• Working Hypothesis 2

Women and Men should wear the exact same uniform across all sports.

• Working Hypothesis 1
• Five Academic Sources

1. Clasen, Patricia R.W. “The female athlete: Dualisms and Paradox in practice.” Women and Language, vol. 24, no. 2, fall 2001, pp. 36+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A82352864/AONE?u=rowan&sid=googleScholar&xid=dcc7de13. Accessed 28 Sept. 2022.

According to author Patricia Clasen, sports are a masculine dominated social environment, so women participants need to emphasize their femininity to compensate. Western culture defines gender and sex in very black and white terms. Masculinity is the opposite of femininity, they are overlapping dualisms. The term “Athlete” is itself deemed as masculine, as women in sports are always referred as a “female athlete”. To deny sports was to deny masculinity. Sports serve as a way for men to prove that they are masculine, and at first women participating was seemed unusual. Women’s uniforms attempt to make them look feminine, putting the focus on their gender instead of their game. In the 1940s, when women’s baseball became a thing since all the men were at war, there was league mandated skirts, makeup, long hair, and strict rules on their behavior. Being a female is paradoxical to being an athlete.

2. Lauer EE, Fisher RAZ&. LA, Bejar MP, McCowan T, Martin SB, Vosloo J. NCAA DII Female Student-Athletes’ Perceptions of Their Sport Uniforms and Body Image. Journal of sport behavior. 2018;41(1):40-63.

According to the authors of “NCAA DII Female Student-Athletes’ Perceptions of Their Sport Uniforms and Body Image,” Female sports uniforms often show the comparison between female athletes bodies, and the societal body standard. Because of this, female athletes might become more away of their bodies, as the attention is driven there. Women are often told that their value lies on how they look. Female athletes often become so focused on their appearances, the attention is on that instead of on the game. The revealing and skin tight uniforms are objectifying, and lead women to being hyper-focused on their bodies. Some believe the uniforms are functional and necessary for the game. For volleyball you have to dive and jump around, and lose clothing might get in the way. For softball, you slide on the dirt so the tight pants and socks protect you. Many women just come to terms with the uniforms and say, “You get used to it.”

3. Cristi-Montero C, Solis-Urra P, Sanchez-Martinez J, et al. Which one? A comparative study of traditional and sports uniforms on academic achievement, cognitive performance, playtime, bullying, and discrimination in adolescents: The Cogni-Action Project. Frontiers in public health. 2022;10:917970-917970. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.917970 COPY CITATION TO CLIPBOARD

988 students aged 10-14 were studied to compare academic achievement, cognitive performance, playing time, bullying, and discrimination according to their school and sports uniforms. While academic achievement and cognitive performance wasn’t affected, however 64% said that their traditional uniforms affected their level of physical activity. Adolescents wearing sports uniforms reported lower levels of bullying and discrimination. Comfortable matching uniforms in kids would increase their physical activity without raising the rate of discrimination.

4. Boys in skirts? making uniforms unisex. (2017, Sep 16). The Week, , 23. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fboys-skirts-making-uniforms-unisex%2Fdocview%2F2054103535%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D13605

120 state schools let anyone wear trousers or skirts. One teacher in Lewes has banned skirts all together, everyone must wear pants. The policy is designed to make life simpler for children questioning their gender, and keep kids from being immodest. Sirena Bergman in The Independent disagrees, and thinks banning skirts make the default gender male. Children should be allowed to express their femininity in what they wear. Options should be opening up, not being closed off.

5. Sokolowski, Susan L. “Sports Uniforms.” LoveToKnow, LoveToKnow, https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/sports-uniforms.

According to author Susan L. Sokolowski in her article, “Sport Uniforms,” back in the early ages of the Olympics, all the men participated naked for easy movement. Women had their own events named after the godess Hera, where they also participated nude. Soccer, football, cricket, rugby, baseball, and basketball all similarly started with little to no padding. There weren’t any regulations around the equipment players wore, but as time went on athletes bodies became more protected, each to their own.

Sources including the FIBV regulations for women’s and men’s beach volleyball uniforms:

1.  Bonk, Lawrence (11 August 2016). “Here’s Why the USA Women’s Volleyball Team Refuses to Stop Wearing Bikinis”. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Alt URL
2. “Bikini blues – Beach volleyball makes the swimsuit standard”. CNN. 13 January 1999. Archived from the original on 9 August 2015.
3. “Aussies opt for bikini cover-up”. BBC News. 5 January 2000. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018.
4. Beach Volleyball Archived 19 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
5. FIVB: Official BEACH VOLLEYBALL Rules 2009–2012, Archived 20 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Rule 5.1.1: “A player’s equipment consists of shorts or a bathing suit. A jersey or ‘tank-top’ is optional except when specified in Tournament Regulations.”
6. FIVB: Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournaments Specific Competition Regulations, Archived 21 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Regulations 24.2 and 24.4.
7. Jump up to:^a b Netter, Sarah (18 August 2008). “Olympic Uniforms: Less Clothing Means Better Result”. ABC News. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
8. McAsey, Jenny (5 August 2008). “Skimpy bikinis part of the plan”. news.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008.
9. “Denise Johns: There is more to beach volleyball than girls in bikinis”. The Times. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
10. Jaime Schultz (2014). Qualifying Times: Points of Change in U.S. Women’s Sport. University of Illinois Press. p. 193. ISBN 9780252079740.
11. Bissell, Kimberly; Duke, Andera (2007). “Bump, Set, Spike: An Analysis of Commentary”. Journal of Promotion Management. 13 (1–2): 35–53. doi:10.1300/J057v13n01_04. S2CID 167803591.
12. “London 2012 Olympics: female beach volleyball players permitted to wear less revealing uniforms”. The Telegraph. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

• Topics for Smaller Papers (very preliminary)

– School Uniforms, disordered eating in women’s sports, rise of women’s sports.

• Current State of My Research

Finding a lot of good sources on sexism in women’s sports, not a whole lot on the uniforms specifically. I haven’t found any papers on unisex sports uniforms.