{"id":3895,"date":"2016-08-16T11:55:22","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T10:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=3895"},"modified":"2016-08-16T11:55:22","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T10:55:22","slug":"olympic-athletes-and-gender-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/education-languages-health\/sport\/olympic-athletes-and-gender-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are Olympic athletes copping so much abuse? It all comes down to gender"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every four years, the Olympic and Paralympic Games burst on to our screens, showcasing a rich variety of sports, athletes and cultures. For those not lucky enough to be in Rio this year, social media has made it possible to to share jokes, news, triumphs and disappointments with other viewers from around the world. But with <a href=\"https:\/\/stillmed.olympic.org\/Documents\/IOC_Marketing\/Broadcasting\/London_2012_Global_%20Broadcast_Report.pdf\">as many as 3.6bn people<\/a> watching across the globe, it\u2019s almost inevitable that some people won\u2019t like what they see.<\/p>\n<p>Already, several athletes have been subject to abuse via mainstream and social media. In one disgraceful case, as the Team GB Rugby Sevens battled it out against Canada for bronze, tweets targeted Olympic athlete <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alopeciaonline.org.uk\/HeatherFisher.asp\">Heather Fisher<\/a>, criticising her appearance. Fisher experiences alopecia \u2013 or hair loss \u2013 and works as an advocate for others with the same condition. Comments on twitter questioned her womanhood, saying they were \u201cnot convinced\u201d that she is \u201cfemale\u201d and that she\u2019s \u201cthe manliest woman I have ever seen\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Sadly, these insults are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2015\/jul\/14\/serena-williams-female-athletes-femininity-police\">nothing new<\/a> to women athletes. All Olympic sports are competitions of skill, speed and strength. Yet when women run too fast, kick too hard, or look too muscular, they are subjected to abuse.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time as being world-class athletes, sportswomen are expected to be physically appealing \u2013 and even <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/xx_factor\/2016\/08\/11\/fox_news_show_sports_court_discussed_a_usa_today_article_about_female_athletes.html\">wear make up<\/a> \u2013 while photographs of sportswomen in the media are generally more likely to be sexually suggestive. Those who defend this state of affairs often say it\u2019s a way to attract fans and endorsements to women\u2019s sports \u2013 yet women athletes are still <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/athletes\/list\/\">paid less than men<\/a> and their games are given <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.co.uk\/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=1-t5Scf6gPAC&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PR2&amp;dq=Boyle+and+Haynes,+2009&amp;ots=qizW_9lRzM&amp;sig=GBHG9x1Pb3xD__CODeuoC7OGTVA#v=onepage&amp;q=Boyle%20and%20Haynes%2C%202009&amp;f=false\">less air time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Men are not immune from discrimination and abuse in sport either. In some ways, men face more limitations on what physical traits are deemed acceptable, thanks to society\u2019s particularly narrow ideas about masculinity. For example, Team GB gymnast Louis Smith was subjected to Twitter trolling when he slipped off the pummel horse, with some claiming that his long hair was to blame, and Ethiopian swimmer Nobel Kiros Habte <a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/people\/rio-2016-ethiopian-swimmer-nobel-kiros-habte-twitter-insults-whale-supporters-a7184621.html\">was publicly shamed<\/a> over his body weight, and nicknamed \u201cthe whale\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Generally speaking, men are also <a href=\"http:\/\/irs.sagepub.com\/content\/43\/4\/409.abstract\">vulnerable to discrimination<\/a> in sports which are traditionally \u201cfeminine\u201d, such as synchronised swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating and netball. Indeed, at the Olympics, men are excluded from competing in synchronised swimming and rhythmic gymnastics altogether.<\/p>\n<h2>A challenging notion<\/h2>\n<p>This widespread <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalcitizen.org\/en\/content\/sexism-2016-rio-olympics\/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=uk&amp;utm_campaign=general-content&amp;linkId=27548105\">sexism at the Olympics<\/a> shows us that women and men who do not conform to expectations about their respective genders are often targets for abuse.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/133996\/width754\/image-20160812-16347-1ctnt0t.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Caster Semenya leads the way.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.eu\/sports-photos\/athletics-track-field-photos\/athletics-iaaf-diamond-league-meeting-in-rabat-photos-52775382\">ABDELHAK SENNA\/EPA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is because they <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blackwellreference.com\/public\/tocnode?id=g9781405124331_yr2012_chunk_g978140512433113_ss1-19\">threaten traditional attitudes<\/a> about the appropriate roles, rights and responsibilities of women and men in society. These traditional attitudes are based on a simple \u201cbinary\u201d classification model \u2013 where people are classified as either male or female.