棒球运动与美国女性的身份认同

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摘 要

对于很多美国人而言，棒球不仅仅是一项简单的运动。棒球始终被美国人视作专属于美国的运动，并于1910年被塔夫脱总统宣布为美国的”国球”。这一方面是因为棒球并不分族群、宗教或政治立场，所以它深受所有美国人的喜欢，另一方面则是因为美国人坚信棒球运动能够培养群体认同乃至国家认同，是美国精神的集中体现。

然而在美国，棒球运动对于女性和男性有着根本上的不同：男性不必像女性一样处理无法定位、污名化、角色冲突、或文化不适等社会问题，能够很快地将这项运动与其性别角色联系在一起。1875年，美国诞生了由女性组成的职业棒球队——布隆斯和布鲁纳思。1890年开始，美国掀起了女子棒球运动的热潮，全美各地开始出现各种形式的业余球队。到了1943年，全美女子职业棒球大联盟诞生了。虽然是女子职棒，但是它的规则和场地设置与男子职棒以及女子垒球都是不一样的，介于两者之间，而且根据美国女子棒球联盟创始人菲利普·瑞格理的说法，当时是为了让棒球保持公众关注度，才想出了组织女性打职棒的主意，并不是为了女性本身。但是在第九条款宣布之后，第九条款对保护棒球场上的女性产生了重大影响。女性通过棒球运动打破强加于女性的束缚，建立一种自由、平等的身份意识，她们不必担心被过度排斥，这使美国社会向消除基于性别的刻板印象迈出了一小步。本文对于棒球运动与美国女性身份认同之间关系的探讨，旨在揭示美国女性争取社会平等和自身权利的有效途径，并对美国女子棒球发展中存在的社会问题及解决方法进行尝试性的探讨。

关键词：棒球；身份认同；美国女性；社会平等

Abbreviations

AAGPBL All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

NAIA National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

MLB Major League Baseball Association

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments i

Abstract ii

摘要 iii

Abbreviations iv

Table of Contents v

Introduction 1

Background Information 1

Literature Review on Women’s Baseball 2

Theoretical Interpretation of Social Identity 3

Thesis Structure 5

Chapter One The Cultural Characteristics of Women’s Baseball 6

1.1 The Dress of a Female Baseball Participant 6

1.2 The Changed Rules for Women’s Baseball 8

Chapter Two Women’s Baseball and the Identity of American Women 9

2.1 The Way of Female Participants to Build Identity through Baseball 9

2.2 The Impact of Baseball on the Identity of Female Participants 11

2.3 The Identity Dilemma of Women’s Baseball in the Patriarchal Society 12

Chapter Three The Development of Women’s Baseball amidst Identity Dilemma 14

3.1 After the Announcement of Title IX and the “American Women’s Revolution” 14

3.2 The Existing Problems and Possible Solutions 15

3.3 New Options of Female Identity Based on Women’s Baseball 17

Conclusion 18

Works Cited 19

Introduction

Background Information

Comparing traditional female gender stereotypes with the 21^st-century women’s performances in the sports world, it is clear that sportswomen are beating down the traditional concept with notable achievements. Their ability to challenge gender discrimination obstacles and perceptions about women’s appearance, behaviors, and participation in sports, obviously derives from the growing involvement of women in all kinds of sports. However, it is also true that conventional female stereotypes continue to exist.

In terms of physical, mental and emotional, women have long been considered as the “weaker sex.” This expectation of femininity often leads to women’s being discouraged in sports and physical activities, such as unable to participate and contend in physical activities. The main reason is that the society expects women to become “gentlewoman” rather than characterizing as being masculine. However, when women cross the boundaries and display these so-called “male characteristics,” their gender identity, sexual orientation, value system, and social roles are often questioned.

In most ball games, baseball is a kind of sport which emphasizes team cooperation and team spirit, which is the nation’s favourite relaxation of the United States. This is because baseball is not divided among ethnic groups, religions, or political sects, therefore, it is popular among all Americans. On the other hand, Americans believe that baseball can develop social identity and even national identity. But many define it as a male sport, as for female, they can only become audiences instead of getting involved. After the announcement of Title IX, there are many opportunities for women in baseball, but they still have to struggle to obtain and maintain their right to participate. The progress of women’s involvement in baseball demonstrates the enhancement of women’s status in the general society. However, even though baseball is no longer a male patent, women still feel that they are unpopular and unwelcome in this sport.

