azine that speaks of strength and perseverance in women sports. Society-a society where women have more of a say than ever before-- has chosen to embrace the idea of creating strong, independent, athletic women, yet in this creation, we are encountering two struggles: the inconsistency in our representation of strong females, and the resistance to accept all images of female athletes. The resistance and inconsistency are taking place because the media, who influence the general population, is accustomed to only appealing to the male dominated society; to also take into consideration the desires of the females, is a new and unfamiliar process that will take time.
             Through her experiences on the court and on the field, a female athlete emerges with the invaluable traits of independence, a need to achieve, and the ability to stand up under pressure. These traits may once have been reserved to describe a male, but they now can also describe the female. It is not so much that females are adopting the traits of the male model; they are just bringing forth the traits that they had always been taught to suppress or be ashamed of. Now they can show off these traits-traits that may happen to be typical in men, but more importantly, are typical of strength in character. The modern female is emerging-one of boldness, self-expression and power. Strong, successful Sheryl Swoopes is on the cover of the first ever SI for Women; women are becoming more and more goal-oriented, and Swoopes is vivid proof of this. There has been an increase in females participating in athletics, and with this increase, there has also been an increased number of women in the work world. This social revolution is being further enforced through women's involvement in sports. Swoopes, on the cover of a magazine, glowing in her success and achievements (as well as endorsements), is testimony to the success of women.
             Yet, what, one may ask, are women becoming...