During September of my freshman year of college, I fractured my femur and my best friend died in the same week. My favorite activity and the sport that brought me to that specific college, and my favorite person, were both ripped away from me. Trying to adapt to the lifestyle of division I cross-country, a sport highlighted by self-imposed agony, and my first semester of college course work, while learning how to heal my own life-shattering circumstances, were all foundational experiences that shaped my goals and dreams for my future research in the field that I came to love and cherish. My first three years of college were admittedly three years worth of life-altering suffering and identity shifts. For years, my identity was centered on a …show more content…
Through my research and training in your masters program, I want to be able to understand the silence behind gender violence in the NCAA, the dominance of rape culture on sports teams perpetuated through masculinities, and how intersections of race, class, and geographical regions affect the varying degrees of these instances. The anthropology of sport often analyzes and discusses masculinities, but I would like to concentrate on double-gender sports teams, such as track and field and cross-country running. Alternatively, I think that the intimacies and relationships forged by female teammates is a significant research topic widely missing from the current …show more content…
These behaviors and norms create distinct life course outcomes for runners, most specifically for collegiate runners. My background of studying injury discourse within the sport will serve to enhance my ability to describe and understand the culture that creates the environment that these runners live in and create. While I have a history of injury that has lead me to an advanced understanding of that specific topic, I also have personal experiences in living with and coping with a hostile masculine environment on each team I have competed on. My extensive course background in Gender and Women Studies has offered me a feminist perspective that is a paramount value in my life. This understanding of feminisms and the feminist perspective has taught me that the gender inequality present throughout American societies is airtight and sealed on sports teams like track and