terms 2

Conditional self-worth- concept that people, especially atheletes, values themselves differently under a certain condition. For athlete this could be whether they played well or not in there last game
Messner: your only as good as your last game


Suppression of empathy- concept that highly affects men. Men are encouraged to suprssed any form of sympathy for others because it shows weakness and vulnerability- not commonly held masculine traits.
This is shown in football and the NFL


The pain principle- concept that it is engrained in men to tolerate as much pain as possible and fight through it in order to be masculine and “tough.” This was displayed when Messner talked about how NFL players become legendary for their toughness, and recognized for their tolerance of pain.

terms

Right to life v. pro choice- conflict in the stance of whether or not abortions should be legal or not. Pro life people advocate the person has rights to life when they are conceived whereas pro choice people see it that a woman should have power over her own body and that that a fetus only become a person after it is viable, and could survive with the mother’s body
Ex: This debate is very important in terms of poverty because impoverished women may have less children if abortion is known of and available.

Moral absolutism v. Moral Relativism- refers to the debate as to whether there are universal, natural principles with hold a common moral truth, or whether there are conditional moral truths relative to ones situation and influences.

Two Terms

Concerted Cultivation: the ideal physical manifestation of this concept are the cliche piano lessons almost every household in suburbia seems to partake in. As Annette Lareau describes the term, values, lessons, activities, and morales of the the upper middle class seem to be very important aspects of parenting. Parents seem to pride themselves on the lessons of self-motivation and knowledge to make their children more aware of the various social institutions. 

Opting Out: this word refers to the act of quitting work for household needs. This idea is especially seen in housewives and women who are forced to tend to their household's needs: a trend referred to as the "third shift" by Michael Messner. In most of the examples presented in the book, women are not doing the literal meaning of the term "opting out" but instead have no other choice because of financial circumstances.

Definitions

1) Strategic Friendliness- a study done by Jennifer Pierce which shows a strategy that lawyers use to get ahead in their field. By employing strategic friendliness they try to "win over or dominate" another person. Messner uses this term when defining the CEO coach's style of coaching. He argues that the CEO coach is no less competitive than the Drill Sergeant coach, but he uses strategic friendliness, or quick thinking and exceptional talking ability, to get ahead of his competition.


2) Pain Principle- the pain principle is a concept brought up by Don Sabo. In this principle Sabo is discussing how male athletes tend to want to fight through pains and injuries for in order to achieve the glory of winning. Men tend to thwart their bottled up feelings and emotions (of their struggles striving for success) towards their opponents in order to play at their highest level.

Terms blog

I thought that the most interesting terminology was involved with the coaching titles. That is, Teddy Bear, Crossing Guard, Drill Sergeant, CEO. The teddy bear is the coach for young individuals and they are very soft and caring. This is typically attributed to the "soft" coaches who are soft spoken and easy going. They understand the game of young children. They coach young children and they hardly ever get mad or yell at the kids. This is not common for women to have these coaching jobs although it is seen as less competitive and a less powerful position. The next coaching spot up is the Crossing Guard. This coach brings coaching to the next level. They get increasingly more competitive and louder. They yell more and use their power more often. They require respect from their team. They are much more demanding then the teddy bear coach. Then is the Drill Sergeant. This type of coach is much louder and is completely a one sided method. They do not listen to anyone else, but simply give orders and rules. They are extremely competitive and not sympathetic at all. They are much more harsh then the other two levels and are by far the loudest of the coaches. Then is the CEO. The CEO is almost always male, and is naturally respected. The kids never question them, and listen to them. The CEO does not have to be loud, they are simply respected. These different levels of coaching seem completely accurate to me which is fascinating. I have played three sports my entire life and these definitions were spot on. I began with the Teddy Bear, and then moved through the stages until the CEO. I never saw this as gender stereotype until I realized the only woman coach that I had that was female was the Teddy Bear. Then each coach who yelled was a male and I had an assistant coach that was female who acted as the Teddy Bear simply listening and helping us with our problems. Now that Messner pointed out the gender divisions of labor, I have realized how apparent it truly is in our society.

Term Definitions

Culture of Silence: The reluctance to speak up about a matter which is known to exist, but is not discussed or acknowledged due to communal, unspoken consensus. An example of this would be Our Guys, a book by Bernard Lefkowitz in which he describes a 1989 gang rape of a "slightly retarded" 17 year old girl by a group of high status athletes. There were 13 boys in total, 6 of them leave before the rape begins. These 6 boys KNOW what's about to happen, and know that it is wrong, but because they are all members of the same team, they don't say anything to an authority figure. Of the 7 who stay, only 2 actually commit assault, the other 5 serve as the audience members who facilitate the rape by cheering on the 2.

Dynamics of the Athletic Male Peer Group: Audience: These are the "wannabe boys and men who actively applaud and support the words and practices of the Leaders - High Status boys and men at the center of their group who perpetrate misogynist, homophobic, assault at the Target - vulnerable, feminized object of ridicule, degradation, sexual assault, and conquest. Also, the Marginals are the lower status group members who support leaders with their silent complicity. An example of this can be the rape described by Lefkowitz in his book Our Guys, where the 17 year old girl serves as the Target, 6 boys who first leave are the Marginals, the 2 who actually rape the target are the Leaders, and the 5 who cheer them on are the Audience. Although this is the rape of a female, a male often serves as the target. For instance in fraternities, sports teams, the military etc, where there are all males, and all have to have initiation rituals (hazing).

Defined terms

Agency: In Messner’s book “It’s all for the Kids” he seeks to prove that people are active participants in creating gender. He states that, “in the language of social theory, people exercise agency in the creation of everyday social life. Agency can be either reproductive: “When our actions are consistent with traditions and conventions of existing gender differences and hierarchies” or resistant: “when our actions contradict t or challenge existing gender differences or hierarchies.” Reproductive agency does just that—it reproduces and helps to perpetuate the existing norms in society, whereas resistant agency helps to change or challenge existing gender norms and relations. Messner asserts that reproductive and resistant agencies are often simultaneously evident in sports. For example (from the book): “when a heavily muscled woman bodybuilder gets breast implants in order to appear strong and conventionally hetero-sexy.” The body builder is a resistant agent in that she is heavily muscled, which is resistant to the feminine body norm and a reproductive agent in that she got breast implants to appear more feminine, reproducing the relation between feminine and large breasts.

Drill Sergeant Coach: male coaches who are involved in junior level youth sports around typically around the ages of 11-12 years old. This type of coach is more evident in this age group because this is the time when the sport tends to get more serious: the coaches and parents expect to win. This coach is very hyperkinetic and bossy, he makes no effort to restrain his thoughts and often displays his directions to his players on his team through hand signals from the side line in the coaches box. This coach doesn’t hold back when his team is doing bad, and has no problem expressing disappointment in his players, he is loud and commanding and will do whatever it takes to win, including making a strong attempt to control the game with the goal of winning. Often times “less intense” coaches have opted out by this age bracket, leaving the more “serious” coaches who often have a commanding leadership style. In the book, Messner uses Coach Gordon’s level of intensity in the playoffs as an example of a Drill Sergeant Coach. Coach Gordon rides one of the most talented players on the team the hardest in an effort to get the player to reach his full potential, which would be beneficial to the team and help the team to win. As Coach Gordon grows agitated with the players, it manifests into visible physical agitation and also into louder and more commanding vocal instructions to his players. When the coach’sa starting catcher isn’t doing well, he pulls him out of the game, publically scolds him and sits him down in the dugout. The Drill Sergeant coach will do whatever it takes to win.

Presentation- terminology

1)Concerted cultivation: Annette Lareau describes it as a form of upbringing of children that exists in middle to professional classes. Parents feel a sense of obligation to provide myriad of opportunities of extracurricular activities, tutors, lessons, and etc. to their children, and they also feel obliged to contribute volunteer time for their children’s youth sports as team parents, coaches, league officials, or referees. The parents strive to reward their children with self motivation through internalization of rules, sense of entitlement, class privilege, and knowledge that will facilitate the children’s ability to steer around their path in social institutions. i.e. all families mentioned in Messner’s book embody this term

2)Hegemonic masculinity: Within the context of soft essentialism, it is the predominant form of masculinity that is favored and honored by the society. Messner directly correlates the term to CEO coach in his book, by describing them as the emergent form of masculinity in sports who exercise controlled, competent, and effective style of coaching in South Pasadena, CA. The professional class based hegemonic masculinity of CEO coach is produced and affirmed only among a small group of men within the social context of youth sports, families, and professional-class workplaces.

term defination

The pain principle: Stifles our awarrness of our bodies and limit our emotional express; it also encourages us to false the feeling that boil up inside us; feelings of insecurity and stress from striving for success. Example: Brett Favre, he had a car crashed and supposed not allowed to play the sports for a year, and he played all season and also got MVP.

