Queer Bodies : Sexualities, Genders, And Being An Outcast

Many people have written articles about their experience with athletics, especially with high school and college-level athletics. Because athletics are so often intertwined with these formative moments in one’s life, as well as with normative ideals of masculinity, they are ideal contexts in which to write about gender identity. Thomas Rogers’ essay “The College Hazing that Changed My Life,” originally published on Salon.com in 2011, and Joe Mackall’s essay “Words of my Youth” both deal with athletics as a way into discussing gender identity. Although the essays are very different, they both deal with a very similar theme: how difficult it is to develop a masculine identity, particularly within a sporting context, in a world that is increasingly accepting of different gender identities.

Women are empowered, encouraged and even pressured into being involved in a sport or some type of fitness activities today; however, it hasn’t always been that way (Cahn 278). In the 1920s, also known as the “golden age” of sports, women and young girls faced obstacles such as rejection, gender discrimination, and stereotypes when showing interest in sports or fitness activities. One famous author named Susan Cahn, wrote a book called Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sports, and focuses on the decades between the 1920s and the 1960s. For most of the 19th century, females were accused of causing a great deal of danger to the moral and physical areas of masculinity. Through the research of multiple different aspects, such as media, appearance, and gender roles, Cahn puts together an idea and theme that athleticism is seen as a masculine trait because it was once constructed by society itself; which fortunately for the women, that idea can be changed. In the later centuries, Cahn writes about the progress of woman 's appearance in sports, however then describes the difference in respect, attention throughout media, opportunities and wages between men and women. Through both primary sources such as newspapers, interviews, and journals, as well as secondary sources like relevant literature, Cahn writes her book in a historical non-fiction genre. After reading Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sports by Susan

Results show that participants with a background in sports have a greater advantage over their contenders with no familiarity about sports, in applying for sports related jobs. In the case of the transgender/transsexual participants, playing sports helps to deal with society’s biases against them. Transgender participants become comfortable playing sports, because they gain acceptance, and experience equal treatment from their team mates. They do not feel discriminated against because they are judged like others, thus based on their play, skills set and so on and not based their choices. For students and people doing activities requiring physical ability, sports contributed to achieving success in their various fields of endeavor. For example, archaeology students doing excavation work, and a geography student who has to climb, break and carry rocks. In life threatening situations, athletes have been able to apply knowledge gained in playing sports to save themselves. For instance some participants have suggested that, during the Calgary floods in 2013, they swam to safety. They said if they did not know how to swim, they probably will be dead by now. I noticed all participants wore the right apparel, gear and used equipment the proper way. The instructors and coaches were always around and insisted on doing everything rightly with the right tools. Some (60%) of the players had knowledge about first aid and knew exactly what to do in times emergencies. For example, in one of our volleyball matches, a participant twisted her ankle and she was giving first aid by another player and the coach. For the mum whose child has Down syndrome, her child was so indiscipline and had a very deviant and defiant behavior. The only time it is easier to control the child is

This paper explores the documentary Training Rules directed by Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker, who released the film in March 2009. This film is about how women’s collegiate sports dealt with homophobia in the league, and it focuses primarily on Pennsylvania State University’s Rene Portland, who was the women’s basketball

The world of athletics has been built around a binary view of gender. The distinction between genders is obvious: there is women’s sport and there is men’s sport. However, in reality, gender biology is not black and white – there is a multitude of ways to be human. The separation of men’s and women’s sport leads to a large population of athletes getting stuck in the middle. There is a growing social acceptance of transgender and intersex individuals in society, however, when it comes to sport these individuals are often left isolated on an island of controversy. The majority of this controversy surrounds the debate of whether or not transgender and intersex females should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Society does not have a

In conclusion, researchers agree that more attention needs to be drawn upon this matter. We are still left with the question of whether same-sex physical education classes or coeducational physical education classes provide the best learning environment. Griffin (1984) and Stamm (1979) discuss that “at one end of the spectrum, some physical educators point to coeducation as a prime opportunity to test the limits of or, ideally, to

This activity functions as a reaffirmation of their heterosexuality and masculinity. Being able to push one’s body past its mental and physical limits is associated with stoic masculinity and has been compared to a utilitarian, well oiled machine (Cherney & Lindemann). Athletes use sport as an outlet for aggression and competitiveness. Therefore, this population is often stereotyped. However, certain populations challenge this norm through alternative activities. For example, quadriplegic rugby and wheelchair basketball utilize daredevil masculinity as a way of repairing men’s masculine identities (Cherney & Lindemann). In addition, the presence of potentially homoerotic actions can be found throughout sport, even though society denies its existence. In American football alone, men slap each other’s butts, violate personal space when tackling, and hug each other in celebration of victory (Cherney & Lindemann). On gameday, men celebrate the complicated nature of their masculinity, but outside of sport, they deny its

