The media coverage given of the Connecticut’s women’s basketball team was minute but it was still advertised and mentioned. I am not a loyal follower of NCAA basketball, let alone women’s basketball, but everyone including myself is exposed to the Blue Devils or the Tar Heels in the time of March madness. One detail of media coverage I noticed was that the women’s games were advertised, but in a smaller thinner font under the men’s game’s times and dates. The women’s games were also played during a less valuable time slot. ESPN and Comcast Sportsnet are going to talk about what is “hot” and what is interesting. They are going to tell us what we want to hear to receive the ratings they want. A women’s NCAA team winning games is not going to attract our attention. I understand that the UConn’s women’s team was undefeated, but while this is a tough task, it is not interesting to the public because it is being achieved by woman.
Gendered norms have always and will continue to be part of our lives and sporting experiences. Growing up I remember always scrimmaging the girls team in the same age bracket as my team in soccer. To make the playing field more even, rules or restrictions were given to the boy’s team. Even as this young age, we are taught girls are not equal or do not possess the same level of skill we do. Although this may make the game more fun to play, this way of teaching is not sending the right message. If at a young age we practice these ways of gender profiling, we will carry this throughout our lives. This way of thinking starts before sports, during childhood. As children our parents buy us toys to keep us happy. Some fathers buy their son a football and try to force this as the only toy to be played with. Some mothers buy their daughters dresses or jewelry and try to make them into the pretty little women they want them to be. In Boys-R-Us by Jennifer Scanlon she states, “Gender is a crucial element in adolescent development for girls and boys. In no other period of life except infancy do so many changes occur so quickly, and many of those biological changes are sex-specific. (Montemayor et al. 9) Those who study adolescence, however argue that social expectations, even more than physical changes shape gender roles (Huston and Alvarez 158). When young people respond to peers and television as socializing influences, they often become increasingly intolerant of deviations from traditional sex role norms; surprisingly enough, peers often promote more traditional roles than do parents (Scanlon 2002 p.186). Basically, this is saying adolescent’s views are easily shaped. If it is not by the toys the parents push for their kids to use, it is by the other children or society that shape the views of gender. No matter what, our image of gender roles in society are always going to be influenced whether we like the result or not.

The fact that the undefeated UCONN Huskies didn’t receive much television time isn’t all that surprising to me. Little do many sports fans know but this isn’t the first time that the UCONN women have gone undefeated throughout an entire season. This just shows that so called “sports fans” don’t even realize that these unbelievable feats are even occurring which proves how little coverage there is. To call yourself a sports fan and then not recognize the accomplishments of women’s sports is a disgrace. When I googled “undefeated college basketball teams” and clicked on the first couple links that came up no website even showed the women’s teams but just the undefeated men’s. To say that women’s sports don’t receive enough coverage is a complete understatement. In the article ESPN’s SportsCenter and Coverage of Women’s Athletics: “It’s a Boys’ Club” it talks about how big women’s athletics can be when they give coverage by saying “… a record television audience turned in to see the final game of the 1999 Women’s World Cup soccer match. The 90,000 people in attendance at the soccer match also set an attendance record for a women’s sports event (Starr & Brant, 1999)” (Adams, pg. 238) To get 90,000 people to a sporting event is a very impressive feat regardless of gender. Many baseball, football, hockey, and soccer stadiums can’t even hold that many people to begin with and most men’s sporting events don’t sell out completely. This proves that given the opportunity many sports fans would watch a women’s sporting event if they would show them on television.

From the time when I was little I have realized that women’s sports were significantly less covered by television than men’s sports. In fact the only women’s sporting event that I remember seeing would be the Women’s World Cup, which happened only every four years. Back 10-15 years ago I really didn’t understand why I didn’t see women’s sports on television because all of the girls I knew where just as athletically talented as me no matter what sport we were playing. As I grew up I eventually started to realize that there was a change in athletic ability between guys and girls. But even though there was this change in athletic ability I still found it fun to watch and/or play with girls in sports. When I reached high school there was a significant difference in watching men’s basketball and women’s basketball. Not saying that one was more fun to watch than the other because both had completely different styles of play. The men’s games would be much more of an athletic contest while the women’s games would be much more skill oriented.

I was always raised to treat everyone as an equal. This meant that whenever I was outside around my house or at recess at school everyone was allowed to play whatever sport we were playing that day, and I was happy with this. I wasn’t encouraged to play with the girls it just didn’t matter to me who was scoring the goal as long as we were winning. I only began to come across the problem of gender in sports when I would play tackle football with some of my friends. I was always raised to treat women with the greatest respect so I would have a problem with them playing because I would not tackle them. I have never had a problem with playing with women in any sport for athletic reasons but just for moral reasons.

I was among the most athletic people in my school but I still knew girls who were just about as athletic as me. I knew girls who could run 4:50 miles, touch basketball rims, and not to mention be 100 times more flexible as me so to say that they can’t be as athletic is ridiculous. I feel that the problem today is most men still see the women as cute objects to look at instead of the athletes they really are. In an article entitled The Televised Sports Manhood Formula it says “Although women were mostly absent from sports commentary, when they did appear it was most often in stereotypical roles as sexy, masculinity-validating props, often cheering the men on,” which shows how today women are still seen as objects. (Messner, Dunbar, Hunt, pg. 383) To even think that people would look at women as objects in this day and age is hurtful to hear

First off, one cannot even begin to comprehend how incredible of a feat it is for the Connecticut women’s basketball team to have accomplished what they have accomplished this past season. And the fact that President Obama did not take the time to fill out a women’s NCAA bracket speaks volumes of the gender inequalities prevalent in the mass media today. In response to the blog, when asked to think about performing a gendered norm when it comes to my sporting background, I can think of quite a few. The fact that I play football, one of the most hyper-masculine sports on the planet, gives you somewhat of an idea of what kind of gendered roles I am tirelessly required to carry out. These roles can be as basic as wearing your football varsity jacket in high school, to holding back emotion for fear of being mocked or made fun of. One crucial aspect to note, from my sporting experiences are the types of criticism one receives from a football coach, when one is not performing up to the coaches expectations. I can remember specifically in high school, most of the criticism I would receive from a coach usually revolved around being compare to a “girl,” or playing like a “sissy.” It’s important to note that those two words are the PG-rated versions of what I have actually been called throughout my sporting career. However, it is important to examine this concept and the implications that boys being compared to girls, and how that idea pertains to gender bias in the media and throughout culture. I would venture to say that this idea is a universal norm when it comes to male sport practices. Coaches are constantly belittling male players by comparing them to girls. This idea can parallel directly to the idea discussed in Scanlon’s article on board games, and how these games imply a female’s inferiority to males. Scanlon notes the board games and the competition between girls to strive for a male implies that women are inferior to men. “The games assume that all girls share a common future of domestic work, subservience to men, and a limited life experience” (Scanlon 190). Scanlon uses the idea of board games and how that is just one facet of American culture that perpetuates the universal gender bias prevalent in today’s society.

