Context Essay
“Who is a sportsman?” is an article written by Sylvia Camporesi with her main intention being to bring into light the unfair treatment of female athletes and advocate for this issue to be addressed (Camporesi, 2018). This article is written in the right time when issues of unfair treatment against women athletes have significantly increased. Despite intervention efforts that have been set before to mitigate this issue of unfair treatment against women athletes, discrimination and unfair treatment still exist. When women athletes succeed, their success is questioned based on gender issues and are forced to undertake invasive tests and also hormonal tests which is unfair (Camporesi, 2018). Camporesi supports her argument using other authors’ studies, illustrations relating to the reader in order to capture and effectively relay the message she intends to reach her audiences. Additionally, this paper discusses three outside articles which include; Halbert’s, Grappendorf’s, and Brian’s articles relate or contribute to Camporesi’s article “Who is a sportsman?” and how they contribute to the theme of the article. Based on the knowledge acquired form these three articles, the paper will discuss about discrimination and retaliation brought against whistleblowers complaining about the maltreatment and unfair treatment of both female and male athletes, the position of the female professional athletes in Olympic Games being a sports event regarded to be deviant for women, and advocacy for gender equity in Olympic games.
The discrimination and retaliation brought against whistleblowers complaining about the maltreatment and unfair treatment of both female and male athletes has been rampant. People are punished for speaking out for justice. When anybody regardless of their gender reports any issue of unfair treatment, they are instead penalized for doing the right thing (Brian, 2012). This relates to Camporesi’s article as it tries to reveal the unfair treatment that women athletes face together with the retaliation that the whistleblowers receive for complaining and reporting unfair treatment (Brian, 2012). Brian’s article seeks to extend attention from addressing unfair treatment of women athletes to addressing the issue of retaliation of whistleblowers of unfair treatment cases. Title IX has been used to bring out the issue of retaliation of Roderick Jackson the whistleblower who was sucked for complaining about unfair treatment of women athlete at the gym and lacking essential amenities (Brian, 2012). Both Camporesi’s and Brian’s articles suggest that there is need for immediate and effective intervention measure to address the issue of unfair treatment of women athletes.
The position of women professional athletes in Olympic Games being a sports event perceived to be deviant for women. Boxing mostly is perceived to be for only men and not women (Grappendorf, 2011). Women have been traditionally relegated to duties and responsibilities such as caregiving, handling house chores or participating in events that does not require much effort. However, professional women boxers participating in boxing faces a lot of unfair treatment (Grappendorf, 2011). By competing in an event considered to be deviant for women, women boxers get discriminated and stereotyped. This relates to Camporesi’s article since it fights for equality of all athletes. It uses interview, interviewing 12 women to determine the position of women in boxing profession (Grappendorf, 2011). Another factor that relates these articles is that they seek to improve and promote the identity of women athletes.
The advocacy for gender equity in Olympic Games has been the most trending movement to ensure equality is observed in Olympic Games. For instance, Halbert strongly advocates for gender equity and suggests that unfair treatment and stereotyping of women boxers originates from the alleged traditional perception of women’s abilities that is applied to the boxing industry and sports in general (Halbert, 1997). This traditional perception about women needs to be change. Grappendorf call for appropriate strategies to be implemented to fight against gender inequality. He emphasizes on the importance of considering the pain and suffering of inequality issue facing women. Moreover, he suggest for amendment of the Title IX so as to improve its effectiveness and promote gender equality (Halbert, 1997). Brian calls for court involvement and help in strictly taking action on those that retaliate whistleblowers of unfair treatment of women and as well punish Title IX violators (Halbert, 1997). The common interest of all these articles is the advocacy and dedication to fight against gender inequality.
In essence, these three articles have proven to include proven to relate and contribute significantly to Camporesi’s article “Who is a sportsman?” The knowledge and information acquired from these articles have contributed in expounding more about discrimination and retaliation brought against whistleblowers complaining about the maltreatment and unfair treatment of both female and male athletes, the position of the female professional athletes in Olympic Games being a sports event regarded to be deviant for women, and advocacy for gender equity in Olympic games. Camporesi’s article has actually revealed the unfairness that women athletes undergo. With support from the three other articles, we can have a clear picture of how women athletes face discrimination and as a result we see the need to address this issues.