Sports culture as a whole has epitomized the idea of “manhood” and its values. The competitiveness, passion, and most importantly the brotherhood fostered by gathering around the couch and watching burly men throw balls of various shapes and sizes on television, all while drinking copious amounts of beer, has been the staple in the majority of men’s living rooms. Of course, these games would be nothing without the sports commentators who regurgitate stats and their analyses of the game to the world as it happens. Not to mention that these commentators happen to be majority male as well, which begs the question: how could women possibly fit in as sportscasters for such a male-dominated culture? In “Women Sportscasters,” Max V. Grubb and Theresa Billiot tackle the issue of women’s roles in sportscasting, and argue that sports culture as a whole needs to change to advance women’s roles in this masculine domain. For now, however, they claim that women are given roles that “objectify them and place them where they do not threaten the status quo,” and this is apparent because of how the media emphasizes women’s looks, keeps them out of the limelight, and prioritizes broadcasting men’s as opposed to women’s sports. Society seems to value the appearance of women more so than their actual knowledge, and this …show more content…
Society has been brainwashed to think that women can never be relevant in such a sacred, male-dominated culture as sports, mostly because of stereotypes that demean women. And this is a shame given the fact that women can shine just as much as men can if they’re given the chance. While the future may not look bright for women sportscasters, the fact that there are starting to be more women in the industry now as opposed to the past can perhaps be the first sign that gender parity may not be as unattainable as it
Turn on ESPN, and there are many female sports reporters, and many reports on female athletes. Flip through Sports Illustrated, and female athletes are dotted throughout the magazine. Female athletes star in the commercials. Female athletes are on the cover of newspapers. Millions of books have been sold about hundreds of female athletes. However, this has not always been the case. The number of females playing sports nowadays compared to even twenty years ago is staggering, and the number just keeps rising. All the women athletes of today have people and events from past generations that inspired them, like Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League, Billie Jean King, and the 1999 United States Women’s World
In sporting activity participation and televised sports, there is a noticeable difference between male and female interest and involvement. In the article Center of Attention: The Gender of Sports Media Michael A. Messner discusses the issues that involve all aspects of sports strictly being a man’s affair. Messner expresses ideas that men are not only the forefront of sports participation, but sports media as well. A point is made in the article about the leaders in sports being those who are the most aggressive. This point is the reasoning behind why men are the superior figures in sports. The aggressiveness of men causes there to be more interest into male sporting activity which makes men a dominant figure in sports.
“The past three decades have witnessed a steady growth in women's sports programs in America along with a remarkable increase in the number of women athletes (Daniel Frankl 2)” From an early age women were thought to be “Lady Like”; they are told not to get all sweaty and dirty. Over 200 years since Maud Watson stepped on the tennis courts of Wimbledon (Sports Media Digest 3); women now compete in all types and levels of sports from softball to National racing. Soccer fans saw Mia Hamm become the face of women’s soccer around the world, Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most popular figures in tennis, and Indy car racing had their first woman racer, Danika Patrick. With all the fame generated by these women in their respective sports, they still don’t receive the same compensation as the men in their respective sports fields.
Women have forever had this label on their back of being too small, too weak, too feminine, and too boring. The traditional gender roles of the female interfere with the extortionate nature of competing in sports. Men are usually the ones to go 100% and give whatever they got, and to show masculinity while doing it. The standard masculinity of being strong, smart, and taking charge over dues the feminine traits of being soft, gentle, and polite. That’s what society has taught us to learn and accept. But the traditional female gender role is diminished when participating in athletics and people may think it’s weird to see females compete at the same level as males do. Men have always had the upper hand in the professional, collegian, and high
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports. When the American people think of women in sports, they think of ice skating, field hockey and diving. People don’t recognize that women have the potential to play any sport that a Man can play, with equal skill, if not better.
Can women's sports establish itself as a topic of on-going media and journalism curiosity? Currently TV stations do minimal coverage of women's sports, while newspapers and magazines do just a little bit better. In a recent interview with Gary Webb, a sports writer for The Spectrum, he says that "the people have demonstrated that there is an audience that loves hearing about women athletes. After all, they are somebody's kids, sisters, and moms". I learned that these sports writers love to cover women's games, especially girls highschool basketball games. Gary said that he would rather watch a Parowan-Beaver girls game over the boys anyday. Karen Winegar, staff writer for the The Star Tribune of Minnesota said., "Portrayal of female athletes is improving, but despite increasing interest and participation, their sports are getting no more coverage than they got five years ago" (1A+). Women's sports participation will surely continue to grow in the future, so the media and journalists better be prepared to increase their coverage accordingly.
Unintentionally, a lot of us have been boxed into institutions that promote gender inequality. Even though this was more prominent decades ago, we still see how prevalent it is in today’s world. According to the authors of the book, Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions, Lisa Wade and Myra Marx Ferree define gendered institutions as “the one in which gender is used as an organizing principle” (Wade and Ferree, 167). A great example of such a gendered institution is the sports industry. Specifically in this industry, we see how men and women are separated and often differently valued into social spaces or activities and in return often unequal consequences. This paper will discuss the stigma of sports, how gender is used to separate athletes, and also what we can learn from sports at Iowa State.