Messner (2000) describes that sports is only for men and in his research a “mere 2.9% of news time (was) devoted to women's sports” (p. 382). It is true that male sporting events and news do dominate the sports media world. It is fairly uncommon to see female athletes or sports teams make headlines in the news or on ESPN, unless it has to do with controversy like the Rutgers basketball team or it is the Olympics. This leads to one of the leading gender norms in the sporting world. Since the Olympics due draw much coverage, take a look at what is highlighted. The sports consist of figure skating, gymnastics, synchronized swimming and diving. All of these sports embody the ideals of long, streamlined bodies that move gracefully and smoothly through their surroundings. It is not so much based on an entertainment value but as an appreciated art through which the body becomes a tool. In male sports, the focus is aggression, speed, power, and to some degree, a sense of violence. These explosive backgrounds lead to highly entertaining and coveted viewing coverage and media exposure.
In my personal experiences with sport, it has been very gendered throughout my life. There are always separate leagues and/or teams for males and females and it is particularly separated as you progress through the levels of play. At first, there was some mixing of the genders in organized leagues around me, but as the competition increased and the older individuals got, particularly around the age of puberty, sports was totally sexually organized into individual teams. “Those who study adolescence, however, argue that social expectations, even more than physical changes, shape gender roles... when young people respond to peers and television as socializing influences, they often become increasingly intolerant of deviations"(Huston and Alvarez 158, Scanlon 186). It is in this un-acceptance of the other sex that genderization is formed. The difference in representation was drastic, as well. Particularly in high school and college, male teams not only received more funding from the school, but support from the community, student body and exposure in the media.

It seems unfair that men's sports are covered more than women's sports. When we look at ESPN and other sporting networks the majority of coverage you see is men's sports. When a team has an undefeated season, winning 39 games all by at least 12 points, it's sad that one of the greatest college basketball teams gets little fame because it happens to be the UCONN women's team. Yet this is the society we live in, we all grew up watching the Super Bowl or World Series or March Madness, all men's sports. This is what is covered by the media, and more popular than women's sports. Some say it is because men are more athletic or the sporting events are more exciting, but as we can see with the very athletic and talented UCONN team, we simply just enjoy men's sports more than women's.
This is just how our society is, while growing up we learn our gender roles and follow them as best we can. Girls are told to wear dresses and skirts and play with dolls. Boys are told to wear pants and play video games and sports. You can even walk into a toy store and see one side as red and one side as blue indicting where to find the girls toys and the boy’s toys. We tend to learn our gender roles at a young age mostly in part to friends at school. Jennifer Scalon’s article Boy-R-Us (2002) states: “When young people respond to peers and television as socializing influences, they often become increasingly intolerant of deviations from traditional sex role norms; surprisingly enough, peers often promote more traditional roles than do parents”.

Kristen S

It is clear that women’s sports receive less coverage in the media. It is rare that sports shows like Sports Center or any other show will even show highlights from a women’s sporting event unless they don’t have anything else to cover. Of all the women’s sports, college basketball does receive a decent amount of coverage and discussion. However, this usually only happens when there is a big story or there is an extremely important game. Teams like Tennessee and Pat Summit get time on TV because of their big name and the prestige of their program. This year the University of Connecticut women have gotten some coverage because they are undefeated. If they weren’t undefeated it is likely that they would not have been in the media nearly as much as they were. Even though they were great and didn’t lose a game, other sports were covered before this game was. The day of the game is when ESPN really started to talk about what was going on. Even that day I remember sports like football, which was in its off-season, and baseball, which was in spring training, received more discussion on Sports Center than this game did.
At a younger age there really wasn’t a big difference between genders in sports. Living next door to my cousins mean that when we wanted to play baseball or football in the backyard we played with them. My cousin Allie is a year older than myself and always participated in our sporting events. For most of the time we were going up she was equally as good as any of the rest of us. Slowly as we got into Middle and High school we saw this trend slowly change. However, I think that she is still a very athletic young woman who may or may not still be able to beat me in a race if she were in shape. This may be a strange situation but it is my experience with gender differences in sports. I never saw losing to her or being out performed by her as being something to be ashamed of. Losing to her meant she was better and it made us all respect her for what she did as we would for any male who did the same. By the time high school sports came around and there was a split between men’s and women’s sports the gender difference became more evident. However, when playing around on a weekend I know my friends that played softball could hit my pitching. So maybe my background with the differences between genders in sports is a little different than most other people. I realize that there are athletic differences between men and women but I think that sometimes that doesn’t matter. Playing sports with girls has helped me realize that they can possibly be athletic and compete with boys and beat them at times.
-Josh McGrath

The media coverage of UConn’s Woman’s, and the entire Woman’s NCAA tournament, was definitely miniscule in comparison to the men’s tournament, but the coverage was still there. If you wanted any information at all, it was not hard to find. All the games were televised on either ESPN or ESPN2, and all the game times were given at commercials, just like the men’s games. The only real difference would have to be the number of people actually tuned into the women’s games on television. I personally watched a few games here and there, and even checked my cell phone for the scores of a number of games. While I did this at the request of my girlfriend, I still had no trouble finding or enjoying any of it.
With regards to women’s athletics being less athletic, I don’t think this is true at all. Many women can shoot better then numerous male players. Many women can dunk a basketball. The reason that we as a general public think women’s basketball is less athletic is because the women’s game is not played in as flashy a manner as the men’s game. You do not always see the crowd pleasing dunk’s in woman’s basketball, but the breakaway layup instead. When men watch this, they do not enjoy it because they are used to the crazy dunk that a man would do. Yes, the dunk is flashy and eye catching, but it does not make women less athletic because they cannot do it. I cannot dunk, but I consider myself very athletic.
Another way of looking at this topic is that, while women are not less athletic, they have been expected to perform certain ways in sport that make them seem less athletic. As stated above, women are not supposed to be able to dunk, and knowing this, never try. Growing up I experienced many woman participating in mostly male sports. I played against more than one woman that played rec-level men’s lacrosse. In high school, I played against a woman playing football. Women are more than capable of competing in the same sports that men do. While people may not like this, it is very true. Danica Patrick is one example that comes to mind. NASCAR is supposedly supposed to be male dominated, but she races, and does so at a high level. This is just one of many examples, and women will continue to play men’s sports. Scanlon writes that “boys don’t want girls to talk too much or try to appear too wise…. They want girls to know when to sit back and look interested.” (Scanlon, 194) Women are far from complying with such a thing. They want to go out and have fun just like men, and when they do participate in sports, they do so at a level of athleticism close to, equal, and often times better than men. I am not afraid to admit that I get beat every time I go bowling or play tennis with my girlfriend. She is a great athlete and does not back down from a challenge. Women are not inferior athletically.

