Gender and Sexuality in Sports Essay - 973 Words

Gender and Sexuality in Sports When individuals, male or female, decide to enter a non-traditional sport for his/ her gender, there will inevitably be benefits and costs. Because sports themselves are divided along gender and race lines, one would expect that individuals who intend to play a sport deemed by culture and by society as counterintuitive are bound to be criticized and alienated because of their choices. Difference automatically threatens conventions, traditions, and expectations, and hence, it threatens the individuals who belong to that traditional sphere. Because sports are affected as much by funding as they are by issues of diversity and accessibility, the following questions address those issues: which group of people†¦show more content†¦Women, however, are perceived by society as the gentler sex. Women are thought of as nurturers, mothers, daughters, but they are not thought of as being physically strong or physically capable of being strong. Once women began to enter the sports world, their coaches and spectators had different standards for them. They were expected to look feminine, to wear feminine uniforms, and to compete against each other but to have no physical contact with other players. The fact is that when women first began to play sports they were still something to be objectified. They were something to survey, and they had to be pleasing to the eye (mens eyes). I want foxes, not oxes (Ed Temple, Tennessee State 1952). This statement reinforces societys expectations regarding not only the ways women are supposed to look as they are engaged in a sport but it also gives credibility to the type of sports women are traditionally allowed to play. Because gender constructions have been so influential in deciding what positions men and women occupy in the world and what part of ones identity should be reinforced in the activities one chooses to engage in, men and womens involvement in sports that do not reflect cultural and/or societal expectations like weight lifting, body building, boxing for women, and synchronized swimming, figure skating, field hockey for men can result in a number of conflicts. It can lead to social,Show MoreRelatedFemale Gender And Sexuality Constructed Through Sport3418 Words   |  14 PagesHow is female gender and sexuality constructed through sport? Within sport, as throughout society, gender differences exist. The socially constructed phenomenon of gender dictates a dichotomous system whereby females are feminine and males are masculine. Focusing on females specifically, society determines the feminine traits and roles ascribed to this gender. 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