Stereotypes Of Women Essay

The premium network for pay-per-view sporting events, Home Box Office (HBO), has been the prime channel for sporting events yet not once have they aired a woman’s match ( van Ingen & Kovacs, 2012). The female sports that do receive the most coverage are the feminine sports and those females that do not adhere to those standards do not receive the same amount of attention (Krane, 2001). Women have found that they tend to receive more attention when they are being sexualized (van Ingen & Kovacs, 2012; Lindner, 2012; Krane et al, 2004). The female athletes were aware that their uniforms were perceived as sexy and thus garnered male attention.

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.

People all over America and the world are consumed with watching athletes perform in their various sports. Both male and female athletes compete at such incredible levels that require physical talent and drive. Professional athletes are known to get paid salaries that reflect their talent and abilities. Regardless of gender, professional athletes are drafted to receive professional pay. However, equal pay for male and female athletes with the same credentials does not occur today. There is a belief that male athletes are worth more than female athletes and are better at promoting themselves. Also, women salaries are lower because of their gender and are not

The gender wage gap in professional sports is much higher than most people think and it’s not going to end anytime soon. Women make half of what the Men make, if not less.     In the NBA, the average salary is $4,500,000.00 and in the WNBA the average salary is $72,000.00. In the professional basketball aspect, WNBA players earn 4,428,000.00 less, or not even 2 percent of what NBA players earn. In the 2014-15 NBA season, the highest paid athlete, Kobe Bryant, made $23,500,000.00 and in 2013, the highest paid WNBA player was only paid 107,000.00, but that salary can only be reached after so many years of playing in the league (a-look-at).

According to Laing, “The sexualization of female athletes reduces their self-esteem and identity by dehumanizing and pressuring them into an unhealthy obsession with body image” (page: 3). This leads to the media making women self-conscious about their bodies. Athletes often hear people say of other athletes, “She is too big, she’s not muscular enough or she is too skinny about female athletes.” Because of the way in which the media portrays a particular set of females, all females tend to strive for this “perfect physique”. This can lead to serve cases like dissatisfaction with their appearance and eating disorders. Some may argue that women like the sexualized manner in which they media portrays them because it increases their self-esteem

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

Gender stereotyping in sports media is something we see everyday in magazines and on TV. Since sports were invented, males have dominated one of Canada’s largest pastimes. Reasons for this being physicality and strength, but as time progressed women began to become more involved in the culture of sport. Today there is almost an equal amount of women participating in sports as man, yet women are still not being represented with the same approach as men. About a month ago I found a video online that followed a sports reporter who was trying to make a point about gender stereotyping within sports media. He would interview professional male athletes but rather than ask them the typical interview questions we see in male sports, such as “has your workout routine changed since…” but rather asked them questions that are typically related to female athlete interviews such as one that was asked to swimmer Michael Phelps “Shaving your body hair gives you an edge in the pool, but how about your love life”, or “any comments about reports about your girlish figure”. At the end of the video they show real women athletes being asked these types of questions in real interviews. The men’s reactions of embarrassment to disgust vs. the women’s reactions of showing no surprise to being asked these derogatory questions, says it all. It is no surprise that the sexualization of female athletes is something all too common in sports media. We’ll be looking into the idea of sexualisation in

Recently, I have had an opportunity to watch your TED talk show and analyze one of your political cartoons for school. As a teenage girl of a new generation, I was outraged and disappointed with our society by the gender prejudice demonstrated in your cartoon. Meanwhile, I was able to look into your effort to raise awareness of gender issues and to deliver your message of how women are often wrongly stereotyped as being the main causes of rape by the public. And, I concur with your point. I was stimulated by your challenge to confront the institutionalized behavior of people that stereotypes women, and this encouraged me to write a letter to you to show my support and share my opinion.

This is just one example of how women are being exploited in today’s society. Another example is of a female Australian athlete Catherine Skinner who was considered “ugly” and had no sponsors and little money but was able to win a gold medal at the Rio Olympics, while Michelle Jenneke was said to be “prettier” than her and got money, had lots of sponsors and was doing advertisements for companies. An example of how sport can be considered a microcosm of sexploitation of women in sport would be women’s beach volleyball games and how they wear branded bikinis revealing their body. When famous female athletes dress in a revealing nature or are part of a marketing advertisement they often make the expectations for young girls in school very high and since young girls in school

Since the beginning of time, gender has played a big role in how one acts and how one is looked upon in society. From a young age children are taught to be either feminine or masculine. Why is it that gender plays a big role in the characteristics that one beholds? For centuries in many countries it has been installed in individual’s heads that they have to live by certain stereotypes. Women have been taught to be feeble to men and depend on them for social and economical happiness. While men have been taught to be mucho characters that have take care of their homes and be the superior individual to a woman. For the individuals who dare to be different and choose to form their own identity whether man or woman, they are out casted and

With the rise of feminism, gender inequality has been quite the topic in todays time. With the wanting of equal rights and treatment it has been pointed out as per which all places males have the hegemonic overview and women are the oppressed; one of the areas where its unequal in gender is in sport. This paper will examine and break down the issues regarding sex and gender biases within sports in modern day media and how it can be resolved.

The stereotype of women has been harming female careers in fields of researching, commerce and politics.

Often when magazines display female tennis players, they will dress the player up or make them wear less, which is promoted to pique the reader’s interest and accordingly increase sales. By doing this, the tennis players get more attention, both good and bad, from other forms of media and the public about their appearance and not their performance on the court. As stated by inquiries journals.com, ‘when depicting female athletes in suggestive poses and clothing, or even nude, magazines and commercials basically project a “woman first, athlete second” attitude that challenges athlete’s achievements and self-esteem.’ This statement also takes into account the negative effects the media has on the players. To make matters worse, magazines often “Photoshop” the women in an attempt to make them appear more attractive and less masculine.

This sexual objectification around sports and personal health is also seen in majority of health magazines painted with bodybuilding advisements through advice on fat reductions, muscle building, and tanning formulas that even if women had a sense of control over their bodies, they are being expressed and distorted in a manner that threatens their own health. Victoria Secret is iconic for promoting underweight models on the verge of being diagnosed with anorexia. In 2014, Victoria Secret released their Perfect Body sports ad featuring multiple white women with edited unachievable toned bodies in feminine recognized sports. The desire to satisfy society’s sex-role expectation influences the decisions women make regarding their sport of choice.

"For most of history, anonymous was a woman", quotes Virginia Woolf. (1) Throughout history, women’s lives were restricted to domesticity and family, and they were left oppressed and without political voice. Over the decades the roles of women have dramatically changed from chattels belonging to their husbands to gaining independence. Women became famous activists, thinkers, writers, and artists, like Frida Kahlo who was an important figure for women’s independence. The price women paid in their fight for equality was to die or be imprisoned along with men, and they were largely forgotten in written history. However, the roles they took on were wide-ranging which included working in factories, tending the troops, taking care of children