The media coverage of the Connecticut women’s basketball team was very little in what I saw. I was not able to catch the game and only saw highlights from the late edition of ESPN Sports center. I know the coverage leading to the big game was not the same as the men’s tournament. In weeks leading up to the tournament media focused on what would be the biggest upsets in the men’s tournament would be, while the UCONN women’s basketball team had been upsetting and embarrassing teams the whole year. There was long roll on the UCONN women’s team historic road to victory like the one for men’s champions, the North Carolina Tar Heels. The cutting of the net was not as glorified moments like in the men’s tournaments repeating over and over. Instead the repetition was of the women’s team dancing and singing. Outside the Lines did not give a special report on Geno Auriemma. PTI or Around the Horn did not spend time on the women’s match up or the trail leading up to it. I am pretty sure if there was an undefeated team in men’s basketball there would be some sort of ticker and it would be the talk of sports. Even when on the greatest college coaches, Pat Summit won the game that placed her at the top of the most winniest coaches there was little coverage then. Even on a political level the president was not seen shooting around with the women’s team.. The neglect that women’s sports get in general is obvious. Although the coverage is minimal there is some coverage and we cannot blame the coverage on the networks alone. The lack of coverage is due to the development of women’s sport and the performance to gender roles.
Women’s sports in America are fairly “new “in relation to men’s sports. Since they are still gaining strength and a following it is natural that they will not endure the coverage as their predecessors. This is not because women are far less competitors but because thy have been forced to perform female gender roles. For women it was seen not lady like to perform actions that mimic masculinity. As women we are told and play games that “the only object is either to secure a boyfriend for oneself or secure one for others.., favor marriage and children as the end goal in life.., each game encourages competition among girls for boys..(Scanlon 191). We are not introduced to sport competition at early ages as boys are. Instead we help mom clean, cook and do traditional female roles. With the perpetuation of these gender stereotypes, it is natural for women’ sports to take a back seat to men’s. When we competition learned to be is used for boys and not sports the developments of women’s sports suffer. Although we are encouraged to perform gender roles many women break the mold which has helped the face of women’s sports today. Women have challenged the system and still are today. Will women’s sports have a strong hold like men’s sports? I do not think it will catch up. The competitiveness of women’s sports is not yet consistently even through all levels of competition. The elite dominate and the room for Cinderella stories is narrow. Sports need that to be exciting. A sport has to have history and a good solid following and competitive substance for people to follow. Women’s sports are making steps to do that but may never reach the potential men have. Depending how one was raised and what they were introduced to effects how their gender plays a role if any in their sporting experience.
Growing up I would say that gender role played a little part in which sport I played. Having a male dominated house hold I was exposed to male dominated sports like basketball, football and baseball but only picked up basketball. I never was exposed to a girls football team, or even a softball team since my father and brother were both male. I picked up tennis which I believe is a mixed coverage of gender sport and cheerleading which the dominance is obvious. I believe cheerleading was the best example of performing my gender while in sport. Although competitive is athletic, physically straining and mentally tough, female role are carried out. You have to look like the feminine female you are. You get points based on overall appearance which entails your make- up, outfit, fitness f cheerleaders and hair style. Cheerleaders must fit a mold in order to get the full points. Even the completion is not a tense or serious competitive atmosphere as football or male sports. Before competition there are spirit circles in which you are encouraged to become friends with your competition. Even in tennis the gear that I wore was traditional female clothing of skirts, not shorts like regular exercise gear. In most women sports women are expected to dress like and behave women like, which is maybe why I stuck with cheerleading. I was being athletic while being cute.

The sports culture in America does not really care about women's sports. I think that if they went away tomorrow that there would not be much of an uproar from the public only those who participate in women's sports. From the time you start to like sports when little, men's sports are the ones that we grow to love. The men are on TV everyday. No exposure to the women has lead us to not caring about them no matter how good the athletes or the games may be. Growing up boys are expected to play sports after school and on weekends with their friends. Girls are expected to more girly things growing up. They played house, hopscotch, pretended to get married, cheer on the boys playing and other things. I'm not exactly sure what they did because I am a male, but I know they did them. In the article by Jennifer Scanlon, Boys-R-Us, she writes about the types of board games that girls play and how they are so different from the boys. Girls play games based on fashion, beauty, getting boys and chore like games. "The games assume that all girls share a common future of domestic work, subservience to men, and a limited life experience (Scanlon)." This statement does not only refer to the board games but girls participation in sport. Girls are supposed to do the cheerleading and take care of the boys, not participate in the actual playing of the game. When I was growing up I did encounter gender differences in the sports that I played. I can remember pee-wee football there was one girl that played in the league. She was not on my team and my teammates and I would talk how weird it is to have a girl playing football, a boys sport. I can remember on particular game in which the girl was the running back for the other team. She had a huge hole run through and I was the last line of defense. I hit her as hard as I could and it was probably my best tackle, as well as, only memory of a specific play in my very short lived football carear. I thought it was awesome that I a boy crushed the only girl playing football. I remember thinking we can't let a girl score on us. She did end up scoring on us because she was good and my team was not so, but on that one play she didn't run through me. Now I think I should have given her more respect than I probably did at the time. It took a lot of courage to go against the norms and mix it up with the boys. One other thing that I can think of that divided girls and boys is in middle and high school gym class. Often days we would have a choice of playing basketball or volleyball. Both games were set up and we played which ever one we chose. Enevitablay the boys would go to the basketball court and the girls would go the the volleyball net. We had two teachers one female and one male and the women would go with the girls and the man with the boys. The boys would play a little rough and it was tolerated that basketball was the men's sports so they could play hard. Volleyball was a more laid back game with less intensity and a more social game than basketball game was. I played basketball some days, but I mostly went against the trend to basketball. I was no dummy, I wanted to be around the girls. I didn't understand why more boys didn't do what I was doing, but hey thats their lose. As for watching women's sports on TV I never did much of it. I had no interest, until the Maryland women's basketball national championship. The men were not very good and when the women started to do well in the tournament i started to watch their games. I became hooked on women's college basketball after the national championship game between Maryland and Duke. Maryland had a great comeback and Cristi Tolliver's fade away 3 over a huge defender sealed my fate. I jumped out of my seat and I don't think I have been so excited for one moment in any sports men or women then that shot. I have watched women's college basketball ever since. I like the style of game played. More fundementals and more of an emphasis on passing and moving without the ball. Women's sports have a long way to go before they will be a major factor in the sports world, but if they keep having competitive games and the talent of the athletes continues to improve I think women's sports will become more mainstream.

Our society pays little attention to women’s sports because men’s sports are what we all grew up watching. The entertainment industry focuses mainly on men’s sports because that’s what America likes to watch. In the study, The Televised Sports Manhood Formula, they state “Images or discussion of women athletes is almost entirely absent in the sports programs that boys watch most” (Messner, M., Dunbar, M, & Hunt, D, 382). Society has always looked at females as a petite framed human that will always need a male for protection. While I flip through television shows, I notice that males are almost always the dominant role. This is just something that American society is accustomed to.
Growing up I was encouraged to participate in gendered norm sports. When I was younger I participated in all different kinds of sports, but as soon as I got to the age of twelve, too old to play youth sports, I followed what all of my friends liked to do. We all were on the Greenbelt Raiders cheerleading team so we could cheer for the football and basketball teams, all boy team. I was then encouraged to try-out for my high school team and I can remember very specifically that I didn’t want to try-out because I wanted to go to a Baysox baseball game. My mom made me stay and try-out to miss the game, I was mad at her for over a week. I ended up making the team and was on it for all four years. I tried to be on the swim team and softball team but cheerleading was a year-round sport and practices were very long and tough. The thing that I really liked about our coach is she would make us cheer for boys and girls basketball and soccer games. Yes, football and men’s basketball were the games that we spent most time on (making signs and decorating) but we cheered for all sports. I use to hate basketball season because we sometimes would cheer at two different games in one night or up to five or six games in one week. I do not regret being encouraged to participate in gender specific sports because we all loved what we were doing and honestly I do not see myself getting tackled on the 50 yard line.

