This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please review our online meeting instructions at:
https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions.
Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30am.
For more than a century, the International Olympic Committee has classified athletes into two distinct categories: male and female. As the biggest global sporting event, the Olympic media spectacle reinforces stereotypical images of the ‘ideal’ sportsman and sportswoman. High-profile female athletes of all sexual orientations face pressure to look “feminine” – that is, heterosexually attractive, while gay male athletes rarely feel safe enough to disclose their sexual orientation publicly. Women like South African runner Caster Semenya challenge traditional views of sex and gender, and, tragically, endure the consequences of outdated and unscientific attitudes and policies.
Our featured speaker on this topic will be Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, where she taught sociology. Her work as a researcher and activist on gender and sport issues began in the 1980s, and her critique of the Olympic industry include: Inside the Olympic Industry; Olympic Industry Resistance; Gender, Athletes Rights, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport; and released earlier this year, her most recent book The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach.
Helen grew up in Australia and has lived in Toronto since 1966. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1983, and was a professor from 1986 until retiring in 2007. As well as writing books, she enjoys swimming and kayaking. Her website is www.helenlenskyj.ca
You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/pzpxrrybchbgc/
Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!