PHIL 2020H Lecture 7: Lecture 7- Gender and Disability in Sports- beginning of part 2
26 Jun 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
Major differences between the perceived norms
"the other" refers to a concept that arose predominantly from Existential and Continental
philosophy and refers to those that are outside the boundaries
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Other- deep respect and subjecthood
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Other- someone that you dont like or someone who is deeply respected as they are a person
and has a claim on me
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Male
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Able-bodied
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Dominant paradigm for the elite athlete is
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Not my type
Paradigms: the way we look at things, never ending circle of interpretation
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Ones who are not male and abled bodied are not as culturally valued
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Paradigms shape our values
This forces sports to take a stance on socially fraught issues like gender and body ability
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There is gender and able vs disabled segregation
Should there be "A league of their own"
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One of the arguments often given in favour of keeping gender and able bodied status
differentiated by league is a push for fairness and the desire to have opportunities for more
people to play competitively (in the sense of being potentially capable of reaching elite status
in that game)
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Why Segregate?
The problem for sport is in ensuring fairness but also in providing opportunities for all. If
sporting competitions were not separated into different sex or ability categories, then
arguably there would be very few, if any elite female or disabled athletes, as the statistics
point to the aver able bodied male being faster and stronger than the average person with a
disability of the average female
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Average strength, and the way it typically falls out along gender based lines, is not contested
by most people.
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Sports isnt typically entirely about strength. Sports typically combine many different sorts if
tasks and activities aimed at performing feats of bodily excellence
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Who has been given the resources priror to ever picking up that proverbial ball
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Are there barriers
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Commonly runs into the questions:
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Sports, in one sense, is all about averages
Womens football in England had gained popularity when the mens teams had to go war.
When the mens teams came back, they kicked them out
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In addition to taking away resources, football is the most unsuitable game too much for a
woman's physical frame
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Practical and psychological barriers that were replicated in the majority of sports
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Stunted the growth of womens sports while men continued to develop and professionalise
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All of this provides some evidence for why women's technical proficiency in sport lags behind
that of men; they simply haven't had the same opportunities to grow and develop and thus
expectations about what they are able to achieve have been so much lower
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Field Access
Gender and Disability in Sports- beginning of part 2
February 13, 2018
1:01 PM
Philosophy of Sport and Recreation Page 1
Document Summary
Gender and disability in sports- beginning of part 2. "the other" refers to a concept that arose predominantly from existential and continental philosophy and refers to those that are outside the boundaries. Other- someone that you dont like or someone who is deeply respected as they are a person and has a claim on me. Paradigms: the way we look at things, never ending circle of interpretation. Ones who are not male and abled bodied are not as culturally valued. There is gender and able vs disabled segregation. This forces sports to take a stance on socially fraught issues like gender and body ability. Should there be "a league of their own" Sports, in one sense, is all about averages. The problem for sport is in ensuring fairness but also in providing opportunities for all. Average strength, and the way it typically falls out along gender based lines, is not contested by most people.
