Female physical educators attempted to create a separate and "moderate" sphere for women's athletics, by creating a restrictive set of rules for women's sports. Commercial sports promoters sought out the fears of the "unfeminine" sportswomen by emphasizing a sexual appeal of athletes. In both of these cases that goal was to show that sports could actually enhance women's fitness as mothers or their attractiveness a mates. Another one of the books strengths focused on ways class and race intersected with gender. For example, the views of white female educators were based on middle-class conceptions of feminine respectability. Cahn's examinations of particular sports include those that were favored by the wealthy (field hockey), the middle class (non-competitive basketball), the working class (soft-ball), and African Americans (track and field). Her interviews with former elite athletes show that women gained opportunities and personal satisfaction in sports, while rarely feeling stigmatized. Cahn also shows sports provided a place for lesbians in creating a shared culture. In the final chapter "You've come along way, maybe"; sketches the remarkable developments since the 1960s, highlighting the rapid advances that have occurred in women's sports, while also noting the limits of these changes,…
held against them ("Masculinity and Gender Roles in Sports"). As the role of women has progressed, a…
In the two texts Deadly Unna? written by Phillip Gwyne and Bend It Like Beckham directed by Gurinda Chadra the theme of prejudice is significantly explored. Deadly Unna? is the story of a young boy Blacky who is made to overcome prejudice in his small town of the Port. Bend it like Beckham is set in London and is the story of Jess a young Indian girl whose infatuation is football, much to her parent’s discontentment. The key theme of prejudice is greatly explored in both texts through the main characters and their relationships with their family and friends. It is also explored through the technical, symbolic, audio and written codes in both texts. Blacky and Jess must both overcome many types of prejudice including…
‘How has the director, Tate Taylor, used filmic techniques to convey prejudice in The Help?’…
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.…
In sum, Maratta’s believe women still lacking a general awareness that sports are not solely male-dominated: Women should be active in sports, and their astute commentary about sports should be given as much clout as that of men. She want people to understand that it shouldn’t matter who on the rink, track, or…
Rogers touches on gender issues and stereotypes related to gender in the essay. He makes that clear by discussing the differences in behavior exhibited by male and female participants in the sport. He points out how the two genders are perceived by fans of the industry as well as the significant difference in the way the athletes view the sport. The females are more sportsmen like and accommodating as they see that the sport is “for fun.” The men on the other hand, are more aggressive and mean-spirited toward one another as they see the sport as one in which they must compete for dominance and prove their superior abilities.…
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…
Before the 1980s, African culture and Asian culture got terrible restriction in UK, however, after the 1980s; a large number of movies that describe immigrants’ life have emerged in film industry in England. “Bend It like Beckham” is such a movie, which borrows cultural and racial difference between England and India, reflects how the two cultures co-exist and accept each other in a hard procedure…
“The toddler must say no in order to find out who she is. The adolescent says no to assert who she is not.” –Louise J. Kaplan. Adolescence is a tough and stressful time about figuring out who you’re going to be. If that wasn’t hard enough already the world tries to shape you to who they want you to be with stereotypes, adolescences face a whole lot more issues as well. Adolescence is a burdensome time though in the end it shapes who you are. The film Bend It Like Beckham by Gurinda Chadha, explores many adolescence issues including gender stereotypes and generational differences between parents and adolescence.…
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.…
1. Fallow acknowledges the objections of feminists to the phrase “throwing like a girl.” Yet that is not the only derogatory phrase towards women. Activities such as football, hockey and hunting are mainly men’s sports too. It is clear that women gather more negative associations than the male population. Feminists challenge the phrase “throwing like a girl” because it is proven that men and women’s shoulders are aligned similarly and there are no structural differences between them. Boys are taught from a young age the importance of sports and playing ball while girls are not. Feminists argue that there are many women who can throw better than men and that “it’s not gender that makes the difference in how they throw.” (388) In my opinion Fallow does a good job of negating such objections.…
As a female soccer player, I can attest to the sexism that prevails in professional soccer today. For centuries, society has told women they must always look dainty and pristine to attract a man. When a woman becomes covered in dirt and sweat during a game, she is no longer aesthetically pleasing; therefore, men deem her sport dull and worthless. In soccer, the term “female athlete” is an oxymoron; a female cannot be a real athlete, and an athlete cannot be a real female. Recently, in the Women’s World Cup, this blatant prejudice surfaced when FIFA forced athletes to play on turf despite safety complaints and lawsuits. I attended the game between the United States and Germany, and I cringed as I watched the women’s heads hit the hard ground.…