Researchers say dodgeball is ‘legalized bullying’

Pick a group. Eliminate your opponent by hurtling a ball at them. Survive the onslaught. Win the game.

Dodgeball has been a playground game for generations, but is it more than just a child’s game? Is it something more oppressive?

“It’s tantamount to legalized bullying,” said Joy Butler, a professor at the University of British Columbia, in an interview with CTV News Vancouver.

Butler, along with other Canadian researchers, David Bruns of Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Claire Robson of Simon Fraser University, argue in a new paper that dodgeball reinforces oppression and alienation of children.

They say that it’s not an appropriate game because it doesn’t instill fun or playfulness, but rather teaches children to single out weaker players in a violent way.

“Dodgeball reinforces the five faces of oppression defined by (theorist Iris Marion Young) as marginalization, powerlessness, and helplessness of those perceived as weaker individuals through the exercise of violence and dominance by those who are considered more powerful,” the abstract of the paper states according to CTV.

“Dodgeball is the only game where the human being is the target,” said Butler to CTV. “No other games focus on it.”

The researchers say they are not calling to ban the game but for educators to debate its pros and cons.

The game has other detractors. SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators) released a statement in 2017 saying dodgeball is not good for schoolchildren because it does not support a positive school climate, nurture appropriate social behaviors or help in the goal of physical education.

The trio’s findings were presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education happening this week in Vancouver.