Entering Non-Traditional Sports

Women, Sport, and Film - 2002
Student Papers
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Entering Non-Traditional Sports

Claire Reilly-Shapiro

Because of stress from families, grief from peers, or doubts from coaches, it is difficult for an athlete to enter a sport that has traditionally been classified as a sport of the opposite sex. Athletes love the challenge of sports, the thrill of competition, and the benefits of achieving – all qualities that men and women share – however, certain sports also exude qualities of femininity or masculinity, grace or sheer power, and these qualities complicate the qualifications to enter specific sports. On the surface, ballet is graceful, soft, and poised, and a "real man" would never possess such characteristics. Ballet, in reality, requires strength, stamina, balance, but because the jumps and turns of a dancer appear to be effortless to the audience, the work and strength behind ballet are rarely recognized. In boxing, the athlete's skill is evident by his or her strength and fighting ability, but traditionalists do not believe that women should display such aggressiveness. Individuals who enter into a non-traditional sport for their sex do have opportunities to excel in what they are passionate about, although these accomplishments often come with notoriety, labels, and sometimes even the loss of support of their family and friends.

The difference between sports that are traditionally women's and those that are traditionally men's comes from historical thoughts about women's ability to endure physical activity. One of the dominant myths surrounding women was that they were inherently weak, and if they tried to become active, they would destroy their reproductive organs, and thus fail at their foremost occupation (Hult 84). This myth has been debunked, however the mentality remains. The opinion that women are not as mentally or physiologically strong as men continues and has divided sport into two categories: that of "traditional men's sport" and "sport for women." While traditional men's sport is characterized by dominant, risky, and aggressive behavior, sport for women is safer, with passive and subordinate behavior (Oglesby & Shelton 8). Today, sports that are more graceful and seem to be safe are identified as women's sports, distinguished from men's sports that involve the strength necessary to be active and aggressive.

Challenging this binary classification of sport is threatening and comes with social and cultural costs, although breaking into the sport of the opposite sex has its benefits also. More men and women are entering non-traditional sports for their sex in an attempt to blunt the sharp division between men and women's sports. The effect of their brave efforts is twofold: it asserts that women are just as capable as men of playing traditional, active sports, and it redefines women's sports as strong, not weak, and as equal, not inferior. Nevertheless, most men and women think that the risks of social isolation, a lack of opportunities to excel, and the constant questioning of sexuality outweigh the long-term benefits that come with challenging tradition.

It takes the strong will of a woman like Diana Guzman from the movie Girlfight to break into a sport that is aggressive and dangerous, and thus usually reserved for men. Diana also displays an enormous amount of dedication to boxing, evident in her pursuit to compete, despite the many obstacles and prejudices against her. First, Diana must prove to her brother's coach, Hector, that she will train as hard as any of his male students just to receive good coaching. Once she proves herself to be a competent boxer, she must force her way into amateur competitions against the wishes of many other coaches in her division. With her strong spirit and dedication, Diana manages to break into the competitive arena; and as for those who did not believe that she could ever box at the same level as men, she does, as the film's slogan states, "prove them wrong" (movie Girlfight). In this movie, Diana triumphs in winning her boxing match, in finding a way to express herself, and in gaining self-confidence, yet these accomplishments do not come without a price

For Diana, the benefits of challenging the gender role in the sport of boxing exceeded the costs, although unfortunately, this is not always the case for all women who enter into traditionally male sports. Diana did not have the support of her father, yet she developed the strength to defend herself and her mother against his attacks. She did not break into the popular crowd at school, yet she gained the ability to control her anger so the retorts of her peers did not bother her, and she proved herself superior to them in gym class. Diana's sexuality was never in question, even though she participated in a "masculine" sport, because she found not only a boyfriend, but also the pride to exhibit her strength in a feminine manner (for example, replacing baggy sweats with sports bras and shorts). Diana prompts change in the world of boxing, however she does not present a threat to the feminine, heterosexual convention as "images of muscular women" do.

