The Heart of the Game: Girls, Sports and the Limits of “Empowerment”

Abstract

As one of the most widely celebrated documentaries about female athletes to date, The Heart of the Game remains an important text to examine for the ways it represents female athletic experience and encourages audiences to consider gender issues in sport. Such an investigation is particularly apt, given how sports documentaries authenticate particular viewpoints while being understood by audiences as historical reflections of reality. Although the film is praiseworthy for exposing the cultural construction of gender as well as some ways gender ideologies hamper female athletic success, this essay argues that The Heart of the Game’s progressive agenda is ultimately undercut by its simultaneous reproduction of gender and racial ideologies that actually marginalize women and girls in sport.

Sport Culture and Adversity Explained: Exploring My Experience as a Woman Working in the Sport Industry

“…Not a lot of this work has been expressed via digital storytelling, as so I have identified a need to have more stories and research shared through short-form digital content as it is both more accessible to viewers through mobile devices and social media and could reach a more extensive range of audiences (Fortuna, 2015). Limited digital content has been produced to showcase women's sports or tell the stories of female athletes (Gaillot, 2018; as cited in Heinecken, 2021). Furthermore, most previous studies do not consider the amount of storytelling coverage that produces female professionals working in the sport industry and their experiences.…”

“…However, those stories focus on the male perception and male experience of gameplay and traditional locker room culture and do not target social, cultural, or political issues in sport. Without the contribution of female stories, it could further perpetuate the stereotype that sports are only for men in the "mediated man cave" (Cooky, Messner, & Musto, 2015, p. 278) and conserve the ignorance of traditional gender ideologies among audiences (Antunovic & Linden, 2020;Heinecken, 2021).…”

Facing the COVID-19 Opponent

“…This lack of participation can have lasting physical and mental health impacts as it limits opportunities to develop beneficial life skills (Newman, 2020;Pate et al, 2000). Furthermore, this sex-based "stereotyped" approach to physical activities for young girls does not encourage advancement in the multifaceted areas of youth development nor does it lead toward girl empowerment (Heinecken, 2021).…”

Exploring adversity and the potential for growth among Iron[wo]man competitors

“…In contrast, as is often deployed in popular discourse, empowerment is promoted as a focus on self-improvement, self-efficacy, and personal transformation. This directs attention away from structures that perpetuate inequality and toward the individual (Heinecken, 2020;McClearen, 2018;Toffoletti, 2016). These discourses are powerfully interpellated with the logics of neoliberalism (Rottenburg, 2014) and "add women and stir" liberal feminism (Banet-Weiser, et al, 2020;Hall, 2001;Scott, 1991), which are increasingly visible as public and popular practices (Banet-Weiser, 2015;Banet-Weiser, et al, 2020).…”

“…As apparent in the interviews, their experiences of empowerment reflect the popular meaning of empowerment in that the focus is entirely on self-improvement, self-efficacy, and personal transformation. According to Heinecken (2020), McClearen (2018), and Toffoletti (2016, this focus directs attention away from the structures that perpetuate inequality and limits the call for social action to change unjust power relations in women's personal lives. One example of this is the obvious juxtaposition of the title, Ironman, and the desire female participants within Ironman triathlon culture have to attain that title for themselves.…”