Unseen Effects of Title Nine :: Sports Female Social Norms Essays

Unseen Effects of Title Nine Using the four topics, history, race and class, gender, and sexual orientation in sport, assume you are a screen writer in the year 2010. You have been commissioned to write a movie script about women's sports and current society. What is the theme? Who are the protagonists? What are the issues and how does the movie end? When Annie came in with an idea to do a sports movie, the first thing I did was laugh in her face. She quickly cut me off. "Harry. Harry what do you know about Title Nine?" "What is that, some new soy product?" "Title Nine, enacted in 1972, represents a large change in attitudes toward women and their aspirations. Since sports affect boys and girls as they grow up, the way we treat women's sports may prove as important to changing social attitudes as anything else we do. If girls are socialized the way boys are in taking part in sports, and if boys and girls grow up with the idea that girls are strong and capable, it will change the way girls and women are viewed by themselves and by civilization." "Oh it's a movie about the fate of civilization! Are there any explosions? Aliens?" "Title Nine. It's this law that says that boys and girls are entitled to the same resources when it comes to sports. Like, at a public school they can't give nice basketballs to the boys and crappy sacks to the girls. And they can't hire this all-star retired big shot for the boy's swim team and get some lifeguard to coach the girls. Everything has to be equal opportunity across the board." "Well that's something I'm happy to see at PTO meetings, but I don't give a damn about seeing it on the big screen. Annie, no one wants to shell out eight bucks to read the Constitution." "Ok look. This girl, Jane, grows up in this wealthy family, goes to a prestigious prep school, plays lacrosse, the works. Her aunt from the Bronx comes to visit her one weekend, and her aunt and her mother get into a huge fight because the Bronx cousin accuses he mother of spoiling Jane. She says Jane will never have to fight for anything, everything's always handed to her. She doesn't earn any of the stuff and privileges she has, she just gets it. Naturally Jane gets all huffy about this and it affects he deeply.