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The Language Of Sport And The Social Construction Of Gender, Katherine L. Mcdowell

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Feminist scholars have argued that through the exclusion of women and the association of men with physical competence, power and even violence, the institution of sport has traditionally provided men with a homosocial sphere of life that bolsters the ideology of male superiority (Messner, Duncan, & Jensen, 121). Feminists have also argued that as the experiential and moral expression of our culture, common English vocabulary - and the language of sport in particular - powerfully reinforces, protects, and perpetuates patriarchal and sexist social order (Miller 55-56). In essence, feminists hold that if everyday language is a critical constituent of social …