Yet more (un)acceptable sexism...

I never thought I'd be publicising so much about ethical issues concerning sex and gender but there seem to be so many. Here's another story about disparaging remarks made by Sky Sports presenters about a female line-judge and the offside rule.

http://www.sportsister.com/2011/01/24/sky-sports-presenters-question-if-a-female-referee-knew-the-offside-rule/

Controversy pushes girl off coed hockey team

An article in the Toronto Star details the struggles of 12 year old Kayla Watkin to play hockey. The only girl on a co-ed team, Watkins was asked to agree to restrictions on her ice team or agree to improve her skills. Instead, she did the only thing she thought she could: She quit.

Notable is the fact that the team, the Toronto Ice Dogs PeeWee “A” club, is the lowest level of competitive play, intended to be inclusive of all levels and abilities. Except for girls, I guess....As usual female athletes need to be better than male just to play the game. That isn't fair.

Justice and College Athletics

A recent column addresses this issue: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/09/greene.pay.college.athletes/index.html?hpt=C2

Ladies Football League?

Although I'm a Brit, I do enjoy watching American Football and have wondered about the possibility of having the opportunity to play it myself one day; but not if this is the outcome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukV86PAXKGA

No, the L doesn't stand for 'Ladies' but rather 'Lingerie'. Can someone tell me if this is really serious or someone's (I am presuming a man here) idea of a joke? Indeed, when one of the rules is that all players must wear low cut bra and short briefs, one wonders whether there is any point in having the helmets and shoulder pads if the rest of the body is open for contact.

The controversy raised from the clothing regulations for beach volleyball is one thing but this really takes the biscuit.

For me the issue is about the part that clothing plays in sport. Surely it should be for the benefit of the player not for the benefit of the spectators. If someone asked me to play rugby in similar attire I certainly wouldn't think that they are interested in my athletic skill and ability. And on the basis that these women are selected for their physique not their ability to play football, it makes a mockery of the game itself. And reflects a sad state of affairs if this is the only way that women's sport becomes viable as entertainment.

"a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record"

After win No. 88 in a row was in the books, Geno Auriemma finally let loose: He thinks some people are rooting against his record-setting players because of their gender.

Auriemma

"I just know there wouldn't be this many people in the room if we were chasing a woman's record," the Connecticut coach said Sunday near the end of his postgame news conference. "The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record, and everybody is all up in arms about it."
For the rest of the story, go here.

I am hopeful that they will break the record, and receive the abundance of recognition and praise they deserve for their sustained display of excellence.

Philosophy of Sport in Non-English-Speaking Countries

The new issue of the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport contains a special section on this topic. The following countries/regions of the world are covered: Nordic countries, Japan, Chinese-speaking regions, Slavonic countries, Germany, and Latin America. This is an excellent opportunity for understanding where the discipline has come from, where it is, and where it might be headed in these parts of the world.

Football, Fame, and Fortune

This paper was just published in the online journal, The Other Journal, and is available here:
http://bit.ly/eucRRX

Here's a short excerpt:

The external goods that are available through participating in football (and many other practices) include fame, fortune, status, social influence, and power. Football players at the professional level often acquire a fortune and some achieve a significant amount of fame. These goods are external to football because one could play football and even achieve excellence in the sport without receiving any of these goods. In fact, in the past this was true of many of the great players who excelled prior to the escalation of salaries and media coverage of the sport. They experienced football’s internal goods but not the external ones. This shows that the external goods are not essential to football.

What is the significance of the difference between the internal and external goods when considering the relationship between football and celebrity? As I will demonstrate, in football (as well as many other sports), the pursuit of the external goods by individual players can undermine the pursuit of the internal goods of the sport, some of which are grounded in a Christian understanding of the nature of God.