5
OPINION

Thursday, June 22, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

I

f you know me, then you 
know there are about four 
things I need to survive in 

life: Drake, Lush Cosmetics, 
Buffalo Wild Wings’ chicken 
wings 
and 
basketball. 
I 

can remember one of my 
first birthday gifts being a 
basketball and creating an 
entire imaginary team I would 
play against in tournaments. 
As the years passed, I started 
collecting 
NBA 
jerseys, 

starting with Michael Jordan, 
then after that Allen Iverson, 
LeBron James, Derrick Rose 
and Rajon Rondo. After my 
fir st honor roll report card 
in 
elementary 
school, 
my 

dad bought my first hoop, 
and I spent hours outside 
practicing my shot. Though 
I am only 5’4’’ on a good day, 
I was able to join both my 
middle school and high school 
teams, serving as a member of 
the starting lineup and was a 
captain for both teams.

I have always been a fan 

of the NBA and WNBA. I 
remember asking my mother 
to 
purchase 
extra 
sports 

channels from DirecTV so 
that I, a Chicago native, could 
watch the Boston Celtics, my 
favorite team, play. Some of 
the best memories I have from 
my childhood include going to 
the United Center and seeing 
the Chicago Bulls play. Sitting 
at the game, I was able to feel 
the excitement and energy of 
the crowd, the passion of the 
players and the overall love 
for the game which makes 
any sporting event a blast to 
attend — as I am sure anyone 
who has been to the Big House 
on gameday can attest to. I am 
excited to tell my children that 
I was able to witness Derrick 
Rose’s campaign to winning 
the 
2010-2011 
NBA 
MVP, 

along with the rise of LeBron 
James — the 2nd greatest 
basketball player of all time, 
the awe of Stephen Curry and 
the 
seemingly 
unstoppable 

Golden State Warriors or even 
the farewell tour of one of the 
greatest players the game has 
ever seen, Kobe Bryant. I have 
seen so much in relation to 
this sport, yet when it comes 
to women in it, I have seen so 
little.

Just a few weeks ago, my 

boyfriend sent me a text 
which said, “If I were a girl 

it would suck creating a 
MyCareer because I couldn’t 
design a player to reflect my 
own identity.” As a recent 
Playstation 4 owner, he had 
been tinkering around with 
the different features on the 
game “NBA 2k17.” One of 
these features was the widely 
popular “MyCareer” where the 
gamer creates a customizable 
player and develops a story/
career in the NBA through 
gameplay. Knowing that I 
too play “2k12,” he shared 
his thoughts regarding the 
lack of diversity within the 
game, which inspired me to 
write this piece. Though he 
is a writer for male sports 
and, as I put it, a “know-it-
all,” I was impressed with 

his 
refreshing 
reflections, 

as 
he 
usually 
does 
not 

consider female perspectives 
regarding 
professional 

athletics. 
His 
text 
was 

referring to the fact that each 
of the NBA 2k games which 
have been released to date 
with the “MyCareer” feature 
lack the ability to customize 
and develop the career for 
a female basketball player. 
Instead, the game limits the 
gamer to customizing from 
default 
settings 
a 
man’s 

identity/persona, 
and 
then 

pursuing his dive into the 
professional basketball world. 
You would think, “Of course 
there isn’t an option to design 
a woman on ‘NBA 2k’ because 
it reflects the likeness of the 
NBA, which does not include 
women athletes.” This is a 
reasonable 
argument, 
one 

which could be easily settled 
if there were a “WNBA 2k” 
game to reference. However, 
there is a complete lack of any 
WNBA related video games.

I can reflect upon the 

days my cousin and I would 
battle it out on the game 

“NBA Street Vol. 2” using the 
original Xbox console. As a 
young girl admiring the sport 
and the fun of the games, 
related toys and other fan 
paraphernalia, the fact that 
women were left completely 
underrepresented in regards 
to it all went completely over 
my head. Now, in my older 
age, as I sit with my younger 
sister, who is also a basketball 
player 
and 
complete 
our 

career on “NBA 2k” as men 
or lace up our Kyrie Irving 
basketball 
shoes 
designed 

and marketed for men, I 
wonder, “What happened?” 
These inequalities don’t just 
exist in video games, or in the 
basketball world, it reflects 
real life. In real life, women 
experience 
unequal 
pay 

and restricted reproductive 
rights, access to health care 
and 
education, 
and 
many 

women around the world are 
subjected to violence without 
ever receiving justice.

