By David Smith, M.Sc., CSCS., SDL (He/Him)

“I am certainly competent, capable, and willing, but I need to ask… are you sure you want me as a cisgender white male to teach a class on women in sports?”

Was the first question I asked when I took on my faculty teaching role at the State University of New York. I was hired to teach the classes on sport psychology and exercise psychology but was also offered the opportunity to teach a class based on a topic of my choosing.

I initially proposed sport sociology, a comprehensive insight into sport history, diversity, socio-cultural and political aspects that have shaped our current sport culture and dynamics. As a sport psychology practitioner, my applied work is situated relative to the cultural context for which I operate. Thus, I must take into consideration the unique diversity of the athletes and teams I work with in my applied practice so that I can offer the best possible services for them as relative to their unique needs. I was then offered to teach a “Women in Sports” which represents a very similar approach but more focused on women. Hence my question. While I am knowledgeable and experienced on the topic, I felt it would be inappropriate to “mansplain” such a key topic. The response was based on my teaching demonstration in my initial interview, which I did on transgender athletes, and it was felt that I was the best person for the job based on…

  • My knowledge and insight into sports diversity, especially as it pertains to women’s sports, transgender athletes, and similar topics.
  • Having a cisgender male teach the class reenforces the universal importance of the subsequent topics surrounding women in sports toward an audience of future sport and exercise professionals. Especially given the class represents a roughly 50/50 distribution along the gender binary.

Since I’ve started teaching the class, I have found myself doing a deeper dive into the topic to challenge my own perceptions and biases while expanding upon my knowledge. Including highlighting specific people, movements, events, organizations, teams, and moments throughout history that have all shaped our modern reality. I’ve learned so much more from teaching the class than I had in my knowledge prior. The class content itself is very comprehensive as it pertains to everything from…

  • History of women in sports.
  • Important and influential people.
  • Sexual violence in sport.
  • Socio-cultural impact and influence on society.
  • Political and public perceptions of women and gender normativity.
  • Economics of women’s sports.
  • Women working and competing in male dominated/masculine sport domains.
  • Challenging hegemonic femininity and the paradox of athleticism.
  • Sport and feminism.
  • Female athlete physiology.
  • Physical, mental, and social health and wellbeing for female athletes.
  • Sport and gender identity (trans and intersex athletes).
  • Contemporary issues affecting women in sports.
  • Prejudice and discrimination in women’s sports.
  • Intersectionality between racism, sexism/misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia in sport.
  • And so much more.

Going even further, these topics are very complexed and nuanced, so to evaluate my students understanding and comprehension in a fun and unique way (besides just lame tests), I challenge them to a hot topics debate. The task is that the class is able to propose some current “hot topics” surrounding women in sports, including things like equal pay and opportunities, gender verification testing, inclusion of trans athletes, and others. The key here is that the students are expressing the topics and then vote on which are the top topics they want to discuss. The class is divided into groups where each group selects a specific topic to debate. With no prompts or anything on my part, the group as a whole must research all the different angles, arguments, and information available on said topic to understand it from all possible angles. On the day of the debate, the group is arbitratrily split into “for” and “against” sides where they must argue that side of the debate, regardless of their personal opinions on said topic.

The goal of this exercise is for the students to learn how to research controversial “hot topics”, sort through all the crap (fake news, misinformation, etc) and get to know the facts so that they formulate a well rounded and informed opinion. Taking it a step further to express their opinion and being able to support it while countering bad faith arguments through education and information. The students themselves have reported very positive feedback on the exercise and really enjoy the process, even when it feels uncomfortable to debate a side they don’t personally agree with, they share that it helps them to both better understand the different angles and also to better counter the opposing arguments. In the end, my goal is for my students to leave the class being with a greater sense of awareness, education, and curiousity for all of which a topic like Women in Sports represents. Empowering them to continue advocating for women and girls as representatives and allies alike.

As a result, I have learned so much about how the current political issues surrounding women in sports have such a rich and deep history of influence and impact. Learning everything from

While I apologize for turning this blog post about women in sports to focus on me, a cisgender white male. I recognize that I will never truly be an expert on this topic. As the current political climate openly lends itself to prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry, I am grateful for having the opportunity to teach this course for college students, it has been truly an enlightening experience for me. I have acquired and read dozens of books and documentaries, explored scientific research and my own conversations with researchers and athletes have all helped to expand my knowledge on the above listed topics. It is through our understanding of both historical and contemporary aspects of any given topic that we can utilize in taking a stand against oppression and fighting for all. As a sport and exercise practitioner and geek myself, the ability to do a deep dive on this topic has helped challenge me to be better and do better to advocate for women in sports, while simultaneously empowering the next generation of sport and exercise professionals as well.

With that said, in recognition of Women’s History Month, here is my recommendations for documentaries, movies/tv shows, and books about women in sports that can serve to help challenge your perceptions and expand upon your knowledge. If you have any recommendations, send them my way!

Documentaries 

Movies/TV shows 

Books/Readings 

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Published by David "Dirk" Smith

David "Dirk" Smith is Compete Sports Diversity's Managing Editor and Associate Education Director . He is pursuing his PhD in sport/exercise science and psychology at the German Sports University in Cologne, holds a master’s degree in sport/exercise psychology and a bachelor’s degree in sport/exercise science. Dirk is a 3x national champion and 16x Gay Games medalist in competitive swimming. In addition to his writing, he is a member of the Sports Diversity Leadership Council; organizing workshops and conducting lectures in diversity, inclusion, psychology, health, wellness, sport psychology and other topics. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he is a practicing sport psychologist, strength and conditioning coach, swimming coach, published scientist, filmmaker, writer, and so much more.

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