Women in Sport: “Sacrificing the womanly attributes we admire”

Women in Sport: “Sacrificing the womanly attributes we admire”

Do I sacrifice my ‘womanly attributes’ by making the choice to ski down a mountain with a 3000+ vertical drop, while traveling at 50-60 mph? Does my choice to do squats and engage in strength training, or my desire to do 300 sit-ups each night in order to achieve a six-pack, make me less of a woman? Is it odd that I do not enjoy displaying polite, ladylike behavior during every second of my existence? I do not think so. Society today would not exactly agree either, yet society today is far different from the early 1920’s. Today, the desirable female body image is not necessarily a thin, dainty woman. At some point in history, though, something went terribly wrong. Women were conditioned to drink tea and mingle socially over snacks while knitting. The progression for women in sports has been slow, and women still have a long way to go in order to achieve the towering status of men’s sport. Although times have changed since the 1920’s, women continue to struggle with issues of the past—the notion of “mannishness” and the characteristics that compose the ideal female athlete.

We are all familiar with the creation story in Genesis of the Bible—a rib was taken from Adam (man) in order to create Eve (woman). Did this set the tone for women’s submissive role in society? History shows us that this is not true, since women dating as far back as the 6th century had power and were taken seriously. Strong women, such as Perpetua of Carthage, used their faith as a means of helping others and asserting their power in a male-dominated culture. As the years went on, though, women experienced a loss of power and control. A woman’s worth was directly associated with h...

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...e stereotype of the less-talented woman athlete, she was at least pleasing to the eye and redeemed the reputation of women’s tennis.

Female educators in the early 1900’s strived to control the participation of women in sport, establishing certain constraints in order to maintain a male-dominated sports sphere. Athletic activity was healthy; yet too much athletic activity was rigorous and harmful to the female body. At the same time, though, these educators made a point to stress the presence of femininity in sport—which directly contributed to the introduction of sexuality into sport. If the educators of the early 1900’s did not have such an overbearing presence in female sport, maybe there would be no discussion about the swimming suit modeling of Amanda Beard, or the sexy, controversial, eccentric outfits Serena Williams shows off while playing at Wimbledon.