WOMEN'S STUDIES 4112
Historical and Contemporary Issues in Women, Sport and Leisure
Dr. Lori Chambers
Winter 2014
RB 2016
343-8218
Course Description:
We will examine historical constructions of sport and recreation as the exclusive prerogative of men. When and under what conditions were women included in the sporting community? Contemporary issues for women athletes and recreational enthusiasts will also be explored.
Required Texts:
Students must purchase the custom course pack, Ann Hall, The Girl and the Game, and Sheldon Kennedy, Why I Didn’t Speak Up. The majority of the readings are indicated as available either through e-journals or via google scholar on-line. These have NOT been reproduced in your course pack in order to save you money. The readings are nonetheless mandatory.
Evaluation:
Tutorial participation: 20%
Tutorial presentation: 20%
Article critique: 30%
Book review: 30%
A note on discussion and participation:
Discussions require that everyone participates (speaks and listens) in a meaningful and civil way. While there will be lots of disagreements and debates, everyone is expected to participate in a way that is respectful to everyone in the class and their ideas. Personal attacks, gender and racial slurs, disrespectful comments on ability or able-bodiness, or other such disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated. Please keep in mind that this is a scholarly environment and professionalism is expected at all times. In this course we will deal with many sensitive issues and will encounter historical language no longer appropriate. Please be reminded that respect for the people we study and other students is essential to a productive discussion. Disrespectful behaviour and/or comments about people in class or being studied will not be tolerated. Tutorial participation grades will reflect both attendance and willingness to contribute to class discussions. A full mark out of 20 will be subtracted for each absence from class for which the student does not provide explanation in writing.
Presentation:
All students will be responsible for making a presentation to their classmates. The presentation should be approximately 30 minutes in length. The student will summarize an article, book chapter or media piece that supplements assigned class readings for the week. The student is responsible for locating a supplementary article and for having the article approved by the instructor before class. The student will also be responsible for providing questions with which the class can begin a larger discussion of the themes for the week. No written work is to be submitted for this assignment.
Writing the Critical Article and Book Review:
The purpose of the assignment is to analyse your chosen article/book to determine the main arguments presented by the author, the effectiveness of the arguments (based on evidence, sources used and presentation) and to give your interpretation of whether or not the author achieved his or her purpose. Please remember that to critique is not necessarily to be negative.
For the article review, you may use any article from the course pack or, with the permission of the instructor, may select an alternative scholarly article that you have found yourself.
For the book review, all students will read:
Sheldon Kennedy with G. Grainger, Why I Didn’t Speak Up (Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2006).
Your review should be 5-7 pages in length with standard formatting – 1 inch margins, double spaced, in Times Roman 12 point font, with page numbers.
For more information on how to write an article or book review students are encouraged to read book reviews published in major historical journals, including those on their chosen book. Journals can be found in the Library. These book reviews can be used in your review if they are properly referenced, e.g. are accompanied by a footnote or endnote. However, students must demonstrate their own analytical ability in the review, i.e. students are strongly discouraged from only relying on other reviews for their critique.
Content of the Review:
- Identify the article/book – Give the author’s name, the title, and publication information right at the beginning.
- Summarize the content – Briefly (in one short paragraph) outline the subjects of the sources, i.e. the topic/person of study, the time period covered, and the subjects examined. Do not give a detailed description of the article/book contents.
- State the thesis and themes of the article/book – Summarize the central thesis or argument. Outline how the author proves the thesis and how they develop the major themes. Again, do not summarize the entire content of the source.
- Evaluate/Critique – This is the most important component of the review and should form the majority of the paper. In this section, you must critically assess (“review”) the article/book. Remember, a critique is not necessarily negative. Every source has strengths and weaknesses and your purpose is to assess them.
Critique based on issues such as:
· The argument – is the argument coherent? Convincing? What assumptions underlie the argument? How does the author approach the subject?