<\/p>\n<p>This model is limited and fixed: it tells us that male and female are \u201copposite sexes\u201d, that sex is determined biologically (according to chromosomes, reproductive organs, hormones) and that all men are naturally different to all women in terms of their feelings, thoughts and actions. As a result, women are expected to look and behave in a \u201cfeminine\u201d way, while men are expected look and behave in a \u201cmasculine\u201d way.<\/p>\n<p>So many people understand sex and gender in this way that it can be very difficult for us to think about and discuss different ways of understanding gender. Human beings can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Sports-Society-Controversies-Jay-Coakley\/dp\/0077117441\">feel very uncomfortable<\/a> when other people do not fit neatly into categories, because it challenges preconceived ideas about what it is to be \u201cnormal\u201d. And this can lead them to lash out.<\/p>\n<p>This model has shaped society \u2013 and sporting organisations \u2013 for a very long time. It is often drawn on in sports competitions, which are typically organised into \u201cmen\u2019s\u201d and \u201cwomen\u2019s\u201d events. As a result, transgender and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-caster-semenya-and-dutee-chand-deserve-to-compete-and-win-at-rio-2016-63727\">intersex athletes such as Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand<\/a> have to contend with large sporting organisations such as the International Association of Athletics Federations to even be allowed to compete.<\/p>\n<h2>All too simple<\/h2>\n<p>In reality, the simple binary model actually appears to reflect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Brain-Storm-Rebecca-M-Jordan-young\/dp\/0674063511\">social and cultural ideas<\/a> about gender, rather than biological facts. Evidence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Sexing-Body-Politics-Construction-Sexuality\/dp\/0465077145\">suggests that<\/a> gender isn\u2019t entirely binary on any level of physiology or psychology: men and women can both display huge variations in terms of chromosomes, hormones, brain structure, personality and roles in society.<\/p>\n<p>There are several good examples of this. <a href=\"http:\/\/people.socsci.tau.ac.il\/mu\/daphnajoel\/\">Daphna Joel\u2019s research<\/a> challenges the idea of a \u201cmale\u201d or \u201cfemale\u201d brain: in fact, most people\u2019s brains display a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/dn28582-scans-prove-theres-no-such-thing-as-a-male-or-female-brain\/\">mixture of features<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernghana.com\/lifestyle\/7534\/research-women-are-better-runners-than-men.html\">studies have shown<\/a> that in marathon races, for example, not all of the men beat all of the women \u2013 in reality, some women will beat some men. As radical as this might sound now, it is possible that some point in the future, the fastest marathon runner will be a woman.<\/p>\n<p>In light of modern scientific evidence, it\u2019s clear that traditional expectations about what men and women should look like \u2013 and how they should behave \u2013 are outdated. There is never a good justification for abuse. But the hate directed toward athletes who don\u2019t fit neatly into our ideas about what it means to be a man or a woman is based on ignorant misconceptions about gender. And in some ways, that makes it even worse.<\/p>\n<p>Athletes who challenge the mainstream understanding of gender don\u2019t deserve to be bullied \u2013 especially after all they have sacrificed to compete for their countries. Rather, they should be praised for showing the world that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2016\/jul\/29\/the-return-of-caster-semenya-olympic-favourite-and-ticking-timebomb\">individual differences can lead to outstanding achievements<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.edu.au\/content\/63858\/count.gif\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/helen-owton-172537\">Helen Owton<\/a>, Lecturer in Sport &amp; Fitness, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-open-university\">The Open University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article was originally published on <a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a>. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-are-olympic-athletes-copping-so-much-abuse-it-all-comes-down-to-gender-63858\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><small>Photo by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/82796672@N00\/121881025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">various visual stuff<\/a> <a title=\"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ounews.co\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-inject\/images\/cc.png\" \/><\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every four years, the Olympic and Paralympic Games burst on to our screens, showcasing a rich variety of sports, athletes and cultures. For those not lucky enough to be in Rio this year, social media has made it possible to to share jokes, news, triumphs and disappointments with other viewers from around the world. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":3900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[636,1057,1577,1665,1922,2429],"class_list":["post-3895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-discrimination","tag-helen-owton","tag-olympics","tag-paralympics","tag-rio","tag-women-in-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}