It has taken many years for women to gain a semblance of equality in sports. Throughout history, women have been both excluded from playing sports and discriminated against in sports. Men’s sports have always dominated the college athletic field, but women were finally given a fighting chance after Title IX was passed. Title IX, among other things, requires scholarships to be equally proportioned between men and women’s sports. Although this was a huge gain for women, gender inequality still exists in sports today. An example of this persisting inequality can be seen when looking at men’s baseball and women’s softball. In college, baseball and softball are both major NCAA sports. It is widely accepted throughout today’s society that baseball is a man’s sport, and softball is a woman’s sport. Very few people question why the two sexes are separated into two different sports, or wonder why women play softball instead of baseball. Fewer people know that women have been essentially excluded from playing baseball for a long time. This paper will focus on why softball has not changed the way women’s basketball has, why women continue to play softball, the possibilities and dynamics of women playing baseball with and without men, and the most discriminating aspect of women being banned from playing professional baseball.
The discrepancies in media coverage in coverage of female and children athletics have large gaps, but are gaining momentum in sharing equality. Major athletic leagues such as the NBA and FIFA World Cup have wide gaps in marketing and ratings for their male and female athletes. Children are future athletes and superstars, but as funding and coverage in athletics caters to the males, women are breaking the barriers to being in the spotlight of sport. Both genders contribute equally to athletics, and challenge the each other to accept new ideas and change. The sports world that has a single gender dominating the media is unjust.
Most people watch some form of sports, whether it be the Olympics or the highlights on ESPN. The NBA and NHL playoffs are underway and theyit seems to be the only news on ESPN. There is almost no coverage of the WNBA playoffs or any female athletics. Tennis isone of the only big sports on ESPN for women. While during the Olympics the coverage seems to be non-stop and close to equal. Women’s participation in sport is at an all-time high and has almost become equal with men’s, however,. sSports media does notfails to show this equality and skews the way we look at these athletes. Through the disciplines of sociology and gender studies, it can be seen that despite the many gains of women in sports since the enactment of Title IX, “traditional” notions of masculinity and femininity still dominate media coverage of males and females in sports, which is observed in Olympic programming and sports news broadcasts.
The first perspective is that women are disadvantaged at any sport. Some people reiterate the difference of men and women in sports. This is influenced by strength and the natural power men hold, comparable to women. Rodriguez questions “Is this because female athletes don’t have what it takes to make it in the world of sports or could it be more of a social issue?” This perspective seems to be a social issue based on the notable skills women acquire vs. the apparent judgments of gender issues. The second perspective is the idea that women deserve and inherently earn their right of equal attention and equal pay. “Sometimes, the secret to equality is not positive discrimination, it 's equal terms. It 's the shrug of the shoulders that says "what 's the difference?" The moment worth aspiring for is not seeing people celebrate the world-class female cricketer who competes at comparatively low-level male professional cricket, but the day when people are aware that she does, and don 't find it notable at all” (Lawson). Lawson makes it a point to confirm the biased notions against women in sports and relay an alternative worth working toward and fighting for. Both outlooks can be biased but only one has factual evidence to back it up. The second perspective reviews an ongoing gender issue. This problem is welcome for change depending on society’s
Professional, semi-professional, collegiate, secondary, and youth affiliations --have all felt the impact of women and men’s diffusion into arenas that are not commonly their own. As shown throughout this paper, these effects are both negative and positive. What I have learned is that these hindrances and acceptances cannot slow us down. There are many areas that still need to be opened up to both sexes and ideas that athletes need to prove wrong. The struggle isn’t over, and I don’t think it will ever be over. Society and athletics go hand in hand in helping to equalize men and women in sports, as well as in society. Individual accomplishments, failed attempts, and suffering help to bring us all one step closer to being equal on all playing fields.
Gender in sports has been a controversial issue ever since sports were invented. In the early years, sports were played only by the men, and the women were to sit on the sidelines and watch. This was another area of life exemplifying the sexism of people in which women were not allowed to do something that men could. However, over the last century in particular, things have begun to change.
Women are not given the opportunity to succeed in basketball media like men are. In addition, only 2 of ESPN’s top 25 play by play announcers were female the and none of the females were in the top 20 (Deitsch 1). Women are not given the best jobs possible and can not be any higher on this list because of the lack of opportunity given to them by these network companies. Furthermore, the week 16 schedule of Men’s college basketball announcers list had only 5 out 137 games with women calling play by play and only 4 women Beth Mowins called 2 games that week (Pucci 1). Men dominate the broadcast teams therefore if women want an opportunity they must have longevity or work their way up through sideline reporting, unlike the men.
Whether its baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or tennis, sports is seen all over the world as a representation of one’s pride for their city, country, and even continent. Sports is something that is valued world-wide which has the ability to bring communities together and create different meanings, beliefs and practices between individuals. Although many people may perceive sports to have a significant meaning within our lives, it can also have the ability to separate people through gender inequalities which can also be represented negatively throughout the media. This essay will attempt to prove how gender is constructed in the sports culture while focusing on female athletes and their acceptance in today’s society.