Masculinity & Gaps in Sports

For quite some time, there has been a debate over whether or not females should be able to participate in male sports. There have been arguments made as to why women should be allowed to participate in male sports and there have been arguments as to why women should not be allowed to participate in male sports.

            People have argued that females should not join in male sports is because men are biologically stronger and they will get hurt. Another argument is that if females participate in male sports then what will do about the locker rooms and practices.

            There have also been arguments made that if females joined male sports then they would get equal opportunities to both participate in the sport and get the media coverage and respect they deserve. Males are offered higher paying jobs and scholarships in male sports than females are in sports.

            The question is prevalent in today’s society. Why do males dominate in sports? One of the reasons that will help shift the attention of this blog to the male perspective is that Sports originally started out as a masculine concept. Males have been participating in sports for thousands of years in Olympus. Males used to compete for fame and honor and women were not allowed to compete in those sports.

            One of the main reasons I think as to why men do not want to share their sports with women is because they are worried about their masculinity and what will happen to it if females join their sports.

            Nick Trujillo wrote an essay on sports and masculinity. Trujillo examines how male athletes are created in American culture. In his essay “Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture” Trujillo examines what hegemonic masculinity is. According to Trujillio who built off of Connell’s work, “Hegemonic masculinity is the culturally idealized form of masculine character which emphasizes the connecting of masculinity to toughness and competitiveness as well as the subordination of women and the marginalization of gay man” (1).

            There are five features that represent the hegemonic masculinity in American culture. Those features are physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality. (2) The biggest contributing factor that build and create these five features to hegemonic masculinity is sport itself. Throughout history, as seen in Olympus and other ancient societies, sports has made a large influence as to what people believe in and how to believe in something. Over time, Americans have been persuaded to believe that “sports build manly character, develops physical fitness, realizes order, promotes justice, and prepares young men for war” (2).

            Trujillo highlights Ryan’s resilience to pitch through innings with injured bones and his determination to overcome anything while he is on the mound. Through the play of sports, Ryan has created and protected his masculinity.

The image above is one of Nolan Ryan. Trujillo’s essay examines specifically Texas Rangers pitcher Noal Ryan and his hegemonic masculinity on the baseball field.

            As seen throughout this blog, body structure and type play a role in female sports. Hegemonic masculinity could be one of the causes as to why females are treated the way they are in sports.

            To return back to the beginning of this blog post and to answer the first question above that has been debated for some time now, I do think that women should be able to participate in male sports. I think this specifically because the treatment is between the male and the female gender is not the same. The opportunities between the two genders are also not the same. According to the NCAA, Males receive more scholarships, their scholarships are worth more money, males have an easier time of finding a job in the sports field, and there are more male jobs in the sports field than there are woman jobs.

            There is this large gap between male and females in relation to sports. If females were rewarded with the same scholarships, jobs, media coverage, and aired time on the television then I would not see the reason why females would participate in male sports. However, because they do not get the equal opportunities, I think that women should have the chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL61USxzHek

While I was writing this blog post, I came across a great YouTube video that works in tandem with this blog post. I attached above the link to the video. This video reports on the gap between male and female sports. The newscasters discuss closing the gap between male and females in sports and how to close that gap.

Work Cited:

Trujillo, Nick. “Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication. 8.3, 290-308. Print. 

Women Depiction in Media

Illustrated in the previous blog, women who engage in sport have become sexualized. Their bodies are constantly being viewed and inspected.

            This past summer, Happy Madison Productions released a science fiction/action comedy film about arcade games. Pixels, starred Adam Sandler and Kevin James and featured tennis champion Serena Williams. In order to help stop the crime in the world and destroy the video game characters, nemesis, Eddie Plant agrees to help the government as long as he can have alone time and a date with Serena Williams and if Martha Stewart makes him a sandwich. Finally after disputing their agreement, Kevin James’s character agrees. Despite the film being a comedy, Serena Williams was not highlighted in this film for her career. There was not dialogue about tennis or her victories in tennis, instead there was discussion about her body and appearance.

            The film discredits everything about Serena’s career. The film sexually defines and shapes Serena William’s body. Rather than being identified for her gold medals, double and single titles, she is identified on her curvy body.

            The image above was taken from one of the scenes in the film Pixels. As one can see Serena is standing at a party with Eddie in a dress. The dress is formfitting on her body to show her curves.

            This film is not the only source of media that discredits women for their athleticism and focuses on their specifically on their body. Every year, Sports Illustrated is infamous for their Swimsuit Editions. The front page of their cover is typically an athletic women standing in a bikini.