· The sources – what types of sources does the author use? What are the limitations of the sources? (Remember all sources have limitations.) Does the author address these limitations? What are the strengths of the sources?
· Content – does the writing, style, and organization detract from or benefit the article? What was the author’s objective? Is it met?
Conclusion – Conclude by summarizing your arguments. Your conclusion should not introduce new points, but re-state the points you have made in the body of the review.
Late Policy
All assignments are due by 11:59pm on the due date indicated in the course outline. Assignments received after the due date will be penalized 5% per day. Requests for extensions must be made prior to the due date and will ONLY be given in extenuating circumstances and may require documentation (e.g. a doctor’s note). Extensions will NOT be granted where good time management skills could have avoided the problem; i.e. extensions will not be granted for students who have a number of assignments due at the same time during the semester or for students who have decided to take an overload of classes this semester.
Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. Presenting an idea, words or an exact phrase of another author as your own work constitutes plagiarism. All students are required to know what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism you can consult the Lakehead University calendar available online at http://calendar.lakeheadu.ca/current/contents/regulations/univeregsIXacdishon.html or the professor. All cases of plagiarism will be dealt with in accordance with the Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures approved by Senate and the Board of Governors. Other instances of Academic Dishonesty, including but not limited to double submission, purchasing of assignments (either online or from another student on campus), or copying of assignments will also dealt with in accordance to the University regulations on Academic Dishonesty. Students may obtain a copy of the “Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures” from the Office of the Registrar for more information. Please do your own work.
On Campus Help Available to Students
Student Success Centre: Additional help regarding academic matters, including assignment completion and editing, can be found at the Student Success Centre located in SC 0008 or phone 343-8018 or online at - http://academicadvising.lakeheadu.ca/
Student Accessibility Services: For assistance with accommodations for a documented disability, please visit Student Accessibility Services located in SC 0003 or phone 343-8047 or online at - http://learningassistance.lakeheadu.ca/
Student Health and Counselling Centre: For help with personal and/or medical issues, please visit the Student Health and Counselling Centre located in the University Centre 1007 (across from Security) or phone 343-8361 or online at - http://healthservices.lakeheadu.ca/
Weekly Schedule for Lectures and Readings:
1. January 8, 2014
Introduction: Why Does Sport Matter to Women and to Feminism?
Part I: Access to Sport
2. January 15, 2014
Nineteenth Century Beginnings
Readings:
Michael Messner, “Boyhood, Organized Sports and the Construction of Masculinities”, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 18 (4) (January 1990), 416-444. E-journals.
Greg Gillespie, “I was well pleased without our sport among the buffalo”, Canadian Historical Review 83 (4) (2002), 555-584. E-journals.
3. January 22, 2014
Physical Education, Organized Sport and the Marginalization of Girls
Readings:
Ann Hall, The Girl and the Game: A History of Women’s Sport in Canada” (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002, 15-40 and (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002, chapters 1-5.
4. January 29, 2014
Moving towards Equality/On-going Exclusions
Readings:
Ann Hall, The Girl and the Game, chapter 6.
Audrey Giles, “Sport Nunavut's Gender Equity Policy”, Canadian Woman Studies 21 (3) (winter/spring 2002), 95-99.
Terri Lakowski, “Athletes with Disabilities in High School Sports”, Boston University International Law Journal 27 (2009), 282-316. On-line.
5. February 5, 2014
Sport and Nation
Readings:
Michael A. Robidoux, “Imagining a Canadian Identity through Sport: A Historical Interpretation of Lacrosse and Hockey”, Journal of American Folklore 115 (2002), 209-225. On-line.
Mary Louise Adams, “The game of whose lives?: Notes on gender and identity in a hockey mad culture”, in Artificial Ice Hockey, Commerce and Culture, eds. David Whitson and Richard Gruneau (Toronto: Broadview Press, 2006), 71-84.
