Plattsburgh Observation

Gender classification is a predominant topic within today’s sports and is most broadly understood through the portrayals of sports media. Through overt and covert ways, sports media has continued to promote a masculine representation of sports (Millington & Wilson, 2010; Messener, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993). By understanding the way in which sports media portrays sports, one can recognize how masculinity has dominated the world of sports. With the aid of two unique studies of sports media, this paper will critique the way in which media has effected the gendered depiction of sports.

Recreation and sport is historically known as a manly practice all around the world. Sport is typically associated with males that have led to the stereotype of sport equaling masculinity (Obenour, 2002, p. 2). A lot has changed when it comes to gender roles but it seems still to this day that women have less power than men, this is noticeable in recreation and sport in the 21st century. There has been a decrease in athletic leadership positions at the youth and college levels occupied by women ever since Title IX was passed in 1972. Research shows that female coaches has decreased by 48% and is still decreasing at a rapid rate (Blom, 2011, p. 54).

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.

Woman’s sustained involvement in ‘male’ team sports has only occurred relatively recently. Woman’s participation in sport has been blunted by

Sports have been a large part of society throughout history. They have brought out happiness, joy, hard work, determination, and teamwork in the individuals that have participated in them. However, there have been negatives involved with sports throughout history also, including gender roles, which are defined as the public image of being a particular gender that a person presents to others. These roles have been created by society and passed down from generation to generation, informing one another of false beliefs that say that one gender, usually males, are better than females. In sports, these often say that women have significantly lower performance levels, show less drive and that women see competition as unnecessary. In reviewing the initial beliefs and problems before Title IX, the role of Title IX, the problems still existing today, and the modern movement, it is seen that progress has been made, but also that there is also more to do.

During the Vietnam War 25% of total forces were draftees (National Vietnam Veterans). While they were a quarter of total U.S. forces in Vietnam, they accounted for 30% of causalities (National Vietnam Veterans Foundation). In the book, kindness exists in a variety of unorthodox ways.

This Article, is from the Sociology of Sport Journal, title “Learning Lessons in Tee Ball”: “The Reinforcement of Gender and Status in Kindergarten Sport”. The article was written by Melissa A. Landers and Gary Alan Fine University of Georgia (1996). The article describes how “status and gender roles can become reinforced at the earliest stage of organized sports” (Landers & Fine 1996). The data collected was done “through field notes that the authors took during participation” (Landers & Fine). The children that were being observed were “between the ages of 5 and 6”. There was a total of 24 children “13 Caucasian boys”, “6 Caucasian girls”. “4 African American boys”, and “1 Asian-American boy” all this children were from “working-class and middle class families” (Landers & Fine 1996).

In monumental clashes for the ages, both collegiate men and women’s NCAA March Madness tournaments have provided countless matches, unprecedented athleticism, and glorious victories paired with heartbreaking defeats. Yet despite their similar structures, the two tournaments have attained vastly different levels of recognition in the United States. With men’s basketball, thousands of Americans tune in every year to watch the upsets and Final Four games, drooling over perennial powerhouses such as Duke University, University of Kentucky, and University of Kansas and unknown underdogs like Butler University, Wichita State University, and Virginia Commonwealth University as they all compete in titanic battles. Everyone from retirees to college students fill out fantasy brackets yearly in volumes reaching millions, praying to have that lucky year where they predict the tournament correctly. However, on the female side of the sport, audiences are

West Virginia was the 35th state in the United States on June 20, 1863 and it’s the mountain state. This state usually ranks up to the top ten apple production. The states bird is the Northern Cardinal, Flower Rhododendron, animal black bear, tree sugar maple, colors old gold, blue and song is Carry me back to old Virginia. West Virginia is home to More than 1.85 people. In West Virginia about 82% is livestock and 18% is crops. This state was separated from Virginia State during the civil war. West Virginia is located in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains.

