A Study of Inequity in Sport

In the late 1970s, scholars from North America began to incorporate gender in their critique of contemporary sports. Soon thereafter, European sports scholars also embraced gender as a transformative concept. Initially, scholars focused on women athletes as subjects, but in the 1980s they expanded their perspectives. Rather than considering gender a distinct category, scholars redefined it as a dynamic relational process. The focus shifted from women athletes to a cultural critique of sport using intersectionality and cultural studies perspectives. Scholars purported that gender in sport intersects with other dimensions of human experience and identity such as age, ethnicity, race and social class.This CU on the Weekend talk with Professor Nicholas Villanueva will examine the intersectionality of gender and sport through these many dimensions, explore existing inequities and share how Critical Sports Studies scholars are working to make sport more inclusive.