Literature Review on Women’s Baseball

As a matter of fact, many people hold the concept that “males play baseball” and “females play softball.” They mistakenly believe that baseball is a male-only sport, and softball is a women-only sport. Even the Olympics merely set up “men’s baseball” and “women’s softball” as regular games, but ignore “women’s baseball” and “men’s softball.” Various factors have made this misconception more ingrained. In practice, however, there are no gender restrictions in the rules of either baseball or softball, and there are no requirements that prevent male and female players from playing together.

At present, there are few researches on the relationship between baseball and girls in the United States, and some of them have focused on the role of women in Sports. For example, Cooky Cheryl argues that while women have entered sports as athletes, sexism, and homophobia continue to emerge at all sports levels (34). In other words, the Gender Equality Movement in American sports is still one-sided, and the gender revolution is incomplete. Susan K. Cahn’s research shows that women’s participation in sports challenges the existing social order of male dominance, and some sports become beauty pageants, which greatly reduce competition (107). Some coaches and officials change the rules to create feminine versions of the game by reducing the size of the field and the length of the game, for example, baseball. At the same time, Cahn finds that playing sports is seen as a sign of male strength and the decline of femininity. But for female athletes, it offers an opportunity to combine traditional “male” strength with traditional “female” attributes. Chen Wenjun, a Chinese scholar, believes that many women are interested in sports, they can become excellent athletes, and their risks are not greater than those faced by male sportsmen (16). The deep-rooted myth about female inaptitude deprive women of the opportunities to participate and perform well in sports.

In a word, there are few domestic and foreign scholars who study the relationship between American women and baseball from the perspective of social identity, therefore, this article analyzes current situation of American women’s baseball and how to establish the identity of female participants through baseball, intending to put forward reasonable suggestions for female participants to solve their identity problems in the development of American women’s baseball.

Theoretical Interpretation of Social Identity

In order to understand the current situation of American women’s baseball and figure out the solutions to identity crisis in the development of this sport, it is first necessary to clarify the concept of social identity at the very start.

The term social identity aims to prescribe and specify the circumstances under which individuals think of themselves as group members. It also includes the consequences of personal and social identities towards individual perceptions and group behaviors. Social identity theory, which was formulated by the social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner in the 1970s, describes the conditions under which social identity becomes more important than one’s identity as an individual. It demonstrates, in the Chinese scholar Yan Ding’s words, that when an individual believes that the boundaries between groups are difficult to cross, he cannot easily transfer to social groups of higher status. In this case, individuals will strengthen their identification with their own groups. At this moment, individuals would adopt the group strategy instead of individual strategy, which includes social creation and social competition. However, when group status is considered unreasonable, this will no longer be considered unchangeable. Group members would seek a positive sense of distinction by directly competing with external groups, as is called social competition. They would even try to change the social status of the group, for instance, demonstrations and violent revolutions. And the dominant groups also take measures to maintain their social status by virtue of peace negotiations, military repression, and so on.

As S. Alexander Haslam points out in his article “Social Identity, Health and Well-Being: An Emerging Agenda for Applied Psychology”:

“Us” versus “them” distinctions not only help us understand ourselves, but also impact upon our self-evaluations and our sense of worth. In particular, an ingroup’s perceived superiority relative to other groups in a relevant domain (achieved through positive intergroup comparisons) should tend to enhance selfesteem, well-being, and mental health. In contrast, if individuals belong to a group that is seen as in some way inferior to others (e.g. because it is disadvantaged or stigmatised), then negative intergroup comparison is likely to pose a threat to well-being. (5-6).

Within the context of sports, fan identification is an expression of the social identity theory (Underwood 1). In turn, sport has distinct parallels to society. When groups prevalent in everyday life, they are abound in sports, because teams give a natural formation of groups for people to participate in. According to Heere and James, “Team identification has been described as a psychological attachment that provides fans with a sense of belonging to a larger social structure” (66). Sports teams and their fans form a sort of “group” that members form their social identities around. A part of an individual’s self-concept is emerging out of their loyalty to that group or team identification. This part of social identity theory can be treated as a positive for sports teams. If a fan derives some of their identity from their team identification, they can be looked at as, “more than a consumer of a product. A fan may be thought of as a member of a special group” (66). If the fans see themselves as part of a team, they are possible to be devoted, and loyalty leads to higher attendance, greater spending on market, and more fan interaction. Sports fans often derive identity and esteem from their affiliation with a team (Underwood 1). Due to this, they see the product as an spread of themselves, and can equate team success with personal success. As a result, members of these affiliated groups may spend a few thousand dollars on high-demand tickets, while more intellectual, casual consumers may not. This move from casual fan to fanatic can effect spending remarkably, from things as obvious as tickets, clothing, home supplies, and tailgating equipment. Obviously, sports team, whether it is college or professional, is in favor of this social identity with a sports team, and the membership that many fans feel drives this.

