The Sports And Physical Activities Among Women

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)

Within sport, as throughout society, gender differences exist. The socially constructed phenomenon of gender dictates a dichotomous system whereby females are feminine and males are masculine. Focusing on females specifically, society determines the feminine traits and roles ascribed to this gender. Being domesticated, slender, passive and heterosexual are a part of the desirable appearance that society has formed surrounding femininity (Wolf, 1991). On the other side of the dichotomy is the masculine realm that sport plays into. Sport is fuelled by muscle, power and aggressiveness, which are behaviours and images associated to masculinity. Sport therefore, defies all existing female gender ideals. It would be assumed that females have no place within this institution due to the gender clash. However, female athletes do exist, and many are very successful. For this to work, sport has established and reinforced the social constructions of gender that exist in society. Female athletes are viewed as inferior and are pushed into gender appropriate sports. Furthermore, they are often labeled as masculine until they can prove otherwise, and so great attempts are made to reassert femininity. The stigma associated to being masculine or homosexual for female athletes is so great that many have become irrationally fearful of this label. The sexualisation of the female body and overt displays of heterosexuality are used in

Gender stereotypes are common in the United States today, even though many men and women have been working hard to defeat it. The task is made difficult however, when society in general implants the idea of gender roles into the mind of a child. Two authors, Judy Mann of The Difference and Bernard Lefkowitz of Our Guys face the issue of gender roles and stereotypes, and how they affect our lives today.

Society expects males and females to adopt, accept, and accommodate specific gender roles and stereotypes that have been previously established. In western society, males are expected to be an alpha, independent, and athletic type, whereas females are typically expected to be obedient, nurturing, and reserved. Society demands conformity to an enforced gender order. When these gender norms are pushed beyond its boundaries, it is common for labels to be given, questions to be asked, and individuals to be ridiculed. While “traditional” gender stereotypes have remained fairly constant over the past few centuries, they have also been challenged.

From the moment they are born, children are exposed to myriad of rigid gender stereotypes. Even as newborns, children are carried out of the hospital in a pink blanket if they are female or a blue blanket if they are male. As children grow older, gender roles are reinforced by family members, the media, and other children and adults in the child’s life. As toddlers, girls often are given dolls and books about princess and boys are often given trucks and books about heroes. If a girl tracks mud across the floor she would probably get scolded by a parent, but if her brother did the same thing he would probably get a laugh or a “boys will be boys.”

Tamora Peirce once said in her novel “The Woman Who Rides like a Man”, “You ride as a man, fight as a man, and you think as a man-" "I think as a human being,". Since the being of time women and men have had set gender roles. A man is to be masculine and without weakness. A woman is to be feminine and delicate. We pass these traits to our children and tell them not to deviate. Even though Boys should be boys and girls should be girls, People should not subject children to gender stereotypes because these stereotypes leads to social and educational anxieties, boys believing they should not show weakness and girls believing that they should only worry about being feminine and obedient Young men should be able to cry and wear pink without being called a pansy and young ladies should be able to cut their hair short and speak out without consequence.

               Even before one is born, the sex that is seen on ultrasounds or at birth are already allowing people to be victims of stereotypes and the need to fit into society's “gender roles and norms”. We may not believe that this is true and may try to deny it, but it is in fact very clear to see, whether we choose to believe so or not. For example, at baby shower: If you ever attended one you’ve probably noticed that the baby shower colors and themes are either Pink or Blue. Pink typically represents a Girl and Blue, a boy. Now typically these colors at the showers don’t really mean anything but as that baby is born, the color will literally play a role in everything that they do and everything they receive in life.

Unconsciously, we have all been affected or can relate to the effects of gender role stereotyping. From the day we were born, we are labeled as either boy or girl. Although, society has changed its norm in gender roles, many of our traditions have not. In the gender stereotype, we commonly relate a boy with the color blue, and a girl with the color pink. Gender roles have been instilled in us from past generations, due to the way that society was. Gender labeling is still influenced today through children’s toys, where toys are designed differently according to each gender. Through media, society persuades into the ideology of how gender role should be considered acceptable or not.

