Sociologists’ Book Urges End of Sex Division in Sports

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2015/12/Carsen-Game2.png
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:1920;s:6:"height";i:1440;s:4:"file";s:24:"2015/12/Carsen-Game2.png";s:5:"sizes";a:13:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-336x252.png";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:252;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-771x578.png";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:578;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-140x140.png";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-768x576.png";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:576;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"1536x1536";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"Carsen-Game2-1536x1152.png";s:5:"width";i:1536;s:6:"height";i:1152;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:22:"Carsen-Game2-80x80.png";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-600x338.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-600x600.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-415x311.png";s:5:"width";i:415;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-353x265.png";s:5:"width";i:353;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-600x400.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-600x600.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"Carsen-Game2-125x125.png";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Dan Carsen
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] =>  WBHM/NPR
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:8507770;s:14:"optimized_size";i:1946377;s:7:"percent";d:77.120000000000005;}s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:52:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2.png";s:13:"original_size";i:6556180;s:14:"optimized_size";i:1309890;s:7:"percent";d:80.019999999999996;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-140x140.png";s:13:"original_size";i:40668;s:14:"optimized_size";i:14649;s:7:"percent";d:63.979999999999997;}s:6:"medium";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-336x252.png";s:13:"original_size";i:161040;s:14:"optimized_size";i:52561;s:7:"percent";d:67.359999999999999;}s:5:"large";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-771x578.png";s:13:"original_size";i:744991;s:14:"optimized_size";i:240275;s:7:"percent";d:67.75;}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:58:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-80x80.png";s:13:"original_size";i:14338;s:14:"optimized_size";i:5990;s:7:"percent";d:58.219999999999999;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-600x338.png";s:13:"original_size";i:372075;s:14:"optimized_size";i:121663;s:7:"percent";d:67.299999999999997;}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-300x300.png";s:13:"original_size";i:169713;s:14:"optimized_size";i:55434;s:7:"percent";d:67.340000000000003;}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-415x311.png";s:13:"original_size";i:239066;s:14:"optimized_size";i:76840;s:7:"percent";d:67.859999999999999;}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-353x265.png";s:13:"original_size";i:176718;s:14:"optimized_size";i:57010;s:7:"percent";d:67.739999999999995;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/12/Carsen-Game2-125x125.png";s:13:"original_size";i:32981;s:14:"optimized_size";i:12065;s:7:"percent";d:63.420000000000002;}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

)
1617024705 
1450799241

Can you imagine a world with no gender divisions in sports? University of Alabama at Birmingham sociologist Adrienne Milner can. Not only that — she wants to help make it happen. Along with University of Miami professor Dr. Jomills Henry Braddock II, she’s written a new book called “Sex Segregation in Sports: Why Separate Is Not Equal.” WBHM’s Dan Carsen caught up with her to ask what else she hopes to accomplish, and why.

Listen to the five-minute on-air version above. Key interview excerpts and a web-only extended version are below. 

The Main Argument

“Similar to racial segregation, sex segregation denotes the inferiority of women. Until women are allowed to play in integrated contexts and reach their full potential as athletes and people, we will never have equality in sports and in the broader society.”Adrienne Milner Book Cover

Like Race, Sex Isn’t “Real”

“We look at race as a social construction. It is not genetic, it is not biological, and we believe the same is [true] for sex … The male-female dichotomy doesn’t cover everyone, right? We have trans people, intersex people.”

You Can’t Actually Have Football in Your DNA

“There is no ‘football gene’ … And you don’t play football, you don’t play any sport with your genitalia. So there’s no reason to separate people, and we learned with Brown versus Board of Ed that separate can never be equal.”

A (Very Good) Example from the NBA

“Muscle [mass] is not the be-all-and-end-all of sports ability. Look at someone like [recent NBA MVP] Steph Curry, who is small for an NBA player …”

Even If…

“If women [were] always smaller than men, they could still have positions on football teams as kickers. And [in] other sports like diving, where we would maybe look at being smaller as being an advantage, women might excel.”

Why Is This Important?

“Sports show the main problems of other aspects of society … They’re also very beneficial in cutting down obesity, heart disease, [domestic] abuse, and eating disorders.”

Click below for the web-exclusive 17-minute interview, which includes thoughts on cheerleading, men competing on the balance beam (ouch), Milner’s own experiences as an athlete, and the book’s recommendations for making sports more equitable:

 

BSC’s Daniel Coleman talks about his years-long effort to save the school and what happens next.

After the news that Birmingham-Southern College is closing, we sat down with the school’s president, Daniel Coleman.

IVF could help her start the family she wants. Will Alabama’s personhood law derail it?

Despite a law meant to protect IVF in Alabama, patients and advocates worry the protections won’t hold — and warn of future attacks on reproductive rights.

Struggling Birmingham-Southern College says it will close at end of May

The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the longtime institution, officials announced in a news release. The announcement came after legislation, aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan for the 168-year-old private college, had recently stalled in the Alabama Statehouse.

What happens when a rural hospital shuts its doors? Look to Pickens County

Residents in the west Alabama county warn that the lack of emergency care can have deadly consequences. It's a fate that could befall a growing number of rural communities.

What issues are driving you to the polls this year?

What issues are top of mind as you head to the polls this year? What do you want the candidates to be talking about?

Q&A: A bad deal made Jackson’s water problems worse. It wasn’t the only Mississippi city harmed

Reporter Sarah Fowler talks about her investigation that found at least eight Mississippi cities were harmed by deals over faulty smart water meters.

More Arts and Culture Coverage