Societal Views on Sports and Gender Essay - 846 Words

Societal Views on Sports and Gender Sports have become a major part of American culture and society. It is ingrained in us as a small child that playing a sport is almost necessary. In elementary school we take physical education where we are exposed to competitive sport. But even at this level it is our genders that control which types of sports are deemed appropriate. Since women started to become involved in sports, there have always been those who have opposed them being there. We saw an example of this in the movie Girl Fight. By allowing a woman to partake in a sport, in this case boxing, that is typically viewed as male oriented in caused society to alter its views. This created many problems though. People do not want to†¦show more content†¦The same was true for the women in Pumping Iron 2. Because of their strength and physical stature, certain men and women seemed to be intimidated by them. We saw this specifically in Bevs case. She was the one with a physique most like that on a male body builder. She placed extremely low in the competition because there were judges who felt that even in a body building competition, women should still look feminine. Though the crowd was very supportive of Bev, as we heard in their booing when she did not win, the judges were against her because of what looked like, confusion, and the fact that h er body was too muscular. Even though this was a bodybuilding contest. It is not just women that experience biases when it comes to sports. Men to can be the subject of ridicule for playing sports which are thought to be for women. We can see this in the movie The Cutting Edge. Here, an ex-ice hockey player becomes a pairs figure skater. You can see how his gender and sexuality are questioned by his family and friends for no longer playing the manly sport of ice hockey, but rather the, thought to be, dainty and ladylike sport of figure skating. Though, the protagonists masculinity is questioned. There is never any question about his sexuality. The movie does not take the film to that level. Another film that shows men having to defend both theirShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Jezebel s Sara Benincasa Essay783 Words   |  4 Pagesquestion, the first and arguable most important being her reinforcement of the gender binary. The woman is expressing her concern that she has only two options: spending time with fellow women and being made bored by their rapport talk and interests, or spending time with her boyfriend’s male friends, and being able to participate in what she considers to be stimulating conversation about â€Å"business and gaming and sports.† Through this, the inquirer is defining male and female interests as mutuallyRead MoreIdentity in the Workplace Creates Gender Inequality801 Words   |  3 PagesAs the nation’s gender inequality continues to diminish, things like sports stereotypes, and labour force conflict cannot be understood without understanding the term of identity. Identity work is explained by Schwalbe and Mason-Schrock in 199 6 as â€Å"anything people do, individually or collectively, to give meaning to themselves or others† (as cited in Ezzell, 2009, p. 1). I propose to examine inequality based on gender identity and in depth the process of stereotype issues, - how people constructRead MoreThe Representation Of The Male Image936 Words   |  4 Pageshas been constructed surrounding masculine values. Men are supposed to embody masculine archetypes and if they do not follow, what is considered to be, societal values, they are seen as less than a man. This image of how men are supposed to behave has been constructed by cultural values, which in turn influences societal values. Thus, the male gender stereotype has been circulated throughout media as showing how men are supposed to be and are looked down upon as feminine if they lack one of these stereotypesRead MoreThe World Of Athletics Has Been Built Around A Binary View1634 Words   |  7 Pageshas been built around a binary view of gender. Th e distinction between genders is obvious: there is women’s sport and there is men’s sport. However, in reality, gender biology is not black and white – there is a multitude of ways to be human. The separation of men’s and women’s sport leads to a large population of athletes getting stuck in the middle. There is a growing social acceptance of transgender and intersex individuals in society, however, when it comes to sport these individuals are often leftRead MoreGender Inequality in Womens Rugby1181 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction As the nation’s gender inequality continues to diminish, things like sports stereotypes, and labour force conflict cannot be understood without understanding the term of identity. Identity work is explained by Schwalbe and Mason-Schrock in 1996 as â€Å"anything people do, individually or collectively, to give meaning to themselves or others† (as cited in Ezzell, 2009, p. 1). I propose to examine inequality based on gender identity and in depth the process of stereotype issues, - how peopleRead MoreThe Body, Gender, And Sexuality964 Words   |  4 PagesAllise Sellers Unit 2 Reading Response The body, gender, and sexuality are intertwined concepts that have been simplified to a point that attempts to explain each of these characteristic constructs purely through biology. However, ignoring the social implications in various cultures takes away from the complex analysis these foundational human descriptors actually deserve. In the writings of R.W. Connell, Suzanne Kessler, S.E. Smith, Lisa Wade, Riki Wilchins, and Patricia Hill Collins, these authorsRead MoreGender Verification And Female Athletes Essay1133 Words   |  5 PagesINTRODUCTION The gender verification has become a major controversy for women’s sports. The International of Olympic Committee (IOC) has made gender verification essential to female sports fearing that male would be a fraudulent to participate in a female sport. However, the purpose of the verification method is to create a fair competitive sports game for female athletes. Gender verifications can be considered a good method to sustain the integrity of sport, but the procedure of examining the athletesRead MoreSports Coverage And Its Effect On Women s Sports863 Words   |  4 PagesDespite the prevalence of the gender binary in our everyday lives, it is reinforced even further by the sports media that acts as a strong social influence. Additionally, sports media depicts gender inequality by creating a discriminatory system that favors men’s sports and regards women’s sports as a â€Å"second rate investment.† Lack of funding and lack of coverage have seemingly created a self-fulfilling prophecy for the future of women’s sports. Quantitative evidence from research completed by theRead MoreThe Media Image Of Women844 Words   |  4 Pagescategorizes which sports are female friendly and which are not. The more the media portrays women as delicate and skinny the more people will associate them with certain sports. Likewise for men, the more physical contact and tough a sport is then it is more associated with men. The way these sports are covered in the media, the language used when reporting it and the visual aspects of how it is displayed subconsciously causes people to assign genders to the sport. This is seen in sports such as gymnasticsRead MoreStereotypes, Stereotyping, And Stereotyping1402 Words   |  6 PagesIn today’s society, many people use stereotypes, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing, amongst these are race, gender, age, social class etc. Stereotypes are essentially used as categorization. Categorization and stereotyping are both fundamental to human nature; helping make the world more predictable. Stereotyping is most often used by everyday people who don’t know a person, so they judge them by how they look, or by how they carry themselves