The Martlet

Gendered preconceptions unsportsperson-like

Gender connotations of certain sports require athletes to look beyond raised eyebrows

These days, few raise an eyebrow at a woman on a varsity team doing a lay-up, or a man on a varsity team sending a perfect cross into the penalty area. Say rower or swimmer and no gender pops into your head. But say field hockey or rugby, and that’s not the case.

James Kirkpatrick has tried most sports. Ice hockey, soccer, even rugby. But today varsity field hockey is the sport he plays. He started playing when he was about eight, and heard the comments.

“When I was younger people would make fun of you a little bit, like, ‘ You’re playing a girl’s sport,’ or whatever,” Kirkpatrick said in a phone interview. “But at university, I guess people have a bit more class and it’s more a surprise than anything else.”

Still, no one would react with surprise if he said he played varsity soccer. And for women playing a sport perceived as masculine, the comments are a bit harsher.

“Dykes on spikes is what people call it a lot,” said fourth-year Vikes rugby player Chelsey Minter. “The gay jokes got brought up, and butch jokes and things like that.”

That can carry over when her teammates trade in the cleats for heels and head to the club, when a guy finds out the woman he’s talking to plays university rugby.

“They just assume that rugby girls are all butch and not pretty,” Minter explained.

She also finds that people expect the women’s game to have different rules than the men’s.

“A lot of people ask if it’s full contact. It is, and that’s kind of shocking for a lot of people,” said the history and political science student.

The gender biases haven’t kept either Minter or Kirkpatrick from thriving in their chosen game, as both have played for national junior teams. And both agree that as the levels get higher, the stereotyping abates.

“There’s still a little bit, but definitely not as much,” said Kirkpatrick. “When people hear what level you’re competing at they’re more impressed.”

Less impressive are the results the men’s team has put up. The women’s field hockey team is one of the most successful programs at UVic, and the men have never been able to match that. Part of the problem is that fewer men play field hockey in Canada, and many of those that do are from Vancouver and end up at UBC.

“Once they come over to UVic they love it. But getting them to come over can be a bit of a struggle,” Kirkpatrick said, adding that they do have a good group of guys here now, and that despite missing the playoffs they had a good season.

The women’s rugby team is in a similar situation. Men’s rugby gets plenty of press, partly because their success. The women’s club is going in the right direction though, including a fourth-place showing in this year’s Canada West playoffs.

“We came up with our best season,” Minter said. “We went 2-2, which doesn’t seem that good, but it’s a big improvement from the 0-4 and stuff we’ve had before.”

Once exams are finished, Kirkpatrick and the junior national team are heading over to Europe. He’s not feeling too confident about playing the top-ranked men’s team in the world though.

“The Germans will definitely stomp us, they’re number one in the world right now. We’re playing England and Poland. Those are the teams we’ll probably match up best with.”

In rugby, the national teams give a good glimpse into how gender still influences sporting decisions.

“When I started, the boys that I knew that were playing on Canada’s junior team didn’t pay for anything, we paid for everything,” said Minter, who aspires to make the 2014 World Cup squad. “There was no carding system for the women until 2007, and then they finally started giving us a progressive carding system, so that some costs are covered. But it’s nowhere near what the men are getting, even now.”

Neither athlete gets too worked up over the negative comments they still sometimes hear.

“People who are coming [to UVic] are trained and have gotten over any of those kinds of things,” said Minter. “They’re here to play rugby and do well.”

Kirkpatrick has been asked “too many times to count” whether he has to don the skirt women field hockey players wear. He mostly just laughs that attitude off: he understands where it’s coming from.

“I just encourage people to take a look at it before knocking it,” he said of his sport. “A lot of the comments that people come up with are born out of ignorance. If people ever came out to watch one of our games . . . I’m sure their opinions would change.”