Vertical segragation vs horoizontal segregation: this idea is developed by sociologist Charles and Grusky in 2004, vertical segregation represents the cultural values, for example male dominated; and vertical segregation may change over time. Horizontal segregation represents the gender essentialism, the biological differences separate men and women in occupations; for example, men are physical labor, women and emotional labor. Horizontal segregation may not change over time.

Term Definitions

Gendered Language: the use of a certain words or phrases that fosters divisions in the roles of men and women. By attaching the modifiers male/female before a job occupation, this creates distinctions on what is a "normal" career path for each gender. An example can be taken from the riddle in It's All for the Kids: where a man hits a boy with his car, only to realize that the boy is his son; but when he takes the boy to the hospital, the doctor claims "Oh God! I can't do surgery on this boy! He's my son!" This example shows that the general assumption that doctors are men, where in the riddle, the doctor is actually the boy's mother.
Teddy Bear Coach: men who coach at the youngest level of youth sports. They tend to be men with the highest level of kids-knowledge relative to the other coaching types, who have higher technical-knowledge. Coaches at this level tend to squat down and mute the level of their voices in order to seem less threatening to the children. These coaches take on the role of nurturer in order to foster a positive environment for the children. However, some men choose not to coach the younger levels for these very reasons. An example of this would be Messner's use of Doug Berger, a coach who refrained from coaching younger levels because he was uncomfortable with the feminine context in which these coaches had to interact with children.

Presentation

Publicly visible family type is one composed of a male professional-class primary breadwinner and a college-education female who has opted out of a fulltime career to become a homemaker and who often is an active volunteer in community activities. Example, Barbara Jones who opt out her career and volunteered to be a team mom; her husband has a high-powered, high-paying career of his own.
Gendered organization of time it is when people talk how they negotiate the tensions between work, family, and community volunteering work. Example is how Carol Morris spoke of how men’s careers constrain their time, and of how family work constrains women’s time ( volunteering).

presentation

Soft essentialism: Soft essentialism is from the book Kids (chapter 5). This term defines as how adults’ beliefs about gender differences, along with the ways that they treat boys and girls in youth sports, creates a professional class based gender ideology. Unlike the “hard” categorical essentialism created by sport in the pre-Title IX era, soft essentialism sees sports as a viable choice for girls, whose participation teaches them competitive values and physical skills that counter the limitations of their supposed feminine nature. Boys are simply assumed to be competitive and aggressive, their natures consistent with the values of sport.

Second-Shift: Second-Shift is from the book Kids (Chapter 2). This term was made popular by sociologist Arlie Hochschild, whose study of two-career, heterosexual families showed that women were still doing the vast majority of the housework in these families.

Presentation

CEO coach: a kind of coaches who are in junior level youth sports. They are always quiet, restrained, and contemplative with strong controlling of what happens on the field. They are like CEOs of companies in which they expect kids have internalized rules and embodied basic skills. The CEO coach emerges over the years as the hegemoic form of musculinity in the South Pasadena youth sports context. Example: In professor Messner's book, he found that the CEO coach is the dominant coaching style in South Pasadena youth sports; after one loss which was observed by Messner, the coach of the team did not bark or shout at the sloppy plays of the kids,but he just concluded the reason, and the coach was considered as a "CEO".

Opting out: the word comes from the book Opting out: why women really quit career and head home? by Pamela Stone. Opting out means that women choose to quit work and be housewife completely, the trend which is called "the third shift" by prof. Messner. One example is that in the book Opting out, the author found out that most women did not "opt out", which was contrast to the public view. Women who did that spoke of inflexibility of work and of husbands, and some husbands had high incomes that can afford their families.

Hope it is useful!

violence in sports

I was looking through videos of violence in womens sports and the most common sport i found was actually ice hockey. This was most interesting to me simple because I wouldn't have been able to tell that these were women ice hockey players simply by watching the fight. Though I have seen fights in movies with all the slamming into glass and punching each other, something about these fights somehow seemed not as violent, as if they were staged for fun. Yet at the same time, I could tell that these women were really pissed, which made me think that maybe it was just the combination of ice, awkwardly sized uniforms, and skates and hockey sticks that made the fight that much slower. After scanning through the hundreds of connected links to other women's hockey fights, I read through the comments, which were rather depressing. Most of the people watching had commented on the fact that these women 'fought like girls', or 'couldnt throw a real punch if they tried'. It's kind of sad how all the emotion and energy that these women were putting into a sport (whether for a goal or to simply beat up on their opponents) was simply disregarded and commented on with sexist comments and comparisons to their much larger and stronger male counterparts. Much like Robin Hextrum's art on how rowers hurt their bodies in return for the emotional rush of working hard for the team and for the sake of the sport, these women were pushing themselves out of the norm that 'women can't play hockey' to prove themselves in a sport they loved.
The link that struck me the most was titled "why hockey is not for women". Though not a video of actual violence in sports, it implies the (negative) effects that participating in sports, especially violent ones, has on a woman and her appearance and chances of 'getting a guy', which is being emphasized more than her scoring a goal or putting up a good defense. Whether she is being violent or not, the idea of women in sports is still not being looked at fairly when she's not allowed to express the emotions that are always being used to label women in other aspects of life.

Female Violence in Sports - Emmanuel Casillas

The fight that broke out in Providence, Rhode Island between the two girls soccer teams was an intense fight where there were punches thrown. It is interesting to note how the media reacts over a girls' fight but simply glazes over fights in masculine sports. As in hockey, men fight each other and referees allow the fight to go on for a time. It is seen as an important part of the sport. And the fans, rather than showing distress that a player might receive an injury goad them to go at it harder. In the girls' fight people rushed onto the field to stop the fight. It may be that because women are classified as gentle and fragile creatures that this fight had such an impact. When men fight, even in soccer, the fights are not emphasized as much. To see women fight is a rarity because of how social structures stress that they are not as aggressive as men. But people forget that women are as human as men and that anger is common to both.

Female Violence in Sports

Violence in sports is not an uncommon thing. Many athletes, in the heat of the moment, loser their cool and get their frustration out on their competitors. It is something that is very common in male sports, especially that of Hockey. In fact, fights in professional hockey matches have become an integral part of the game. The referee's are often told to let the fighters handle their business and intervene at a safe time. However, women sports has just as much violence as male sports, it just isn't as publicized. For example, the huge fight that broke out in the Woman's hockey match along with the soccer game between BYU and New Mexico. Clearly in both instances, the violence got to levels of punching, kicking, cheap shots, and even hair pulling. With instances like this, the media seems to be more intrigued by female violence than clips of male violence because it is often believed that it is not in a girls nature to be that aggressive. These videos of female violence clearly prove that notion incorrect.

Violence in Female Athletics Response

I believe that the violence within female based athletics has been highlighted because these acts go against the societal expectations of women being naturally maternal and loving. I have to admit that I was completely shocked by the vicious girl in the soccer team video. It wasn't because of her gender, it had to do with her lack of respect toward the other players. When Zidane head butt another player during the world cup in 2006 I was just as shocked as I was watching the woman in the soccer video. I wouldn't contribute my disbelief toward these acts to one's gender, instead I would base it off of one's lack of moral character. I played AYSO soccer for about ten years and I never felt that violence on the field was condoned, but when it did happen it wasn't looked down upon based on our gender. It was looked down upon based on poor sportsmanship (in this case sportswomanship). I will say however that the referees are much more lenient with calling fowls and carding while witnessing male soccer teams playing. For example, I recently went to one of my brother's soccer games and I noticed that they are allowed much more physical contact with one another than women are without getting penalized for it. I feel that female soccer players are more prone to getting penalized for their physical contact than male soccer players. Obviously this is unfair and I don't feel that this aspect of sports is very well recognized within the athletic arena.

