Even though sports have become less discriminatory with the personnel participating in them, an imbalance remains consistent with who the media chooses to broadcast and make famous. It is surprising to see the increase in women's participation with sports, from year to year, considering the very minimal publicity they receive. I rarely come across a professional women's sports game on T.V., a woman being sponsored by a company and having thousands of commercials aired each week, or any other source of media promoting sports to be something other than a masculine competition. This unfortunate truth correlates with the gender ideology that we Americans have been raised to believe in; that sports should be the first thing a boy should engage in and learn about, while putting make-up on a doll should be a girl's first hobby. This puts women in a huge disadvantage when they are interested in playing a sport. One, they may be looked upon as being lesbian and made fun of because they are participating in a certain sport; and two, they do not get any support from the media, showing that other women play sports too and that it is not just a masculine hobby. I believe that gender ideology is the main cause for the lack of media coverage on women's athletics. Many women do not watch sports because they were raised in a society that does not promote women's participation in sports. Since the media is controlled by mostly white men with an abundance of wealth, a dramatic increase in support from almost all women would need to ensue for an increase in publicity for women's athletics. I feel that women's athletics have become more acceptable and popular, but a lot more would need to occur, in order to achieve gender equity.
Michael Miller
KIN 332i-06
2 comments:
I agree, the lack of coverage has an immense impact on the way women's sports operate. This also goes back to the way that high school and college athletics are organized. The male athletes receive advice and assistance based on them being an athlete, while a female athlete is treated and viewed more as a student. I personally feel that it is putting male students at a disadvantage being that most of them will not make it into professional leagues. But back to the lack of publicity for women's sports.. It is a shame that female athletes do not have the same opportunities in professional athletics and it is extremely unfair. The comparison that always comes to my mind would be the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Los Angeles Sparks. I can honestly say that I have never watched nor heard of people hyping up any WNBA and it is sad. Because they have less of a following, this leads to less sponsors, less support, less money, and sadly less respect for their sport. I hope that this will change, but I don't see much being done to do so.
Brittney Adams
010230907
KIN332i (T/Th 9:30-10:45)
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