Whiny researchers slam dodgeball as a tool of ‘oppression’

These researchers were clearly last picks.

Forget famine, war and disease, the real tool of oppression, at least according to three Canadian researchers, is dodgeball.

“The message is that it’s okay to hurt or dehumanize the ‘other,’ ” researcher Joy Butler, a professor who studies pedagogy and curriculum development at the University of British Columbia, recently told the Washington Post.

The team’s findings, set to be presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences this week in Vancouver, argue that the playground favorite actually “reinforces the five faces of oppression” — which have been classified as exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence by political theorist Iris Marion Young.

Young probably didn’t have Alix Piorun, 33, in mind when she sought to sketch out the faces of oppression. The soft-spoken 33-year-old nuclear medicine technologist has been playing dodgeball in recreational leagues for the past ten years, and even served as a referee for the Dodgeball World Cup this past July.

“I’ve always been a good athlete, so I guess you could say I’ve been on the oppressor side,” Piorun, who has placed in national competitions for her dodging, catching and throwing skills, tells The Post.

Piorun contends that the team sport actually gives kids who might not be fast and strong a chance to shine. “Kids who aren’t always the best athletes are sometimes the best catchers…there’s always going to be people bigger and stronger than you, but you have to figure out a way to outsmart them — whether it’s dodging or catching.”

And with 55 member nations in the World Dodgeball Federation (or what the researchers might call the Axis of Recess), it’s safe to say that not all ballers are bullies. The key, says Piorun, “is throwing to your opponent’s ability. If you’re trying to hit someone who’s really good, you can throw harder. If someone’s not as great, maybe slow it down.”

Butler is encouraging physical-education teachers to replace the gym staple with “outdoor education, fitness, gymnastics, aquatics.”

For her part, Piorun plans to stick with her band of dodgeball demons: “The league I’m in is a big community,” she says. “People keep coming back season after season — from people who are good to people who are crappy. It’s just so much fun.”

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