Feminist Is a 21st Century Word

Emma Laudenbach

Lora Strey

Composition 101-12

December 10, 2014

Feminist Is A 21st Century Word

When the topic of professional women’s sports comes up, many people may think of basketball, but the last thing that may come to mind may be hockey.  Its no secret that women haven’t had a prominent role in the history of hockey, but it’s the twenty first century, and women’s role in the sport has changed quite a bit over the years.  In the article “Feminist Is a 21st Century Word,” Robin Morgan explains how much the world has changed with the topic of feminism and how it has always played an important role in our society. “I had no clue that feminists had been a major (or leading) presence in every social-justice movement in the U.S. time line: the revolutionary war, the campaigns to abolish slavery, debtors’ prisons and sweatshops; mobilizations for suffrage, prison reform, equal credit; fights to establish social security, unions, universal childhood education, halfway houses, free libraries; plus the environmentalism, antiwar and peace movements” demonstrates how many important events in history in which  women partook in and had a critical role in (“Robin”).  Now, with the importance of sports in our society today, we can see women becoming a bigger part of that as well.  

We can see how women in hockey are becoming a larger piece of the puzzle with the fact that the United States Women’s olympic hockey team made it to the championship game in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi (“Winter”).  Unfortunately, the game resulted in a loss for the United States, but 76% of the televisions in the United States tuned in to the coverage of the games on CBS (“76”).  While all of that 76% wasn’t all for the women’s championship hockey game, the coverage was well available for people to watch it.  I think this shows that women have progressed in the world in not just the fact that they are being broadcasted on television, but that they are able to take part in the Olympics.  Hopefully one day, there will not just be a National Hockey League, but a National Women’s Hockey League as well.   

Works Cited

"Robin Morgan on Why 'Feminist' Is a 21st Century Word." Time. Time, 17 Nov. 2014.

Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

<http://time.com/3588846/time-apologizes-feminist-word-poll-robin-morgan/>.

"Winter Olympics 2014: USA Loses to Canada for Women's Hockey Gold."CBSNews.

CBS Interactive, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/winter-olympics-2014-usa-loses-to-canada-for-womens-hockey-gold/>.

"76% of U.S. TV Homes Tuned in to Sochi Games Coverage on Networks of

NBCUniversal." TVbytheNumbers. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/02/25/76-of-u-s-tv-homes-tuned-in-to-sochi-games-coverage-on-networks-of-nbcuniversal/240155/>.

Braindead Megaphone By Emma Laudenbach

Emma Laudenbach

Lora Strey

Composition 101-12

Blog Post #2

Braindead Megaphone

In today’s society, people believe anything and everything that news broadcasters send their way.  We are in such a rush we don’t take the time to question if something is fact or fiction and sometimes we don’t even realize that it is happening.  Of course sometimes there are those reporters that have so much charisma and charm that we can’t to believe them.  This can be relevant in hockey too.  We feel like we become a part of the players lives and are there on the ice with them when in reality we are just sitting in our living rooms or in a sports bar watching the big game on the big screen television.  I know from personal experience of watching Minnesota Wild games that broadcaster Anthony LaPanta takes his role very seriously.  He was hired by the Minnesota Wild franchise in 2012 to the the voice of the games (“Anthony”).   

It’s not just the broadcasters who we listen to either.  Its the reporters who write the articles online that I would say is where a majority of the information comes from.  Its so easy for us to just pull up Facebook and the first story we see be some kind of link to an article on Buzzfeed or TMZ or a website of that kind.  The website thehockeynews.com has many stories on many teams throughout the National Hockey League. There is even a “rumors” tab at the top that has multiple stories that aren’t necessarily based on fact (“Hockey”).  

The article “Braindead Megaphone” by George Saunders explains to us the need for questioning the news.  We are so caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday lives that when we sit down to read the newspaper or watch the new on television, we don’t even want put anymore work in to ask the question “Is this accurate and reliable information?”   Saunders urges us to not just accept what the news gives us and to look into current events on our own time.  We have to take our lives into our own hands and not just let the loudest voice we hear, like LaPanta, and really pay attention to the game.

Works Cited

"Anthony LaPanta." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 5 Dec.

2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_LaPanta>

"The Hockey News: Insight on the NHL and the World of Hockey." The Hockey News:

Insight on the NHL and the World of Hockey. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.

<http://www.thehockeynews.com/>.

Saunders, George. The Braindead Megaphone: Essays. New York: Riverhead, 2007.

Print.

Feminist is a 21st Century Word - Hockey

            Hockey is not the first word that comes to mind a lot of the times when a person is thinking of women’s sports. Vise versa, women’s hockey in general does not pop up in most minds when thinking about the topic of hockey as a whole. However that is trying to be changed.

Women fall in the dominance of men when it comes to hockey today. During the previous Winter Olympic Games the men’s hockey semifinal game between the United States and Canada brought in over twenty million viewers. Four years before that, the championship game between the U.S. and Canada brought in almost twenty five million viewers making it one of the most watched hockey games of all time. Now in comparison to women’s hockey, those are astronomical numbers. The previous Olympic games featured Canada and the U.S. in the championship game as well. However, the championship match up only racked up a little more than ten million viewers. About half the viewers that the men’s received. Although hockey isn’t the dominant sport in the U.S., one would think that a rivalry game of that caliber would get a few more viewers than that.

In response to that, the women from team U.S.A. have been making very big efforts to get more girls to have an interest in hockey. They are making efforts to inform them that they are not just a bunch of tomboys out to hit one another. That they are playing because they love the game. That is why they are having the U.S.A. Hockey's Girls Try Hockey for Free Day every October 12th sponsored by World Girls' Ice Hockey Week in hopes to get more girls to have interests in playing hockey.

Even though women’s hockey isn’t the most predominant sport in today’s culture. But efforts are being made to try getting more and more girls playing the game. It may not be the biggest jump in numbers but slowly women are moving up in the hockey world.

Citations:

Tucker, Erika. "Is Women's Hockey an Endangered Olympic Event?" Global News. N.p., 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

NHL.com. "Olympic Final Most-watched Hockey Game in 30 Years." NHL.com. N.p., 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

NHL.com. "United States Olympian Hilary Knight Practices with Anaheim Ducks." NHL.com. N.p., 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.