            When I went to google, I typed in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, these were the first two images that appeared.

            The first woman is fashion model Hannah Davis and the second woman is Israeli model and television host Bar Refeali. Even though these two women that first appeared in my google scholar are not althetes, they are still affected by sports and the magazine Sports Illustrated. Many female althetes have posed on the front cover of the swimsuit edition. UFC fighter Rhonda Rousey was featured in the 2015 sports magazine along with tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. Throughout the years there have been numerous famous female sport athletes who have made an appearance in the magazine.

            Jessica Shaller conducted research and provided a content analysis of Sports Illustrated on their print media of female athletes. Shaller states, “Because of the sexualized manner in which female athletes are portrayed, they suffer from inadequate description. Women in sports suffer from insufficient media coverage, not only in their regards to their lack of presence in major sports publications but also in the stereotypical depiction in print journalism” (50). As seen in the two examples I provided of Serena Williams in the film and the two models in Sports Illustrated, females are portrayed to be sexual and they suffer because of it.

            Women’s sports are dictated by the public and what the male population wants and would like to see. Shaller returns to her analysis of Sports Illustrated. She states that media professionals argue they give the public what they want and “if men would rather see a female athlete wear less clothing and posing like a model rather than a sports figure, than that is what the media will produce.” Shaller finishes her analysis by stating, “Framing of the media has led journalists deciding what the public will be able to obtain from certain media outlets. Because reporters and editors control what and how athletes are depicted on magazine covers, they heavily influence the minds of readers” (55).

            Throughout the semester we have discussed framing of the media. The media can frame their stories and pictures to be whatever they want. Whatever will bring in the most revenue, that is what media professionals will produce regardless of the effects it has another society and culture.

            After viewing the swimsuit edition covers and photos of both female athletes and non-athletes, I wonder  how can someone take a women seriously in sports when she is posed almost naked on the front of a sports magazine. To me, that just screams for society to take the magazine off of the shelf and once again discredit women for their talent and credit them to their body and appearance.

            As seen throughout these blog posts, women’s sports are dominated by men’s sports and what the men want. Even successful athletes such as Serena Williams are guided and controlled by the male population.

            As an advocate for female empowerment and equal treatment, I do not agree with the way in which women are treated, especially when it comes to the treatment of women in sports and sports magazines. This is one of the many reasons why I will not read a Sports Illustrated magazine.

Work Cited:

Shaller, Jessica. “Female Athletes in the Media: Under Representation and Inadequacy.” Undergraduate Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Research. 50-55, 2006. Print. 

Spectators & the Media

            The United States has four major professional sports teams. Those sports teams are The National Football League (NFL), The National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) and they are referred to as the “Big 4”. The Big 4 provides the biggest competition in sports and they are the wealthiest professional club competition in its sport worldwide. They make up the top four out of five sports revenue in the entire world. The one pitfall to these professional teams is that they are a male dominating sport and only males participate in these sports. How can something that is so big and make such large of a profit dismiss woman so easily?

The image above represents the Big 4. 

            Women have been neglected from sports time and time again throughout history. Despite their advancements in sports, it is just not quite enough. One of the ways in which women have failed to earn the respectful attention in sports is playing time within the media.

            According to Blinde, “The media provides the audience with more than just a sporting event—it presents the events in terms of framework or perspective, presenting the audience not only with a sporting event but also an accompanying set of instructions or maxims on how to interpret the events” (99). Blinde’s article discusses the sporting ideology and culture that exists within sports. The media controls and plays a large factor in sports team. The media helps control what the audience sees, how they see it, and what is said about the sport on the media. In addition to a unique sport ideology, there is also a power ideology between the male and female gender.

            Last year the 111.2 million people watched the Super Bowl, 15.8 million people watched the World Series, 3.16 million people watched the Stanley Cup, and 26.5 million people watched the NBA Finals. Those four games alone gathered a lot of spectators and fans.

            Last year the WNBA finals gathered a little over 650,000 viewers and 20.3 million people watched the Women’s World Cup. The Women’s World Cup received the most viewers for any US female sport in the history of female sports. The number of spectators that watched the Women’s World Cup cannot compete with the number of spectators that watched the NBA Finals or the Super Bowl.

             Even though the photo is a little over 10 years old, it is a good illustration to show the difference in airing male sports versus female sports. 

            After reviewing the numbers, it is interesting to understand the outstanding difference between the spectators for the male and female audience. There was over a 25 million viewer difference between the men’s basketball finals and the women’s basketball finals. The questions that can be then asked is why is there significantly more people watching the male sport compared to the female sport? What does that say about our culture? Why does this issue matter?

