Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and sports advocacy (Part 4)

This blog post is part 4 of a series dicussing my experiences with Facebook, Myspace and Twitter as they relate to  advocacy issues that highly affect the women’s sport sphere. This is an assignment for a class I’m enrolled in as part of John’s Hopkins University’s Digital Communications program.

The theme of this week’s post is “learn from example.” Because our female sports feminist sisters seem to “have it together” politically, I went searching for a good site which asks readers to take action on Twitter, MySpace or Facebook. Immediately, I found one: Women’s Voices. Women Vote.

It’s a simple site that was clearly created around getting women to register to vote during the 2008 Presidential election. But beyond the seemingly “expired” nature of the content, they have a unique presence in YouTube (13 videos, page which is unbranded – not bad), MySpace (customized page with 33 friends – kindof low, but clearly shows widgets and publicizes videos), and Facebook (345 fans, but a blank wall). Seems to me like they got their basics down. They just needed a little help with public engagement.

Fair pay and athletics: The gender disparities continue to loom

This post is part of an initiative by the National Women’s Law Center in honor of Equal Pay Day — “voices are rising up across the web in support of fair pay for women.” All day, they’ll be promoting blog posts about fair pay and tweets with the hashtag #fairpay.

The reason today is Equal Pay Day: April 28, 2009 marks the day when the average woman’s wages will finally catch up with those paid to the average man in 2008 (note – that was last year). Here’s where you can find state-by-state data on the wage gap.

So what can you to help? Well, if you’re a blogger, register here and blog about it. If you’re not (or you don’t want to), then urge your Senators to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

In keeping with my theme, I wanted to share some interesting information about fair pay in athletics. Some may think that these days, women get paid “very similar” or even “close to” men. But that’s hardly the case, as you can see… Read more

Will Obama create opportunities for high school girls to play sports?

Today is a day of change.

…Or at least that’s what President Obama has been preaching for the past year.

And if what he says is true, there’s a chance he could create many more opportunities for high school girls who want to play sports.

The issue: The High School Sports Information Collection Act -  a piece of legislation which would extend Title IX reporting requirements from colleges to high schools. It’s expected to be reintroduced and voted on by Congress this year.

Over the past eight years, Title IX has been treated skeptically by the Bush administration. This act was introduced and neglected in 2007.

And now is a time for change.

During his campaign, President Obama promised a lot of things. Among them, he promised to support the reintroduction of this Act, and women’s sports leaders are now challenging his administration to follow through on their promises.

The law would require high schools to collect and share information about whether their athletic programs serve both sexes equally, as colleges must do now.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, high school girls get 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities than boys do. Unlike colleges, NWLC says high schools are not required to disclose data about the degree of equality in women’s sports programs.

The rest of this article on GameChangers.net is really, really good. I highly recommend you read through it.

For more information on this and other legislation, check out the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Uncertain future for Title IX under Obama

Read an interesting article on NCAA today by Michelle Brutlag Hosick about Obama’s new administration and the impact it will have on the future of Title IX.

Conclusion of the article: nobody really knows for sure.

Interesting to me, though, how it was said that Obama doesn’t want to lose support from women’s groups and young females – thats probably the most credit that female athletes have gotten in the policy world in about 30 years.

It’s promising to hear that the Obama administration would not support any change that would loosen the Title IX. It’s equally interesting to hear that Orleans wants to “encourage collaboration between parties on different sides of Title IX interpretation.”

I don’t think it’s an interpretation issue. The law is crystal clear. I think it’s an implementation issue, and it’s a conversation that needs to happen between college athletic directors and lawmakers.

It’s about the financial value that is placed on certain men’s programs.

Dysfunction Run Amuck: USA Track & Field and the Need for Change

Adam Jacobs from The Final Sprint has written a very interesting article about USA Track & Field. Titled Disfunction Run Amuck: USA Track & Field and the Need for Change, this article is a great read for those interested in investigative journalism and corruption at one of the highest levels of the sport. Hopefully this series will bring the much-needed change that Adam highlights.

From The Final Sprint:

“TheFinalSprint.com’s investigation into this matter uncovered disturbing accusations and issues of dysfunction, including infighting, power struggles, racial tension, lack of oversight, and conflicts of interest within the board of directors. While the allegations may not rise to the level of criminality, they do threaten to undermine the organization at a time that it desperately needs cohesiveness and efficiency. With the belief that sunlight is the best disinfectant, TheFinalSprint.com will publish an article each day for the next week providing an inside look at USATF and its current situation.”

Below is the schedule. I highly enourage my readers to check follow its progress.