These issues contribute to 

gender inequality and plague 
our world and women every 
second. It isn’t virtual. It 
isn’t a game. It is damaging, 
discriminatory and a threat 
to women everywhere. We are 
targeted. We are exploited. 
We 
are 
unprotected 
and 

underrepresented, and one 
of the worst aspects of it 
all is that we are told this is 
how it is supposed to be. We 
are told that we should be 
subservient. We are told we 
should be inferior. We are told 
that we cannot and will not 
ever be equal to men. It starts 
with relatively small things 
like video games or sports, 
then 
it 
slowly 
infiltrates 

the 
infrastructure 
of 
our 

everyday lives. Therefore, it is 
crucial that we pay attention 
and open our eyes to both 
overt and covert messages. 
Awareness is the catalyst to 
both problem solving and 
change.

Are your eyes open? 

—Stephanie Mullings can be 

reached at srmulli@umich.edu.

MY-Player?

W

e, the new generation 
of Wolverines. We, the 
Victors and the Valiant. 

We, the Leaders and Best. We, 
make up a group of students of all 
colors, 
backgrounds, 
economic 

positions, religions and sexual 
orientations. Including graduate, 
professional and undergraduate 
students, there is roughly 45,000 of 
us. Most of us spend four years or 
more at the University of Michigan 
before we go on to our destined 
careers. During our time here, 
we face challenges that are often 
unique to the college experience, 
and unique to us as individuals. 
Amid the challenges we all face, we 
as students have responsibility to 
look out for our fellow Wolverines 
and offer a helping hand. 

Being a student in college is 

a difficulty in itself; however, 
minorities experience all kinds of 
challenges unique to them. These 
include building communities, facing 
a new culture, financial difficulties 
and 
sometimes 
discrimination. 

Today, 44 percent of college students 
in America have at one time reported 
feeling symptoms of depression. 
Depression is high among college 
students, and the statistics are even 
higher among minorities. According 
to the National Institute of Mental 
Health, 
African-Americans 
and 

Mexican-American students face the 
greatest barriers to receive mental 
health treatment. As it stands right 
now, 17 percent of students at the 
University come from low-income 
families. About 5 percent of students 
are first-generation students. As of 
the fall of 2015, 14 percent of students 
at the University are nonresident 
aliens, according to the Office of the 
Register. In fact, about 5 percent 
of students on campus are African 
American, and about 5 percent 
are Hispanic. Though there is not 
an exact statistic for the number 
of LGBTQ students on campus, 
LGBTQ-identifying people make up 
about 4 percent of the population in 
the state of Michigan. These statistics 
tells us who the minorities we see 
and talk to on campus every day are.

More often than not, first-

generation students are initially 
on their own when it comes to 
figuring out the ins and outs of 
college. Navigating the financial 
burdens, choosing a major and 
understanding study techniques 
are 
examples 
of 
practical 

knowledge that first-generation 
students are not simply handed 
down by their parents. Non-

resident aliens face a new world 
away from home without the 
benefits that U.S. citizen-students 
can take for granted. The current 
political scene makes that clear 
enough. Students from low-income 
families at times experience their 
uniqueness on campus by being 
unable to afford the daily comforts 
that other students never question. 
In the past year, African-American 
students have felt the spite and 
hatred of racism through obscene 
flyers 
postedaround 
central 

campus. As a lesbian student 
myself, I have come to understand 
the “wear and tear” of finding 
my way on such a large campus, 
especially relating to my sexual 
orientation. 
The 
characteristic 

that make individuals “minorities” 
are usually sensitive topics and 
hard to address until a level of 
comfortability is found with others, 
and this takes time. I have only 
mentioned a few challenges; yet, as 
students, we all face obstacles that 
are unique to us.

The University has done an 

extraordinary 
job 
of 
making 

the campus a welcoming place 
no matter who you are. At only 
a 5 percent dropout rate, the 
University has proven that they 
will be there for its students. While 
the University can always do more, 
we as students can always improve 
as we come to the aid of our 
brothers and sisters on campus. We 
must help each other by offering 
our hand when we observe the 
challenges that our fellow students 
are facing. Many times, we read 
these kinds of prompts and feel 
overwhelmed, as though we as 
individuals are responsible to 
make change in people’s lives. 
What we should understand is 
that change takes teamwork. The 
answer is simpler. We can make a 
difference in the lives of whoever is 
around us at that moment, such as 
looking out for our friends who we 
know are short on money. Coming 
alongside a new transfer student 
on campus and showing them 
around. Taking our roommates 
to a campus medical service if 
needed. Standing up for each 
other. Sure, this is a competitive 
university, but what makes us the 
“Leaders and the Best” is taking 
initiative to understand what our 
peers are going through, and being 
each other’s support.

— Lena Dreves can be reached 

at ldreves@umich.edu.

LENA DREVES| COLUMN
STEPHANIE MULLINGS| COLUMN

Helping each other

We are told 
we should be 

subservient. We are 
told we should be 

inferior 