SWMS Presentation- Violence in Womens' Sports

http://www.wpri.com/dpp/new/local_wpri_providence_high_school_girls_soccer_brawl_20091109_BRT

The story is about a fight that took place on the field during a girls' high school soccer game in Providence, Rhode Island. While there was only a minute left in the game, one girl bumped into another, which in turn led to an all-out brawl breaking out- complete with punching, pushing and hair pulling. The story mentions that a similar incident occurred not long ago, which could have had an impact on this situation.

Women have traditionally been seen as less aggressive than their male counterparts, but sports have afforded women and girls an outlet to release their frustrations and strengths in a positive manner. Only recently have women been able to express themselves in such a physical way and still be accepted by society. Sports have traditionally been the domain of men in which they can express their aggression and masculinity freely- and now women have a place on the field as well. Personally, I believe that womens' participation in sports is a good thing that allows women to released their repressed aggression and frustrations. However, it's very important that this aggression is channeld into fair play and not into violence.

Incidents like the high school soccer fight are of course not unique to girls or to soccer- in such a competitive environment as the sports field, there are bound to be disagreements and fighting between teams. Therefore, both male and female players need to control themselves and transform their frustrations and anger into determination to win. It might be more shocking to see women enaging in such violent acts because of our preconceptions that they should be docile and understanding by nature, but it's also important to note that these girls are still sports players. They're playing very competitive games and their drive to win is the same as men, so we shouldn't be surprised if they occasionally get into fights.

Any increase we're seeing in violence in girls' sports is probably a byproduct of the fact that far fewer women have competed up to this point. They're really only leveling out with men and being human- competitive. In the end, sports can be a great outlet for both men and women, as long as the competition is kept to fair play and the players learn to control themselves.

Women in Sports- Rhode Island High School Soccer Fight

I was very surprised to see the television news clip of the Rhode Island high school soccer fight. I have played soccer all my life; beginning at AYSO to club to Olympic development, and even on the high school level. During the soccer matches, people become passionate about winning and frustrated when their team is consistently stopped, yet never have I seen it progress to a full team versus team fight.
Second, I was even more surprised that it was women who were fighting. Both of my younger sisters play soccer on a very competitive level, yet never would I have imagined that young women players such as the ones in the video would possess the aggressive impulses to turn a mere high school soccer match into a fight that most likely got them suspended or in deeper trouble. But as the video commented, most men view women in sports as fragile and innocent; even the news commentator said that it was "mostly hair pulling" when really it was a full-on serious brawl. This example shows that the public views the aggressive impulses of women incorrectly; in actuality they can be as aggressive as men and in sports they can act as passionately as men.
Overall I am both disgusted and surprised by the video. It has opened my eyes to realize that women, just like men, can be aggressive on the soccer pitch or even in any sport. Women, like men, become passionate and put all their energy into the matches, unfortunately sometimes it can end in violence just as this video has shown.

Female's sports.

This is very interesting to watching the youtube of girl's soccer and basketball.
The following is a link is a news that talking about basketball http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om4sCT78qPw. In many time, we always focus on guy’s basketball and guy’s soccer. There are many people ignore the female sports competition. The Beijing Olympic 2008 is a very good example. At that time, I was in Hong Kong, all the channels of TV are playing different competition of Olympic. This is crystal clear like that TV producers would only choose some famous competitions to play on the TVs, therefore, the TV shows are reflecting the people’s preferences. At that time, all TVs show is separate into male and females parts. TVs only playing female sports, like gymnastic and volleyball. They seldom play the female basketball and football competition. However, TVs would play many BALL’S game that played by guy.
Therefore, this is a very good example of traditional sports attitude to different gender.

Girl's Hockey

I think it is interesting to look at the youtube video of the girl's hockey fight. In guy's hockey, a fight is a usual occurrence, and in fact they made the rules a lot less strict about fighting because the fans seem to like it a lot. However, in women's hockey the fighting seems to be more of a cat fight and not extremely exciting. It is, indeed a fight though, as seen by the girl at the end that is on the floor and can't get up. I was looking at the comments that people left though, and they were saying how this wasn't a fight and how it was embarrassing to watch. I believe that if it was a men's hockey team having that exact same fight, people would be saying how intense the fight was, or how cool one particular player was. This was a women's math though, and people oftentimes think that women can't fight, and are not competitive.

Agression, Gender, and Sports

Aggression and sports are two things that go hand in hand. When people engage in aggressive behavior naturally violence occurs. Fights break out in every sport that you can think of. When men get into fights people watch and even encourage them. After the fight, whoever came out on top is looked at as the more masculine of the two. So, fighting between men is acceptable in sports because it is all part of male aggression. When it comes to women in sports, it's a different story. Like scholars have said for years women only get the positive attributes out of sports. This is why violence in female sports is really looked down upon. One student posted that women in sports are looked at as pretty, fragile, and something else. I disagree with this. I think that women in sports are looked at with masculine qualities. They are looked at as beastly, aggressive, and just plain manly. The reason people make a big deal about women acting violent in sports is because it contradicts the main view of how women are viewed. I think that although there is violence in sports, the positives still outweigh the negatives. Not only do sports have positive physical outcomes for the children competing, they also build many other positive attributes. They breed competitiveness, strength (physical and mental), and serve as a social tool. I am all for sports!

Women's Violence in Sports Response

I was shocked when I saw the video on the BYU vs. New Mexico soccer game, in which a New Mexico player injured a BYU Player. I don't play sports, so I don't constantly think about the aggression involved in them. I think this event may have gotten a lot of attention because women generally aren't attributed as aggressive, even though in many of the sports they play aggression a component of the game. Women in sports are portrayed as fragile, delicate, and beautiful, because people are more comfortable attributing traits such as violence and aggression with masculinity, as evidenced in the "Sex and Sports" art show and presentation by Robin Hextrom. Although, in this game, the player went beyond the limits of aggression and was violent. The amount of violence that the New Mexico player executed is unacceptable in any sport, for any gender. It bothered me that the player intentionally wanted to hurt the player on the other team. This lesson demonstrates that women's capacity for violence in sports should not be underestimated just because it is under reported. Aggression in sports should be recognized amongst both males and females as a component of the games.

Women's Violence as Exhibited the Sports Arena

As we watched in the previous video in class, when female athletes are portrayed in sports magazines, they are commonly objectified. Instead of focusing on their athletic talents and abilities, such women are portrayed in scantily clothed attire, emphasizing their sexuality in comparison to men who are often depicted in their sports' habitat. A male athletics champion, for example, might be on the cover of Sports Illustrated holding a football rather than laying practically nude on a beach, as the sun highlights his muscles. The media just does not function in this manner, at least in terms of publicly conveying male athletes. Extremely accomplished women, on the other hand, are given the opportunities to pose on the cover of magazines such as Sports Illustrated but they are framed in a narrow light (like men). It is the choice of each and every individual to assume these roles, however, their offered roles are often limited.

The very nature of conveying women in a feminized, over-sexualized framework and men in a masculinized, over-athleticized framework, in my opinion, impacts the way in which we treat gendered sports violence. For men, it is almost assumed. Unless someone is critically injured, male sports violence does not appear to be much of a surprise, as we do not see such acts in the headlines. Contrarily, when female sports violence occurs, including the recent soccer fight, we are bombarded with media coverage from news channel to news channel. I see a connection between the way women are portrayed in the media and the way we treat female sports violence. When a female athlete poses in a magazine, an observer who does not know a thing about sports could easily assume that she is solely a model, not athletic or aggressive at all, characteristics that are frequently associated with male athletes and possibly men in general. By focusing on the soccer fight that took place not too long ago, I find that aggression in correlation to sports is viewed as a male concept that, in turn, reinforces the dichotomy between men and women.

violence in women's sports response

I find it interesting that boys are encouraged to play sports so that they can perform their masculinity, and that girls are also in a way encouraged to perform masculinity in sports, but there is never a time when femininity is valued in sports. In fact, the sports that value femininity, like dance, gymnastics, and cheerleading, are often not considered real sports. I don't think that women are expected to be violent in sports at the level that men are. However, when they do get in fights, this creats a paradox between success in sports, which we correspond with strength and toughness, and correct representation of the female gender, which we correspond with kindness and a gentle, nurturing manner. The media's representation of violence in women's sports has a big impact on how this violence is viewed. When women are cheered on for fighting with one another, and complimented for being aggressive players, women are being rewarded for acting masculine. However, the media often demonstrates female violence as unnecessary and unnatural. Why is it that there is a place for violence in men's sports that does not exist in women's sports? Is it because women choose not to be violent, or is it because it is not socially acceptable for women to be violent? Even when women atheletes do not start fights, they gain respect by being tough and strong, qualities that are still associated with the male gender. By studying violence in women's sports in terms of the violence we see in men's sports and what we expect of the female gender, we are supporting gender essentialism rather than acknowledging the possibility that there is an association with athletics and violence that can apply equally to male and female athletes.

