University athletics are universally celebrated and have become a huge part of the college experience. A team can forge bonds between fans and crowds can become a united front capable of energizing and compelling a team. Being a part of a crowd is not simply a pursuit of personal enjoyment, it motivates a team and at times teams rely on their support system as expressed in The Playing Fields of Eton, “surely, one might think, it matters for a person’s interest in a pursuit what sort of incentives are associated—and have historically been associated— with it. Social appreciation from admiring spectators is one such incentive.” Spectators drive the players and incentivize them. While school athletics are typically dominated by football, basketball, and hockey, other sports still merit celebration. One would assume that division 1 athletics are cheered on and draw relatively similar crowds. But when division 1 women’s soccer at the university of Illinois Chicago and division one men’s ice hockey at the University of Michigan are compared, they have almost nothing in common. 
Tag Archives: LaVaque-Manty
Time to Take Actions, Women!
is childcare a women’s task?….like this…??
In the lecture, we read the text of Mika LaVaque-Manty, “Being a Woman and Other Disabilities.” The Playing Fields of Eton: Equality and Excellence in Modern Meritocracy. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2009. N. pag. Print.
Then we learned institutional barriers that keep women and people with disabilities away from sports. There are also value barriers that prevent women from participating in masculine or manlike role. When I learned those barriers and came up with arbitrary gender norm, the word “male dominant society” came to my mind; a value barrier prevents women from becoming presidents or leaders in the society.
More Than An Armrest: A View from 5’1 1/2″
I’m going to model this post after my stature: short and sweet. We are not all born equal; everyone is born with an Achilles heel, something that makes it more difficult for him or her to forge on and become a functioning member of society. What’s mine? I’m inherently and forever short. For all you average height/ tall (hate you) people rolling your eyes, hear me out, because I’m sure you are just as tired at staring at the top of my head as I am at staring at your nose hairs. I’m here to tell you that it’s not easy being small.
Preach.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not a mutually beneficial arrangement when you decide to rest your bony, pointy elbow on the top of my head. While you’re relishing in all the conveniences that come with having your own portable armrest,
Tiny person or large building? A question for the ages.
and enjoying a nice moment of relaxation and comfort, I’m down here losing brain cells by the second. PSA: if you do choose to rest your hefty body weight on my small frame, I will do everything in my power to ensure that you fall, preferably on a hard surface.
Additional Nugget Problems: I don’t like shopping in the youth and children’s sections to find clothes that fit (side note: judgmental mothers giving me side glares while shopping– quit staring or I’m going to sit on your child), it hurts when friends grab my ponytail so that they won’t lose me in a crowd, and I’m tired of my view being obstructed at every sporting event, concert, class, and really anything else that involves crowds and people being directly in front of me. I’m sick of not having my own seat on the bus because my friends insist I stand, or sit on their laps because “you don’t take up much room.” Also, I’m really, really sick of straining my neck all day long just to hold a conversation or make eye contact with someone. You think it’s difficult tilting your head down? Think again, I don’t see you constantly needing to crack your neck for relief or ending the day with a heated neck pillow every night.
Same
You want to ride a roller coaster? Wait until you’re 14 because the park has deemed you a liability. You want to take pictures with your friends? Either stand on your tiptoes and stretch your neck as long as possible or watch your friends sorority squat just so they can come down to your level. You want coffee? Bummer, that’s off limits unless you want to endure the wrath of a bitter and bored middle-aged soccer mom who will chastise you and condescendingly insist “perhaps that’s what stunted your growth.” I’m sorry, Mrs. Johnson, but my mother is 5 Foot 1 and my father is 5 Foot 9, please riddle me how this cup of coffee at age NINETEEN is contributing to my literal shortcomings.
Always trying to catch up
As LaVaque-Manty points out in Being a Woman and Other Disadvantages, “distributive justice isn’t only about the just distribution of goods: it can be about the just distribution of rights, opportunities, capabilities, and even recognition and respect.” I don’t see you precariously balancing on three textbooks on top of a storage box container that’s resting on a chair while you are wearing high heels just to change a lightbulb, so a little recognition and respect wouldn’t kill you. While I recognize that my situation doesn’t demand as much precedence or importance as those discussed in Being a Woman and Other Disadvantages, I’m not asking for much here people. There’s no need for legal action or legislation, (though, if you agree that this sounds reasonable, and you have some hookups in the State Department, get at me) just throw me a stool and we can call it a day. Or even a boost from someone would be great.
“People differ in needs, inclinations and talents,” yes I’m skilled at balancing on counters and finding ways to reach things but sometimes I just need a ladder or like eight more inches in stature. Adjusting my surroundings to my needs is at times easier than others. For example, while my home was tailored to my needs, my dorm and the rest of the world are not. In my dorm, there are no stools so I can’t reach the top of my closet, I can only see the top half of my face in my mirror, and I have to awkwardly hop into my bed. I constantly find myself using chairs, counters, or really anything that I can stand on to get to the snacks that my roommates (who are both 5’10”) conveniently keep out of my reach.
Sorry for the excess of Nicole Richie, she just gets me
What am I getting at? Being short is not just a different aesthetic, it is a physical difference that demands I make certain accommodations so to comfortably carry out simple tasks, after all according to Lm,“equality requires the acceptance of differences.” While I still hold out a little hope that I’ll hit my growth spurt soon, I’ve also accepted that at 19 that is highly unlikely and I forever blend in among a sea of 5th graders.
Admittedly, there are some perks that accompany the nugget life. I always get reduced ticket prices/ free admission at museums because people assume I’m under eighteen, and much to my disdain under 16 at times too. No one contests me when I order off the kids menu. Oh, and awkward run ins with people? Not a problem: just sink down like you’re descending underwater, and scurry away between the legs of the crowd like the chipmunk you were born to be. So short people remember, “neither nature nor accident denies anyone the capability to function.” And for tall people out there everywhere: stop asking me to tie your shoes, stop insisting I pick up your dropped pencil because I’m technically closer to the ground, and recognize that just because I look like I belong in It’s a Small World After All doesn’t mean I’m a joyous, singing doll for you to push around.
I’m just a Bruno Mars in a world of Taylor Swifts
Touchdown Theory 
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