On pages 8 and 9 of the author's "Prologue," Blais suggests reasons why she turned her journalistic talent toward an interest in women's sport even though she described herself as a "sports virgin" (2). She wonders why in adolescence, some girls "turn in on themselves, lose the drive that earlier made them excel in math and cartwheels and storytelling." And later: "A voice that she might be heard... Why is this an issue for her, for any of our daughters? Girls are not born mute."
Although you will find this book not to be solely about and for girls, let's begin the conversation with observations about the real world. What does happen to make some girls less fiercely competitive and less willing to be a part of stereotypically male activity?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
21 comments:
I think that girls are usually not as "fierce" when it comes to sports as males because it is not their "duty". Girls are known for being prissy and scared of a ball coming toward her. Boys are known for being scared of nothing and if they are, being brave about it because they are the more masculine of the two. In the book it says "'We didn't get the encouragement we give you boys. If you were a girl and you liked sports, you could be a cheerleader'". This, especially a decade or two ago, was very true. It wasn't considered right for a girl to be as athletic as a man. I absolutely hate that idea. I would consider myself an athletic girl and i LOVE basketball, and no boy in my life has ever said you "shouldn't" play basketball, but, if a girl plays against a boy in a sport, the boy would be completely embarrassed, only because they are supposed to be the more athletic of the two. Girls aren't as fierce when it comes to sports because they are generally a calmer gender and were most likely brought up playing with dolls and cooking and stuff like that. This is completely stereo typical but at the same time it is true because boys are usually better athletes and more agressive than girls...
Lucy states the rather obvious. I wonder whether competition is even a virtue? Why would someone want to be "fierce" instead of "calm," to use Lucy's terms. Also, I wonder if the tough guy masculine stereotype isn't a horrible weight to carry through life, and whether it it is one of the main causes of world problems like miscommunication or even war. Who needs the "tough guy, fierce competitors?"
I will do better.
I will do better.
I will do better.
I will do better.
I believe that the reason it is an issue for the author that girls are mute is because she is a girl too and I think what she is trying to say is that girls are just as equal as boys. The message I think she is trying to say is that girls are considered more to be softer and calmer. And I think she is right. I personally am not calm and I am not quiet. The people who think that are just stupid because girls can do anything boys can do. I think people usually conclude to that because of how different girls are from boys by their personality. I think the reason why girls are less competitive and less willing to be a part of stereotypically male activity is because of what other people think. Many girls don’t fight for their rights because they are not expected to. That is where we go wrong, we are just as equal as men and if we had tried we could probably do it. I completely agree with Lucy because she is right we are the way we are because we were brought up with playing dolls and with kitchen sets. Thankfully I wasn’t raised that way because it has opened my eyes up at how we should be treated. Another reason why the girls are less fierce is just because they learned that girls are supposed to be girly and that is just the way it is going to be. They are supposed to do house stuff and nothing else. Not True. Maybe a couple decades back. Maybe I am wrong, but how else are they supposed to be the way they are. I think that the stereo-type for girls is not accurate and that maybe we should be given a chance to.
I will do better.
I think that competition is a virtue because it may just be entertainment and be something to talk about. And it may just be there for us to think about and use. But maybe competition can also be a virtue because it has to do with sports. But, I think the girls in the book really don’t realize that if they don’t see the competition they are up against they may not be able to win a game. I think someone would want to be calm because it makes him or her recognized in public. But, if that is not the case then maybe it is just their personality or their way of thinking. But, if one is talking athletic wise, I think you have to be fierce or you will be the loser. I think that Coach Moyer is trying put that through girls’ heads. Also someone may want to be fierce rather than calm because they may think that that calm is boring. The tough gut masculine stereotype is probably a horrible weight to carry because it is kind of like a popularity test to see who is more masculine than the other is. I think that maybe this idea may cause problem such as war. So, I do agree with Mr. Wehling
Why do you think that the author wrote this book? Was it because she wanted to show a symbol for strength or is it because she wanted to show girl power? Also, so far what you have read in the book do you think that the author has a point in what she is trying to say? Do you think that the author has a strong point of view and that she is expressing it clearly and at the same time trying to interest us? Does the author make connections to her life and the team’s? Why? Finally, do you think that the book is good so far?
