Masculinity In Sports

Introduction
Sports are a very popular activity around the world. There are all different kinds of sports. You got basketball, football, baseball, soccer, and many more, but those are just the mail four that are played in America or at least televised. If you look at sports they all have something in common. Either it is trying to score more points than the other team, and all of them require some sort of round shaped object. Also, sports require a team and you work together as a team.

Although every sport has an objective to score more than your opponent, and have a better record than every other team. There are rules you must follow. For example, in football if you jump offside then it results in a fall start. Also, in basketball if you
catch the ball and start walking with the ball in your hands and not dribbling, then it is a travel. As we know every sport has rules, but who enforces the rules during the game? The referees, or also known as officials. Without the referees then the games would get hectic and out of control. The refs job is to enforce the rules and make the right calls so that the game is fare.

When we think of sports, normally we think masculinity or more of a man’s type of hobby.
Also, since we think of sports more as a man’s hobby then we more than likely think of the refs will be men. Although that may not be the case nowadays, Lauren Holtkamp is a women NBA referee. She is one of three women NBA refs. However, women refereeing for the National Basketball Association is not what you see in everyday basketball game. Especially for a men’s professional game and definitely challenges the gender
norm.

People
To this day when you think of sports you think of men playing basketball, football, baseball, or wherever you live the primary sports can vary. In Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Advertisements by William M. O’Barr, he states that, “While young adult women are assuming these provocative postures in ads that emphasize their sexuality, young men continue to express their masculinity in physical ways” (79). This can be confirmed in society today that men show more dominants then women in different situations or jobs. Lauren Holtkamp is not part of the norm. According to Referee.com there are at least seventy-six referees, and Lauren Holtkamp is one of them. Now she isn’t the first women official, but today women are starting to partake in jobs that were meant for men. Lauren is a middle aged, Caucasian woman. In the visual she appears to be more built and taller than the average women. She is wearing her NBA official uniform and the visual is of her doing her job as a referee. Other than what she looks like and what she is doing, in the visual Lauren’s nonverbal communication seems to be engaged and enthusiastic about her job.

Target Audience
The picture of Lauren is not just about her being an NBA referee, but it was shown to make a point.
It shows that women don’t have to be a housewife or have to have a secretary job. It shows that women can do way more than what society has determined for our gender. Since we live in America we all know how society has expectations on what type of jobs women should have and what their hobbies should be, and same goes for men. Society expects women to stay at home, keep the house clean, care for the kids, and make the food. We think that because back in the forties and fifties before it was really normal for women to work, that’s what they did. So, though that society has had gender expectations on what women and men do. That’s why the picture and the article about the Lauren Holtkamp is so powerful. This picture and article shows that women can do jobs that society thought that were only for
men.

Image and Context
The image shows a normal everyday woman with a job society could not have pictured. Lauren is a Caucasian, that looks middle aged and looks like she is fit. The picture is of her doing what she does for a live, which is a NBA official. The picture is in color and shows more than Lauren doing her job. It means something more; it shows that an everyday woman doing her job and having fun doing it. As Lauren says in nydailynews.com, “That was my first introduction to a refereeing and I loved it”. This comment by Lauren shows that ever since day one of her career she loved her job. This attitude reflects in her picture, so even a woman working a man’s job and saying that she loves it shows that it doesn’t matter what gender you are. Also, shows that it doesn’t matter what job society thinks a woman should have. As love as you love what you are doing, and doing it good it shouldn’t matter what gender you are or what job you want. The image and context of the visual challenges the gender norm. It challenges it by you do not see a woman being a NBA referee on a daily basis or it does not fall under the gender norm. As in, society would not picture a woman having a man’s job so to speak.

Conclusion
The article and the picture about Lauren Holtkamp doing what she loves as a National Basketball Association referee. Empowers women to do what they love to do. It shouldn’t matter what society thinks of women, or what job they should have. Lauren Holtkamp is the defection of doing what she loves and you can tell that society clearly did not stop her. Through the visual it shows her courage to step out of the gender norm and how it challenges it. From Lauren Holtkamp, herself challenging the gender norm and having a job that society would think it would be for men only. Also, to the target audience and how the article and visual turn towards women. Shows them that they don’t have to have a job that falls under the gender norm, but can go out and do what they like to do. Finally, to the Context of the visual, shows how she is engaged at her job. Lauren shows passion and is now in her third or fourth season as an NBA referee. Overall the article and visual may caused some disturbance in the traditional American society, but through it, it may empower women or men to do what they want and break the gender norm.