Growing up I always played masculine sports like basketball, football, and hockey. I starting playing them mainly because of curiosity based on watching other people around me play. I would also play these sports because my friends were always playing them and I wanted to join in with them (conformity). I don’t think I was encouraged to play these sports by my parents but generally most boys tend to gravitate towards the more popular masculine sport types. I think parents and society try to instill gender roles into a child very early in life, starting with gender specific newborn hats (blue for boys and pink for girls) given out at the hospital. Parents usually want their kids to grow up with the same gender values that they were raised with. So many parents will support their children to play within their own regular gender specific sports. Fathers everywhere go to toy stores and buy GI Joe toys for their little boys and they get their daughters a Barbie doll with dress accessories. Usually if a young boy starts playing with his sister’s Barbie doll the parents may be concerned but he is just playing with a female action figure dressed up as a blonde stereotype of a woman.

I think it is very amazing that the success of the Uconn women’s basketball team and their undefeated season has been so overlooked and quiet in the media. I personally did not even know that they won the NCAA title until we talked about it in class last week. Possible reasons why Uconn received so little attention is due to the male dominated media, huge nationwide obsession with the men’ s tournament, and maybe because their powerhouse basketball program winning it all is not a Cinderella story (like George Mason). They may have had the best women’s team ever assembled in college but the men have always overshadowed the women in march madness. Even the final four Uconn men’s meltdown performance probably ranked higher in television ratings than the women’s national title game. I think also people watch so much basketball during the tournament that they can’t even fathom watching a women’s game after 4 men’s games in 1 weekend. Also bracket pools give people reasons to watch the games and root for a team (money), which only occurs with the men’s tournament. The women need to get in on the bracket pool action because it could mean much more coverage and ratings.

In the article ‘Boys-R-Us’ by Jennifer Scanlon; young adolescent women’s gender roles are stereotyped through 4 popular feminine board games; “For girls this translates that they must get a boyfriend, keep a boyfriend, and lean on males to be successful in life.” These games “assume that all girls share a common future of domestic work, subservience to men, and limited life experience.” These games promote obsolete gender values of the 1950’s when women did not work and were full-time homemakers. Also the games promote characters that have the privileges of social class/wealth, race, heterosexuality, and male dominance. Games like life are better because they support all players to pursue their own personal careers, their own money, and their own individual lives. This game has an objective view of women in the future that doesn’t include male reliance and being a full-time caregiver at home.

Evan Johnson

While I was growing up I never really paid gender norms any attention or at least I didn’t' think that I did. I just choose the sports that seem to be the most popular in my community because most of my friends or family played. I love the attention that they received and just grew to love the way that those sports were played. I guess you can say it was sort of a fascination of sorts I guess. But as I have gotten older I have noticed that I too was guilty of choosing sports that were more masculine instead of popular. I loved playing football, basketball, and bowling. All of these sports are viewed to be "men's sports' due to their aggressive play. I honestly had never even sat down and thought about a women's sport until I got to college. To me it was never a question of whether or not women could play these sports or to what level they could perform either. I don't think that never even crossed my mind. This women's UConn team is just another example of that. As much as I like "good" basketball I did not watch any of their games this season even though they went 39-0 just to win the National Championship. Now some might ask the question; why would that be seeing as though I like basketball? The answer is simple, societal views. Some societal views have been passed down from generation to generation that put women in a certain light that made them look like they weren't supposed to playing these sports because they weren't deemed to be as strong, fast, or aggressive. "Sport where all men (except losers) are Real Men, where women are present as sexy support objects for the men's violent, monumental "wars" against each other. Winners bravely displayed muscular strength, speed, power, and guts. Bodily harm is (supposedly) intentionally inflicted on opponents."

Historically, women have always been underestimated. The perception of women in our society has certainly evolved from what it used to be yet there are still many things that need to change. Thinking realistically, our current situation is not going to change any time soon; however there has been a steady improvement during the past decades. Unfortunately, the media’s coverage of women’s sports is extremely limited which does not allow the audience to appreciate their athletic skills and capability. Hopefully, younger generations that grow up watching their sisters or girl friends play all kinds of sports such as soccer or basketball will actually get some interest in learning more about women’s sports in the future. Then, the media will have to consider covering women’s sports and not only show female athletes when they are “sex symbols”.
In my case, I was forced to perform my role of female which was sort of frustrating. When I was little I really wanted to play soccer because it is one of my favorite sports. However, my parents would not let me do it; instead I had to play volleyball since it was a “sport for girls” whereas for the same reasons they would not consider asking my brother to play volleyball. I never understood why and that frustrated me because to me soccer looked way more fun to play. It is interesting to see how that cultural belief is widely accepted and how it influences people’s behaviors. Even a 12 year old kid would not let girl play soccer with him arguing that she is not “harsh enough”, likewise he would consider “gay” for a guy to play volleyball. Obviously there would be nothing wrong in either situation but it is the way society defines our gender roles that we tend to take for granted. In conclusion, my gender role had a big influence on my sporting experiences; to some extent it limited my choices and possibilities.

Evelyn Izaguirre

“Images or discussions of women athletes is almost entirely absent in the sports programs that boys watch most.” (Duncan and Messner, 1998 )When it comes to my own sports experiences, there are a few instances in which I can remember a girl challenging the usually method in relationship to the certain sports women play. The first experience I had was in middle school when are girl from my grade tried out for the football team. She was the only girl that tried out and you could tell that a lot of guys were shocked. For a lot of guys trying out I can imagine them feeling threatened in a way. Due to the embarrassment they may have to deal with if a girl made the football team over them. Luckily for those guys, she quit after the second tryout. My next experience that I had was a similar situation. Wrestling tryouts are beginning and look who’s there. The same girl that tried out for football. This time she didn’t quit. I never told her this but I was happy for her because I know that she was hearing a lot of negative things from other kids in school. What she did showed a lot of people that women can hang with the guys and can handle the sports that we play.

