Concluding Sport and Society

I learned so much as a result of this class. Before, I had minimal interest in watching or talking about sports other than college football. Watching the Olympics were something that I never did on my own, but rather only when other people took interest in a particular sport. I now have a greater appreciation for all that goes in to making the Olympics; the coverage, the bids, the scrutiny on the success of each athlete. I had no idea how much research and thought went into making a bid for a city to host the Olympics.

I really enjoyed any of the readings that dealt with body image. Beyond the Perfect Body was by far my favorite article to read. I find it amazing how much the media affects the views of women and their body image. In no way am I free of this distorted view of bodies, but as Robinson (2002) said in his article entitled Starving for the Gold said about Claire Hall-Patch “she was at least able to analyze the situation.” I may not have the eating disorder she had, but like her, I am able to read about why people have these distorted views and look at my own life without thinking that nothing is wrong.

Reading about homosexuality in sports has greatly increased my interest in the subject matter. It fascinates me to see the media and society react to athletes who out themselves. For a country that is for the most part accepting of homosexuality, I find it hard to believe that it is still taboo for an athlete that is in a ‘manly’ sport to come out.

Writing the blogs has helped me think about each topic in a different perspective. The article by John Hoberman (2008) entitled The Olympics has shed a new light on the behind the scenes of the IOC. It has definitely put a damper on my views of the Olympics, but I do not think it will hinder me from watching them next summer.

Applying this class to a Kinesiology major is not as easy as it is for a Sport Administration major. I think the things that I will take from this class are the body distortion articles, including the Athletic Fatness article. It is important to understand why people think the way they do about their bodies and where they get the ideas from. Each article that talks about body image is a window into understanding and being able to help people that have these body image issues. I have always wanted to help people. Body image is just a small part of my interest and reason for pursuing a degree in Kinesiology.

Starving for the Gold

I first want to start off by saying that my brother has accused me of being anorexic. Of course this was not true, but I became very defensive against this accusation. I can see how those that do actually have that eating disorder would become so upset with those who are close to them confront them. Nobody likes to think they have a problem. When I was accused of being anorexic, I took a look at my daily food habits to see if I did have an issue, but the more I thought about it, I ate just fine, if not too much and never slipped away after meals to get rid of it.

I could not imagine depriving myself of food or vital nutrients to help me succeed in a sport that I enjoyed competing in. I love food way too much. Anorexia athletica is a horrifying term to me. Not only are these individuals anorexic, but also athletes! Being an athlete burns more calories, therefore more calories are needed to be consumed in order maintain muscle mass and performance. If you take away those calories, the body finds other ways to ‘feed’ itself, which happens to be muscle. Take away muscle, and you hinder performance. The body may be thin, but at what cost? Kidney failure, heart issues, loss of muscle coordination.

When will it be enough for society to change its mind about how a body is supposed to look and instead just accept the bodies they were given.

Transsexual Bodies at the Olympics

I could not even imagine living your entire life as a female, and then be lucky enough to participate in the Olympics, only to be humiliated by having someone accuse you of being a man. Not to mention the entire investigation and testing… How horrified I would be! I am not sure if I would be outraged and potentially not comply with the testing, or just simply shy away from the media and allow the tests to be run. Obviously people only think of themselves and not the emotions or national pride of the person it is affecting.

But when does it cross the line from being rude to needing to be tested? I understand the rule of needing to be in the newly assigned gender for two years before they can participate in the Olympics. Women naturally have some testosterone in them as men have some estrogen. It is not uncommon to find trace amounts in each person. So what if a person has almost half of each? I would say that whatever they have identified themselves as, is what they should be allowed to participate in the Olympics as. Requiring reassignment surgery costs too much money and takes too much time. The athletes are ready to be an athlete NOW, not in two years. Requiring someone to have the surgery also takes away from who that person is. It has been a part of their life for that long, it defines who they are. One Olympic race should not make a person completely change who they are.

The only reason I could see someone needed to be tested was if their final time completely blew all the other competitors out of the water such as a female identifying person having an obscure time that most men could only hope to achieve.

The Olympics

Not being an avid Olympic watcher, how I was astounded by how much criticism the IOC takes and that the Olympics are not all hugs and roses, but more importantly, not about the athletic abilities of all the participants. How money driven is our world anymore! I knew that companies paid a lot of money to have their name associated with the Olympics, but it seems like it’s a battle with how much someone is willing to out pay the other companies.

Where did the pride of nationality go? Why do countries feel the need to “clean” up their dirty little secrets or things they are not proud of just to impress those that travel great distances, when they do not do this for the rest of the time with the possibility of tourists out of Olympic “season”.

