Women And Sports Research Paper

It means we must be open to its permutation, in the name of nonviolence.” (Butler) . This practice would help support the reality of transgender and intersex people. We must, as a society, realize that gender is not black and white, but rather it comes in a multitude of shades. If someone does not fit in the traditional categories of gender it does not mean that they are inhumane - they are humans who deserve equal rights to those in the majority. In order for transgender athletes to be given an equal opportunity to pursue their athletic goals we must first reconstruct our notions about gender to create a society that accepts intersex and transgender individuals as equal counterparts. Transgender females identify as women and should therefore be allowed to compete as women. Actively excluding transgender and intersex women from competing in women’s sport, the gender they identify with, would be a step in the wrong direction for both intersex and transgender rights.

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)

Gender inequality in professional tennis is a real and alarming issue, from the pay gap between mens' and womens' tennis players to the low media coverage of women's professional tennis. This issue even goes as far as how differently tennis commentators discuss and analyze mens tennis as opposed to how they discuss and analyze womens tennis. When commentators discuss men's tennis they solely focus on the skill of the players, but when they discuss women's tennis they place more importance on the appearance of the female players, rather than their skill. This instance of gender inequality in professional tennis is further exacerbated by the differences in advertisements for male tennis players and female tennis players. The advertisements involving male tennis players display their athleticism and tennis abilities, whereas the advertisements including female tennis players are appearance-focused, with the females often wearing little clothing. This is corroborated by the popular belief that focusing on the physical appearance of female athletes is the only way in which generating money from women's professional sports is distinctly possible (Fink, 2015, p. 338). Female professional tennis players train just as hard as the men do, thus the gender inequality that exists in the sport is not necessarily a result of how women perform on the court. It is rather a result of how society perceives women playing in professional sports overall, which the mass media is partially to blame

People pretend it doesn’t exist, but racism is still here and much alive.  Tennis prides itself on being innovators. That’s why tennis awards equal prize money, television and media coverage to both male and female tennis players. The fact remains that tennis wouldn’t be true innovators until it stops racism. Serena and Venus William’s two African American sisters began tennis when they were young and soon started having massive success. The success the two sisters had brought inspiration and influenced other young African Americans to join the game.

“Once you accept that everyone is different, you can change the face of inequality.” Billie Jean “Moffitt” King was from Long Beach, California. *She was born on November 22, 1943, and started playing tennis based on her parents’ suggestion at age 11*, when she was looking for a more “ladylike” sport (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2014). Billy Jean King created a forward standard movement towards inequality in women’s tennis, was a women’s rights activist, and proved that women have the same capabilities as men. (Great Women in Sports, 2009).

Throughout many years there has been a great change of gender roles of men and women in our society, and especially in the world of sports. Over the last couple years female athletes have really strived to gaining equal representation and media coverage as much as the male athletes do. Female athletes are also starting to participate in more male dominated sports such as, MMA, hockey and even golf. These few sports have been perceived as “manly sports” which usually makes women feel that they shouldn't participate because they're not masculine enough. Even though there are many female athletes who feel discouraged to playing “manly sports” there are also plenty of female athletes who are trying to show younger generations that it's okay to participate and compete in sports that aren't necessarily “feminine sports”. The way that gender roles have been affecting sports for a long time are through behaviors, stereotypes and the perception of male and female athletes.

The experience of African American female tennis player Taylor Townsend, as a 15-year-old girl, with the U.S. Tennis Association provides an interesting scenario for evaluation through a feminist and intersectional lens. In this particular situation, Townsend had won the Australian Junior Open title and was the top-ranked junior tennis player in the world only to be discouraged from competing in the U.S. Open Junior Tennis Tournament by the U.S. Tennis Association later that year due to their concerns about her “lack of physical conditioning.” This reaction from the U.S. Tennis Association provides a very stark and disappointing representation of the way race, gender, and class affect the climate of sports for women, specifically in tennis.

Tennis is a sport that might not catch people’s interest on TV, but it surely is a sport that people admire and love to play. The one reason why it might be very admirable would probably be because it is not inclusive to any race, ethnicity, or culture. If you look at the tennis players that are involved in the game, their backgrounds are not very similar to other tennis players. Unlike basketball, you would notice that it is dominated by African Americans. Despite that, one of the negative attributes of tennis is the dominance of males. Tennis is a game that is open to everyone; however, there are gender differences that affect the women players. Women don’t get paid the same as men, men’s finals attracts more attention and is awaited for more than women’s finals, also the men tend to get more opportunities outside of tennis (commercials).

When women decide to participate in sports traditionally for men such as bodybuilding, they risk the chance of being socially stereotyped as lesbians, or simply viewed as "less feminine" then say women figure skaters. For example, Venus Williams is seen as criticized for being very masculine in build and judged on that by her performance. The media has commented on how well she plays, and has compared her to men in her sport. She receives fewer endorsements than many other tennis players do because of her looks (but mainly due to her race).

Serena Williams, as a female athlete, challenges the gender roles set by Devor, as she is an aggressive and assertive player. This contradicts with Devor 's statement on femininity which says, "Femininity, according to this traditional formulation, 'would result in warm and continued relationships with men, a sense of maternity, interest in caring for children, and the capacity to work productively and continuously in female occupations. ' This recipe translates into a vast number of proscriptions and prescriptions. Warm and continued relations with men and an

Many athletes are stereotyped by gender because the commentators are the ones speaking to the public while the public get familiarized to these stereotypes. Many commentators comment very stereotypical comments but to the public it is not very shocking due to the multitude of times it has occurred which they have grown familiar to. One of such was by a commentator , Colin Murray said during the Olympics that “the ultimate athlete would have ‘the stamina of Mo [Farah], the speed of [Usain] Bolt, the leap of [Greg] Rutherford and the bottom of Jess Ennis’” (Stanistreet). To a professional female athlete this was a very gender stereotyped comment due to the fact that only one of the four athletes mentioned was a woman and that the provocative part of the athlete, the butt, was given to a female athlete as the ultimate athlete. Through a study on the NCAA National Championship Games for men and women basketball, they have discovered that the commentators constantly mark the women's game repeating phrases like, “ ‘...some of the best women's college basketball teams..’, ‘...is a legend in women's basketball...’, and ‘...this NCAA women's semifinal is brought to you by ... ’” (Messner and Duncan).

By turning women away from playing certain sports, we are influenced to believe that they are not as qualified to play, compared to men. (Creedon, 1994). Ironically, women on the field seem to have to act tougher than the men. If an

An example of a female athlete being ridiculed for portraying society’s idea of non-femininity is Martina Navratilova. Martina was the first female tennis player who began to play tennis more as a power sport than a sport of technique. Subdued by an oppressive communist system that controlled the Czech Tennis Federation, she was seen to be playing in the style of men instead of playing women's tennis. As she did not fit into society's image of how a woman should look, behave and play tennis, she was ridiculed and branded as the proverbial ‘bad egg’ when compared to her contemporaries. Additionally, she was branded as a lesbian, which caused more hardship for her as she was forced to face a world which was much more homophobic at that time than it is now. Her sexual orientation is not a prime issue; it was something that was used against her and something that was assumed simply because she did not portray the feminine image that is expected of women.

Furthermore, King went on to boycott the difference in pay between males and females in tennis. She was the first female tennis player to win more than $100,000 in a season, yet male players were still making three times this amount. The movement resulted in the first female tennis tour and the creating of WomenSports Magazine and the Women’s Sports Foundation. After retiring, she continued to advocate for gender equity.