Letter from the Director
Tucker Center Newsletter - 2008 Fall
- Letter from the Director
- Anatomy Isn't Destiny: A Multidisciplinary Response to Michael Sokolove's Warrior Girls
- Research Updates: 2008 Tucker Center Summer Interns: Undergraduate Research Done Right!
- Guest Column: Doug Hartmann: Beijing 2008: Olympic Nationalism & the Role of Gender
- Did You Know? Beijing by the Numbers
- Kudos & Announcements
- Fall 2008 Distinguished Lecture: "Minnesota Female Olympians: Stories, Experiences & Inspirations"
If you’re like me, you became an Olympics fanatic this past
August—soaking in the amazing performances of Dara Torres and Natalie
Coughlin in swimming, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson in gymnastics,
Sonya Richards and Allyson Felix in track, and many talented athletes
competing in basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. The Tucker
Center applauds their accomplishments and basks in the glory of their
successes.
To celebrate the Olympics, we are excited to announce the theme of our Fall Distinguished Lecture: “Minnesota Female Olympians: Stories, Experiences & Inspirations.” Professor Doug Hartmann will frame the social and historical context of the Games and then moderate a panel of Olympians with Minnesota roots—Janis Klecker, marathon in Barcelona (1992); Carrie Tollefson, 1500 meters in Athens (2004); and Shani Marks, triple jump in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Though there’s clearly much to honor about personal bests and medal performances, media images continue to reinforce stereotypes about the role and significance of elite female athletes. Coverage of women’s events paled in comparison to men’s during prime time, and stories focused less on women’s athletic accomplishments than on motherhood, skimpy outfits in beach volleyball, and their age (the title on a Sports Illustrated article featuring Dara Torres was “One for the Aged”).
In light of these persistent and pervasive stereotypes, it is not too surprising that a new book has recently appeared on bookshelves across the nation—Warrior Girls by Michael Sokolove (following a cover story in the New York Times Magazine last spring). Sokolove implores: “Everyone wants girls to have as many opportunities in sports as boys. But can we live with the greater rate of injuries they suffer?” The author perpetuates the essentialist argument that male athletes are superior to female athletes based on the so-called biological imperative that females are physically weaker, more vulnerable, and more prone to injury.
The Tucker Center asked scholars from varying academic disciplines to respond to these age-old and troubling arguments. Nicole LaVoi begins with a sociological perspective, followed by critiques from Public Health (Toben Nelson), Sports Medicine (Steve Stovitz and Liza Arendt), and Sport Psychology (Diane Wiese-Bjornstal). We encourage you to offer your own perspective on Warrior Girls by logging onto the Tucker Center Web site, www.tuckercenter.org.
-- Maureen Weiss, Co-Director
To learn more about Professor Weiss and her new role as co-director of the Tucker Center, go to cehd.umn.edu/kin/faculty/mweiss.html/a>.