Pawnee is on it’s own island 50 miles south of Indianapolis, with the weather being almost a constant sunny 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit. That supports the city getting almost unlimited amounts of solar power and a mountain range in the northernmost part of the city produces more increase of wind. Pawnee is recognized for its gigantic dome that is completely solar powered and takes up over 70% of the city, and it’s gigantic wind pipes that blast people and their discarded garbage, in two separate pipes, to where they belong. How they do this you ask? Well, the pipes are equipped with state of the art face recognition that scans your card and your face, so as to prevent identity theft. Becoming a citizen is almost as easy as

Multiple sports currently played by both men and women have had a tremendous impact by Title IX.Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 simply bans gender discrimination allowing equal participation by males and females in any sport of their choice (Cummings 182). Through this portion of the Education Amendments of 1972, women have gained more playing opportunities and caused athletic departments to expand. Permitting women to participate in sports, provides many benefits to sports teams participation wise. SInce women are no longer allowed to be denied the chance to play on a team because of their gender, more teams must be created in order to fulfill this order. The impact of Title IX has reached high school and college level athletics. Just in 1980, the percentage of female college athletes increased from 15% (1971) to 30 percent, practically doubling (Title 73). High school sports have evidently been greatly influenced by Title IX. Back in 1971, 249,000 females participated in high school sports while last year (2013), there were 2.7 million participants, a significant increase (Murr 557-68). Not only have sport teams gained a large amount of female players, but they have also increased in popularity for this reason. Many minor sports, such as soccer and field hockey, have had a huge increase in both male and female participants, ranking them higher (Stevenson 486-505). Having participation from both genders allows one sport to gain popularity amongst others.

Astonishingly, sexism still exists and in 2002, columnist Stephen Moore expressed, allowing women to play in March Madness is “annoying” and the tournament would be better without them (McDonagh & Pappano, p. 237). He believes women in sports intrude and ruin “precious moments of bonding” (McDonagh & Pappano, p. 237). This all begins with the idea men are better than women. These mindsets believe men have superior talent and therefor deserve to have their own sports. They should not have to share with the lesser sex.

Sports become stereotyped as gender-neutral, feminine, or masculine based on conceptions regarding gender, gender differences, and beliefs about the appropriateness of participation due to gender (Colley et al., 1987; Csizma, Wittig, & Schurr, 1988; Koivula, 1995; Matteo, 1986). Sports labeled as feminine seem to be those that allow women participants to act in accordance with the stereotyped expectations of femininity (such as being graceful and nonagressive) and that provide for beauty and aesthetic pleasure (based on largely male standards). A sport is labeled as masculine if it involves the following: 1) attempts to physically overpower the opponent(s) by bodily contact; 2) a direct use of bodily force to a heavy object; 3) a

Gender disparity in video games is a topic that both scholars and major gaming icons have discussed before. However, the topic recently resurfaced with the upsurging population of female gamers. The integration of females was a spectacle that caused a massive culture shock. Many members of the gaming community were unsure how to handle the change and took to discriminating females. While discrimination may seem unimportant, many scholars and icons believe it is a prominent factor of gender disparity: an environment which typically favors males, a hostile or “toxic” atmosphere, and repeated stereotypes all manifest certain behaviors of both genders that can cause a disparity to grow. Although some sources claim gender disparity is evident in gaming as a whole, others insist the novelty of female discrimination in video games is less prominent due to a more leveled percentage of male-to-females in gaming. However, both agreed that the competitive gaming community is a different story. Time and time again the competitive gaming community was mentioned for its exclusion of women due to biased and misogynistic members who sexualize and degrade females. These members believe women are inferiors that encroach on their territory with unskilled and seductive natures. Therefore, for the females in the gaming community, their actions will shape the future of women in the competitive gaming community. The change in female treatment is detrimental to gender disparity. Not only because

There are many repercussions that are projected upon both men and women when they enter into a sport that typically isn’t thought of as gender appropriate. Some of those cultural and social stigmatisms may be abandonment by your peers, and friends questions regarding your sexuality, and even in some cases criticism as to how you are living your life. In some cases, it may lead to you not being accepted by either group, theone whose norems you are not following, of as well as the one with whom you are trying to get involved. This paper will address all of these issues and how these seemingly negative situations can, will, and are, leading to growth. It will also discuss how this is a situation where repercussions are