Soc. 3251W Race, Class, and Gender

I think media does not do a very good job of portraying women's sports. I played girls hockey in high school. Everyone thought of me as a tomboy, even though I'm as girly as they come. Different sports seem to carry some sort of stereotype with them. I don't think the Media takes women's sports as seriously as they do men's sports either.

I dont understand. In france everything is different.

I believe that there is a huge difference between male and female sports, not in the sport itself but how the sports are portrayed. I am not sure if it was discussed in this class or in a different class but take for example sport pictures. When male sports teams have professional pictures taken, they are in their sports gear. However, when women have a team picture taken they are dressed up in semi-formal attire. Women are still required to portray themselves as feminine. They need to be seen outside of their sports role.

Also, people watch female sports less frequently. Not only do people take less time to attend the games but also they are often not televised compared to male sports and they are often not talked about during routine news reports. Even in my own life I have seen the difference in enthusiasm for male versus female sports. As a female athlete during high school, the bleachers were almost always nearly empty whereas men sports brought in large crowds. Also, the way that people responded to our sports was different. Take for example my father. He encourages my brother to be very competitive. Winning is the only goal. As a female, my father was far less involved. It seemed to be perfectly acceptable if I made an error, giving me the impression that not only was it okay, but it was expected. In America female sports are just not taken seriously as a competitive competition.

I completely agree that female sports are not taken as seriously as male sports, and it really irritates me. I have played nearly every sport in my life, and I can beat almost any boy at any sport. But when I try to talk to boys about sports- a certain game or professional athletes or whatever- they always listen to me for about 2 seconds and then go on to discuss sports amongst themselves, ignoring me. I have been told that I couldn't play basketball in a pick-up game because I was a girl. I will admit that, overall, girls sports involve less brutality and are sometimes lower scoring, but girls can be amazing athletes, and it is sad that we are so disrespected. Another issue that I should address is that just because I like sports and am competitive does not make me more masculine. I hate the term tomboy- what is that supposed to mean? I am still as girly as they come- I just happen to like the same thing that a lot of guys do.

As a former college athlete, I have an appreciation for anyone who is involved in athletics at the collegiate level, no matter what their gender is or what sport is being played. With that said, the differences in youth sports couldn't be greater between boys and girls playing sports. The media usually is portraying what the rest of us know about sports: that male's tend to draw large crowds because they are bigger and faster than most females playing the same sport. Notice I did not say more exciting. A good girl's hockey team usually has better passing and plays better defense to compensate for a lack of speed or checking in their game compared to the boys.

It wasn't too long ago that the Women's basketball team here at the U was outdrawing the men. Why? For one simple reason: winning. No matter who is playing, people want to watch a winner. Now that girls have the opportunity to play sports at the same age as boys, the gap between them skill wise has shrunk. Use soccer as an example. Boy's and Girl's high school soccer is very similar, with a lot of passing and not much scoring. On a global scale, America is quite progressive in it's women's sports programs, but still lagging behind the men. This will always be the case, because of the following: More men watch sports, and men want to watch male athletes. Thus, more male sporting events are shown on T.V. giving those sports exposure to the younger generation, which will in turn inspire more boys to play sports, etc. Unless more young girls are exposed to sports, the popularity of women's sports will never rival that of mens.

In today’s society, we do not portray female sports equally to male sports. There is a lot more emphasis on the various male dominated sports. Though women’s soccer here in the United States is bigger than anywhere else in the world.
A local example is the sports here on campus. We hear about the men’s hockey team all of the time, but where is the women’s hockey team. They are doing well, but yet they are having trouble getting fans to their games. Why is this? Do they lack something that the men’s team has? No, the idea that men’s sports are better (more action) was put into our heads at a young age so that we believe that today. The one chance we have to change this perception is to change the way we teach our children. As for question two, in our society we believe that if men don’t play sports and are not good at them, they are considered to be homosexual. Obviously this is not true, and again this idea is put into our heads at a young age and our environment growing up is to blame for these misconceptions.

In today’s society, we do not portray female sports equally to male sports. There is a lot more emphasis on the various male dominated sports. Though women’s soccer here in the United States is bigger than anywhere else in the world.

A local example is the sports here on campus. We hear about the men’s hockey team all of the time, but where is the women’s hockey team. They are doing well, but yet they are having trouble getting fans to their games. Why is this? Do they lack something that the men’s team has? No, the idea that men’s sports are better (more action) was put into our heads at a young age so that we believe that today. The one chance we have to change this perception is to change the way we teach our children. As for question two, in our society we believe that if men don’t play sports and are not good at them, they are considered to be homosexual. Obviously this is not true, and again this idea is put into our heads at a young age and our environment growing up is to blame for these misconceptions.