• 11/20 – Introduction
• 11/21 – How Did We Get Here?
• 11/22 – USOC Mandates / State of Dysfunction at USATF
• 11/23 – Financial Mismanagement / “Jets vs. Sharks”
• 11/24 – Racial Tensions / Infighting / Overstepping
• 11/25 – Conflict Of Interest / USATF Pres. Election
• 11/26 – Reasons For Hope / Restructuring

Political sarcasm in the sports blogs: LOVE it!

I promised myself I wouldn’t get to heavily involved in politics, but I HAVE to throw a shout out to a fellow female sports blogger from Chicks in the Huddle who posted this week.

Here’s what nolachick had to say:

“Pardon me for being a little testy. I’m sleep deprived, recently discovered a stress related zit on my cheek, was forced to turn down an offer from John McCain to be his running mate due to my year of experience running Chicks in the Huddle, and I haven’t had a pedicure in weeks.”

Hahhaaha! That made me laugh. Love it!

She went on to criticize reporters for speculating that the Saints are moving to LA due to recent weather.

The “Sex” Test at the Olympics

Last week, Olympic officials set up a “gender determination lab” to test the gender of female athletes suspected to be male. This spurred a beautifully written Op Ed in the New York Times. I encourage all readers (female athletes in particular) to take a look.

The subject of a “sex test” began back in 1968 when it was believed that Communist countries were using male athletes in women’s competitions.

But a “sex test” really describes the world’s obsession with the difference between what is male and what is female. Because excellence in athletics can sometimes blur that line, test are required to make sure no one crosses it.

Jennifer Finney Boylan, the writer for the NY Times Op Ed, says,

“The Olympic hosts seem to want to impose a binary order upon the messy continuum of gender. They are searching for concreteness and certainty in a world that contains neither.”

On the surface, the test seems fair. That is, until you consider where the tests are being conducted, and what type of cultural bias might be on the table.

Boylan says that China’s tests are likely to produce the wrong answers, because they measure “maleness” and “femaleness” differently. Also, the test is looking for a Y chromosome, and androgen sensitivities (a fairly common problem) could cause many females to test “positive” for “maleness.”

We can see the type of impact this result can have by listening to the story of  Santhi Soundarajan (pictured above), a runner from India who was “sex tested” in Asia in 2006.

“[Santhi Soundarajan] was stripped of her silver medal in the 800 meters at the Asian Games in 2006 for “failing” a sex test. An Indian athletics official told The Associated Press that Soundarajan had “abnormal chromosomes.” She was ridiculed in the press, and her career was destroyed. In the wake of her global humiliation, she attempted suicide.”

This test is not safe nor fair, and faulty results can cause public humiliation and shame. It could pose a serious problem for the women who we are sending overseas to compete, and is a topic that needs to be further discussed on a broader level.

In terms of putting this subject into words, listen to Ms. Boylan…

“It would be nice to live in a world in which maleness and femaleness were firm and unwavering poles. People can be forgiven for wanting to live in a world as simple as this, a place in which something as basic as gender didn’t shift unsettlingly beneath our feet.

But gender is malleable and elusive, and we need to become comfortable with this fact, rather than afraid of it.”

It will be interesting to see if we hear more on the “gender determination lab” which will test female athletes suspected of being male in Beijing.

Transgender Athlete Bridges the Gender Gap

I recently came across a stunning interview with Jess Ream, a student at Mount Holyoke College, where she discussed the issues of being a transgender athlete.

As a bisexual transgender athlete, Ream discussed things like how she doesn’t prefer to use pronouns, and she lets people call her what is most comfortable for them, since she doesn’t mind.

But because her gender identity lies somewhere between a man and a woman, Ream didn’t feel “at home” on either mens or women’s teams. Coming out as a transgender person actually stopped her sports career.

I find this situation incredibly fascinating. It’s really tough for me (personally) to decide whether or not we should get rid of the gender separation, which Ream says is necessary.

If we did get rid of the separation, would women ever be able to compete on the same playing field?

Or, would competing on the same playing field give us the media attention that we deserve?

Interested in hearing your thoughts.

Women’s Sports Magazines = Dying

Girls, seriously?

How about we put down the fashion magazines for just a second. We’re selling ourselves short in sports journalism, and if we don’t start coverage of our best moments on the athletic fields will disappear altogether.

I recently posted on how disappointed I was to learn that Sports Illustrated for Women was a flop. So, it was by coincidence that I came across the Sports Media and Society blog where author Marie Hardin posted that Golf for Women magazine has joined the ranks of womens sports magazines that have been discontinued.

