A/HRC/31/74 meanings and identities that travelled across different mediums, national borders and commercial markets. As a site of interracial competition, cooperation, and antagonism, sport had played a profound role in civil rights, and social justice struggles in North America and across the globe. She addressed several issues of access and inclusion in her presentation. 123. She said that sport is a complex and contradictory space, for it is a place where the presence and success of one or two Indigenous or racial minority female athletes is seen as evidence of equality — or of the absence of racism — rather than exceptions to systemic racial exclusion and racial tension. The expert then explained the relationship between gender and sport focusing on the perception that athleticism and femininity could not be combined. She then offered specific examples of athletes that encountered discrimination because of gender, belonging to an indigenous group, geographical origin, different belief systems etc. The pattern of exclusions seemed to profit a privileged culture that did not accept minority participation in sport. Funding opportunities (scholarships) seemed to further that status. There was also a scarcity of minority women as coaches, she said. Race class and gender informed our opinions. A lack of visibility in sport reflected a larger social injustice. It was clear that the public, media, and sport officials use a vocabulary reminiscent of the dehumanization of black women during slavery equating their physicality and athletic performance to that of men or animals. She referred to the experiences of famous African-American tennis and basketball players such as Venus and Serena Williams and their experiences with racism and gender bias. 124. Ms. Douglas stated that racism in sport was an area that had not been routinely acknowledged in North American dialogues, and stressed the importance of the topic as it magnified racism and helped sustain racism in society. Racism in sport therefore, was an important human rights issue. The expert then recommended three possible areas of United Nations involvement. First, society needed to have some understanding of what racism involved — and to recognize its diversity and complexity. In turn, our responses had to be multidimensional and expansive; society had to acknowledge it was not an individual problem, but a social issue. Second, society needed useful research on the topic for analysing the relationship between racism and sport in order to define ways to diversify society. Finally, the expert said that it was clear that media and sport institutions did not correspond to the multiracial, pluri-cultural and pluri-lingual characteristics of North American populations. As a way of redressing this imbalance, legislation could be developed and applied to sport governing bodies — inter and intra-nationally, including: FIFA, FIBA, IAAF and IOC. 125. The representative of the United States appreciated the elaboration on different forms of discrimination and intersectionality by the expert, including groups such as African Americans, women, Asian, indigenous, and LGBT persons. He asked how to address the difference that she noted in perceptions between black and white sport successes, and queried whether the expert had any optimism or thoughts regarding how to improve the situation. 126. The expert stated that systemic exclusion and disparate racial standards needed to be addressed by societal education. She then contrasted similarities and differences between forms of discrimination and emphasized the need for visibility across all forms of discrimination. The expert added that she did have hope on this topic and stressed the need to acknowledge the current state of racial circumstances in order to move forward. 127. The representative of South Africa referred to social media and queried whether North American legislative policies have addressed discrimination in social media. In response, Ms. Douglas noted that the United States and Canada exhibited political difference regarding free speech. The expert stated that online bullying was an issue that had been addressed in Canada, but she was unaware of any examples of government 42