- Mike Levy

Gender roles have been a huge part of sport for quite some time now. It began back in 1967 with Katherine Switze,r who was the first female to run in the Boston Marathon; only because the name on her entry form was K. Switzer and officials assumed that it was a man runner. Furthermore, during the race, officials tried to tackle and derail Katherine off the course because she was disgracing the Boston Marathon? This situation of women in sports in relevant today and is perpetuated mainly by the media. It is believed that the underlying tone of sports is masculinity and that all real men play or like sports. We see this all over the television, in the papers, and on the radio. All types of media place men’s sports on a pedestal and could care less about what happens in women sports. This can be seen close to home on our Towson University campus. Over the past weekend the Men’s LAX team lost in the last second to Hofstra. However, the Towson softball team was down 3-0 in the last inning with one out and the bases loaded. Then Emily Gould come up to the plate and smacked a game-winning, walk-off grand slam! And where was this in the TowerLight? No where. There was no coverage of this game in the university paper. The Men’s LAX team had two pages of coverage, yet this momentous feat was not mentioned?
This is seen in the National media too with the UConn women’s basketball team. They don’t get any notoriety, yet might be the best team in the history of NCAA women’s basketball. Messner (2000) describes that sports is only for men and in his research a “mere 2.9% of news time (was) devoted to women’s sports” (p. 382).
This ideology is consistent with the differences in the physical body between men and women athletes as well. Due to the fact that sport is portrayed as masculine, all male athletes have to be strong, powerful, and aggressive. Therefore, men who fail to succumb to this gender norm are lesser of an athlete or sports that do not conform to this notion receive less media attention and are considered a “soft” or “girl” sport. Within the sport realm, aggression, or “manly” play is the only way to play. If a male athlete fails to perform that this then our media describes that athlete as “ hesitant, and lacking, aggression, emotion, and desire” (Messner, 2000). Thus, the media portrays these athletes who are ripped, strong, fast, powerful, and aggressive as winners and the ones who get all the fame, glory, and women. Therefore, playing a “manly” sport solidifies that a male is heterosexual with out question. However, the female perspective is completely the opposite. All the qualities that make great athletes in male sports, do so as well in women sports. Women need to be aggressive, fast, strong, powerful, and tough. However, the connotation to all these qualities, which is driven by the media, is that these qualities are masculine and only acceptable or necessary for men to attain. Women sports and athletes where these qualities are desired are scrutinized and labeled as homosexuals, particularly, in women’s basketball and softball. Women in these sports have to prove their heterosexuality because the media labels them as “manly” and homosexual.
According to the media the only place for women in sport, is to be an accessory of some sort, or to look aesthetically pleasing to a men. Because sports are only about men. That’s what are media tells us so it must be true.

Ryan Kannegieter

Growing up I definitely performed my gender norm in my sporting background. From a young age I participated in the more masculine sports such as football, baseball, basketball, and any other sports that encouraged rough, physical play. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I was conditioned to look down on women’s athletics, as if somehow women’s accomplishments didn’t mean as much as a man’s sporting accomplishments and now I realize this is a complete fallacy. It was imprinted in my mind that they weren’t as physically capable or as competent when it came to sports. It is unfortunate that this how the majority of the population thinks and this is evident in the amount of media coverage that the great women’s basketball team UConn received, and even women’s athletics as a whole. Men have had a head start on women in almost every opportunity, including sports, so there is no question that their sports would be more evolved, but women’s sports are still in the development process to a certain degree, but the public doesn’t seem interested in allowing women’s sports to evolve and possibly reach the level of men’s sports. Hopefully over time people’s perceptions will change about women’s athletics and there can be an equal relationship between men’s and women’s sports.

-David Walker

I did perform my gender role in sports while growing up. I participated in cheerleading, gymnastics, baton twirling, and figure skating. All of those sports are extremely femminized sports. Except I always thought I was a tom boy, because I grew up playing and spending hours in the woods and being outside. In class I would actually try in my gym classes and be the only girl on all boy teams. My parents never forced me to participate in the female specific sports; I bet it was just natural for my parents to place me in them. When I was a senior in high school I got into rock climbing, a sport dominated by males. The sport consists of 80% men and 20% women. The 'best' athletes in the sport are the males. The dvd’s of climbing consist of men climbing super hard with women getting about 15 minutes of a 50-60 minute movie. Women are normally portrayed as the by standers and the ones watching the men climb. Even at my climbing gym, I am the only female climbing instructor and on a recent climbing trip was the only girl with 7 other guys. The sport is portrayed as a sport that someone needs massive muscle and a lot of upper body strength. In actuality when a man and woman go climbing together for the first time, more often than not the woman would perform better. That’s because men think they need to muscle through the climb when really they need to use their legs to push themselves up the wall. Women don’t have the upper body strength that most men do so they use their better balance and lower body strength to push them up the wall, therefore being able to climb longer then the guy they’re with. So while I started off participating in sports designed for women I have come to love to break the barrier and perform with the guys.

brittney rohrs

I have always noticed that women's sport are definitely over shadowed by men's sports and absolutely do not get the same media attention or credit as the male sports. I would say that maybe a reason for this is because i think there are probably more male sports fans out there than female sports fans. I think that many males don't watch female sporting events because they cannot directly relate to the female athletes. Sports are a way to show off and escape and for many fans when they watch sports they imagine their selves in the athletes shoes. When they see a woman performing this athletic skill they lose their imagination to pretend that they are the athlete. In the reading we read for this week Messner, Dunbar, and Hunt say “Images or discussion of women athletes is almost entirely absent in the sport programs that boys watch most”. I think this directly reflects that men do not watch women sports because they just can't relate to it. I know that in high school the men's sports were definitely more popular and would draw a way bigger crowd. There was one time however that we took a bus load of fans to watch the girls playoff basketball game and I have to admit it was a lot of fun. I think it was probably because my friends and I were drinking on the but regardless it was fun. I think that sometimes I would fall into the category of not watching women's sports because its not as intense or athletic. I know if you gave me free WNBA tickets right not, I don't think I would take them. In the future I think I am going to keep an open mind and try and attend more female athletic events because I do believe there is something I could get out of watching them. I do however believe that women's sports will never reach the height of men's sports. I don't really know the reason for this but I believe men's sports will always overpower women's sports.

Tanner Strow

The media's perpetual and unstable coverage of women's sports has existed since women sports made the big screen approval. By approval I simply mean women's allowance into the sports media not necessarily their approval in performance, because we all know the prevalent male opinion of women's sports. For me, luckily I rarely had to deal with the ideologies facing women's ability in relation to men's in sport. I was extremely athletic and my brother and father equally pushed me to be the best athlete at any sport whether it was predominantly a male or female sport. Ironically my mother was the one who forced me to play softball and not baseball. During my younger years playing recreational sports or participating in gym class, I usually out played the females and majority of males. I am not adding this to boast, but to set a background for my argument that most individuals who indulge in sports media and follow sports normally have a narrow vision of what a sports competition should portray and that women's and men's sports are constricted to the comparison of 'night' and 'day'. This conclusion is entirely incorrect suppresses women’s athletic ability. There are some implications and facts that cannot be argued that differentiate men and women's ability in sport, but people for some reason believe that all men will perform better than any woman."Those who study adolescence, however, argue that social expectations, even more than physical changes, shape gender roles... when young people respond to peers and television as socializing influences, they often become increasingly intolerant of deviations"(Huston and Alvarez 158, Scanlon 186). This is the ideology that must be broken. The best way for me to disprove this idea is from my personal experience through lacrosse. With all the experience and awards revealing my ability as an athlete, random men, friends, and some in passing believe women's lacrosse is a joke and that at any point they could pick up a stick and dominate. Luckily for me I have had the chance to prove them wrong and prove to them the true difficulties involved in women's lacrosse. Just as any socially constructed ideology remains in our society, performance based on gender remains because of a perpetual cycle. Society grows up learning the prescribed characteristic of an athlete, similar to the characteristic of masculinity, ironically. These norms have been enforced to the extent that individual’s beliefs transcend into fact without any evidence. Sadly enough our society bases a lot of what they know and learn on the media, instead of researching and learning the facts themselves. These myths become so prevalent that rules within the sports are made based on the perception of women's performance. Those rules then begin to change the game at which women play and in the long term change the style of women's play. For those women who chose to ignore those boundaries and play to their up most performance, there are only two outcomes. They either get ridiculed for abnormalities in skill, or these women help to break down the social constructions of women's ability. Both situations are happening currently, and the perception of women's inability to perform at a male’s level is based upon three variables. Media's narrow coverage of female athletics, which creates the socially constructed perceptions of women's physical and mental ability within a sport that hinder females performance either because of rules implemented or women's insecurities of how they will be portrayed if they perform outside the norms.

