Play

1
Play Competition An Ideological Dilemma

• Ch. 3 by Jan Rintala Pres. NAGWS
• In Women In Sport by Greta Cohen, Ed., Notes by
  N. Bailey

2
Personal Context

• Jan is a competitor. Loves to compete.
• Doctoral studies evoked cognitive dissonance for
  her
• Feminist theoretical underpinnings v. elitism of
  competitive social structure not just in
  athletics, but in most of our social
  organizations and institutions

3
Feminist Analysis

• Approach to knowledge includes
• Critique of value-neutrality
• Recognizing context
• Question the reality of objectivity
• Assume there is a relationship between the knower
  and the phenomena of inquiry

4
Factors Influencing the Authors Presentation

• Race, ethnicity, gender, social class,
  disability, sexual orientation, age, religion,
  other social or experiential Characteristics
• Reporting may be balanced, but there remains bias
  or reflected subjective experience

5
2nd Point in Feminist Theory Used by Rintala

• Those at the top get to name the dominant ideas
  of a society.
• By virtue of their control of the major
  institutions, the values and perspectives of the
  top dogs are filtered directly into society.
• Those ideas are interpreted as the dominant
  cultural ideas

6
Sport Competition Defined for Now

• Sport
• Institutionalized competitive activities
• Vigorous physical exertion
• Use of complex physical skills
• Participation motivated by combination of
  personal enjoyment and external rewards

7
Competition A Zero Sum Game

• If one individual or group attains the goal, the
  goal or the reward is no longer available to
  others
• Many sports excluded from Rintalas definition
  scuba, biking, climbing, shooting the rapids,
  etc.
• Definitions are for the purpose of this
  discussion only.

8
Historical Context

• Factors influencing support for or against
  womens sport social class, race, ethnicity,
  religious tenets, proscriptions by the medical
  profession wars
• Cursory examination only. We could do an entire
  course on this topic alone

9
Extent of Sport Competition

• Colonial period Minimal
• 1824 Catherine Beecher founded the Hartford
  Female Seminary calisthenics stressed posture
  exercises, light chest weights, wand drills,
  archery, swimming, horseback riding for beauty,
  health increase the lifespan.

10
Early Wave of Feminism

• Women demanded equal access to education for
  upper class
• Mostly recreational activities
• 1860s tennis, archery, and golf tournaments
• In colleges prior to 1900 bowling, swimming,
  baseball, badminton, ice hockey, track and field,
  field hockey, BB, VB

11
Women Physical Educators Controlled

• Mens sports controlled by students
• Women protected female students
• Ladylike behavior
• Exercise that was not too vigorous
• Protected from the negative effects of aggressive
  competition
• Stanford v. Berkeley BB, 1896

12
BB Ignited Change

• Senda Berenson, 1892, introduced BB for women.
  Intercollegiate competition
• Women get the vote in 1920, etc.
• Exercise now thought to be healthful for women,
  except during menstruation
• Womens concern also for excesses and abuses
  occurring in mens intercollegiate sport

13
Abuses and Excesses

• Corrupt practices in recruitment
• Violation of amateurism rules
• Some student athletes ignored their studies
• Aggression and violence lead to serious injuries
  especially in football
• Men organized rules governance women outlawed
  intercollegiate athletics

14
Ambivalence re Forms of Competition

• Two surveys 1923 1930 Mabel Lee compared the
  contentious results
• Pro arguments healthful habits, social skills,
  teach values related to winning and losing,
  develop greater skill, vigor, coordination,
  mental activity, opportunity to play against
  other good players, learn competition for life

15
Disadvantages of Varsity Sport

• Physical straining rather than training
• Emotional strain girls too high strung
• May play during menstrual periods
• May neglect academics and other social aspects of
  college life
• Winning at all costs may lead to rowdyism
• Newspaper publicity may expose

16
Industry Sponsored Sport by 1920s to 60s

• Tennis, bowling, basketball, volleyball,
  baseball, hockey, softball.
• 10,000 women in bowling tournaments
• AAU Championships
• Sport organization championships
• Arguments, both pro and con continued AIAW was
  formed 1971 to 1982. Avoided abuses

17
Feminist Position on Sport

• Mostly silent
• Economic and social class issues brand of
  feminism Something Fundamentally Wrong With
  Competition no matter where it is
• Means of male dominance, class and race
  dominance, some won lions share of
  communal-social resources and others only crumbs.