Violence in Women's Sports

The violence in everyday soccer games is miniscule in comparison to men's violence in their everyday sports. Men are known to push, shove, punch, and act "manly." Manly acts would include yelling, spitting and fighting. However, when women fight it is not seen in the same light. When men fight on the field, the audience is intrigued and sees the players as "tough." Men are never seen in a negative light for fighting unless they cause injury to other players. Women though are seen as masculine if they fight or "play dirty." Women are not accepted when they fight. They are seen in a new light and mostly this light is negative. Most of the time when violence is discussed in sports it is directed towards men, it is seen as a masculine norm, in a way, for sports. What the audience does not see is the fact that women are much like men when they play sports. They are competitive and cruel. They will fight just as hard as men, although many dispute that women cannot be good enough to compete with males.

The ironic piece is that is is unacceptable for women to fight in their sport. Why can women not show emotion for their sports just as men do? Women are just as passionate about their sports as men are. Women fights usually are more emotional then men--they don't just want to hit a random girl. Women's fights differ from men's fights in this way. Women become more emotionally attached in the fight and will not let it go as easily as men.

The problem with fights in professional level sports, or college and high school, is that these sports encourage competitive nature and to play dirty. Kids are then taught to do what they need to do in order to win. Kid's then begin aggressive play at an extremely young age and will develop into an intense player at a very young age. Just playing a sport for fun is a term that is beginning to disappear. As children grow, sports are getting more and more competitive daily. This encourages rough-housing and cheap play which will lead to fights and violence in sports.

Group Presentation - Violence in Women's Sports

http://fights.caught-on-video.com/video/Another-girls-soccer-fight

This video shows a fight ensuing during a girls' soccer game at the high school level. Just recently, a similar story became well-known in the media but instead it involved female soccer players at the college level. This previous incident occurred across the course of the game and was mainly one athlete doing extremely violent penalties against the women on the other team. This college level contact then seemed to spread to the high school level. These younger girls became very violent as well. During an extremely intense soccer game, the girls got a little too emotionally involved and ended up starting a fight. The news broadcasters began to comment on the incident and the female claimed it was similar to what happens at most "major league baseball games." The male broadcasters disagreed and claimed that the girls were pulling hair and implied that men do more physical acts such as punching and kicking. In reality, there was just as much intensity and punching in this fight between girls as there would have been between boys.

Sports are typically discussed as stirring up violence in males while creating a more well-balanced environment for girls. In this case, there is definitely a great amount of violence that was directly related to the game and the pressures that come with it. In lecture and in Messner's book, the importance of violence in male athletics has dominated discussion. Also, the female athlete being treated differently or exposing her body has become a topic of analysis. This video clip goes against Messner's ideas somewhat just because it shows that females can have a stronger competition than ever before and can generate a similar intensity to the boys. It is important to think about the impact of sports and the connection between gender behaviors in athletics. In order to blur the lines of gender and segregated sports, the public must recognize the similarities, especially in competition and violence among young women in sports. This will help the two genders be able to merge or at least cut back on the stereotype of the woman's lack of athleticism and competitiveness in sports.

Although there has been so much controversy about how youth sports fester too much violence and competitive spirit, it is important to recognize the positives of these organizations. Youth sports allow children, males and females, to release the energy and emotion involved in every day life. Without it, children would lack on ideas of expressing enthusiasm and intensity. These events also create a space for youth to develop in the social aspect of life and meet a lot of new people in a setting that is fun and exciting. In this case, the positives in youth sports outweigh the negatives and the few incidences of violence cannot diminish the importance of sports in a young child's life.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8922532972028418734&ei=kvoAS7SSEZD-qAPJ_YzmCQ&q=violent+women+in+sports&hl=en&view=3&client=safari#

This video depicts a fight that breaks out between women basketball players on the court. A member from one of the teams violently attacks a member of the other by knocking her down and punching her while she is down on the ground, while a second member of the team comes up and drops the basketball on her face. There is a distinct different between violent aggressiveness between players while fighting for the ball but this instance is simply violence due to anger and personal retaliation rather than determination in the game. 

When it comes to playing sports, many women are aggressive in their performance which is held in high regard as they show dedication to their sport and do not let their feminine natures interfere with their ability to play their sports. They gain more respect in the world of athletics by displaying signs of aggression and determination as that mirrors the aspects that men display, the original members of the world of sports. The issue of sports having a negative affect on women, however, can be brought up in the issue of women violence in sports. Granted attacking another player cannot be seen as position so naturally one cannot say that sports have only positive affects on women. However, these affects are the same for men as many men are violent on the field or courts they play on. No one seeks to take a step back and examine if sports have negative affects on men as that is their "natural" outlet of activity and violence among men is nothing uncommon. Why, then, should violence between women in sports evoke such feelings of concern that sports are negative for women? There is clearly a double standard existing in the arena of sports that people should consider.

There clearly is a correlation between sports and violence as discussed by Messner for men and, clearly, for women as well. It may be said that sports only create positive effects in women which is not the case as violence is not a positive occurrence. Although sports may increase the chances of women being violent with each other, as it does for men, sports are still good outlets for women to develop healthy lifestyles and prove that they are no less able to perform well in sports than men. The violent acts occur occasionally between women while playing sports are bound to happen, such as is the case with men, but that does not make sports a negative influence upon women. Whereas sports and violence are usually associated with men, it is not a surprise that once women enter the world of sports they exhibit certain masculine qualities as well such as violence.

Women & Violence in Sports

http://sports.espn.go.com/videohub/video/video?id=4628040

This is a video of a soccer game in which one girl (#15) is obviously acting violent to the other players in a way that is not acceptable in the game of soccer. Being a female soccer player myself, I know how violent it can get out on the field during intense games. However, this is not a prevailing act. This raises the conclusion that violence is not only spurred among men in sports, but in females as well. It is not right to assume that only males would harbor enough aggression inside them to externally display it during a sports game because as #15 shows, this is clearly not the case. She was doing things hurtful to the other players although it was just a game and therefore, she exemplifies, and thereby condtradicts the issue at hand.

It's interesting to me that in the leagues that didn't really establish different games for the female division of the sport, for example, AYSO, (as opposed to softball/little league) that we see more violent coverage in the media of these female sports. This observation implies that maybe people still aren't entirely okay with the idea of female athletes since they focus on the violence it spurs in girls as opposed to their athletic abilities. If this were a boy soccer team, ESPN coverage would probably cover it more lightly and dismiss it playfully. (I am pretty confident in this assertion because my boyfriend watches ESPN ALLLL THE TIME and I'm forced to watch with him and I notice the differences between female and male coverage frequently.

The video also contradicts the idea that sports only produce positive impacts in female because as we see, the girl has been reduced to doing inappropriate acts to express her anger in losing the game. However, this does not mean that it's okay for men to engage in this kind of behavior and not be called out as well. It's important to think about the violence fostered by sports for both genders because we shouldn't be in a society that positively reinforces men for violent behavior and then put females under similar circumstances and expect them to not act with some aggression. We shouldn't want either gender or any genders to be super violent and reinforce their behavior when they are. HOWEVER, I do not think that the negative impacts sports evoke outweigh the positive because sports have the ability to bring people together and find common interests. It also teaches various characteristics such as teamwork, determination, persistence, and others that can be useful and as we can see from the video, the majority of participants were not engaging in inappropriately violent behavior, rather it was just one of the girls.