            Blinde and other scholars have researched similar questions. His essay, “Differential media coverage of men’s and women’s intercollegiate basketball: Reflection of gender ideology” examines why male sports receive more media time than female sports. One of the reasons is the difference between the male and female body. There is a power issue between the genders. Males are depicted to be powerful, physical, masculine, intendent and dominance, thus creating and shaping the social structure. Compared to men, women’s bodies are viewed as inferior, passive, weak and feminine. Due to the structure of the female and male sports, women’s sports are viewed to be inferior compared to the men’s sports teams (109)

             Another reason as to why females receive less viewership is the contact in a sport. Men’s sports are viewed to be more physical and there is more contact in men’s sports than female sports. Commentators and broadcasters are used to seeing physically fit males and their physical strength ability and athleticism. When a commentator sees a female who is very athletic, they act and sound surprised. This then leads me into my next point. Commentators treat males and female sports differently because there are different expectations between genders. According to Blinde, broadcasters and announcers have to be more careful what they say at a women’s sporting event than they do at a men’s sporting event because women are viewed to me more fragile and passive than what men are (107).

            I think it’s absurd and wrong to judge a female sport based on their physicality and biological structure. I also think that the Big 4 should not be compromised of just men. Those four teams that make up the largest sport revenue are controlled, played, and operated through men. Where do women fit into this hegemonic sports structure?

         

Work Cited:

Blinde, M. E., Greendorfer, S. L., & Sanker, R. J. “Differential media coverage of men’s and       women’s intercollegiate basketball: Reflection of gender ideology.” Journal of Sport &   Social Issues. 98-114. Print.

Female Sports Broadcasters

One way in which females are treated differently than males is in sports broadcasting. For centuries, the male gender has been dominant in reporting, whether it was regular news or sports news. There is not doubt that female reporters have been harassed or have been questioned about performing their job because of their gender.

Amanda Gunther, Daniel Kautz, and Allison Roth, researchers at Wilkes University conducted a study that analyzed female sports broadcasters. Since sports broadcasting is viewed as a male role, these three researchers discovered whether or a female broadcaster was treated the same way as a male broadcaster and if the female broadcaster was found to be a credible source or not.

According to these researchers, "85% of women of females working in the sports journalism field feel as though they are not seen as equals because of their gender" (75). Overall, their results to their testing was ineffective and inconclusive because they did not extend their research to a large enough area. however, through prior research and other case studies, there has been other significant research done to prove that there is a difference between how female reporters are treated versus male reporters.

Gunther, et. al., stated "Not only does credibility come into question when it comes to the female sports reporter but authoritativeness as well. Some believe that females are less authoritative than men on the side lines and in the locker room" (75).

After reading the essay "The Credibility of Female Sports Broadcasters: The perception of Gender in a Male-Dominated Profession," I researched more information on female sports broadcasters. I wanted to specifically know who these women were and what sports they worked for. As I was trying to research about female sports broadcasters, I came across this website. (The link is attached below)

http://www.viralworld.net/the-18-sexiest-sports-broadcasters-that-have-ever-been-on-television-are-ranked-here/

This website contains a list of the "18 sexiest sports broadcasters on TV). Each broadcaster featured in this lystical are woman. Instead of featuring the women doing their job, they are featured in a sexual position. For example, the first women that appeared out of the eighteen was Lisa Posdenik. Lisa is a UFC reporter who is married a baseball player. The first image that appeared on the website was this:

Lisa was not featured in this article for doing her job. Instead she was posed in a sexual position holding a sports accessory. Lisa was not the only female sports broadcaster posed in this manner. Every single one of the female sports broadcasters were posed similarly. The picture below is of Carrie Milbank.

Once again, this female sports broadcaster is not depicted doing her job. Instead she is posing on a hockey arena in a bathing suit and a scarf, holding a hockey stick behind her head. These types of photos do not represent Carrie as a reporter, instead they represent her as a sex symbol. 

There have been female broadcasters that have helped progress history. For example, Jane Chastain was the first female broadcaster to conduct live play coverage at a sporting event. There also has been Harry Johnson who was a sports commentator in the the 1930's and 1940's (74). Despite those advancements, women have been hired to fill roles as what can be defined as a "hostess." These women, some of which are beauty queens and cover girls, were hired to represent a sports team. These females were hired to act and look nice for the teams (74).

This past year, Major League Baseball hired their first female broadcaster, Jessica Mendoza, on ESPN.