These images are "disconcerting, even threatening" because "they disrupt the equation of men with strength and women with weakness that underpins gender roles and power relations, and that has by now come to seem familiar and comforting" (Holmlund 302). Again returning to the binary classification of sport, muscular women challenge the idea that "sport for women" is subordinate, because these women obviously have the strength to dominate many men. Women in traditionally male sports also question the relationship between femininity and women: are these dominant and muscular women feminine, and if they are not feminine are they women? (Holmlund 301). Most of society, men and women alike, is afraid to redefine femininity because this "will entail the loss of love, power, and privilege" (Holmlund 304), and society is simply not ready to introduce "butch" women into the spectrum of degrees of femininity. While "the American public is eager for strong, aggressive, competitive, female role models" (Banet-Weiser 417), it must limit these role models to heterosexual women who do not look anything like men.

In the same way that society is hesitant to question the model of femininity, and with the same frequency that butch, muscular women are stereotyped as "what a lesbian looks like" (Holmlund 303), men who enter into traditionally women's sports are attacked as weak, effeminate, and homosexual. One of the most blatant examples is that of a male dancer. In the sport of dancing, particularly ballet, men are ridiculed for their grace, elegance, and style, and criticized for not being aggressive or "masculine" enough for a "traditional men's" sport. It is a common misassumption that ballet does not require strength, skill, or stamina, but only the ability to tiptoe around onstage; in reality, ballet is an extremely athletic sport. Dancers spend years training their bodies, developing muscles that are long (as opposed to bulky) for a more aesthetic line, yet with the strength required to jump, turn, and support their bodies in difficult poses. According to Peter Darling, the choreographer of the film Billy Elliot, "ballet is as close to an athletic sport as anything ... the best ballet dancers combine grace with athleticism." To combine grace, strength, musicality, and endurance becomes the main goal of the protagonist of the film, Billy Elliot, after he discovers his love for ballet.

The film traces Billy's discovery of ballet after one of his boxing lessons, through the dance lessons he keeps secret from his father, and ends with his success of admission to the finest dance school in England, the Royal Ballet. Discovering ballet as a means to express himself is not easy for Billy, as he must confront his father about his true passion, find his place in an all-female environment, and work hard to discover his talent and confidence, many themes echoed from the movie Girlfight. "These two movies are mirror images of each other: dead mothers; frustrated fathers; tough, kindly mentors; and main characters whose ambitions fly in the face of expected sex roles. The accents are different; the characters in "Billy Elliot" speak in the Scots-inflected dialect of northern England rather than in the Spanish-tinged rhythms of Red Hook. But the narrative idiom is the same" (Scott). Unlike Diana, Billy must also grapple with the issue of sexuality. Billy stresses that "it's not just for puffs, dad. Some ballet dancers are as fit as athletes," yet his father is firm in his belief that ballet is "for girls, not for lads, Billy. Lads do football, or boxing, or wrestling, not ballet" (movie Billy Elliot).

Billy's struggle reflects the experience of many boys who love to dance, and also parallels some of the experiences of the actor who played Billy Elliot, Jamie Bell. In an interview, Jamie states that he was hassled by his classmates who said, "you shouldn't be doing that, Jamie, it's not for boys, it's more for girls. They said I should be playing football or rugby so I just didn't tell them where I was going after football practice and went to my dance lessons" (www.billyelliot.com). Unfortunately, many men and women who enter non-traditional sports have to keep their passion a secret for fear of derision or criticism, or for fear that they will have to stop their sport all together. This can be frustrating, and if athletes do not have the sheer dedication and love to continue with a sport for which they will receive little recognition, there is not incentive enough to persist. For this reason, and because it is hard for athletes to break into non-traditional sports in the first place, the progress to change the stereotypes of feminine or masculine sports is slow. Nevertheless, to excel in a non-traditional sport is a huge accomplishment for the few individuals who confront historical prejudices, and it is an important step in challenging the traditional characteristics of men and women's sports.

Works Cited

Banet-Weiser, Sarah. "Hoop Dreams." Journal of Sport & Social Issues. Volume 23,
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Billy Elliot. Universal Pictures, England: 2000. www.billyelliot.com
Girlfight. Screen Gems, New York: 2000.
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Hult, Joan S. "The Story of Women's Athletics: Manipulating a Dream 1890-1985."
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Scott, A.O. "Billy Elliot: Escaping a Miner's Life for a Career in Ballet." New York
Times, New York: October 13, 2000.