athletes should be allowed to compete? Stella Walsh, for example, was a dominant athlete in track and field from the 1930s through 1950s. She even won a gold medal while representing Poland in the 1932 Olympics. It was not until after her death that it was discovered that she possessed some male qualities as well as female qualities. During her lifetime, however, this mix of qualities did not prevent her from being seen as a woman and successfully competing against other women. She, like Griner, enjoyed success and did not have to face any criticisms regarding her gender.