http://either.io/550/value-of-sports
http://www.swishappeal.com/2014/11/27/7298651/sexism-has-a-lot-to-do-with-the-wnba
I was just going through my Twitter timeline one day when I saw the results for a poll question. The question stated: "Would you rather find $5 or have your local WNBA (women's professional basketball for those who don't know) team win the championship." Over 800,000 people voted, and by a large majority, 80% said they would rather find $5. As a die hard sports fan from the city of Cleveland, I would pay a large amount of money, much greater than $5, for a championship in my city... So this made me wonder, what's the deal with the hate on women and professional basketball?
Just to get an understanding on how many people really do not care about the WNBA, the average attendance for this past season was around 7,000 people per game. In comparison, the division 2 high school I played football at drew consistent crowds of about this many people each and every week. This past year in the NBA, the average attendance was close to 18,000 people per game, which is more than 10,000 higher than its WNBA counterpart. The simplest explanation for this statistic is one word: sexism. As explained in the article I posted above, many people of both sexes simply do not like women's basketball because it is slower paced, less physical, and not as entertaining as men. People crack jokes all the time about how the WNBA should have a lay-up contest as opposed to the dunk contest in the NBA. It is also disturbing to hear some of the comments that are made towards female basketball players, saying they are ugly and manly looking or should be at home cooking and cleaning instead of being on the basketball court. While some can agree that mens basketball is more entertaining, and the numbers undoubtedly prove this to be true, these women are still athletes at the professional level. These women are of a select group of 120 of the best female basketball players in the entire world, and with the exception of those men playing professionally in the NBA, are better than a large majority of both the men and women who continuously go out of their way to criticize these hard-working athletes. It is a shame that these women receive hate for playing the game they love simply because athletics are perceived by the general population as activities for men. They deserve the respect that any other professional athlete is given, and just because of their gender should not be criticized of their athletic ability.
I definitely agree that women in the WNBA and any women playing professional sports should be treated with just as much respect as men playing the same sport. I also think there's this idea that women just aren't as good as men at sports in general and I think that's something that definitely needs to change. Young girls grow up thinking that they'll never be as good as boys and I also think that when girls do decide to play sports, they're not taken as seriously. However, I also think that boys are just expected to be good at sports. For example, I'm terrible at sports and I tried to play almost every single one and it wasn't really a big deal that I wasn't very good. If I were a boy, I think that there would have been a lot more pressure for me to excel at sports. So, I think that there needs to be a shift in ideas about both women and men playing sports. Women in sports need to be taken seriously and treated like real athletes and also, we need to stop putting so much pressure on men to be athletic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that women in the WNBA should be respected as much as men in the NBA are, but I do not see the problem as sexism. For example, when I was in high school I played soccer. I knew that there were always going to be more people and a larger crowd at the boys games as opposed to mine. I didn't find this sexist at all. Most people find women sports to be much slower paced, and almost all of the time they are. For example, many people do not find women's lacrosse as exciting as men's simply because there is little to no contact; just like in other women's sports. Just because someone finds mens sports more entertaining and exciting than women's sports does not make it sexism.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the poll that was on twitter, that is a bit disrespectful. Just because there isn't as large of a turnout at professional women's sporting events, does not mean their accomplishments should seem any less of an achievement. However, the fact that their is a smaller crowd at women's sporting events is not seen as sexism in my eyes.
I do agree that the WNBA should not be looked at any lesser than a male athlete in the NBA. I believe part of this problem has to do with sexism. I feel as though some people will always believe that men are better than women, especially when it comes to sports. But a woman in the WNBA is just as much of an athlete as a man. I think some of the problem comes from convenience and availability. The WNBA is nowhere near covered as much as the NBA in the media. If people knew more about it, they might have more of an interest in following it. Some sports or teams will always take precedent over others. When I was in high school, I played volleyball. Football always came before volleyball. Even when visiting the athletic trainer, he would wrap a football player's ankle for a game before he could check out one of my injuries. I understand that football was more important in different aspects: money, the community, the school. But other sports matter just as much. But, this raises the question, are women teams not covered as much because of sexism? So in the end, it ultimately can be a problem relating to sexism after all.
