Final Reflection

I have always had an interest in sports because I grew up with participating in them and watching them, but I never critically thought about them. This class really showed all the different aspects of sports and what all goes into them in US society. From learning about the sport ethic, sports culture and how it varies; to the history of sports and globalization of sports; to how the media portrays sports depending on male and female athletes'; to disability sports and sex and gender in sports. All these topics that we talked about play a huge role in sports that I had not realized or though about before taking this class. So, in other words yes, my perception and understanding changed about sport. It change in a good way in that these are things to think about when it comes to sports and the certain situations that go on in them. I learned a lot more about sports that I didn't  know beforehand.  For instance, I didn't know some women athletes were okay with be exploited for their bodies if it made them more money, or that for the Olympics, women had to go through sex testing to makes sure they were indeed females that were competing. There are numerous new aspects of sport that I learned from this class. By learning these aspects will help me to look at sports more in-depth and  think about them more critically. I do think that I will be able to use what I have learned from this class in my career in Psychology because it will help to understand certain situations regarding sports especially in regards to the sport ethic, social norms, and culture and society. I found this class really interesting, and fun to learn about. I would definitely recommend this class to my friends.  

Why the 'Mans Mans' Game is an insult to Men'

I believe in our society today being openly gay is more accepted and not looked down upon as much as it has in earlier years. However, in sports it has not reached a point yet where athletes can have the confidence to come out about being gay at anytime. Being gay, and being a current professional athlete still has its issues with society. In the articles, it explained numerous times that even if the teammates are accepting and supporting, it is the fans that are usually not. Which is why I do not think sport is a safe place for LGBT athletes. I think sport has made progress with slowly becoming more accepting to LGBT athletes, but I do not think it has fully become a safe and accepting place for them. Like Robbie Roger's expressed about how he waited to announce he was gay until he was no longer playing futbal any longer because he knew at that moment futbal as a sport was not going to accept it right away, but had faith that it was going to change overtime.
 Sports are so cultural that it takes time just like racism did for culture to change and be accepting. This is why I think with more and more athletes coming out, and standing up not being discriminated against ( like in Training Rules) more of society will become acceptable to athletes being gay.