In sports as well as in society there are rules. Gender rules and norms that we are expected and conditioned to follow from the time that we are very young. Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, while boys are made of slime and snails and puppy dog tails. Girls were pink and play with dolls, and if they participate in athletics it is something like volleyball or gymnastics; things that are more commonly feminine. Boys are loud, rough-housers, and play football and baseball; they are expected to be good at these things or risk ridicule. But in our time women have made great strides to becoming athletes that not only deserve, but command respect, so what happens when our tried and true norms are challenged?
Traditionally, sports have been completely centered around men and the idea that masculinity is inherent to athleticism. With the great strides women have made in athletics in mind, it would be logical to think that they are receiving more recognition in the media, right? Wrong, there is more male coverage of sports than female sports teams covered whether it be as big as professional sports coverage or as small as a local newspaper (Messner, Duncan, Jensen 123). Despite the great strides that women's sports have made they are still viewed in our society as a lesser aspect in the wide world of sports in the world and in the U.S., and even when women are portrayed in sports magazines they are cast more in the light of the feminine rather than being recognized for that athletic prowess (Fink, Kensicki 319) All in all, women are just not expected to be as good at sports as men are, and therefore, do not get the attention that they deserve. So how are women supposed to escape the masculinity of sports in order to get the credit they deserve?
In the sports world as well as in the world in general there are specific gender roles males and females are expected to fulfill, this idea that all men and women should fall into the category of masculine and feminine and participate in activities that fall into these categories as well. It would be nice to think that as far as we have come as a society that some of these old ideals have changed, that a female athlete could be recognized without taking into account her sexual orientation or home life but unfortunately it seems that women are still being underrepresented or misrepresented (for their sex appeal) rather than accepting that women can be athletes too (Fink, Kensicki 318). The media perpetuates this idea by consistently showing women in a light that has nothing to do with who they actually are, but rather as the world thinks they should be. Overall, even when women do receive coverage in sports magazines it serves the purpose of showing the differences between men and women rather than portraying them both separately and positively (Fink, Kensicki 320). Therefore, though the interest and coverage in women's sports may have increased over the years the ideology that sports are masculine has not changed, and without that change there can be no advancement for female athletes.
Overall, women, both athletic and non-athletic, need to challenge these gender rules and norms in order to make further advancements in society. Whenever society chooses to see a women purely for her sex appeal or as the ideal women should be, everyday women lose a little bit of who they actually are. Coverage of women's sports has caught the attention of many, and that is a good step forward, but now the challenge is to keep moving until they are covered as the athletes they are rather than the women society wants them to be. Girls can still be made of everything nice and boys can keep their puppy dog tails, but they can both be athletes and should both be recognized as such, for their talent and inspiration, not for an idea that was never theirs in the first place.
Elise Meyers
Works Cited
Messner, M. A., M. C. Duncan, and K. Jensen. "SEPARATING THE MEN FROM THE GIRLS:: The Gendered Language of Televised Sports." Gender & Society 7.1 (1993): 121-37. JSTOR. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://jstor.org/stable/190027>
Janet S. Fink & Linda Jean Kensicki (2002) An Imperceptible Difference:Visual and Textual Constructions of Femininity in Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women, Mass Communication and Society, 5:3, 317-320
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