The Gender of Sports Essay

Another barrier which women could face at performance level would be social barriers, again like in both previous levels because of the masculine nature of the sport, therefore women who are playing may come under scrutiny for playing in a male dominated sport, which as a consequence may force them to quit as some of their friends may criticize them for it.

Sexism has played its part in many different work environments for quite some time. It especially raises big conversation, and an ongoing problem in the sports industry. Not only does it affect the women who work in the industry, but also homosexuals, and minorities. For so long sexism has been a topic of discussion, but no real attempts at change have been made. If there was more protection for woman and players who work in sports, it could help to get women more involved in the field, establish rules that will protect people from sexism, and diminish some of the controversy between the two opposing sexes.

It changes everything. (Kart 47) Sports are very demanding and take up most of an athlete’s spare time, because of this, a female athlete’s risk of becoming a mother in her teenage years significantly drops. Being a female athlete has other perks as well, Sports create a sense of strength and self-confidence, and so female athletes tend to carry themselves differently than non-athletes which greatly decreases their chances of being raped. Women who play sports are also less likely to develop breast cancer than a woman who doesn’t play sports. So sports are not only fun to play but they also benefit the athlete in many different ways, so by denying women the right to play sports you are also denying them the benefits of sports.

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.

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.

The social and cultural costs of being a male playing non-traditional sports does not seem as severe as it does because men are not driven away from sports. Women are constantly being driven away from any sport from the fear of being labeled as unfeminine or lesbian. Men who want to play non-traditional sports will probably be more likely to be stereotyped as gay, or feminine. But if a man plays a traditional male sport, he will not be subjected to unwanted assumptions or sexual advances. Men do not benefit

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

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.

Women in the UK includes people from many different nationalities, religions and cultures. Some cultures have rules or traditions about right of women to participate in sport, or about women playing sport in the same place or way as men. Sport is a great way of meeting new people, but the team might think that if a woman joined a mixed gender team they might feel that they won’t have the ability to play in their team. It they were the only female in the team they might have problems mixing with the team because they are female and the team might think they will bring the team down on their performance because they might think that she is weak. Women have only just started to play sport because it the past they weren’t allowed to participate in sports like football and rugby, because society thought that women weren’t physically able to perform sports, society thought that the women had to stay at home and cook and clean and look after the children because they are thought as weak and don’t have the ability to perform like males at sports. In 1916 the Amateur Athletic Union held its first national championship for Women. Sport is still thought as a male dominant in schools and women may feel that they are competing with the males and they might get dishearten in sport because they feel inadequate in that particular sport and this will cause the student to try less in all sports. Women can perform at any stage in the sports development continuum, because women can perform at

Men Vs. Women in Professional Sports      Ever since the ancient Greece, men have held athletic competitions or sports. It is only in modern times that women have had an opportunity to compete. Most sports still don’t have men and women directly competing against one another. In the past athletic instructors adapted the rules to make sports less physically taxing for women. For instance in basketball, to ensure that girls maintain proper decorum, they were forbidden from snatching the ball and dribbling it more than three times in row. Females would not be considered strong enough to play a full-court basketball game until 1971. Women have struggled to be taken seriously as athletes for more than two centuries.

Race, gender, history and sexual orientation play major roles in women's participation in sport. Through out the history of women in sport, opportunity has increased. Many athletes and coaches are presented with the issue of sexual orientation throughout their sporting career. Regardless of sexual orientation, all female athletes are affected by heterosexism. One's racial or ethnicity background greatly shapes the experience they may have in sport. This essay explores the many issues women in sport face today.

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.

Since the beginning of this century women like Babe Didrickson and Billy Jean King have brought female athletes into mainstream acceptance. In earlier times women had not only not been encouraged to be physical it was thought to be harmful for

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