Sports Analysis Group Presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZAehXzjG0w


This YouTube video captures the events of a women’s ice hockey game in which two distinct fights break out in its duration. The girls begin checking and punching each other and throwing each other to the floor. The referees try to interfere and break the girls apart but there are too many girls and fights going on to stop them all. The goalie on one of the teams even steps aside to watch the fight and then jumps in and gangs up on a member of the other team to help her teammate out. This video clip is evidence that violence is not only a factor associated with men’s athletics. Women too can get heated up and aggressive over a sports game. The belief that women’s participation in sports can only produce positive effects therefore cannot be one hundred percent true. This clip is only one of many that demonstrate aggression and violence in female athletics. Hockey is a sport especially known for heavy contact with players of the opposite team, primarily in men’s games, where fights typically break out and are encouraged by the fan base. Males particularly act upon this in order to prove their masculinity and their opposition towards acting as “sissies” when coming into contact with each other, as Messner would suggest. Female hockey players may too feel the need to play down the role of “sissy “moves by becoming aggressive and violent with each other while participating in the game. It is important to think about the connection between violence and sports for both genders because violence is not only associated with males sports; it is also a feature seen in women’s games. Though there may be roughhousing and fighting involved in some sports games, I believe violence is not always encouraged. I would ultimately state that the positive aspects of youth sports do outweigh the negative because being involved in sports is a great way for children to meet and interact with people their age as well as elders, like coaches and staff, and it can act as an outlet for emotions and built up tension that children might have. Though these feelings may sometimes come out aggressively, they do not always have to be hostile and violent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE4s3C93Ex4

The video clip presented above is a fight that occurred during a WNBA game between Detroit and Los Angeles. When initially watching the video, it may seem that the player of the Los Angeles team was pushed by the player of the Detroit team but it was actually initiated by the player of the Detroit team while another player was making a free throw. This shows that it wasn't just one player on a team being aggressive but rather both players. Thus, these video clips contradict the argument that the relationship between violence and sports only occurs with boys because clearly that is not the case. Women are people do and there will be certain things that will trigger anger in them, just like with men. Therefore, this claim that the relationship between sports and violence should not disregard that these incidents of violence in sports occurs with women as well.

The argument stated above regarding the relationship between boys and violence in sports is true because most men are assumed to have a relatively aggressive nature, a feature they are able to express through sports. Therefore, when brawls occur during male sports, the media doesn't really pay mind to them because they happen so often and have become representative of males. When men play sports, they feel as though if someone behaves out of order they need to become aggressive with that person to show their "manliness." People expect to see males fight frequently during the game, especially in contact sports. When girls behave in this same way, however, it is looked down upon. Girls are not usually portrayed to be belligerent but rather calm and logical, even in sports. This is similar to how women coaches, as explained in Professor Messner's book "It's all about the Kids," try to be more calm and practical about their coaching even though their goal is the same as the male coaches': to win. Many women will not behave as men by lashing out during sports games but others will. Therefore, when the media does see a rare incident as such, they over-exaggerate it because they know it will spur much attention. It is important to realize, however, that every individual is different and regardless of the stereotype that men are aggressive and women are not, each person will behave in varying ways. Furthermore, boys should not be excused by the society for starting fights during sports simply because of their stereotype while women are criticized for behaving in the same way.

It is clear that there are some negative effects of sports but there are many positive ones that could potentially outweigh the negative. Women are able to gain the same good out of playing sports as men such as learning how to be leaders, learning how to be competitive and also learning how to work well with other people. These are lessons that are strongly encouraged by the coaches during their practices in order to make each individual player better and therefore make the entire team better. Nonetheless, the negative effects of violence and the media's need to exaggerate this violence can be thought of as hindering the overall journey of being on a sports team; at the same time, it also brings about a healthy challenge for women. The women need to prove to the society that they are as good at sports as men are and should not be thought of as differently for behaving the same way the men do on the playing field.

Group Presentation

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-IdUKbLSg)

This video clip is from the FINA Women's World Championship Water Polo, Gold Medal Match in Rome, Italy (USA vs. Canada). Things get rough when American Elsie Windes hits the goal for the lead, 5-4, then hits Alogbo in the face. (Universal Sports, UniversalSports.com) 


It is especially surprising when female athletes engage in violence during their sport because it is rarely seen since people do not usually associate violence with female athletes but rather with male athletes. Although scholars have argued that female youth sports produce only positive effects in girl's behavior, it is clearly not the case in this situation. Windes may have possibly lost her temper as the commentator mentioned or it could have just been an extra swing of the arm. However, if Windes position and action is carefully analyzed, most people would agree that the blow was intentional. This media clip contradicts the argument that sports elicit positive behavior, but viewers also have to consider the heat of the moment in the sport and the competitive feeling during the match.

The connection between violence and youth sports for both genders is important because in general, female sports and athletes are less publicized in the media than male sports and athletes. The lack of coverage of female sports do not stir up problems up until the point when female sports are suddenly covered more when an act or acts of violence occur. Furthermore, female sports and athletes are rarely seen or noticed in the media unless violence happens. This speaks to the fact that there are indeed less incidents where female athletes are violent compared to male athletes. This increase in coverage may be because the public and the media find violent female athletes shocking or unacceptable and thus, they have to be pointed out. Lastly, as Professor Messner mentioned, men are more likely to be violent because they feel they have to "prove" their masculinity as "stooping down" a level to becoming a little less masculine and little more feminine (being a sissy) is unacceptable and looked down upon. Also in a way to prove their sexual orientation, men tend to be rough with other men to disprove any notion where there may be feelings of interest or care between them.

In the end, the positive impacts of youth sports do outweigh the negative because if all aspects are considered, athletes learn many positive things but few negative things. For instance, athletes learn about teamwork, sportsmanship, friendly competition, knowledge of their sport, and strategy (strategic thinking and thinking ahead) . Conversely, the only negative aspects they take from sports may be violence/aggressiveness and unfriendly competition. And evenso, the negative behavior is not taken up by all athletes that play sports.

Violence in Female Sports (Presentation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAs-dhXdqU

Even after the passing of Title IX in 1972, many people were still hesitant to let females play sports with males: “In 1974, two years after the passage of Title IX…Little League Baseball was forced to open its game to girl participants…The creation of Littlle league softball is consequential in terms of the gender regime of the organization” (Messner, 15). Instead of “opening the game” up to girls, they created a whole new game for females—softball. Even today, female and male sports are thought of as categorically different and perceived in different ways. Male sports and athletes get the majority of the coverage in the media, whereas when female athletes are shown, there is less focus on their sport and more on their sexuality. Moreover, it is almost expected—and widely accepted—for males to be violent while playing their sport, whereas violence in female sports is looked down upon and down played in the media.

Scholars have argued that female youth sports produce only positive effects in girls’ behaviors. However, the media clip provided above is contradictory to this assumption because sports—regardless if it’s played by females or males—are usually very intense and elicit high levels of aggression from males and females alike, which ultimately leads to some violence in sports. However, one thing to notice about the violent behavior of the female soccer player in the clip is that her aggression and violence is much more subtle than the violent behaviors seen in male sports.

How females and males express aggression and violence differently in sports is important to think about because it reflects societal gender expectations. In lecture, Professor Messner discussed a variety of reasons as to why males are violent: homophobia & misogyny, competitive career hierarchies, suppression of self-empathy, etc. Thus, due to the fact that society expects males to be strong and dominant, openly violent behavior seen in male sports are more acceptable than they are in female sports. Since females are not expected to behave in the same ways as males, the violent behaviors in female sports are much subtle and hidden. However, although violence in all youth sports is important to consider, this one negative aspect is outweighed by all of the positive aspects of youth sports, such as getting exercise, making friends, and keeping kids off the streets.