Gender roles and stereotypes, whether they are positive or negative, affect men and women throughout their daily lives. The stereotype that women are weak and docile while men are strong and courageous, for example. This trope is from the hunter-gatherer days when women took care of the children and men hunted for food. Women had no need for strength, the most hard labor they would do was gathering fruits and vegetables for their families to eat. This, however, has been carried into the modern world and has developed from men are strong and women are weak into ‘men should never cry’ and ‘women should serve their husbands and families’. While women are making strides

The adverse topic of women in sports stems from society's disregard to viewing women as persons. Women were, and in other parts of the world continue to be viewed as property of men and have no significant role in society. Being allowed into the Olympics was a step in the right direction for women across the world, but it was meager attempt equality. Women were still restricted by what events they were allowed to compete in, how they were trained and coached and even limited as to what they could wear. A woman’s femininity played a large role in the way they were perceived by society; weak. Women were seen as incommensurate to men and it was something that has taken us centuries to reverse. Today, women are given the rights we should have

From infancy, our culture teaches what it means to be a boy or a girl. From the colour of clothes to the toys we play with, the messages begin at a very early age. Young people are influenced by a barrage of messages to conform to a variety of expectations, to buy this widget, and to preserve a rigid set of values that stress the differences between genders (Learning Gender Stereotypes, n.d.)

This paper addresses the factors that go along with growing up with society's gender stereotypes. people are expected to grow to fit into certain gender roles as they mature and when they do not do so problems may arise. This paper tells about the types of gender stereotypes that are seen within our society and why they are so. This paper also addresses what happens to people's mental and in some cases physical well-being when forced to battle this need to fit the gender roles however feeling completely different on the inside. This paper goes into the consequences that along with going against the general stereotypes and is meant to provoke a call to action in the readers and to show them just how severe the effects of these stereotypes can be.

Gender identity stereotypes are copious in today’s society. Each person fits a gender norm and if they don’t they are a pariah according to society standards. Gender identity begins in infancy and of physical in the youth that by the time children reach the age to attend school, they know how to identify genders by the color of clothes they wear or the toys they play with. The DEC has determined that by ages three to five children are able to identify if they are a boy or a girl. From the moment they are born parents, peers and advertisements bombard children on what a “man” should look and act like. Societal norms negatively affect gender identity in American adolescents by pressuring them to uphold personality, domestic and physical norms. Males are groomed to be leaders and protectors and women to be nurturers and housewives. These stereotypes control not only young children but the adults that are raising them. Lois Gould, author of X: A Fabulous Child’s Story details how it would be difficult to be a unisex child not only because of peer alienation but also because the peers’ parents wouldn’t find X acceptable. By having constraints on how women and men should act, dress, and work, children grow up feeling limited and create their own prejudice culture against their peers.

The distorted facade of gender stereotyping begins the day the doctor says, “it’s a girl” or “it’s a boy.” Family members carry the thirty pink or blue balloons into the hospital room, and your parents dress you in some of your first outfits stating “Daddy’s Little Princess” or “Mommy’s Man,” — but the gender stigma of what it means to be a girl or boy doesn’t stop there. At age five your closet is filled with ill-proportioned barbies and easy bake cooking ovens or handsome superhero action figures and imitations of daddy’s drill set. Each Halloween, you parade around in your tiny, sexualized Wonder Woman and Tinkerbell costumes or boast off your muscles made for saving any damsel in your Super Man and Star Wars costumes. By the time you’ve entered school age you’re plagued with hiding your “sensual” shoulders and kneecaps under the school’s dress code or pressured to join sports as athleticism is far more important than academics. The gender rift continues on and adulthood just furthers the separation with it’s pink tax, men’s fitness magazines, beer commercials, and many other ridiculous gender preconceptions. And while we are not born with the stereotypical notions of male and female, how is it that we are still able to acquire these beliefs even from such a young age and think of them to be true?

From day one in our lives, we are given a “color” based on our genders; blue for boys and pink for girls. This is due to the stereotype that males are supposed to powerful, muscular and the protectors and females are supposed to be kind, innocent, supporting towards their male counterparts as well as emotional. This gender based stereotype provides only two categories for people to be represented by and anyone who doesn’t fit in these societal “norms” is to be attacked or outcaste in their daily lives. Also in most cases, males are shown as successful humans who are the best in their respective