Gendering the American Dream

2021 ◽  
pp. 83-104
Author(s):  
Jennifer McClearen
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Human Interest ◽  
The Third ◽  
Female Fighters

The third chapter of Fighting Visibility investigates how the UFC incorporates diverse female fighters into discourses of meritocracy and the American dream. While sports media has long embraced the myth of the American dream in its storytelling, narratives and human-interest stories about pugilists rarely feature women as the central protagonists and pursuers of that dream. Branded difference in the UFC alters this discourse to include women of diverse nationalities, ethnicities, and sexualities. The revisions to include women of color and lesbians in the dream discourse entice an expendable labor force willing to sacrifice their health, wellness, and livelihood to pursue their UFC dreams, which proves yet again that making women visible in sports media does not automatically yield equity.

The Fight for Labor Equity

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-160
Author(s):  
Jennifer McClearen
Keyword(s):  
Women Of Color ◽  
White Women ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Independent Contractors

Chapter 5 delves into the unionization efforts by former UFC fighter Leslie Smith and the fighters’ association she cofounded, Project Spearhead. Smith has legally challenged the UFC’s classification of fighters as underpaid independent contractors--a classification that makes these athletes a relatively inexpensive and expendable investment for the UFC. The chapter considers potential solutions for gendered labor inequity in sports media by centering political visibility as a viable avenue for illuminating labor inequalities and improving workers’ rights within the UFC. While a union might benefit all fighters, those who stand to gain the most from a fighters’ union are White women and women of color because historically the most disenfranchised identities recuperate the most rights when unions collectively advocate for the equal treatment of all workers.

Coda

2020 ◽  
pp. 213-226
Author(s):  
Koritha Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
American Dream ◽  
White Men ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
First Lady ◽  
Obama Administration ◽  
White House ◽  
At Home

The Coda tells a basic truth that should not go unsaid: the investment in know-your-place aggression led many Americans to react to the Obama administration—and the image of a black first lady—by putting Donald Trump in the White House. Committed to keeping people who are not straight, white, and male in a subordinate position, Americans took the nation “From Mom-in-Chief to Predator-in-Chief.” What better way to tell women, especially women of color, that they aren’t at home than with the election of Donald Trump, despite his admitting to sexual predation? Americans spoke loudly and acted out of their belief that the American Dream might be for white men who damage communities and institutions, but it is certainly not for accomplished black women. [124 of 125 words]

Transfer of Civilian Manpower from Occupied Territory

1946 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. E. Feied
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
Occupied Territory ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Third Reich

One of the methods by which National Socialist Germany hoped to win the war consisted of the deportation of non-Germans, mainly citizens of occupied territories, as a labor force in support of the German war effort. The hope was not fulfilled but this policy, carried out on an enormous scale, enabled the Third Reich to wage war much more ruthlessly and for a much longer period than would have been possible otherwise. With hostilities ended and their lands devastated, several of the United Nations now intend to obtain at least partial reparation of the damage caused to them by transferring Germans as a labor force for reconstruction work.

Fighting Visibility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McClearen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Labor Practices ◽  
Brand Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Gender

Over the first twenty years of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) history, the mixed-martial arts (MMA) promotion adamantly excluded female athletes and upheld sports media’s time-honored tradition of ignoring and undervaluing sportswomen. Yet, in the early 2010s, Ronda Rousey burst onto the MMA stage and convinced the UFC to include women, which ushered in a new fervor for female athletes in a male-dominated cultural milieu. The popularity of women in the UFC might suggest that female athletes in combat sports are breaking the barriers of a notoriously stubborn glass ceiling. However, as the first academic book analyzing the UFC as a sports media brand, Fighting Visibility urges advocates of women’s sports to consider the limits of representation for cultural change and urges caution against the celebratory discourse of women’s inclusion. Part cultural history of the UFC as a media juggernaut and part cautionary tale for the future of women as sports laborers, Fighting Visibility argues that the UFC’s promotion of diverse female athletes actually serves as a seductive mirage of progress that enables the brand’s exploitative labor practices. The UFC’s labor model disproportionately taxes female athletes, particularly women of color and gender nonnormative women, despite also promoting them at unprecedented levels. Fighting Visibility complicates a prevalent notion among sports scholars, activists, and fans that the increased visibility of female athletes will lead to greater equity in sports media and instead urges us to question who ultimately benefits from that visibility in neoliberal brand culture.

“This Isn’t Just About Us”: Articulations of Feminism in Media Narratives of Athlete Activism

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 692-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Cooky ◽  
Dunja Antunovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
News Media ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online News ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Media Narratives

Historically, the world of sport has served as a symbolic site for social justice, ushering change in the wider society and inspiring movements that often do not directly or solely tie to sport. Recently, academics and sports journalists have noted a “rebirth” of athlete activism in the United States. Despite the activism of women of color, who have initiated and been at the center of these movements, and sportswomen’s outspokenness on a variety of social justice issues, women’s roles are rendered invisible in narratives that instead privilege sportsmen or men’s professional leagues. We examine articulations of feminism in the context of athlete activism and re-center the role of sportswomen. Drawing upon social media, official statements from athletes, and online news media coverage, we locate feminist narratives in networked communication, specifically in the Women’s National Basketball Association’s activism as it relates to #BlackLivesMatter and the U.S. women’s soccer equal pay lawsuit. Our analytical approach is attuned to how feminism circulates in an economy of visibility, where certain feminisms become more visible than others. Our findings illustrate how narratives of solidarity and collectivism are informed by articulations of intersectional and neoliberal feminisms. This article concludes with a call for sports media scholars to tell stories differently.

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