Richmond High Rape Response

In response to the Richmond High School rape article, I found it to be shocking that people would actually just stand around a situation like that and not try to do anything to help. Sure, it might be unsafe to try to intervene physically, but more people could have at least shown her the respect not to gawk at the horrible scene that was occuring. As stated in the article, I believe that a lot of this lack of emotion or caring about women stems from the way that women are portrayed in the media today. If all we see are images of women wearing revealing clothes and engaging in promiscuous behavior, it becomes hard to separate fiction from reality. Soem people might even come to believe that real-life girls and women actually enjoy being raped and abused. However, this indoctrination still doesn't give the onlookers any excuse for allowing such a callous rape to continue. In this case, when you really think about it, the bystanders are almost as much to blame for the rape as the rapists themselves. By not doing anything to stop it and even taking part in filming it and egging it on, they ended up encouraging it to continue.

On a larger scale, if we all just sit back and allow things like this to go on, it just continues to foster a culture in which rape and abuse become normalized and seen as "okay". In general, I believe that we don't neccessarily have to totally change or sanitize the images of women in the media- there's nothing essentially wrong with images of beautiful or sexy women. Even displaying images of promiscuity or sexual invitation is okay. They'r all realities of life. However, these images need to be diluted by more images of normal, everyday women so that people can better recognize the line between fiction and reality.

Response to rape cases

In response to the Kobe Bryant case I agree that both are to blame, Kobe for being a married man and still being willing to engage in such a relationship, and Katelyn for not having stopped Kobe when things went too far. But I disagree with the fact that as an all star athlete he would use this situation to brag to his teammates. Being one of the best, if not the best, player in the NBA is enough proof of masculinity in society today therefore there is no need to push the point any further. And, having a family, doing such a thing would not bring as much respect from his teammates, as say a single all-star athlete would get. If anything he would be looked down upon for cheating on his wife. Also, many have agreed that Kobe's wife is good looking and that she is a catch. Why then would he need to further his masculinity by getting other women. I feel that it was simply a moment of passion which he could not help but get overcome by. This also applies to Katelyn.
The Polanski case where Polanski was accused of raping a thirteen year old girl whom he took pictures of. In this case no matter what Roman Polanski pleads he took advantage of a minor. So no matter if she for some reason consented it is still considered rape. And the fact that he could escape to France without punishment is confusing. The confusing part of it is why France would not extradite him back to the U.S.
In the Greg Haidl case where a 17 year old girl was raped by two 17 year old boys it was argued that the father, Greg, was to blame because he allowed drinking in his house by minors. Although he did although drinking it was the boys who committed the crime. It may seem cruel to say that the girl also shares in part some of the blame because she choose to drink that night. Also, the event seems to not have affected her as deeply if she was willing to go out and have sex not long after the crime. All in all the blame cannot be placed fully on one party, the boys, the father, or the girl. All are accountable for having engaged in either having alcohol in their place or in their bodies. But the boys do deserve punishment for their crime.

2 of the Rape Cases

With respect to the Richmond case, there is no way to avoid the fact that a crime was committed. However, with respects to where the blame should be placed, it is absolutely absurd that people would even begin to think to blame the girl that was the victim due to the fact that she had been consuming alcohol. Yes, this is illegal and yes, her consuming alcohol would grant her some sort of punishment with authorities. But there is no way one can deem it fair that she got what she deserved and the situation was her fault simply due to her consumption of alcohol. I find it twisted that people would even attempt to use facts in order to reassign the blame of a situation. In the Greg Haidl case, even though I personally feel that this case could be looked at in two ways. Even though the girl had consented to sex prior with these boys, that does not mean that the rape was justified. WHen it comes to cases of rape, people must be very objective and examine the facts as cases such as these where the rapist is a previous sexual partner can get very messy and obscure. We must know where to draw the line so rapes don't become casual and things that are not rape start to be considered rape.

A very common theme for all of the rape cases is that the woman is at fault when clearly, the men were the ones committing the crime. Sure, the women could've been more careful by not getting themselves drunk to the point where they can't think as clearly, but in the end, it's the men who choose to have sexual intercourse when they surely know that the women aren't in a normal state of mind to make the decision to oppose. We also talked about rape in writing 140 on college campuses and how a large number of college boys wouldn't stop sexual intercourse if girls asked them to. Even if the girls aren't in the right state of mind because of drinking, it's the mens' faults for committing the act.

Richmond High Rape Case

To me the most shocking and disturbing part of this case is that people watched. In other gang rape cases there have been audience members, like the one Messner talked about in lecture but they were more involved in the rape. In this case there were other students watching and standing by and not doing anything about the situation. They were even recording parts of it on their phones. It is mind blowing to me that anyone could sit by and watch this happen and not do anything about it! I just don't understand, in particular how any female could stand by and watch a fellow female be raped by a group of men. Were they entertained? scared? I have no idea. I can't comprehend it. I live up in the bay area so I know the stereotypes about Richmond and how scary, dangerous, and impoverished it is. I went home this weekend and my mom brought up the case. She got together a bunch of cards, signed by students in her high school classes in San Jose and sent them to her along with a flowers from my mother. I found this so intersting since we had just talked about it in class a few days before. We also discussed how there must "always be someone to blame" and this is not always the perpetrator. In this case I think society as a whole is blaming the society and culture of Richmond. One of the issues was lack of security cameras etc. These things aren't always present in a school in an area like Richmond. I think that in the area of Richmond criminal behavior has become a normal thing and so overwhelming that all crimes cannot be prosecuted. This fosters an environment where people, these boys in particular, think it's acceptable to commit crime like this because they think they won't get caught.

Who to blame?

In the rape case involving Greg Haidl, I feel he should be the one blamed. I don't understand how he can take advantage of another person and simply expect his father to bail him out of trouble. Yes, his father is partly to blame because he should have been the responsible adult in the picture who doesn't allow his child to get away with everything, but Greg is old enough to understand that there are consequences to be paid when you commit a crime. He did not have to have learned that from his father. There are plenty of people out there who also did not have exemplary parents, yet not all of those people go about their days committing crimes and blaming it on their poor upbringing. His father's failed attempts at portraying the victim as a promiscuous girl and his son as an innocent young boy simply show how immature and irresponsible he is, especially knowing that he was the Orange County Assistant Sheriff. His immaturity should not be the basis for the rape. Having had an extremely lenient father who bailed him out for "minor" offenses, does not justify Greg's need to commit rape. Yes, he grew up with bad parenting, but not all parents are perfect, and not all kids with bad parents rape. I just don't understand how Greg won't take any responsibility for his actions. Whether the girl had consensual sex the night before, and showed up intoxicated the night of the rape or not, it does not justify the way in which Greg and the other guys treated her.

Response to the 4 rape cases

In class we talked about four highly publicized rape cases. In each case, there seemed to be a trend of the media placing blame in different directions than toward the accused or even the convicted rapists.

In the recent Richmond High School rape case, a fifteen year old female student was sexually assaulted outside of a homecoming dance. She had drank and there were bystanders watching, yet the crime was still committed. Her group of perpetrators was mostly Hispanic and within five years of her age range. Although this serious crime stirred up a lot of controversy in the media, the blame was not necessarily focused on the accused criminals. A lot of the focus was placed on the neighborhood of Richmond, which has generally had a high crime rate and is inhabited by the lower class. The culture of Richmond and its "ghetto" standards became a central focus the media portrayed for the case. Yes, the neighborhood could use some improvements, but culture cannot force a group of boys to sexually assault a young girl.

In the Greg Haidl case, three 17 year old boys raped a 17 year old girl while she was intoxicated. The incident occurred at the Haidl household, while the parents were there. This crime caused a lot of media coverage because Don Haidl, the father, was involved in politics and the family was very wealthy and involved in the Newport Beach community. The teenage boys committed the crime, but the blame was again not placed on them as much as the focus was on Don Haidl, the father, and also the girl who was assaulted. The father was looked down upon for allowing drinking to occur at his home and not really know that a rape was occurring so closeby. The victim was also looked down upon because of her decisions to drink and also because she had sex not long after the incident. Although both of these people may have made some type of mistake, the boys were the ones who actually committed the crime.

In the Kobe Bryant case, the famous basketball player allegedly raped a hotel employee who was 4 years his junior. The women consented to some amount of the acts, but then refused consent later. After the media found out, a lot of the focus went towards the victim, who was later discovered to have a lot of mental issues and even a suicide attempt in her history. Bryant was already a sports hero at the time, and many people did not want to believe that the crime was entirely his fault. It may not have been, but the media placed so much blame on the accuser that it became more of an investigation into her past and her issues than into the actual act of the rape.

