Ch. 16; Minority Women of Color: Unpacking Racial Ideology

1
Ch. 16 Minority Women of Color Unpacking Racial
Ideology

• By Doris Corbett
• Notes from Women in Sport, Greta Cohen, Ed.

2
Melting Pot Premise Challenged

• Combat stereotypes need working knowledge of
  what they are first (Hispanic, Latino, Asian)
• Demographic changes multiple unconnected
  neighborhoods how is power shared? How will
  immigrants fit into sport?
• Significant segment of White Americans has fear
  of unknown, strangers, immigrants

3
White as a Racial Identity Implications for
Women of Color

• Whites frequently unaware of the fact that the
  White perspective is not the only one
• Tunnel vision fails to see non-White reality
• Failure to identify Whiteness permits White
  people to discount how races shapes their lives
  and how racial privileges are amassed (Hyde,
  1995, p.88)

4
Unpacking the Social Construction of Racial
Ideology

• Some Definitions
• Ideology rationalized and helps organize
  particular social interests. Racist and Sexist
  ideologies provide a vocabulary about race,
  cultural and gender differences, and an idea
  about what is normal

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Culture Defined

• A collective name for all behavior patterns that
  are socially obtained and socially conveyed.
  Culture is transmitted in a variety of ways
  including tradition, language, and customs.
  Culture consists of the way life is created by
  people in a particular society.

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Ethnicity

• The concept of ethnicity evolved as did the
  concept of race. Immigrants were defined as
  ethnic until they were acculturated into the
  American society.
• Ethnicity focuses on culturally based
  orientations and behaviors. It refers to the
  cultural heritage of a particular group and is
  not based on genetically determined physical
  traits.

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Minority Group

• The term minority group is a sociological term
  used to refer to a socially identified collection
  of people who experience discrimination and
  endure social disadvantages because of
  discrimination.

8
White Privilege

• White privilege applies to hidden rights and
  advantages that are afforded White people on the
  basis of skin color.
• These privileges reinforce and maintain the
  construction of this country that suggest White
  is normal and people of color are outsiders

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Stereotypes

• May be a characteristic of a group that is
  applied to one person who is a member of that
  group. Typically there is an element of truth in
  many stereotypes, but applying that trait to all
  members of that group is erroneous.
• Often advanced by both the media and pop culture
  and are not easy to overcome

10
Institutional Racism

• Systematic patterns of social inequality
  correlating with race and ethnicity.
• Racial discrimination usually occurs when race is
  used to determine access to status, power,
  rewards and privileges.
• Behavior is discriminatory when institutional
  practices, social conduct, codes of behavior, and
  legal sanctions have an unequal impact, which
  limit opportunities for people of color

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U.S. Patterns of Racial Discrimination

• In the U.S. racial discrimination usually applies
  to African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Chinese
  American, and Mexican Americans.
• Racial discrimination occurs when people of color
  experience subordination by people who consider
  themselves superior.

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Contemporary Racist Examples

• John Carlos and Tommy Smith were evicted from the
  1968 Mexico Olympic village for their victory
  stand demonstration.
• They were protesting racism in sport and American
  society.

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The Williams Sisters

• The media has not embraced the cultural
  difference tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams
  bring to the sport.
• The media, reflecting the values of the dominant
  society, has difficulty accepting Black women in
  sport who value their diversity.

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Racism and Sport

• Racism in sport toward women of color may be
  either formal or informal.
• Formal rules, codes, laws of an organization, or
  society that sanction discrimination
• Informal racism refers to discriminatory
  practices that are not officially sanctioned.

15
Historical Forms of Racism

• No longer accepted slavery, Jim Crow Laws, The
  Indian Removal Act, The Japanese Internment
  during WWII, and the Chinese Exclusion Act
• Racism has left its mark at the institutional and
  organizational levels of sport.

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Membership in Private Clubs

• In 1993 the Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, CA
  withdrew its name from the bid to host the U.S.
  Womens Amateur golf tournament.
• Minority athletes often get channeled into
  stereotypically prescribed sports. For example,
  Black girls and track and basketball.

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Invisible Women of Color

• For many brown women of color, the word beauty
  often translates into tall, thin, and White.
  Impossible.
• Stereotypes dont fit
• Knowledge

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Hierarchies are Interlocking

• White women and men enjoy skin privileges and
  have been conditioned to be unaware of its
  existence (McIntosh, 1992)
• Whites, both men and women, are not taught to
  recognize White privilege.
• Discrimination hurts people of color and
  advantages White women and men.

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Dailey Experiences of People of Color

• No one listens to her, but everyone take notice
  when a White female coach or athlete makes a
  comment.
• Women of color speak with the understanding that
  they will often not be listened to. Their
  motives will be challenged.
• Their comments will not be taken seriously.
• Their judgment and trustworthiness are
  questioned.

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More experiences

• Credit to their race insult
• Expected to downplay or not call attention to
  their language or cultural customs like hair
  style or dress.
• Lateness blamed on their race
• Youre a good friend. I never think of you as
  Black.
• Athletes and coaches feel burdened with the need
  to demonstrate their competence
• Glass ceiling limits upward mobility

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Racial Identity Topic Important

• Sport is one of the last arenas where racial
  issues are not genuinely discussed.
• Many changes have occurred in sport throughout
  the 20th century, but not enough progress has
  been made.

