How the Introduction of the Individual into a Non-traditional Sport for His or Her Gender Affects t

Across the world, society holds men and women to different standards. There are precise gender roles and stereotypes that are well established. In the western world, women are supposed to be nurturers, cleaners, and the chef. Whereas men are perceived as strong, independent, and athletic. When these social norms are broken, it is not uncommon for specific labels to be given, such as being called a lesbian. Over the past few centuries, these stereotypes and gender roles have been challenged by many women and feminists. An area where these stereotypes and gender roles have been under scrutiny and analyzed is in the world of sport and physical activities. However, traditional female stereotypes continue to conquer. Gender inequality has accomplished small victories but is still an enormous part of sports which is evident through the little recognition received for competitions along with the difference between men’s and women’s professional level of sport, being looked at as attractive instead of being talented, and the very few female coaches. Eventually, there is hope that the sports world will not be considered the masculine domain, and there will no longer be a legacy of bias against the female athlete.

Men and women who chose to engage in sports from which they would traditionally be discouraged because of their gender, particularly as professionals, redefine the sport. The social and cultural "costs" are not the result of the individual's participation, but rather the way in which sports have been socially, politically, and economically constructed. Gender is only one of the few ways in which people are categorized according to their proficiency for some athletic activities. Race and class are also factors which may prevent individuals from engaging in sports that have been traditionally excluded to them. Socially constructed notions of race, class, and sexuality compound the way in

According to Heather Skyes in her article “Transsexual and Transgender Policies in Sport”, the vast variety of genders that make up our society today including transsexuals and transgender are still not accepted into the world of sports due to anxieties from large sporting organizations. In our culture, there is a ‘binary structure’ which separates male from female. When a person is transsexual or transgender, the binary structure becomes challenged. There are so many exceptions to the binary structure, that it becomes nearly impossible to universalize “gender inclusive policies”. These individuals increase the ‘anxieties’ that Skyes suggests sporting organizations have, because transsexual and transgender people do not fit the norm.

The next aspect we’ll be looking at, is the advertisement point of view of gender equality within sports and sporting events. Women's sports never receive as much advertisement as men’s athlete teams do. You can use sports such as worms soccer for an example, along with UFC for an example of this and college and professional females basketball teams. 
For an example of this in a larger aspect, just imagine that someone offered for you to go to the NRG Stadium in Houston Texas where the stadium that had over 70,000 fans watching the 2016 D1 men’s NCCA championship basketball game for March Madness was taking place. It was a crazy game, with what you thought a crazy come from behind win was about to take place for North Carolina, and to make

Sport contributes to gender, race and class inequalities and not very much work has been done to resolve the problem (Messner 1989). Talbot (2002:282) identify the neglect of scholarly articles to address the issue of sexual and structural prejudices, as well as discrimination (in the form of media biases, homophobia, legal challenge of exclusion in sports and sports organisations), as a factor which limit the opportunities for sportswomen (Pirinen 2002:101) resulting in women’s lower participation levels (Pedersen 1996:191).

When a person of a specific gender enters a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex, many social and moral issues will arise challenging that person involved in that particular sport. The intentions of the individual will be questioned as well as their personal interest in the sport. Before any of these questions are asked, there must be a redefinition of gender roles, femininity, and masculinity. In order for a person to enter a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex without being criticize about gender morality, society must set flexible definitions for femininity and masculinity.

The sports world has been a new area where women are recognized. In previous times women’s sports were almost non-existent. In schools many girl teams did not receive adequate funds for uniforms and equipment. Boys sports were much more popular, such as football or basketball. If a girl wanted to play a guy sport she would be labeled as a

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.

In today's society the male figure dominate in most aspects, especially in sports. They receive a great amount of media attention, far greater than female athletes. Young kids grow up watching male sports being dominant which causes stereotypes around female and sports. While boys have something to look up to, young girls do not receive the same image.Feminist movements made enormous improvement on the status of female athletes since the early twentyth century. Before the feminists movements, female athletes had to manouver in poorer circumstances, different rules, and with stricter dress codes. Society has regularly segregated and disregarded female competitors, expressing that they were manly and gay person. Likewise, hindering ladies from taking an interest in games. After this issues were highlighted, society has attempted to invert these separations and improved open doors for female competitors to champion.

When gender equality in sports is denied, it most likely decreases a woman’s interest in breaking the gender roles. This is why most males enjoy P.E in high school and joining a sports team because they are not challenged by society's depiction of what a male can or cannot do. People tend to reject females from joining most male dominated sports such as football, or wrestling. They’ve accepted and confirmed their beliefs into rejecting women who want to join a sport merely because of the fact they are not

Traditionally, sports and athletics have been limited to males. Recalling as far back as the Grecian Olympics, public sporting events have afforded men both fame and fortune while women have been either completely excluded from play or forced to play under male rules. Until recently, male athletes and the general public have viewed successful female athletes as exceptions to the widespread rule that women cannot and should not compete along side men in traditionally male sports. Females who chose to be athletic were required to follow the examples of male athletes that were already established and accepted by both the sports community. Consequently, female athletes were confined to a narrow and rigid

Contemporary sport and physical culture have a lot of trends circulating within the lifestyles associated within them. Winning and losing, exciting and boring, and masculine and feminine. Popular media emphasizes exciting, winning, and masculine sports in our culture with little mention of losing, boring, and feminine sports. These trends are cultured into children from a young age and has been passed down in each generation. Young boys grow up to be tough and hard headed because “masculinity builds strength”, whereas girls grow up to be soft and poise with small attention that “femininity builds weakness (Roth & Basow 2004, p. 247.)

“For girls and women to participate in a male gender-typed sport such as wrestling, they must perceive enough positive benefits to overcome these negative cultural influences” (Brake 174). This quote resonated with me because I play ice hockey, which is a male gender-typed sport. More women and girls play hockey than wrestling, but I still found parallels between this section of the reading and my own experiences.

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

Sports have been around for well over 2,000 years. It should be a source for all types of people to come together and respect each other. But, it has turned into an avenue for females to be recognized for gender differences. In today’s society, female athletes still don’t have equal respect to male athletes. In fact, women were excluded from the first Olympic games. Since then, women have come a long way in society to gain the respect that they deserve. Culturally it is the norm to see female athletes sexualized in the media. Unfortunately, the media plays a large role in many inequality concerns. This completely ties in with my major, sport management. It also ties in with the fact that I am a female athlete. Although I am not a professional athlete there are always signs of body image struggles within other athletes around me. I have been involved in sports my entire life and I can relate my personal story to this surprisingly well. I chose this topic because society puts so much pressure on young girls and what their bodies should and shouldn’t look like. Instead, society and the media should focus on creating a positive environment for females in sport. Strong should be the new skinny. There is a large audience that considers women to be inferior to men in sport. Female athletes are sexualized in the media, sexualizing themselves to create a brand, gender differences in sport and have potential future challenges in the feminist movement. Women in sport should not have to