Gender in Sport

The Williams sisters, two of the top women's tennis players.

In class on November 14th, 2013 my American Sport in the 21st Century class discussed the topic of gender in sport. We discussed the views of spectators on both male and female athletes. It is clear that the media does not cover women's sports the way they do with male sports. The bridge between equality and equity rights are not met. Gender roles are set at a very early age for children by their parents and other surrounding factors. In the text, Coakley states on page 245, "Women play sports, but they are not as good as men and people want to see the best. Statements like this assume that 'real' sports involve 'manly' things, such as intimidation, violence, and physical domination over others, and that women's sports are second-rate. This orientation is widespread enough that it interferes with achieving gender equity in sports (Laurendeau, 2004;2008; Vincent, 2004)" (Coakley, 2010 p. 245). In my viewpoint I feel as if members of the opposite gender were very distant from each other through time up until the 21st century. Moving onto the future I think we will start growing towards the way sports was in the past.

Agencies of Sex Role Stereotyping

The Family
-Boy or Girl?

Adrian Peterson, a great NFL running back and role model.

-Parents direct behavior towards masculine and feminine activity (toys, color of clothing, activities)

School
-Reinforces differential expectation
-Steers boys and girls to different activities

The Media
-One of the most influential and pervasive forces
-Pre-school children watch 24 hours of T.V. per week
-By the time they graduate they see over 100,000 commercials
-Sets agendas on how we think, act and feel














The article I found can relate to this situation, Joshua Rhett Miller's article, "Pennsylvania to Re-Think Rule Allowing Students to Play on Opposite-Gender Sports Teams" on September 30th, 2013. In this article he goes on to discuss that, Oliver Everts who is a 15 year old junior at Conestoga High School plays on the girls' field hockey team. He has been the leading scorer for the past two seasons while wearing the same uniform as his female teammates. He is able to participate thanks to a 1975 court ruling decision that overrode the PIAA rule that banned the opposite-gender from playing on sports teams. They now are planning on revisiting this rule due to PIAA officials being concerned with player safety and boys taking up girls' roster spots. Over the next year I feel as though they will develop a policy which will switch the rule and keep the opposite-gender separated when it comes to interscholastic sports.

You can follow this link to view the full article: Pennsylvania to Re-Think Rule