Ray Jones, Audrey Murrell and Jennifer Jackson, “Pretty versus Powerful in the Sports Pages”, Journal of Sport and Social Issues 23 (2) (1999), 183-192. E-journals.
Note: The article critique is due today in class.
Part 2: Bodily Anxieties
6. February 12, 2014
The (Female) Athlete's Body
Readings:
Ann Hall, The Girl and the Game, chapter 7.
Vikki Crane, Priscilla Choi, Shannon Baird, Christine Aimar and Kerrie Kauer, “Living the paradox: female athletes negotiate femininity and muscularity”, Sex Roles 50 5/6 (2004), 315-329. E-journals.
David Johns and Jennifer Johns, “Surveillance, Subjectivism and Technologies of Power”, International Review for Sociology of Sport 35 (2) (2000), 219-234. E-journals.
7. February 19, 2014
Reading Week
8. February 26, 2014
Violence in Sport
Readings:
Michael Messner, “When Bodies are Weapons: Masculinity and Violence in Sport”, International Review for the Sociology of Sport 25 (1990), 203-218. E-journals.
The link between athletes and domestic violence: www.jezebel.com5839795, 13 September, 2011.
Domestic violence: the underbelly of pro sports: www.theglobeandmail.com, 27 May, 2011.
Fiona Gill, “Violent Femininity: Women Rugby Players and Gender Negotiation”, Women’s Studies International Forum 30 (5) (2007), 416-426. E-journals.
9. March 5, 2014
Who is a Woman Anyway? Intersexed and Transgendered Athletes
Readings:
Levy, Ariel Either/Or: Sports, Sex, and the Case of Caster Semenya’. The New Yorker, 30 November, 2009.
Hoad, Neville ‘Run Caster Semenya Run: Nativism and the Translations of Gender Variance’ Safundi 11 (4) (2010), 397-405. E-journals.
Cavanagh, Sheila & Heather Sykes, “Transexual Bodies at the Olympics: The International Olympic Committee’s Policy on Transsexual Athletes at the 2004 Athens Summer Games” Body & Society 12(3) (2006), 75-102. E-journals.
10. March 12, 2014
Gendered Sports and the Feminization of Men
Readings:
Mary Louise Adams, “Death to the Prancing Prince: Effemininity, Sport Discourses and the Salvation of Men’s Dancing”, Body and Society 11 (4) (2005), 63-86. E-journals.
Mary Louise Adams, Artistic Impressions: Figure Skating, Masculinity and the Limits of Sport (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), chapter 6, 134-160.
Samantha King, “Consuming Compassion: AIDS, Figure Skating and Canadian National Identity”, Journal of Sport and Social Issues 24 (2) (2000), 148-175. E-journals.
Part 3: Abuse in Sport
11. March 19, 2014
Homophobia
Readings:
S. Cahn, “From the Muscle Moll to the Butch Ballplayer”, Feminist Studies 19 (2) (summer 1993), 343-368. E-journals.
Natalie Adams, Alison Schmitke and Amy Franklin, “Tomboys, Dykes and Girly Girls”, Women’s Studies Quarterly 33 (1/2) (2005), 17-34. On-line.
Tackling homophobia in sport: www.extra.ca/public/National/Tackling_homophobia_in_sport_11737.aspx
Homophobia in sport: www.caaws.ca/homophobia/e/index.cfm
12. March 26, 2014
Sexual Violence
Readings:
C.H. Brackenridge, “So What? Attitudes of the voluntary sector towards child protection in sports clubs”, Managing Leisure: An International Journal 7 (2) (2002), 103-124. E-journals.
T. Leahy, G. Pretty and G. Tennenbaum, “Prevalence of sexual abuse in organized competitive sport in Australia”, Journal of Sexual Aggression 8 (2) (2002), 16-36. E-journals.
Sheldon Kennedy with G. Grainger, Why I Didn’t Speak Up (Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2006).
Note: The book review assignment is due in class today.
13. April 2, 2014
Wrap up.