Essay on Sexism

While participation of women in sports has increased, the media representation of women in sports remains problematic. Even the most talented elite female athletes like Michelle Kwan and Monica Seles are portrayed in a sexual fashion, as a way of deemphasizing their athleticism and neutralizing any possible threat they might seem to pose to male viewers. Very few male athletes are portrayed in such an objectified manner; they are portrayed as competitors first and foremost, not as personalities. Also, the media coverage of athletes is disproportionately focused on male athletes. The coverage of female athletes tends to stress individualized female sports where women can be sexualized like tennis and figure skating, versus competitive team sports like basketball and soccer.

Traditionally women were viewed as equipped to participate in sports, and their involvement was viewed as unfeminine and undesirable. This Article Examples the women were viewed as unfeminine to the sports that men play and undesirable. Young girls who are given an early opportunity to participate in sports may be more prepared for the male in classrooms. Even though women have often been relegated to second-hand citizenship in the same socializing, integration, statues, and recognition that benefit male athletes. (By; Sandra L. Hanson)

Women in professional sports fits into the Sex and Power: Global Gender Inequality class because many female athletes have experienced the inequalities in a professional sports setting. Female athletes are being put down by gender inequalities, causing less females participating in athletic programs. Women athletes are being paid less than their male counterparts. Along with being paid less, female and males are receiving unequal benefits in the form of scholarship, media coverage, transportation, and stadium conditions. The professional sport’s world is filled with the obsession of body image and sexuality. Through this obsession, female athletes have been abused from the people they trust the most. There is an increasing inequality in women’s professional sports in the form of pay, sexuality, and abuse.

People all around, especially sport fans, have their own opinions as to why the differences exist and whether or not they should be changed. Over the years, the United States has experienced dramatic changes in pay equality between men and women in the work force. Why can we not implement that same change in the sports world? Some of the questions that are presented with such an issue can be compared to how the United States has made changes and how the sports world fails to push for these changes. Many years ago a question like this would not even be up for discussion. There are many other countries around the world that face the same issue with women sports equality versus men that are far worse than what happens in the U.S. The world of sports has begun to see how women's sports can be just as interesting and exciting as men's sports can be.

Discrimination among women is huge and men feel that some sports should be kept for just men only. “The 1960’s were an especially important decade for transformations in American society, which

American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias earned more medals, broke more records, and swept more tournaments in more sports than any other athlete, male or female, in the twentieth century. Within recent years, women have made huge strides in the world of sports and athletics but are still not getting proper recognition for the time, effort, and talent these women have put into their sport. Gender equality is a major problem in athletics, Title XI, sports media, and the sexualisation of females involved in athletics shows the clear divide in gender equality amongst men’s and women’s sports.

In today’s world, men’s sports seem to always be in the spotlight while women’s sports do not draw much attention, as if women who play sports are not taken seriously. This happens on all levels of sports, and I have personally experienced it myself through basketball in high school. While the gym would be full for any of the boys’ games, our games had very little support with almost empty bleachers. When it comes to the professional level, when women’s sports do get covered by the media, most people judge female athletes more on their looks rather than their athletic skill, which is negative and unfair.

Sports marketer Richard Armato said, “If you want to be successful as a woman who is an athlete, sex appeal has to be part of the equation” (Ewing & Grady, as cited in Hull et al., 2015, p.108). Some women athletes took this as an advantage and used their sex appeal to lure attention to certain sports. Brooks saw this as a disadvantage, because females were not recognized for their accomplishments but their appearance (as cited in Hull et, al., 2015, p.109). Media plays the main role in how athletes are portrayed using frames, Entman defines frames as highlighting selected information, to make it more noticeable to the audience (as cited in Hull, et al., 2015 p. 109). When it comes to the media, men and women are portrayed differently, majority of women in fitness magazines were depicted as passive in their photo shoots rather than active (opposite then men) (Hardin & Walsdorf, as cited in Hull et al., 2015, p.

The amount of articles and news headlines that women are featured in is vastly unequal to that of men. Women only featured 3% of all articles in our local media source compared to men at 92%, in some instances animals featured as equal to that of the women. This is largely due to that women sports simply do not generate as much interest as men sports. The stereotype is that women are portrayed for their beauty, sex appeal and support roles rather than their sporting capabilities or skill level. The media does not recognise that female sports are as physically demanding and do require the amount of skill as that of men.

Women are empowered, encouraged and even pressured into being involved in a sport or some type of fitness activities today; however, it hasn’t always been that way (Cahn 278). In the 1920s, also known as the “golden age” of sports, women and young girls faced obstacles such as rejection, gender discrimination, and stereotypes when showing interest in sports or fitness activities. One famous author named Susan Cahn, wrote a book called Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sports, and focuses on the decades between the 1920s and the 1960s. For most of the 19th century, females were accused of causing a great deal of danger to the moral and physical areas of masculinity. Through the research of multiple different aspects, such as media, appearance, and gender roles, Cahn puts together an idea and theme that athleticism is seen as a masculine trait because it was once constructed by society itself; which fortunately for the women, that idea can be changed. In the later centuries, Cahn writes about the progress of woman 's appearance in sports, however then describes the difference in respect, attention throughout media, opportunities and wages between men and women. Through both primary sources such as newspapers, interviews, and journals, as well as secondary sources like relevant literature, Cahn writes her book in a historical non-fiction genre. After reading Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sports by Susan

Sexism limits our country. In a world where sexism still exists, women face challenges every day as they choose to embark in athletic activities. Even with the efforts of Title IX, which was established in 1972, there is not equality in sports for men and women. Sexism is real with stereotypes and discrimination on the basis of sex. Even with the high level of success reached by numerous female athletes of many different sports, male athletes always seem to have the upper hand. Whether it is pay, media, support, gear, or playing grounds, one sex always has the better of the two. Male athletes dominate a field that truly is shared by both sexes. What if we treated male athletes the way we treat female athletes? That is a world hard to imagine, and honestly, it shouldn't be. Through female athletes sharing their stories of unfair treatment and pay, sexism and generations of inequality in sports can be overcome.

Notions of femininity influence views about how girls should be. This can create conflict for girls who participate in sports that require ‘unfeminine behaviour’ and produce ‘unfeminine bodyshapes’. Women are depicted in the media in ways that reinforce the prevailing community attitudes and stereotypes about them. They are not viewed as strong, heroic figures to be idolised on the basis of their talent and sporting achievements. Rather in many cases, women’s coverage is on the basis of ‘sporting fashion’. A classic example of this being the extensive coverage of women’s fashion in the Australian Open tennis tournament recently held in Melbourne; Anna Kournicova becoming a symbol for women’s tennis due to her

This study reveals much about the attitudes that persist in society today regarding sport and gender. Early on, sport was created to serve men, evolving as a celebration of maleness, valuing strength, power, and competition. It idealized, promoted, and rewarded successful, elite athletes, established “the dream” as a professional career in sports, and viewed mass participation in sport as a tool to weed out the weak (Hill, 1993). In contrast, women’s sports originated to “address the expressed need for healthful exercise” (Huckaby, 1994). Unlike the competitive warrior mode

As women, we’ve come a long way in pushing past society’s judgements, or so I thought. Within the Olympic Games, women are still not seen as equals with our male competitors but rather criticized on body image rather than talent and dedication. In the past, women were seen strictly as a reproductive purpose in life, and although now we are seen as much more, our bodies still seem to hold the most priority over everything else we have to offer. Even in things like when a woman can lift twice the weight of her own body over her head, or break world records in swimming at the budding age of seventeen we seem to be

Some women athletes are still not accepted. Women who body-build are not given the same respect as men who do. While many