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.…
Varda Burstyn provides great insight on hypermasculinity and modern sport in her book, The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics and the Culture of Sports. In this book, Burstyn asserts that performance enhancing drugs have become institutionalized as part of the “hypermasculinization” in sports and society. Athletes use performance-enhancing drugs to receive an energy boost as a means of playing through the pain endured during a sporting event. Especially in modern sports, competition has increased dramatically and athletes are willing to do anything they can to gain a competitive advantage. Monetary and materialistic incentives that are attached to winning in modern sports have catalyzed a need to attain even the smallest advantage. The source of athletes’ mentality of gaining a smallest advantage over competitors can be traced back from the time they were young to the time they reach the professional stage. The pressure to perform at a high-level consistently throughout his life has influenced the athlete to rely on drugs and has normalized the use of drugs in modern sports. However, using performance enhancing drugs comes with its fair share of disadvantages as well. Athletes who use steroids tend to have mood swings,…
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,…
Great Post Guy! I agree teams must have common goals and the same team commitments. However, today sports commitments in sports are difficult because some players have different motives for why the play the game. Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade,and LeBron James made a major move coming together to form the Big Three in Miami. Moreover, I did not believe these guys, with these gigantic egos,would be able to play together. Wade made a major sacrifice to take the back seat and watch LeBron James drive the car. Even though building a strong team takes time, and I believe Pat Riley understood that. “For a team to function properly, everyone has to know his or her role on that team and play it well without interfering with the roles of others”(FastCompany,…
First of all, by being able to compete in a sport not typically offered for females, allows a girl to showcase her talent for said sport. Sometimes, girls are not able to perform at their highest potential when they are participating in a sport they do not have the talent or motivation to play. However, if said girl has the talent and liking for a sport majorly for boys, and she is given the opportunity to play on a male team, she will be able to truly throw herself into the sport and showcase her talent. Some may argue that although the girl would be happy playing on a boys’ team, the boys may not be as comfortable competing with a girl. However, by being less comfortable, the boys are benefiting as well by a girl on the team. A girl can force the boys to become more comfortable with the opposite gender aiding in social skills.…
First, sports must remain gender specific. Sports exist as gender specific by the type of sport, such as football or bodybuilding.…
Many people may argue that by now sports should no longer be divided by gender. However there is plenty of evidence that co-ed sports may not be that great after all. There are multiple reasons as to why mixed gender sports should not be a mainstream thing. Sports should remain segregated by gender due to the lack of inclusion in co-ed sports, the safety risks mixed gender sports can pose, and the difference in body structure between men and women.…
Once a little 8 years old girl tried out for a basketball team. She was the only girl that tried out for the team and she made it. The little girl thought to herself she has to be pretty good if she made it on to an all boys team. The girl was uncomfortable and felt a little left out when she was playing because she was the only girl on the court. The boys tried to make her feel wanted and comfortable.…
Along with social media showing all positive things that athletes involve themselves in, there is also the impact it has on gender ideology. Gender ideology is a term that refers to the interrelated ideas and beliefs that are commonly used to define masculinity and femininity in a culture. There are three dominant gender ideologies, but one of the common ideologies that is often scrutinized is the belief that men are physically stronger and more rational than women, therefore, men are more naturally suited to possess power and assume leadership positions in society (Coakley 14). Social media is a popular electronic news medium for informing the public about recent news or events. News can be uploaded the instant an event occurred and the public…
In the article Women, Sports and Science, Sandra Hanson states, “Sports are a social institution constructed by men that reflects traditional male stereotypes of dominance and aggression.” This suggests that some people usually view sports as a man’s activity. Hanson then goes on to say, “Women are typically considered ill-equipped to participate in sports, and their participation is viewed as unfeminine and thus undesirable.” In the article, Advantage Men: The Sex Pay Gap, Collin Flake suggests that sports are considered a masculine pastime, so that is where the mindset comes from. He states, “Much of the literature on gender inequality in sport is devoted to media bias and conceptualizations of masculinity and femininity.”…
Woman sports should be treated equally to men sports. Women are capable of keeping up and competing with men. People need to realize that we ladies can be great athletes just like guys are. A lot of people think that girls are fragile and scared to get hurt; but they work just as hard as men and equal rights!…
One reason for this is that sports teams are often divided by skill level, age, and weight depending on the league. Barbie Carpenter from Livestrong.com states men are usually taller, faster and stronger which can give them an advantage on the playing field. This could lead to increased rates of injury. Etienne Noumen from Google plus says when men play women they can get frustrated when they have to slow down ands can’t express themselves fully. When boys can’t practice or play hard enough it lowers their possibilities of succeeding in sports by making it into college or the pros.…
I believe there should be three types of sports teams when it comes to a sport: boys exclusive, girls exclusive and mixed. Moreover, we will earn ourselves the trouble of people who do not feel comfortable playing on mixed sex teams. Accordingly as mentioned before, allowing girls to play on boys sports teams would bring a lot of benefits. A female can play as rough and fierce as a male. Nevertheless, women and men should be considered equally, none should be less respected or treated differently because of their…
Females should not play sports with males. Young men have many advantages in sports than most girls, with their physical strength and their power to be on top. Females cannot survive under extremely heavy pressure without giving up unlike the opposite gender.…