My research on the development of American women’s baseball is just based on the social identity theory. Linking the theory to the actuality of female baseball might help us to find out some better ways to establish the identity of female participants in the baseball field.

Thesis Structure

Based on the social identity theory, this paper analyzes how female baseball players establish their identity through baseball and the identity dilemma of women in the patriarchal society. It also combines the develop status after the announcement of Title IX and the rise of Women’s Revolution to reveal the existing problems in the development of women’s baseball and to propose feasible solutions.

The first chapter focuses on the cultural characteristics of women’s baseball, which is significantly different from men’s baseball. It will mainly discusses the dress of female athletes and the changed rules for women’s baseball. The second chapter explores the relationship between women’s baseball and the identity of American women. It tries to figure out the way of female participants building identity through baseball and how baseball affects the identity of female participants. The identity dilemma of female baseball in a patriarchal society is also discussed in this part. The last chapter analyzes the development of women’s baseball after the announcement of Title IX and the “American Women’s Revolution.” Finally find out the existing problems and possible solutions amidst the identity dilemma, and then unravel some new options of female baseball.

Based on the discussion in the aforementioned three parts, the final conclusion of my research is that Title IX has had and will continue to have substantial influence on the protection of women on the baseball field. Girls seeking to play baseball would have the opportunity to pursue their dreams without fear of being unduly excluded, which will bring American society a small step closer to a complete elimination of gender-based stereotypes.

Chapter One The Cultural Characteristics of Women’s Baseball

In the Western world, males are expected to be tough, independent, and athletic, while females are expected to be soft, submissive, and attractive. Traditionally, sports and athletics have long been related to males, manliness, and the “male fields.” Nevertheless, after World War II, female competitive collegiate sports began to spring up. And in the 1960-70s, women’s movement created new conception and demanded equal opportunities for women in sports. As a consequence, men and women can compete in the same field, furthermore, the number of women who play in Minor League Baseball, participate in high-level amateur events, and compete in the Olympic Lineup is also increasing.

Often referred to as the America’s pastime, baseball has millions of fans crossing generations and has been providing vibrant entertainment around the world for more than a century. But in the early days of baseball development, men and women can not play baseball together, one major reason is the difference in gender identity. Therefore, there are some diversities between men’s baseball and women’s baseball at the very beginning. This chapter henceforth discusses two differences of women’s baseball.

1.1 The Dress of a Female Baseball Participant

Although the society has a greater understanding of gender stereotyped image in sports and physical activities, traditional gender stereotypes of females still exist. Female athletes have an inferior position in the sports circles, hence the idea that sports and athletics continue to be more suitable in the “male fields” (Schmalz and Kersetter 550). Negative labels are often connected with athletic women, and therefore, they are used as a mechanism to limit and control women’s participation in sports. This gender inequality correspond to the patriarchal nature of American society and modern sports. However, it continues to be challenged by encouraging girls and women in actively

participate in sports at all levels. The history of women’s baseball dates back at least to the 1860s, when Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, formed its own female team (551). About 80 years later, the first officially-accredited women’s professional baseball league, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), was founded for the first time (551).

Traditionally speaking, females had been expected to wear dresses, do housework, keep a beautiful figure, and preserve artlessness. As expected, during that period of time, women who played baseball were also required to wear dresses. The players were subject to strict rules and regulations on everything from their appearance when they were not playing games to their routine lives. The following are some examples from the AAGPBL Rules of Conduct:

1. ALWAYS appear in feminine attire when not actively engaged in practice or playing ball. This regulation continues through the playoffs for all even though your team is not participating. AT NO TIME MAY A PLAYER APPEAR IN THE STANDS IN HER UNIFORM, OR WEAR SLACKS OR SHORTS IN PUBLIC.
2. Boyish bobs are not permissible and in general your hair should be well groomed at all times with longer hair preferable to short hair cuts. Lipstick should always be on.
3. Smoking or drinking is not permissible in public places. Liquor drinking will not be permissible under any circumstances…obscene language will not be allowed at any time.
4. All social engagements must be approved by a chaperone.
5. Lipstick should always be on and their baseball uniform skirts shall not be shorter than six inches above the knee (Cohen 48-49).

