Racial and Sexual Discrimination Occurring to Korean Players on the LPGA Tour
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2009 Racial and Sexual Discrimination Occurring to Korean Players on the LPGA Tour Seung-Yup Lim University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Sports Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Lim, Seung-Yup, "Racial and Sexual Discrimination Occurring to Korean Players on the LPGA Tour. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/67 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Seung-Yup Lim entitled "Racial and Sexual Discrimination Occurring to Korean Players on the LPGA Tour." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Exercise and Sport Sciences. Joy T. DeSensi, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Leslee A. Fisher, Diana Moyer, Gi-Yong Koo Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Seung-Yup Lim entitled “Racial and sexual discrimination occurring to Korean players on the LPGA Tour.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Exercise and Sport Sciences. Joy T. DeSensi, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Leslee A. Fisher Diana Moyer Gi-Yong Koo Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Racial and Sexual Discrimination Occurring toward Korean Players on the LPGA Tour A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Seung-Yup Lim August 2009 Copyright © 2009 by Seung-Yup Lim All rights reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my pleasure to thank to people who have helped and supported throughout my life. To start with, I would like to thank the Korean players who served as participants in my study. I appreciate their willingness to share the valued experiences with me. I specially thank Young-A Yang and her sister Young-E Yang who introduced me to the research participants. I might not be able to complete this study without your help. I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to my family, who has supported me over the years. I could not have completed this process without the wisdom, guidance, and love given to me by my mother Jung-Rae Suh, sister Eun-Joo Lim, and her husband Choong-Suk Choi. In addition, I would like to specially thank my uncle Dr. Burn-Jang Lim and aunt Dr. Kyung-Hee Lim who intellectually and mentally guided me to achieve Ph. D. degree. I would also like to recognize the efforts of my committee members, Dr. Leslee A. Fisher, Dr. Diana Moyer, and Dr. Gi-Yong Koo. The flexibility and patience you have each exhibited over the past years was a tremendous help to me. My committee chairperson, advisor, and mentor, Dr. Joy T. DeSensi, I believe having you as my advisor was one of my best fortunes I ever had in my life. Your gratitude and admiration that I hold in my heart will last forever. Thank you for the opportunities that you have given me to study under your guidance, for the iii enormous amount of time you took for me, and for your continued support over the last few years. To Dr. Won-Jae Hwang, you encouraged me whenever I had hard time. I could keep good heart with your words. I would like to regard you as my Korean mentor at UT. To Dr. Adam Love and Dr. Michael Diacin who were my office mates for a couple of years, thank you all for helping me during my coursework. You were my officemates (HPER 233), sports teammates (volleyball, golf, and soccer), and English teachers. I am sure that having you as my friends was one of the best fortunes I had in the U.S. I look forward to a lifelong friendship with you two. To my best friends, Sung-Hoon Shin, Min-Suk Kim, Myung-Dong Choi, Hyung-Joo Kim, Jae-Woo Park, Jong-Il Choi, and Qingjian Chen, you have seen me at my best and at my worst, and still you have remained by my side. Your friendship meant more to me than you could ever know. You are the most incredible, big-hearted, genuine, good persons that I have ever had the pleasure of befriending. Thank you for trusting me with your heart. Lastly, to my father Burn-Woong Lim, who passed away in 1981 when he was 36-year-old young man, I am sad because we cannot share this great moment together, but I believe that you have been looking at me, wishing me to be a good man. Thank you father. iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Korean players on the LPGA Tour regarding issues of social justice. More specifically, this study examined how Korean players perceived their experiences of race and gender during their athletic careers in the U. S. The participants of the study were 11 Korean professional golfers who were enrolled as members of the LPGA in 2007. The qualitative methodology of interviewing was employed which consisted of semi-structured questions within cultural studies and feminist standpoint theory. Six semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted: three group and three individual interviews. After data collection was completed, the data was analyzed using inductive analysis method to create themes. Consequently, this study discovered that the Korean players on the LPGA Tour had negative experiences toward the treatment they received during their careers in the U.S. In regards to the experiences related to their race, Korean players believed that racial discrimination existed in the LPGA Tour. They thought that they were singled-out, and it was easy that one Korean player‟s fault became generalized as all Korean players‟ problem. In addition, Media (e.g., Golf Channel) and the LPGA were indifferent to Korean players in terms of displaying Korean players on television and at the LPGA website. Above all, Korean players v were silent to the perceived racial discrimination due to their lack of fluency in English. Regarding the experiences related to their gender, it was revealed that, as a social institution, the LPGA had played a significant role in producing traditional gender ideologies, by emphasizing female golfers‟ femininity. In addition, as a majority of the society, white male caddies as well as male Pro-Am players sexually harassed Korean players either verbally or physically. Most importantly, sexual harassment occurring to Korean players on the LPGA Tour could be considered sexual racism due to its nature that a majority group of people (white male caddies) of the society discriminated against minority women from an Asian country. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................... 8 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................... 9 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................... 9 Framework of the Study .............................................................................................. 10 Scope of the Study ....................................................................................................... 11 Definitions ................................................................................................................... 12 Organization of Study .................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ……………………...……….……….……….. 16 Women‟s Professional Golf in the U.S. and the Relation to Korean Players ………. 16 A Brief Overview of Women‟s Professional Golf in the U.S. …………..……… 16 Internationalization of the LPGA Tour …………………………………….…… 24 Korean Professional Golfers on the LPGA Tour ………………….……………. 28 Cultural Studies and Korean Players on the LPGA Tour…………………………..35 Cultural Studies as a Lens to the Topic ………………………………….……… 35 Cultural Aspects of Korean Players on the LPGA Tour ………..………………. 38 Feminist Standpoint Theory and Its Relation to Korean Players ………….....…….. 47 Understanding Feminist Theory ………………………………………………… 47 Feminist Standpoint Theory …………………………………………….………. 55 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ………………………………………………………….... 60 Qualitative Method ……………………………………………………………….… 60 Participants of the Study…………………………………………………………….. 64 Pilot Studies ………………………………………………………………………… 67 Interview Questions ………………………………………………………………… 68 vii Approval for Research with Human Subject ..............................................................