The Rio Olympics women’s beach volleyball match between Egypt and Germany which took place on August 7th this year, made huge news coverage. Not because of the match itself, but because the Egypt women were wearing clothing that was in terms with their Muslim beliefs. Statistic published in the report The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2014” revealed that 90 percent of sports editors in the U.S. are white men (Womens Media Center, 2014). I wanted to examine some reasons for why the fact that two women played volleyball in long sleeves and pants got so much media attention. My initial thoughts were that there has to be some underlying structures that reacts against Muslim women in the West. With this in mind I developed the following thesis:

 

The strong reaction in the West to the Egyptian women playing in the volleyball match in Rio Olympics 2016, are due to implicit, Western forces.

 

In order to find some possible explanations, I analyze the event using three different sociological theories. First, I examine my thesis through the secularism theory, looking at how the reaction in the West may be caused by secular forces being threatened. Secondly, I analyze the thesis using the sacred canopy theory. Here, the event is examined carefully through externalization, objectivation and internalization. In my final analysis, I used feminist theory in search for any differences between the requirements for female versus male volleyball players, and some possible reasons for this.

 

Secularism

The secularization theory can to a degree explain why female Muslim volleyball players are provoking such a strong reaction in the West. As noted in the theory section about secularism, Wilford (2010) claims that the main thesis in secularization is that when societies become modernized, organized religion loses its social significance. In secular societies, religion does not play a significant role in people’s lives. Religion becomes privatized, meaning it is taken out of public sphere. You can believe in what ever you want as long as you do not bother other people with your practices. This creates a conflict for religions like Islam, where it is impossible for women to hide their religion due to the fact that they in most cases have to cover their hair, shoulders and knees.

In many secular societies there are certain tensions between the secular and religious, making people in Western countries feel “disturbed, sometimes even threatened by the presence of Muslim women in the public sphere, at least when these women can be identified as Muslims by their attire” (Henkel, 2009).

In the case of the volleyball match, the attention was given to what the women were wearing and not their athletic abilities.  The underlying issue here is not the clothing, but the fact that these women represent a culture and religion that differs from Western Christianity. Even if many Western countries view themselves as secular, it may be reason to assume that they do not have the same positive views on all religions. Christianity seems to have a much more accepted place in the secular West, and the issue seems to lie with religions that differ from it, like Islam.

Henkel (2009) raises the question if there even exist something called a secular public space. In the Olympic games, the space where match is played is governed by the International Volleyball Federation. The media portrayed the match between Egypt and Germany as a culture crash (BBC, 2016). Still, the female volleyball players are all a part of the volleyball culture and community. The culture crash in this case refers to a Muslim minority versus a secular Western majority. It is worth noticing who is setting the norm. In this case, the implicit power structures are in the International Volleyball Federation (n.d.), where all the presidents have been male, non-Muslims.

 

The Sacred Canopy

By analyzing the volleyball match through the sacred canopy theory, we can find evidence of implicit structures that provokes a reaction in the West.

Berger claims that there are three basic elements in the construction of the sacred canopy: externalization, objectivation and internalization (Kurtz, 2016).

In the externalization process, humans shape the world around them through their actions and thoughts (Kurtz, 2016). In the event with the female volleyball players, the underlying reasons for the reaction is not that the women cover themselves, but that they are covering themselves with a garment that is associated with Islam. The object, in this event the hijab, has been externalized, and is in opposition to the Western, secular world. If the volleyball players were covering themselves because of a skin disease, there probably would not have been such a strong reaction in the Western media. It is therefore reason to assume that the reaction is caused because of their religious faith.

In the objectivation process, the International Volleyball Federation made a rule that made it mandatory for female volleyball players to wear a bikini in Olympic matches. In doing this, they created a division between “us” and “them”. In this event, the division is between “us”, meaning players from Western, secular countries that are comfortable playing in a bikini, and “them” meaning players from religious countries where females have to cover their bodies. By creating a rule like this, it becomes impossible for female Muslim volleyball players to play in international tournaments without putting aside the wish of covering themselves. As Mira Hassine expressed to the New York Times (2016): “Even if we make every effort and try to be 'integrated,' we are constantly reminded that to be properly and completely integrated, we must give up our principles and our religion”.

In the final stage in the creation of the sacred canopy, playing volleyball in a bikini becomes a natural part of the game. The link between bikini and volleyball becomes internalized, a part of our subjective consciousness. The reaction in the West is a result of the Muslim volleyball players doing something that is in opposition to the nomos, which in this case is the norm for playing volleyball in a bikini, and not long sleeves and hijab. Another key point worth examine is who makes the norm.  In this event it seems to be the secular West objectified though the International Volleyball Federation. There have never been a Muslim or female president in the International Volleyball Federation, making it difficult for female Muslims to promote their interests.