Everything is political. There is no denying or getting around it. What disgusts me even more is the fact that they IOC pride themselves on NOT being political. Even if they IOC weren’t political, they would still have to work around the politics of the country where the Olympics were going to be held.

Sometimes I still think ignorance is bliss. With me being so oblivious to this dark side of the Olympics, I still enjoyed casually watching events here and there, but with this new insight, I feel like during the next Olympics, this is all I am going to be looking for and worrying about. I probably will not even be able enjoy watching the opening ceremony without thinking of all the money that was paid to make it possible from the various companies wanting their name associated with the Olympics.

Athletic Fatness: Forgiving Corpulence in Elite Bodies

I am going to be honest; it took me a few pages of reading this article before I realized that Daly and Davies were not trim and fit. I had never heard of these athletes, let alone seen pictures of them. Let’s just say that I have been known to have blonde moments now and then.

“You can be pint-sized, ponsified, or, like Laura Davies, resemble a linebacker in drag” (Harris, 2004, para 3).

“Some exceptions exist—Tim Herron and John Daly seem intent on landing Twinkie endorsements” (Sheeley, 1999, para 2).

I have a bone to pick with the two authors of these quotes. I understand they were trying to make a point that it does not matter what your body shape is, that you can still be an athlete. That is all just fine and dandy, but did they really need to go to that extent of talking so grotesquely about their physique? No, there really was no need for that. I can only imagine how Davies and Daly might feel after reading something like that about themselves.

I have people in my family that are considered overweight. I know they would be appalled knowing that someone said that about their weight and body image. With the plastering of skinny models everywhere with the media, who wouldn’t be somewhat self-conscious of what they look like?

If there are athletes that do not fit the norm of a certain physique, but yet are good at what they do, all the more power to them!! Daly said it best the article by Marshallsea: “I’m made to be fat, so there’s no sense worrying about it” (1998, para 17).

Accept the bodies you were given, and instead, use your talents to the best of your ability.

The Inclusion of the Paralympics in the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

“Sport for people with disabilities is often an overlooked segment of the sport industry” (Hums, Moorman, & Wolff, para. 1).

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I have a cousin and an uncle who have disabilities. Neither of them is very active, but do enjoy various low intensity activities. My uncle likes walking and fishing when it is warm out and my cousin enjoys participating in the Special Olympics Bowling Team. I have never had the chance to see her play, and I am not sure if she even still participates, but I know that when she did play, she was a good athlete. I believe she did the singles bowling and went as far as competing at the state level down in Columbus. I remember two years in a row of her telling, or rather bragging, to the family how well she did in the finals, though she should have placed first and not second.

It is so wonderful to know that even those with disabilities can still be included with participating in Olympic sports. I do not think that those with disabilities should be categorized by the sport. If a blind person were to play against someone in a wheelchair, there are disadvantages to both sides. I think that it should be categorized by the disability. It would keep the playing field level and the handicap equal. I can see how even within the disability itself, there can be disadvantages. I am going to reference a movie that is quite offensive, but can be applied to this particular matter: The Ringer. Johnny Knoxville pretends to have a disability, though it really is questionable, in order to rig the Special Olympics. So my example of disability inequality is this: each of the Special Olympics participants had a different athletic level. I can see how the question could arise as to whether to categorize the Special Olympics by sport or by disability.

Homosexuality in Sport

I am not sure if I even want to write this blog, or even remotely bring religion into it, but I am going to do it anyways.

What does it mean to be a homosexual? According to Dictionary.com, there are several different meanings ranging from “pertaining to the same sex” (definition 2) to the medical definition of “involving sexual intercourse between individuals of the same sex” (definition 2). I also remember reading a comment in a forum which started out about the 26 men who were participating in a gay marriage in Dubai. To leave the author more anonymous, I will choose not to directly quote the person. This particular author stated that they thought being gay was only about the sex. This may be true for some people, but I know people who choose to be open about their sexual orientation and do not live with or participate in sexual practices with their partner. It is more of an intellectual relationship. This brings me to my next topic that is not a favorite thing to talk about. Religion.

I have been wrestling with this lately and it has been weighing heavy on my heart. There are scriptures in the Bible that say a man and a woman lay together, not a man and a man or vice versa. I get it, being gay is ‘wrong’ according to the Bible. My next beef is with the statement “only God can judge me”. If only God can judge, then why in the world are we condemning those who choose to live an out of the ordinary lifestyle? There are so many rules that we twist to make it fit how we think it should.

With all of this being said, who are we to judge those that choose to out their sexuality, even though they made huge contributions to their sport. If they did not “hit” on their heterosexual teammates or push their sexual orientation on them, why should it matter?