A few decades ago, women were hired to fill the role as what was defined as a "hostess" where beauty queens and cover girls were used to act and look nice for the sports teams (74). 

Even though there have been female broadcasters who have helped make history, they are still challenged within the field because of their gender. Women are constantly being treated differently than men in relation to sports. Sports broadcasting is one example in the way in which females are not treated same and do not have the same respect in the field of sports as men do. Instead of being treated as a professional sports broadcaster, these women are either treated as sexual objects or reporters who are not credible and do now have an idea of what they are talking about.

Overall, the treatment of women in relation to sports is not fair. Just because a woman is a broadcaster, does not mean that she does not know what she is talking about. Chances are, those female broadcasters know more about reporting and what is happening in the game than what their critics know.

Works Cited:

Gunther, Amanda, Daniel Kautz, and Allison Roth. "The Credibility of Female Sports Broadcasters: The Perception of Gender In A Male-Dominated Profession. "Human Communication 14.2 (2011): 71-84. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 10 Dec. 2015

Male Vs Female Gender in Sports

            Arguably, there has been a dispute over women’s involvement in sports for several years. Recently, women have played a larger role in refereeing sports games, sports broadcasting, sports journalism, and overall participating in sports. Despite these advancements in sports history, women are still treated differently in sports than what men are.

The picture above illustrates the constant competition between the male and female gender in sports. The female gender is constantly being treated differently than what the male gender is in terms of sports.

             For centuries, women have not been able to participate in sports and do the things that men do. Women have been arguing for equality in sports for decades, possibly even centuries. There are three distinct time frames where women have advocated for their right to participate in sports. The first time span occurred from 1896 until 1928. This time era excluded women in sports and dismissed them completely. The second time span occurs from 1928 until 1952. During this time era, the females that participated in only female oriented sports received attention. For example, “feminine” sports such as swimming, gymnastics, and golf were considered the perfect sport for a woman. In addition to these sports, tennis became a mainstream sport for women. The third era stems from 1952 until present day society. This era is the era in which women have overcome social norms and challenged the traditional structures. Women are continuously fighting against stereotypes and are challenging society about what they can do and cannot do (114-16).

            As one can see, women have endured years of dismissal from society in relation to sports. Even though the concept of women in sports has become more progressive, women are still treated differently in sports than what men are. According to Billings, Butterwoth and Turman, “Women often find their access to facilities, trainers, coaches, and media exposure still lacking when compared to their male counterparts” (116). Males are continuing to dominate in sports over women.

            In society, there are constant issues of women being treated differently than what men are. Scholars and researchers have provided numerous examples of females not being treated the same as men. One of the examples the book provides involves The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Deborah Renshaw was gaining more fame and popularity as she was rising from the lower NASCAR divisions. Compared to Danica Patrick, Renshaw marked her personality and her driving skills rather than emphasize her body and looks. Once Renshaw was involved in a crash that lead to another drivers death, many members of the racing community argued that she should have never been allowed to race in the first place and that she was not as good as a driver with men (192). Because Renshaw was a woman and involved in a terrible crash, she was considered an outlaw and a stranger based on the men’s opinions in the NASCAR community. There have been many instances where male drivers have caused and killed other drivers, but because she is a female, it is not okay for her to get into car crashes and cause destruction within the sport.

The image above is a head shot of Renshaw out on the track with her race car. While I was looking for images of Renshaw, there were not photos of her in bikinis or sexual outfits. Instead, there were photos of her racing and her next to her race car.

            The example of Renshaw is just one prime example where women are treated differently. There hundreds of instances where women are judged based on their gender both on and off the sports field. Women are not viewed as credible as broadcasters, women do not receive the same amount of playing time on the media, women’s sports gain less spectators, women’s sports are not valued the same as men’s sports.

            It is important to realize and understand that women are being neglected in sports. As learned in class, sports are something larger than a gender, a game, and a sports team. Sports are integrated into culture and embedded into society; sports are a community function and almost every single person can relate to a sport and share a relationship to a specific sport or a game.

            I think gender equality is important, regardless if it is work equality, voting equality or sports equality. Females have been on this Earth just as long as males have. Therefore they should have the same rights and accessibilities to sports as men do. Women are downplayed in the role of sports, when they are some great female athletes out there.

            The rest of this blog is going to encompass many of the issues between male and female sports. Throughout these next five blog posts, I will analyze the treatment of the female gender in relation to sports and consistently compare that to the treatment of the male gender in sports.

Work Cited

Billings, Andrew C., Michael L. Butterworth, and Paul D. Turman. Communication and Sport:           Surveying the Field. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2012. Print.