My answer to this blog prompt is much different from the others but also stands true. Seeing that when you are little, girls can but just a rough and aggressive as boys. If you go into a preschool class room some girls are in a corner playing with dolls while others are telling the boys to go away and that these are their toys. As the girls get older they learn that more people are watching and need to make a good impression. In the teenage years girls love to play sports as do I but they will spend hours getting ready to go to school to make a good impression on some people. Also when some girls do play sports they often are scared of the ball and just like the ball to come to them and not go after it, that is not always true. Other girls like to be very competitive and agressive in sports games. This is just one opinion that i have in mind, that girls care about their apperance and impressions more about sports.
The stereotype of girls not participating in mens activities was a mindset for a lot of women. Many women were simply born and raised that way. Their parents brought them up to believe that women go to school, get married, and later have kids. They are not supposed to be combined with physical activities, like football and basketball. Certainly today it is more common and considered perfectly normal for women to play all sorts of sports. But the norm until the twentieth century was that sports for women were considered un lady like.
I completely agree with Priya because she states more repetitively that girls act less competitive and more “girly” because they were brought up that way. I think that the author made the book stress this subject because in the 90’s when this book was written, women and girls were not treated as equally as now. There are still many things women have to stand up for and overcome now. We have already overcome going to war, working as a lawyer, and working and getting paid in general. In one part in the book that I just read, Jamila and Kristen were playing basketball and two boys came up and played with them. The two boys were AMAZED at how well they played basketball, I don’t think that if Jamila and Kristen had been boys, the boys would have been so amazed by how well they played. This is because boys will be boys and always think that if they see boys, they will be playing well and if they see girls, they will not. I think that boys always think that they can beat girls in sports and girls will be fine with that. Being a girl, I would like to say that that is not true! Girls are just as serious about sports as boys but sometimes have different attitudes and may not show it as much. For instance if my basketball team lost a game and a boys basketball team lost a game, the boys might take it more serious and grumpy about it which leads back to the part about masculine=competitive.
I agree with Kelly. I think that she is totally right about the fact that most girls spend a lot of time and effort on looking nice even if it is on the court. I think that is one of the big reasons why girls are not always "fierce". YA KELLY!!!
I agree with Lucy on the fact that most girls are hesitant sometimes to doing certain things because their afraid of how people will react to their actions. I think this is because of the society we live in today, but that can be changed. However it is not just girls it is almost everyone that cares about stuff like that.
I also agree with Lucy. I think that girls can be scared of the ball and of it coming toward them. Also i completely agree with how Parker said that they are scared of what people will think. YA PARKER! This also ties into what i said earlier that they care so much of what others think and not about how they play in the game.
I think the reason why some girls do not play with as much intensity and fierceness is because they are self-conscious. I think that they are more worried about who is looking at them and how they look then how they should be really focusing on the court what move to make next. One of the reasons why I think that that they become self-conscious is because of boys. They probably want guys to notice them but not as one of their friends but as someone who they are in a more serious relationship with. I also believe that they do not want to be considered masculine but more feminine because they are girls. People sometimes don’t realize that they can be really good at something just because they are afraid of what people think of them.
I think what it is saying is that even though some people grow up without sports even those people can be good at those sports and that those people who try can be good at what ever they will try and that even some of those people will not try to do something sport related if they wish to and that those people even though they have never tried that they should be given first priority about what they will do with there sports career.
I agree with Lucy that girls were raised in a less competitive enviroment. I would agree that woman have a lot more rights than they did in the 90’s. Women were playing sports in the 90’s but they did not have such control in a competitive enviroment like today. Women and men see things differently than each other so it could not be nature for women to be competitive. That would be why the setting was like that in the 90’s.
I also agree with Aaron about what he said about someone can pursue sports even though they grew up without them. You have to be competitive and feirce in order to pursue something in sports. The girls on the Hurricanes basketball team are feirce and they no what they want out of basketball. They want it all. They are willing to sacrifice a lot for basketball. These girls have what it takes to do it. Because they know the course of action needed to be taken.
I think the author wrote this book because she wanted to show girl power and show that girls can to the sports boys can do. My evidence is that the author showed little things that had happened to the girls and how they got strong from that. I think that the author showed the different techniques Coach Moyer used to build up their confidence. He did that by using his different techniques from the past and making them better. The girls on the team did that too. The author showed that girls can be fierce. For example, when Kristen fell on her ankle she got right back up. I think people underestimate girls that they cannot do sports but the author showed that girls could do sports.
Post a Comment