It's always been obvious to me that women's sports are very low on the totem pole in comparison to men's sports, and this UConn women's team has put this fact at the forefront of many viewers minds. The women of UConn basketball had an amazing season to say the least, yet all I heard about through ESPN, friends, or the news, was about the men of UNC, Michigan State or Pittsburg. I filled out a men's braket at work even though I hadn't gotten the opportunity to catch many games throughout the season. When the tournament games were on throughout the week, some friends and I would get together if time permitted to see everything progress. I became so wrapped up in the men's games that I forgot all about the incredible women's team that UConn had this past season. Yes, men may play more exciting games, they may be more creative from play to play, but does that mean that they are necessarily better than women? None of the men's teams went undefeated or had nearly as many wins that included such a difference in scores. This brings me to the gendered acceptances that our society has created. As we discussed in class last week regarding the Scanlon article, women are expected to find a man, look pretty and spend money. Even while growing up, young girls are given toys like the Easy Bake Oven, Mall Madness and Girl Talk that promote cooking and cleaning, shopping, and stealing your friends boyfriends. On the other hand, boys are given baseballs and bats, basketballs, lacrosse sticks- if it's physical, they get it. Scanlon discusses how to choose "non sexist" games for children by stating that "Letty Cottin Pogrebin introduced a checklist for parents who wanted to buy nonsexist toys for their children. An acceptable toy would be "respectful of the child's intellect and creativity, nonracist, moral in terms of the values it engenders, and nonsexist in the way it is packaged, conceived, and planned for play". One of the board games she recommeneded was Life, a Milton Bradley prodcut, as it encouraged all players to pursue lives of their own, careers of their own" (184). So, when it comes down to it, we don't watch women's sports as adimantly as we do men's because it is more acceptable for men to play physical sports, such as basketball, over women. Until women can say that they have accomplished something that men cannot, we may always be forced to take the back seat to all male athletes competing in the same sport.

I think that the media coverage for the women’s NCAA basketball championship was about 30 percent of what the men’s championship game covered. You heard all week about the men’s game and how Michigan St. being in the championship game in Detroit was going to help a very poor economy and lift the spirits of the whole city and I believe it was a good story…but not for the sports world. The UCONN Women team went 39-0 and was hardly challenged all year by any team. I know they covered the women’s team and recognized their accomplishment but if this were a men’s team, we would have be talking about this for weeks before and after the championship. It is ridiculous that just because they are women they do not get the same coverage as men, even though their accomplishment may be just as great. As I was growing up my dad always wanted me to play sports but he never steered me towards any specific one. I chose to play baseball and basketball as a child because that’s what all my friends were playing. I think my dad was pretty lenient, but if I told my dad that I wanted to do ballet, then he may have a small problem. Ballet is seen as something that more feminine men do when they do not like the sports men are suppose to play but I do not see the difference; if you are good at something and want to put your heart into it then do it. Now my parents never had to deal with this with me, but there are parents who are strict when it comes to what their children do. Some mothers do not let their little girls participate in sports because some see it as not feminine and the same thing with fathers and sons like I mentioned earlier with ballet. Some people say that men are more physically gifted and are expected to play sports because of the way their bodies develop and I think that is totally wrong. In the Scanlon Article it quotes “Those who study adolescence argue that social expectation, even more than physical changes, shape gender roles.” (Huston and Alvarez 158) I agree with this statement because all types of kids play sports growing up and some are just not good at the sport and do not like it but because it is normal for the kids no matter what gender to play these sports, they are sometimes forced into it by not only their parents, but also society. The gender norm was not really a problem for me growing up because I chose to play basketball and baseball and I will not make it an issue when I grow up and have kids because I will try to be as lenient as I can when it comes to my children and what they decide to play in their childhood.
Corey Cline

This performing my gender as a girl is what I truly did as a child and early teenage because I figure skated, how much more of a feminized sport can you get? Even the non-gay men figure skaters perform effeminate moves, or at least dress in the Spandex costumes. But on the other hand, I hated cheerleaders, maybe it was how they looked or their squeaky voices, and the fact the cheerleaders I knew didn’t do the flips and tosses so those girls were worthless in my eyes.
Back to the whole ice skating sports. I love hockey, playing it and watching it. Nothing is better than a last second goal in overtime in the Stanley Cup finals, or a bench clearing brawl. I have so much respect for the effort made by those players and I tried for a summer to play hockey, not just skate around in the skates but the full gear and game situations. It was an all girls league, so there was no checking (hitting someone against the Plexiglas sides); I was still performing to my gender because girls are not suppose to be physical and rough as the boys. I was even hassled by several of the girls when it came out I was actually trained figure skater. They would mock the moves (as best they could, which was very poorly) even though I was overall a better skater than they were, I beat most of them in the sprints and a couple of the girls in the stick handling drills. Actions can speak louder than words.
I stopped playing softball to join a lacrosse team. Nothing against softball players, hurling that large ball is hard work, but running up and down the field and throwing a small rubber ball, and sometimes getting hit with said ball, and mentally accounting for several other players and strategies, in my opinion is physically more demanding, a less lady like sport than softball. Maybe I would have a different view if I had continued playing softball, but again I stopped playing the sport before I possibly would have over plucked my eyebrows, slicked my hair in an impossibly tight ponytail and spray tanned myself within an inch of being an orange (much like cheerleaders do, another reason I am not a fan of cheerleading).
I was never forced to play or stop playing a sport that did not relate or match my gender, and for which I should be very thankful.
~Cory Joiner

