Within the presentation of popular sport in media the concepts of femininity and masculinity are often used to define the professional athletes, both male and female, in a damaging way. Although both genders are associated with negative connotations of being feminine, it differs individually for the gender in question. It is solely female athletes however that are victimised for possessing a sense of masculinity. This essay will touch upon the significant pay gap between male and female athletes, the idea that masculinity and femininity are social constructs and sport media’s ability to define our perception of athletes.
One key instance of a sportsman’s masculinity being called into question is when the snood/neck-warmer trend became popular
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For a male athlete to take part a typically ‘female’ profession, such as dancing or gymnastics, is not as highly regarded by sport media as typically ‘manly’ sports, such as football and rugby. Also unlike female athletes who can be victimised for being too masculine or being too feminine, male athletes are only criticised for a lack of manliness. This is linked to the concept of hegemonic masculinity, that males are white, western, aggressive and heterosexual and any who don’t adhere to this also do not follow to the social norm of masculinity. These social norms were discussed in Darwin’s book Origin of the Species (1859) where men are perceived to be the intellectual provider for the family. The women however are the seen as the homemaker, the physically and mentally weaker sex. The division between the genders in sports can be seen by the significant pay gap – ‘the UK's highest-paid female footballer, England captain Steph Houghton, is paid £65,000 a year, while premier league footballer Lionel Messi makes an estimated £1m a week before bonuses.’ (The Daily Mail, 2015). However, unlike what Darwin argued, we can now suggest that the concept of masculinity and manliness is not innate and instead is learned, the body is not as reliable as defining sexes as we are led to believe, not all men are masculine and not all women are feminine. Both masculinity and femininity are encoded into social structures – for example male power is not held solely by one man, but is instead institutionalised to support the gender order in favour or males and
This is simply leaning that occurs through observing the behavior of others. The article examines the way sports focus and define what it is to be masculine. Many interview subjects when asked why or how they first got involved in playing sports reported that it was just thing to do or even said, “I was a natural”. Let’s clarify something; there is nothing natural about throwing a ball through a hoop 36 foot away nor is there anything natural about hitting a baseball thrown at 98 miles per hour and hitting it with a 32 inch bat. Playing sports may feel “natural” to some, but you must be exposed to it first before mastering the skill. This exposure can come from an early age of observing other peer or family influences playing sports and learning their behaviors. Of course, a boy can be born with amazing hand-eye coordination, but this does not predispose him to a career of hitting baseballs any more that it predisposes him to a life as a brain surgeon. By listening to the men interviewed in the article, it became clear that their adoption of self definition of natural athlete constructs their masculinities, and observation learning from exposure to sports subconsciously influenced decisions to play
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.
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.
Sports, in general, are a male dominated activity; every “real” male is suppose to be interested and/or involved in sports in the American society. However, it is not expected of a female to be interested in sports and there is less pressure on them to participate in physically enduring activities. These roles reflect the traditional gender roles imposed on our society that men are supposed to be stronger and dominant and females are expected to be submissive. As Michael Kimmel further analyzes these gender roles by relating that, “feminism also observes that men, as a group, are in power. Thus with the same symmetry, feminism has tended to assume that individually men must feel powerful” (106).
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
Therefore, the women participating in such arduous sports breaks the normative ideas of what it means to be a women and what activities she can participate in. In contrast, for those women who do carry on tasks that are typically seen as masculine, are valued less, have less recognition, and their prestige and income tend to decline compared to their male counterparts (Johnson, 1997). Interestingly, when one types “soccer team” on google, the first thing to show up is the Unites States Men’s National Soccer Team. One has to explicitly type “women” in front of soccer. This shows the lack of acknowledgement of the women’s soccer team compared to their male counterparts. If the men’s soccer team is credited significantly more than the women’s soccer team, then the male representation is made more palpable in media with a greater screen time, thus bolstering their reputation and popularity and resulting in increase in pay from the soccer
Gender discrimination is prominent in every industry, but it is as though the sport industry is one of the worst. Women in the work force currently receive only 80 cents to every man’s dollar (Holmes, 2016). However, female athletes both in America and internationally receive a far lesser compensation for their attributes. The only difference of the sports being played is who plays them. There should be no reason why a male athlete receives better pay simply because he had a 50% chance of being born a man. At birth, no one controls the gender, but as they grow and mature, they control their personality and development. Payment should be on personal skills and not gender. As a female STHM student focusing on sport management and a former athlete,
Traditionally men have dominated the world of sports however in recent year’s women’s sports have become popular and with their new found popularity, women’s sports have evolved into marketable leagues of their own. Although women’s sports took a huge leap forward, women players still don’t receive the same financial compensation for playing the same sports in the same arenas as their male counterparts. In Purse Snatching by Donna Lopiano, she points out sexism may have a huge effect on this financial discrepancy between women and men athletes. Analyzing sports economics may point to a different reason why women are receiving such a compensation disparity. Women sports have come a long way, since the days when women were only allowed to watch.
... athletes feel more secure than their female counterparts. Lopiano and Sommers create realistic, reliable and clear material that uncovers how female athletes struggle to gain media coverage. The article by Lopiano (2008) is broad and simple, while the article by Sommers (2010) is specific and precise. Overall, Lopiano and Sommers prove to be effective, straightforward, and unique sources that challenge the inconsistency of media coverage between female athletes and male athletes.
Anderson, E. (2011). Masculinities and Sexualities in Sport and Physical Cultures: Three Decades of Evolving Research. Journal Of Homosexuality, 58(5), 565-578. doi:10.1080/00918369.2011.563652
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
“Homerun!” A woman screams, a man looks at her and says ‘Do you know what sport this is? Puzzled as she responds” uh baseball.” “Ahh” he says rolling his eyes and looking the other way as she was speaking some sort of secret language. As most people know women are not heard in the same way as men are when it comes to sports. Molly Quinton wrote a essay titled “Sexism and Sports” that encourages others to take a look at just how sexists today's sports have become and how women are seen in a different way in. Exaggerating her knowledge of the sports Quinton uses her own experiences of being a female in a sports enthusiasts family to broadcast the view that men are questioning her knowledge and competency when it comes to sports, in her case baseball. She puts together repetitive acts that she has faced in order to draw the attention to the sexism towards sports and for a change to be persuaded on how everyone's standards are on women and any discrimination.
“A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human,” Vera Nazarian. Unfortunately now in the United States, women are being treated less than their male counterparts, especially when it comes to professional athletics. In an article entitled, Taking a Closer Look at the Gender Pay Gap in Sports, written by John Walters on newsweek.com, he exclaims, “Each player on the USWNT earns $99,000 per year provided the team wins 20 “friendlies” (exhibition matches), the minimum number of matches they would play. By contrast, each men’s player would earn $263,320 for the same feat and would still earn $100,000 if the team lost all 20 games.” Not only does this topic relate to the difference in pay for women and men in soccer but it also relates to all of the other sports like, basketball, tennis and the many other were males participate too in separate organizations. The topic on whether female athletes should be paid the same as their male counterparts, is a massive debate with two opposing sides. On one side of the debate, people believe male driven associations produce more revenue than female driven associations, the competition in male sports is more intense, and more fans want to see thunderous dunks and the athletic ability of males over the lesser abilities of what females can do. On the contrary, female athletics aren 't given the same recognition or praise, females go through the same types of workouts males go through and they participate in the same types of events, and females don 't have the same abilities as males due to the way they ar...
Krane, V. (2001). We can be athletic and feminine, but do we want to? Challenging hegemonic femininity in women's sport. Quest, 53,115-133.
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.