Lillian Jackson was one of the main founding members of the AAGPBL in its 1943 inaugural season. According to her statement, after everyday practice, Mr. Wrigley would take them to the glamour school in Helena Rubinstein to learn how to make up, how to put on a jacket, and how to get in and out of a car or a chair. Besides, when back to the hotel, he ordered them to wear skirts. And they obliged to use the servant’s elevator if they wore slacks. The AAGPBL existed for more than a decade because it relied on the players’ skills to attract fans to the baseball field, and in the early stages of the league, attendance increased steadily, with about one million fans in 1948.

1.2 The Changed Rules for Women’s Baseball

With a few exceptions, women’s baseball is a competition played by female professional baseball players in the Major Leagues. Generally speaking, the rules and strategies are the same. The difference only lies in the distance between the bases, the distance from the pitching mound to the home plate, the size of the ball, and the style of pitching. Different from the start of the league, these differences gradually extend the length of the baseline paths and the pitching distance and reduce the size of the ball until the final year of the league. In 1954, the league used “official” men’s baseball, and the pitching distance was the same as that of men’s baseball. However, the length of the basic path was still 5 feet shorter than the regular one.

In 1943, at the start of the league, female baseball players used a 12 inch ball. The men’s baseball league, on the other hand, used a regular 9 inch ball. The pitching distance in women’s baseball was 40 feet, while in men’s baseball it was 60 feet. The distance between bases, however, remained shorter than the men’s. At the beginning of the AAGPBL season, the distance between bases was 65 feet. Men's baseball called for 90-foot baselines, setting up a distance of 127 feet, three and three-eighths inches from home plate to second base or first base to third base It was 60 feet, six inches from pitcher's box to home plate in men's. The rules of male baseball required that a ball should be of no less than 5 ounces and no more than 5 1/4 ounces, with a perimeter of 9 to 9 1/4 inches.

Except for the rules mentioned above, there is not much difference between men’s baseball and women’s. This is mainly because the organization is trying to keep the rules and regulations as close and similar to the rules and regulations for a men’s baseball team. All the changes are designed to make the match more infusive and the audience more excited and emulative.

Chapter Two Women’s Baseball and the Identity of American Women

The sports world is closely linked with the male field, and there has been a prejudice against female athletes. Nevertheless, far from being a male movement in the most strict sense, baseball had long been enjoyed and played by Americans of all genders, races, and classes since it became popular in the 1830s. The game was invented by English girls and boys, and when it moved into the U.S., hundreds of remarkable women’s colleges formed teams and sent spirited and formidable players.

In the early 20th century, which was the period of the rise of the United States on the world stage, baseball became more and more popular in America. And when the U.S. had just emerged as a powerhouse on the global scale, baseball was tied to national identity. The country needed to be masculine, so it would be impossible to associate the national game and identity with effeminate. By the late 20th century, baseball had become a serious business in all aspects, with female players were considered to be obstacles to the rise of male players’ successful bets. In spite of the limitations set upon the female players’ gender identities, they were still incredible athletes and had attracted a lot of attention, even if the media chose not to show them.

2.1 The Way of Female Participants to Build Identity through Baseball

Known as the “national pastime,” baseball is respected above all other sports and is a symbol of the country. Millions of young people seek to enter the American pastime through their leather gloves, toss the ball with their fathers, and even join the Little League. Society had “ceased to be astonished” by female baseball teams in the 1890s not only because gender ideals were changing but because girls and women were organizing baseball teams in unprecedented numbers (Shattuck 188). During that period, there were scores of schoolgirl and adult female baseball teams in at least twenty-five states, including five (Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Wyoming, and Nebraska) that had never had local teams previously (188). Over 40 professional teams barnstormed the country at varieties of times during the decade playing in most of the states in the continental America. Players came from all social classes and ranged from school age children to middle-aged matrons. Black female teams from Fort Valley and Atlanta, Georgia were the featured entertainment at a Fourth of July celebration in 1891 while upper class young men and women routinely organized co-ed baseball teams at various colleges and vacation resorts throughout the decade (188).

