held against them ("Masculinity and Gender Roles in Sports"). As the role of women has progressed, a…
In Mariah Burton Nelson’s article I Won, I’m Sorry, the relationship between women and athleticism is put into perspective. Athletes fight to dominate while a feminine woman fights to appear nonthreatening and beautiful. Female athletes must battle to display a balance between these two different worlds. Nelson reveals the struggles of a woman attempting to establish herself as a fearsome competitor while maintaining a feminine grace in order to gain the acceptance of the public and more importantly, the opposite sex.…
Within sport, gender has played a huge role the way it affects one’s involvement in participation. As I will explore sociologically in this essay, there are a great number of reasons why this has occurred and still does occur, and the way in which pre-conceived ideas and stereotypes along with many other things affect sport involvement.…
An issue that I have always been concerned with is how much attention male sports get, while female sports get pushed aside. Males and females put forth the same amount of effort and the same amount of hard work towards the sports they play, and in return males dominate the limelight. Arguments opposing this show that males are obviously better athletes than females. According to Mariah Burton Nelson, controversial activist and author, football, baseball and other manly sports in the United States are not games, but a culture which offer a pre-civil rights world where white men, as owners, coaches and umpires, still rule. In the manly sports, men learn to think about and talk about women in contempt. It is common practice for boys to be belittled as "wusses" or worse if they are not tough or brutal enough or willing to deny their own pain or the pain of others.…
In this article “Move Over Boys, Make Room in the Crease,” Sara Maratta discusses a controversial issue of women are becoming more accepted into the sports world, not only as fans and players but also as voices in sports journalism. However, men still dominate on all levels. Why? Some argue because of stereotype. From this perspective, who really cares why women are not receiving the same equality as men? Are women being used as sex symbols, are they really being accepted in the sports world or is the sports world just creating balance.…
As a result of the immense sexual objectification of women in sports in modern times, ''Playing the Field:Sports and sex in America”' examines the evolution of women's sports from a time when sweating was taboo, as was wearing shorts, to temporarily, when the muscular physiques of Venus and Serena Williams reflect new paradigms of beauty. Ironically, when many women first began to play sports, they were shunned and covered up, unable to play in venues with men in attendance because it would be unladylike for men to see women sweat. Therefore, how we as Americans react contemporarily to women's sports (glorification, hypersexualization), represents a stark contrast. Therefore, a downside of hypermasculinity, is the burden that it puts on male and female athletes who don’t meet its standards. From requiring women to be fully covered in a full body veil to having women play tackle…
Sport is not traditionally seen as feminine. Ex-professional women’s basketball player, Mariah Burton Nelson begs the question then- “How can you win if you’re female? Can you just do it? No. You have to play the femininity game. Femininity by definition is not large, not imposing, not competitive. Feminine women are not ruthless, not aggressive, not victorious. Femininity is about appearing beautiful and vulnerable and small. It’s about winning male approval (Burton 1998).” Gender roles play a large part in the media’s representation of female athletes. In a historically sexist world where ruthlessness, aggression, and victory are associated as male characteristics, female athletes are viewed as masculine and undesirable. In order to be socially…
Success in sports is, arguably, the determining factor of overall success and public admiration of a man today. We find that many men look to the athletic world as a means of escape, liberation, or fulfillment of their lives. While all this may be true, there are many costs associated with the game, both health and relational, and just about everyone who aspires to this type of success falls victim to these costs. However, despite the fact that many are fully aware, they seem to have little weight in people’s decision to pursue a professional athletic career. On the other hand, this ignorance is justified as some see the costs as just part of the job, and as Michael A. Messner suggests in his essay, “Sport and Gender Relations: Continuity,…
A fundamental factor in American culture and the development of many crucial life skills, sports have historically excluded women, pushing them to watch from the sidelines rather than partake in them. It is not only important for women to experience the sports lifestyle, but also for society as a whole to have its entire population participating in a common activity, thus breaking away from the archaic norm.…
“Katie Hnida --the first woman to score in an NCAA Division I-A (a Football Championship Subdivision) game -- was on the roster as a kicker at Colorado in 1999 and later played in games at New Mexico.” (ESPN) Katie Hnida was a female football player in Colorado and New Mexico. She was discriminated against because of her gender, and it eventually led to her being sexually assaulted by her teammates. Women have struggled drastically to break the stereotype of only men's football team, they have created female football associations, and are allowed to express themselves through a rough, full body contact game. The World Book Dictionary states that a footballer is a person who plays football. It never is written that football is only for a specific gender, it can be any person.…
It’s inescapable, it’s everywhere, (click) the t.v, (click) magazines, (click) public transport, (click) music, (click) sports, (click) games and (click) most devastatingly it has penetrated the minds of our generation. (click) Behind every great man, there's a great woman. If you agree with this, think to yourself, why are we behind the men? Why does being a great woman have anything to do with having and supporting a male companion? This attitude is very popular, yet it is (click) the subtle lie of the era. My fellow friends, I stand here in front of as a young women, soon to be exposed to the real world. (click) I don’t want gen z, to be victims to the trend of undermining the value of us women and furthermore using us to be candy’s for…
However the popularity of woman's in “men's” sports has risen, and in the majority of our society many girls are pushed to join sports, as much as boys are, such as soccer or basketball, and are placed into leagues where they gain experience for when/if they decide to join their school leagues. As time progresses, I do believe that sports will be seen as vital socialization for men and women, if not in the generation of my generations, children, then in their children. Those of my generation where sports have been a big part of their life, will wish to share that with their children. The joys of being on a team, learning how to cooperate and work with others, no matter how different is vital to human beings regardless of gender. The norm of sports being for 'men' seems to be shifting as more professional athletes are coming out with their sexual orientation. Gay men are often ridiculed and regarded as weak, or 'not real men' the players coming out or demonstrating, “I'm gay, yet I had a successful athletic career in spite of/regardless of my…
“I don’t want to be a great female athlete. I want to be a great athlete” (unknown). Taking a look back on history, we could not possibly keep track of the number of times women were not given equal opportunity as men. It started off with rights as a whole, and then moved to voting, and even to this day we continue to battle with equal pay. Due to our biological makeup, men are key to our survival. As we have come to evolve and expand our knowledge, our past does not align with our present or even our future. Women have now moved themselves up the ladder and are making leaps and bounds just for a sense of equality. There is one roadblock that still to this day we have not been able to battle through. This is the world of sports. This is a world of blood, sweat, and no room for tears. This is an industry where it…
Before the 1970’s women had a very low chance of becoming a doctor or a lawyer just because they were women. They had a very low chance of getting into a college to even get that degree. If schools are a problem, then sports are an even bigger problem (Women’s Sport Foundation). People are thinking “Why are women treated as a lower class than men?”…
Our nation has invested itself, economically and socially, in sports for more than a century. To the athletic elite, there is the opportunity to turn their childhood passion into their livelihood. From the four most recognized professional sports in America - Baseball (MLB) , Football (NFL) , Basketball (NFL), and Hockey (NHL) - only a select handful of athletes reach the professional level, and even fewer remain at that level and see long-term success. Our nation as seen a continuous evolution in professional sports when regarding the integration of race and gender into the games. It provides a unique experience to view sporting events, one being performed by female athletes and the other by male athletes, from a sociological mindset and take…