The Ugly Truth of Televised Women’s Sports For years, sports have been considered as men only activities and were not considered to be suitable for women. This idea became popular at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when men did intense jobs in the factory, and women were expected to stay in the house and focus on household chores. During this time, sports started being associated with masculinity. Addition to this assumption, women have been treated unequally and discriminated against sport involvement. This practice marginalizes women’s sports and created an illusion that very little women play sports. Therefore, sport and broadcast channels should increase their coverage about women’s sports and improve the quality of their coverage.
…show more content…
These channels portray women as sexual objects and because of this, are perceived as incompetent. On July 18, the KABC-TV channel broadcasted the footage that presented women as sexual objects (Messner 18). Another example is the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)’s broadcast program of the 2010 Winter Olympics, where male competitors were portrayed as successful because of their talents, and female competitors perceived as failing because they lack the commitment (Angelini 274). This reflects the hierarchy of our society, where men are dominant. Female players are pressured to look good while performing their tasks. Commentators often focused their attention and questioned the female 's’ appearance than performance . These questions like “How can she still look perfect while playing ?” and “Oh My God, I love her outfit!!, only undermines female players’ abilities and performances. These channels often categorizes women as girlfriends, wives of famous male athletes, and mothers rather than professional players (Messner 5). This makes women seem less competent than …show more content…
Pat Griffin believes that homophobia is the real reason that holds women’s sports back (Griffin 281). This sounds strange and unrelated; but when we think deeply about it, what she said totally makes sense. During the twenties and thirties, Freud revealed female sexualites, so a search for “manish lesbian”, who dress and act like men, begins (Griffin 281). Traditionally, sports were considered as men’s activities that established their masculinity. In 1896, when Baron de Coubertin revived the Olympics, he only allowed women to watch it (Griffin 280). Therefore, when women wanted to play sports, where many believed the lesbian hid, men were the first to show their objections. Sports gathering used to be a male only activity, but now everyone watches
These channels portray women as sexual objects and because of this, are perceived as incompetent. On July 18, the KABC-TV channel broadcasted the footage that presented women as sexual objects (Messner 18). Another example is the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)’s broadcast program of the 2010 Winter Olympics, where male competitors were portrayed as successful because of their talents, and female competitors perceived as failing because they lack the commitment (Angelini 274). This reflects the hierarchy of our society, where men are dominant. Female players are pressured to look good while performing their tasks. Commentators often focused their attention and questioned the female 's’ appearance than performance . These questions like “How can she still look perfect while playing ?” and “Oh My God, I love her outfit!!, only undermines female players’ abilities and performances. These channels often categorizes women as girlfriends, wives of famous male athletes, and mothers rather than professional players (Messner 5). This makes women seem less competent than …show more content…
Pat Griffin believes that homophobia is the real reason that holds women’s sports back (Griffin 281). This sounds strange and unrelated; but when we think deeply about it, what she said totally makes sense. During the twenties and thirties, Freud revealed female sexualites, so a search for “manish lesbian”, who dress and act like men, begins (Griffin 281). Traditionally, sports were considered as men’s activities that established their masculinity. In 1896, when Baron de Coubertin revived the Olympics, he only allowed women to watch it (Griffin 280). Therefore, when women wanted to play sports, where many believed the lesbian hid, men were the first to show their objections. Sports gathering used to be a male only activity, but now everyone watches