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ReplyDeleteI also agree that the WNBA should get more credit than it does but I don't think this problem has to do with sexism. I played basketball all 4 years of high school and I remember how little of a crowd our games got compared to the men's team. Although this was frustrating to myself and my fellow teammates given how much commitment we had to the sport, it was a given and I expected it. I know that I would rather watch men's college basketball than women's or any other sport, really. This isn't because I think that women athletes aren't talented, it's because men's sports are more fast paced and exciting. The bodies of men and women are just different. Men, in general, are taller and stronger than women. And while I am aware that there are plenty of tall and strong women out there, the hormonal difference comes into play. Men have more testosterone and muscle mass than women. Sports were created to be played by men. If they were created based on women's talents, then it would be a different story, but they weren't and that's that. I am not taking anything away from female athletes, in fact, it's a great achievement for women to excel at sports that were created for men, but men's sports are just all around more entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the reason people enjoy men’s sports over women’s sports is a lot more deep rooted than what we think. Most people enjoy men’s sports because it is faster paced, which makes it more exciting to watch. When it comes down to it, it is true that men’s sports are faster paced. Men’s bodies are built differently, which means for a completely different game. Someone mentioned above that people enjoy men’s lacrosse more than women’s because the men hit harder. Someone else mentioned that it was okay to be female and not play sports but it was not as accepting to be male and not play. I think this encourages societies’ idea of masculinity. Sports, such a lacrosse, that are played with more violence and aggression get more attention. So the more violent, aggressive or masculine a person is the more attention they will receive. I think if the tables were turned than more people would enjoy watching women play. The lingerie football league is a great example of this. It gets media coverage on MTV, or at least it did, while, traditional women’s football does not get any coverage. Or least not any that I have heard of.
ReplyDeleteSomething I think is interesting that this article brought to my mind is something my grandma told me a few days back. She said years ago woman's basketball differed from men's a lot more than we see today In today's game we can see the difference in obviously sex but also ball size, the 3 point line, time, and the back-court rule. Years prior though, the woman's game was completely different, there were 2 positions, guards and forwards. The gaurds actually had to stay put on their goal's side of the court with the forwards anchored to the opponents side. Teams could only advance the ball across midline with a pass to the other position. On top of this, games were also played with 6 people. Beginning in 1958 the Office of Civil Rights started looking at banning six-on-six high school girls basketball. Through the next 37 years 6 on 6 games eventually faded out
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that the comments men make towards women basketball players are sexist and rude, I do not think that men preferring to watch the NBA over the WNBA is sexist. A preference is an opinion and preferring a faster more intense game is not sexist against women. I would venture to say that men prefer the NBA over the WNBA because women playing basketball can not necessarily be sexualized. Men would probably prefer to watch a girls sand volleyball game, where women are playing a sport in minimal clothing rather than women's basketball. However, men are not solely at fault, women would probably also prefer men's basketball because like men would prefer to over sexualize women playing volleyball, women can do the same with muscular NBA players. Therefore both sexes contribute to the higher attendance of NBA games rather than WNBA.
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ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. People can freely choose to like one sport over another, no matter what reasons they have. Their reasoning could come from many different things. It could be that they played a particular sport themselves, who their family cheers for, where they are from and the teams that play near them. For these reasons, I do not think that preferring men's sports over women's sports is sexist. However, the degrading comments that are continually made towards female athletes which they have done nothing to deserve is a result of sexism. Frye says that oppression is systematic. The fact that the WNBA has the "W" in its name is a reflection that society views women as a marked group, rather than men who are considered the unmarked group. We see this in other sports as well. We see that the World Cup is simply called the World Cup and not the "Men's World Cup". Whereas we have the "Women's World Cup". It seems as though society views men as not having gender and that only women have gender. These are all ways in which systematic sexism reveals itself. In summary, one's individual preference of whether or not they like women's sports is not sexist. However, the negative perception of women's sports is a reflection of systematic sexism.
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