Monday, November 18, 2013
Female Star Comes Out as Gay, and Sports World Shrugs: Brett Bardwell
I actually caught myself in the trap of not even paying attention to the fact that Brittany Griner had come out as an openly gay athlete when reading the article. I had watched her play during the NCAA tournament for Baylor and she was very impressive to watch. You could just tell that she was head and shoulders above everyone else in terms of skill and size. America as a whole has come more to grasp with openly gay people, but I think that sports and that locker room is a world of its own with its own rules. I could never say what its like because I have never been in an NFL, MLB, NBA, etc. locker room, but just from things on television it definitely seems like they are much less accepting to gay people. Back to Griner, it is unfortunate that her coming out did not get more publicity. Jason Collins came out and had interviews on major networks and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. This was for a guy who was certainly a serviceable NBA player, but by no means a star, and nearing the end of his career. Why not make Griner the star of this story? This is nothing against Jason Collins and I totally respect his decision to come out because it takes a lot of courage to do it, but I would be willing to bet there are a whole lot more people who look up to Brittany Griner as an athlete than there are people who look up to Jason Collins. That does not make either one of their situations any less significant, but I would think that the more popular player would be the one to carry the torch for this movement. For example, when the Miami Heat win the NBA Championship there aren't pictures of Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, Chris Andersen, Udonis Haslem etc. on the cover; it is LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Why wouldn't you do the same in this instance? The article said it was solely because she was female and, unfortunately, I think it is true. There needs to more attention paid to everybody's situation because although they are unique they should be treated almost the same. One person should not garner more attention than another based on gender. It is hard to say, but maybe Griner wanted it to be this way. Maybe she did not want to be the poster image for this topic, but if she did she should have been given the same opportunities as Jason Collins.
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Brett—
ReplyDeleteThe Jason Collins and Brittney Griner discussion is a very interesting one because both of them came out within a month. Brittney came out in mid-April and Jason came out early in May. The attention that both of them got from coming out was quite different. On one end, Jason Collins received a lot of media coverage and was put in the spot light of gay athletes in professional sports. On the other end, Brittney Griner seemed to come out in a more casual way. This may just be my perception because of the lack of media coverage around the topic. It was almost as if everybody knew that she was gay and just shrugged their shoulders. She should have had more public opportunities to discuss the topic of the LGBT community and athletics. Now, I agree that maybe she didn’t want that attention, but she should have had the opportunity and maybe that wasn’t there for her. Overall, I agree that both athletes should have had equal opportunity for public appearances to address the topic.
Brian Kochheiser
Brett-
ReplyDeleteI respect and agree with your view on the whole Brittney Griner/Jason Collins situation. In our society, men's sports garner all the attention and the women are left to play the game and be viewed as a media afterthought. This is definitely a big reason as to why Jason Collins received more media coverage even though he was less than a star player and nearing the end of his career. But I think something else could have played into the discussion as well. The fact that a large percentage of female basketball players are gay to begin with could have had a lot to do with it. A prime example is right here at BGSU. A female player was having an affair with a female assistant coach and when some people I know found out, the level of shock, awe, and surprise was much lower than what I expected it to be. The athletic department was undoubtedly trying to keep the situation under wraps, but there is a perception out there that a lot of female basketball players are gay. With that notion in the minds of Americans, it is easy to see why Griner didn't receive more attention.
Ben Mathey
Brett,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up many interesting points about how, when Brittany Griner came out as gay, she did not receive as much attention as Jason Collins when he came out as gay. I think the main reason Griner did not receive as much attention is simply because other professional female athletes have already done so, and it came as no surprise to many people. That being said, Jason Collins was the first ever NBA player to admit being gay, so that is why people made a big deal of it. I do not have a great explanation as to why people view professional female athletes as more likely to be gay than male athletes, but maybe Collins has started to change that mentality.
Evan Sechler
Brett,
ReplyDeleteI also saw Griner play two years ago when the NCAA tournament was in BG and I was very impressed with how well she played. She definitely deserved to be in headlines across the country for her play, but she did not even really make a headline when she came out as gay. I completely agree with the article and with you as to the reason why. For some reason, the American culture thinks that being a male and gay is just terrible, meanwhile girls who come out as lesbians are not considered that much of an abnormality. I think this transfers over to the sport world which is why it is so hard for male athletes to “come out” and not nearly as hard for women. It is definitely weird to me that males typically have such an easier time dealing with all things sports, yet in this aspect, it’s easier to be a woman.
Nicole Zawislan
My question about Brittany Griner is regarding her time at Baylor. Clearly she was the most talented female college basketball player during her career and she could’ve played anywhere she wanted. However she went to a school, that according to our class discussions, discouraged her from coming out until after she graduated. As a collegiate star and an athlete of that magnitude why didn’t she just come out and say to to hell with the school? I’m sure there would’ve been hundreds of more open-minded universities willing to accept her and her incredible talent despite whatever media coverage she might have garnered. Had she come out while at Baylor I feel like the story would’ve been much larger and she could’ve shed some light on some of the ignorance being perpetuated by some of these universities.
ReplyDeleteMax Perry
Women's sports and men's sports have built completely different cultures. It may not be caused by the actual participants in these sports, but more so by society as a whole. I believe a gay athlete in male sports is considered to be so unheard of and taboo, yet in women's sports it is almost expected that a large majority are gay. Female team sports have somewhat of a reputation built for having lesbians on the team, whereas men's sports look at a gay athlete as inappropriate basically. Brittany Griner coming out barely made headlines, yet Jason Collins became a national hero for gay people all across the country. This sort of double standard is what causes there to be such an injustice done to womens sports.
ReplyDeleteShaun
I think Bens’ comment that “a large percentage of female basketball players are gay to begin with” is an excellent example of why Britney Griner coming out was not a big deal. The sports world and a majority of its fans perceive female athletes as masculine. While I do not think demonstrating traits or acting mostly masculine or feminine is a big deal regardless of your sex, this seems to not be the case in sports. Since female athletes already break away from the stereotype of being a feminine woman, they are discounted by certain pockets of our society; further breaking away from that image by coming out as anything except heterosexual only causes these audiences to further disregard them.
ReplyDeleteThis is in stark contrast to when a male breaks into one of the most male, macho arenas of masculinity (professional sports) and defies everything everyone has ever assumed about this person. By taking on a “feminine” trait of being attracted to males, the sports world is flipped upside down and there is no way to ignore it. These two cultural views are why gay female athletes are more “prevalent” (open) and gay male athletes are shamed and discouraged from even considering revealing their true self.
Whitney