Comments on An American Studies: Fair and Foul, Foul and Fair -- Drawing the Lines ...

I completely agree with Jon. I was very surprised ...

2011-10-10T09:15:16.745-05:00

I completely agree with Jon. I was very surprised to find that the high five was started by a gay man, mostly because I do tend to associate sports with heterosexuals. But I'm willing to bet that for most people it doesn't stop there. I'm sure a lot of female athletes get silenced as well, and as Abbey pointed out all you have to do is look on the sports page in the news to see that mostly men are featured. This is quite troubling, especially because we live in a society that claims to have severely diminished discrimination. The United States still has a long way to go, but we've been following a positive trend, and the end result looks promising.

I think that before reading this post, I was alrea...

2011-10-08T14:09:24.024-05:00

I think that before reading this post, I was already under the impression that the High Five had been created as a congratulatory gesture for some sport somewhere (granted I know very little about sports). It did surprise me, however, to learn that it was a gay man that had started it. This surprise came of a realization that I personally associate sports with heterosexuality. Possibly because of the seemingly masculine nature of the sport, how all of the friends that I have that do play sports riddle it with violent sexual humor and what not. The phrase "boys will be boys" comes to mind. This assumption that sports is inherently heterosexual is something that I had never thought about and took as a given. It is a testament to the power that society can have on the way that people view the world, especially in an analytic lens.

After reading the article, I would say that I didn...

2011-10-07T16:27:26.666-05:00

After reading the article, I would say that I didn't fully understand the extent of homophobia in sports. Personal disclaimer, both the technical and social side of sports are kind of lost on me so that ignorance definitely contributed to my former response.

Kathleen, I think you may be under-estimating the ...

2011-10-07T10:38:08.643-05:00

Kathleen, I think you may be under-estimating the homophobia that pervades major league sports in particular. Contrast my post with this take on the subject from a different publication: http://outsports.com/baseball/2003/0617glennburke.htm

Also, Doesn't "became innate" sound oxymoronic? And why didn't he have a chance to become great?

My reaction to this post is a little different. Ma...

2011-10-07T09:57:58.019-05:00

My reaction to this post is a little different. Many of the things we consider normal today, like the high five or a thumbs up, are so integrated into our daily gestures. In terms of the thumbs up, no one knows who invented that...and frankly, why does it matter? To me, that fact that the originator of the high five was male or even that he was gay has nothing to do with why his story fizzled out. The high five became an innate gesture before he got the chance to become a household name in sports, and I think thats why no one remembered his story.

I agree, another story that I believe is silenced ...

2011-10-05T22:51:07.711-05:00

I agree, another story that I believe is silenced is the issue of race in the sports world. In an article titled, "Race Remains 'Flashpoint of Controversy' in American Sports" (found: http://www.physorg.com)
A cultural anthropologist who studies sports and society says:

"The NBA would like the uncomfortable question of race in sports to vanish, as if it were just a matter of a few troublemaker academics getting the math wrong" in reference to how the NBA tries to avoid the idea that "subconscious racial bias could play a role in officiating"

Do the storylines of sports deceive the public?

I agree with Abbey that the lines for man and wome...

2011-10-05T20:21:54.955-05:00

I agree with Abbey that the lines for man and women are drawn differently. Womens professional sports are publicized and written about much less than men's sports, and attendance at womens pro games is probably half of that of men's.
I read an article in New York Magazine about an NHL player who posted his anti-gay marriage stance on Twitter, and faced a backlash of negative comments. An expert on the subject, Jim Buzinski (co-founder of OutSports, a website about gay sports issues) said, "It's almost like homophobia is no longer considered cool in sports." It's shameful that it once was considered "cool", but I'm glad professional sports are headed in the direction of equality for players of all sexual orientations. Although I hope that the same will happen soon for womens and mens sports.

Link to the NY Magazine article: http://nymag.com/news/sports/games/gay-athletes-2011-9/

I believe there are no lines drawn between privile...

2011-10-05T18:19:00.820-05:00

I believe there are no lines drawn between privileged stories and not privileged stories. Stories that we think are privileged just got more attention because of the media, being exposed, etc. It kills me to say that I think lines are drawn differently for men and women. Women and men have equal rights, but why are people more interested in male stories? An example of this is in the newspapers. If you look at the sport section, you will notice that the majority of the stories are about the men.