Tags: gender, inequality, marketing/brands, sports, commercial, femininity, masculinity, 00 to 05 mins
Year: 2011
Length: 2:00
Access: YouTube

Summary: This Adidas commercial is from their recent "all in" advertising campaign. It is an excellent short clip for getting students to think about how binary gender, masculinity, and femininity are constructed in popular culture and sports. For example, the male athletes are depicted in more physically aggressive/extreme and high contact sports, and while female athletes are present in the video, they are vastly under-represented and their bodies are almost always sexualized (e.g. in cheerleading or dancing). Possible exercise: have students write down descriptors of the men and women in the video then share with the class and discuss. Possible topics of discussion include how these stereotypes/portrayals are harmful to men and women, objectification of men and women's bodies, and heterosexism and sexism in the media and sports industry. Using commercials in this manner offers several benefits, including a quick assessment of student understanding of key concepts.

Submitted By: Anya Galli

Tags: bodies, disability, intersectionality, sports, masculinity, master status, stereotypes, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins, 61+ mins
Year: 2005
Length: 85:00 (or first 10 min)
Access:  no online access (trailer here) 

Summary: This documentary explores the world of quad rugby (i.e., murderball), which is a full-contact sport for quadriplegics, who compete with wheelchair specially designed to take the hard knocks of the sport. The film follows the U.S. quad rugby team through their competition in the 2002 World Championships and the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. Recently, I have used the first 10 minutes of the film in a class period on disability, where we are introduced to the people on the team, and also to the sport. Watching these men physically compete in a competitive sport (and manage the activities of their daily lives) is great for breaking stereotypes about people in wheelchairs. It would also be a good way to explore master statuses (like being in a wheelchair); this film is a nice starting point to discuss both masculinity and how people maintain complex and multi-faceted identities despite disability.

Submitted By: Molly Dingel

Tags: bodies, disability, goffman, sports, theory, master status, stereotypes, stigma, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins
Year: 2011
Length: 9:43
Access: YouTube

Summary: Anthony Robles is an Arizona State University student who won the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championship, despite having only one leg. His case is an interesting example of stigma (i.e. a social or individual attribute that is devalued and discredited in a particular social context). When looking at him, people are likely to place an immediate stigma on him (note that many videos and headlines refer to him as a "one-legged wrestler" rather than "wrestler"), discrediting his physical abilities and perhaps assuming a poor performance in competitive sports. As noted by Goffman, this link is done through stereotypes, rather than objective attributes, which becomes clear in this video showing his 7-1 victory in the championship match. The tendency to qualify him as a one-legged wrestler and continually comment on his disability, as these announcers do, suggests the way a disability is used to form one's master status. In other words, Robles' missing leg becomes his primary identifying characteristic, overshadowing all other markers of status. This clip can be used in class to discuss disability, stereotypes, and master status, but it would also be useful to use the clip as a means of discussing how people often resist the stigmas assigned to them.

Submitted By: Lia Karvounis

Tags: bodies, gender, media, prejudice/discrimination, sex/sexuality, social construction, sports, 00 to 05 mins
Year: 2006
Length: 4:46
Access: YouTube

Summary: Shown by ChallengingMedia, this clip critically examines post-Title IX media by discussing the difference in the coverage of female vs. male athletes. While female athleticism challenges gender norms, female athletes continue to be depicted in traditional roles that reaffirm their femininity as wives, mothers, or sex objects. Yet, male athletes are shown in a heroic light illustrating their courage, strength, and endurance.

Submitted By: Shinta Herwantoro Hernandez

Tags: biology, bodies, foucault, gender, intersectionality, lgbtq, media, prejudice/discrimination, race/ethnicity, sex/sexuality, social construction, sports, caster semenya, norms, 00 to 05 mins
Year: 2009
Length: 3:44
Access: YouTube

Summary: Interview and commentary with Dave Zirin, sports writer for "The Nation." Zirin discusses the case of South African runner, Caster Semenya, whose gender was called into question after her victory at the 2009 World Championships. This clip is useful for talking about the social construction of sex and gender, and the pervasive discomfort around - indeed "disciplining" of - bodies that do not neatly "fit" into clear sex and gender categories.

Submitted By: Valerie Chepp