But what she said about readership is particularly interesting.

“Golf for Women and Women’s Sports & Fitness both had respectable circulations — around 600,000, the same rate base as that of The Sporting News.“

Hardin concurs with the thoughts that I originally expressed in my previous post: advertising and identity are driving this trend of lack of material. Money and power reflect what’s important in our culture, and for some reason, our sports are not deemed an important enough to invest.

She linked to HerSports Magazine, which is interesting to me. I will be following the publication closely (particularly their new blog). But on the surface, I don’t see how they can draw the readers we need and deserve, because it’s not strong enough.

I think that we need to start getting opinionated about sports, sports coverage and sports news. I’m a firm believer that we as women can find the answer to the lack of sports journalism on the Web, where there’s unlimited space, and identity can be created and crafted as we choose. Should this work, we’ll prove that advertising is not necessary for the initial (and most important) stages of information share, and the news will literally go viral.

I think that if enough of us get together in the blogosphere and start talking sports, traditional media will follow, because advertisers would want to reach our audience. Anyone with me on this? Blogs are the perfect outlet for expressing our opinions.

Regardless, when someone finally hits this one home, it should really take off. Because, as Hardin says,

“Finding the formula that will attract the ad dollar has so far proven elusive for many women’s sports titles.

Happy Birthday, Title IX!

I know I’m a few days late on this, but I definitely want to address this. Happy 36th birthday to Title IX, the federal law granting girls and women in high schools and colleges the right to equal opportunity in sports.

Title IX states,

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

But the greatest visible impact Title IX has made in our society is seen in sports. Since its passage on June 23, 1972,  female athletes across the national have been competing at levels we’d never thought possible.

But as women, we need to protect what we have fought for. The battle continues in Congress to ensure Title IX remains strong and effective.

Further, we need to support this legislation at a stronger level. It needs to be tested in our nation’s high schools. Send a message to your congressional representative though the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Together, we can fight for we have, and change what we will become. Happy Birthday Title IX. If you didn’t exist, my life would be drastically different.

Big Think: Are Leaders Born or Made?

I really, REALLY love the idea around Big Think. Instant access to expert opinions and some of the most thoughtful insights to have existed. We can record, document and share the strongest beliefs of the most incredibly intelligent people in the world. Truly a profound idea.

One of the best videos I’ve seen so far is that of Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor from Havard Business School. She believes eveyone has the potential to become great leaders, but it depends upon their access to intellectual power, as well as the constraint of a top-down model of an heirarchal society.

I also believe that our culture thrives upon the values that are provided in sports. And with encouragement and support, leaders are born, made and made great.

And now, with the power of the internet, we can capture the ideas and thoughts of our world’s leaders through Big Think.

So how do you get on there? You pay at least $20,000. Then you have to convice the Web site that you are an expert in a field. Sounds easy, right?

Because She Played: Sarah Palin

As a fervent democrat, I find that sometimes I don’t have patience for republicans. But there is one exception I’d like to make, and she is truly one of a kind.

Republican Sarah Palin, a possible running mate for Presidential candidate John McCain, is the first female governor of Alaska.

Here’s the catcher: she credits her success to the Title IX federal law, which guarantees women equal opportunities in education, including school sports, with helping her get where she is.

Sarah told Alaska Business Monthly,

“I had a great upbringing under Title IX. I can’t imagine where I’d be without the opportunities provided to me in sports. Sports taught me that gender isn’t an issue; in fact, when people talk about me being the first female governor, I’m a little absent from that discussion, because I’ve never thought of gender as an issue. In sports, you learn self-discipline, healthy competition, to be gracious in victory and defeat, and the importance of being part of a team and understanding what part you play on that team. You all work together to reach a goal, and I think all of those factors come into play in my role as governor.”

Since she was sworn into office as Governor, she has helped Alaska invest $5 billion in state savings, overhaul education funding, and implement the Senior Benefits Program that provides support for low-income older Alaskans.

She created Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office to provide oversight and maintenance of oil and gas equipment, facilities and infrastructure, and the Climate Change Subcabinet to prepare a climate change strategy for Alaska.

Sarah Heath Palin arrived in Alaska with her family in 1964, when her parents came to teach school in Skagway. She received a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987. Palin, who graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982, has lived in Skagway, Eagle River and Wasilla.

She is married to Todd Palin, who is a lifelong Alaskan, a production operator on the North Slope and a four-time champion of the Iron Dog, the world’s longest snowmachine race.

Seems like the values of sports are important in her family. This is yet another attribute to the success that sports creates in women. I can only hope that her inspiration continues to filter to those of our future.

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