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Invisible Women of Color in Sport

• Minority women of color must resolve
  discrepancies in images of beauty promoted within
  their specific ethnicities and in the ideals
  promoted by the dominant culture.
• In the Black community having a larger frame does
  not carry the same stigma as it does in the White
  community.
• For Middle Eastern women, beauty does not mean
  thin, blond, and tall.
• Image is important gymnastics, and figure
  skating

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Who Are They? Hispanic?

• Many different meanings and social values are
  attributed to the term. Mexican decent, Puerto
  Rican, Brazilian, Dominican, etc.
• Hispanic and Latino labels affect the meaning and
  interpretation of citizenship.
• Hispanic White used sometimes by government,
  schools or private agencies to describe people of
  color. Mexican American who is new-born in
  California has White on the birth certificate.

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Little Research on Social Impact of Sport for
Latinas

• Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Mary Jo Fernandez, and
  Gabriela Sabatini in tennis, Nancy Lopez in golf,
  and Lisa Fernandez in soffball are standouts in
  their sports.
• From a research standpoint we know little or
  nothing about the social impact of sport in their
  lives.

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Asian American Women?

• Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipino, Indo
  Chinese including Vietnamese, Cambodians,
  Laotian, Thais, and ethnic Chinese, and South
  Asian including the countries of India, Pakistan,
  Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan,
  and Burma. Obviously, we should not believe that
  all Asian Americans look alike.

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The stereotypes of Asian Women

• Passive, submissive hard workers, model
  Minorities and exotic sex objects. Polite
  submissive, loyal, and family-oriented housewife.
• Figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Michele Kwan
  Pool player Jeanettee Lee, Golfers Se Ri Pak and
  Grack Park, and Japanese Baksetball Shooting
  Guard Linsday Yamasaki. Icons in the Asian
  community.
• One BB league in Orange County has 500 young
  Japanese American women playing. Another, 1000

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Native American Women?

• Stereotypes strong, stoic, quiet, loyal,
  untrustworthy, dishonest, indolent. Diminished
  financial status, They all receive welfare
  checks.
• Excel in running, archer, and lacrosse as well as
  in many games and sports such as field hockey,
  ice hockey, soccer, bowling, wrestling, and
  racquetball.

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Research Native American Women in Sport

• No win-at-all costs or self-serving attitude in
  the sports arena.
• The focus on the importance of competition for
  the group as a whole.
• Competition used to motivate individuals and
  groups to develop self-limits and self-knowledge.
  

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Native American Sports Council

• A member of the US Olympic Committee
• Provide culturally specific physical activity and
  sport opportunities for Native American girls and
  women.
• They offer a Sports Development Program for
  athletes
• There is a Native American Womens Track and
  Field Program.
• Lila Osceola, Seminole Creek, Sac, and Fox
  Tribes University of Tulsa BB player role model

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African American Women ?

• Trace their ancestry to the continent of Africa
  from where they were brought to the new world
  as slaves
• Many wrongly try to explain physical ability of
  Black athletes in racial terms even though race
  is a social construction and not biologically
  based.

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Natural Skills Stereotypes

• Speed, quickness, and jumping are the skills that
  cannot be taught and expressions of physicality
  among Black people are signs of intellectual
  inferiority
• No scientific foundation for the stereotypes, but
  many people still cling to them

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Family Influence Great

• Research indicates that the familys social
  social structure has been supportive of Black
  women in sport who have been successful.
• For example, elite athletes often credit their
  families for much of their success.

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Socialized Into a Few Sports

• Since the 1950s Blacks have been relegated to
  just a few sports.
• No or few Blacks in archer, badminton, cycling,
  field hockey, ice hockey, sailing, alpine and
  Nordic skiing, softball, table tennis, water
  polo, tennis, auto racing, bowling, canoeing, and
  kayaking, yachting, and many field event in track
  and field.

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Nevertheless, Blacks Have Excelled Everywhere

• Briana Scurry of the U.S. soccer team Dominique
  Daws, gymnastic Olympian Annett Davis and
  Jennifer Johnson Jordan in beach volleyball Dawn
  Ellerbee, hammer thrower and the Williams
  sisters in tennis.
• Robin Roberts, ESPN anchor women and sports
  commentator Benita Fitzgerald-Mosley, Director
  of the Training Amateur Athletic Foundation of
  L.A.

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Glass Ceiling

• Elaina Oden two time Olympian applied for
  coaching position at University of Connecticut.
  Impressive credentials, but no interview.
• Hiring practices of 292 NCAA universities
  investigated glass ceiling was revealed. Black
  women barred from high-paying head coaching or
  administrative positions. At professional level
  only 3 out of 401 VP positions

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Effects of Demographic Shifts in Sport

• Tensions heightened among racial groups.
• Whites will be in the minority. Many White
  Americans are not prepared for that
• Today women of color are challenging the existing
  patterns of racially defined sports.
• The sporting result of cultural diversity
  increasing is a complex pattern of racial and
  ethnic group competition and demands for
  political power.

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Unpacking Racial Stereotypes in Sport

• Minority women in sport are not natural athletes
  any more than other women in sport.
• Minority female athletes are students first and
  foremost.
• We need to Provide an atmosphere of inclusiveness
  and commit to minority representation in
  positions of power coaches, administrators, etc.

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Cultural Considerations

• Different behavior patterns in one culture may be
  interpreted as unacceptable in another.
• Behavior and communication may have different
  meanings cross culturally.
• We need to find ways to avoid imposing
  limitations on cultural expression.

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Conclusion

• Women of color experience a form of double
  jeopardy racism and sexism.
• Challenging racism in sport is a good thing.
• As women, we already share a form of oppression
  that is universally understood. Lets extend
  that understanding to understanding racial
  oppression.