Cook 1 Riley Cook ENGL-110 Professor Bruner 24 Nov 2014 Research Essay Girls In Sports? A League Of Their Own sheds a little light on a little known period p eriod of time in American history. The movie is set during World War II when the re was a shortage in men and America turned to the women to fill the void in the greatest American past time, baseball. A simple collage of women from a small town formed a talented team in a league of women’s baseball, baseball, called the Rockford Peaches (A League Of Their Own). This is only one event out of many that women have been trying to compete in sports. th
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Feminists have fought since the 19 and 20 century to gain equal rights for women in th
society, women leading to more rights now, but in the 20 century woman had to fight the rights to compete in sports (Rostkowska, (Rostkowska, 170). The film presents us with many opportunities to show h ow imagery affects the athletes. Equality is a key role through out o ut the film and we can see how athletes grow together and fall apart together within their own p ressures and under the pressure to prove women are worthy of a mans man s world (A League Of Their Own). Feminism became huge in the United Sates in the 1960s and the 1970s, old attitudes about how a woman she be presented have eroded and changed peoples minds. minds. In the early 80’s women’s sports were radically transformed, however sports were not a primary concern to some women, more women just wanted equality at home and at their job (Guttmann, 251). Someone could
Cook 2 wonder in our present day what is the big deal of a woman competing in sports but actually there is still controversy in our present day. In the past woman did not compete in the Olympics or even town athletic events. One can often hear opinions that women should not practice particular sports for a variety of health and aesthetic reasons. One of the most frequent arguments against women’s participation in sport training is care abou t women’s health, in particular, about their future successful maternity (Rostkowska, maternity (Rostkowska, 173). Title IX, passed by Congress on June Jun e 23, 1972, was one of a number of civil rights laws enacted over the last half of the twentieth century designed to prevent sex discrimination of all kinds. This law that was passed was directed for equal rights between genders but it was not really directed towards sports, although because of this law it made it very eligible to woman to compete in sports (Ryan). Even though a lot have attitudes have changed towards woman competing in sports, many believe women should be, “ tak ing care of the kids and in the kitchen.” A quote that stands out in the movie about inequality in the movie was “Careers “Careers and higher education are leading to the masculinization of women, with en ormously dangerous consequences to the home, the children, and our country. When our boys come home from war, what kind of girls will they be coming home to?” to?” Maida subjected the women she spoke of to the image of being the “good housewife” and saying that women are not meant to play ball (A league of their own). The affect of her statement was subtle but many women realized the men would not want manly women, that they would become undesirable. The societal image to be women drives them to make decisions against being baseball players even though that’s what really gets really gets some of them excited. The women are always talked down to through out the movie until they learn to stand up
Cook 3 and be strong even when the rest of the world is criticized them for the choice they made to play ball. The team was started because there was a shortage of men me n and it was decided that the woman would step up and play ball. The committee recommended a girls' softball league be established to be prepared to go into Major League parks should attendance fall due to franchises losing too man y quality players to attract crowds. So crowds. So there was two problems the committee was facing they h ad to change the game of baseball to transform it into baseball and the needed to recruit woman players who had experience with softball or baseball. Making the team was not a piece of cake for example starting from the first time the girls went to try outs there was a lot of difference girls and personalities which lead to a lot of d ifferences. The team had a rough start where they didn’t like listening to one another or how how captains were picked ( picked (AllAllAmerican Girls). The team followed along hesitantly trying to prove they could make it in this sports world just as men do. The strive for equality happ ened when one of o f the best players (Dottie) tried to express authority and because she was “the best” in the league. The girls were also very timid and didn’t understand un derstand that to win you had to grow as not only a team but in the eyes of the public you also had to prove yourself. The punch line of the whole film is “THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!” this BASEBALL!” this is the turning point for many of the players, they understand that they have to dig deep and play off of each others strength and prove what the rest of the world sees in men they the y can do just as well. Next, when they hit it off and every one is at peak performance they start to change how the public views them and they make a league of their own in society. In the seemingly no hitter game Mae hits the ball out to center and you hear the team scream “Dirt “Dirt in the
