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Actually, It IS a Big Deal:The Pink Locker Room
and Discrimination
8thAnnual Iowa Governors
Conference on LGBTQ Youth
April 3, 2013
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Jill Gaulding Lisa Stratton
Your presenters today:
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Lets get startedwhy dont you ever
want to send the ZZs for Bud Light?
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Why do the Mariners have the newest
rookie wear a pink backpackdecorated in the taste of a little girl?
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Why does the toughest sheriff in
America make prisoners wear pink?
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Why do officials in Thailand discipline
officers who break work rules by
forcing them to wear pink armbands?
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And why does the University of Iowa have a Pink
Locker Room for visiting players?
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What Hayden Fry himself said:
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One thing should be clear this is not about
Iowa or Iowans, despite what some may want to
think:
Actually, not just UI, but the ENTIRE state ofIowa, has long been thought of nationally as
sexist and homophobic and redneck andmentally challengedWhy anyone other thanpig and corn farmers would want to live there isbeyond the ken of most of the nation.
-quote from supposedly supportive email, regarding2005 controversy over University of Iowas newly rebuiltPink Locker Room
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The real question: what message does
a Pink Locker Room convey?
And the game has already
begun because why, exactly?
Because the other team is feeling
calm?
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Some honest reactions (from
supporters of the tradition):
Oh, cmonof COURSE the
football team painted the lockerroom pink to imply that the visiting
team was a bunch of ladies. Whos
seriously denying that?
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Has any man posting to this thread [re theUI Pink Locker Room] ever played a team
sport and nothad at least one coach
deride the team by calling them girls orladies? Does anyone really think that the
idea of painting the locker room pink had
nothing at all to do with the stereotype?
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Dont be deliberately obtuse. Ofcourse it is meant to shame andhumiliate. Thats the thing that pisses
women off about it.
[Its about being] weak, dainty,
shameful, helpless, useless, etc.
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Youre free not to give a ___, but you haveto be an idiot not to pick up on the
misogynist slam. What if the tradition was
painting watermelon all over the walls. Orputting a giant menorah in the locker
room. Or maybe pansy print wallpaper. Its
just another way to say: Youre all a bunchof [fill in your favorite epithet].
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From a visiting player:
Senior Penn State offensive tackle Gerlad
Cadogansaid Tuesday that pink is a color
normally associated with feminine
characteristics and Iowas goal is to intimidate
opponents by making them feel soft. [But] its
effects could backfire on the Hawkeyes. Some
teams get mad, some teams get psyched up.
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I saw the pink locker room as a truefreshman, [Illinois senior quarterbackDustin] Ward said. It's kind of hard
not to notice it. It's all around you. Itsets the tone, that they're notrespecting you. It gets you ready to
go.
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But should we be discussing this at a
conference focused on LGBTQyouth?
YES. Definitely.
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Its true that a SEXIST tradition hurts
women and girls:
[D]iscrimination against effeminate men is often away of policing gender roles. . . .Such discriminationpushes men to act in hypermasculine andtraditionally macho ways. While such role policingcertainly confines men, it also undermines womensability to compete successfully. . . .Enforcing a codeof hypermasculinity on male[s] reinforces womensposition as different and other. Moreover,
hypermasculinity defines itself not only as differentfrom that which is female but as distinctly superiorto it.
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But the Pink Locker Room tradition is both
homophobic and sexist:
The teaching of male dominance through male
athletic culture [e.g. by putting down girls] is
not limited to the privileging of male athletes
exercise of dominance over women.The
linkage of sport and masculinity privileges a
particular type ofheterosexist masculinity that
can be furthered by exercising dominance overmen whose masculinity is perceived as
vulnerable to challenge.
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Once again, in the honest words of the
traditions supporters:
GIRLS and GAY men are effeminate, they AREweakerthe pink is used to try and upset theopposing teamI cant believe you liberals are
going to outlaw colors now.
The pink locker-rooms ARE a symbol, they AREintended to insult, and they ARE intended to
demoralize. They convey that the opposing footballteam is a bunch of sissies who will be beaten on thefield because they are weak and soft.
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These ideas are not limited to football
or even sports:
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And I think we know why
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When we absorb these ideas, it
can lead to something called
cognitive bias.
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Cognitivebias
is also known asimplicit bias
unconscious bias
hidden biasunexamined bias
or
implicit socialcognition
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For all of these reasons you might conclude
that the tradition is not just wrong,
but also illegal:
Per Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972, 20 U.S.C. 1681(a)
No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in,
be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any education program or
activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
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The Department of Educations guidance toschools reflects [the anti-essentialist goals of
Title IX] by specifically stating that claims of
harassment on the basis of the victims failure
to conform to stereotyped notions of
masculinity and femininity are covered under
Title IX.
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And yet
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And also
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Thats why we think that thePink Locker Room tradition
is a big deal.
What do you think?
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Thank you!
Jill Gaulding and Lisa StrattonGender Justice
550 Rice Street
Saint Paul, MN 55103
651.789.2090www.genderjustice.us
http://www.genderjustice.us/http://www.genderjustice.us/