The general argument made by author Susan K. Cahn, is that in" today's' society there are women athletes who are media celebrities and a source of inspiration for many. But not long ago, being serious about sports was considered appropriate only for men and boys". Throughout the 20th century, women's increasing participation in sports has challenged our conception of womanhood. Some celebrated the female athlete as the embodiment of modern womanhood, but others branded her "mannish" which was liked to being a lesbian. Ultimately, she altered the perception of sport as an exclusively male domain. More specifically, Cahn focuses on the decades between 1920 and 1960, Cahn argues that at the beginning of the century, the debate centered on the…
held against them ("Masculinity and Gender Roles in Sports"). As the role of women has progressed, a…
On the website womensportreport.com, there is sufficient evidence to prove some of the arguments presented by Muriah Burton Nelson’s argument. First, most pictures on the website show the female athletes smiling. Under the training section of the webpage there was a picture that caught my attention. It was a group of people, where the majority were females. They were exercising, laughing and having fun following their male instructor. This is what Newton was referring to when she said that female athletes cannot show any signs of competition. I believe that the website womenssportreport.com perpetuates traditional gender role. In addition, and of topic to the question, I thought most female fighters in the UFC were breaking that outdated traditional…
In dissecting this problem, it becomes evident that the demand for this particular sport is an issue. How many people have a desire to watch this sport, and furthermore are willing to pay a price for this entertainment? The WNBA fan base is slowly declining, and as a result, less money is being generated from the public. Spectators have concluded that the growing audience has been hard to come by for the WNBA, which is apparent by the league’s attendance history. With the WNBA falling short of its male counterpart attendance wise, the WNBA has the lower hand of the deal when it comes to ticket pricing. The WNBA is already put at a disadvantage by having half as many seasonal games as the NBA. The average WNBA ticket price is fifteen dollars as opposed to the average NBA ticket being forty-five dollars. When compared with the attendance rate, the women’s basketball league is struggling tremendously. With people already cutting back expenses from the hardships of the recent recession, this has made the opportunity cost for the less popular women’s ticket drop dramatically. Kyle Weidie in, The WNBA is worth it, states his reasoning on low sales and popularity by stating, “Men’s basketball is more athletically entertaining in contrast to general human athletic capabilities,” which would decrease the demand for women’s basketball. Weidie further states, “not to say women’s basketball is not athletically astounding in its own way, just very small in comparison to a pool of the world’s greatest athletes.” With the differences in athleticism and levels of entertainment, the public’s preferred choice has helped contribute to the economic blow within this organization. Here is a quick representation of the recent 2009 national attendance rate and media coverage.…
According to Sara Maratta, there are only a handful of professional female athletes who possess clout and are known by the majority of the populace as quasi-celebrities. Although, it is true that the media’s coverage of women’s sports has increased, there is a plethora of evidence that male perspective still dominate. Women fans, players, and journalists continue to remain just a minority group who are struggling for recognition. She goes on to argue, women have been discouraged, disregarded, or disinvited from pursing a passion for sports, and that women cannot offer valuable insights and opinions because female professional sports reporters are often considered nothing more than talking heads who get paid to look pretty. Maratta’s use Erin Andrew’s as an example, a very intelligent and well-versed sports journalist, who’s been objectified throughout her career as a sex symbol because of the nude photos and videos of on google. She also use Andrea Kremer, NBC football sideline reporter and ESPN’s first female correspondent, NPR interview were she asserted that women have earned their position in the sports world.…
Ms. Shuster tells throughout this article about someone's experience of trying to become a female tennis player in the 1970's. She explains how nobody wanted females to play the sport professionally. The males did not want this because they were taking away their hobby and space. Meanwhile, the authorities of the tennis program did not believe the ladies had the skills to have any success. Rachel Shuster is a sportswriter editor for USA Today, also a former Associate Editor for TechTarget's, and has had a lot of background and understanding involving the different view points of this sexism. She has also had a lot of participation in editing biased reports and is able to considerate those opinions and form them into a thorough passage. This…
Patricia “Pat” Summitt was born June 14, 1952, in Clarksville, Tennessee. Pat is currently head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team and is renowned for many different achievements including being the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history out of any division in both men’s basketball and women’s basketball. She is one of the most successful and most achieved coaches out of coaches in any sport, holding over 1000 victories under her coaching record and she is even listed as number 11 in the 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time.…
This website from the Library of Congress describes what Title IX is, and viewpoints of…
There are many aspects why female and male athletes should not compete together. Although one reason may be because of physiological differences, societal barriers also prevent female athletes from competing with males. What it means to be male or female is one of the hardest things to decipher. This is one of the more bigger struggles between masculinity and femininity. One institution that specifically targets this idea of gender differences is professional sports. Women are challenged because of these gender differences to be accepted into a male dominated institution. Female athletes are encouraged and in many cases forced to under appreciate themselves by the media because of sports. Our society tends to under appreciate women who play…
Before conducting the research, I went to library and looked through two different magazines, Sports Illustrated (SI) and Chatelaine, which were both released in November 2011. SI is a sports magazine with a gender-neutral name, but there is one long-held view that women are not equal to men in the realm of sports. I’m not talking about the performance levels of athletes, but the idea that accomplishments of female athletes are not celebrated equally to those made by male athletes. As for Chatelaine, which means a woman who owns or controls a large house, it is a Canadian magazine focused on female interests, and according to the magazine, those interests are fashion, beauty and decor, to current affairs, health and food.…
Female student athletes have a dual roll in trying to maintain academic and athletic excellence while in college. These athletes are expected to perform at the highest athletic level possible, and then asked to sustain their physical appearance. “For some female college athletes, such concerns and pressures may contribute to eating disorders or disordered eating behaviors” (Greenleaf et al. 2009, p490). I believe female student athletes shouldn’t feel pressured into complying with society’s needs, by totally ignoring their own.…
Women athletes are not respected or broadcasted as much as male athletes and continue to struggle with equal pay as well. Is the media ran this way because male sports holds a higher audience and ratings or simply because they believe women are not to be considered as equals?…
The argument in the text is “For men, success or failure as an athlete can be a major part of a man’s identity..... knowing about and participating in sports is an important source of men’s gender socialization....the attitude that “sports builds character” runs deep in American culture..... Sports are considered to be where one learns to be a man.”(Anderson and Taylor) In the Andersen text it states that “for most men, playing or watching sports is often the context for developing relationships with fathers.....Through sports relationships with male peers, more than anyone else, however, the men’s identity was shaped. As boys, the men could form “safe” bonds with other men (Messner 2002)”(Anderson and Taylor). In the typical view of an…
“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…
n the sports world people often do not acknowledge female sports as much as men's sports. Women sports are newer and hence the reason for them not getting the recognition they deserve. But the sports world is starting to see how women's sports can be just as interesting and exciting as men's sports can be. I am going to show you some discrepancies between women and men's sports. Women and men's sports should each have equal opportunities.…