When I was in Jr. High our school had a crisis, they wouldn't allow a girl to compete on the wrestling team, and therefore there wasn't equal distribution of sports for girls and boys (I know, in Jr. high...what a tragedy). This led to whisperings of a school walkout to protest. I was in seminary the day that it happened. About a third of the school walked out, most of them didn't even care what it was for and just saw it as a way to skip class. Some took it too far and while some of the administration tried to get the kids back to class, someone threw a punch and a little Jr. riot broke out. After the event, they gave the girls a soccer team and it quickly ended because not enough girls wanted to participate. Later on in my school adventures, the same girl wanted to be on our high school football team. This time she succeeded. She never got any playing time due to grades, and most around school, including the girls, thought it was a good thing because she would most likely get hurt.As I've grown older I've seen some attempts that have been made at making sports and women
more popular. Does the term "We Got Next" mean anything to anyone? The WNBA is still around, but I don't think it's doing too well. We had the Utah Starzz in Salt Lake City for a while. I remember them giving out tickets for free to the games, I declined.
About the only sports that I can think of that are even somewhat popular for women are tennis players, figure skaters, and gymnasts, all are sports in which the clothing is a little bit less than you would find on a basketball player, for example.
Some individual women seem to be breaking through the barriers of popularity, but sometimes I wonder if it's for their athletic achievements or for their looks. I'm not doubting their talent, I just wonder what is really bringing on their popularity. People that come to mind are Jennie Finch the softball player, Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova from tennis, Danica Patrick from auto racing and I'm sure there's more. All of these women have apparently "flaunted" more than their sports skills for the camera.
On the other hand, their are those like the Williams sisters in tennis, and Lisa Leslie in basketball, that have gained some popularity on skill alone.
I guess my questions are these, will women ever be taken seriously in sports? Are the women athletes that pose for the camera hurting their 'cause? Is it the male gender's fault? Do you enjoy watching any women's sports?
p.s. That's a lot of questions, you don't have to answer all of them.
36 comments:
Nice post! I was actually at that same Jr. High and saw the same riot! I have often wondered why indeed are female sports not taken seriously. BYU woman's basketball is very poorly attended and I believe that if it wasn't for other sports supporting it, it would close. I guess the answer is that as a whole men's sports are more aggressive, more action packed and higher scoring. You don't often see dunks at women's b-ball games. I agree that both men and women should have equal rites, but I prefer to go the the men's games.
am i sexist for thinking the wnba is a joke? come on kids, it is just not exciting. and then when cheryl swoopes (the wnba's icon) came out as a lesbian 4 years ago, i think that sunk the ship. i think women should be able to do what they want with sports, but i am not a sexist if i dont like to watch it.
I'm not a huge sports fan, and when I do decide to watch sports 90% of the time, it's for a football game. The only time I'll watch women in sports is during the Olympics, and even then I usually like watching the guys play.
Maybe this is because I am a girl, and I find watching guys more appealing, but on a deeper level women's sports just don't have that much legitimacy in my opinion, maybe that's just because more emphasis is placed on guy's sports but when you compare something like the WNBA to the NBA it's really easy to see which one is more culturally acceptable.
Saying you like to watch men's sports because you are a woman doesn't account for the numbers.
As for Figure Skating and Gymnastics, these are sports in which women generally perform as well or better than men. For tennis, I am less certain, but I honestly don't know if the world's premier tennis player is male or female (for the other two, it is definitely female).
Essentially, these sports allow you to watch the best in the world, who happens to be a woman also.
Contrast that against Women's Basketball. The underlining idea behind women's basketball is "Just like men's basketball, only with Women." This translates into "You can now watch the NBA only with smaller, less capable players who couldn't compete in the NBA."
Play to your strengths. Women can compete, but that is why some of women's sports are more popular than others.
K...I have just a couple thoughts. :)
I'm a woman. I play basketball. I hate watching women play basketball. It's fun to play but it's just not exciting to watch. Genetically speaking, women just aren't as physically strong and agile as men. It's not a dis, it's a fact. And when you have something like the NBA where SWEET stuff happens all the time, the comparison of the WNBA is just, well...dry. Should women have the same chance to have sports pay for their schooling? absolutely, but that doesn't force the student body to attend their competitions.