The Black female student-athlete body is a topic of great interest with little research in athletic administration. In explorations of women and how they view their bodies, and the bodies of others, based on visual frames in the media and advertising, the research either inaccurately represents Black females, or fails to include their unique experiences into the discussion. Meager research on Black female student-athletes creates a problem when trying to draw accurate conclusions. This paper explores the sexualized visual framing of Black female athletes, how they are invisible and hyper visible, and the knowledge gap that exists regarding Black female student- athletes unique experiences. (Cranmer, Harris, & Lancaster, 2006; Mowatt, French,

Dude, you’re a Fag High school, the best years of your life with everyday shaping and molding you from a feminine boy to becoming a respectable masculine adult, in truth its surviving everyday without being called a fag. In C.J. Pascoe’s ethnography she examines the dynamics of masculinity carefully exploring gender conformity that’s extracted from a collection of humiliations, fears and anxieties among high school boys. Within the eighteen months that Pascoe tediously studied the students of River High, she opened my mind to reminisce about my high school years at El Capitan. From the pep rallies in the gym to the weight room discussions, however, Pascoe’s research expressed a deeper meaning to the formation of gender identities in

Philosophy of Physical Education The perspective of this paper is to develop a philosophy on physical education and then explain what kind of job we plan on having later on in life and relate physical education to that. The purpose for developing this philosophy is to try and get the most out of the people I’m working with on physical education, whether it is an adult or adolescent.

There seems to be a prevalent belief among queer theorists that there exists an archetype of the “ideal queer.” This person is subversive in everything that they do, and disrupts norms in all ways. Obviously, this ideal is different from dominant society’s view of the ideal queer - a person who keeps their identity to themself, is not “outwardly queer,” holds some type of stable corporate job, is “just like the rest of us” in all other aspects of being, and is decidedly non-radical. Of course, neither of these ideals are representative of the reality of LGBT individuals. Gender and sexual expression is infinitely varied, and cannot be boxed into categories which are palatable to one group or another. LGBT individuals who chose to marry or

A weakness to Skyes’ article would be the fact that our society is very judgemental. Sports organizations fear the classification process of transsexual and transgender athletes into mainstream sporting events. Although most people will say they are for the equality of others, in reality many people in our society do not approve of transsexual and transgender people. These non-binary athletes may never be fully accepted into mainstream sports if sporting organizations continue to fret about anxieties these

At Browns Plains State High School, where the student body consists of adolescent girls, it can be expected that in alignment with research conducted by Allender et al, (2006) the barriers to participation that are most prevalent range from negative experience, lack of self-confidence, restrictive uniforms, gender, favouritism, cultural identity, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, socialisation, society’s expectations and lack of teacher and peer support. Figueroa’s Framework also looks at issues such as race, religion, cultural upbringing, policies, funding, media, development programs, marketing, sponsorship and how these issues affect access and equity/participation in Physical Education. One specific barrier that impacts upon students access to Netball is hegemonic masculinity. Gender stereotyping presents itself in Physical Education classes/the Browns Plains community via the preferential treatment of students, especially boys, who display higher level athletic

TEmmi Hodess GSWS 200 Midterm Bodies as Sources of Knowledge While bodies have been scrutinized throughout history at a biological level, feminist and queer theorists look at the body as a site for sociopolitical thought. Bodies operate as devices through which people can experience the world. Each body is uniquely located in a specific space and time. Feminist and queer writers view the embodied-self rooted within a specific location and environment. Feminist and queer studies - informed by critical race and postcolonial theory and cultural analysis - explore the limits of subjectivity in a global climate that excludes certain bodies, particularly those that do not and/or cannot fit within a white, middle-class, cisgender, heteronormative,

Dominant groups in society often set up normative ideas about bodies, genders and sexualities in order to preserve the societal hierarchy that greatly benefits them. White, cisgender, heterosexual males are often at the top of this hierarchy and are the active perpetrators of their imposed rigid standards. Categories are created by these dominant groups to exercise their control and those who do not fit or refuse to categorize themselves are punished, either metaphorically or literally. In the sports realm, these norms are ubiquitous. However, in this paper, I argue that sports can both uphold and challenge these normative ideas about bodies, genders, and sexualities through normalized practices it normalizes that are considered to be different from the outside world. Sex-tests and gender policies in sports competitions uphold the idea that there is a biological difference in genders and rigidly implement the gender-binary. On the other hand, the practice of contact sports and the use of locker rooms as a voyeuristic experience challenge normative ideas about bodies, genders and sexualities. These practices are standard in the sphere of sports a