Over the weekend while perusing news, I saw two images of giant statues of male leaders. The first was of the late former North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il (L). The second picture was a statue of late Pope John Paul II (R)– billed as the world’s tallest at … [Read more...]
Sportscene’s Take: Academic report shuns Rogge’s “major boost for gender equality” at London 2012
Sportscene's Nicolaas Harding breaks down the University of Torontos report - which analysed whether London 2012 was in fact a model for gender equality in sport - for Olympic Canoe/Kayak. Results are, despite more female athletes competing in every sport and from every nation, startling: … [Read more...]
Larry Cain - Olympic Canoeing Gold Medalist on Women’s Canoe and Olympic Gender Inequality
Olympic Gold Medalist Canoeist Larry Cain speaks out on gender inequality in Olympic Canoeing "I'll probably ruffle a few feathers with this post, but it needs to be said. It's time for women to race canoe in the Olympics and continuing to ignore gender equity is seriously jeopardizing … [Read more...]
University of Toronto Report Reveals Inequalities at London 2012
The London 2012 Olympics - A Gender Equality Audit. From the Centre for Sport Policy Studies at the University of Toronto, Peter Donnelly and Michele K. Donnelly analysed gender equality in sport using the case of the 2012 London Olympics. WOMEN'S CANOE - READY FOR RIO! From the Executive … [Read more...]
Psychotic Coach Behavior: Have We Really So Totally Lost Our Way in College Athletics?
On Tuesday Outside the Lines aired a segment featuring a video of Mike Rice, the Rutgers men’s basketball coach, physically, emotionally and verbally bullying players on his team during practice. Not just one time at one practice, the video was a montage of several instances of the … [Read more...]
Portrayal of Women’s Fitness
So last night, I was looking through photos on a Facebook page called, "Fitness Girls." Needless to say, I was not surprised at the results. This is what brought up my question this morning of, "Do people actually want to be 'healthy' or in 'shape?' or just skinny?" I am … [Read more...]
Title IX Is No Excuse to Reject Transgender Applicants to Women’s Colleges
Smith College, a women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, has made news in recent weeks (see, e.g., here, here, and here) for its widely publicized decision to refuse to consider the application of a transgender applicant. According to the rejection letter, which the prospective student … [Read more...]
Coverage of Rape & “Jock Culture” Needs Context
In light of the the cases that connect sports to rape culture, progressive sportswriter Dave Zirin proposed in his recent article that professional leagues such as the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA should address the prevailing violence against women. Zirin proposed that the leagues should educate … [Read more...]
Food for Thought: Why is the ‘Biggest Loser’ so popular?
The Biggest Loser just wrapped up its 14th season. I'm not sure what the ratings were like but from watching social media it seemed that the Biggest Loser is still as relevant to people's lives as it has ever been. I have been working on a research project about the Biggest Loser keeping … [Read more...]
Women’s Canoe - Long Overdue: An In-Depth Analysis as to Why Women’s Canoe Isn’t In the Olympics
“There is no excuse for perpetuating the blatant sexism that persists at the Games.Not only do women compete in only 21 sports while men take part in 27, but the program of events in most sports has fewer events for women. At the Olympics women do kayaking, but for inexplicable reasons, they … [Read more...]