On a different note-Jenny Finch. One of America's 100 most beautiful people. Jenny Finch can strike out any MLB player she faces, easy. It's fine. That sentence is just to prove that she has some mad skill. On top of that Finch has turned down multiple offers to pose in playboy. Yes she's drop dead gorgeous, but she'd rather be respected for her playing ability. :) and i do.
I am a girl, and the only women's sports I enjoy watching are tennis, swimming, and gymnastics. I think the WNBA is a good thing, but I have no interest in watching it. Men are faster, stronger, taller, and just better at most things and I'd rather watch guys the majority of the time because they can do cooler things. Kevin Garnett has probably dunked more times in one game than an entire season of the WNBA.
I think to be a woman in sports, you have to have extraordinary talent to be noticed by a lot of people, like the way the Venus and Serena Williams do, or Mia Hamm.
But besides that, female professional sports just aren't that popular. Women are respected these days and can do whatever they want. They can do sports if they want to, but not as many people are really going to care unless, as I said before, they're outstanding in their field. Women will definitely have to play because they love the sport, not to be driven to fame. It keeps the lesbians happy, I guess.
I think that gender code plays a crucial role in which kinds of sports men should play and in which women should. For example, it's weird for me to see a male gymnast, no matter how flexible, skilled he is. But it is also true that in some sports, women just simply cannot compete men in term of physical performance or endurance. And when we talk sports, especially watching sports, those are what we expect to see. So it might account for the unpopularity of female sports.
I agree that women's sports aren't all bad; again tennis, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball and soccer can be entertaining when played by females.
I do think it's ridiculous to force schools to issue the same amount of scholarships to women's athletes as to mens or to have the same amount of womens teams as mens. Title 9's a bunch of crap. The sports that bring in the most money should be rewarded most, which often happens.
I also don't appreciate people trying to guilt you into watching uninteresting womens sports (ie: college basketball and the WNBA). The NBA should take the money with which they're subsidizing the WNBA and put it into speech therapy for Kevin Garnett and anger management courses for Ron Artest.
I don't feel bad saying that i would rather watch men's games over women's. When it comes to the majority of sports, men, as a whole, are just more naturally inclined to be better. Would it be sexist to say that if I had to (and only if i had to) I would much rather watch Rachel Ray or (okay i'll say it) Martha Stewart on a cooking or home decorating show over a dude...? I don't think so. And i would take the woman host of such a show much more seriously than a man.
This is true about women's sports! I currently work in athletic marketing here at BYU and when we were thinking about how to get people to show up at women's basketball we had to think about why people would want to come in the first place. Our new approach at the team this year is to show that the girls on the team are real women. For the photo shoot we had them dress up nice and have them made up, when you think about it it's a little odd, to have a women's basketball team posed like models instead of the "tomboy" look... but so far it's been great! But it's just how it is...
I'll be honest. Men are better at sports than women. At least in general. I hate Title IX and other measures that take sports away from passionate males to serve some overly-sensitive female few. However, I think there is more untapped potential in female sports. Maybe not so much in the WNBA, but somewhere. I do agree that female athletes need to stop posing for the camera and relogating themselves to pretty girls in skimpy clothes.
i think that jon has a point. we like to watch women do "feminine" things such as cooking, etc. and we like to watch men do the manlier things such as sports.
But what about the women that cover sports. what do people think about women sports announcers. they arent actually participating in sports they are just reporting it. is that any different? do they think that she is not credible because shes a woman or do they prefer to have a beautiful "info-babe" as my dad calls it, tell them what they are seeing during the game?
In middle school, about 5 petitions went around to start a powderpuff football team. i don't think it every happened, but i wish it would have.
I think a lot of women are taken seriously in sports, but we don't hear about it as much as we hear about all the men. I don't think "posing" hurts their cause, because they've obviously gotten to a point in their career where it is deserved and they can be recognized.
I don't like watching sports, but if I were to, I wouldn't opt to watch women's sports especially if they were playing a really manly game like american football, rugby, ice hockey, etc... I think it's understandable (or should I say tolerable? the norm?) if they are participating in a volleyball game, gymnastics, ice skating, etc... You know? A gentler game.
