| |
WOMEN'S LIBERATION
Builds Strong Bodies In Many Ways
from Secret Storm (undated but probably
1975-1976)
(Editors Note: The CWLU workgroup Secret Storm organized sports teams
in the Chicago Parks against the opposition of people who felt women
did not belong in sports. This article from their newspaper-also called
Secret Storm- is a first person account of that struggle.)
"In 6th grade, I won a blue ribbon for the 100 yard dash. I beat
all he boys in my class. When I was a sophomore, I raced my boyfriend
down the block, and he beat me by 10 feet! He was in my 6th grade class."
What happened to her in those four years?
"All my brothers
love sports. So do I and my two sisters, but every one thinks that girls
are nuts. And they make us stay home a lot while the boys get to play
ball. That makes me really mad." Has this ever happened to you?
What happens to
women and girls when we play sports? Some of us close our eyes when
the ball comes right to us. Some of us "know better" than
to arm wrestle with our boyfriend because he goes crazy when we beat
him. If we're children, we're told not to mess around because we'll
get dirty. If we're older, we're told it's simply unfeminine In basketball
and other sports, we're forced to play "girl's" rules. We're
told boys' rules are too strenuous and we're trained throughout our
lives not to try very hard. Just like we're told we can't hold certain
jobs because we're women, and not strong enough. So instead, we carry
around 30 pound kids on our hips all day and 30 lb. grocery bags. There's
the girls' gym, with little equipment and usually no sports competition
for girls. In the city park board, the men have basketball, softball,
and volleyball leagues. The women have ladies conditioning, ballet,
and charm classes (remember how hard it is to keep your knees always
touching while you sit?). The difference between women and men in sports
opportunities begins with blue and pink baby blankets, and goes to little
league baseball versus girls' T-ball, football player vs. cheerleader,
and basketball players to "conditioned lady." Can you guess
who gets the most action?
Theses differences
between men and women sure don't exist just in the wide, wide world
of sports, we're taught them through out lives. Women in our society
are taught as we grow up to be passive, dependent, weak, and to feel
like we're not very smart. Men, on the other hand, are encouraged to
be aggressive, physically strong, rough, and independent and to remind
women that they're smarter. We call these ways to act "sex roles."
These sex role differences end up making a big difference in whether
we're trained to make a living for ourselves or trained to be dependent
on someone else's salary. This difference means who takes care of the
kids all the time, and gets to do all the housework, whether or not
we work a job. It means inequality in hourly pay, the kind of education
and training we get, and often a lot in the respect that is given us
as people. It's the main purpose of a woman's movement to change those
differences in our jobs, our families, our lives.
It's the main purpose
of a woman's movement to change those differences in our jobs, our
families, or lives. One place we want to make things equal is in
sports.
We realize that
there is a lot that happens in men's and boys sports that we wouldn't
want in our women's sports program. We think that teamwork, sharing
what we know, and friendship are more important than competition.
Sports should be fun and give people self-confidence, not be a threat
to their ego.
Women deserve to
have equal opportunity to enjoy sports, play the sports we like,
and develop the strength and coordination of our body. Sometimes
how our body feels to us can mean a lot in how we feel about ourselves,
and knowing our strength can go a long way when someone tells us
we can't do something because we're too weak. Being able to move
quickly can do a lot for a woman on the streets these days, and demonstrating
that women on the whole are pretty strong can get people to wonder
why these separate roles for men and women are really created!
As women, we see
it's a real priority to make changes in sports programs where there
is discrimination between girls and boys, men and women. This is
in the grade school, especially in the high schools, and where adults
play sports - mainly in the park board programs of the city.
Our experience
in the park board field houses on the north and northwest sides of
Chicago, is that they seldom offer seasonal sports (like softball
basketball, and volleyball) for women. Some parks have real good
gymnastic programs for girls. But in many cases, especially Horner
Park and Welles Park, they have a real thorough program of seasonal
sports for men, often extending into the women's gym and pushing
us out. In a few cases, like Kelvyn and Brands Parks, they never
had a women's program until we came in and proposed to them and organized
the league ourselves. We look forward to playing at these parks in
the future.
Our goal is to
create Year-Round Sports' Programs for girls and women in schools
and park board programs. If you are interested in helping us in your
school or park, or have had trouble playing the sports you want to,
get in touch with us and we'll see what we can do. We'd even be glad
to listen to you gripe!
NEXT INSTALLMENT IN THE GREAT SPORTS MYSTERY: WHY THE CHICAGO PARK
BOARD DOES THIS TO US, AND WILL THEY GET AWAY WITH IT??????
|
|
