Transgender and gender-expansive students’ experiences of genderism at women’s colleges and universities.

American colleges and universities use nicknames, colors, logos, and mascots as identifying and unifying symbols, especially concerning their athletic teams. This paper examines the dark side of these solidarity symbols by reporting the incidence and patterns found in the naming of collegiate men’s and women’s athletic teams. The data from 1,185 four-year schools reveal that more than half of American colleges and universities employ names, mascots, and/or logos that demean and derogate women’s teams. There are no significant differences in naming patterns by type of school (public, independent, or religious), but region is significant, with Southern schools more likely to use sexist names than schools elsewhere. The various sexist naming practices contribute to the maintenance of male dominance within college athletics by defining women athletes and women’s athletic programs as second class and trivial.

Download Full-text

Women’s Colleges and Universities in International Perspective

Private Higher Education ◽

10.1163/9789087901035_010 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 47-51

Keyword(s):

Women's Colleges ◽

International Perspective ◽

Colleges And Universities

Download Full-text

The Lessons of Sports: Class Socialization in British and American Boarding Schools

Sociology of Sport Journal ◽

10.1123/ssj.1.4.314 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 314-331 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Christopher F. Armstrong

Keyword(s):

Gender Roles ◽

New England ◽

Team Sports ◽

Boarding Schools ◽

Colleges And Universities ◽

Institutional Control ◽

Organized Sports ◽

Team Games ◽

And Gender ◽

Strong Attachment

There has been no attempt to compare the sociological functions of organized sports in British and American boarding schools, yet for over a century they have been an essential component of the class ideals taught in the best known schools. This paper examines five critical functions of team games: the extension of institutional control, their role as molder of “manly Christian character,’’ the importance of closer involvement of faculties in games as surrogate parents, the emergence of school leaders from the successful athletes, and their preparation of athletes for elite colleges and universities. Team sports in boarding schools in both England and New England were introduced to teach boys to be gentle men, which is what most of their parents hoped they would become. Team sports socialized boys into class and gender roles that corresponded to moral expectations of legitimate behavior. Success in sports became a crucial prerequisite for acceptance at school; the sports also fostered powerful bonds between classmates and inculcated a strong attachment to the school. The competition of team games in school encouraged the love of winning, which in turn encouraged a concern with success and doing well in one’s later endeavors, derivative of the enjoyment of schoolboy success in sports.

Download Full-text