Because of Americans’ growing acceptance of physical activities for women and the increased emphasis on physical education in schools, many women’s baseball players demonstrated impressive skills in the baseball field, as a result, some were even hired to play for men’s teams as a way to attract audience to those races. Professional women’s baseball teams which had counted on theatrical spectacle and novelty to sell tickets in the 1870s and 1880s increasingly turned to marketing genuine competition to draw spectators (189), which was the representation of building their own social identity, as sports teams and their fans form a sort of group which members form their social identities around. Although many of the teams continued to hire only minimally talented players, a growing number of “Bloomer Girl” teams were able to deliver the promised competition because they made it a priority to hire talented female athletes (191). At that time, professional women’s baseball players with the legions of female shock troops trying to batter down the walls of gender tradition. Increasing numbers of articles linked women baseball players to female rights initiatives.

What was noteworthy was that women around the world play baseball at ever-high levels. In 2004, the U.S. Baseball women’s National Team won the silver medal in the Women’s World Series. In 2012, Japan won the Women’s Baseball World Cup, defeated the Australian, Canadian, Chinese, Cuban, Netherlands, Venezuelan, and the U.S. national teams (Puzey 1011). Today, more than 300,000 girls are playing Little League baseball—one-seventh of the Little Leaguers are women. It is observed that women’s contribution and achievements in baseball are getting more tremendous, and their social status are more solid, which also proves sports have become a source of social identity that provide group norms that contribute to one’s self-concept.

2.2 The Impact of Baseball on the Identity of Female Participants

Throughout the 19th century, baseball had been a controversial space where narratives of gender, race, ethnicity, and social class played out on city and countryside, amateur and professional fields across the country. By the 1890s the numerous number of women baseball players caused some people to abandon their attitude of benevolent tolerance toward female players. These concerned citizens worried that the structure of society was coming apart and that maleness itself was under assault. When humor and satire failed to stem the tide of New Women and female baseball players, some critics began picking up their toxic pens. A number of themes were obvious in the contemporary commentaries about female baseball players written by those who treated baseball as a vehicle for awarding masculinity on its practitioners and for promoting American exceptionalism abroad (Shattuck 191). Some of the themes focused on the role men needed to play in maintaining male prerogatives while others targeted women’s players and any who might aspire to join them as serious athletes.

Baseball remained a popular sport among women of all social classes and backgrounds in the 1890s. As in the past, women in the East and Midwest continued to organize teams; they were joined by increasing numbers of women in the West. The female baseball teams of the 1890s mirrored those of the 1870s and 1880s with the majority comprising civic and pick-up teams (200). Factory teams appeared, but not in great numbers. The biggest increase came in barnstorming female teams, but far more women played on school, college, civic, pick-up and business teams than played on the professional teams. For non-professional players, having fun and maintaining good health inspired them to play. Many of the articles that reported on new civic and pick-up teams specifically addressed the players’ motivations in this respect. An article in the Grand Rapids Press in August 1894 was typical. It reported that the group of young women in Brooklyn who were practicing baseball at least three days a week were not playing ball to attract attention and would not challenge other teams. They played solely for the fun and healthy exercise the national game affords.

In the late 19th century, the cultural and social roles of American women began to change, and the Gilded Age established a new measure of freedom that was not influenced by the Victorian prescriptions for female behaviors. Fortunately, as increasing numbers of talented, athletic female baseball players crisscrossed the country in the 1890s, earning the worship and respect of audience and opponents, and as schoolgirls, college women, and workshop baseball players determinedly demonstrated that athleticism improved rather than harmed women, the ordinary public began to embrace what it had once feared. In December 1893, the Sunday Item of Philadelphia acknowledged that athletic training was improving women’s minds and greatly enhancing their “judgment and nerve”(Michael 53). The changing attitude about the value of vigorous physical exercise for women gave countless thousands of girls and women the opportunity to play baseball in the final decade of the nineteenth century. Their enthusiasm for the national pastime, coupled with persistent ideals about the importance of gender distinctions, helped spark the creation of surrogate baseball games for women that ultimately solidified the gendered narrative of baseball as a man’s game for the next century. On the whole, women broke through the bond imposed on them through baseball and establish a sense of freedom, equality, independence and tenacity.

2.3 The Identity Dilemma of Women’s Baseball in the Patriarchal Society

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