The Social Aspects Of Advertising Women In Sports

In the 21st century, despite many years of progress, gender inequity still exists in sports, with male athletes dominating their female counterparts in aspects such as pay, endorsements, media coverage and participation. Indeed, of the 100 highest paid athletes in the world in 2015, the top 20 were all males, and none were from any of the so called ‘female’ sports [1]. Consequently— in an effort to lessen this disparity— ‘the commercial exploitation of sex, sexual attraction and sexually explicit materials of female athletes in sport [2],’ or sexualisation, has become increasingly commonplace, with netball now under fire.

Discrimination among women is huge and men feel that some sports should be kept for just men only. “The 1960’s were an especially important decade for transformations in American society, which

Today, sports are one of the biggest parts of our lives. Sunday night football has 64% of American?s sitting on their couch, rooting for their team. If anyone misses that, they have Monday and Tuesday night football to make it up. Besides football, which is the prominent headlight in this culture; sports like soccer, tennis, and basketball, sits close behind. However, most of these sports are linked with men; women are rarely thought of here. Women play these sports too, and do not receive the recognition that they deserve. These women athletes grew up facing oppression for the simple fact that they were women playing sports, yet they

Women in sports, over the past 100 years, has become a topic of intense interest in society. Men have long argued that women have no right to play in the same arena as men do while on the flip side, women argued that they possess the right to the same physical activities that men enjoy. Women participation in sports, up until that time, had been frowned upon universally. Women were eventually granted the right to play sports in the collegiate setting however there was no equality to the treatment within the athlete’s school and no treatment outside of it either (History 1). Until title IX was passed, women’s collegiate athletics were given no scholarships to award to exceptional high school athletes and those programs were given very little budget to fund their programs (Ibid 1). As a result of these shortcomings, in 1972 only 30,000 participated in athletics as opposed to the 170,000 men who participated in athletics (Ibid 1). Title IX was designed to correct those imbalances within athletics. Since then people have formed their own mixed responses about the success of Title IX, both good and bad. While there are both good and bad beliefs concerning Title IX the overall consensus is that Title IX, by and large, was needed and vastly improved the state of women’s athletics.

Women have been oppressed throughout the history of sports. There are many ways in which female athletes have been oppressed. Some examples are in the Olympics, in schools, in other countries, in the U.S, the comparison of male athletes to female and many more. Based on records, documentaries, articles, etc. of women’s sports, it is evident that female athletes are not treated equally to men by both sports organizations and the general public.

Sport has been one of the most important socio-cultural learning experiences for males and females. Sports provide an amazing release for people of all ages. People are requested and welcomed to play sports at any age. Sometimes there are many limitations due to personal reasons that restrain people from participating in sport such as money, peer pressure, location, etc. For the last century males are expected to be strong, independent, and athletic. Male athletes masculinity symbolizes an image of physical health, and sexual virility throughout their bodies as well. Nowadays, women’s participation in sports is becoming popular but it is still overshadowed by men’s. According to the Women’s Sport Foundation before the title IX “given equal athletic opportunities, women will rush to fill them; the remaining discrepancies in sports participation rates are the result of continuing discrimination in access to those opportunities” (“ Title IX Myths and Fact”). Under the title IX, female has the playing field been. Women now can participate in many sports, which were only played by men before. However, the main reason that female usually do not participate is due to gender inequity. Some of people believe that the inequity in sports has not changed over the years, especially opportunities and benefits. Although sports provide opportunities for both males and females, female participating in sports generally have less opportunities to

A high school age boy makes the papers when he joins the girls' varsity field hockey team at his high school. A woman is judged according to femininity rather than muscle mass in a body building competition. An African American is thought inferior to his white counterparts on the sports field. A woman is discouraged from playing contact sports under the pretext of being too delicate. All of these events have one thing in common: they, in their own context, involve individuals entering a non-traditional sport for their gender or race. Over the years, events such as these continually arise causing either

Over the past 50 years, women’s sports have become more prevalent not only in the United States but also across the world. The ability for young girls and women to participate in athletics provides an avenue to experience competitive environments as well as build self-confidence in a world still dominated by men. During the early stages of women’s sports, the main idea was to show that women were worthy of having their own teams and organizations as an extension of the existing men’s sports. In other words, to prove to everyone the women could play many of the same sports that men could play.

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

Americans have always loved sports; although the sports early Americans practiced may not still today be what the majority of people enjoy. For example, early Americans hunted, swam, ran, rode horses and played competitive games such as tug of war. They also participated in military skills contests, which have always been seen as an acceptable form of leisure time activity across many cultures. Sports have always been part of the American culture and identity. In her book “More than just a game: Sports in American Life since 1945,” Kathryn Jay states: “In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sports remained an important cultural venue for many immigrants, serving as a public ritual of inclusion as well as a space in which minority groups could prove their worth to themselves and to a white, Anglo-Saxon majority” (35). Although sports, as Jay mentioned, presented a venue for inclusion, it did not extend to all Americans. It is only over time that minority classes were able to get social justice and truly find a common ground. Women and African-Americans are a perfect example of this. This in turn reveals the underlying hypocrisy in the culture of American sports until recently.

Dating back to the late 1800s sports for women were viewed more as recreational activities instead of competitive ones. As time went on women were encouraged to not participate in any type of sports activities because it could be “hazardous” to their bodies. This would begin the long battle for equal opportunities in sports for women.

Although the overall message of women’s sports ads is sometimes positive, theirs big different between the female and males ads. I will be using an ad by the Women’s Tennis Association’s featuring Victoria Azarrenka saying: “Strong is Beautiful” which is an inspiring message. However the way she is portray sexualizes her, the camera not only zooms to her crotch to chest to face which to me seems unnecessary, and the ad should be displaying their athleticism in a racy way. Another argument could be done, that maybe the ads are the way they are because men produce them and they don’t stop to consider. Men on the other hand, are showed at their best playing their sport. They exploit their abilities not their image. If the roles were reverse and

Women’s participation in sports has changed over the centuries. In ancient times, men dominated societies. Women were viewed as the caretaker, a provider for life. Women who did participate were criticized and were thought of as threatening. In 18th century America, women were considered inferior to men because of the belief that women are the weaker sex. A woman’s purpose in life was to take care of the house, children, and husband. When they did want to participate in recreational sport, they need to be able to negotiate with men and with other women because societies did not make it easy for women to participate. For example, there was a

Sports were created almost 3000 years ago with Hercules, son of Zeus, the founder of the Olympic Games. The early Olympic sports consisted of men competing in one event, the one-stade race, which remained the only event for the first 13 Olympics. The Olympic Games were created to show the greatest physical qualities and mental discipline, no women were allowed to compete and married women weren’t allowed to attend the religious festival. Today men and women compete in over 50 Olympic Games, participants from many different nations consisting of summer sports along with winter sports. Over the years sports have become a part of the American culture and are not only socially significant activities for many people but are also integrated into

In the last one hundred years women have made tremendous inroads in many facets of life. Of that there can be little doubt. Women may now hold jobs, own property and participate in professional sports. Today women can compete in sports, once a vestige of male domination; there is now room for women in that arena. But even today women in sports are not portrayed in the same light as their male counterparts. To a large degree this is because of today's cultural ideal of women.