It is unfortunate that for some reason we view women’s sports as “inferior” to men’s sports. There is blatant favoritism that is exhibited towards men’s sports by media outlets across the nation. The Women’s NCAA tournament is a great example of where women’s sports are in comparison to men’s sports. The Women’s NCAA tournament gets far less exposure then the men’s, and it’s not even close. There is very little media coverage, and unfortunately the interest level just isn’t as high. We all take part in filling out our brackets for the men’s tournament without even glancing at the women’s bracket. I believe one of the biggest reasons we are where we are is because that is how we were raised and that is all we know. I know for me I was always encouraged to play the “manly” sports; football (even though I didn’t play in a league), basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, etc. These are sports the sports that are largely thought of as “male-dominated” sports. Up until I took this class, I didn’t really realize that this was false. Women participate in all of these sports, albeit on a much smaller scale in football and hockey. Women’s basketball, softball, soccer, and lacrosse are all sports that are played as major sports for women at colleges nationwide. Women’s basketball and recently soccer are even played at a professional level. So, to think that these sports are just “men’s” sports and that women’s participation in these sports is somehow less important is just naive on my part. Unfortunately I feel like this is a problem because of the way I, and many others, were brought up, and when we were young sports was a male dominated source of entertainment and that’s what we were taught, so that’s what we know. As Michael A. Messner states right in the beginning of his article, “A recent national survey found 8 to 17 year old children to be avid consumers of sports media” (380). If this is the case then this is just a cycle that will continue. The 8-17 year olds will continue to see males dominate the sports coverage and that is what they will be accustomed to. When they have children, they will continue to encourage their children to perform the same gendered sports that they played and watched, and the cycle will continue. This will go on until a generation is finally introduced to the idea of gender equality in sport. There is progress being made however. The example I used earlier about the Women’s NCAA also works here. The final four and championship games were held during primetime hours on probably the most watched sports channel there is (ESPN). Outside of this however, the coverage doesn’t hold a candle to that of the men’s tournament, so there is still work to be done on this front.

Or maybe he is doing this because he is a doctor KB, that’s right a doctor and your wrong. Now to the reason why Doc does write these “gay” articles. The Uconn ladies basketball team did have a great year. A rare year that if a men’s team would have done the same, they would of took up the whole ESPN hour talking about it. The women’s game was shown primetime on ESPN and I did feel they advertised it enough for any sports fan to know when it came on. I just do not find women’s sports exciting or entertaining. People like to see the unexpected and I don’t feel you can really get that from a women’s sport. I love basketball and love watching all kinds of ranging from middle school to pros. I like to see the development of the kids and how good young players are now a days. But I have never been able to watch women’s basketball let alone most women sports. I would watch women’s single sports like tennis or bowling but I don’t watch those sports in general. I just find them slower and not near as exciting. Yes most women are more fundamentally sound but obviously fundamentally sound performances do not attract a crowd.
My parents never forced me into the more manly sports like football or basketball compared to the more girly sports like tennis and volleyball (which I do not feel is a girls sport but people classify it as). They let me decide for myself and whatever sport I found fun was the sport I was going to play. I will say if I would have chosen a more girly sport my family would have made a little fun of me but they would have supported me 100% and came to every event.

When it came to my sporting choices growing up, gender norms played their role, but it wasn’t a huge one. I played soccer, football, lacrosse and baseball because most of my friends and my dad did. If I had wanted to play a sport that wasn’t considered a “male sport” I would have been able to. A perfect example would be that my brother was actually a competitive gymnast for many years. At first he got a lot of weird looks and rude comments about it, but then he would just do a bunch of back flips and everybody immediately changed their perception. He was actually pretty good at it too. He won or came in the top 3 at states almost every year and always placed regionally. It was actually kind of a funny story how he got involved with it. We were at a summer camp one day and one of the kids in his group started doing back flips. Cody was amazed and decided that day that he wanted to learn how to do that. He never saw it on TV or read about it on the internet, so when he saw it in person that made him want to do it. It makes sense though that he didn’t see it on TV because as Messner, Dunbar and Hunt say, “Images or discussion of women athletes is almost entirely absent in the sport programs that boys watch most”. Because gymnastics is considered a “female sport”, he was never exposed to that. My brother quit gymnastics a couple of years ago, but he still maintains to this day that it is one of the farthest things from only a “female sport”. All the strength and conditioning that he had to do actually made him one of the better football and lacrosse players on his team even though he had never played before. He was just in so much better shape than the rest of them that he could keep up despite his lack of experience.

In our culture sadly, we have seen that both males and females have their roles. Woman are for the most part discouraged from playing sports and participating in anything where they can "become dirty" because it is "not lady-like." Women must take care of the children, tend to the kitchen, and do all the household chores. This is absolutely unfair and prejudice.  These gender differences are what has caused the media to overlook women's sports for the most part. While it may be true that women are not as quick or strong as men can become, it does not mean they cannot play sports at an extremely high level. In fact, no matter what sport it may be I believe that mens and women's sports are completely different and really should not be compared to each other. For instance mens and women's hockey are 2 separate sports with different rules. While the women may not be able to compete in the NHL they can sure hold their own at the highest level against each other. Women also can do many things better than men can in the sporting world. It is interesting though that these female-dominated sports are more graceful and artistic such as figure skating. Since I am male and have not had to deal with any type of female stereotype it is hard to say I completely understand. Growing up in my gender role I have always been able to get dirty and sweaty. I have been able to play sports that involve contact and not worry about hurting myself or others to the extent women may have to. Although it is impossible to predict the future, I really do not see a scenario where these roles will be reversed or even the gap closed in the sporting world. Women will always be looked at as gentile while men will always be expected to be the opposite.

My family always jokes that my first word was ball, so obviously I was encouraged to participate in sports at very young age. I have a sister who is 18 months younger than me who was also very active in sports. We both participated in sports, just in a different way. I was encouraged by my parents and society to participate in males sports such as baseball and basketball. Physically my sister and I were very similar when were young, since I was really small for my age. My sister and I should have played on a lot of the same youth team but we did not because I was often moved up to a higher age level. This seems to me a clear way my father emphasized the competitive aspect of sports to me much more so than to my sister. My parents were very open with my sister allowing and encouraging her to play sports, and my sister was very into sports when she was younger. As my sister grew older she became less interested in “male” sports. While my parents were encouraging her to play in any sport she wanted, perhaps she was getting a different message from society. According to Jennifer Scanlon, “When young people respond to peers and television as socializing influences, they often become increasingly intolerant of deviations for traditional sex role norms; surprisingly enough, peers often promote more traditional roles than do parents”. As my sister grew older society had more of an impact on her behavior than my parents. When my sister and I were both in middle school she started taking gymnastics to help her cheerleading. I clearly remember thinking how fun gymnastics would be, but there was no way I was going to tell my father I wanted to take gymnastics. At this time we lived in a poorer community in West Virginia, can you imagine the response I would have got if I told my friends I could not play a pick-up game of football, basketball, or baseball because I had gymnastics practice. I would not have heard the end of it.

