GWSS 262 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Serena Williams, Zina Garrison, Althea Gibson
27 Jun 2018
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GWSS 262 – LECTURE 7
2002 US Open:
Serena Williams beat her sister, Venus, in the finals
She was one a winning streak
Her outfit, a "black cat suit", garnered more attention than the win
Serena Williams is constructed in "oppositional terms"
Inner city background
Muscular body
"Sexual"
All of it "others" Williams, but without anyone having to mention her blackness, which is one of
the most visible way she is "other" as a tennis star
Color Blind Ideology:
The institutions of sports and media are very interested in seeming to be color blind in the
interest of political correctness
This ideology is dangerous in that it ignores certain oppressions
It "otherizes softly"
Blackness is socially constructed:
We construct meaning around race all the time without even realizing it
In women's tennis (and elsewhere) the idea of blackness is constructed by creating a contrast
with whiteness
Notable women of color in tennis:
Althea Gibson (1950s)
Zina Garrison (late 1980s / early 1990s)
Taylor Townsend (current)
Sloane Stephens (current)
Intersectionality:
We shouldn't examine Serena Williams' blackness in a vacuum
Schultz writes, "Axes of power such as "race", class, gender, sexuality ability, nationality, and so
on are inextricably linked with one another in such a way that to privilege one axis over another or
to consider each axis as simply additive to the next is to engage in potentially dangerous and
violent theoretical work" (339).
Schultz's main goal:
To show that, through their discourse around the catsuit, popular media reproduced the
hegemonic racialized order in women's tennis
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Serena williams beat her sister, venus, in the finals. Her outfit, a "black cat suit", garnered more attention than the win. All of it "others" williams, but without anyone having to mention her blackness, which is one of the most visible way she is "other" as a tennis star. The institutions of sports and media are very interested in seeming to be color blind in the interest of political correctness. This ideology is dangerous in that it ignores certain oppressions. We construct meaning around race all the time without even realizing it. In women"s tennis (and elsewhere) the idea of blackness is constructed by creating a contrast with whiteness. Zina garrison (late 1980s / early 1990s) We shouldn"t examine serena williams" blackness in a vacuum. To show that, through their discourse around the catsuit, popular media reproduced the hegemonic racialized order in women"s tennis.