In the Roman Polanski case, more blame was placed on the accused than in the other cases, but the media still focused on other aspects outside of the victim and the perpetrator. Polanski was a well-known director at the time and the victim was a thirteen year old model. He took photos of her and then that led to rape in which the victim was drinking champagne and had taken qualludes. A lot of the focus soon turned to the model culture, which typically allows very young girls to grow up much more quickly than they normally would. The mother also was given some of the blame by the media because she allowed her daughter to participate in such activities involved in the modeling culture.

Repsonse to Rape Cases

The Richmond High School case in particular shocked me because there were so many bystanders that did nothing, and it took place on school grounds. I suppose it was an example of the bystander effect. I can hardly believe that it was allowed to take place on school grounds during a school sponsored event. The school should have had better security on watch. I feel that a school should be responsible for keeping it's student population safe, especially at school sponsored events.

The Greg Haidl case disheartened me because even though the victim had been known to be promiscuous with the other men, she still was not in a position to give consent at the time the rape happened. Previously having sex with someone should not be a premise for consent. I believe that sex should happen between two consenting persons each and every time they have sex. Although it is more likely that two people in a committed relationship who are sexually active (ex. marriage) will give consent, it should still be given each and every time they take part in a sexual act. Is a wife not considered raped if her husband takes advantage of her and she does not give consent?
In the Kobe Bryant case, Kobe's position in society leaves him at blame, especially because he is married. Also, the fact that the victim was much younger than him and that she had schizophrenia makes it appear as though Kobe really was taking advantage of her. The issue of withdrawn consent is also important, because a person can choose to withdraw their consent.
The Roman Polanski case was upsetting because he not only gave the girl drugs, but she was a minor. Her mother was blamed because she allowed her daughter spend time with him, and the lack of her father's presence was also put to blame. However, there are plenty of girls who live with both of their parents who engage in promiscuous activities just as there are plenty of girls who live with their mothers and do not engage in promiscuous activities.

I define rape as any non-consensual sexual acts committed among people. It should not happen in any circumstances. I also believe that women should be aware of the circumstances they are in, especially if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Richmond High Rape

I would like to focus on the Richmond High School rape case. In the case Four teenagers face potential life sentences in connection with the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her homecoming dance at Richmond High School. I found it very surprising that the 16-year-old also has been charged with robbery. To see the incident occur after a dance was the biggest surprise, I expected the men and women in the immediate area to help the women in distress, but this clearly did not happen. One main point of the story was the fact that the victim drank a large amount of brandy in a short period of time while socializing, police said, then collapsed. Someone dragged her to a bench, where several people stripped her, beat her, stole her jewelry and other belongings, and raped her.
The school board had an immediate response towards the event. West Contra Costa school board's safety subcommittee hosted a meeting Wednesday night following the event in the high school auditorium, where about 100 community members vented over the rape, particularly focusing on the lack of security cameras and fencing around the campus. The district has drawn fire over the on-campus assault and its perceived sluggishness to add long-promised safety features to Richmond High.
The case was clearly a gang rape. A gang rape, or mass rape, occurs when a group of people participate in the rape of a single victim. Rape involving at least two or more perpetrators is widely reported to occur in many parts of the world. Systematic information on the extent of the problem, however, is scant. Gang rapes involved more alcohol and drug use, night attacks and severe sexual assault outcomes and less victim resistance and fewer weapons than individual rapes. Another study found that group sexual assaults were more violent and had greater resistance from the victim than individual sexual assaults and that victims of group sexual assaults were more likely to seek crisis and police services, to contemplate suicide and seek therapy than those involved in individual assaults. As such was the case in this story.
Overall I am disappointed that people my age would commit such acts and the best society can do as a whole is learn from the event.

Haidl Case

The case that I would like to focus on is that of Greg Haidl, who was released from prison in 2008 after serving a 6 year sentence. Although many people would blame Greg’s father, Don Haidl, it is important to note that during the case Greg was tried as an adult. He was technically a minor at the time, but in the eyes of society he was old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. I do believe that a certain amount of blame falls on Don Haidl since he was in the house at the time of the attack and allowed Greg and his friends to drink. However, there is enough blame to be passed around. Greg Haidl was obviously in the wrong for not only committing the sexual crime, but having the audacity (and stupidity) to record the assault on camera. The victim also incurred a share of the blame in the media coverage due to her sexual promiscuity, but no matter how promiscuous the victim was, it does not justify the nature of the sexual assault. It is also worth mentioning that Don Haidl (the Assistant-Sheriff at the time) was arrested for federal tax charges, and has since admitted that he gave cash and gifts to Michael Carona (the Sheriff) in exchange for the role of Assistant-Sheriff. Don Haidl claimed that he did this in hopes of getting a lighter sentence for his son. This shows that perhaps Greg’s criminal behavior can be attributed to a morally corrupt upbringing.
After being released from jail, Haidl and the other perpetrators attempted to appeal their convictions on the ground that the girl was actually a willing participant in the sexual acts. They are also appealing that if the court does not overturn the conviction, that at least the court should lift the ban that they register as sexual offenders for the rest of their lives. I have a split opinion on this issue because I believe that requiring people to register as sex offenders puts a stigma on them for the rest of their lives. There are people that reform as a result of spending time in prison, and I believe that registering as sex offenders does not allow these people to move on with their lives.

Richmond High School rape

When I first read the article about the rape case of Richmond High School, I do feel shocked about how come a rape could happen at school? It is quite ridiculous for me that a school is supposed to be a safe place to let student study and play with, instead of a crime place to let boys raped a girl. After reading some articles and some comments from the others, they mentioned about who should to blame for this case, the girl herself, the boys, the bystanders, or the community? I do think that the girl should not be blame for it, as she is having sex unwillingly by saying "no" already. The boys, of course, they should be blame for doing this. They were high school students, and they should know what to do. Maybe someone would blame for the education for the boys, surely, this is one of the problems that they did not have enough concepts about the crime of raping a girl; however, they still had to be responsible for what they have done. The bystanders, I do think that they should also be blamed for becasue though they did nothing to the girl, they did not help her either. They could have prevented this happen, but they did not. That's why I think they should be blamed for, too. In addtion, the community did not provide a safe place for students, maybe there was not enough security? The community should pay more attention to the school surrounding expecailly having party or something similar at night. Someone did mentioned about the culture of american and lack of repect to women, that was also a problem that people would blame for, still, this affect the point of view of the children through and thus affecting what they did.

A lot of times, some society and the public in general blame the girl since she put herself into that situation for being drunk. If she was sober, then she might realize what she had put herself into earlier and reduce the chance of getting raped. I think however, that this is an attempt to excuse the behavior of the rapist and the people who stood by and let it happen. The victim is never at fault in the rape situation. Moreover, the city of Richmond (the environment) also gets blame as one of the main causes of rape. Since rape happens frequently and the crime rate is high in Richmond, it leads to the perspective that it is fine to conduct rape since it happens all the time. Culture affects child rearing process and strongly influence the way the boys think since childhood. I think that in Greg Haidl’s case of the 17 year olds who raped the 17year old girl, while there is some controversy because she had consensual sex the previous night and admitted to having sex with other people after rape, the blame is still on the rapists as opposed to the victim. Though she may have had clouded judgement that night and done other things that she regretted, she was videotaped clearly saying no to the rapists and they continued. Although society can push some of the blame off onto the girl and her sexual promiscuity, I think that it is important to remember that the individuals committing these crimes make the choice to do it and should not rely on others to take responsibility for their own actions.

