Equality for women in sports and society
Reaction Paper: Equality for Women in Sports and SocietyWe call America "land of the free", a place where dreams come true and discrimination is only found in history books. Would you agree with this? For years people everywhere fled their homes in search of freedom and more opportunities, but only a select few benefited; white men. We have come a long way since the nineteenth century but anyone can see the huge gender gap in occupations, society and especially sports. Women unlike men have only had the option of playing sports for a few decades. Though they were frowned upon, women were permitted to play in their back yards and on playgrounds but it was not too long ago when they were finally allowed to join organized sports. Bills and acts were passed and amendments were added to improve the inequity of women, but we are still far from equality in job opportunities and even further in sports. I point my finger at society for these discriminations and claim that social constructions have led to prejudiced outlooks on working! females, athletic females and worst of all, females in general.In an effort to bring an end to overt and deliberate discrimination against female athletes Title Nine was passed in 1972. This mark
Almost 60% of female athletes featured on or in magazines were photographed in posed shots rather than shots revealing their athletic participation (Kane 1996). I would like to think of America as the land of the free and without discrimination but the fact that I am a female athlete makes that notion nearly impossible. The fear that sport participation causes females to become lesbians is a primary reason that some parents tend to lead their daughters away from sports, and that others choose not to acknowledge women's sports at all. Female athletes challenge America's 'patriarchal' society, and because social constructions harbor patriarchal values and beliefs when w!omen challenge those beliefs they are viewed negatively. Are there lesbians in sports? Yes, but this is the case in everything, it is not fair to stereotype a whole group of people because they participate in sports. For example, when the media covers female sports, the athletes are portrayed in ways that link them to oppressive stereotypes, such as: frailty, sexuality, and limited physical capacity (Kane 1996). In the article that appeared in the Daily Targum the next day entitled "NJN drops ball on Rutgers women", the author is quick to !assert that had it been a men's game it never would have happened. Sports are such a large part of American culture that nobody can deny the impact they have on society, and with our increasing technology people are capable of following ESPN and other sports broadcasters on their computers, TV's and even their phones, which makes coverage of women's sports even more important. All of the issues raised about women in sports come down to how media coverage has influenced socialization and opinions of female athletes. I believe that an attack on sexual preference is just another way for society to hold female athletes down and a!s long as people continue to stereotype all females as lesbians because they are athletes the gender gap will continue to grow. Like I said socialization at it's best. " Daily Targum February 21, 2001, pgs. This is an example of how the media coverage of female sports can lead people to see women as inferior.
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Acceptance Essays
