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By qmccall3 • 14 years ago

Is there a “feminist responsibility” to support women’s sports?

When the WNBA’s Detroit Shock relocated to Tulsa last week as a result of economic challenges, sports columnist Rob Parker commented on the lack of support from women in the Detroit area .

Still, the saddest thing is that the Shock did get the support it needed from women. If enough women took their daughters to the game, the team would not have had to rely on men showing up. For whatever reason, it just didn’t happen in the type of numbers needed to make the Shock a successful organization at the gate.

Regardless of whether he could support his claim with facts, it’s a discussion that multiple women’s sports journalists have pondered – both why women don’t support women’s sports in larger numbers and how to be more proactive about reaching out to potential female fans .

However, in an email conversation with another women’s basketball blogger this past week, the relationship between women’s sports and feminism came up, which prompted me to return to a question posed by Feministing’s Courtney in late March (during March Madness):

What is our responsibility as feminist consumers when it comes to women’s sports?
By qmccall3 • 14 years ago

Morehouse College’s “Appropriate Attire Policy.”

When I visited a good friend at Morehouse College about ten years ago, I was envious.

As a 20-year-old black heterosexual male, I was immediately struck by the diverse representations of “blackness” and, more importantly, the opportunity to actually engage in dialogue with individuals who I might have naively considered “not black enough” in my younger days.

While at my predominately white campus we often (naively) tried to define ourselves as black men in direct opposition to whiteness, while visiting Morehouse, I encountered black men truly examining the construct of black manhood for themselves and often times coming to the conclusion that black manhood is a constantly evolving phenomenon.

Drawing upon that experience is just part of what makes Morehouse’s ...

When I visited a good friend at Morehouse College about ten years ago, I was envious.

As a 20-year-old black heterosexual male, I was immediately struck by the diverse representations of “blackness” and, more importantly, the opportunity ...
By qmccall3 • 14 years ago

Lisa Leslie: Still fighting for recognition

Hello all — long time reader, first time poster and a big fan of the community going here…

I’m a strong proponent of women’s (professional) sports for a number of reasons, but most importantly because I think mainstream representations of female athletes — that are not over-sexualitized, objectified, or stuck in some narrow gender box — has the potential to help shift the rigid gender norms that our society has come to abide by.

WNBA star Lisa Leslie recently retired and made some controversial comments about women, sports, and femininity at her final post-game press conference that have sparked some interesting discussions among WNBA fans and warrant discussion beyond the WNBA because they certainly have consequences for gender and sexuality norms across ...

Hello all — long time reader, first time poster and a big fan of the community going here…

I’m a strong proponent of women’s (professional) sports for a number of reasons, but most importantly because I think mainstream ...