I grew up in a family of huge sports fans. However, the only time I have ever watched womens sports has been during the Olympics. It is just more fun to watch men competing than women. It is more intense and engaging. Even though I have played many sports myself, such as softball, soccer, and tennis, what I enjoyed most was being a cheerleader (not exactly a sport.) There are just some things girls should not do, like play football. We are not built for it. And I am just fine with that!
My goal when I was in elementary and middle school was to play in the WNBA. My high school has had the best girls basket ball team in the nation for many years. We had a great support for girls sports (soccer and softball were huge) and I might even say that our girls sports teams were supported more by the student body than the boys' were.
I don't attend very many sports games for men's or women's games in college but given my past experience, I find it somewhat odd that there isn't more support for women's sports at BYU.
Woah people... title ix is great!! I am personally very very grateful for it...
Sadly, women's sports aren't as popular and entertaining to watch. In a way i think their "posing" almost helps them because it shows that they aren't these nasty manly people, but beautiful, real talented females. :)
I'm surprised we are all in such agreement here! It's all true, the WNBA is as exciting as doing laundry.. someone said it best - why watch slower, shorter women do what men do at a much lower level? It's essentially a masculine sport, so subconsciously it goes against what we view as natural gender roles.
In my opinion, those sports where woman are accepted and do well play to their strengths - grace, beauity, agility.. In tennis, they play differently than men and it's graceful to watch a woman play, while a man is fun to watch for the more powerful and abrupt style. Figure skating also is more popular for women due to the fact it plays to their strengths, flexibility, grace.. That's what I think.
Women's soccer is one sport that did pretty well, although it's still not nearly as followed as men's soccer (and we all know soccer in the USA isn't all that "important" to begin with) So yes, I do think they should be allowed to play... But at the same time, I don't think a woman should be on a football field. I once had someone tell me that woman are just as capable at men at football - sorry, but it's a rough sport that doesn't play well to their natural build - should women have the right? Yes, but I think it would be a rare situation where she could outperform a man safely in such a sport.
I think that this post was very interesting, because my first reaction was to think that I had a strong opinion on the subject, but as I was contemplating what I was goin to write here, I realized that I wasn't exactly sure what that opinion is. I think that the best women in each sport are not a match up in strength and speed with the best men in that same sport, just based on the way that our bodies are built... that being said, the sports that women can shine in are the ones based more on strategy (tennis, volleyball, etc.) or flexibility (gymnastics, dance, diving, etc.). I really do think that it is as simple as this- when women perform so well that they are more fun to watch or as much fun to watch as the men, they get attention. It just doesn't happen that often because men and women are just built differently and men excel at certain sports.
The only women's sports that I will watch are tennis, olympic gymnastics, and maybe soccer. I don't know if it is their fault, but it looks like they are playing in slow motion. I think women should have every right to play whatever they want, but being on the football team I don't think is very smart. I guess I get my feelings from my mom and sisters. They all can't stand watching women's sports and always get mad when they are on tv.
I believe we watch sports to be impressed and thus entertained. Having seen my share of women's basketball, there's not much impressive. I think a lot of people sit and think, "I could do that". There are women's sports that are as popular as their male counterparts, or even more so. Figure skating and gymnastics, swimming doesn't seem to have much of a difference, although men are more dominant. In the US it seems that women's soccer is very close to men's. Women play football too, but nobody watches.
I agree with many of the comments: women are taken seriously in sports, but only within their sphere of competition.
If I have the choice between watching the fastest groups of swimmers in the world and the second-fastest, I'll watch the fastest.
I'm sure girls who play basketball themselves enjoy watching WNBA games, but the rest of the world wants to see the best of the best.
Frankly, it is anatomically impossible for the best of female athletes to surpass the athletic ability of the best male athletes when it comes to strength and speed.
-Michael Williams
this is what i think. for the most part, there are sports just for men, just for women, and some for both. i think feminists tend to think that they can fit into any of those categories. though most will not concur. and even though some men participate in sports that women usually only do, are frankly odd. i think men and women should stick to their own sports and crossover when appropriate.
Womens sports will become just as popular as mens sports, For the following reasons:
(1)Women compete at a lower level than men due to physiological differences.Thats a fact. They compete against other women and the amazing feats they achieve against their female competitors should be seen as just as important and outstanding as that of men. If you were female athlete you would know what I am talking about!