There is a quote that will always stick in my head. One of ESPN's radio hosts whose name slips my mind, argued that the reason that we don't watch women's basketball was that " a majority of highschool men's basketball team's would beat every team in the top 25 in women's college basketball." A seemingly outrageous statement when you think about the perceived jump in skill from one level to another, I was initially critical of the statement. Then the more I thought about it, the more it made sense and I actually was swung to agree with the analyst. If a high school male player can dominate a player at the elite level of division one, women’s basketball then a person interested in a sport being played at the highest level of athleticism and skill are going to want to push the limits with the best athletes in which ever sport a fan is watching. It’s not a question of whether someone practices harder or is more naturally gifted. Males because of the history of sport are biologically born with bone structure and muscle makeup to push these limits, and there for women have an uphill battle from the very beginning. In my eyes until a women’s team, and I mean this very literally, can beat a men’s team in one of the major sports, they are doomed to failed leagues such as the wnba and wusa. Hypothetically you take the best Women's basketball player in the world. and you put her on the worst NBA team for one game it is an inarguable fact (at least to me) that even a 6th man would be able to dribble by her and stop her with ease. Over time, and through population growth, and coaching/opportunity. There is no doubt the gap in talent would be closed because there is a certain point were talent and skill peak... (lebron james, dwight howard)- Mychal Edelman

My family has been and continues to be very involved in sports. My Mom and Dad enjoy sports that are for the opposite gender. My Mom is a huge football fan and my Dad has grown to love female specific sports like woman’s basketball and softball. I think the fact that my sister has played so many sports, has made my family more interested in female sports. My parents have always encouraged my sister to play sports and believe sports are critical for your development into a well rounded person. They themselves played sports and were very resistant to the old believe that when females play sports it makes them more manly. My Dad has always encouraged my sister to be very aggressive in the sports she plays and dismisses the notion that aggressive female play is unladylike. My Mom has always told my sister that playing sports is no excuse for being unladylike; she always says she did both and so can my sister.
The only gendered norms I have encountered in playing sports are every so often having teammates being told by coaches that they’re playing like girls. There may have been other examples, but these come to mind the most. At the time, I really didn’t think much of those statements besides them being ways for the coaches to motivate or express their displeasure with us. However, by the coaches believing those statements would motivate us or insult us is a perfect example of the belief that in sports women are inferior to men. I have never believed that women were inferior to men in anything including sports, but I do believe there are some sports men do better than women and vice versa. The UConn Women’s basketball team shows that women can be just as good athletes as men and can have the same kind of success. It shows how wrong the statement you’re playing like girls is.

-Travis Macklin

KB,
I'm not sure that's an appropriate reply to my post. Somehow you suggest that I am gay because I am a male who enjoys women's basketball? Although I am not, what would my sexuality have to do with a particular sport that I choose to watch? Additionally this is supposed to be a forum for people to RESPECTFULLY discuss social issues in sport, which you clearly did not do. Finally, I didn't write this article out of boredom, but rather a deep interest in watching an awesome team win...what was boring was that excuse of a game the night before between UNC and MSU (which only made it b/c UConn had its second best guard on the bench with an injury and a massive homefield advantage).

Tim,
I think the main point of this week's lecture and post was more to bring attention to the fact that by not watching and celebrating women's sports we continue the cycle of degradation of women. Just as we continue the cycle of American nationalism by watching football instead of futbol. What I want then is for my future sport managers to take this information into consideration, and perhaps act differently than our contemporary's. Maybe one day you will be the program manager for a sports channel and you will be in a position to change what it is and is not shown on television. Or maybe one day you'll be the father of a young girl and it will be up to you to encourage her to not fall into the traps that we discussed this week. I guess that's my serious answer to your serious question.

The women’s basketball team in Conn. is the best in the country, but I don’t understand why ESPN only played a 30sec clip on their fantastic season. No matter male or Female it is extremely hard to win 39 games in a row. Women today have been degraded in society. Since we were kids we have been put into a separate category from men. Instead of girls being able to beat the boys or even being just as good as them, we apparently need them. In the article Boys- R- Us by J. Scanlon it says that girls learn a central rule: they need boys to complete their self definition”. This is what has been embedded in young girls minds and to a point I see it in my own thinking as well; especially in the sports that we play or do. The soccer girls usually also believe that they should be the ones to date the soccer boys and cheerleaders usually believe that they should be with the football players. So, why do the girls believe that this is how it works and the guys don’t? We should not have this mind set and I am saddened by the fact that we as a society think this way. Going to college at Towson I see first hand how the male sports are treated compared to the women sports. Sports like Men’s Lacrosse, Baseball and Football get everything first but when I look at the records Football won only three games last season and I didn’t see men’s lacrosse win CAA’s. But then I look at the women’s sports and I see that women’s swimming has won its second CAA tournament and last season women’s lacrosse won CAA’s as well. The gymnastics team at Towson is a excellent team and I’m not just saying that because I’m on the team. We won are 5th ECAC title a couple weeks ago and 2 years ago we placed 1st at USAG Nationals and 3rd last year. But what about this year’s Nationals. Well we should be there right now, so what happened? Towson would not pay for us to go. This school has taken the majority of our scholarships and denied us the chance to go to Nationals, but we will still win. I have multiple friends on the teams who are at Nationals and they were happy that we are not there; need I say more! One of the 10 manhood formula’s founded by M. Messner, M. Dunbar and D. Hunt is that “Women are sexy props or prizes for Men’s successful sport performances or consumption choices”. Sadly I have to say in order for us to get attention we have to wear leotards and wear make- up, but I shouldn’t have to. I should be able to wear shorts and a tank if I want to. So the media and Men have encouraged me to participate in the gender norms of gymnastics.
Alise McDonald

If one sport is, generally speaking, more exciting than another sport - I don't see how it is degrading to prefer the former (men's basketball) over the latter (women's basketball).

Part of what is determined to be "more exciting" is informed by the culture in which one lives. Hence, soccer (football) is huge in Europe, but barely a blip on the radar in the States.

Are Americans degrading soccer players (men and women alike) by watching more football than soccer?

Are men degrading women by watching more male-dominated action movies than female-dominated dramas or comedies?

Are alumni of a university degrading female athletes by buying season football tickets, but not watching a single women's field hockey game?

One of the interesting questions that you raise: Had women from the outset of organized sports in America been given the same incentives to become "athletes" as the ones that men received, would the level of play be higher in women's sports (basketball in particular)?

I think we can answer in the positive.

But that doesn't change the fact that men's sports are - generally speaking - more exciting to watch than women's sports.

So what recommendations are you putting forth in light of this fact?

In an absolute sense, the UNC and Michigan State men's basketball teams are better basketball teams than the amazing UConn women's team (and Louisville). Couldn't that account for why the former received so many more viewers and media exposure over the latter?

Heck, the women's national championship was broadcast during an ESPN primetime slot and was advertised by both ESPN and ESPN2 enough to make me (an infrequent viewer of both) know about it.

I guess my question is: What more do you want? (And I'm not asking that in a smart-alecky way).

Dude...shut up.It's awesome the UConn woman's team won undefeated...but it's woman's basketball man. It's more fundamentally sound, and more strategic. Sure, I appreciate those things, but it's boring to watch. You must be gay to be talking about this. You really think you'd buy season tickets to the best WNBA team over season tickets to watch the crappiest NBA team play? Dunks, alley-oops, skip passes, behind the back passes (some woman can do these things but men just do it better) are all exciting to watch. So once again, shut up. It's gay of you to even post this artical, or either you're just that bored.

-K