Founder of We Are One Team (WA1T) Yannick Kluch gave a presentation yesterday regarding social injustice.

The material was presented to the Department of Recreation and Wellness in Olscamp Hall.

The presentation focused around social injustice and how it surrounds athletics.

Kluch showed several examples explaining why white males are the most privileged group in sports and in general.

He explained that females face more stereotypes in sports and are generally expected to fit into a specific mold.

Kluch showed the room an ad called “Like a Girl” where two groups of females were asked a series of questions. The women were asked their opinions on what it looks like to hit like a girl, run like a girl, throw like a girl, etc.

The first group was young adults, all of whom had some sort of negative description to offer when picturing girls performing the various actions.

However, when the same questions were asked to girls who were about 10 years old, the responses were completely different.

When children were asked what it was like to be “like a girl,” they were excited to do those actions to the best of their ability.

The message was that girls around age 12 go through a phase that can make them have a negative connotation to the phrase “like a girl” because it is typically used as an insult.

Kluch said we should flip the phrase into a positive rather than a negative, because there is nothing wrong with being a girl.

A section of the presentation focused on gender and sports in society.

Kluch showed images that had been published in ESPN Magazine’s Body Issue.

The men in the photos were all clearly posed in a way that related to the sports that they play, however the female athletes were often over-sexualized, and it was difficult to know what sport they played at all.

One audience member commented that female careers are often unrecognized.

“If I worked hard enough to be in a magazine, I would want the ‘why’ to be obvious,” she said.

Kluch pointed out some ways that students can help fight social injustice.

He said that we have to have a critical consciousness about our society and identify inequality.

Kluch also said that it is important to try to push past binaries.

“We all have a bit of masculine and feminine qualities,” he said. “You don’t have to be just one or the other.”

He also said that it is important to share alternative narratives and follow the leadership of the oppressed.    

Kluch said that the people who have faced struggles are the ones who have the important stories to tell.

He also mentioned that it is important to be an ally and stand up for the people who don’t look like you.

Dorthy Stromdahl said that Kluch did a good job of driving home the point.

“He just really brings to light issues and inequalities that we face,” she said. “It just shows how far we still have to go.”