(2) Male coaches who know the complications and the potential for success with working with womens bodies will help to trump the plight of womens sport.
(3)Women are achieving such phenomenal performances and many believe they may be catching up on their fellow male sports men. Paula Radcliff (British Marathon runner) hold the womens World record for the Marathon at 2.hours 15 min. And her lifetime best in the mile in 4.24. I challenge any of you boys to run a marathon faster than that, or.. heck... I can guarantee you wont even come close to her mile time!
So it is true- men are often better players but can we please just be a little more intelligent as a nation and watch and enjoy womens sports with an understanding for the lack of testosterone and an appreciation for the amount of work they put in!
If society can't get this right then we will just need more athletes like Radcliff to give the men a little wake up call!!!
I agree that the WNBA is not something that I ever enjoy watching. These girls can't compare with the talent of the NBA but I think we still need to give them props. They have worked their entire lives to get where they are and I would bet that they could kick any of the boys butts in our class.
Woman sports will never become popular. An example the MLS in the US, its horrible! WHy is it horrible because there are better leagues in the World, the MLS players are B rated players so why watch B rated players when you can watch A rated players. Same with the WNBA and NBA, why watch B rated players when you can watch A rated players.
I fully support the notion of equality in sports. That being said, I cannot bring myself to watch to WNBA. I'm not sure what it is exactly. I love watching to graceful women of gymastics, tennis, and figure skating, but all else just seems to fall by the wayside. It's great that there's an opportunity out there for those who wish to take advantage of it, but if they are looking for all-star fame, I'm not sure that's where they are going to find it. There is an element of women's sports not being action packed and aggressive like men's sports and if you're looking for entertainment, men's sports seems to fill that quota better.
I think the article we read in class explains this cultural belief. The article said that in the UK, people said they didn't care about women's sports, but that they would be much more interested, if the sports/women show more "sex appeal".
The sad truth is that the majority of men don't want to watch women play sports, they just want to watch women; there are a lot of activities outside of sports that can allow men to watch and objectify women.
Great post. I think there are definitely some valid points made. As per the questions... There are certain women's sports that I enjoy watching for different reasons, and certain that I don't. As an example, I love watching women's volleyball for strategy and ball control involved, but it is not anywhere near as exciting as men's.
I feel that women's sports are getting more and more exciting, as women are taking great control of physicality....my examples:
- Misty May-Traynor and Kerri Walsh
- Women basketball players being able to dunk.
- Prominence of women in athletic marketing....
I'm a girl and I like sports. Over the years I have been a ballerina, tap dancer, soccer player, softball player, basketball player and swimmer. However, as much as I support women's sports I have to admit that I don't really watch them. They just aren't as interesting to watch as men's sports. As sad as it is, it's the truth and I'm ok with admitting it. Yes, women should be allowed to participate in any sport they choose, but there is no way to force other people to enjoy watching them play.
I think lots of women are being taken seriously in sports now. I remembering realizing this when I was watching the Olympics this summer...lots of these women athletes worked just as hard as their male counterparts to get where they did and it makes me realize how far we've come. I'm not saying everything's perfect...I definitely think that women are still discriminated against often in sports, but I think things have come pretty far.
This is an interesting topic because I think women's sports have suffered through the years. As you pointed out a lot of the women athletes are good at their sport like Maria Sharapova but then they go and do a million photo shoots which show off more than their sporting talent. I do think that women's soccer is getting bigger in the world mostly because it is a world sport but also because I believe women are getting more skills and breaking sporting barriers than before. For example, there are a couple of women that are big-wave riders like Sarah Gerhardt who charges Mav's with all of the rest of the guys. That's a pretty huge feat for a man alone. I think in the future we will see a rise in women's sports but not so many women breaking into men's leagues.
is it the male gender's fault? I would say it is and isn't. I'm sick of everything women do being projected as men's fault, but I also know that those pictures and poses are not attracting women. So there is a balance. Women are not forced. I would say it is the culture's fault, which consists of many women who allow their standards to be lowered, and many men, who will come to see the scantily clad.
I think women can compete and are entertaining in a couple of sports, but not all. For example women’s volleyball and soccer is just as entertaining to watch as men’s. However women’s basketball is very painful to watch. I just think it’s a fact.
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