Sexualization Of Women In Sports

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When one conjures up a picture of a young girl the first thing that comes to mind are things such as dolls, the color pink, and other things society deems as “feminine”. Despite the installation of Title XI in 1972, which bans sex discrimination in any educational program that is funded by the federal government, female representation in the media is scarce despite the fact that female involvement in sports has increased since 1972. Gender stereotypes that plaque society causes female athletes to be sexualized in the media which also causes these same female athletes to be disregarded and respected as genuine athletes which, in turn, causes young girls to not pursue sports and all of this causes the scarce media coverage female athletes receives. …show more content…
In the 2014 Winter Olympics, for example, many of the journalists, specifically the male journalists, were calling the women “girls” which inadvertently belittled them as well their athletic abilities. By calling these 20 year old and older women “girls”, commentators are illustrating the public’s view on women athletes. Women participating in sports are held to this standard, by the public, in which they are expected to be “pretty” and look nice and feminine all while enduring the taxing sport. There is, in fact, a very blatant double standard placed on women athletes from society. These women are are held to a higher standard of being and looking nice and primp all the while being athletic and playing the sport; their male counterparts aren’t expected to be nice and primp but are yet regarded more as actual athletes and are vastly represented by the media and public alike, unlike females. Due to the lower standard of female athletes, these women are, more or less, expected to fail or not reach the high achievements made by male athletes. Due to this, women must work harder to display their athletic abilities in order to gain the respect and recognition they need and deserve. Today, however, this proves to be difficult as publications such as Sports Illustrated are recognizing women who are pretty and display feminine …show more content…
One may also say that men and women are, both, mentally and physically different thus causes the way they play the game to be different. If the public wants to watch a sport that is more physical then they would turn to a male game compared to if they wanted to watch a less physical game. This, however, contributes to the gender stereotype imbedded in society that, in turn, causes the
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