Cook 4 skirt, Mae! Dirt in the skirt!” the announcer is hollering, “Boy, “Boy, did she smack that one on the kisser. No wonder they call her "All the Way" Mae.” Mae.” The team pulled together to give support to their teammates, pushing them to grow and tune out the pressure of everyone outside of the team. The next few games after that the team slowly drifted apart just before the play offs. Starting with the sisters, sisters, and kit and her feelings of inferiority to Dottie. She says “You ever hear Dad introduce us to people? "This is our daughter Dottie, and this is our other daughter, Dottie's sister." Should've just had you and bought a dog!” Kit dog!” Kit changed teams to the rival for play for play offs and the Peaches didn’t work the same. In the play offs Dottie drops the final ou t at home when Kit slides home on purpose. The team succumbed to their own demons and pressures in the end after play offs and never spoke again until a reunion of the hall of fame. The first time the sister had spoken in over 30 years was at the end of the film (A League Of Their Own). This is a classic example of inequality in sports. The filmmaker was a brilliant man who picked apart a team of extraordinary talent and heart, putting the emotions on screen for the rest of the world to get a glimpse at what it is and what it really takes to be the underdogs of the nation not only as a team but also as a woman in a mans world. The film certainly shows all the effects woman in sports has on society but also on a woman as well.
Cook 5 Works Cited
"All-American Girls Professional Baseball League." League League." League History. History. All American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association, Inc., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. A League Of Their Own. Own. Dir. Penny Marshall. Prod. Robert Greenhut. B y Lowell Ganz. Perf. Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna. Columbia Pictures, 1992. DVD. Guttmann, Allen. Women's Sports: A History. History . New York: Columbia UP, 1991. Print. Rostkowska, Elżbieta. "Women And Sport: A Historical Outline And Contemporary Social And Physiological Issues." Studies In Physical Culture & Tourism 14.2 Tourism 14.2 (2007): 169-175. SPORTDiscus with Full Text . Web. 10 Nov. 2014 Ryan, Molly M. "Title IX And The Drive For Gender Equality In Sports." Minority Sports." Minority Trial Lawyer 11.1 11.1 (2012): 2-6. Legal 2-6. Legal Information Reference Center . Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Cook 6 Letter of Reflection This investigative essay was one I enjoyed writing the most. Our assignment was to pick a movie and watch it and then choose a social issue to write a research paper. There was so many movies that had social issues in them to pick from but I felt like A League Of Their Own suited me best and the social issue I used was woman woma n in sports. Finding all sorts of information on the real team and information on the women was not difficult for me at all. I think the hardest portion I encountered was having use the library database. I have never used the library database before, but after I narrowed my phrase in the search bar because originally my phrase ph rase was very broad, the articles I found were very helpful when conducting my m y research. In the future, I will definitely use the library database as a source of information for my m y research papers. The big changes change s I made to improve my paper dealt with grammar, of course. I also talked too much about the movie inside my rough draft. It was not difficult for me to cut out some parts of my essay essa y but I had to take time to add more of my research information and adjust my sentences so the whole paper would have a more cohesive feel. I feel like the movie was a good source to start when understanding what I would be researc hing. After I got the hang of using the library database, the database became the most useful source I had that helped me with my paper. I used two articles from the library database. I felt like the database helped me the most because it gave me the most information to help me with writing my paper and it was super easy to cite because the th e citations were already made for it on the database. I believe the best part of my paper is the third paragraph because I incorporate a quote from the movie and then I tied-in the real information on the real baseball team in the paragraph. I really enjoyed writing this paper because I felt more motivated and
Cook 7 enthusiastic about doing this paper. If I had more t ime I would probably research more sports and events on woman sports issue, such as the tennis player Billie Jean King and what the issues she faced when competing. competin g. I would have also organized my time better because while writing this paper I had projects and exams in other classes, plus with my procrastination and watching Netflix did not help with me staying focused on this paper.