18
Competition Criticized

• Generic unethical and unhealthy when outcomes
  emphasized too much
• Aggression and violence
• Unsporting behavior trash talking, performance
  enhancing drugs, cheating, playing while injured,
  lack of fun children negatively impacted if less
  skilled loyalty has disappeared

19
No Contest The Case Against Competition

• Alfie Kohn, (1986) fails to build character,
  poisons our relationships with others, leads to
  aggression.
• The solution elevate cooperative ventures and
  work toward a non-cooperative society

20
Three Schools of Thought

• Dualist Essentialists arguments
• Psychoanalytic arguments
• Behaviorist or social learning clearly superior
  arguments ?
• Can you spot the bias?

21
Dualistic Essentialism

• All reality is in a dualistic structure,
  Either,or al else doesnt exist
• Ideas objects
• Mind body
• Reason perception
• Nature nurture Self Other
• Masculine Feminine, etc.

22
Outcome of Dualism?

• If one accepts this perspective, women would
  experience conflict over competition
• Competition would be contradictory to the nature
  of women

23
Psychoanalytic Theory

• Task of development is to see herself as separate
  from her mother
• Because they share the same gender identity,
  women may feel lifelong struggle to establish
  separate identity
• Not the case for boys
• Women search for self in connection with others
  not distinguishing self from others.

24
Outcome of Psychoanalytic Theory

• For women, differentiation can feel like a threat
  to self-identity, and competition is an exercise
  in differentiation.
• For men, competition is in the service of self as
  it helps men to self discovery via differentiation

25
Behaviorist Analysis

• Behavior is learned via socialization
• Competitive behavior is learned
• In relation to sport, boys and girls are
  socialized differently girls not helped to
  develop skill and movement competence as much as
  boys are

26
Behaviorist Outcome?

• If girl has been socialized to believe that
  competition is not ladylike or is concerned that
  she may hurt someones feelings, it would be
  logical for her to experience conflict in a
  competitive setting.

27
Arguments Continue

• Mariah Burton Nelson, Embracing Victory Life
  Lessons in Competition and Compassion
• Questionnaire, interview, anecdotal data show
  same questions today (N1030)
• Athletes said they were competitive, expected to
  win,

28
More Nelson findings

• Compared their achievements favorably
• Were comfortable with competition
• 52 of non-athletes were uncomfortable with
  competition while only 7 of athletes were
  uncomfortable

29
Dilemma Resolvable?

• Nelsons data show many women feeling no dilemma
• Where you see a contradiction, make a distinction
  (N. Bailey via ?)
• There are actually multiple goals, not just the
  goal of winning. So, both winners and losers may
  achieve
• Focus on process outcome

30
Solutions?

• To cheat is not to compete.
• Call cheating a not competitive behavior, thus
  those cheating in competition are not actually
  competing.
• So, cheating isnt actually an abuse found in
  competition. (p. 49) What???

31
Support for the argument

• There is nothing inherent in sport that requires
  dehumanizing the competition
• There need not be blatant disregard for human
  civility in sport
• Value the process of competition optimal
  experience or peak experience or Flow Risk
  taking friendships self competence

32
Are We Winning Yet?

• Nelsons How Women are Changing Sport and Sports
  are Changing Women
• Partnership model vale process, inclusion, and
  consideration for others involved in the process.
• Deals with someone rather than against. Champion
  v. Conqueror

33
Jay Coakley Two Models

• Power and Performance Model vs.Pleasure and
  Participation Model
• Outcome, dominance, body as machine, hierarchical
  authority structures, enemy competitor vs.
• People connections, personal expression ethic,
  mutual concern, support teammates and opponents,
  empowerment, body as source of pleasure,
  accommodate differences in skill levels, with and
  not against others

34
To Escape A Dilemma?

• Emphasize the one that seems most important at
  the moment
• When competing in the Olympics, for example,
  emphasize for the moment, the outcome of the
  contest.
• At other times the process may become more
  important