Sample Scandal in Sport Digital Project

Running with the Guys: Kathy Switzer's Advocacy against the Boston Marathon

Overview

In 1967, Katherine Switzer entered the Boston Marathon under the gender-neutral name, "K. V. Switzer." Realizing that entry number 261 was female, race official Jock Semple attempted to physically remove Switzer from the race, saying, "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers." Another runner, Tom Miller, shoved Semple out of the way. Switzer finished in approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes. After the race, Boston Athletic Association director Will Cloney argued that “we have no space in the Marathon for any unauthorized person… If that girl were my daughter, I would spank her." Many female runners advocated for gender equality in the Boston Marathon, and, finally, in 1972, females were permitted to participate.

Argument

As long as sports rely on masculine definitions of what success looks like, advocacy efforts like those of Katherine Switzer and others will fall short. Sport has the potential to improve society when its rules and regulations are inclusive and gender-neutral, so that everyone gets a chance to experience its benefits.

Research to Support My Argument

"Throughout the world of women's sports the long-time association between sport and masculinity lingered on. This was particularly true at the higher levels of competition. When the women, who comprised only 34 percent of the American squad at the Winter Olympics at Albertville, France, in 1992, won 82 percent of the medals, the media interpreted it as a defeat of the men."

Rader, Benjamin. (2009). The Quest for Equity in Women's Sports. American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports. (p. 334). Pearson. Print.

"As with most important human pursuits, activities like sport which are valued, have a tendency to become institutionalized, to become highly organized within a social system. They then attract an overlay of values which are important to the society as a whole. It is a given that society's dominant public institutions will inevitably seek to exploit any human activity which is valued --- to make money, to retain power, to exercise power over others."

Lopiano, Donna. A Political Analysis of the Possibility of Impact Alternatives for the Accomplishment of Feminist Objectives Within American Intercollegiate Sport. Fractured Focus: Sport as a Reflection of Society. Ed: Richard E. Lapchick. (p. 166) Lexington Books. Print.

"We live in a society in which key elements are gendered as male. Winning is male. Power is male. Money is male. Physical dominance is male. And big-time Las Vegas–lined, network-covered, sold-out-venue, sponsor-rich sports are male. We must recalibrate this system. Athletics should be gender-neutral, a human activity and not a pumped-up, artificial rendition of men’s strength and women’s weakness as a definition of sex identity."

McDonagh, Eileen; Pappano, Laura (2007-10-25). Playing With the Boys:Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports. (p. 3). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

"Women's movement into sport (as athletes and as spectators) has challenged the naturalization of gender difference and inequality, which has been a basic aspect of the institution of sport."

Messner, Michael; Sabo, Donald. (1990). Sport, Men, and the Gender Order. (p. 9). Human Kinetics Publishers. Print.

"Sex segregation is not morally required in sports on grounds of it usefulness in preserving masculine sports."

Postow, B.W. "Women and Masculine Sports." (2002). In Philosophy of Sport: Critical Readings, Crucial Issues. Ed.: M. Andrew Holowchak. Pearson Education. Print.

3 Patterns

Adult females who have attempted to integrate male-only sports have been derided across decades as being less worthy than male athletes.

Attempts to change rules of major sports to require male and female participation in equal amounts receive little attention.

Females who rise up against hegemonic masculinity in sports have ushered in small but consistent progress toward gender egalitarianism for the next generation of female athletes.

What Would a Hero Look Like in My Scandal and Its Repercussions?

"Sport can help overcome ignorance and discrimination and

sow the seeds of integration and equality."

Adolf Ogi, United Nations Secretary-General's Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace

"Mo'Ne Davis on the This Week's National SI Cover"

plays forward the legacy of Katherine Switzer and other advocates for female equity in sports, as it not only celebrates Mo'Ne Davis' stardom as a Little League pitcher but, also, shows a series of other SI covers across the decades. These covers tell us a lot about how females have been depicted in sports.