Introduction
As a global social phenomenon, sport strives for excellence, fair play, solidarity, and universal respect. Based on this, it should strive to promote gender equality and pursue gender-equitable policies in all its areas. The recent case of retirement by Naomi Osaka is a prime example of how gender roles and racism in sports can affect even the best athletes making sports an important discussion in the context of social activism.
Racism in Sports
It should be pointed out that the challenges faced by Naomi Osaka are also reflective of the issue of racism in sports since the athlete is a biracial individual. Racism is the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another (Pedersen & Thibault, 2019). Racism is a pervasive phenomenon that is present in a wide range of forms and manifestations ranging from subtle to explicit in sports and other areas.
One should be aware that the issue is not a sole problem of professional tennis, such as in the case of Naomi Osaka, but it can be observed in all major sports. For example, it is stated that “racism has long been found in European sports, and is intensified when players of color are put in the spotlight during major international competitions. A tweet in response to the harassment captures this phenomenon: “When you score, you’re English. When you miss, you’re an immigrant” (Gillett, 2021, para. 2). In other words, minority groups are always put under the unique set of hostile judgment and pressure from the society, where their flaws are highlighted more prominently, and strengths are attributed as victories of the majority, exposing the sinister selectivity bias in sports.
Gender Roles
One of the most evident elements of sports is the problem of gender roles, which negatively impact women the most, and Naomi Osaka’s case is reflective of this problem. It should be noted that the term gender role is defined as “a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males and females in a given social group or system” (Pedersen & Thibault, 2019, p. 386). Women’s achievements in sports will remain meaningless as long as sports representatives, such as broadcasters, undermine, trivialize and minimize women’s performances through biased views or commentary.
Gender rhetoric comes from those who are directly involved in sports, for example, coaches, athletes, and those who represent sports to the public in the media, for example, news and sports announcers, journalists, and commentators. These participants in sports discourse create gender stereotypes in sports and place them in a binary system where masculinity and femininity compete with each other. For example, “man” is combined in the subject position with verbs such as mastermind, beat, win, dominate, and battle. Meanwhile, the phrase “woman” in the subject position is combined with such verbs as compete, participate and strive. Masculinity in sports is praised, while femininity is an alien element (Sanfilippo, 2017). In the language of coaches and players in many sports, the praise of masculine characteristics can be traced, the possession of which leads to a good game. On the other hand, phrases related to femininity are meant to be offensive.
Sports as Social Activism
One should be aware of the fact that long gone days when sports were merely an arena for physical and intellectual competition with no hidden agenda besides the predetermined rules of an event or activity. At the current stage, sports’ widespread popularity made it a platform upon which social issues and concerns are raised before the public, which is tied to the highly influential impact of sports as a whole. It is stated that social activism is “an intentional action with the goal of bringing about social change” (Pedersen & Thibault, 2019, p. 382). For instance, the case of Naomi Osaka is a prime illustration of how the core and troubling problems of gender roles and racism in sports can be addressed and brought awareness to through the force of sports’ inherent popularity.
Therefore, on the basis of the presented notions, it can be stated that sports are no longer a mere competition but rather a platform of truth, which allows voicing the deeply pervasive societal issues through the influence of athletes and other key individuals. Naomi Osaka made a significant impact by shining a spotlight on the causes of social injustice in the nation, which in turn drew the media’s attention toward these problems illuminating the main root causes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the case of Naomi Osaka is reflective of a wide range of topics covered in Pedersen’s and Thibault’s book on sports management, where the problems of gender roles and associated rhetoric, racism, and social activism are present. However, the broadcast reflects that despite efforts to eliminate discriminatory practices, gender discrimination and racism in all spheres and at all levels of sport and physical culture persists, which is partly caused by persistent stereotypes regarding women’s physical capabilities and social roles.
References
Gillett, R. A. (2021). Racism in sport: Why it comes to the surface when teams lose.The Conversation.
Pedersen, P. M., & Thibault, L. (2019). Contemporary sport management. Human Kinetics.
Sanfilippo, J. (2017). Beyond the binary: Looking past gender stereotypes in sports. Medium.