4 rape cases

I am going to go through the four rape cases we discussed last week in section and give my personal opinions on all of them. The first one, the one from Richmond just flat out disgusts me. The fact that this could happen and be observed by so many people and no one made an attempt to stop it is outrageous. I agree with the media that the school is to blame, but there are more people at fault than just the school system. Even though Richmond is a low socio-economic place, that is no excuse for the conduct of their behavior. No matter how poor of a place a person is from, they are still expected to have values and I believe that all these kids had none. I would expect for someone to do something to stop this scene and I think that this speaks poorly of humans in general. The second case I want to talk about is the one with the 13 year old girl who was drugged and then taken advantage of. The thing that I find most striking about this is that Whoopie Goldberg stated this was "not rape rape." What the fuck!? He drugged her and then had sex with her. Yes, it wasn't the stereotypical rape myth of a man jumping out from the bushes, but in my opinion this is about as "rape rape" as it gets. The fact that people were arguing that it was less of an offense because she was not a virgin was also disturbing to me because that has no significance to whather it was a rape or not. Lets look at the facts, a 40(ish) yearold man drugs a 13 year old girl and has sex with her. Rape, lock him up. The third case I want to talk about is the 3 boys from Orange County and the girl. I believe that this one is rape and the boys should be punished for it, but not to the extent that the defendants in the previous two cases should be charged. I think this case is interesting because there are so many people at fault. I think the defendents are at fault, as well as the victim, as well as the defendants parents, and even the the victims parents. When it comes to Kobe, I don't even know what to think. I am a huge lakers fan so I choose to believe that he is innocent because I don't want to root for a rapist. Also the victim does not seem credible at all. That case is so confusing, and when it comes down to it I have watched countless interviews with Kobe and see the way he interacts with his wife and kids, that I just can't see him doing it.

Richmond High Rape Case

The Richmond High rape case is disturbing on various different levels. First off, the rape happened during a high school homecoming dance on school property. Why is there not greater enforcement of teens at the school? Reports show that over 20 people were involved in the rape (10 watched and 10 participated) of this 15-year-old high school girl. The girl was beat, stripped, then gang raped, lasting over 2 ½ hours. It is understandable to have parents worry about what extracurricular activities their children get into, knowing that their children are safe at school. But now, do parents have to worry about their kids getting beat and raped on school grounds? Secondly, the victim and the accusers were claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol. So, not only did the actual rape take place on campus, but alcohol was consumed by minors on campus. There has to be better supervision of students at school dances during and after school. In addition, the victim herself was intoxicated to the point where she passed out on a nearby bench. I feel that the school, the boys who raped the girl, and those who watched and didn’t report the situation to the authorities are to blame. There is no excuse for rape, and there is definitely no excuse for a rape done on a high school campus.

response to discussion in class

First of all, I think that rape is a very difficult subject to dissect. Because of this difficulty it is more reasonable to look at each case unique unto itself, because the circumstances and situations in which the rapes occur are the basis for which we must categorize it as rape or not and also to place blame on the “correct” person. It is very difficult to come to certain conclusions because of the ambiguity surrounding each rape case.
In the Richmond High School Rape Case, the blame was placed primarily on the community and school for fostering an environment that was prone to these kinds of acts. I do believe that the environment in which the boys who committed the gang rape did factor into their behavior, but I think this shouldn’t exempt the boys from punishment. The stereotypical “culture of Richmond” has an impact on each of the residents, but it is up to those residents and the people to move to change this “bad reputation.” While many efforts have been taken to improve the “culture,” these kinds of occurances deeply sadden me that there are people who are essentially making efforts to maintain the “culture” they have become so acclimated to. No one should be fearful at school and creating this fear only adds to the negativity surrounding Richmond, an effect those boys should both be ashamed of and punished for. In this case, it was clearly a vicious rape, a crime that is disgusting and
In the Greg Haidl case, the blame was not so decisive, it is a case filled with many different factors that are used to try to take the blame off of the boys and place it on the victim. However, the girl is just that: a victim. Sure she was promiscuous and drinking, but that doesn’t give the boys the right to rape and assault her. Also, despite the situation made possible by the parents, ultimately it was the boy’s decisions and actions that physically and emotionally hurt the female. Rape isn’t black and white, but doesn’t exempt those who commit it from blame.
In the Roman Polanski case was gross. I’m sorry but my own moral compass leads me to the conclusion that the massive age difference between the two is just wrong. The girl was much too young to realize what she was doing and how it would affect her. Sure she was a model, but she was subjected to such a different world where she was encouraged to be sexualized and mature, when she wasn’t of age to be this way. There are reasons why there are minor laws, to protect those too immature of making bad decisions. I’m quite interested in the mother of the girl, I would be very disappointed in my mother if she exploited me for her own personal gain. I don’t think that I agree with Polanski being extensively punished, but I do believe that he is to blame: he is older, he should have known better, bottom line.

Rape Cases

All four of these rape cases, as with any, are disturbing in their own ways. Two of them in particular, the Richmond High School Homecoming Dance and the Greg Haidl rape cases, are especially troubling in that the females raped were intoxicated, the males that performed the act were older, the rapes occurred in unexpected places, and there were other figures in or around the scene that could have prevented it from happening.
First, the Richmond case is upsetting in that while the female victim was being raped by five older males on school grounds, the witnesses watching simply caught the act on camera without actively getting involved and stopping the violence from occurring. Most parents assume that at school dances their children will be watched over and protected from such events. It’s surprising and unsettling that something like this can happen at such a public school event. Not only are the males involved to blame, but so are the school and the bystanders witnessing the event taking place. The setting of the incident is also something to consider, since its reputation is known for being bad.
However, rapes can happen anywhere, which is proven with the Greg Haidl rape case in which a 16 year old female is raped by three males in a wealthy Orange County city. The rape occurred at the Haidl’s household, where the parents of Greg Haidl felt it was safer for the children to drink alcohol there than anywhere else. As the rape took place downstairs, the Haidl parents were up in a different part of the house. Their consent in allowing their son and his friends to drink most likely played a large part in contributing to the performance of the rape. They could have easily said no to their son drinking, or have been present to make sure that nobody was getting hurt. A typical high school teenage house party in which the parents are home is not a place where other teenage parents should be worried about their children being hurt at. Though the rape occurred in a wealthy community, it is not ever guaranteed that all children will be safe.
Violence occurs in everyday situations. There’s no real assurance in the safety of a place based on the community or the people watching over it. Anything can happen anywhere.

Rape Cases

The notion that rape is not the woman’s fault is commonly cited. Women who have been raped are repeatedly told that it was the rapist’s responsibility and not her own. Yet, in the four rape cases that we discussed, two of the victims are blamed and the rapists themselves receive very little culpability. In the Greg Haidl case, the victim was a young seventeen-year-old. She is not even considered an adult, yet many consider the rape to be her fault because she acted “promiscuously.” Because she was a female who had engaged in sexual activities prior to the rape, many do not entirely believe that she was actually raped. The lack of consent is negated by the fact that she was sexually active and consequently perceived as a slut. Similarly, in the Kobe Bryant case, the victim was accused of having sex immediately after the rape. This accusation implies that the woman was loose and willing to have sex with anyone, thus calling into question the issue of consent.

The fact that the women – the victims who were put in situations that they objected to – receive the blame is unfair. The females’ sexual history is called into question and becomes a factor in these cases, while the male rapists’ sexual records are entirely ignored. The media does not focus on whether the men had sex right before or after these rapes, yet that seems more relevant than the females’ history. If the men were sleeping with many women at the time, it would seem more likely that the men are used to or expect consent. Thus, they may have not fully belief the lack of consent when it was received, adding a different aspect to the case. However, none of this is addressed. Instead, the female victims are analyzed, and their actions are scrutinized. While they should be receiving care for their traumatizing rape, these women are inflicted with insults and blame. The double standard for the way men and women are treated should change.

Richmond High School Rape Case

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2357466/richmond_high_school_gang_rape_case.html?cat=9

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/29/california.rape.victim.friend/index.html

Perhaps the most significant part of the Richmond High School rape case is the setting in which it took place. A high school campus is an area many take for granted as a safe and rape-free zone. The image of a teenage girl getting gang raped on campus is something hard for many to comprehend due to the perceived innocence and naivety of a high school student.

When looking at the media's response to the event, the same shock and emphasis on the high school setting are the main parts of various articles. For example, CNN's coverage on the case starts on a graphic image of a high school dance ending in a violent scene of rape. The article then continues to blame the local area for not taking the initiative to keep its schools safe. Such an accusation is questionable because the first and foremost way of preventing rape has to do with the morals and childhood of the victims. Rather than blaming a school district for not stepping in or preventing the boys from coming into the high school venue, the real problem should be the minds of the teenagers who though it would be okay to film and participate in a gang rape at such a young age.