A critique of the sacred canopy theory, is its limitation of use in a multicultural society. The belief systems in today’s global world is so diverse, that it becomes difficult to talk about a shared sacred canopy. In the case with the volleyball match, there seem to exist different views on what is the natural, given reality for the Germans versus the Egyptians.

 

Feminist theory

One aspect that is important to examine further, is the fact that the Egyptian volleyball players in this particular event are not only Muslim, but also women. By analyzing this event though feminist theory, we can uncover is there are any hidden forces that are reinforcing the reactions in the media.

Oxford Dictionaries (2016) define feminism as: “The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” In other words, feminism can be defined as the struggle for equal rights. In the world of volleyball, it can seem to be unequal rights for women and men when it comes to clothing. BBC (August 9. 2016) highlights that in volleyball, the men’s outfit consist of a singlet with shorts, categorizing it somewhere in between the bikini and the bodysuit. Also, the male players often cover their heads. With this in mind, it seems to be a discrimination in the International Volleyball Federations views on suitable sports-clothing for men versus women.  In this event, a group of men that are defining what women should wear. Both the bikini and hijab can therefore be seen a result of patriarchy,

Hijab has in the past decade, been regarded in the West as an unequivocal symbol of female oppression (Eid, 2015). However, are the Muslim female athletes in this event being oppressed by wearing religious clothing? In the case with the volleyball match, all evidence suggest that it is the opposite. These women are fighting for their rights to play volleyball on their own terms. Playing volleyball is empowering, not oppressing them. Many will argue that the International Volleyball Federation were oppressing them in the past, by giving them the impossible choice between the sport they love and their religion.

 

As noted earlier in the essay, all of the presidents in the International Volleyball Federation has been non-Muslim men, making it possible for masculine forces to influence what the female volleyball players should and should not wear. Freda Jones says to BBC (2016):

We have one group of women covered from head to toe and another group who are almost naked, wearing less than men do playing the same sport. Until women stop being, and being seen as, sex objects there will never be equality.

Muslim women competing in the Olympics is not a new phenomenon. The first Muslim woman to compete in the Olympics was the Turkish fencer Halet Cambel, during the 1936 games in Berlin (Vox, 2016). However, she did not wear a hijab while competing. Today, 80 years later, the Western media still portrays Muslim women competing in the Olympics as something sensational and a “culture shock”. One explanation for this may be, as noted earlier, that 90 percent of sports editors in the U.S. are white men (Women’s Media Center, 2014). Again, we find a group of men setting the agenda for what is acceptable for women, making the feminist theory a crucial contribution in the study of events like this, concerning women and religion. In an interview one of the Egyptian volleyball players, Doaa Elghobashy,  did before the Olympic match in Rio, she discussed the fact that she was wearing a hijab in the upcoming game. However, she did not want to dwell with this subject. “What matters is what we are going to RIO to show that Africa is developing” she said to Ahran Online (Ezzat, 2016). Sadly, in this case, the Western media chose to focus on the clothing instead.

 

 

Conclusion

This essay has explored some reasons for the strong reaction in the West after the Rio Olympics women’s beach volleyball match between Egypt and Germany, that took place on August 7th 2016. The thesis statement for this essay was: The strong reaction in the West to the Egyptian women playing in the volleyball match in Rio Olympics 2016, are due to implicit, Western forces.

 

By analyzing the event, the essay found evidence of implicit forces in all the three sociological theories that were applied. In the secularization theory, the reactions in the West is caused by Western secular forces trying to keep religion out of the private sphere, in this case by reacting strongly to Muslim women’s choice of clothing.  In the theory of the sacred canopy, Western forces has set the nomos, in this event being that female volleyball players should wear a bikini. By playing in a hijab, the Muslim women are threatening the norm. By analyzing this event though the feminist theory, the essay found evidence suggesting that men in the International Volleyball Federation are setting the agenda for the female volleyball players, making it not only a question of religion, but also gender.

 

No matter how the event is analyzed and discussed, it is noteworthy to think about the fact that not only does a hijab ban exclude hundreds of thousands of people from playing volleyball, it also sends a message about intolerance (TSL, 2016). Instead of highlighting female athletes as something positive and normal, the Western media seems to focus on other aspect like clothing and culture. Hopefully in the future, the media will stop degrading female athlete’s abilities by focusing on their looks and clothing, and rather show the positive impacts of sport for all humans, independent of gender, culture or religious belief.